Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Infobox_Film
name = Thomas and the Magic Railroad
caption =
writer = Britt Allcroft
starring = Alec Baldwin
Peter Fonda
Mara Wilson
Didi Conn
Russell Means
Cody McMains
Michael E. Rodgers
director = Britt Allcroft
producer = Britt Allcroft Phil Fehrle
music = Hummie Mann
cinematography = Paul Ryan
editing = Ron Wisman
distributor = Destination Films
released = July 26, 2000 (USA) | July 27, 2000 (UK)
runtime = 85 minutes
language = English
budget = $19 million
imdb_id = 0205461Infobox movie certificates
United_States = G

"Thomas and the Magic Railroad" is a 2000 American film based on the well-known TV series "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" and its successful American sequel, "Shining Time Station". This film was produced and distributed by Destination Films, and originally released to movie theatres by 2000. It received harsh reviews from film critics, resulting in a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and failed to meet expectations at the box office, making just under $20 million worldwide.

Plot

An evil diesel locomotive called Diesel 10 has arrived on the Island of Sodor, with the intention of destroying the steam locomotives. His plan is to locate a magical lost engine named Lady and destroy her in order to remove the magic from the Island. Sir Topham Hatt, normally in charge of the railways on Sodor, is on holiday and has left Mr. Conductor in charge.

Mr. Conductor has problems of his own. The mysterious gold dust that allows him to magically transport from place to place is running out, and without it there will be no way for anyone to travel to Sodor. The lost engine is able to travel between Sodor and Muffle Mountain via the Magic Railroad, but nobody knows where she is.

An old man named Burnett Stone lives on Muffle Mountain, near Shining Time Station. Unknown to everyone, he is the guardian of the lost engine. The engine crashed after an earlier encounter with Diesel 10, and ever since then he has been trying to repair her, so far without success.

His granddaughter Lily comes to visit him. She meets C. Junior, Mr. Conductor's cousin, who takes her to Sodor and introduces her to the talking engines who live there, including Thomas the Tank Engine. Later, Thomas is assigned to take Lily back, having discovered the start of the long-abandoned Magic Railroad by an old grotto. He finds a truck of special Island of Sodor coal and takes it with him. He arrives on the side of Muffle Mountain for he is, and Lily goes to her grandfather's house. Thomas then leaves. However, something explodes, propelling Thomas to another part of the island, one he hasn't seen before.

While there, Burnett shows her Lady, the lost engine, and explains his problem getting it to steam. Lily suggests using Island of Sodor coal from the truck Thomas brought. This proves to be exactly what was needed, and the engine comes to life. For the first time in years, Burnett smiles. Lily and Burnett take her along the Magic Railroad, which regenerates beneath her wheels.Meanwhile, Thomas, who found his way back, is wondering how to get back around Muffle Mountain. He then accidentally slides into a ditch. Seeing worn-down buffers there, he goes through them once more, going on the Magic Railroad. After leaving, he finds Lily and Lady. They find their way back to Sodor, where Diesel 10 finds them and gives chase. He is foiled by the damaged viaduct, which collapses beneath him.

Thomas, Lady, Burnett and Lily meet Mr. Conductor and Junior. They use the water from a wishing well and shavings from the rails of the Magic Railroad to make more gold dust, and the Island of Sodor is saved.

Reception

The film proved popular among the young children at whom it was aimed Fact|date=January 2008, but it was not only a critical failure (it currently has only a 19% "Rotten" rating, with an average score of 3.9/10 on Rotten Tomatoes.com and a 19 out of 100 rating on Metacritic indicating "extreme dislike or disgust"), but also a financial failure as well - it only made $15,933,506 domestically against a $19 million budget according to Box Office Mojo. The scale of the failure was so great that Britt Allcroft, who produced, directed, wrote and voiced Lady, was asked to step down from her production company. The film did manage to make an additional $3,814,503 in overseas sales, for a total of $19,748,009 in worldwide ticket sales Fact|date=February 2008.

