Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends - Races, Rescues & Runaways

Starring:Ringo Starr, Michael Angelis, George Carlin, Alec Baldwin, Michael Brandon
Director: David Mitton
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Thomas and his English engine buddies face floods, landslides, and taunting trucks in these half dozen 5-minute stories narrated by Alec Baldwin. As in their previous adventures, the spunky toy vehicles survive their mishaps with a combination of quick thinking and help from their fellow vehicles. The hard-working Percy is irked at how dirty he gets hauling rock and coal until being trapped by an avalanche from a mine-shaft collapse puts things in perspective. Competition comes to the Island of Sodor when lorries (British for "trucks") with a bad attitude try to take the engines' places. But a series of accidents and breakdowns restores the engines to their rightful place. The 35-minute video is capped off by a 3-minute "music video" featuring kids singing "Accidents Will Happen" over a series of clips showing the vehicles involved in a series of crashes and other misadventures involving jelly, snow, and a runaway "boulder" that looks suspiciously like a tennis ball. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews:

Awful! .......2007-01-16

I'm a father of two toddlers with the VHS version and this thing is awful!

Perhaps I've been spoiled by the Disney music series, but the unimaginative plots and ugly presentations were unpleasant while the crashes were obnoxious.

In the much applauded section on crashes, for example, one of the cars gets hit and flies high into the air (there was a shot of the train high in the air with nothing but sky in the background). The scene then returns to Percy on the ground looking up. At that point, a glob of red stuff (blood?), falls on Percy's forehead. Perhaps I just don't get the beauty that the other reviewers are seeing. And, then there was also the ball that rolled into a fire (imagine a large stone rolling across a table top train model and then having a cheesy amateur explosion that ends with fire around the base of the ball).

The only thing more surprising is the number of positive reviews. I can't explain those. I can only provide mine. Perhaps my old VHS version is different.

Who's in Trouble Now!.......2005-07-06

I have to laugh. We got this video and it had my kids (boy and girl; 3 and 5 respectively) sitting on the edge of their seats.

It's the music and Alec Baldwin's narrative that makes this video a success. They really managed to bring a little 'peril' to Sodor, but it is nothing scary.

Another thing we like about this collection of videos is that there are alot of the lesser known characters such as George, Duck, Skarloey, Oliver, and Toad.

Titles are:

Toby and the Flood
Put Upon Percy
Horrid Lorry(s)
Bye George!
Something In The Air
Oliver's Find

Five Stars. A good addition to the home video sheds.

A good release, but there's one problem..........2005-04-30

...the crashes. Nearly every episode in this video contains an crash, in fact the music video is devoted to them. There are several cases where trains or people come very close to be killed or seriously injured. That's a far cry from the stories on the older tapes. Many of them are also over-the-top (Toby floating downriver in "Toby and the Flood" and Gordon sending a truck flying all the way across the yard in "Bye George." The writers both liked their stories to be dramatic, and obviously didn't care how unrealistic they were as long as they were action-packed.

Such a pity, because the storylines themselves are quite good (with the exception of the rather weak "Oliver's Find"), and Alec Baldwin does a fairly good job narrating them. So it's a real pity that the writers had to make this video so dramatic, and spoil it in the process!

Not scary, but really good!.......2005-04-10

Races, Rescues and Runaways wasn't a scary Thomas video. But it was really good! I like the crashes, the smashes, the KA-BOOMS, and other stuff. I like the episodes and the music video "Accidents Will Happen". I like to sing-along to it. Overall, this is a good Thomas video so buy it now!

A entertaining Thomas video!.......2004-11-10

This Thomas video has a whole bunch of crash sequences in it and every time I see an accident in Thomas, I start laughing so you can imagine how much I laughed while watching this video. Although, Percy is just the same old engine again; whining and complaining about all the work he has and feels that he is "put upon" with so much work. But let's put Percy aside shall we and focuse on the hilarious stories on here:

Toby And The Flood 5/5:
It's a stormy day on the Island of Sodor and Toby is miserable because of all the dark clouds. He is sent on patrol to see how bad the storm really is and finds out that the dam is breaking so he hurries back to warn everyone. But on his way, while crossing a bridge, the dam collapses and sends Toby down stream. Can he make it to safety in time before the river takes him down the waterfall?

Put Upon Percy 4/5:
Percy is whining and complaining that he is being put upon with work. Thomas pays no attention to him and tells him that he's just a silly engine. But when there is an avalanche at the quarry, will Percy be able to save himself and his driver in time?

Horrid Lorry 4.5/5:
Cranky tells the engines that they are too slow and delay the ships at the docks. He says that a lorry should take over their jobs. The engines are furious and hope that a lorry does not come, but one does, along with two other ones. The lorries are very rude to the engines and take over their work. Pretty soon there is no work left for Toby. Will the lorries continue this madness? Find out in this story.

Bye George! 5/5:
George just can't stand railways. One day, he is ripping up an old railway when Thomas goes by with some freight cars. George starts saying how bad railways are but Thomas can't hear him. George thinks that Thomas is ignoring him and this makes him mad. He soon ends up causing trouble.

Something In The Air 5/5:
Thomas is a bit late to the docks with Henry's load for The Flying Kipper. Thomas tries to warn Henry that there is danger on the rails but Henry doesn't listen. And because of that, he ends up swimming with the fish.

Oliver's Find 3.5/5:
Oliver has an accident with some freight cars, so Sir Topham Hatt has him run the mail train for a while. One night, Oliver gets lost and Sir Topham Hatt gets worried. When he finally finds Oliver, he finds something else very interesting.

"Accidents Will Happen"(Music Video) 6/5:
A fun and catchy song that is a great addition to this video, since it talks about accidents.

I'd recommend this Thomas video. It is funny and even sad at time but it will provide lots of entertainment to the whole family.

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