It is Christmas time on the Island of Sodor! For the engines, this means celebrating with parties, bringing joy to the people of the Island, and snow! Snow can lead to danger, but most of the time it leads to these engines boasting about themselves, and then learning a lesson.


So what is this video all about, then?

This video is made up of six stories and one music video at the end. Our story stops are:

Snow
Thomas' Christmas Party
Thomas & the Missing Christmas Tree
Terence the Tractor
Thomas & Percy's Christmas Adventure
Special Funnel
The Snow Song

The first story, Snow, is only available on this video. In this story, Thomas gets stuck in the snow, and Rusty comes to help get him out. They start talking, and Rusty tells him the story of the worst winter of all. The story centers around Skarloey, and how, even though he and his operators were careful, they still got trapped in an avalanche. They were quickly recovered, but due to his heat and the amount of snow, he was covered in a block of ice! It was an igloo with an engine inside! The operators just drank some hot cocoa while waiting to be rescued. All was well at the end. Thomas liked the story, but still does not like snow. Something funny happens to Gordon at the end, but I'll save that for you to find out!

The next 3 stories are all duplicated on the first Thomas Christmas video, "Thomas' Christmas Party," #1212 in the series.

Thomas' Christmas Party, the second story on the video, is all about when Thomas and the other engines decide that they want to throw a party, to thank Mrs. Kyndley for helping to save the engines when there was a rock slide onto the line. Her home is right by the tracks, and there is a bend in it there due
to the terrain. The bend is really a blind curve, and there is no way that an engine chugging down the line at full speed would see the problem until they are in it. To help out, she held her red dressing gown out from her window, even though she was ill at the time. Thomas was able to stop in time, and not get hurt. To thank her, Sir Topham Hatt sent her on holiday to the seashore, until she recovered fully from her illness. But the engines did not get to help. So on that day, they put together a party for her, and - helped by Toby, Percy, and Terrence - Mrs. Kyndley was brought from her snowbound home to the party in her honor.

In the third story, Thomas & the Missing Christmas Tree, Thomas is sent to go get the Christmas tree for the big Christmas party and caroling at the big station. He goes to get the tree and bring it to the big station, but does not arrive on time. Donald and Douglas are sent out to go find him, and they do. He is buried in snow! He is rescued, and they make it back in time for the party and fun. We have this story in book form that is put out under the line of Jelly Beans, and it is a favorite of my oldest son!

Terence the Tractor is the story where Terence is introduced to Thomas. They happen to meet by a field one day, and Thomas remarks that Terence has ugly wheels. Terence explains that they are caterpillars, not wheels, and they do a great job and he does not need rails like Thomas. Thomas puffs off, and doesn't like Terence. Later on, he is unhappy about having to have his snow plow on, but it is necessary to help clear the rails and not get stuck. After banging it around, it is broken and cannot be put back on the next morning, so he goes about his business without it. Sure enough, he gets stuck in the snow, and Terence comes to the rescue and pulls him out. After this, Thomas makes friends with Terence and thanks him for his help.

The fifth story, Thomas & Percy's Christmas Adventure, is only available on this release. This one is about a time just before Thanksgiving when Thomas and Percy are making their mail train trips, and Thomas promised all the people that he saw in the village that he would be bringing lots of mail and packages for them soon! But because of the bad weather, it almost does not happen. The village is on a mountain, and due to the snow, it is cut off from the rest of the Island of Sodor. Percy is able to rush back to the big station and get workmen, Thomas, and Terrance the Tractor, and they are able to clear the way to the village, while Harold drops in food and supplies. Toby comes up to help out, and brings hot drinks for everyone. Percy then goes and retrieves the mail train, and brings that in for the people. Everyone is happy, but it gets better! That night, Toby helps bring the villagers to the big station, and as the engines sleep, the villagers paint the shed, and decorate it for Christmas. The engines wake up to the beautiful surprise, and everyone is very happy!

The last story, Special Funnel, can also be found in the video titled "Thomas Meets The Queen," #1219 in the series. We learn in this story about how Peter Sam received his funnel that is square, not round like a normal funnel. Peter Sam needs this new funnel because he was in an accident previously, which left his original funnel a little wobbly. After bad weather knocked out a bridge, and Rusty helped to repair it, Peter Sam is finally able to resume his regular morning train over that bridge and through a curved tunnel. When he goes through, his driver spots something hanging down, and as they come out from the tunnel, Peter Sam's funnel was gone! A large solid icicle had knocked off his funnel. They start again and finish their run, with some difficulties due to the funnel problem. They see a pipe on the side of the tracks as they go along, so they stop and attach it to Peter Sam with wires and rope. Upon returning to the sheds, it has become quite a joke, to the point that Sir Handel sings a song about it. Peter Sam is upset, of course! Later on, Sir Topham Hatt comes to give Peter Sam his new funnel. He thinks it was squashed, due to the shape. But soon after having it installed on him, he discovers that it has given him new life, and he feels like a young engine again - making the other older engines around him want one, too!

The music video is titled The Snow Song. It is not found in any other video currently. This song takes clips from various other episodes and strings them together, but adds snow falling on them. It is really just all about snow. It is performed by British school children, like all the other Thomas songs.


Okay, so now that I've told you the whole story, what do we think about this tape?

This is a favorite of both of my children. We watch it all year round, which is fine with me. My children have never seen snow in person, so this video is fascinating to them. We have really enjoyed watching it, and I like this video a lot myself. It is also enjoyable because there are 2 narrators in this video, since some of the episodes were new when this was released.


Technical Details

This product is video #26 in the series and the catalogue number on it is SV-11509. It is released by Anchor Bay Entertainment company, which owns the Thomas the Tank Engine library of videos

The narrators on this release are George Carlin and Alec Baldwin. The video says that it runs for about 42 minutes, but my counter said 37 minutes, which is a bit odd. It is currently available in VHS only.


Final Recommendation

I think that this video is a great tape for the whole family, whether it is Christmas or not. I think that, while many fans of Thomas are not Christian, this tape has no more about Christmas than sharing, giving, thinking of others, and celebrating. Most of the Christmas that you see is purely commercial, and there is no really religious part to any of it. Even though the man that wrote these stories, Rev. W. Awdry, was a man of the cloth, he never interjected Christian symbols into these stories, as far as I have seen. Taking that into consideration, I think that this video is appropriate for all children, the whole world over - even if you are from another religion, or even from another planet!

We love this wholesome moral video, and it will always have a place in our library and our hearts all year round!

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For more information on Anchor Bay Entertainment, and their products, go to:
http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/childrens/thomas

On the site above, you can also find more on the history of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends on television, and the companies responsible for bringing these stories to life from the storybooks, as well as the many awards that they have one for doing this, which is astounding.

For more information on Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, go to:
http://www.thomasthetankengine.com/home/homepage.html

(As for suitability for Children, it is really great for the entire family, but as it does not give me that option, I have picked the group of children that would be the most interested in it.)



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings