User:ThomasandMichael

"Got yourself in a bit of a jam, eh James? A sticky situation?"

- Percy, Percy, James and the Fruitful Day

Hello. My name is Mike Nicholson. You may know me as Rarityfan1992 on DeviantART, or Shining Luna Productions on YouTube.

I've been a fan of Thomas and Friends since I was young, and I still enjoy it today. :)

Why I Like Percy So Much
When I was young, Thomas and Percy were my favorite engines. I loved their friendship during the classic series, and I loved many episodes that featured them, either together or separately.

But as I got older, I started to like Thomas as a character a bit less. Was it due to too much exposure since the HIT Takeover? Was it because nearly every episode featuring him between Seasons 13-16 (and some of Seasons 9-12) portrayed him as a brain-dead idiot? I'm not really sure honestly.

Then, Andrew Brenner took charge in Season 17. Percy was featured prominently in two episodes: Percy's Lucky Day and The Missing Christmas Decorations, two episodes that I loved almost instantly, and still do today. Then, the following year brought us Tale of the Brave. I still love this special today, and find it unfairly underrated. And since the Brenner takeover, Percy has become my favorite character to this day.

On a side-note, I love the voice Christopher Ragland gave him. I think it really suits him. :)

Favorites, Least Favorites, and other opinions

 * Favorite Character: Percy
 * Despised Character: Hugo
 * Favorite Season: Season 2
 * Despised Season: Season 15
 * Most Overrated Character: Lady
 * Most Underrated Character: Lexi
 * Favorite Villain: Sailor John
 * Despised Villain: Vinnie
 * Favorite Episode: Ghost Train/Percy's Ghostly Trick
 * Despised Episode: The Way She Does It
 * Most Debatable Episode: Rusty and the Boulder
 * Favorite Song: Really Useful Engine (The Adventure Begins version; I like the other versions as well, but the one from TAB is the best)
 * Despised Song: Race with You
 * Favorite Special: The Adventure Begins
 * Despised Special: Day of the Diesels
 * Most Overrated Special: Thomas and the Great Railway Show: The Musical (my name for The Great Race)
 * Most Underrated Special: Tale of the Brave
 * Most Overrated Episode: James to the Rescue
 * Most Underrated Episode: A Shed for Edward
 * Most Overrated Season: Season 20
 * Most Underrated Season: Season 17
 * Favorite Location: Ffarquhar
 * Despised Location: Misty Island
 * Favorite English Narrator: George Carlin
 * Favorite Foreign Narrator: Manfred Steffen
 * Favorite Voice Actor: Keith Wickham
 * Despised English Narrator: Alec Baldwin (Season 6, his S5 narrations were alright)
 * Despised Foreign Narrator: Whoever narrated the Turkish dub in Season 3 (I don't know his name)
 * Despised Voice Actor: Ben Small
 * Most Overrated Narrator: Alec Baldwin
 * Most Underrated Narrator: Michael Brandon
 * Favorite TVS Writer: Helen Farrall
 * Despised Writers: Jessica Kedward and Kirsty Peart
 * Most Overrated Writer: Davey Moore
 * Most Underrated Writer: Lee Pressman
 * Favorite Railway Series Book: Thomas the Tank Engine
 * Least Favorite Railway Series Book: I don't have one
 * Favorite RWS Illustrator: C. Reginald Dalby
 * Favorite non-RWS Illustrator: Owen Bell
 * Despised Illustrator: Josie Yee
 * Favorite VHS Release: 10 Years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
 * Least Favorite VHS Release: Thomas' Trackside Tunes (don't dislike)
 * Favorite DVD Release: The Early Years
 * Despised DVD Release: Animals Aboard!
 * Favorite Merchandise: ERTL
 * Despised Merchandise: Wood

