Thomas The Tank Engine Review Seasons 1-21

Season 21

The twenty-first series of Thomas & Friends started airing on 18th September 2017. This would be the last season of the "original series" since season 22 to 24 would count as the reboot series for BWBA. Originally season 21 would have had 26 episodes but due to the delayed productions of the nineteenth and twentieth series after The Adventure Begins was fast-tracked into Arc Productions' Schedule, eight of the episodes were cancelled. (Thanks, BWBA). So, with that all out of the way, let's review all 18 episodes of season 21. The final season.

Springtime for Diesel

Diesel is always bumping into the other engines and finds it very funny. It is his way of saying hello, but none of the other engines find it funny whatsoever. One day at Arlesburgh, Diesel bumps into Daisy while she is getting ready for refuelling. Daisy crossly tells Diesel that the bumping could be bad for her swerves and springs, but Diesel just ignores her.

Out on the branch line, Daisy's springs give way, and she ends up slanting to one side. She carries on to the next Station to let her passengers off before heading to the Dieselworks. Meanwhile, Diesel bumps into Thomas before noticing Ryan passing by with Daisy on Judy and Jerome's flatbed. Thomas wonders what happened to her, but Diesel thinks Thomas is about to blame him for Daisy's accident and hurries away. At the Dieselworks, the workers cannot find the required parts to fix Daisy. Mavis tells 'Arry and Bert that Den and Dart say she may have to be scrapped, horrifying them. They tell Diesel, but he again thinks that they are blaming him. Later at a level crossing, Paxton arrives to tell Diesel about the rumours, but this time Diesel has had enough.

That night, Diesel comes to see Daisy at the Dieselworks. Thinking she is asleep; he apologises for bumping into her and tells her that he only treats the other engines badly because they treat him the same way and blame him for everything. Nonetheless, Diesel admits that he wishes he could do something to make everything alright again because he likes Daisy, but he resigns to the possibility that Daisy may never want to be his friend.

The following morning, Percy arrives with new spare parts from the mainland, including spare springs for Daisy, and the workmen fix her up in no time. As she's about to leave for work, Diesel arrives, anxious about her state. She tells him that if he wants the other engines to be friends with him, he has to change his ways. So that is just what Diesel does. Whenever he sees Daisy and Ryan on the Arlesburgh branch line, he wishes them a good morning and no longer bumps into them.

Few points I would like to make

- For people believing the fact that Diesel should have changed forever since he got a character ark in this episode, sometimes it's not that easy to change your ways. Diesel is friends with Daisy at the end of the episode and that friendship does play into the next episode. (That being "A Most Singular Engine"). I'm glad the writers didn't 100% made him good nor made him that bad either after this episode.

- Paxton has slowly had enough of Diesel's rudeness. Shows that even the kindest engines can get annoyed.

- The episode's title is a reference to Springtime for Hitler, a fictional musical in Mel Brooks' 1968 film The Producers. (what clever references the writers come up with)

- Nothing else to say about this episode so it gets an 8.5/10

A Most Singular Engine

One morning, Diesel is pulling a goods train on Ryan's branch line when he meets up with Daisy. He is glad to be working with another diesel, but Daisy insists that she is unique and that she is not the type of diesel that he is. Daisy continues boasting to the other engines that she does not need trucks or coaches, greatly annoying Diesel. When he hears Thomas and Percy talking about "a real one-of-a-kind engine," he tells them that he is sick of hearing about Daisy. However, Thomas was referring to Harvey, who is also one-of-a-kind because of his crane arm. Diesel, fed up with Daisy's boasting, decides to pay her back by creating tension between her and Harvey. He tells Harvey that Daisy has been saying she is more useful than Harvey with his crane and that she does not think Harvey can be useful too.