Mysteries of Thomas the Tank Engine Discussion

Toz76 wrote:Because we grew up with it... if I ever have kids, I'm naming one Skarloey.

I named my mum's guinea pigs after Skarloey & Rheneas before they died, I do want to name my kids after the cute little engines though.

Youd have to make sure your wifes OK with it 

I think Edward got his branch line because he wanted to be away from the teasing, bigger engines.

Is that really enough for an engine to get a branch line? Thomas got his from doing a noble deed. Duck got his because he worked very hard and an old branch line was being reopened (I think). Why doesn't Edward get a chance to say why?

Because he's got the best attitude of any engine on the line. You never hear him complaining about rain, fish, or shunting...

In fact, that could be applied to Toby in the TVS with his sort-of branch.

His old line bought him with no real preference, and Toby's new line across the crossing was beacause he was needed.

A little late to the discussion of this topic but oh well haha, my opinion and what I always go by. Well, I think there one word for that extreme science being used in older years... Imagination. They hadn't created flying cars yet but with imagination... anything is possible, if you take my meaning. So I 100% agree that through building the faces and inputting a special device to give personality and awesomeness haha, the engines on Sodor are special and have individual characteristics (so realistic and charming knowing there is only one place in the world that has talking trains [obviously in our imaginations, since the Island of Sodor isn't really real LOL], wouldn't you agree?). Magic just wrecks everything in my opinion, its even more complicated and not a good conclusion, manufacturing would bring so much more depth and thought and creativity. Moreover, manufacturing through imagination bring much more realism and brings a more realistic approach to the engines and vehicles having faces. I 10000% agree with everything who say their all built from scratch. I think that it is awesome conclusion and it what I go by since it has never been confirmed (which is great to get even more imagination) I am certain with the technology even in the older year, it could have definitely been possible. Imagination is AWESOME!

Although I agree that Imagination is Super-awesome-ultra-mega-great, we still are trying t find a logical answer. (and anyway, no-one here thinks it's magic; we all hate TATMR and everything about it)

PS And not everything is possible. One thing I definitely do not believe is possible is time travel, since someone would obviously have met someone. Wouldnt you think there would have been a bunch of porta-potty time machines mysteriously in NY right before 9/11?

Time travel is quite an interesting subject. It's definitely possible, but it's a one- way trip; there could be paradoxes...but don't rule it out just yet.

*Time travels to before this was posted*

Forgot to say: Just because people don't like TATMRR doesn't make it non-canon. I for one accept it as canon, but I'm undecided when.. maybe it's in the future, and Mr. Conductor time-travels to Sodor in 3045....

Oh.. you may have misinterpreted what I was really intending to say. Imagination wasn't my conclusion. That was just my idea of saying, technology with imagination is a good combination. I was thinking of more 'realistic' outcomes when I stated that 'anything is possible'.
My conclusion and what I think, is that the engines faces and characteristics are built from scratch. It is such a wonderful and realistic idea and I have always stood by it, considering it has NEVER been stated how exactly. Just brings even more realism to the show. Sodor was never meant to have anything to do with magic LOL... It's a realistic imaginary island
So yeah, that's what I was basically trying to say, the engines/vehicles/boats etc. on Sodor have their faces and personalities manufactured. So I think, also considering others opinions and pretty much the entire railway series and television series plots and stories, just the overall portrayals of Thomas and Friends, we can conclude and say that manufacturing is the logical and realistic answer to our question. Sodor, was never meant to have magic and everything about it is realism.
And besides, if it were magic then I think it would have been seen on TV by now because unfortunately IMO, many kids like magic etc. so it would have been said somewhere, considering 'magic' related shows are a majority on children's TV. Happy Thomas and Friends didn't follow the same boring road and I think it's more imaginative to have the engines being built rather than just saying... MAGIC. So happy that they are

The reason why time travelers didn't stop 9/11 is because if time travel was possible in the future you would be creating a separate universe/dimension if you altered an event.

The reasons why some fans list TATMR as a separate canon is Sodor being a separate universe, Diesel 10 returning to the railway years later and the town by Knapford disappearing. Also where would characters introduced after Season 5 be if it was in the future.

I wonder what happens to one-time characters like Flora and Billy. I mean, I never understood one-off engines etc. kind of a waste of money in my opinion LOL. But yeah, wonder where they went haha

Maybe the one time characters got shortly sent away and where really visitors.

But importantly what would of happened to existing characters at the time of TATMR (Edward, Duck, Donald, Douglas, Oliver, Stepney, Bill, Ben, BoCo, Daisy, Derek, Iron Twins and the narrow gauge engines)?

