.. how we have been introduced to engines that only show up once or twice, and then we never see them again?I haven't seen the show in a while, but i don't think certain characters have reappeared, but for instance.... Dennis? Neville?Hector? ???
speculate amongst yourselves...
Isn't Molly another one? I maybe wrong, but I have barely seen any HiT episodes to know if it is true or not.
Thumper was another character back when Britt was the owner.
Many characters are just one-off. For example. (Some will be previously mentioned)
Billy
Hank
Flora
Dennis
Molly
Neville
Sidney
Scruff
and many more were introduced purely for merchandise and money.
As will many more I'm sure...
*Shiny Shiny!*
Bulgy, Sir Handel for several seasons, Duke, Smudger, Derek, Thumper, Boulder, Horrid Lorries, Tiger Moth, Old Slow Coach, D261, Bulstrode, Caroline and Bertram. Heck some HiT era characters have had more appearances than some of the engines listed above. Even Butch just sat around on the sets doing nothing except being there. Hey, go buy Butch! He's the.. random car with a face, but buy anyway!
Quote from: Calebtrain on February 08, 2012, 06:24:58 PM
Many characters are just one-off. For example. (Some will be previously mentioned)
Billy
Hank
Flora
Dennis
Molly
Neville
Sidney
Scruff
and many more were introduced purely for merchandise and money.
Scruff ain't one-off. He appeared in a few episodes and might have a chance in appearing in more.
Ohhh, I forgot about molly,I liked her, and Bulgy was an absolute favorite of mine. come to think of it, has anybody seen George
? And add Caroline to the list :(
I'd say dennis is easily a character for merchandise, along with molley, but she has made a good amount of cameos through the series. Bulgy made a come back, in a very clever way. I never thought they would've brought him back, and they gave him a happy ending with a lesson to learn.
D261... if you don't remeber, he insulted the engines quite a bit and almost made a passenger train late. The problem with him was his injector sucked up the inspector's hat, while this would be embarrassing on its own, the fact that he couldn't prove himself useful just made him look like a waste of time, explaining why he ran off at the end.
Derek had a similar problem. He had teething problems (THE DIESEL HAS A TOOTH ACHE?!). He could barely make it up Gorden's hill, running light! He did a good job with his train... till the hill and he probably blew something like the turbo, so he was sent home.
Bestrode really doesn't have a purpose anymore, he could possibly have a "second chance at life" like Bulgy had... but I don't think it'll happen. He had sunk, and heavy wagons dropping that far from the ground is going to do some serious damage. If you really wanted to have a "he's done for" scene, sir top hat can sink him for a marine reef project. (This is actually a common thing in NY & NJ)
Now an example of how NOT to end a character on the T&F series. Let's use Hank. He was sent to the island as a strong K4 american 4-6-2... good storyline for him. He likes to help... check. He helps Thomas in the end, all is happy and he never shows his face again! (As far as I know, I stopped at CGI) he litterly vanished, no cameos... no nothing. For all we know, he either went home, going through a major over haul, stuck in a shed.... or the great hand of modeling took him away to some place.
Now this last one is a good debate!
I never suspected much from hector, he wasn't like toad, where he was almost always assigned to one engine. He made his debut in hector the horrid and as far as I know, returned in the episode where james is taking coal. The story actually says they needed a lot of coal so they brought in hector. Think about it... brought in as an emergency extra because a town didn't have coal in the winter. I surely don't want to be using a huge hopper then need it for such a crisis. So he's probably in storage.
My point is, some characters have a reason they never showed up again, while others just vanished into thin air, never to be seen again in some cases! Let me know if there is another character that you'd like the ack story of and I'll gladly help explain.
[quote author=jettrainfan link=topic=19696.msg156840#msg156840 date=1328805627
Bulstrode really doesn't have a purpose anymore, he could possibly have a "second chance at life" like Bulgy had... but I don't think it'll happen. He had sunk, and heavy wagons dropping that far from the ground is going to do some serious damage. If you really wanted to have a "he's done for" scene, sir top hat can sink him for a marine reef project. (This is actually a common thing in NY & NJ)
[/quote]
I thought he was left on the beach for the kids to play on...
Yes this is true. Although I think there isn't a good enough reason for him to come back :( Shame though, he was a decent one off character I thought :D
has anybody seen Murdoch lately? I haven't seen any of those awful animated episodes.
Murdoch was in 2 Season 12 episodes (Just CGI face, model body), only 1 of the two episodes he has a speaking roll.
(http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110228184126/ttte/images/e/e5/MurdochCGIface.jpg)
They were the last episodes he appeared in, I think it's a good thing he's not been in full CGI (yet...)
Quote from: RW James on February 09, 2012, 12:38:11 PM
[quote author=jettrainfan link=topic=19696.msg156840#msg156840 date=1328805627
Bulstrode really doesn't have a purpose anymore, he could possibly have a "second chance at life" like Bulgy had... but I don't think it'll happen. He had sunk, and heavy wagons dropping that far from the ground is going to do some serious damage. If you really wanted to have a "he's done for" scene, sir top hat can sink him for a marine reef project. (This is actually a common thing in NY & NJ)
I thought he was left on the beach for the kids to play on...
[/quote]
Yea, i was typing on my phone, forgot to mention that...whoops! ;D
What i meant by second life was, Bulgy was used as a hen house and later became a vegetable bus. As for Bustorde, he was left on the beach for kids to play on, as you mentioned.
Quote from: Narrowgauge111 on February 09, 2012, 03:35:25 PM
has anybody seen Murdoch lately? I haven't seen any of those awful animated episodes.
