Thomas & Friends Season 22: Kangaroo Christmas + Overall

It's been a long, interesting ride when it comes to season 22. There have been good episodes, bad episodes, and everything in between, but now let's put this season to bed with Tim Bain's final contribution to the show (I presume), Kangaroo Christmas.

If there was one word I could use to describe this episode, here it is - nice. It really is sweet of Thomas to help the little girl get her toy kangaroo back after a bit of mistaken identity, and it makes the ending feel satisfying. Plus it's funny how her parents reacted to her wanting a real kangaroo next Christmas.

There are a couple of problems; for one, how would it be Thomas' first Christmas without now if we consider that Daisy's Perfect Christmas didn't have snow? Maybe if he said it was his first Christmas in summer, that would've made sense. The second problem doesn't affect the episode's enjoyment factor, but it would be nice to see Thomas being pleased at not wearing a snowplough during Christmas.

But despite those issues, I still think it's a lovely episode and a good way to end the Australia saga.

Episode Rating: Good

Season 22 has been... interesting, to say the least. A lot of people are saying that it's the start of another dark age for Thomas, but I don't really think that's the case - at least, not right now. This is only the first season of the revamp, so I don't want to judge the current state of the show based off of one season. However, I can say that the series does need direction; the Sodor stories are overall pretty solid (barring Apology Impossible), but the international stories? They're hit or miss at best, and out of place at worst.

I mean, the show feels like it's trying to be two things at once; traditional Thomas and seeing Thomas go around the world. It's hard to explain, but it feels like both and yet feels like neither all at once. The most likely explanation is how the season aired by mixing international and Sodor stories together, making the whole thing feel confused. Here is what I suggest to Mattel if they continue using the format for season 23 onward:

1. Remove the Thomas bits before and after the episode. Put simply, they're redundant and end up either forcing a message down the throat or teach a lesson completely unrelated to the episode. If you want to engage kids, make sure we cut straight to the actual episode after the intro plays, and then to the ending song when it ends!
2. The elimination of Narrator Thomas. Do we really need a narrator anymore? The visuals can tell the story for the audience, and as we've seen with episodes like Forever and Ever and What Rebecca Does, as well as Big World! Big Adventures!, they didn't need a narrator to tell the story for us. It may have worked for the model era since the narrator was explaining to the audience what was happening, but since the show switch to CGI, the narrator's role has been reduced greatly (especially since season 17), and we don't hear a narrator in CGI episodes of Fireman Sam, do we?
3. Separate the international and Sodor based stories. If the international episodes were their own thing, I wouldn't have a problem with that, but mixing them with Sodor stories, again, would just make things confusing. Even if a season is only thirteen episodes long, it'll at least feel consistent.
4. Better handling of the international characters. For every Shane who's given some personality, there's an Ashima who turns up bland as bread. More often than not, they're constantly shoved aside in favor of Thomas who constantly hogs the spotlight. If, for example, I was rewriting Thomas Goes to Bollywood, I'd give Rajiv the lead role, wanting to be in the movie and ends up getting his wish, but not in the way he wanted. Not only that, if they're trying to push a female agenda, ironically, they're failing at that since the likes of Noor Jehan and Tamika are barely given much of a chance to shine.
5. Don't put culture before story. This is a must; more often than not, international culture is put into the forefront, and any story we get in the episodes comes off as paper thin or nonexistent. If you look at episodes like Runaway Truck and Kangaroo Christmas, they manage to do a good job of blending culture into the story very well; why can't all international episodes come off like that?
6. Hire writers from other countries to write for their own countries. They got Tim Bain, an Aussie, to write for the Australia-centric stories. The China and India-based stories were written by Davey Moore and Becky Overton, respectively, to varied results - mostly failure on Overton's part. What was wrong with hiring writers from China and India to write for episodes based in those countries? Like, is that a double standard on Mattel's end?
7. Don't force United Nations' goals down our throats. I can't stress this enough; this is why I feel the Thomas bit at Vicarstown after the episodes is pointless. Even if he's stating what the episode's message was meant to be, surely kids would know the message they just learned? United Nations, I understand, have good intentions, but do agendas need to be forced into our faces? There's a reason that the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, The Last Jedi, and The Emoji Movie got backlash for forcing feminist messages. Rather than force it down our throats and post videos about them on YouTube, why not implement them more subtly in your stories like School of Duck with recycling? That'll work much better, and you won't get ripped a new one by angry conservatives.
8. Tone back the fantasy segments. There are episodes where these make sense like in Thomas and the Dragon, Forever and Ever, and perhaps the best usage being An Engine of Many Colors. Having fantasy segments once in a while is alright, but once every episode, it becomes annoying real fast. Not only that, they sometimes derail the pacing and come off as forced. If it doesn't add to the story, don't use a fantasy segment.

I know that it won't take a season to fix all of these problems, especially as the writing team (barring newbie Michael White, a.k.a. our very own WhitehouseFilms on YouTube) are getting used to writing for a shorter run time, but taking baby steps is still at least showing that they're listening to the criticisms.

What are my hopes for the future of Thomas and Friends? I don't know at this stage, but I think it could go either way; they can learn from their mistakes or keep repeating them. Season 22 is a "trial and error" season, much like season eight from 2004, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. At this point, I find season 22 is the least good of the Brenner era, but if you're in the mood for anything from 2018, I suggest sticking with Sodor.

Season 22 Rating: Okay
(The Sodor stories are generally great on their own, but it's the international stories and overall drawbacks that hold the season back for me.)