All scrapped or worn out. A scrap model of Donald or Douglas can be seen in the Smelter's sequence, if you want some (rather morbid) proof. Can't explain why just those six are around... they must have been better maintained due to their popularity.

Scrap models of the same engines have been seen since like Season 4 and I don't think Sir Topham Hatt would scrap any his engines.

If it's the future, this would be a different Hatt. Maybe one of them was willing to scrap engines.

I do agree about the S4-S5 scrap models, though. Although it would be cool to see them in CGI, it seems odd to have 5 E2s on Sodor. Where did they all come from? Why were they scrapped? What does Thomas think? Where they built because tourists wanted to see Thomas, but he was always busy? How would Thomas have reacted to that? So many questions...

People don't age on Sodor so I don't think there will have to be another controller and the same Lady Hatt was seen in a picture in Sir Topham Hatt's office. To think about it maybe Duck, Donald, Douglas and Oliver were on the Little Western, Edward, BoCo, Derek, Bill and Ben were working on Edward's Branch, Daisy was on Thomas' branch line and Stepney and the narrow gauge engines are on a different part of the island. Arry and Bert could of been replaced with Splatter and Dodge. But it still doesn't explain what happened to the town by Knapford.

Also there being other E2s could explain why Thomas went out of character as the Thomas from Seasons 8-16 isn't really the real Thomas and the real Thomas could of been busy working on his branch line and the clone would of been scrapped/sent away before Season 17 because he kept making too many silly mistakes and everyone was fed up with him.

I was going to write a fanfic with that exact plot... Also, humans never age on Sodor... oh, but there's no magic and TATMRR is non-canon. You've contradicted yourself there.

And now... *pries open can of worms* Marklin.

Marklin made a few appearances in S1 (notably Off The Rails, and one other... Coal?), but appears to have been scrapped as of S3. Then we run into an inconsistency: Paint Pots and Queens.

If we assume that Off The Rails/Down The Mine are set directly before Paint Pots and Queens, then we can logically assume that those events occurred later in the TVS, due to Duck/Donald's presence. So we have two options:

1) Set these events between S2 and S3. This way, Marklin will still be around for Off The Rails, but be scrapped by Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party.

2) Move all four episodes to during the events of Season 4. This way, Paint Pots and Queens will remain consistent with its airdate, and Marklin will still be scrapped before ETATRUP. (Heck, just move ETATRUP to the time of S9... it'll fit right in!)

Now that's how you settle inconsistencies... not by saying "oh, that's non-canon" because you don't like it!

It doesn't explain how the rest of Marklin's "body" ended up at the Dieselworks, of all places, nor does it explain why he was scrapped in the first place.

There are still many other conflicts for why I list TATMR and Seasons 1-4 as two separate canons from the reconnected series.

I was also speculating Off the Rails/Down the Mine could of occurred during the events of Season 4. As for Marklin ending up at the diesel works, maybe there was another engine that was similar to him.

What I want to know is why is Mr. Conductor and the rest of the conductor family tiny?

Magic? How else?

But why would he only be life sized on Sodor?

Magic.

ThomasSirHandel wrote:Also there being other E2s could explain why Thomas went out of character as the Thomas from Seasons 8-16 isn't really the real Thomas and the real Thomas could of been busy working on his branch line and the clone would of been scrapped/sent away before Season 17 because he kept making too many silly mistakes and everyone was fed up with him.

THIS.

If we had a "Like" system, you would've definitely gotten one for what you just wrote.

ThomasSirHandel wrote:The reason why time travelers didn't stop 9/11 is because if time travel was possible in the future you would be creating a separate universe/dimension if you altered an event.

The reasons why some fans list TATMR as a separate canon is Sodor being a separate universe, Diesel 10 returning to the railway years later and the town by Knapford disappearing. Also where would characters introduced after Season 5 be if it was in the future.

But what would be the point of even making a time machine if all you can accomplish are paradoxes?

Magic.

TBH I technically think TATMR is non-canon...though if we're supposed to think like this logically, would it be considered "magic"? And if the six engines were popular, where's Edward? And I'm pretty sure everyone else would be somewhat popular. And how come the engines don't care?

I think Edward's new model wasn't finished in time. Also aren't Duck, Donald, Douglas, Oliver, Bill, Ben, Stepney, Daisy, BoCo and the narrow gauge engines popular? Fans begged for them back. I consider it non-canon too but I do agree with Toz76 that the Sodor scenes are set in the far future.