It's not awfully aimated, it's quite well done. But it's the writing that needs to improves which will hopefully happen in the second half of Season 16 and for the rest ofthe Seasons to come. ;)
Quote from: Sparks on February 08, 2012, 09:16:30 PM
Bulgy, Sir Handel for several seasons, Duke, Smudger, Derek, Thumper, Boulder, Horrid Lorries, Tiger Moth, Old Slow Coach, D261, Bulstrode, Caroline and Bertram. Heck some HiT era characters have had more appearances than some of the engines listed above. Even Butch just sat around on the sets doing nothing except being there. Hey, go buy Butch! He's the.. random car with a face, but buy anyway!
Sir Handel wasn't one-off. He appeared in several seasons, including season 12. Not trying to be rude, I may have misunderstood, so correct me if I'm wrong.
"For several seasons." Sir Handel was gone for Season 5, 6, 7, and I think 9 as well.
He was also absent for season 8.
Quote from: ThomasFan247 on February 10, 2012, 09:46:47 PM
He was also absent for season 8.
Well yes but all the Narrow Gauge engines were.
Oh yeah, that's right :P
To me, the definition of one-off is made for for merchandise and appear in one episode as new, make a background cameo, and are gone. To me, Sir Handel is not a one-off.
Quote from: Calebtrain on February 12, 2012, 03:32:49 PM
To me, the definition of one-off is made for for merchandise and appear in one episode as new, make a background cameo, and are gone. To me, Sir Handel is not a one-off.
I was also including characters that disappear for a long time.
My advice is that If there's gonna be any new characters then please do not make them one-offs, in the background or even forget about them!
Quote from: Sparks on February 12, 2012, 03:45:14 PM
Quote from: Calebtrain on February 12, 2012, 03:32:49 PM
To me, the definition of one-off is made for for merchandise and appear in one episode as new, make a background cameo, and are gone. To me, Sir Handel is not a one-off.
I was also including characters that disappear for a long time.
Oh, thanks for the clarification! ;)
I haven't seen any of the very recent episodes but has Bo-Co been seen since his series 2 or 3? (maybe wrong there)
Duck, Oliver, Stepney plus some of the others hardly have anything these days, Hit ruined it with all these new characters. It was alright until after the series Spencer and Murdoch were introduced. Hank? Who's idea was that?! No need for massive American locos like that on an Island that is nearest to the UK than anywhere else! Awdry would be turning in his grave if he knew what had happened to his beloved Island of Sodor!
Boco was in teething troubles in season 5 last i checked.... don't know if he made any more appearances past that.
Interestingly though, BoCo still regularly appeared in the magazines, alongside newer engines.
Boco sadly had his last use on the set in series 5.
Since then, he's only been seen in magazine stories, his TV model hasn't been CGI'd, so it is highly possible that he won't be making a comeback to the stories anytime soon, and I'm afraid that goes for other classic characters too. I've watched most of the episodes up to Series 15, and a lot of characters seem to have been sent packing.
Daisy however, was seen briefly in Calling All Engines, but i think that was the last time her model was used for that particular feature-length special. Again, a lot of the classic characters have not seen signs of coming back.
Well I forget who said it but the engines have dumbed down so they can be relatable for kids. Duck, Oliver, Donald, Douglas, BoCo, Fergus, Stepney, and Duke....they're all wise characters we can relate to...but we aren't the target on the Thomas corporation has in mind...basically if you're over 8 they don't care as much. Although I will go against myself saying Bertie...who is somewhat wiser....had a role in season 15. I think the only way we can have a "wise" character is if a Thomas, Percy, Charlie, Bill&Ben(which i don't get..if they were so kiddish arguing in a brotherly way why are they gone?) etc was doing something like going to fast, or being carless and a Duck, BoCo, etc was the one to say Be careful, don't, and be an antagonist in that sense. But to go against myself even farther I'd say those are the episodes that we dislike most. CONSTANT REPEATION. We need change maybe have a wise character learn a thing or 2 from a young one. I may be getting off topic here but T&F needs to be about telling stories again..not teaching lessons (although the stories did teach lessons just not so obviously). Overall I think if we get new owners, new directors, and old characters we will be happy and kids will be happy as long if Thomas appears along side...as for who is returning I wouldn't mind seeing any of the characters I mentioned.
I think we can all agree.
Quote from: JJ96 on February 13, 2012, 08:15:05 PM...I may be getting off topic here but T&F needs to be about telling stories again..not teaching lessons (although the stories did teach lessons just not so obviously)...
I was talking with a modeler friend about this today. A lot of the stories in the original Railway Series came from real life railway stories. The Rev Awdry was able to use these stories to teach a life lesson. That was the essential formula he used.
There has to more railway stories out there that can be adapted. Those of you that make up new stories - use the internet to find these stories and use them.
And to stay more or less on topic - if you don't like the characters available, make your own.
Quote from: Stepney55 on February 13, 2012, 05:33:31 PM
Boco sadly had his last use on the set in series 5.
Since then, he's only been seen in magazine stories, his TV model hasn't been CGI'd, so it is highly possible that he won't be making a comeback to the stories anytime soon, and I'm afraid that goes for other classic characters too. I've watched most of the episodes up to Series 15, and a lot of characters seem to have been sent packing.
Daisy however, was seen briefly in Calling All Engines, but i think that was the last time her model was used for that particular feature-length special. Again, a lot of the classic characters have not seen signs of coming back.
Don't give up hope on him just yet, the new writer might have a chance of bringing the characters back as he did work on some magazine stories that were adapted into Season 3 episodes and they obviously had classic characters in them. There will be a time and a place for everyone... I'm sure. 8)
If Boco does make a comeback, it will be lovely to see him alongside the other engines again.