Former Wikia admin, EpicLafiteau, got in contact with creator/former producer, Rick Suvalle via email for an exclusive and exciting new interview, here on the Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go Wiki!
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1. To start off, did you have any prior knowledge of Thomas the Tank Engine before joining the reboot?
Absolutely! I was about 12 years old when the original series premiered. At the time I was a fan of stop motion animation as well as Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation, so seeing a show with radio-controlled trains was really cool to me, especially with Ringo Starr narrating, as I was, and still am, a huge Beatles fan. I discovered the CG version of the show when I had my own kids and we watched a lot of those episodes together. And my kids collected the wooden railway toys. We also read the Railway Series books to our kids. So, I definitely had a working knowledge of the franchise before I began.
2. Did you feel any pressure while creating the reboot due to the past lore?
Definitely. It’s a beloved franchise and I wanted to make sure I was respectful of the source material. But my job was also to create something new and exciting for a younger audience. So, I had to work hard to find that balance. And hopefully some of the following answers will shed a little light on that process.
3. All Engines Go is a separate series, set in a different canon from the original show. Were there plans for it to be a continuation, as it was marketed as Series 25 before it had a title?
There has been a lot of confusion in this area. In a nutshell, All Engines Go occupied the slot that would’ve been used for a potential Season 25 of the original series. And to make matters even more confusing, until we had a name for the new series, we just called the show “Season 25.” And because it was sold to Cartoon Network before we had the name, sometimes they mistakenly refer to the show as “Season 25.” But All Engines Go was always meant to be its own thing. As for any plans for the original show to be continued, not that I’m aware of. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, as these really are separate shows.
4. How limited were you and the crew when it came to which characters or locations you could or couldn't include?
It wasn’t a matter of who we could or couldn’t use, it was more about the budget. Meaning that our budget only allowed for a certain number of characters and locations to be designed/created, which I know can be frustrating for older fans, wanting to see some of their favorite characters and locations. The original “Thomas & Friends” spent 24 seasons building out its world, so if All Engines Go continues, I’m sure more favorites will make their way into the series. But I definitely tried to sneak in other locations. I would try to put in places like Callan Castle and Devil’s Back into the scripts, but once those episodes would go into production, we’d realize it was cheaper to use a location that we had already created, so I would have to tweak those scripts. But there are some fun new locations coming up. And a few old favorites that will pop up from time-to-time. For example, there is an episode coming up that will feature the beaches of Norramby.
5. Were there any characters you wanted to include but weren't allowed to?
All Engines Go really focuses on our seven main “kid” engines, which is a large ensemble for a kids show, but I really wanted to include fan favorites like James and Emily, so that’s why you see them, and some other favorites in the background with one or two speaking lines. But now that they are created, hopefully as the show progresses, we’ll see them more and more and perhaps we’ll have stories that revolve around them, as well.
6. Bulstrode is one of the characters who wasn't present in the Thomas series at the time of its ending, and hadn't been for several years. It came as a shock to most older fans to see such a classic character return, albeit in 2D form. Did you just need a "big boat character" or was there a request for him to come back? Bulstrode has been relevant in the toys over the years, at least.
To be honest, I needed a barge and Mattel told me that Bulstrode was available to be used. I wasn’t too familiar with him, so I had to do some research into his character and his capacities. When I discovered he was a grumpy and disagreeable character, I decided to soften his personality for AEG, as we already had Cranky to fill the role of being a bit on the “cranky” side of things.
7. With the effects of the pandemic forcing people to work from home, as a producer, did you find it easier or difficult to make compared to some of your other works?
We started production before the pandemic, but with Nelvana being in Toronto and Mattel being in Los Angeles, we were already set up to work remotely, so there wasn’t a big change for the show itself. I did miss breaking stories with writers in person, but we quickly adapted to working together via Zoom. But all of our recording sessions and art discussions, etc. were already happening via Zoom, and other video conferencing programs.
8. Is there anything you would like to say to the older fans of Thomas who have been watching for years? I understand a lot of them aren't happy seeing a brand new show, especially targeted at a much younger audience. I would like to say, I feel a big reason as to why there is so much negativity around the reboot is because the original show was sort of dropped off without a proper ending, and immediately replaced. Perhaps if the shows were running side-by-side, there would be less of an issue.
First off, I totally get why older fans have an issue with All Engines Go – it’s geared towards a younger audience, it’s a different animation style, and the main characters are now kids. But I think you’re right, part of the issue is that the original series seemed to just end and then suddenly there is this brand new show occupying its place. But the good news is, if they didn’t say the original series was cancelled then there’s always the possibility it can continue. Regardless, as a fan of Thomas myself, one of my goals in creating All Engines Go was to bring in new, younger fans to the franchise, so that they can ultimately discover all of Thomas – the model train episodes, the CG episodes and the Railway Series Books.