Among the criticisms were complaints of poor acting, bad direction and an incoherent plot. British (for whom the original story of Thomas the Tank Engine was written) fans complainedFact|date=January 2008 that the film Americanised the setting and featured characters from Shining Time Station, which was never broadcast in the United KingdomFact|date=January 2008, though it was shown in Ireland Fact|date=January 2008

Problems and Changes

A major reason for the perceived incoherence and laziness of the plot was that some very severe edits were made in post-production. A major character, 'PT Boomer', played by Doug Lennox, was entirely cut out of the film before its release, and so the plot elements that had been driven by him went unexplained. So close to release was this change that trailers for the film actually still featured him (such as a clip from the trailer in which he appears falling off the viaduct alongside Diesel 10). Oddly enough he still appears in the Movie during the Chase Scenes shown lying on the Back of Diesel 10. [ [http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html Magic Railroad - Revealed.] ]

The same trailers also depicted Diesel 10 with an upper class English accent rather than the American one he had in the release. The reason for this change is that there was a different actor playing Diesel 10 in the trailer (an English one instead of an American one) or that that was the voice of PT Boomer. It was revealed that the original voice of Diesel 10 was Australian voice actor Keith Scott.

Prior to filming, it had been announced that Thomas' voice would be provided by an Isle of Man taxi driver named "John Bellis" (who also worked as a fireman on the Isle of Man Steam Railway). However, during a test screening in Los Angeles, the test audiences disliked Bellis' voice for Thomas due to his Liverpudlian tones, claiming that he made Thomas sound too old. Subsequently, Bellis was dropped from his role and was replaced by Eddie Glen, who gave Thomas a more youthful voice.

It has also been revealed that Michael Angelis, the narrator for the UK version of the TV Series since 1991, would have been the voice for James & Percy. However, like Bellis, Angelis also suffered at the hands of the American test audiences, claiming that he made the characters sound too old. Eventually, James was voiced by Susan Roman, while Percy was voiced by Linda Ballantyne.

It has been revealed that Cranky the Crane and George the Steamroller were originally in the film with roles but they never appeared in the finished film.

Awards

The film received two movie awards by Youngstar awards and Youngartist Awards.

Filming

The movie was filmed at the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania, Ontario and on the Isle of Man. Castletown railway station on the Isle of Man Railway formed part of Shining Time Station and the goods shed at Port St Mary railway station became Burnett Stone's workshop. The Strasburg Railroad was used for shots of the full-sized Indian Valley railroad. Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 475 was the Indian Valley Engine.

Sodor was realised using models and chromakey. The models were animated using live action remote control, as on the television series. Strangely the model sequences were filmed in Canada instead of Shepperton Studios.

The Magic Railroad was created using models and CGI.

Characters

From the TV Series

A number of characters are seen or mentioned in this film who previously appeared in the television series. These characters are:

* Thomas the Tank Engine
* Henry the Green Engine
* Gordon the Big Engine
* James the Red Engine
* Percy the Small Engine
* Toby the Tram Engine
* Annie and Clarabel
* Henrietta (cameo)
* Harold the Helicopter
* Bertie the Bus
* Troublesome Trucks (Cameo)
* Cranky the Crane (leg cameo)
* Butch the tow truck(cameo)
* Horrid lorry (cameo, faceless)

The Fat Controller is seen throughout the movie on posters, and his voice can be heard (muffled) over the telephone in several scenes. All the characters in the movie refer to him as Sir Topham Hatt. His wife, Lady Hatt can be seen in a photograph in The Fat Controller's office.

Other Characters

;Mr. ConductorPlayed by Alec Baldwin, Mr. Conductor is an eight-inch-tall conductor who steps in to manage Sodor while Sir Topham Hatt is on holiday. The part was previously played by Ringo Starr (Season 1) and George Carlin (Seasons 2-3) of Shining Time Station.