How I Rank the Seasons from Best to Worst
I'll add Season 22 after it airs.
 * 1) Season 2 (Let's face it - it's gonna take a lot to beat this season!)
 * 2) Season 1 (The place where it all began)
 * 3) Season 3 (This and the first two are quite nostalgic for me)
 * 4) Season 18 (Best season of the current Arc era)
 * 5) Season 17 (Rather underrated season if you ask me)
 * 6) Season 4 (Another good season from the classic era, despite a few inconsistencies within its timeline)
 * 7) Season 21 (I really don't get the amount of hate this season gets...)
 * 8) Season 7 (For the last season of the classic era, it's not bad)
 * 9) Season 20 (Still a pretty good season, even if it includes my most hated episode)
 * 10) Season 19 (Also pretty good, despite a few duds here and there)
 * 11) Season 8 (Another season that gets too much flak in my opinion)
 * 12) Season 5 (Not one of my favorites, but I still enjoyed it)
 * 13) Season 6 (The weakest of the classic series, but I think Angelis blew Baldwin out of the water)
 * 14) Season 11 (An average season with some of the best of the pre-CGI Hit era.  I will post my favorites this season soon)
 * 15) Season 12 (I like the combination of models and CGI, but the episodes weren't that impressive)
 * 16) Season 9/Season 10 (Tie; not too big on either of these seasons)
 * 17) Seasons 13, 14 and 16 (Tie; do I even need to explain?)
 * 18) Season 15 (No. I don't.)

My Favorite Episodes Featuring Each Character
More coming soon
 * Thomas: Thomas and the Breakdown Train
 * Edward: Edward's Exploit
 * Henry: Henry Gets the Express
 * Gordon: A Better View for Gordon
 * James: Dirty Objects
 * Percy: Ghost Train
 * Toby: Special Attraction
 * Duck: All at Sea
 * Donald and Douglas: Love Me Tender
 * Oliver: Escape
 * Emily: Best Engine Ever
 * Diesel: Pop Goes the Diesel
 * Daisy: Daisy's Perfect Christmas
 * Bill and Ben: Bill or Ben?
 * Stepney: Bowled Out
 * Salty: Away From the Sea
 * Harvey: Gone Fishing
 * Spencer: Gordon and Spencer
 * Whiff: Emily and the Garbage
 * Hiro: No More Mr. Nice Engine
 * Glynn: The Christmas Coffeepot
 * Ryan: The Missing Breakdown Train
 * Paxton: Disappearing Diesels
 * Samson: Samson at Your Service
 * Philip: Philip to the Rescue
 * Skarloey: Four Little Engines
 * Rheneas: Gallant Old Engine
 * Sir Handel: Steam Roller
 * Peter Sam: Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady
 * Rusty: Rusty Helps Peter Sam
 * Duncan: Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger
 * Duke: You Can't Win
 * Luke: Luke's New Friend
 * Millie: Runaway Engine
 * Bertie: Thomas and Bertie's Great Race
 * Terence: Terence Breaks the Ice
 * Harold: Letters to Santa
 * Trevor: A New Friend for Thomas
 * Skiff: Blown Away
 * Annie and Clarabel: Not So Slow Coaches
 * Toad: Toad and the Whale
 * Cranky: New Crane on the Dock
 * Sir Topham Hatt: Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday
 * Dowager Hatt: Dowager Hatt's Busy Day

TV Series

 * 1) George Carlin - My most favorite narrator. Plus I love the standup comedy he did for HBO. He will be truly missed.
 * 2) Ringo Starr - I love him as a musician, and his narrations were good too. I prefer his UK narrations as they sound more organic than his US re-narrations.
 * 3) Mark Moraghan - I think he makes the newer episodes very enjoyable.
 * 4) Michael Angelis - He was good in the classic series and other things. But after Season 7 (and in the Railway Stories), his narrations started going downhill.
 * 5) Michael Brandon - His narrations kinda grew on me, even if some the episodes haven't. In my opinion, this guy is average with a few good bits.
 * 6) Pierce Brosnan - He was alright, but he was a bit quiet in his narration for The Great Discovery.
 * 7) Alec Baldwin - He's a good actor, but I think he's one of the worst narrators I've ever heard.  While his Season 5 narrations were average at best, his Season 6 narrations were straight-up infuriating to listen to.

Railway Series/Other

 * 1) Johnny Morris/Willie Rushton - Both did a good job narrating the original Wilbert Awdry stories.
 * 2) Ben Forster - I thought he did great as Mr. Perkins.
 * 3) Ted Robbins - His narrations were okay, but not the best.
 * 4) Simon Prebble - He did a pretty good job narrating the stories Thomas Gets His Own Branch Line, Thomas and Toby and Thomas and the Castle.
 * 5) Ron Haddrick - He's pretty good. I like his narration for Henry Goes to the Hospital.
 * 6) Andrew Sachs - I like his narration for Thomas and the Dinosaur, but I'm not that big on some of his voices.
 * 7) Robin Smith - I think this guy is okay. Not great, but not terrible either.

