In my reviews for the Thomas movies up to Tale of the Brave, I personally ranked Day of the Diesels as my personal worst, which, I imagine, confused some people. Now, I'm going to elaborate on why I think so.
People hate on Thomas and the Magic Railroad. They also hate on Calling All Engines, and especially Misty Island Rescue. While Magic Railroad is debatable among the Thomas fanbase, and Calling All Engines gets the flack it doesn't deserve which I'll get to in a future review, but Misty Island Rescue cannot be denied. As for Day of the Diesels, I'm giving a more abstract opinion and I hate it more based on what it represents, not the overall production and story-lining.
The movie starts off with Thomas puffing across Sodor to a pointless, narrative monologue. This is a minute's worth of boring filler that has nothing to do with the rest of the special. Then Thomas sees some smoke and finds Percy helping firemen with a burning warehouse, and we're ripping off Thomas, Percy and Old Slowcoach. Yes, there wasn't a full explanation in the season five episode, but it did explain why the firemen used Thomas and Percy's water - James' oil tanker fire used up all of THEIR water! Then Belle comes in to save the day in an extremely convoluted manner from out of nowhere. I do like Belle, but please, explain where a character comes from if you're introducing them! Oh wait, this is the Nitrogen era where characters appear just for merchandising, I understand.
The fire is put out, but Belle is out of water so Thomas and Percy help, even if they said minutes ago they were low on water! Also, who is taking Percy's mail train? All it would've taken is that some other engine is taking the mail in his place! It might not be needed, but at least it wouldn't have been a plot hole! That's another problem with the movie; it has plot holes throughout. We're not even ten minutes in, and there's a bunch of problems already!
Soon, the Fat Controller arranges to bring Flynn to Sodor, and Thomas shows Belle around, when BOTH should be doing their work! This leaves Percy sad and alone, and Diesel takes advantage of this. Out of the characters, he was one of the few who was close to his original personality, but that's one of the few positives I can draw from this Great Discovery rip-off. Yes, Percy is in Thomas' wheels, who doesn't seem to give a damn about how his best friend is feeling! Oh, and it gets worst when he tells Belle, who had a positive interaction with Diesel, the movie's most infamous line:
Wow. I mean, wow. That is like saying sponges are superior to starfish because they have powers that starfish don't! Saying that ALL diesels are bad to someone who was friendly with the first she just met would be incredibly insulting to the likes of Mavis, Salty and Rusty! I'm not over-thinking it; that is RACISM being spewed out! Do we want kids to imitate that crap?! Again, I find this movie the worst if we consider the actions and behaviors of the steam engines in Diesel's Special Delivery, Tree Trouble, Misty Island Rescue, and Bust My Buffers. If racism is being displayed, that is when action MUST be taken!
Anyway, Diesel tells Percy, who is taking the mail, that Thomas may not have time for Percy anymore, and the next day, when Percy is sent to deliver Flynn's hose to the Search and Rescue Center, Diesel then suggests that he go to the Dieselworks, as his friend would be glad of his company. After meeting with Thomas and Belle again, Percy once again feels ignored and heads off to the Dieselworks. Another issue here; Percy is being incredibly mopey and whiny for attention. That's a great moral for kids(!) Also, Diesel's role afterward was pointless.
Percy arrives at the Dieselworks where he meets Diesel 10, who says it's been a long time. We can see that the Dieselworks is rundown, and yet Thomas called all of them - yes, ALL diesels - devious?! This really enrages me so, because it represents a homeless shelter, and the diesels appear to be homeless! This is an insult to the homeless people behind their backs! We should be helping them, and not treating them like they're scum. I say this because a man in Florida got arrested just for feeding the homeless! This is just stupid; you can insult the homeless behind their backs and get away scot-free, but feed the homeless, and your ass is grass!
Anyway, we get cameos from diesels who do nothing for the next couple of years, and Percy is slowly manipulated by the diesels to help them. Percy remembers his job, but Diesel 10 sends in Dart to deliver the hoses. After Mavis and Salty arrive, Percy offers to tell the Fat Controller about the Dieselworks, since apparently, he only listens to steam engines. Wait, what?! Why would the Fat Controller also discriminate against the diesels? Doesn't he trust the likes of BoCo or Bear? Oh, wait, they haven't appeared in years...
