TTTE S15E4: Percy's New Friends

Happy New Year 2016! Yeah, it was a few days ago, but what the heck. Last year was quite a rough one for me, but hopefully, I'll be able to follow one of my New Year's resolutions - restrain my anger as much as I can. To kick off, we've got a bit of a doozy here!

(Yeah, no more disclaimer at the top; you can pretty much tell whose views they are by this point.)

Season 15, Episode 4

Percy's New Friends

Written by Gerard Foster

Oh boy, this one was a long time coming, and it's an episode I should've done a very long time ago. Why did I not get to this one earlier? There were a lot of episodes that were far worse than this, and then there's some that were bad in a unique way. With Percy's New Friends? The way this one is bad is because this was a definitive sign that enough was enough - it was time for a new writing team to take over the show. Let me describe the basic plot of this - Percy tries to make friends with animals... need I continue?

Well then, without further ado, let's tear this apart... in a restrained manner, of course. Is it really as bad as people say it is?

Percy arrives at Brendam Docks and is sad that no one wants to play with him. Seeing Cranky's friend the seagull, Percy decides to make some friends with animals. He comes across some in the woods - squirrels, rabbits, and birds - but every time he gets close to them, they scamper off, so eventually, Percy keeps quiet, and they ride on his running plate all the way to Tidmouth Sheds.

I wouldn't go far as to say the plot is stupid - far from it - it actually has a decent moral about taking care around animals, but if you ignore the problems I'm gonna mention below, the plot's incredibly boring. I mean, not as boring as Buzzy Bees, but it's kind of in the range.

Percy is very much viewed as an idiot in this episode; I get that he's meant to be a young engine, but they've taken that a step too far - wouldn't he know by now that animals get scared in the presence of an engine? Also, if he didn't have work to do, why couldn't he simply stay in the sheds? And why would he get startled easily by Gordon with the express? I can understand this in Percy Runs Away especially since he could've been killed had Gordon not stopped so quickly.

And then there's Thomas - his characterization is fine, but his role overall is pointless. He's just there because the story demands it. Not to mention that the animals would never have stayed with Percy the whole journey. They did this better with Luke's New Friend since the Blue Mountain Quarry wasn't used to the presence of animals, and Luke himself was actually young and naive.

On whole, to say Percy's New Friends is one of the worst would be an overstatement, but it's still quite bad; it's a decent idea for a plot, but it doesn't work for a show centered on talking trains. I will say, of course, it was one of the few episodes alongside Wonky Whistle and Fiery Flynn that caused the alarm bells to ring for the fandom; it was time to speak out and tell Hit about the problems with the show's current state.

Prior to writing up with review, I had received a comment about my season five overview of MLP - basically, the gist of what the person was saying is "aren't you shoving your own opinions in our faces and forcing us to hate what you review?" The answer is no; for one, not every review I write is negative, and two, when I do write negatively, it's a moment of concern or passion.

If something really bothers me and I can't ignore said problem, then I will get angry over it and explain why this doesn't work. I'd also read somewhere regarding my revised views on Crusaders of the Lost Mark that my views should be dismissed just because I said that Diamond Tiara's redemption was forced - I still stand by my stance, and just because you make her mother detestable, that does not bring Diamond Tiara back up, especially when you consider her actions in the episode's first half!

I'm not trying to say you should agree with me when I say something is crap, but you really should consider where the opposite side is coming from with their views, rather than calling them out for acting like - what you believe to be - a jerk.

Thomas and Friends Season 15 Scorecard

1. Gordon and Ferdinand: 2.5
2. Toby and Bash: 4
3. Emily and Dash: 3.5
4. Percy's New Friends: 2.5
6. James to the Rescue: 0.5

8. Up, Up and Away!: 0
9. Henry's Happy Coal: 5.5
10. Let it Snow: 1
11. Surprise, Surprise: 5
13. Stop That Bus!: 6

17. Wonky Whistle: -5
18. Percy the Snowman: 2.5
19. Tree Trouble: 1.5

20. Fiery Flynn: -8