Everyone talks about how TATMR was a disgrace to Awdry’s legacy/universe. Here’s what so many overlook - it didn’t even get Britt’s own universe right. When I saw the film as a kid, I loved the Thomas bits (because, duh, it’s Thomas), but the STS bits were so disappointing.

Shining Time felt like a shell of how I knew it. The Billy Twofeathers of the film was not the one I knew so well; the kids were absent, and the lovable townsfolk were replaced with nobodies in (now) horribly-dated clothing; worst of all, Schemer wasn’t even there.

If Didi Conn wasn’t there, I reckon I wouldn’t have known it was meant to be Shining Time if the film hadn’t stated it. The lack of familiarity was striking, and not in a good way.