Meanwhile, Flynn arrives on Sodor, and Percy once again feels left out, and becomes even more mopey than usual. Honestly, why can he not tell the Fat Controller himself?! Barring that, if you removed the pointlessness I mentioned earlier, the movie would've been over in nine minutes, tops! But no, we gotta pad it out to a full hour. Great(!)
Diesel 10 then further manipulates Percy to have him tell the Fat Controller about the diesels needing a crane. Percy finds Kevin at the Steamworks, who is willing to go to the Dieselworks. Once again, pointlessness with Thomas telling Percy about Flynn's hose and ignoring Percy later. Later at Tidmouth Sheds, Percy sees Flynn in his berth, which is another connection to The Great Discovery. I mean, really? Ripping off a good special? Miller, you can write better than that!
Then again, maybe not, but I expect you to at least try! Is it that too much to ask for?!
Percy then brings (also known as cranenapping) Kevin to the Dieselworks, who then sets to work in helping tidying up. The next day, Gordon tells the engines that Kevin is missing, and when Percy reveals where Kevin is, he tells the others that the Dieselworks needs restoration. Victor leaves to tell the Fat Controller (despite being narrow gauge), while Thomas goes to the Dieselworks to fetch Kevin. That's where Diesel 10 reveals they're taking over the Steamworks. Wait, how do you go from one plan to the next? The shuts and cuts are fairly obvious in the movie, and what was the point of manipulating Percy just to take over the Steamworks?! If I talk about all the plotholes, we're gonna be here all day!
Thomas arrives at the Dieselworks, and then he and Kevin are taken hostage by Den and Dart while Percy leads the diesels to the Steamworks. At this point, you're supposed to be rooting for Thomas when he's captured - I'm certainly not considering his racism to the diesels and his ignorance by ignoring the engine who's supposed to be his best friend! Think of Demolition Doofus where Mrs. Puff attempts to get SpongeBob murdered, and yet he comes out on top in the end!
After following the map of the NWR - for once - Percy and the diesels are at the Steamworks where the diesels cause havoc and make a mess. After the racism displayed against the diesels, it's cathartic. Here, they're trying to get me to believe that the steam engines in Misty Island Rescue, Tree Trouble, Diesel's Special Delivery, and Bust My Buffers are the good guys, and the diesels in those episodes (and movie) as the bad guys. NO. You can't do that! You can't have two different things happening at once! In one scene, you're rooting for the steam engines, and in the next, you're against them! Yeah, the movie is just a bunch of subplots glued buffer to buffer. Plus, someone who is discriminatory by lumping everyone into the same category and hypocritical by helping those he's bullying is considered the bad guy; and no, I'm not condoning spreading lies to get even with someone, but at least Diesel had motivation to tell lies about Duck! In here, the diesels had no motivation to rebel against the steam engines other than to make Percy feel special!
Speaking of whom, he goes to rescue Thomas, only to find the Dieselworks is on fire, so he goes to find Belle and Flynn, but he still hasn't got his hoses. They race to the Dieselworks where the hoses have been hidden, and Thomas and Kevin are freed. Honestly, why are the hoses hidden there? As Belle and Flynn fight the fires, Thomas and Percy get the rest of the Steam Team to lead them to the Dieselworks. Seriously, what is the point of leaving everyone until the last few minutes of this pathetic excuse of a special? They confront the diesels only to be stopped by the Fat Controller.
He scolds Diesel 10 - who I actually felt sorry for, but his scolding was deserved to some extent - and when Thomas, Percy and Kevin explain why, the Fat Controller announces that the Dieselworks will be restored. No, it doesn't make things better, it makes things worse because Thomas made a racist comment against the diesels, and he gets away with it! Plus, him helping the diesels was VERY hypocritical when you consider that one line of dialogue! Eventually the work is done, and we get another infamous comment that none of the Fat Controller's engines are ever forgotten. Why don't you tell that to BoCo and Daisy, huh?! Also, why Thomas didn't apologize to Percy for ignoring him?
