THE OPINIONS, THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS IN THIS BLOG POST ARE SOLELY THOSE OF ZACK WANZER, NOT THE THOMAS FANDOM IN GENERAL
Season 14, Episode 7
Diesel's Special Delivery
Written by Jessica Sandys Clarke
One market day, Diesel is taking a truck of slate (without a brakevan) to the school because the roof is broken and it will rain soon. He meets with James at Maithwaite where the children cheer the red engine because his special special is piglets he's taking to Farmer Trotter's farm. Okay, two things:
Diesel wants to get clapped at and cheered for like the steam engines do, so he asks Thomas to borrow his truck of apples, even though he's to take them to market. I wonder if he'd gotten over Thomas' comments in Misty Island Rescue by now? Anyway, Diesel leaves his slate behind and takes the apples for Thomas. Again, James is cheered for and Diesel ignored. Already, this concept is really making me angry and it should've been thought over BEFORE going into production! To be fair, this isn't the first time anti-diesel tones have been spewed after season eight, but I'll get to those soon enough.
Later, Diesel sees Rosie with a flatbed of flowers for market and offers to take them for her. He sees James at a crossing, and is once again ignored. After making "his" market deliveries, Diesel sees the livestock van of piglets at Farmer Trotters' farm and takes them to the school, but no children notice him since the roof is leaking. Then Thomas shows up with the Fat Controller, who scolds Diesel, who vows to make things right. Sadly, Diesel returns the pigs to Farmer Trotter's farm and delivers the slate; the roof is fixed and the children clap and cheer for him.
Talk about a cluster-puff! Diesel is far too much a goody two-shoes, James is racist to Diesel and gets no consequences for it, and the plot with wanting to be cheered for is - in the words of Rik Mayall from The Young Ones - "absolutely pathetic!" The episode could've worked in a few ways:
- Why are children at a railway station and not at school?
- Cheering for an engine because of piglets? Pathetic.
Diesel wants to get clapped at and cheered for like the steam engines do, so he asks Thomas to borrow his truck of apples, even though he's to take them to market. I wonder if he'd gotten over Thomas' comments in Misty Island Rescue by now? Anyway, Diesel leaves his slate behind and takes the apples for Thomas. Again, James is cheered for and Diesel ignored. Already, this concept is really making me angry and it should've been thought over BEFORE going into production! To be fair, this isn't the first time anti-diesel tones have been spewed after season eight, but I'll get to those soon enough.
Later, Diesel sees Rosie with a flatbed of flowers for market and offers to take them for her. He sees James at a crossing, and is once again ignored. After making "his" market deliveries, Diesel sees the livestock van of piglets at Farmer Trotters' farm and takes them to the school, but no children notice him since the roof is leaking. Then Thomas shows up with the Fat Controller, who scolds Diesel, who vows to make things right. Sadly, Diesel returns the pigs to Farmer Trotter's farm and delivers the slate; the roof is fixed and the children clap and cheer for him.
Talk about a cluster-puff! Diesel is far too much a goody two-shoes, James is racist to Diesel and gets no consequences for it, and the plot with wanting to be cheered for is - in the words of Rik Mayall from The Young Ones - "absolutely pathetic!" The episode could've worked in a few ways:
- Diesel pretends to have turned over a new leaf, and messes up the steam engines' jobs so they get the blame for messing up.
- If Diesel was made fun of for being lazy and he works hard to prove himself.
- If Diesel was closer to his more grumpy persona, and it'd be amusing to watch.
Or some other fourth plot; anything plausible would've been fine as long as the racism is removed! Yes, the racism presented throughout the Barlow/Miller era, especially in S14-16, as well as Misty Island Rescue and Day of the Diesels, is simply abhorrent. In the books, diesels were slowly emerging on British Railways and the Sudrian engines were fearful of what was to happen to them, but eventually, they were won over with good diesels like BoCo, Daisy, Mavis, and Bear. In this episode, and more to come, this was forgotten about and the steam engines are treated like the heroes and the diesels the villains. This doesn't work if the diesels are innocent and the steam engines are outright bullies! Because of the Steam Team concept, pretty much a lot of characters are left out, especially the diesels, and it spews so many unfortunate implications and makes children think that they're the best if they're "normal"! And considering what I've already reviewed, that's... yeah.
If you want to see Diesel show a good streak, I recommend Sodor: The Early Years episodes like Galloping Sausage, Search Engines, and Bad Apple, as well as Winds of Change. At least in this fan-series, Diesel showed some character development and sobered up, as well as in Thomas and the Evil Diesel. As for Diesel's Special Delivery, it is just infuriating to watch, and it grew from the spark ignited by Misty Island Rescue and grew into a big fire that led to the pile of crap that is Day of the Diesels. Considering that this episode and Thomas and the Snowman Party were both season 14 "scripts" by Jessica Sandys Clarke, why should anyone be surprised that both scripts are just plain awful?
Rating: 1 out of 10
Thomas & Friends Season 14 Scorecard (out of 10 possible points)
7. Diesel's Special Delivery: 1
17. O the Indignity: 3
17. O the Indignity: 3
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