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Thomas the Tank Engine:Steamies Vs.

Thomas the Tank Engine:Steamies Vs.

List Price: $16.99
Your Price: $15.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: (...)(It's Wonderful!)
Review: This was the Best Thomas DVD ever! (...) I love the new Thomas Move. The Engine Roll call song is nice and the engines move just fine! Plus the Stories are Asowme!! My kid loved it so much!! YOU SHOULD DEFFINTLY BUY THIS ONE!! :)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It wasn't that bad at all
Review: We are having Season 8 stories all ready. Yipee. It's great that Michael Angelis isn't narrating these new episodes. We are hiring Michael Brandon as our narrator for these episodes. As far of the previous Thomas The Tank Engine adventures "Best of Gordon" was good. I enjoyed "James and the Red Balloon". I thought "James and the Red Balloon" was the funniest Thomas adventure ever. "Thomas' Snowy Surprises" was a rip-off, but okay. However, "New Friends For Thomas" was terrible.

FAVORITE STORY: Thomas To The Rescue (that story was good)
LEAST FAVORITE STORY: Squeak, Rattle & Roll (that story was okay)

Thomas To The Rescue - All the diesels lost thier fuel and it's up to Thomas to get the Diesel oil power to get the diesels back together.

Henry & The Wishing Tree - Henry wishes that he pulled express coaches instead of logcars for one day. His wish came true, because Gordon had to get a new dome. Everything becomes a disaster when Henry's wish comes true.

Squeak, Rattle & Roll - Diesel thinks that Gordon should be scrapped because of Gordon's awful sounds. He didn't want Sir Topham Hatt to notice him, because then Gordon will get scrapped. But one day, Gordon had to take some kids and Sir Topham Hatt to the boat before it leaves at 9AM. Soon Gordon gets sent to the repair works to look as good as new again. Sir Topham Hatt didn't scrap Gordon at all.

Percy's New Whistle - Percy wants to make a whistle better than Arry and Bert's whistle. Percy makes a loud whistle that annoys the engines. Sir Topham Hatt got crossed at him for making loud whistles for fun. One day, Percy saw a snow drift and heard Thomas was coming down the line. Percy had no choice but to blew his whistle to warn Thomas, before Thomas gets in an accident.

Michael Brandon's narrating wasn't that bad at all. His voice was way better than Michael Angelis's voice. Although, I wished they still hire Alec Baldwin for both Seasons 7 and 8. He was really good. "Steamies vs: Diesels" should probably be my second favorite Thomas The Tank Engine adventure.

The BOTTOM LINE: "Steamies vs: Diesels" wasn't that bad at all. I would recommend this instead of "New Friends For Thomas", anyday.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not Steameriffic
Review: Well, looking at a preview for this DVD on my "New Friends For Thomas" DVD made me think this DVD was going to look good. I was hoping this movie was going to be good, but I was wrong. There were a lot of things on this DVD that went completely wrong.

1. The theme song changed into something dumb.
2. The episodes were longer.
3. The end credits were dumb.
4. After an episode that can bring us to another episode, they don't show the old stuff.

I'm glad "Thomas and the Jet Engine" is much better. Out of these two things this one or "Thomas and the Jet Engine", I will say "Thomas and the Jet Engine".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Big Changes, But Not All That Bad
Review: Well, this video brings many changes. Some things that were never changed before were. Some changes were refreshing, some weren't, others didn't really effect things much at all. There's a new theme and opening. It's not as good as the old one but the opening is similar and theme is good enough. The episodes are longer which is rather good when the episode plots are. The new transitions are interactive features for the little ones. Some of them are tedious for parents and older fans to watch, but then again so is seeing pictures of the engines hundreds of time. You can always fast forward them anyway. Steve Asquith, who directed 2 episodes on 'New Friends for Thomas' is now directing all of the episodes and there's a new narrator- Michael Brandon. Steve Asquith and Michael Brandon both do their jobs rather well. There's only 4 episodes but there's 2 music videos and the longer episode running time means the video is as long as 'Percy's Chocolate Crunch' and longer than most recent Thomas & Friends videos & DVDs.
Episodes:

1) Thomas to the Rescue- Rather good one. Thomas has to assist at a quarry and Diesel is there. He teases Thomas for being a steam engine. Then when some new diesel fuel comes, it winds up being contiminated with water. Thomas has to get new fuel for all the diesel engines on Sodor.... 8.5/10

2) Henry and the Wishing Tree- Pretty funny, especially the way Sir Topham Hatt points out trees don't run railways, that's his job! This story involves Henry wanting to pull passengers, as he usually pulls trains of logs. Thomas tells him about 'The Sodor Wishing Tree' and Henry wishes to pull passengers. That night Sir Topham Hatt tells him he's going to pull passengers the next day. Henry does an awful job and goes to "unwish" his wish- until Sir Topham Hatt comes and explains the co-incidence! This episode is rather good, but I don't like the fact that Henry is portrayed as awful as pulling passengers. He normally pulls passengers all the time, and he usually does a great job too! 7.75/10

3) Squeak, Rattle and Roll- A rather mediocre one. Gordon starts making sounds and when Diesel tells him he's 'old and clapped out' he worries that he's going to be scrapped. Then he has to take some children to the docks for a boat trip. If he's going slowly to hide the sounds he makes, how can he get there on time? 5.5/10