Day of the Diesels is simply terrible in every category - for one, Thomas has no consequences for his actions (very much like SpongeBob in A Pal for Gary and Demolition Doofus), and he was a racist, hypocritical prick for mocking the homeless - in this case the diesels! This was definitley his worst role for being a jerk! (Wonky Whistle is the worst he's done in the idiot category, for the record.) If you're a fan of Thomas as a character, stick with the first five seasons (possibly S6-8 as well, if you look at it in the correct light) as well as season 17 onwards. At least in those episodes, he wasn't flip-flopping between being an insufferable jerk or an unbearable idiot. Also, Percy is just a mopey, whiny idiot, the diesels have done next to nothing wrong, the plot is a jumbled trainwreck, there's too much boring filler, three themes are shown in appalling ways, a lot of characters were pointless, and the implications are just abhorrent! In short, it was the Thomas version of a SpongeBob ratings trap.
Why do I issues like racism and hypocrisy very seriously? Well, answer that to my reviews of Dragon Quest and Ponyville Confidential, even if they told their own stories! I still can't get past how horribly botched up they were; Dragon Quest very much tells me that you're only a true dragon if you're grown up, likewise in James to the Rescue where Toby is discriminated for not being a "normal" steam engine, and in Ponyville Confidential, the townsfolk got no consequences for treating the Cutie Mark Crusaders like pariahs, and also, Cheerilee did nothing until the last minute, making the entire episode contrived! It's a similar case in Duck and the Slip Coaches (yes, I'm going there again) where Emily was kicked out of Tidmouth Sheds for no reason, and with Pinkie Pie's characterization in Filli Vanilli. What I'm trying to say here is that if you don't proofread these little moments, it's going to have disastrous results.
So yes, everything about Day of the Diesels just makes me angry, and when you consider what I've pointed out, it's the worst movie based on what it tells - period! For me, Tale of the Brave and The Missing Christmas Decorations were both that movie done right. You can say what you want about Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but at least everyone was in character because even then, Britt understood the characters! Say what you like about the interactive segments to Calling All Engines, but they did at least move the story along! As for Misty Island Rescue? Well, at least it told a more-or-less complete, original story, but not without filler. No, I don't hate watching Day of the Diesels the most - there's episodes I hate watching more, Fiery Flynn and Wonky Whistle being two prime examples. On whole, Day of the Diesels... just sucks.
The movie starts off with Thomas puffing across Sodor to a pointless, narrative monologue. This is a minute's worth of boring filler that has nothing to do with the rest of the special. Then Thomas sees some smoke and finds Percy helping firemen with a burning warehouse, and we're ripping off Thomas, Percy and Old Slowcoach. Yes, there wasn't a full explanation in the season five episode, but it did explain why the firemen used Thomas and Percy's water - James' oil tanker fire used up all of THEIR water! Then Belle comes in to save the day in an extremely convoluted manner from out of nowhere. I do like Belle, but please, explain where a character comes from if you're introducing them! Oh wait, this is the Nitrogen era where characters appear just for merchandising, I understand.
The fire is put out, but Belle is out of water so Thomas and Percy help, even if they said minutes ago they were low on water! Also, who is taking Percy's mail train? All it would've taken is that some other engine is taking the mail in his place! It might not be needed, but at least it wouldn't have been a plot hole! That's another problem with the movie; it has plot holes throughout. We're not even ten minutes in, and there's a bunch of problems already!
Soon, the Fat Controller arranges to bring Flynn to Sodor, and Thomas shows Belle around, when BOTH should be doing their work! This leaves Percy sad and alone, and Diesel takes advantage of this. Out of the characters, he was one of the few who was close to his original personality, but that's one of the few positives I can draw from this Great Discovery rip-off. Yes, Percy is in Thomas' wheels, who doesn't seem to give a damn about how his best friend is feeling! Oh, and it gets worst when he tells Belle, who had a positive interaction with Diesel, the movie's most infamous line:
"Sodor steamies don't go to the Dieselworks. It's dark, and it's dirty, and it's full of diesels. Diesels can be devious."
