There is nothing challenging or surprising here, no clever jokes for the grownups or anything like that.  This is Thomas the Tank Engine as we know him, minus much of the endearingly wry quality the television show has.  It’s aimed squarely at the kids, but not so much in a condescending way as a getting down on their level sort of way.

The plot is fairly standard.  One thing you can rely on with Thomas and his pals is simplicity.  Taking place over a single day, it seems like a collection of 5 minute stories interwoven with a story about the magic lantern festival on that evening but threatened by bad weather.  All glued together with audience participation games and a slew of bouncy happy singsongs such as ‘Another Busy day for the Engines’, ‘It’s Great to Be an Engine’, ‘These are the Sounds that Engines Make’ and many others.

Plot holes such as ‘how is a sheep sleeping not only on a train track, but in gale force winds?’ seem irrelevant.  While I found it silly, even for a children’s story, to fix the broken lighthouse with a giant diamond they just happened to find in an underground mine, I like the fact that they never appeared to consider, let alone mention how much money it must be worth (billions I’d say).

The human cast come to the party in a big way.  Notably Dean Nolan as railway owner Sir Topham Hatt, the Fat Controller, who seems younger than expected but otherwise inhabits the part most amply.  The narrator David Edenfield also pitches it just right, so we can forgive him for not being Ringo Starr.

Whilst a large scale production, it’s actually downsized in terms of characters.  Thomas, Percy and Diesel all appear, plus a grumpy truck and a gobo of Harold the helicopter flying past.  The absence of other favourites – Gordon, James, Bertie Bus etc – is explained by their being stuck on the other side of the island due to the storm.  My son commented on who wasn’t there, but by and large it’s not a problem. 

From our seats in the middle of the floorplan (a terrible layout considering the lack of stage height causing all the toddlers to have to stand on their seats to see anything and thus block the view of those behind), we’re somewhat removed from the action but whenever they’re getting us all to whistle or call Thomas, the whole stadium is included.  And when all the kids whose parents bought them a glowing Thomas-on-a-stick wave them about during the musical number it’s clear just what an immortal rock god for preschoolers we are in the presence of.

The audience seemed about 2 to 1 boys to girls, about 90% Caucasian (perhaps because of the extreme and obvious Englishness of the Thomas franchise), and virtually entirely middle class, unsurprising given the average cost of not only the show tickets, but any Thomas merchandise you can find.  It’s neat stuff, but always seems to cost about ten bucks more than you expect.

The most comparable show I’ve seen this year was the brand-new kiwiana celebration Buzzy Bee’s Big Day Out, and now having seen this international counterpart I can confirm that we really had something there.  Thomas Saves the Day is bigger, more expensive looking, more famous, more gratuitously merchandised and altogether more basic.  However, at the end of the day what really matters is that the kids love it, and they do.  Toot toot! 

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