Maggie's Farm

re The Baffling Economics Of The Island Of Sodor

Hopefully this was written tongue in cheek. Many of the author's points are valid and the episodes could be made more realistic from that standpoint, but the intended audience is pre-schoolers for crying out loud. It's just something that needs to be overlooked, like suspending disbelief when watching The Twilight Zone.

re Classism, sexism, anti-environmentalism bordering on racism: any parent who discovered these hidden lessons will be glad the show’s star just quit.

I saw this yesterday and was beginning to wonder if it was from The Onion before I was through. The woman is obviously a True Believer of the Left. One wonders how her children will turn out? She seems ill-equipped to raise them.

re - In Defense of Thomas the Tank Engine The series is aimed at children, who need to rebel and to play but who also need, and crave, rules.

This was a good read and a good defense.

A final comment or two about the series. I believe I first saw the show on pBS in the late 80s. In the beginning it was all filmed and narrated by Ringo Starr and George Carlin. Like all series, some of the story lines were asinine and some were quite good, but what drew me to the show was the modeling. The scenery is generally first rate.

I have always wondered why the creators used the children's toy figures instead of realistic scale figures for the human characters?

The biggest pet peeve of mine is the show's ever expanding cast of characters, the better to sell more and more merchandise to cash strapped parents.