Thomas the Tank Engine

In addition to "Dumbo The Flying Elephant," my son has recently come to love the "Thomas the Tank Engine" DVD's he received for Christmas. This series is an odd combination of still models and voice over: the trains' faces seem change and their eyes move, but there is no live action and we never actually see their faces move, only the results.

As I've come to watch these programs more frequently, I have some thinking about and analysis on this program that you will not find on the official "Thomas the Tank Engine" website, or likely anywhere else.

This is a guide for parents who are looking for a reason to confirm their inherent distrust of talking trains.

The Island of Sodor

The action takes place on the Island of Sodor, a fictional small island in the Irish sea. It seems reasonably non-descript, but seems to have an inexplicably bustling economy made up of tourism and industry. There's a rather sophisticated railway system for such a small place with trains taking a whole manner of goods all over the island. In fact, so much of the island seems to be covered in railway, it's hard to imagine how there could be any other industry.

The railway seems to be the largest of the industry, yet frequently the operations appear suspect, giving the impression the citizenry of the island have no or little choice in who they "get around."

Sir Toppam Hatt

Sir Hatt is the ego-centric director of the railway. He demands his trains demonstrate their value by being "really useful." They are apparently "really useful" when they're doing something that affects him positively - for instance, when the farmers' eggs break (it is unclear to this author where there would be a farm on this island) because Thomas is going too quickly and not listening, at the end of the day Hatt commends him for being "really useful" because afterall MOST of the eggs got to market okay and the ones that didn't were given to him.

He also uses the iron hand when he labels trains as having created "confusion and delay," whether or not they were actually at fault for such confusion and delay. Most often, this confusion and delay has negatively affected him in some way. If he's decided a train has created "confusion and delay" he has been known to punish that engine by assigning it to an undesirable run, regardless of the actual suitability of the engine for that given task.

He is, however, one of the few 'people' that actually seem to have something to do in the series. He also gets around the island in a car apparently driven by two other people, again suggesting that there is some pretty big money on Sodor - either that or the anthropomorphic trains have run so far amock that the only work available is to drive the railway director.

Thomas and the Other Engines

The engines are apparently in charge of their own operation - they do have "drivers" but it's not entirely clear what those drivers do, given the trains seem to have the ability to decide when to increase speed, let off steam, what line to ride, when to fill up with water, and a whole host of other curious attributes. These trains are exceedingly neurotic - engaging in a whole host of odd sorts of behaviors and peculiar concerns. They're overly concerned with the number of runs made, perhaps as a reflection of Toppam Hatt's over emphasis on avoiding "confusion and delay" and serving his whims.

Summary.

The "Thomas" stories are age appropriate for the 3 and up crowd, and they won't over stimulate your little one, but on the other hand, I can't watch these without thinking how completely odd the stories are. They're replete with neurotic protagonists, bizarre conflicts, and simply peculiar emphasis points.

If you're looking for a story to sedate junior, relax, pop this bad boy in the player and you're off to the races - or the train station as it were.