Wow. I mean, wow. That is like saying sponges are superior to starfish because they have powers that starfish don't! Saying that ALL diesels are bad to someone who was friendly with the first she just met would be incredibly insulting to the likes of Mavis, Salty and Rusty! I'm not over-thinking it; that is RACISM being spewed out! Do we want kids to imitate that crap?! Again, I find this movie the worst if we consider the actions and behaviors of the steam engines in Diesel's Special Delivery, Tree Trouble, Misty Island Rescue, and Bust My Buffers. If racism is being displayed, that is when action MUST be taken!
Anyway, Diesel tells Percy, who is taking the mail, that Thomas may not have time for Percy anymore, and the next day, when Percy is sent to deliver Flynn's hose to the Search and Rescue Center, Diesel then suggests that he go to the Dieselworks, as his friend would be glad of his company. After meeting with Thomas and Belle again, Percy once again feels ignored and heads off to the Dieselworks. Another issue here; Percy is being incredibly mopey and whiny for attention. That's a great moral for kids(!) Also, Diesel's role afterward was pointless.
Percy arrives at the Dieselworks where he meets Diesel 10, who says it's been a long time. We can see that the Dieselworks is rundown, and yet Thomas called all of them - yes, ALL diesels - devious?! This really enrages me so, because it represents a homeless shelter, and the diesels appear to be homeless! This is an insult to the homeless people behind their backs! We should be helping them, and not treating them like they're scum. I say this because a man in Florida got arrested just for feeding the homeless! This is just stupid; you can insult the homeless behind their backs and get away scot-free, but feed the homeless, and your ass is grass!
Anyway, we get cameos from diesels who do nothing for the next couple of years, and Percy is slowly manipulated by the diesels to help them. Percy remembers his job, but Diesel 10 sends in Dart to deliver the hoses. After Mavis and Salty arrive, Percy offers to tell the Fat Controller about the Dieselworks, since apparently, he only listens to steam engines. Wait, what?! Why would the Fat Controller also discriminate against the diesels? Doesn't he trust the likes of BoCo or Bear? Oh, wait, they haven't appeared in years...
Meanwhile, Flynn arrives on Sodor, and Percy once again feels left out, and becomes even more mopey than usual. Honestly, why can he not tell the Fat Controller himself?! Barring that, if you removed the pointlessness I mentioned earlier, the movie would've been over in nine minutes, tops! But no, we gotta pad it out to a full hour. Great(!)
Diesel 10 then further manipulates Percy to have him tell the Fat Controller about the diesels needing a crane. Percy finds Kevin at the Steamworks, who is willing to go to the Dieselworks. Once again, pointlessness with Thomas telling Percy about Flynn's hose and ignoring Percy later. Later at Tidmouth Sheds, Percy sees Flynn in his berth, which is another connection to The Great Discovery. I mean, really? Ripping off a good special? Miller, you can write better than that!
"You are a steam tram! Steam trams can't be rescue engines!"
Then again, maybe not, but I expect you to at least try! Is it that too much to ask for?!
Percy then brings (also known as cranenapping) Kevin to the Dieselworks, who then sets to work in helping tidying up. The next day, Gordon tells the engines that Kevin is missing, and when Percy reveals where Kevin is, he tells the others that the Dieselworks needs restoration. Victor leaves to tell the Fat Controller (despite being narrow gauge), while Thomas goes to the Dieselworks to fetch Kevin. That's where Diesel 10 reveals they're taking over the Steamworks. Wait, how do you go from one plan to the next? The shuts and cuts are fairly obvious in the movie, and what was the point of manipulating Percy just to take over the Steamworks?! If I talk about all the plotholes, we're gonna be here all day!
Thomas arrives at the Dieselworks, and then he and Kevin are taken hostage by Den and Dart while Percy leads the diesels to the Steamworks. At this point, you're supposed to be rooting for Thomas when he's captured - I'm certainly not considering his racism to the diesels and his ignorance by ignoring the engine who's supposed to be his best friend! Think of Demolition Doofus where Mrs. Puff attempts to get SpongeBob murdered, and yet he comes out on top in the end!
