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Thomas the Tank Engine - Best of Thomas

Thomas the Tank Engine - Best of Thomas

List Price: $17.98
Your Price: $16.18
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A sure winner for parents in need of wholesome entertainment
Review: Best Of Thomas is the first DVD release of episodes of the colorful Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends cartoon. In addition to eight different episodes featuring the cheerful blue engine, the DVD also contains extra features such as "Thomas and the Dinosaur" read-along story, "Harold the Helicopter" CD-ROM game, eleven character biographies, eight stories told by George Carlin, four sing-along songs, and a collectible 12-page color booklet. Best Of Thomas shows a perky young mechanical hero with a happy smile and gentle, responsible messages for young children. Recommended for young folks age 2-6, this 46-minute (not counting bonus features) DVD is a sure winner for parents in need of wholesome entertainment for their toddlers. Best Of Thomas is also available in a VHS edition.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BUY SOMETHING ELSE!
Review: Boy something else! For example, if you must buy Thomas, then buy the VHS version...NOT the DVD.

I'm all for DVD. I was an early adopter and love the image quality. Remember years ago when you switched from tape to CD and loved the random-access? No more forever fast-forwarding and rewinding. DVD promises the same? Depends on the producer. We have all of the Thomas DVDs and they are all the same: you cannot get straight to the menu but instead are forced to watch meaningless junk.

A DVD producer encodes the disc with a script file full of various directives. Unfortunately, most (if not all) DVD players are programmed to honor these directives. For example, the Thomas discs will disallow the 'menu' and other keys during the first FIVE MINUTES of commercial material. In my opinion, it is a mistake for disc producers to make use of this feature for marketing. Even the FBI warning should be skip-able. Further, DVD player manufacturers should not program the devices to obey these directives, if present. Give the consumer the choice/control he deserves and the capabilities he paid for.

Before you say "stop complaining about 5 little minutes", consider this: of any kind of movie for which my arguments make sense...children's titles make the most sense. Most of the time it works as follows. My older boy wants to see a movie--he is patient about it. My younger boy needs to be put down for a nap. I am way behind on housework and rushing to get things done. What makes sense is that I should be able to put the disc in the tray and walk away! But, I cannot. I have to sit and wait 5 minutes...and then *finally* the menu appears. Still, I have to be there for this great moment because the movie does not automatically start at that point. It waits for me to press a single button: 'enter'.

There should be no commercial material unless offered as a "bonus material" selection in the menu. The movie should not require a menu selection, instead it should simply start playing if the menu button has not been pushed.

Disney learned this lesson years ago. Until the producers of Thomas also learn this lesson, just avoid it!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I love Thomas and this new DVD!
Review: Finally, Thomas the Tank Engine stories on DVD. (thank you!) Everything looks and sounds great, but you do have to watch all the Thomas commercials before getting to the menu. As for the extra stuff on the DVD, the games are fun and very easy for me. I like the songs on the bonus music CD, but why only *four* songs? Thomas has lots of songs I would love to listen to while playing with my Thomas train set. Still, if you're a Thomas fan like me, you'll love watching this over and over and over again. (peep, peep!) :-)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Thomas fans, rejoice!
Review: Here is Best of Thomas. Now the stories on here are good but there were alot more out there that should've been one this video. Let me start by saying that they didn't put one of the greatest stories of all time on here, Thomas Comes To Breakfast. That one was a perfect Thomas episode. Other ones that should have been on here include Thomas Gets Tricked, Trust Thomas, Thomas and Bertie's Great Race, Thomas Goes Fishing, Double Trouble, Better Late Than Ever, The Runaway, I could go on for ever but I'm sure you get my point. Thomas & Stepney and A New Friend For Thomas should not have been on here because Thomas is not the main character in both of these even though the title might have his name in it. I had to give this one 4 stars because of the numurous amount of Thomas stories that could have been on here and weren't. A part 2 of Best of Thomas might be needed. Anyway, this is a great video to buy because it does have some great Thomas moments. Here are the stories: Thomas Gets Bumped, A New Friend For Thomas, Thomas Percy and the dragon, Thomas Saves The Day, Trouble For Thomas, Thomas & Stepney, A Big Day For Thomas, Thomas Meets The Queen, and the music video "Really Useful Engine". And that wrapps up my review for Best of Thomas, hope it was helpful for you. :)


Rating: 1 stars
Summary: the disc is spoiled by the "must-see" commercial
Review: I agree with reviewer who found the commercials unacceptable. The fact that they must play before the real content can be accessed gets this disc only one star. I try to use DVDs to help settle my son when he is feeling cranky. I can't with this one because the commercials delay the program start by five minutes. This may have seemed like a good idea to some marketing person (who is probably not a parent) but it ensures that I will never buy any other DVDs from this producer.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Enough of the commercials!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I bought the DVD version and I have to have my child sit through a five minute long boring commercial EVERY TIME we watch the video. I was upset that the skip, fast foward and menu options were disabled during this commercial. I took it back and bought VHS.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best of Thomas is really cool!!!
Review: I have not all of the titles you can get starring Thomas, but I do have the best of Thomas. This is a must have for your collection of Thomas the tank engine titles. You get to meet Stepney the bluebell engine & help Thomas prove to Percy that even the bravest engines get scared sometimes. The DVD extras are great too. The games are fun and the character gallery is good for children to learn their Sodor friends. I think this DVD is splendid!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This DVD could only be loved by Thomas fans
Review: I own a number of DVDs for my two year old and this is the worse one I've seen by far. In addition to the menu problems mentioned in other reviews (and please quit telling us we can skip the ads with the "menu" or "fast forward" button because we don't all own the same DVD player as you), the quality of this DVD is just poor. It looks like someone just spliced segments together with no regard for the end product. I did not sit through the whole thing, but the first two segments I watched had the audio clipped at the beginning and end in a very noticeable fashion. This would have been easily caught before production if someone had taken the time to watch what they created. I've been buying/renting DVDs for five years now and the only DVD I've seen that's worse than this is the notorious Highlander DVD. If your toddler isn't a Thomas fan, buy something else from Baby Einstein or Sesame Street and you'll be much happier with it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good but missing something
Review: I suppose this video is good but its missing the episode that put Thomas on the map, "Thomas Gets Tricked" or "Thomas and Gordon" in the UK.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: America's number 1# engine
Review: Let me start of by saying that viewer selected doesn't mean they have to be great. Thomas's first ever episode Thomas gets Tricked wasn't even in it. I thought Better Late than Never, Thomas comes to Breakfast, Thomas Breaks the Rules, and Thomas and Bertie's Great Race were far better than some of these like Thomas and Stepney or a New Friend for Thomas. Were they really that good. Thomas was barely in both of them. Thomas meets the Queen didn't excalty focus on Thomas. Are these viewers really stupid becasue these epiodes weren't great. And I really think they shoulda kept the Ringo Starr narrations.


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