What is the point of this cartoon? You have the characters and the brand, but seeing as the heart, soul and point of Thomas have been so ripped out, it looks like they are merely used cynically to have an automatic audience. It would've been more appropriate for Mattel to create entirely new characters, given the radical gear shift, and created a new Mighty Express or Chuggington.
Some of us care about Reverend Awdry's legacy and the world he created. It has endured for of all the reasons the creators of this series feels it can so easily jettison. The realism of the trains, their personalities which match their class and usage. Showing how railways actually work and how engines and other machinery work together.
Generations of children understand this and respond to this and even the more creative CGI series of late have these values at their heart. Thomas directly inspires my son's interest with steam railways and I'm sure Thomas boosts visitor tickets to these places. Legions of autistic children and adults who have a special interest in railways are loyal to this show, just look at the fan videos on YouTube.
This show and the characters are not Thomas and Friends. They were never meant to be children and never meant to leap about track to track, or for the stories to be fast paced or even cartoonised. If the creators think that Thomas is no longer relevant then they needed to do the decent thing and shelve or cancel it. This stinks of cynicism and has no respect for the show, it's history or it's creator. My hope is that Thomas will eventually be restored to his former glory. Oh, and John Hasler was an awesome Thomas, what a waste.
