Thomas The Tank Engine Review Seasons 1-21

Season 6

After the critical and commercial flop, but successful merchandising and nominations of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Britt Allcroft was forced to step down as both deputy chairman and director of the company, only to retain sharing responsibilities and become Executive Producer despite being uncredited. On the other hand, David Mitton turned over as a camera operator and a script consultant for all script writers during production. The sixth series of Thomas & Friends was first broadcast in September 2002. Michael Angelis narrated the twenty-six episodes for the UK. The company is renamed to Gullane Entertainment. However, it was eventually bought by HiT Entertainment in late 2002 after the production of Series 6. Despite this, Britt Allcroft was not done with her involvement yet. The series is also the first to have various writers like Ross Hastings, Jenny McDade, Robin Kingsland, Paul Larson and many more. (We will talk about how HiT screwed everything up after reviewing all of season 6). With that all out of the way, let's review all 26 episodes of season 6

Salty's secret

All the engines on the Island of Sodor love their work. But sometimes there is too much work. That's when The Fat Controller brings new engines to the island. Salty the Dockyard Diesel is one of these engines. He loves to tell tales of the sea. Salty is excited about coming to the Island of Sodor. Islands are surrounded by the sea. Salty loves the sea. Soon Salty arrived at his new job at the quarry. Bill and Ben didn't think they needed any help, especially from a diesel. Mavis welcomes Salty to central island quarry. Salty looked all around. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but rocks. Salty was disappointed by this. Mavis explains to Salty that they had to complete an important job for The Fat Controller. Salty was sad that he wouldn't be working by the sea. But he knew what it meant to be a really useful engine and he sent to work at once. Salty was happy that there were trucks to work with. Mavis warns Salty about the trucks while Bill and Ben think Salty won't last 5 minutes with them. But to Bill and Ben surprise, the trucks seem to give Salty no trouble at all because he was singing songs to the trucks. Thanks to Salty, The Fat Controller's important job was almost done. Bill and Ben were surprised and a little jealous. Mavis was pleased that Salty could deal with the trucks. But Salty didn't say a word. He didn't come near the shed. Mavis was worried. She rolled along side and asked him what he was doing on his own. he tells Mavis that he misses the sea. But Salty knew the quarry work was important. The next day he tried to show Bill and Ben his secret with the trucks. He explains to them that they have to work to a musical rhythm. But try as they might, Bill and Ben could not move the trucks the way Salty could. Later that day, The Fat Controller came to the quarry. He was surprised the job had been completed. Mavis tells The Fat Controller it was Salty who helped out the most. The Fat Controller tells Salty that he has a bigger job for him, Salty asks what kind of quarry he would be working in and The Fat Controller tells him he is working at Brendam Docks. This makes Salty very happy and he was telling stories again. Salty loves Brendam Docks. He gets more work done then any three engines and feels really useful. And only the trucks know his secrets.

Few points I would like to make

-Salty was an interesting character from the start- he has a love for the sea and loves to tell tales of the sea. Even though he didn't get to work beside the sea at the start, he still did the jobs that he was told to do. Salty got his wish at the end of the episode which was nice.

-Bill/Ben/Mavis- working at the quarry. Something I don't get is that Bill and Ben didn't want to work with Salty because he was a diesel but they were working with Mavis and she was a diesel.

-Salty's songs to the trucks- Salty: Yo-ho-ho and a bucket of prawns the tiller spins. Trucks: and the captain yawns.

This episode gets an 9/10