just finished rewatching The Adventure Begins.... sick as hell special. might be on the same spot in my tier list as Hero of the Rails
I noticed things that I haven't before during my last watch (which is like when I was in elementary school). the james-looking-up-to-gordon thing going on throughout the series is so clear in this one. it's all in small background details because the special directs your focus on thomas' not-so-humble beginnings in sodor. like how when gordon laughs at thomas, james laughs too. when gordon regards himself as a very important engine, james do too. it's so funny how james admired gordon even though role-wise he's not really on his level yet still tries very hard. and gordon just rolls with it (most likely living off the praise and admiration). it's like a king with his court jester. what a goofy goober
but I'm not here to talk about james (despite how much I ADORE his character). I wanna gives my thoughts on thomas and his friendship with edward
I really REALLY love thomas and edward's friendship in TAB. like straight up when edward saw thomas for the first time he's like "oh it's a small engine. I need to look after him because I have this feeling in my boiler that things are about to get crazy". edward is so patient with thomas because he understands that thomas is new around sodor and he's just so very excited to go on adventures and travel around and pull coaches (even though he doesn't have enough experience required to do so) while edward with years of experience just nods along sagely like "yes thomas those are express cars. no thomas you cannot pull them but you definitely can when the time comes"
you know. it's like a father with his son where the son points at things while taking his father's hand and goes "dad what is that!!!! what is that thing!!!!" and his father explains said mundane thing to him patiently even with the string of questions that followed suit. and the scene where after thomas got his new blue paint he went up to edward and said "edward!!! I'm blue now, just like you!!!" with excitement and pride and edward just laughs in fondness. it's so sweet and heartwarming
not to mention hell even when thomas' ideas got edward into trouble edward isn't mad at him and even said "at least we'll be working together again" like he's more worried about thomas and his progress at work rather than how he himself is now going to be staying at the yards for the time being. it all just really highlights how understanding and wise he is and how much he cares about this silly little tank engine that just arrived yesterday that he immediately took under his wing
something small I also noticed. despite gordon being a big mighty revered important express engine that can pull way too many coaches, thomas, who is very new, have the guts to blows his whistle at him and calls him lazybones. but with edward who's not even an express engine... man, do I even need to spell it out? thomas' character here is so solid. he has a personal mindset on who he should and should not give his praises to.
in conclusion: in its 40-something minutes of runtime, this movie did a great job showcasing thomas' beginnings. this movie scratches the itch inside my cranium and removes all the high pitched ringing tinnitus inside my ears.
(dom torreto voice) maybe the real adventure was the friends we made along the way