Look what franchise Hollywood is gonna screw up next

[Johnny Boy]

Shane Acker, director of the 2009 animated film '9', has joined forces with rights-owner Hit Entertainment to bring the second feature-length live-action adaptation of the classic UK series 'Thomas the Tank Engine' to theaters (the first being the utterly forgettable 'Thomas and the Magic Railroad' - thanks, Slusho98!)

 

Written by Chris Viscardi, Will McRobb ('Alvin and the Chipmunks') and Josh Klausner ('Shrek Forever After'), the film will revolve around a pre-teen boy and his father, who have drifted apart. When the boy discovers the Isle of Sodor (home to Thomas and other talking trains) and learns that his father used to visit there but can no longer remember, the two share an adventure together and reconnect with each other.

 

The most famous human occupant of the Isle, Mr. Conductor, is likely to return in some form (and knowing kids movies will likely end up handing over the job over to the boy or his father). In previous versions, Mr. Conductor has been played by George Carlin (in 'Shining Time Station'), Ringo Starr (in 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'), and Alec Baldwin (in the aforementioned 'Thomas and the Magic Railroad').

 

[Tornado]

The framing device sounds basically the same as what was used when Carlin was the narrator for the show. Of course, being written by a team of talentless hacks dulls my enthusiasm somewhat.

[PaddyFancy]

I think the series has already turned the wrong corner down the dangerous modernization alley. After 25 years of model animation and one storyteller, this British show as up-sticks to Canada become 100% CGI and each character has individual voice actors (one of which I found interesting was Teresa Gallagher, voice of Nicole Watterson in The Amazing World of Gumball FYI). Probably not best to judge since I only watched two episodes of the CGI series "Steamy Sodor" and "Henry's Health and Safety", and I hated it.

Still I never really took to the slight change in format from series 8 onward, where they made the episodes longer, but also much slower, and the lose of the original music composers. I would ask for this new film to step away from the Shining Time Station concept but I guess there's not much point of keeping it from getting Americanized as it pretty much already has.

[Johnny Boy]

Meh, I stopped cared about the series after I turned 8. So all of the new stuff really doesn't matter to me since I basically outgrew the franchise. Thomas will always hold a special place in my heart, but like I said, I outgrew the guy. It's a shame he's gonna be hollywoods next victim though.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Johnny Boy

[Tobbii]

Hey, it can't be worse than Chugginton.

[Dark Qiviut]

How could you EVER replace that wonderful theme song?

The original composers left the show and took the copyrights of the song with it after the seventh season, so Hit Entertainment had to create a brand new theme for Thomas.

[No more]

My reaction: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Indigo Rush]

I'll forgive them if it's anything like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwCOG-2ORrc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2b_lsiuChM

Edited June 11, 2011 by Indigo Rush

[Johnny Boy]

^ oh epicness XD

[Ferno]

Pixar managed to make Anthropomorphic cars marketable to people beyond little kids, so 1% of my being says that this could possibly work.

Than again, Cars was made by Pixar, the people who can make anything work.

[Balding Spider]

Shane Acker, director of the 2009 animated film '9'

Written by Chris Viscardi, Will McRobb ('Alvin and the Chipmunks') and Josh Klausner ('Shrek Forever After')

Okay the old show never played an important role in my childhood but wow. It's like they want this to suck.

[Johnny Boy]

Than again, Cars was made by Pixar, the people who can make anything work.

^ true.

[Noir]

I don't see a big problem. I mean, the story actually sounds pretty cute, so-

Written by Chris Viscardi, Will McRobb ('Alvin and the Chipmunks') and Josh Klausner ('Shrek Forever After')

[Scott]

Been there, Done that!!!

[JezMM]

What was wrong with Shrek 4. 8C Other than uhh, only technically adding 5 minutes of story to the overall canon (with Shrek the only truly developed character from it), it was an entertaining movie.

