Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

At the Zick house there are many, many Thomas the Tank Engine videos. My four-year old watches them like his father watches ESPN. I can't begin to tell which he watches the most, but this is a definite favorite.

Because we've all been cautioned against letting our children watch too much television, this is a much better choice for kid viewing. Some of my son's favorite shows on the Cartoon Network are full of violence, but this Thomas the Tank Engine Video has none. Each video is designed to teach a lesson and this video's lesson is behaving well. Even though they are trains who speak, they relate fairly closely to the real world. There are big trains, little trains, bossy trains, nice trains and a strict but fair-minded Stationmaster. Everyone who misbehaves eventually learns their lesson and apologizes if necessary.

If you like to limit your child's TV time, this is an easy way to do it. This video is 46 minutes long, but it has 8 different stories, each a little over 5 minutes. The stories included in this video are: Thomas Comes To Breakfast, A Close Shave for Duck, A Cow on the Line, Pop Goes the Diesel, Gordon Takes a Dip, Diesel's Devious Deed, Trouble in the Shed and Double Trouble. To separate each of the stories, a little musical jingle is played. George Carlin is the video's narrator and does a convincing job of all of the engine's voices. One aspect that thrilled my son as a younger child was that these stories are realistic and not cartoons. Even though the characters are clearly designed with kids in mind, they are very believable. The railroad tracks are workable as are all of the trains and grist mills. Some children may be put off by the fact that the engine's (and the human beings) mouths do not move, but they convey their feelings quite convincingly through their expressions.

In the episode entitled Thomas Comes to Breakfast, Thomas gets a little too big for his proverbial britches! It seems that he's taken a compliment from his driver (Thomas, you're so good you can almost drive yourself!) and let it go to his head. When he does take a spin all by himself, he sees that it is not all it's cooked up to be, and becomes an unwitting breakfast guest! In the end he learns not to be so prideful. Another lesson they sneak in is one of vocabulary. They regularly use words (such as "daft") in ways that a child can discern their meanings.

In the next episode, Pop Goes the Diesel, Diesel is prideful, disrespectful and impatient. He learns from his peers to call the stationmaster "Sir Topham Hatt" instead of "Toppy." Another vocabulary word, revolutionary, is introduced in this episode, too.

In Diesel's Devious Deed we learn about rumors and gossiping. We also learn a few ugly words like "shut up," "hate," and "lies." Now, maybe I'm a fuddy-duddy, but I generally don't like for my son to use these words! I realize there are worse things that could be said, so I am still recommending this movie, but parents should be warned!

In the next episode, A Close Shave for Duck all of the rumors told on Duck in the previous episodes are righted and truth prevails! Duck also averts a disaster by ramming his train into the barber shop to find quite an angry barber! Sir Topham Hatt arrives just in time to explain that Duck is a hero! More vocabulary words: horrid and intrusion.

Next up is Gordon Takes a Dip. Gordon learns his lesson about bragging in this episode as he plunges into a ravine filled with mud and has to be pulled out by his friends.

Double Trouble begins with the engines teasing and quarreling among themselves about the color of their paint, among other things. After a disaster with coal, the engines make up and realize that maybe color doesn't matter so much after all.

A Cow on the Line teaches little ones about compassion. Gordon, one of the larger engines, was teasing some of the smaller engines about stopping for a cow on the line. He states that he'd never let a silly old cow stop his progress. All is well and good, until Gordon comes upon a cow crossing the line to her mother and he stops out of compassion for her. He tries to act gruff when he returns to the shed, but he cannot fool anyone!

In Trouble in the Shed the large engines learn a lesson by being put in a time-out by Sir Topham Hatt while the smaller engines get to do their work.

If your child loves trains, and you've never seen the Thomas the Tank Engine Videos, this is a great one with which to start. You will surely fall in love with every engine.

Cost: $12.95
Released: 1998

*Please note: This review was previously published as "All Aboard for Good Behavior" and was deleted by me earlier. I have since revamped and republished. I hope you enjoy this updated version! *

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4