Where's where?

Monday, June 29, 2015

TUGS: Sunshine

Oh, this was a long time coming. Finally, I can get to review the episodes for Thomas' short-lived sister show, TUGS. What better place to start off than the episode which began it all?

THE OPINIONS, THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS IN THIS BLOG POST ARE SOLELY THOSE OF ZACK WANZER, AND NO ONE ELSE'S

Sunshine
Written by Gloria Tors
Directed by David Mitton

We begin in the 1920s, and we're introduced to the Star Fleet run by Captain Star with his six tugboats - his harbor tugs O.J. (#3), Warrior (#5), and Big Mac (#2), his railway tug Top Hat (#4), his switcher Ten Cents (#1), and his ocean-going tug Hercules (#6). I know what you're thinking; why isn't Sunshine mentioned? Well, if they had mentioned him in the prologue, it could've spoiled the ending of the episode, but more on that later.

At dawn, Captain Star tells his fleet that he's charted an Up River tug called Sunshine to help with the extra workload and assigns Ten Cents to work with him. The captain adds that the ocean liner the Duchess is coming this afternoon and puts O.J. in charge of the operation whilst Big Mac leads the Duchess and Top Hat and Warrior assist on the side push. Meanwhile, their rival fleet the Z-Stacks (that's Zed-Stacks, by the way) - Zorran, Zebedee, Zak (not me), Zug, and Zip - led by Captain Zero plan to pinch the Duchess contract from the Star Fleet.

Later, Ten Cents is looking for Sunshine until the latter runs into him - quite literally, I should note! - and Ten Cents briefly explains to Sunshine on what's going on. Meanwhile, Zorran and Zak meet up with Izzy Gomez, who tells them that the Duchess has come in early, and the Z-Stacks report this to Captain Zero. Whilst Ten Cents and Sunshine deliver fuel for Sally Seaplane at Lucky's Yard, Ten Cents spots Zorran talking to Zip and Zug; they're plotting to get Big Mac stuck on a mudbank so they can steal the contract for themselves!

Warrior meets up with Izzy Gomez, and surprised by the tramper's news, he tells the other Star Tugs about it. Meanwhile, Zip and Zug succeed in tricking Big Mac, meaning the rest of the Star Fleet, with Sunshine's help, have to carry out in docking the Duchess without him. It's all going well, but Zorran goes for Plan B - get rid of Sunshine. So he rams against Sunshine's stern and he hits the Duchess' rudder, so Zorran can "help" the Star Fleet. Sunshine feels as though the accident was his fault, and Captain Zero is pleased with his fleet. Little did anyone notice that Izzy had seen everything...

The Star Fleet are cross with Sunshine for apparently ruining their chances with the Duchess' contract, but Ten Cents refuses to give up on him and goes out looking for him, but has a bit of difficulty with fog and Sunshine keeps evading him. Ten Cents does come across Lillie Lightship and Hercules, and later, Izzy Gomez, who reveals that Zorran was the one who pushed Sunshine into the Duchess' rudder.

Ten Cents returns to the Star Dock and tells the others that it was Zorran who caused Sunshine to run into the Duchess' rudder, and O.J. tells Big Mac, Top Hat, and Warrior to follow Ten Cents while the old paddle-steamer tells Captain Starr. They find Sunshine on a mudbank and apologize for accusing him for causing the accident. Oh, and Warrior remembers Izzy and goes off to give him a tow, which is pretty funny, by the way. Captain Zero is furious with his fleet now that they don't have the contract, but Captain Star forgives and welcomes Sunshine into the Star Fleet, and he becomes Star Tug #7.

A good first impression is very important for a new television series; if it does badly, then the show won't go very far. If it does very well, then the show might. For TUGS, Sunshine is accessible for anyone; it was fresh, unique, and it provided an introduction to what the show is about - two rival tugboat fleets competing for important contracts. Every story is unique in its own way, and Sunshine set up what the series would be like.

As for the rating, I'd say it's a very good 9/10 for me. The moral on jumping to conclusions was nicely handled for the eighteen and a half minutes of episode we got, although I don't really understand why they cut down five minutes worth of episode - if you cut out some of the important scenes, like Big Mac stuck on the mudbank, it's going to have plotholes and lead to some confusion! This won't affect my thoughts on any episodes are twenty minutes long, I just wanted to point that out.

Overall though, it's a great start to a very understated series.

Rating: 9 out of 10

TUGS Episode Scorecard
Sunshine: 9

No comments:

Post a Comment