The Characters

On my recent Teaser video, some asked about my original characters, and whether or not they would be returning. Some may be aware that a year or so ago, I had a bit of a clearout of my OO stock, having started an O gauge collection too. I had to seriously look at what I had in OO, and whether it would be in line with my plans for future layouts.

A lot of my original characters used 'cheap' Hornby 0-4-0 models, or models in my care that belonged to my uncle. At the time, I had no plans to reboot the series, and this lead to a lot of these models being sold off. As it happens, looking at it now, many of the characters never really had any defining features to them - many were introduced because when I started, I was lacking in a lot of character models from Hornby (and later Bachmann)'s Thomas range, and they were simply to 'boost the numbers' so there was at least some variety in who was on screen.

Not all of the models were sold - some were retained for sentimental value. But I think it is fair to say that not all of these will re-appear in the series. However, I do have a few old faces appearing in the reboot. I shan't reveal who these are yet, as I am still working these out and defining their personalities, but there will be some. There will be teasers, so keep an eye out.

Episode 1 is nearing completion, and I'm hoping to have some big news in relation to its production soon. No set release date yet, but if all goes well, it may be launched at the end of June. To separate the new stories from my old content, TTMA will move over to a new dedicated channel - so be sure to subscribe and watch there for episodes, deleted scenes and possibly more in the future.

The Return

So, as teased in my previous post / on my YouTube channel, my model series "Thomas The Model Adventures" is being rebooted this Summer.

For those who may be unaware, TTMA was my own Thomas-based web series, which also introduced a lot of own-creation characters; the sole reason for this was because, at the time, I didn't have most of the core Thomas characters and was keen to flood the stories with as many faces as possible.

The earliest episodes were filmed on a bedroom floor, with a pretty low-quality camera and next to no actual substance whatsoever - but what did I care? It was fun, I was young and had no real idea of what I was doing, I simply enjoyed it. I wasn't in the fortunate position to have stocks of buildings, stock, track etc. but I was content with simply creating adventures, with the visuals merely being second to that.

 Fast forward a few years and things hadn't really changed all that much. Sure, I had moved off of the bedroom floor and started building 'sets' rather than utilising a loop of track with sidings, but the stories were still lacking and the overall look wasn't much better. I had always wanted to make a film out of my series (mostly inspired by other series doing same, such as Thomas The Model Series (sound similar?)), and "When The Engines Split" was just that. But at release, the film used a script that was several years old, and full of countless plotholes and loose ends. It was around this time I was starting to look at my work more seriously, and wanted to produce work that I could genuinely be proud of. I had stopped enjoying my work and wanted to change that.

'Series 5' was meant to be that reboot, with better stories and sets planned, but ultimately it ended after 3 episodes. Life got in the way, time ran away from me, and I went through a patch of rough mental health that drained me of all enthusiasm. Quite frankly, I wanted rid of it all.

Some may be aware that I dabbled with animation for a little while, with 'Stick in the Mud' being completed during my time at college. I had (and still have) every intention of completing the other stories from 'Very Old Engines', along with some original ideas, but stop-motion takes a long time and requires sets to be left for a long time. Presently, I do not have the space to do this, and so these are more projects falling by the wayside.

So why suddenly relaunch a series I wanted rid of?

Because I found myself being inspired.

For the first time in years, I have ideas for decent stories, which I have sat down and structured and planned. With the TV series looking like it is heading for a drastic fall, it is the perfect time to jump back into the fray and produce the sort of stories that I would have liked to see the show tell. Seeing other content creators produce some excellent stories also made me miss my hobby.

It still won't be perfect, but I'm happy with that. I hope you will all enjoy the stories that are to come. There won't be regular releases, as time is still not on my side, but things won't be quite so rushed.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

The Teaser

I return to YouTube Summer 2018...