Heck No Pooh's Adventures

Psyga's General Blog: Why It Won't Work: Thomas' Adventures

psyga315:

Everyone has probably heard of the little engine that could. Many people fondly remember the show and its interesting filming style, and it soon became a fanbase. With quite the fanbase, Thomas began to engage in many new adventures, not thought of by his creators and writing staff.

And some of those adventures leave one little detail behind: Thomas and his friends are all tank engines. Now, you might be confused by that, but allow me to explain. While Thomas and his friends look like Tank Engines, the stories they’re put in makes them seem less like that and more… moveable.

I’m going to list some general problems I see in why Thomas’ Adventures, as a concept, won’t work. I do believe the concept can be properly executed, but it’s just I see these hurdles. Let’s start with the basic one.

Problem 1: Rails

This is probably the obvious one. Tank Engines run on rails. They only have a set path to go on. Sodor is a pretty big island with lots of rails, and that’s why they move from place to place. Sticking them somewhere else will probably require rails for them to move. Trains get derailed mostly because they have no rail to go on.

The natural conclusion is, obviously, to place rails at everywhere the trains would need to go. This draws some more problems, however. If the adventure requires Thomas to be in a town, then a rail is placed in them middle of the town so that he can go into town. Great, now you have a giant railway in the middle of the town, where the chances of getting run down by a train are increased tenfold. And let’s not talk about when rails go inside buildings… We’ll be getting to that soon.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of rails…

Problem 2: One Does Not Simply Move Out Of Sodor

Okay, this is not that big of a problem, but it does need to be addressed. This doesn’t apply to stories that take place in Sodor, obviously, but if he were to say… be in Equestria or France, that would be odd, considering how it’s established he’s on an island. Not to mention that, again, he’s railed onto the road.

Thankfully, this problem is rectified more easily than the first one. In Blue Mountain Mystery, it’s established that trains can be imported from other countries like Spain. In fact, the very plot hinges on that very fact, for reasons I will bring up later. Oh, and I do warn you, there will be spoilers for that movie.

Speaking of transportation…

Problem 3: Size Troubles

Tell me, how big is a train compared to a human? Pretty big, right? They’d probably weigh as much too. Now, if the story calls for a train to be in something like say… a house, would you think something of that size or mass would be able to fit? If your answer was “no”, then you’re correct. Trains of a massive size need a lot of room to fit in, so they might not have enough space to maneuver, especially if rails were put where it needed to go. But hey, if Transformers can’t get their scale right, I can probably buy that Thomas changes mass and size in a whim.

The Thomas’ Adventure that comes to mind for me is a story where Thomas is on the Titanic. The first question I had when I heard a dramatic reading of this was: “How is it possible for them to be on the ship?” Going back to Blue Mountain Mystery, trains are shipped with special boats. Titanic isn’t the kind of ship that carries trains. If it did carry trains, it’d sink even before it meets the iceberg.

Speaking of sinking…

Problem 4: Darling, it’s not better, down where it’s wetter, take it from me

Okay, this I have to show you, since it targets a specific Thomas’ Adventure.

Don’t mind the ponies for the moment. This has tank engines. Underwater. Going back to Blue Mountain Mystery, (and here come the spoilers) there’s a dark and troubled past with one of the characters. Pretty much, one of the engines was knocked into the sea (you know, where Atlantica is at) and after a while, the engine got rusted. Yeeeeeaaaaah. Not really thebestidea to have your characters go underwater when there entire body can easily rust by salt water.

Magic anti-water bubble/paint might be able to fix this problem though, but it might not be able to fix this last problem.

Problem 5: Suddenly, a train comes and talks to you!

The most easiest thing to point out, and probably more obvious than the fact that you’d need rails everywhere, is that Thomas is a talking tank engine. The concept for that doesn’t seem to faze people in the slightest, it seemed. Now, I can accept certain people being unsurprised by a talking train due to past experiences with talking items, but when Belle takes no notice in the talking trains, yet is shocked when she sees Ms. Potts moving and talking, then there be problems.

And that, dear readers, are the five problems I have with the concept of Thomas’ Adventures. The idea may seem like crap on paper, but if someone puts the effort into it, the execution might be better than it sounds.