"Goodbye Sir Topham Hatt"/"Goodbye Fat Controller"." Buckled Tracks and Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Cars"/"Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Trucks"." Kevin's Cranky Friend (a great start to this era).There are tons of great episodes like in the classic era, such as:."The Adventure Begins", as a forty five minute special that had adapted the first seven episodes of the Thomas television series, and also the first two Railway Series books remained very 100% true to Season 1, and the original source material.Also actually refers to Sir Topham Hatt's railway by its official name, the North Western Railway.
THOMAS AND FRIENDS SERIES 17 TV
Furthermore, the Arlesdale Railway and its engines, Mike, Rex, and Bert, make their TV series debut.The introduction of characters from not just the Railway Series, but also inspired by other Awdry works relating to Sodor, such as the book, "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways", such characters include Sir Robert Norramby, King Godred, and a "Coffee Pot" engine that book mentions, in the show named Glynn.This era relies on anything to be entertaining, from funny and hilarious jokes, to slapstick, to realism, to common logic, to even the show's old charm and its RWS glory.There are some very funny episodes like "Henry Spots Trouble", "Pouty James", "Lost Property", and "Dowager Hatt's Busy Day".Many of the characters who got flanderized during the Miller era have had their original personalities restored in this era, such as Henry in Season 20, Thomas, Edward, Percy, Toby and Emily in Season 17 and Rosie in Season 21 (However, since Rosie has no speaking role during Seasons 17-20, it possible that she could have redeemed herself sometime then).The new theme, which is an electro pop remix of "Engine Roll Call" is really catchy and memorable.Introduces new, better and funny characters like Connor, Caitlin, Millie, Gator, Stephen, Skiff and the list goes on!.While the animation in Seasons 17-18 is still good, it got even better in Season 19, with animation that could rival high-budget theatrical animated movies.
THOMAS AND FRIENDS SERIES 17 UPGRADE
Gorgeous CGI animation that is a massive upgrade from the CGI animation during Season 12 and to a lesser extent S13-16 (though it is decent in S13-16, even if these seasons are disliked for very good reasons).Andrew Brenner and his team of new writers (even including a few veterans) have a much better grasp on the source material than Sharon Miller and her team of writers did a lot of times."Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure" even pokes fun at the two Oliver characters, with Marion thinking Oliver the Great Western engine had himself transformed into an excavator!.
This era, however, fully takes advantage their unique personalities and traits, such as Harvey being an engine with a crane, Bill and Ben teasing other engines as well as arguing with each other, and Duck trying to do things the "Great Western" way.
In fact, the last 3 episodes of Season 20 were adapted from the books, and the tone of the series began feeling more down to earth once again.