Foreign Narrators
I am also a fan of the foreign dubs of Thomas and Friends. Here is a list of non-English narrators I like (from best to worst). Please note that this list isn't complete so I'm only listing narrators I have legit opinions on as of now.
 * 1) Manfred Steffen (German) - My favorite foreign narrator. I love his narrations from Seasons 1-5, as well as his narrations for the German audio drama CDs.
 * 2) Leo Morimoto (Japanese) - Who doesn't like the Japanese dubs?
 * 3) Zoltán Csankó (Hungarian) - I like the level of enthusiasm he gives the Hungarian dub.
 * 4) Erik de Zwart (Dutch) - I think he narrated the Dutch dub very well.
 * 5) John Ogwen (Welsh) - He doesn't do many character voices, but his narration for the Welsh dub is still quite good.
 * 6) Louise Raeder (Swedish) - Her narrations for Seasons 1-2 were pretty good.
 * 7) Alexei Borzunov (Russian) - He's pretty good. Someone once called him the Russian Michael Angelis, and I can see why.
 * 8) Angelo Maggi (Italian) - He does the narration for the Italian dub quite well, in my opinion.
 * 9) Aku Laitinen (Finnish) - He's a pretty good narrator, but again, not one of the best.
 * 10) Radovan Vaculík/Bohuslav Kalva (Czech) - Both are pretty good Czech narrators.
 * 11) Mykola Koziy (Ukrainian) - A very underrated narrator in my opinion. It's just the English track in the background for S1-4 that I find distracting.
 * 12) Sky du Mont (German) - He's not bad, but I prefer Manfred.
 * 13) Trine Lossius Borg (Norwegian) - The more superior of the two Norwegian narrators.
 * 14) Vladimir Jurc (Slovenian) - Not one of my favorite narrators, but he does do the Slovenian dub all right.
 * 15) Diego Brizzi (Spanish) - An okay narrator, but I'm not a huge fan of his Thomas voice; it sounds too goofy for my liking.
 * 16) Gérard Boucaron (French) - Eh, not a huge fan of this guy.
 * 17) Gro Solemdal (Norwegian) - I don't like her narrations very much.
 * 18) Stefan Knothe (Polish) - My least favorite foreign narrator that I've heard, but he doesn't anger me as much as Season 6 Baldwin or Thomas' UK voice from Seasons 13-18, which I truly hate with an absolute passion...)

Combined Narrators

 * 1) George Carlin
 * 2) Manfred Steffen
 * 3) Leo Morimoto
 * 4) Ringo Starr
 * 5) Mark Moraghan
 * 6) Michael Angelis
 * 7) Johnny Morris/Willie Rushton (tie)
 * 8) Ben Forster
 * 9) Zoltán Csankó
 * 10) Erik de Zwart
 * 11) John Ogwen
 * 12) Louise Raeder
 * 13) Ted Robbins
 * 14) Alexei Borzunov
 * 15) Angelo Maggi
 * 16) Aku Laitinen
 * 17) Simon Prebble
 * 18) Michael Brandon
 * 19) Radovan Vaculík/Bohuslav Kalva (tie)
 * 20) Mykola Koziy
 * 21) Sky du Mont
 * 22) Trine Lossius Borg
 * 23) Ron Haddrick
 * 24) Andrew Sachs
 * 25) Vladimir Jurc
 * 26) Diego Brizzi
 * 27) Robin Smith
 * 28) Pierce Brosnan
 * 29) Gérard Boucaron
 * 30) Gro Solemdal
 * 31) Stefan Knothe
 * 32) Alec Baldwin

My Favorite Voice Actor for Each Character
NOTE: These only apply to characters that have had more than one voice actor, and characters that have had more than one appearance.

Thomas

 * 1) Joseph May (US - TAB+)
 * 2) John Hasler (UK - TAB+)
 * 3) Martin Sherman (US - HOTR-S18)
 * 4) Eddie Glen (TATMR)
 * 5) Ben Small (UK - HOTR-S18; I hate this guy's voice so much!!!!)