[Psychobob’s Ghost]

Who really gives at shit about this? I haven’t watched this show since I was 4 years old, and anybody over the age of 10 who still has a vested interest in Thomas the Tank Engine should really see a psychiatrist.

I’m more concerned that someone named his or her kid Vector.

[Mega]

Who really gives at shit about this? I haven’t watched this show since I was 4 years old, and anybody over the age of 10 who still has a vested interest in Thomas the Tank Engine should really see a psychiatrist.

Because how dare someone enjoy something from their childhood? Or have a different opinion!

Edited June 11, 2011 by Mega

[Dark Qiviut]

Who really gives at shit about this? I haven’t watched this show since I was 4 years old, and anybody over the age of 10 who still has a vested interest in Thomas the Tank Engine should really see a psychiatrist.

Anyone who thinks that ignorantly needs a good dose of logic and common sense shoved into their brains.

I've followed Thomas since I was a kid, and although I'm not as big a fan of the newer episodes nowadays, I still love it and heavily devoted into it. Thomas has had a fanbase extending back into the 1940s and '50s when Rev. W. Awdry first wrote The Railway Series. The fanbase is rather wide-ranged in age and personality. The Island of Sodor Forums is composed of quite a few people who are OLDER than me and are even more devoted into the series.

Your post was ignorant and elitist, and we people here at the SSMB really frown on that. Not cool.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Attitude Adjustment

[Psychobob’s Ghost]

Your post was ignorant and elitist, and we people here at the SSMB really frown on that. Not cool.

How very funny. How you people function in society is beyond me

I stand buy what I said. I doubt any well adjusted person or the majority of society would view an adult who still watched Thomas the Tank Engine as normal unless they live in a basement. Now watching something from you child hood (READ: not new episodes) for nostalgic purposes is ok as long as it’s not done regularly. For instance I once watched an episode of Power Rangers Zeo on YouTube, but I don’t still follow or care about the show.

[Johnny Boy]

How very funny. How you people function in society is beyond me

I stand buy what I said. I doubt any well adjusted person or the majority of society would view an adult who still watched Thomas the Tank Engine as normal unless they live in a basement. Now watching something from you child hood (READ: not new episodes) for nostalgic purposes is ok as long as it’s not done regularly. For instance I once watched an episode of Power Rangers Zeo on YouTube, but I don’t still follow or care about the show.

-_____- dude if you read my previous posts you'd see that I said that I outgrew Thomas.

[Mega]

But who are you to decide what's normal or okay? Or, hell, what's appropriate for adults? Plenty of adults still enjoy fantasy, animation, and so on. It doesn't mean there are any problems with them. The idea that something is or is not normal or to be expected is very stereotypical.

I personally don't care for a lot of 'adult' media because I'm not a fan of heavy sex humor, extreme blood and gore, and I prefer fantasy to real-world based story as a personal preference. That doesn't mean I can't function in society.

Sorry, dude, but you're coming across not only as closed-minded, but very elitist.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Mega

[JezMM]

I doubt any well adjusted person or the majority of society would view an adult who still watched Thomas the Tank Engine as normal unless they live in a basement.

So people are only allowed to watch Thomas the Tank Engine over the age of 18 if they live in a basement. Of course.

People can like whatever they like. It doesn't hurt anyone so who gives a fuck what "society" says.

Edited June 11, 2011 by JezMM

[Psychobob’s Ghost]

-_____- dude if you read my previous posts you'd see that I said that I outgrew Thomas.

[Noir]

How very funny. How you people function in society is beyond me

I stand buy what I said. I doubt any well adjusted person or the majority of society would view an adult who still watched Thomas the Tank Engine as normal unless they live in a basement. Now watching something from you child hood (READ: not new episodes) for nostalgic purposes is ok as long as it’s not done regularly. For instance I once watched an episode of Power Rangers Zeo on YouTube, but I don’t still follow or care about the show.

[Psychobob’s Ghost]

"Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

I fucking love that quote.

Edited June 11, 2011 by Psychobob’s Ghost