My daughter has gotten into watching Thomas & Friends series for kids. It's actually pretty cool & accurate. Apparently the guy who wrote all the books started in the 1940s & was a huge rail enthusiast/advocate. You can really tell.
Sample of the show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buJfv5XdF4s)
They use real model trains & figures that adds to the effect. Although I noticed the newer episodes are all in CGI (not nearly as cool looking).
Big Fan!!...I can't tolerate most kid mush for more than 30 minutes, but Thomas is fun to watch.
The special effects and attention to detail are great (like white smoke when they are at rest or happy..changing to black when they are struggling)
Ringo Starr was the first Station Master..and George Carlin took a turn for a while.
Yea..CGI..(Yawn..)
I play the videos for the kids in my class...and yes, I end up watching it with them
The main message I get from the episodes Ive watched is universal...Watch each others backs and help everyone in your own capacity.
All the different types of Locomotives in the yard are kinda single purpose but find ways to always help each other out in their own way.
Now Cmon...Ock YOU HAVE TO WATCH THOMAS!!
Ock is going to be mad because Thomas isn't a train... they had it right with tank engine.
Quote from: Lunican on January 14, 2011, 10:22:45 PM
Ock is going to be mad because Thomas isn't a train... they had it right with tank engine.
True. I just used that because that's what most people know him as (hence the quotations). They always refer to them as "engines" on the show.
I do prefer the older ones from a couple years ago (where they use models instead of CGI, it seems more like playtime & using your imagination), but I do like the newer "Hero Of The Rails" episode. It's one single story & is more like a mini-movie. It's about Thomas discovering an old broken engine named Hiro (originally from Japan) on an abandoned rail line & he tries to fix him with spare parts.
I used to watch it when it was a part of Shining Time Station and Ringo Starr narrated.
http://www.youtube.com/v/smlNxr8cCuU?fs=1&hl=en_US
I agree, the models are definitely better than the CGI, but I guess the CGI is just easier for them to do now.
Quote from: Ernest Street on January 14, 2011, 10:13:28 PM
Now Cmon...Ock YOU HAVE TO WATCH THOMAS!!
ROFLMAO, Yes I've seen it and agree the models are wonderful, but I don't think I've ever watched an entire toon of it... 3 year old grandson loves it and anything else "train," I just can't figure out where he gets it?
Frankly, I have a confession to make... If I EVER turned on a TV hell would freeze over. I'll appeal to Stephendare and friends who visited my lair and now know WHY I never turn on a tube.
I'll bet NONE of you know Thomas is REAL!OCKLAWAHA
(http://www.freefoto.com/images/908/37/908_37_3548---Thomas-the-Tank-Engine_web.jpg)
Here he is on the narrow gauge Tweetsie Railroad in North Carolina.
(http://blogs.knoxnews.com/travel/Thomas%20The%20Tank%20Engine%20at%20Tweetsie.JPG)
OCKLAWAHA
Dastardly and Muttley for me. That and Top Cat were always my favorites.
Well Chris if we're talking back in the day mine were...
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Y9jlk7KvkBA/S_2ssyvjSBI/AAAAAAAABgM/nqt3d9oKh1I/s1600/popeye_68943.gif)
Hey, I'm the son of a son of a sailor...
(http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/tvradiomoosecov.jpg)
Even today (if you could find it) Bullwinkle is more adult political spoof then gags for kids... Oh and Lunican, I used to buy "Railroad" and "Trains" magazines for a quarter!
(http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/main/wp-content/uploads/ud_header.jpg)
I haven't got the faintest idea why except the music was epic motion picture good, it was cheap, more modern and silly as hell...
OCKLAWAHA