4) Percy's New Whistle- A very enjoyable one! Percy takes some trucks to the quarry where 'Arry and Bert tease his whistle, blasting their horns loudly. Percy practices whistling until it becomes louder than 'Arry and Bert's horns. He suprises them with it, and then procedes to suprise Thomas and Bertie. Thomas bumps into a truck and Bertie veers off the road. Percy promises not to suprise anyone else with his whistle, but the next day he doesn't see anyone- so he whistles loudly. Trevor was close enough to hear it and he was so suprised he bumped into a pile of logs an causes a rather humourous, if unrealistic accident. Sir Topham Hatt scolds Percy but the next day when Thomas is about to run into a snow drift he has no choice but to whistle loudly to warn him.... 9/10

The Heavy Word: Among recent releases, such as James & the Red Balloon and Percy's Chocolate Crunch to name a few, this one actually shines. There's a lack of variety of episodes, despite the increased running time but that problem will probobly be resolved somewhat in September, with 'It's Great to Be an Engine' featuring the premieres of 6 7 minutes long season 8 episodes. Compared to the classics, such as Tenders & Turntables, Thomas Breaks the Rules, Better Late thean Never, and a few others this one is only OK. However with good narration, and excellent new scenery and much effort put into it Steamies vs. Diesels should satisfy most, especially if you can pick it up for a reasonable price.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: What?!
Review: What on earth are Hit Entertainment thinking? Whatever there thinking is, they have completely ruined the spirit and enjoyment that Thomas has provided millions for so many years.
Here is what is wrong with this new DVD-

1. Why is there a need nowadays to make almost all children's shows educational? Thomas has always been brilliant for telling creative stories that help a child's imagination. But now, Hit feel they need to hammer home morals and reduce all stories to a very basic structure in which problems are resolved quickly without any thinking.

2. The activities. This is obviously an idea to make Thomas more educational, but guess the sound? Come on! How many seconds of thinking did that take? I doubt small children wouldn be very interested or particurely educated by these small segments. They are simply a waste of space.

3. The theme tune for Thomas has always been distinctive and highly memorable. However, this new theme tune sounds like a cross between a circus tune and a cheap keyboard demo, why on earth has the theme tune been changed? The 2 new songs are also terrible and highly unmemorable when compared to all the great songs that O Donnel/Campbell have written for Thomas previously. Along with director David Mitton, they have been replaced.

4. The engines. Not only are they now always friends without arguing, but all the stories seem to be just about Thomas or Percy. Is it no longer possible to have a story centred around an engine like Duck or Boco? Also, engines no longer seem to have drivers. In Squeek, Rattle and Roll Sir Topham Hatt tells Gordon to speed up without there being any technical crew.

Just to round off the complaints, only 4 episodes. That seems like a bit of a rip off. My guess is they have been made this new lengh in order to be sold to Nick JR in America in the future.

So overall, if you want to share the magic and creativity of Thomas with your children like so many other generations have, then you should buy a different Thomas DVD. Thomas has been a succesful classic for 20 years but it must be felt by Hit that the success it has built up is not sufficent enough and that the format needed to be tampered with.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I'm Pretty Sure Hit is Trying To Hide This Turkey
Review: Whoa man this thing was awful. All of the numerous Thomas tapes and dvds there have been I don't think i've ever watched one this bad. A horrible attempt to live on without Alec Baldwin but they got him back in the next one. The intermissions are painfully boring and to top that the theme song is gone. Some people who haven't been watching Thomas since the beginning don't mind that it's gone as much as I do but i've heard and love dthat song so many times. I was so upset to hear that awful tune instead of the beloved song I am used to hearing. They also decided to only put 4 stories in. That right there makes it not worth the money. This movie will make you cry so do not buy this. To top of that Hit Entertainment is trying to take this off the movie lineup. Don't buy it is not worth the money.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's okay
Review: Wow!, HIT! Entertainment has changed Thomas alot, but the changes they made aren't all that bad. For example, the new theme song at first sounded pretty dumb but it soon grew on me. The only bad thing HIT! added were those ridiculous activites. I think even little kids will get bored of these silly things, they offer no form of actual learning fun and you can get envolved with them that much. Besides those activites, the stories were okay:

1)THOMAS TO THE RESCUE 4/5:
Sir Topham Hatt sends Thomas to help Mavis at the quarry. Thomas is surprised to see Diesel there. Diesel says that Sir Topham Hatt will soon scrap steamies and Thomas begins to worry. But will Thomas help all the diesels when they start breaking down due to bad fuel?

2)HENRY AND THE WISHING TREE 4.5/5:
Henry wishes that he could pull the Express sometime instead of Gordon. The next day, Henry's wish has come true but Gordon ends up in the repair yard and Henry is afraid that it is his fault that that happened.

3)SQUEAK, RATTLE, AND ROLL 4/5:
Gordon develops some new squeakng noises and when he has to take some children to the harbor, he is afraid that Sir Topham Hatt will hear his squeak and send him to the scrapyard.

4)PERCY'S NEW WHISTLE 3.5/5:
Percy perfects his whistle to surprise 'Arry and Burt but his new whistle will soon get him in alot of trouble.

A pretty good video, but it could've been better. For instance, get rid of those ridiculous activites.


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