Review of Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends: James And The Red Balloon

Introduction

This is another DVD featuring the adventures of the ever lovable Thomas The Tank Engine and friends, created by Rev. W. Awdry. The stories featured here are:-

James and the Red Balloon

Thomas and James fear that passengers will defect from the railroad to the hot air balloon, but must put aside their fears as the balloon drifts into trouble. Maybe the balloon rides will attract more people to the railways (there`s one for you to think about Network Rail!)

Twin Trouble

The engine twins Donald and Douglas always work together, but then they have a bit of a tiff and go off to work on separate jobs. But when one is in need, can his brother find it in his heart to help out?

Edward The Very Useful Engine

Edward is the subject of some age discrimination by the other engines, as they think he is over the hill. Unsurprisingly they soon have to eat their words when his help is needed to get them out of a problem.

The World`s Strongest Engine

A classic train showdown. Diesel comes in to cover some work after Henry breaks down. The steam trains don`t like Diesel as he is a big show off. Diesel thinks that steam trains are useless and should be scrapped. Do you think that both sides might have to forget about their differences in order to save the day?

Rusty Saves the Day

Rusty, Elizabeth, Rheneas and Skarloey (no, I didn`t just type random characters on the keyboard) have 2 weeks to repair their railway line (there`s another one for you to think about Network Rail!) or they`ll have to work in the quarry. Can they do it in time (hint: this is fiction, so the chances are better than real life).

Dunkin` Duncan

Duncan is a naughty engine who disobeys the rules. And if you disobey the rules on the railways, you get in to trouble.

Video

A full frame transfer as you might expect from a TV series. And it`s an NTSC one at that, with this being a region 1 disc. Luckily it doesn`t really matter that much as the imagery on display is all pretty simple and clean. So all perfectly watchable.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is perfectly adequate and enables you to hear everything that`s going on. That`s the good news.

The bad news is that this is Thomas for the US market. And it`s been re-voiced. No longer do we get the delightful tones of Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr. No, instead we have to suffer Alexander Rae Baldwin III aka Alec Baldwin. This is a total travesty. Thomas is a British show, Ringo is Thomas and the whole idea of replacing him with an American is just morally wrong.

Features

Some extras for your entertainment can be found in the "Fun and Games Shed".

James` connect the dot fun - join the dots using your remote.

Sir Topham Hatt`s word fun - match the word to the picture.

Which island picture is different - spot the odd one out.

Conclusion

There`s also a song to sing along to, as well as the address of the Thomas web site.

A total travesty. Replacing Ringo Starr was bad enough. But at least he was replaced (in the UK version) by Michael Angelis, which gave some continuity. But replacing the lilting scouse narration with the less than dulcit tones of Alec Baldwin is just criminal.

The stories themselves are just standard Thomas fare. But then there`s Alec Baldwin.

Look, I`m sure he`s a real nice guy and all that, but Thomas the Tank Engine is narrated by Ringo Starr. End of story. I liked Baldwin`s narration of The Royal Tenenbaums, but this is Thomas The Tank Engine!

Technically this DVD is fine, and there are a few extras for some added entertainment. But please, just this once, Buy British and don`t buy Thomas The Tank Engine narrated by Alec Baldwin.