James

 * 1) Rob Rackstraw (US - TAB+ / UK - JBS+)
 * 2) Keith Wickham (UK - HOTR-S20)
 * 3) Kerry Shale (US - HOTR-S18)
 * 4) Susan Roman (TATMR)

Percy

 * 1) Christopher Ragland (US - SLOTLT+)
 * 2) Martin Sherman (US - HOTR-S18)
 * 3) Nigel Pilkington (UK - S19+)
 * 4) Linda Ballantyne (TATMR)
 * 5) Keith Wickham (UK - HOTR-SLOTLT; no disrespect towards Keith)

Toby

 * 1) Colm Feore (TATMR)
 * 2) Rob Rackstraw (UK - S19+)
 * 3) William Hope (US - HOTR+)
 * 4) Ben Small (UK - HOTR-S18)

Other Characters
I will rank the others when I get the chance. But for right now, here's my list of the other voices I prefer for each character.
 * Edward - William Hope
 * Henry - Keith Wickham
 * Gordon - Kerry Shale
 * Donald - Rob Rackstraw
 * Emily - Jules de Jongh
 * Spencer - Matt Wilkinson
 * Rosie - Nicola Stapleton
 * Whiff - William Hope
 * Stanley - Rob Rackstraw
 * Charlie - Matt Wilkinson
 * Bash - Kerry Shale
 * Dash - William Hope
 * Ferdinand - Glenn Wrage
 * Scruff - Kerry Shale
 * Porter - David Menkin
 * Ryan - Steven Kynman
 * Diesel - Michael Brandon
 * Daisy - Tracy-Ann Oberman
 * Mavis - Teresa Gallagher
 * Iron Bert - William Hope
 * Diesel 10 - Neil Crone
 * Dart - Steven Kynman
 * Flynn - Rob Rackstraw
 * Rheneas - Ben Small (Ben's only good voice in the series)
 * Victor - David Bedella
 * Millie - Miranda Raison
 * Rocky - William Hope
 * Bertie - Keith Wickham
 * Trevor - Nigel Pilkington
 * Kevin - Kerry Shale
 * Harold - Kerry Shale
 * Cranky - Glenn Wrage
 * Butch - Steven Kynman
 * Jack - David Menkin
 * Max - Kerry Shale
 * Monty - Rob Rackstraw
 * Annie and Clarabel - Teresa Gallagher
 * Troublesome Trucks - Christopher Ragland
 * Sir Topham Hatt - Keith Wickham
 * Lady Hatt - Jules de Jongh
 * Mr. Percival - Kerry Shale
 * Stephen and Bridget Hatt - Teresa Gallagher
 * Farmer McColl - William Hope
 * Farmer Trotter - Kerry Shale
 * Mr. Bubbles - Keith Wickham
 * The Duke of Boxford - William Hope
 * The Duchess of Boxford - Jules de Jongh
 * The Mayor of Sodor - David Bedella

Movies/Specials I Like (from Greatest to Least)
I will add Big World! Big Adventures! when it comes out this fall.
 * 1) The Adventure Begins
 * 2) Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure
 * 3) Tale of the Brave
 * 4) King of the Railway
 * 5) Journey Beyond Sodor
 * 6) Blue Mountain Mystery
 * 7) The Great Discovery
 * 8) Hero of the Rails
 * 9) Thomas and the Magic Railroad
 * 10) Calling All Engines!
 * 11) Misty Island Rescue
 * 12) Thomas and the Great Railway Show: The Musical
 * 13) Day of the Diesels

My stance on the Too Much Thomas debate
Personally, I don't have a problem with Thomas appearing in nearly every episode (I said nearly because I've counted 48 episodes where he does not appear at all), especially when other shows are more guilty of this. Besides, he's been established as the main character since the beginning, so we have to expect him to turn up at some point, whether we like it or not.

If anything, I'm more concerned with how he's portrayed. Throughout the Brenner era, he's kept flip-flopping between a generic preschool protagonist and a cheeky immature brat. Can't they just pick one personality trait and stick with it? Or even find a middle ground between the two?

And what really gets me is that people complain about him appearing too much these days, yet don't complain about it in the classic era, when they were just as guilty of it back then! And don't tell me that he "didn't appear in every episode in the classic era"; he didn't appear in every episode of the Brenner era either. Don't believe me? Look at Luke's New Friend, The Switch, Duck in the Water, Duncan and the Grumpy Passenger, No Steam Without Coal, Toad's Bright Idea, Samson Sent for Scrap, or Runaway Engine.

Bottom line, if you're gonna tackle the "Too Much Thomas" debate, give it some thought and look at the show as a whole. Don't just pick one particular era and say that is better simply because Britt Allcroft made those seasons and they were made with models and not CGI. I love the classic series as much as the next guy, but even I can admit it's not perfect. I don't think there is any show that is "perfect." Even the original books had some loop holes...

And if you're gonna hate an episode because the main character appeared in it... just priorities. Think about your priorities in life. For your own good.

In the words of Dark Helmet, "Everybody got that?"

End of my rant.