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Sea. 13-16 Could Have Been Half Good?

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Post by SteamShards Fri Jun 17, 2016 7:01 am

First I would like to say that this is a Sharon Miller/HIT discussion topic. You can still bail while you still can.

Second I want to discuss why would HIT have four seasons consisting rhythming and alliteration. Shouldn't they know that is just degrading & irritating to the younger generation. Wouldn't they have conducted a episode survey with kids ranging from the ages 8-13 to see what their reactions are relating to the episodes or another script surveyer to go over the episodes. I know that the horrible downgrade to seasons 13-16 do not fully rest on Ms. Miller's shoulders as I believe she was pulling out her hair all the while having to endure these increasing ridiculous episodes. I also find it hard to believe for a person like Miller to create good specials would have a hard time creating good episodes. After all we have 70 years of TTTE & Friends stories that she could have picked out and redo/adopt.

I know this is geared towards children but really??? Sorry if this sounds like a rant but I wanted to ask this. Anyway what are your thoughts on the matter if HIT wasn't this controlling of the episodes? Would Miller's episodes be half good without their interference?

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Post by Toz76 Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:17 pm

I think Miller was probably a pretty good writer despite her constraints. The logging locos were her pet project, however, so she's not off the hook just yet. Here's the thing, though. They did conduct surveys to test viewer reactions and the target audience loved it. It wasn't degrading or irritating to them. HiT didn't conduct them with the 8-13 group because they aren't the he target audience, so why bother? At that point the series was so far from the RWS that it wasnt clear where the rights to it even were so there was no way in hell a RWS adaption could occur wit out gratuitous alliteration. And let's face it, MIR is still the highest grossing TTTE special, and TGR has proved that merch-based drivel can still be good. Hit had their reasons for what they did, and it worked for them.
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Post by Diesel 11 Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:29 pm

I know when Hero of the Rails came out, I went out and bought it, and I got my money's worth. When Creaky Cranky came out, I thought it looked pretty cool, though to date I've only seen clips of the episode. Seasons 13-16 really had their ups and downs. To quote a song, "Sometimes ups outnumber the downs..." Not here, but still they're interesting to watch... especially now that the writing team is a whole lot better.
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Post by SteamShards Sat Jun 18, 2016 7:42 pm

Snark Attack wrote:I think Miller was probably a pretty good writer despite her constraints. The logging locos were her pet project, however, so she's not off the hook just yet. Here's the thing, though. They did conduct surveys to test viewer reactions and the target audience loved it. It wasn't degrading or irritating to them. HiT didn't conduct them with the 8-13 group because they aren't the he target audience, so why bother? At that point the series was so far from the RWS that it wasnt clear where the rights to it even were so there was no way in hell a RWS adaption could occur wit out gratuitous alliteration. And let's face it, MIR is still the highest grossing TTTE special, and TGR has proved that merch-based drivel can still be good. Hit had their reasons for what they did, and it worked for them.


I wish it didn't work this well for them so that they can make changes for the show.

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Post by TaffyTheTankEngine Sat Jun 18, 2016 7:54 pm

The biggest problem season 13-16 suffered from (and the majority of the dark era as a whole), was the fact that nearly every episode had the painfully obvious 3 strike formula. If it wasn't for this, this era might have been more bearable.

But yeah, this era of the season was where the series was at its worse. I'll be honest, i haven't watched this era of the series, and i really don't want to. Thank god things changed after season 17.
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Post by TheThomas120 Mon Jun 20, 2016 1:21 am

Seasons 13-16 had a lot of horrible episodes, especially Season 15, and "Misty Island Rescue" was bad, but those seasons also had some good episodes too, like "Stop that Bus!", "Tickled Pink", "Steamy Sodor", "The Biggest Present of All", "Stuck on You", "Surprise, Surprise", "Being Percy", "Henry's Health and Safety", "Percy and the Calliope", "Express Coming Through", "Welcome Stafford", and a few others. Though, despite that, I still think it's the worst era of the series. If I was to do a countdown of all the eras in Thomas and Friends from worst to best, I would put the Nitrogen era at the bottom as the worst! I personally find Seasons 17-19 a lot better than Seasons 13-16!

Seasons 13-16 < Seasons 17-19
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Post by SteamShards Mon Jun 20, 2016 4:21 am

TheThomas5252 wrote:Seasons 13-16 had a lot of horrible episodes, especially Season 15, and "Misty Island Rescue" was bad, but those seasons also had some good episodes too, like "Stop that Bus!", "Tickled Pink", "Steamy Sodor", "The Biggest Present of All", "Stuck on You", "Surprise, Surprise", "Being Percy", "Henry's Health and Safety", "Percy and the Calliope", "Express Coming Through", "Welcome Stafford", and a few others. Though, despite that, I still think it's the worst era of the series. If I was to do a countdown of all the eras in Thomas and Friends from worst to best, I would put the Nitrogen era at the bottom as the worst! I personally find Seasons 17-19 a lot better than Seasons 13-16!