;Diesel 10Diesel 10 (voiced by Neil Crone) is the antagonist. He tried to destroy the Golden Engine (Lady) the last time he visited the Island of Sodor, and he returned in the film, albeit failing again. He has a gigantic, fully working and moving claw he affectionately calls "Pinchy."

;Splatter and DodgeThese two (voiced by Neil Crone and Kevin Frank) are Diesel 10's dim-witted sidekicks during the film. They are not quite as smart as they like to believe, and Diesel 10 calls them "Splodge" because he claims he doesn't have time to say both their names. They defect from Diesel 10 at the end of the film, and to this day their whereabouts are unknown. Splatter and Dodge appear to be the same class of diesel locomotives as Diesel.

;LadyLady (voiced by Britt Allcroft) is a purple-red and gold tank engine (although the official site on one occasion, in a section with letters to Sir Topham Hatt, a response to an email stated that Lady was pink when asked if there were any pink engines on Sodor).

Lady is what holds the Magic Railroad together. Lady is kept hidden in Burnett Stone's workshop in Muffle Mountain after Diesel 10 made her crash. Stone repaired her, but she would not run. Eventually, his granddaughter Lily suggested using Sodor coal, which finally allowed her to make steam and return to the Island of Sodor. Diesel 10 found Lady, and chased her and Thomas. Thomas and Lady outran him, however, leaving him to his fate. It was found that Lady was the source of Mr. Conductor's gold dust. She was voiced by Britt Allcroft.

Lady is also the second Thomas engine character (after Percy) of freelance design rather than inspired by a specific real-life class of engine, or to which a specific inspiration was later assigned (like Henry and James). Unlike Percy though who is a generic amalgam of multiple industrial shunting engines, Lady is wholly fanciful, although from the running-plate up she is reminiscent of elaborate British engines built during the Edwardian era. Her square cylinder casings and permanent electric head/tail-lights however are an oddity, more akin to later American switchers.

;LilyLily (played by Mara Wilson) is a young girl with a huge imagination to try to help her grandpa and Mr. Conductor.

;Burnett StoneBurnett Stone (played by Peter Fonda) is a shy man that doesn't speak about the truth that he has Lady and used to visit the Island of Sodor. But with the help of Mr. Conductor and Lily he saves the island of sodor from Diesel 10.

;C. JuniorThe cousin of Mr. Conductor (played by Michael E. Rodgers), who likes nothing better than surfing and lying on the beach. Mr Conductor requires his help to replenish the supply of gold dust.

;PatchA boy played by Cody McMains who enjoys horse riding and helping Burnett Stone. He is one of the few people who understands that Burnett is not unfriendly, just sad.

;Stacy JonesThe kind mistress of Shining Time Station, who helps Lily out when she ends up at Shining Time by mistake. She is played by Didi Conn the same actress who played her in the "Shining Time Station" Television Series and Specials.

;MuttAn intelligent dog who realizes that Lily can help, and so sends her to Shining Time Station. The dog who acts as Mutt was also in another show called Come Outside, on CBeebies, who went by the name "Pippin".

;Billy TwofeathersA wise Native American engineer who understands the magic of the valley better than anyone. He is played by Russell Means and previously played by Tom Jackson.

Voices

*Thomas: Edward Glen
*Henry/Bertie/Harold/Dodge: Kevin Frank
*Gordon/Diesel 10/Splatter: Neil Crone
*James: Susan Roman
*Percy: Linda Ballantyne
*Toby: Colm Feore
*Lady: Britt Allcroft
*Annie/Clarabel: Shelley Elizabeth Skinner

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0205461
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/thomas_and_the_magic_railroad/ Thomas and the Magic Railroad] at Rotten Tomatoes.
* [http://www.cinema.com/film/3396/thomas-and-the-magic-railroad/index.phtml Cinema.com: Thomas and the Magic Railroad]
* [http://tvplex.go.com/buenavista/ebertandroeper/archive/724.html "Ebert & Roeper," Reviews for the Weekend of July 29, 2000]
* [http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/ Sodor Island's Magic Railroad Mini-Site]