my memory can be wack, but just listening to "where, oh, where is thomas?" just reminds me of the great discovery and it's wild, seeing an actual screenshot of:
TATMR: I grew up on this movie and still love it to this day. I absolutely love the introduction of some real world stuff and how Sodor and Shining Time are connected through the Magic Railroad. I wish we had more Lady content other than TATMR and CAE!
The Great Discovery: TGD was my second T&F film I had on DVD (after TATMR) so I watched it a LOT. I watched it so much I scratched the disc. As a kid I watched it for the dramatics and the songs, now I watch it and psychoanalyze everything Thomas does.
Journey Beyond Sodor: I like when children's TV goes for a darker theme even though it ends with "we're all friends yay! :)". I mean, literal train kidnapping (enginenapping? trainnapping?)/holding Thomas kind of hostage? Unrivaled, insane even. Also James :) James my beloathed and beloved
I think @shinygoku already answered this really well, so I'll just link to this response and endorse it for president.
Except for the bit about how it's still probably the best special. Nahhh! Honestly for all their flaws that's probably The Great Race or Hero of the Rails—certainly either TGR or HOTR wipes the rails with SLOTLT.
But when she observes "He Would Not Fucking Do That"? Ohhh, man. Felt that one. Felt it in my bones.
I came up with a movie idea and I wanted to write it down so here it is!
So.... Yknow the story of both TGD and SLOTLT right?How essentially the main plot point of the movies are that Thomas is afraid that a new engine is going to replace him? And because of that fear he treats the engine terribly and even tries to sabotage them?
I was thinking... What if it was reversed? What if when a new engine comes to Sodor, Thomas is nothing but kind to them.... But *everyone else* thinks that the new guy is here to replace Thomas?What if it's all the others that are paranoid?
So I imagine it as an ensemble story switching from different points of view, Let's say all of the Tidmouth gang? And the story is still focused on Thomas but he's just the main driving point. It's not from his perspective but from everyone else's!
I'll write more as I think of it, but feel free to add more or give feedback!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these images. Most of them were taken from the TTTE Wiki. Some of them were cropped and (horribly) upscaled while a few were taken by me. You can use them! Where the images are from are listed below each set of images.
TGD AU where the Great Discovery takes place during BWBA and when Thomas finally crosses the line by humiliating Stanley, he’s kicked off the Steam Team by the other engines and left in disgrace working in the shunting yards instead, with only Rosie to comfort him.
Decision would probably be made by modern Moonbug Mattel to rebrand the show with a more newer, modern character as the leader like they did with replacing Edward and Henry, since more merchandise = more money.
(The only plus side is more money for Mattel, and at least Stanley would get more development rather then being used as a plot device)
Hmm, "Night Train," "Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover," and "Troublesome Trucks" from the model era. Though in general the CGI specials really own the TTTE song game. Why are a solid 50% of them bangers.