Here's a portion of the TTTE fanbase that irritates me. The show's original title was "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends," and Thomas' full name, Thomas the Tank Engine, was mentioned in several episodes. Despite this, many fans still refer to Thomas as "Thomas the Train." Come on, I mean, come on! It's right there in the title and the episodes! The characters aren't trains; rather, they are. The powertrains. Also, the Fat Controller informs the engines, "You are a highly helpful engine," NOT "You are a really useful engine." "You're a fantastic train!" In the program, neither Thomas nor the other engines are ever referred to as trains. Do you not trust me? Here are a few genuine quotes from the show: "Once upon a time, an engine linked to a railway was terrified of a few drops of rain." "My name is Thomas. I'm in charge of a train. What dreadful wheels you have!" "Percy was abandoned. That didn't bother him in the least. He enjoyed watching trains and making fun of the other engines." Someone in the comments below also brought up an important point: the very first phrase in the first TTTE episode. Well, it's a part of the quote, but it's a crucial component. "Thomas is a tank engine," says the narrator.
The episode "Thomas and the Rumours" of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends aired in the United Kingdom on October 6, 1998. (clip below).
[1] In the episode, Thomas is concerned that the trains may be replaced by a helicopter called Harold. After addressing Sir Topham Hatt about his fears, the narrator (Alec Baldwin) states, "Sir Topham Hatt chuckled, 'Well, the engines are incorrect, and you shouldn't listen to them." Tumblr [2] user fxckbro shared the first accessible picture of the meme on November 27th, 2014. "When someone advises you that you shouldn't eat too much spaghetti," they captioned the photo. In less than seven years, the post got almost 800,000 notes (shown below).
There are numerous heinous children's programs that parents must endure while their child is growing up. Every Sesame Street has an irritating Caillou or an acid-tripping Yo Gabba Gabba. But Thomas and Friends is or was the one program that had enough subversive themes to make me unsubscribe for good. My three-and-a-half-year-old kid, happily, never had a frantic train obsession like so many other youngsters. But every now and again, he'd get the itch to watch Thomas, and every time I sat and watched with him, I grimaced and moaned nearly as much as Percy.
