Thomas and Friends - Big World, Big Adventures: An Opinion Prior to Viewing

Thomas and Friends is a curious beast.

From 1984 to 2008, the show was produced with a giant model layout with a narrator telling all the stories of the predicaments and scrapes each character got into.

It's about a system called the North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor, off the coast of South England, where locomotives are alive just like people.

The first four seasons were made up of stories based on a book line called The Railway Series by Reverend Wilbert Awdry, some stories of which were inspired or based on true events.

In 2009, we saw the first major change in the overall look of the show when it was changed from model to CGI. 

Many fans didn't warm to it straight away but over time as Sharon Miller handed over her role of Series Producer to Andrew Brenner, the quality of story lifted.

Which is another interesting I have to point out now.

Thomas has a very eclectic appeal.

Most, if not all, of the engines are based off real-life locomotives who would have worked once upon a time somewhere in Great Britain and a lot of the places are based in the European region.

Naturally with such a life-likeness, it has an attraction from viewers or readers older than the targeted audience. 

This is down from the language used in the stories as the writers don't try to dumb down their viewers but to see them as intellects and the depth of detail that has been added. 

The older fandom, which I too am apart of, has been around since the birth of the stories.

It has been evident in the last five years that the care and attention to detail has increased with the harkening back to the book series, older characters younger audience members not mike know, subtle references and in-jokes. All things that are enough to satisfy the twenty something year old fan. 

We even had the face unveil of Big Mickey, a character from Thomas' sister show, TUGS, another reference only older fans would recognise. 

On the whole, the fanbase have been very pleased with a plethora of things.

However, a change in regime has put the stability of the fandom in flux. 

Thomas is facing another big change with the removal of the narrator after twenty one seasons, two major characters being put into the background rather than the forefront and a massive overhaul in the style of presentation.

From being confined and comfortable to the boundaries of the Island of Sodor, Thomas and his crew are being launched around the world to visit new uncharted territory.

Let me digress for a moment, I wrote stories when I was seven or eight about Thomas and a select few (probably Edward or James) travelling around the world.

When I heard about this, at first I was skeptical. I saw it coming.

But then I recalled these musings I had at my young age.

This is what the kids want - to see the character they are familiar with out of bounds where things are limitless. 

Dwelling more on this, I am excited for the change and to what the creative team do.

However a lot of fire has brewed among the fandom as they don't feel it is traditionalist enough.

Sure, the reality of Thomas' world has become a bit more malleable, but Andrew Brenner and the creative team behind the writing know how to treat the franchise righteously.

It is okay to be nervous about these things, because this is a format that our fandom has been so used to for so long, but I want to remind the fans that we should be thankful that this isn't a MAJOR change as we have seen with other well-known brands. 

The realism of Sodor is still there and the animation renders are looking better each season, but I think we should still have faith.

For all we know, they could drop another clanger on us like they have done over the last few years, Season 20 especially.

In my opinion, I am going to stick around and see what happens, merely for curiosity but I'm sure I'll enjoy it along the way too.

The story itself is still bound by the same roots and I think that's the important thing.