This collection features the classic Thomas the Tank Engine tales: Make Someone Happy, Percy's Chocolate Crunch, and Spills & Chills.
Make Someone Happy:
The tot-like tank engines are back on the tracks for another round of useful lessons cleverly disguised as adventures, narrated by Alec Baldwin. The half dozen five-minute stories that make up this episode include such conclusions as the fact that teasing can backfire ("A Big Surprise for Percy"), listening to rumors can lead to wrong impressions ("Thomas and the Rumors"), and it's hard to live up to one's bragging ("James and the Trouble with Trees"). In the title story, a complaining James gets the chance to help Mrs. Kindly (voiced in a comically strained falsetto by Baldwin) when her sister can't come to visit. Mrs. Kindly (and Baldwin's falsetto) returns in "Happy Ever After" for her daughter's wedding, as the engines provide a train-themed package of something old, new, borrowed and blue--yes, the last would be Thomas in streamers.
Percy's Chocolate Crunch:
As the title suggests, chocolate is involved in the main story's obligatory train crash. Because of a water shortage, Sir Topham Hatt's motto is "Usefulness before cleanliness," but when Bon Bon Percy plows through a factory wall and ends up doused in dessert topping, he earns himself a washdown. The other 5 stories involve Bill and Ben, the buffer brothers; self-important Gordon and his rivalry with Salty; Peter Sam losing two whistles; and resolving the question of who gets to transport the mouse-fearing opera singer Allicia Botti. The stories deal with the frequent "Thomas" theme of how jealousies, petty fights, and rivalries keep trains from working together.
Spills & Chills:
Thomas the Tank Engine fans will scarcely breathe as Thomas and friends encounter haunted mines, dangerous boulders with watchful eyes, ghost cars on moonlit nights, fog-shrouded scrap yards, and a ghostly figure protecting engines from unseen dangers. Thomas, Rusty, Toby, Duncan, Stepney, and Henry courageously face their fears to learn that many "ghosts" are just regular people (or trains) that appear frightening due to one's imagination. Annie, Clarabel, Lady Hatt, and Sir Topham Hatt teach viewers about the value of home and friendship in "Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday," and a music video, "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining," stresses the importance of goals, learning from mistakes, and the power of a smile. |