Seasons 13-16 < Seasons 17-19

Wasn't the Nitrogen Era was when everything was not in CGI??

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Post by Toz76 Mon Jun 20, 2016 4:25 am

No, Nitrogen was the company that did the CGI in seasons 13-16.
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Post by Diesel 11 Tue Jun 21, 2016 4:39 pm

One thing I would like to mention though - the Logging Locos aren't the worst thing the series ever came up with. Sure, they're pretty idiotic, but I can sit down and watch Misty Island Rescue without cringing, and I love Ferdinand's basis.

Can't say the same with "Don't Be Silly, Billy!" though. It's always a toss-up between the Locos and Billy, and I really hate the little orange brat with ever bone in my body. Orange may be my favorite color, but it doesn't save Billy for me - he's rude and should never even have been thought of.

But the true low point in the series is "Wonky Whistle". It's become the norm to say it's the worst episode, but it's 100% true. Thomas could have killed people and animals with the stupidity of his behavior... and yet he isn't even told off!

I could go into a little more detail, but my point stands - the Logging Locos may be bad, but they're not THAT bad.
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Post by ThomasSirHandel Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:22 pm

What if Seasons 13-16 were skipped with Seasons 17-19 becoming the new Seasons 13-16 with there being a hiatus between 2010 and 2012?
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Post by TaffyTheTankEngine Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:29 pm

ThomasSirHandel wrote:What if Seasons 13-16 were skipped with Seasons 17-19 becoming the new Seasons 13-16 with there being a hiatus between 2010 and 2012?

Hmmm... Interesting.

It would of ment though that the current era we are going through at the moment would of been a reboot of the series.

Diesel 11 wrote:But the true low point in the series is "Wonky Whistle". It's become the norm to say it's the worst episode, but it's 100% true. Thomas could have killed people and animals with the stupidity of his behavior... and yet he isn't even told off!

Yeah, while Wonky Whistle definitely is bad, there are episodes between Seasons 13 and 16 that are just a bad, if not worse, such as Up, Up and Away (Stupid and laughable), Fiery Flynn and Race to the Rescue (Gives such a bad light on firefighters everywhere) and Sodor Surprise Day (Health and Safety thrown out the window in this episode).
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Post by Jaromir Jagr's Mullet Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:57 pm

Could Seasons 13-16 have been decent? Certainly. Had the writers a modicum of sense surrounding railroads, then such pearls of idiocy like "His firebox was on fire" would never have happened.
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Post by Guest Tue Jun 21, 2016 8:18 pm

I think that Miller can write better specials than episodes because specials are longer stories than episodes, so it may be easier to write within that timeframe. Anyway, I don't really know if it could have been half good, but maybe so. Maybe Hit tried something new and it didn't work? I don't know.

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Post by SteamShards Wed Jun 22, 2016 8:24 am

Diesel 11 wrote:
Can't say the same with "Don't Be Silly, Billy!" though. It's always a toss-up between the Locos and Billy, and I really hate the little orange brat with ever bone in my body. Orange may be my favorite color, but it doesn't save Billy for me - he's rude and should never even have been thought of."


An engine should have enough common sense not to make that many mistakes unless they were made brand new.  When Billy first showed up I instantly hated him for acting like a dumb selfish know it all.  But when I look back I am sure that the writers could fix him up a little and add some characterization in there.

Perhaps you guys are right and that Millers strength lies with creating good specials.  I still think should she could create potential good episodes without the 3 strikes formula and rhyming.

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Post by PolkaDotSideplates Sat Oct 22, 2016 9:22 pm

I feel like they hired Sam Wilkinson just so they could say they had a railway consultant, then paid him to not interfere.

And with all that time on his hands, he watched all the episodes and made the TVS map!
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Post by Diesel 11 Sat Oct 22, 2016 11:09 pm

SteamShards wrote:Can't say the same with "Don't Be Silly, Billy!" though. It's always a toss-up between the Locos and Billy, and I really hate the little orange brat with ever bone in my body. Orange may be my favorite color, but it doesn't save Billy for me - he's rude and should never even have been thought of."


An engine should have enough common sense not to make that many mistakes unless they were made brand new.  When Billy first showed up I instantly hated him for acting like a dumb selfish know it all.  But when I look back I am sure that the writers could fix him up a little and add some characterization in there.