After following the map of the NWR - for once - Percy and the diesels are at the Steamworks where the diesels cause havoc and make a mess. After the racism displayed against the diesels, it's cathartic. Here, they're trying to get me to believe that the steam engines in Misty Island Rescue, Tree Trouble, Diesel's Special Delivery, and Bust My Buffers are the good guys, and the diesels in those episodes (and movie) as the bad guys. NO. You can't do that! You can't have two different things happening at once! In one scene, you're rooting for the steam engines, and in the next, you're against them! Yeah, the movie is just a bunch of subplots glued buffer to buffer. Plus, someone who is discriminatory by lumping everyone into the same category and hypocritical by helping those he's bullying is considered the bad guy; and no, I'm not condoning spreading lies to get even with someone, but at least Diesel had motivation to tell lies about Duck! In here, the diesels had no motivation to rebel against the steam engines other than to make Percy feel special!
Speaking of whom, he goes to rescue Thomas, only to find the Dieselworks is on fire, so he goes to find Belle and Flynn, but he still hasn't got his hoses. They race to the Dieselworks where the hoses have been hidden, and Thomas and Kevin are freed. Honestly, why are the hoses hidden there? As Belle and Flynn fight the fires, Thomas and Percy get the rest of the Steam Team to lead them to the Dieselworks. Seriously, what is the point of leaving everyone until the last few minutes of this pathetic excuse of a special? They confront the diesels only to be stopped by the Fat Controller.
He scolds Diesel 10 - who I actually felt sorry for, but his scolding was deserved to some extent - and when Thomas, Percy and Kevin explain why, the Fat Controller announces that the Dieselworks will be restored. No, it doesn't make things better, it makes things worse because Thomas made a racist comment against the diesels, and he gets away with it! Plus, him helping the diesels was VERY hypocritical when you consider that one line of dialogue! Eventually the work is done, and we get another infamous comment that none of the Fat Controller's engines are ever forgotten. Why don't you tell that to BoCo and Daisy, huh?! Also, why Thomas didn't apologize to Percy for ignoring him?
Day of the Diesels is simply terrible in every category - for one, Thomas has no consequences for his actions (very much like SpongeBob in A Pal for Gary and Demolition Doofus), and he was a racist, hypocritical prick for mocking the homeless - in this case the diesels! This was definitley his worst role for being a jerk! (Wonky Whistle is the worst he's done in the idiot category, for the record.) If you're a fan of Thomas as a character, stick with the first five seasons (possibly S6-8 as well, if you look at it in the correct light) as well as season 17 onwards. At least in those episodes, he wasn't flip-flopping between being an insufferable jerk or an unbearable idiot. Also, Percy is just a mopey, whiny idiot, the diesels have done next to nothing wrong, the plot is a jumbled trainwreck, there's too much boring filler, three themes are shown in appalling ways, a lot of characters were pointless, and the implications are just abhorrent! In short, it was the Thomas version of a SpongeBob ratings trap.
Why do I issues like racism and hypocrisy very seriously? Well, answer that to my reviews of Dragon Quest and Ponyville Confidential, even if they told their own stories! I still can't get past how horribly botched up they were; Dragon Quest very much tells me that you're only a true dragon if you're grown up, likewise in James to the Rescue where Toby is discriminated for not being a "normal" steam engine, and in Ponyville Confidential, the townsfolk got no consequences for treating the Cutie Mark Crusaders like pariahs, and also, Cheerilee did nothing until the last minute, making the entire episode contrived! It's a similar case in Duck and the Slip Coaches (yes, I'm going there again) where Emily was kicked out of Tidmouth Sheds for no reason, and with Pinkie Pie's characterization in Filli Vanilli. What I'm trying to say here is that if you don't proofread these little moments, it's going to have disastrous results.
So yes, everything about Day of the Diesels just makes me angry, and when you consider what I've pointed out, it's the worst movie based on what it tells - period! For me, Tale of the Brave and The Missing Christmas Decorations were both that movie done right. You can say what you want about Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but at least everyone was in character because even then, Britt understood the characters! Say what you like about the interactive segments to Calling All Engines, but they did at least move the story along! As for Misty Island Rescue? Well, at least it told a more-or-less complete, original story, but not without filler. No, I don't hate watching Day of the Diesels the most - there's episodes I hate watching more, Fiery Flynn and Wonky Whistle being two prime examples. On whole, Day of the Diesels... just sucks.
For me, Day of the Diesels is pretty much the worst TTTE special ever, with very few positives.
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