HiT Entertainment

HiT Entertainment is the current owner and producer of Thomas and Friends. They purchased Gullane Entertainment in 2003 and have since produced the new series format of Thomas episodes and merchandise. HiT first acquired the television rights for Thomas and Friends in 2003, during the airing of the sixth season, and the filming of the seventh. Since the eighth season, HiT's true first season, the company has been highly criticized by older Thomas fans for lack of railway realism, and episodes being based on education, instead of The Reverend W. Awdry's original meanings to have the stories be solely for entertainment.

VHS and DVD Releases

 * Percy's Chocolate Crunch and other Thomas Adventures (February 25, 2003)
 * James and the Red Balloon and other Thomas Adventures (July 22, 2003)
 * Thomas' Snowy Surprise and other Adventures (October 14, 2003)
 * Best of Gordon (February 3, 2004)
 * New Friends for Thomas and other Adventures (March 16, 2004)
 * Steamies vs. Diesels and other Thomas Adventures (May 18, 2004)
 * Thomas and the Jet Engine and other Adventures (July 20, 2004)
 * It's Great to be an Engine (September 21, 2004)
 * The Early Years (October 26, 2004)
 * Hooray for Thomas and other Adventures (January 25, 2005)
 * Thomas' Sodor Celebration (March 8, 2005)
 * Songs from the Station (May, 3 2005)
 * Percy Saves the Day and other Adventures (July 26, 2005)
 * Calling All Engines (September 6, 2005)
 * Thomas and the Really Brave Engines and other Adventures (February 7, 2006)
 * Track Stars (February 7, 2006)
 * Tales from the Tracks (May 23, 2006)
 * Thomas' Trusty Friends (August 22, 2006)
 * Thomas' Halloween Adventures (August 29, 2006)
 * Come Ride the Rails (September 12, 2006)
 * Milkshake Muddle (February 6, 2007)
 * On Site with Thomas (May 1, 2007)
 * Carnival Capers (August 7, 2007)
 * Thomas and the Toy Workshop (September 18, 2007)
 * Thomas and the Treasure (January 29, 2008)
 * Engines and Escapades (March 4, 2008)
 * The Great Discovery (September 9, 2008)

Criticism
Many fans believe that HiT Entertainment damaged Thomas and Friends on several grounds:
 * Replacing the melodious music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell with Robert Hartshorne and Ed Welch's un-catchy tunes.
 * Newer songs sung by kids differing from the styling of those from Seasons 1 through 7.
 * Changes in the persona's of several characters, most notably Edward, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Rheneas, Diesel, and Diesel 10.
 * The writing style of the series changing from entertainment with a moral, while kept fairly accurate to real railway operations, to an educational format.
 * Contradicting continuity, most notably with Henry needing special coal once more and Hiro being referred to as "the first engine on Sodor."
 * Transitioning from classic model animation to CGI.
 * Crashes that result in less violent effects than would be if in reality.
 * Additions of oddly configured trucks for tasks that would, in reality's railway operations, be handled by other types of rolling stock best suited for the task.
 * Storylines which do not seem to relate to that of what a real engine could endeavor. A notable example of this is Snow Tracks.
 * Stories commonly fixated on the Steam Team with older characters like Duck, Oliver, BoCo, Donald and Douglas and Duke, among others remaining absent, with some not appearing at all.
 * Less realistic rail operations.
 * Bizarre jobs being given to the engines.
 * New characters being introduced, possibly only for one episode, and then never appearing again. Suitable examples of this would be Hank, Dennis, and Billy.
 * Engines' crews only appear during closeups, and, in a way, let the engines tell them where to drive them. And if an engine gets into trouble, the engines are the ones who get blamed instead of the crews.
 * Making Characters Appear alot Less.Examples are:Duck,Oliver,Toad,Donald,Douglas,Stepney,Bill,Ben and Duke

External link

 * HiT Website