Perhaps you guys are right and that Millers strength lies with creating good specials.  I still think should she could create potential good episodes without the 3 strikes formula and rhyming.
Well, Hero Of The Rails was a pretty good special; MIR and DOTD weren't (though TBH I kinda like the latter because Diesel 10's in it Razz ).
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Post by zem2point0 Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:22 am

Diesel 11 wrote:But the true low point in the series is "Wonky Whistle". It's become the norm to say it's the worst episode, but it's 100% true. Thomas could have killed people and animals with the stupidity of his behavior... and yet he isn't even told off!

I could go into a little more detail, but my point stands - the Logging Locos may be bad, but they're not THAT bad.

This. I totally agree with this.
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Post by PolkaDotSideplates Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:31 am

TheThomas5252 wrote:Seasons 13-16 had a lot of horrible episodes, especially Season 15, and "Misty Island Rescue" was bad, but those seasons also had some good episodes too, like "Stop that Bus!", "Tickled Pink", "Steamy Sodor", "The Biggest Present of All", "Stuck on You", "Surprise, Surprise", "Being Percy", "Henry's Health and Safety", "Percy and the Calliope", "Express Coming Through", "Welcome Stafford", and a few others. Though, despite that, I still think it's the worst era of the series. If I was to do a countdown of all the eras in Thomas and Friends from worst to best, I would put the Nitrogen era at the bottom as the worst! I personally find Seasons 17-19 a lot better than Seasons 13-16!

Seasons 13-16 < Seasons 17-19

Thing is, they weren't actually better, they had the same skeleton, but a different plot. The episodes your giving are episodes that are only liked because of easter eggs (Percy and the Calliope), probably accidental references to the RWS (Tickled Pink), or simply seeing characters we haven't seen much of (Victor says Yes or Welcome Stafford).
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Post by MainLineEngine112 Wed Oct 26, 2016 12:54 am

Well, sometimes even having a decent premise of an episode is enough to help make it just a little better. I mean, even if the "good" episodes of the Miller era are the same skeleton, and still not very good, I personally am much more entertained by Victor trying to manage a locomotive repair warehouse than Thomas and Percy delivering a giant balloon. That said, even the best episodes of S13-16 are undoubtedly cringe-worthy.
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Post by Toz76 Wed Oct 26, 2016 3:30 am

I see where you're coming from, actually. Episodes like Victor Says Yes actually had decent premises. Cut the three-strikes formula and it would have been a good concept. Even the basic premise of Wonky Whistle might be workable if they cut the "rides off with workmen still on him" bit. I don't remember the premise of some of the other episodes you listed, but Stuck On You, Henry's Health and Safety and Welcome Stafford are full of wasted potential. However, there is no redeeming Tickled Pink. I don't care that undercoats are a real thing or that it is kind of maybe sort of like a RWS story, it's blander than bland and has a horrible message. If it weren't for Chickens To School and Fiery Flynn, this would be my least favorite episode, and with good reason.
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Post by MainLineEngine112 Wed Oct 26, 2016 3:45 am

I'm rather indifferent to Tickled Pink. When I was younger though, I thought Chickens to School was hilarious, so I've always kind of liked it, but yeah, there's nothing good or redeemable about episodes Fiery Flynn or Wonky Whistle. I suppose at least Up, Up, and Away had "All the hats were hatless," but even with that moderately amusing line, I just can't watch it.
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Post by PolkaDotSideplates Wed Oct 26, 2016 11:27 pm

Agree. I actually liked Chickens to School, and is one of the episodes that makes me think Season 8 wasn't the start of the Dark Era.
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Post by MainLineEngine112 Thu Oct 27, 2016 12:42 am

I would definitely say Season 8 was certainly the start of the Dark Era, but it in itself wasn't awful. It was sort of the straw that the camel tripped on before stumbling down a mountain into a furnace, if you get my meaning.
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Post by Frankthetriviaman Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:04 am

seasons 13-16 were definitely the darkest of the dark era. The animation was not to bad actually, but the stories were atrocious and very repetitive. Only if the stories were more like seasons 1-6 do I think 13-16 would be likable.
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Post by Diesel 11 Thu Oct 27, 2016 3:06 am

Hopefully I won't get any knives and pitchforks for this, but there are a couple episodes in the dark era that I kinda like. One of them being Creaky Cranky. Okay, yes, it's not very good Thomas-wise, but I always thought that Cranky lifting Thomas up was pretty cool. Though the workmen must have mended him very well if Cranky was able to stop a whole ship in Tale of the Brave...!
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