9. Was there any intention to make James a background character like Edward and Henry despite him being one of the most marketable and well- known main characters of the previous series? The reboot seems to focus on the smaller engines like Thomas, Percy and Diesel so I can see why James was not intended to be featured frequently.
You’re exactly right. The focus of AEG is on the smaller “kid” engines and we were only allowed to use a limited number of characters. The intention wasn’t to make James a background character, the intention was to find a way to somehow get him and other fan favorite engines into the show, and for now that was making them background characters. But as I said above, the great news is that now that some of them are designed, their roles could be expanded in future episodes.
10. From a writer's perspective, what process went into creating brand new characters such as Kana or Sandy?
When I was offered the job to create AEG one of the exciting things for me, was the ability to create some new characters (along with getting to play with beloved existing ones.) One of the things we wanted to do with the series was to modernize certain aspects of Sodor, which is why we changed Whiff’s Waste Dump to Whiff’s Recycle Plant and why we decided to add an electric engine to our core team. For Kana, I was inspired by the Japanese high-speed rail engines, which helped inform Kana’s personality as someone who loves to go fast and often “leaps before she looks.” As for Sandy (and our new version of Carly), I wanted to create “hands” for our characters. I had previously worked as the Head Writer on another talking vehicle show called “The Stinky & Dirty Show,” where the trucks used their wheels as hands. But trains are restricted by tracks and they don’t have hands, so by making Carly a crane engine, she could use her crane to pick up things for Thomas and the other engines. And by making Sandy a little rail speeder, fix-it engine, she could offer another pair of “hands” for our characters.
I know what your readers are thinking, “But the engines do use their wheels as hands!” To that, I say, you should’ve seen the early animatics where they were all gesturing and pointing with their wheels, and even picking things up. I had to fight really hard to eliminate most of that kind of behavior. We compromised with allowing the engines to use their wheels to switch points. There’s still some small gesturing throughout the series and occasionally you might see the engines use their wheels to hold something when there were no other options, but for the most part, they don’t use their wheels as hands. Now back to Sandy. For her personality, in preschool television we often have little sister or little brother characters who aspire to be like the bigger kids. It’s a way “in” for our youngest viewers to feel like, “Hey, I could hang out with Thomas too!” And by being the father to two daughters, I wanted to show that girls can do anything boys can, and that’s why she’s all about adventure and getting her “hands” dirty, so to speak. But she quickly became a favorite. And just to give you a bit of trivia, Glee Dango, who plays Sandy in the U.S. voice cast, originally auditioned for Kana, but when we heard her voice, we knew she was the perfect Sandy.
11. You recently revealed Kana's original name to be Akira. By any chance, is this a reference to the manga/movie of the same name?
Yes, Akira was definitely a reference to the movie. But while we were developing the show, we considered making the character be Kenji’s younger sister and wanted them both to have names that start with the letter “K.” But ultimately, we felt it might seem strange, to our younger viewers, if her brother lived in another country and we wanted Kana to be from Sodor, like the other engines. So we abandoned the idea that Kana and Kenji were related, but the name Kana stuck.
12. There are plenty of songs already featured in the episodes of All Engines Go that have been seen so far. What is the process of writing a song, especially when it comes to Thomas & Friends?
The original plan was to air episodes in pairs (two eleven-minute episodes to make up a half hour of television) and that the first episodes of the pairs, would always have an original song. But Cartoon Network decided to break them up for whatever reason. So out of the first 52 episodes you’ll see 26 new songs. As for the song writing process, the writers of the episodes would write the lyrics to the songs in their episodes. We would then hire some amazing composers to bring those songs to life. A bit of trivia: When I wrote the pilot episode (“A Thomas Promise”) we hadn’t decided if we were going to have original songs in the series yet, so when we finally made that decision, there wasn’t a single good spot for a song in the script, and that’s why you have a song (“I’m Gonna Chug”) that stops and starts throughout the episode. After that, most of the songs are all sung at once.
13. Lastly, did you or any of the staff use the Thomas Wiki during any writing or production for reference?
I used the Thomas Wiki all the time. It’s an amazing resource. As much as AEG deviated from the original series, I wanted to stay as true to the characters and the world as much as possible. Even though Thomas and Co. are kids in this version, Thomas still wants to be “really useful.” Percy is still Thomas’ best friend who loves to deliver the mail. And while the original Percy liked to play tricks on other engines, that’s not a good thing to model for younger viewers, but I still tried to tap into that trickster spirt and made the AEG Percy love to tell jokes and create puns. So I basically softened that aspect of his personality. But it had been a while since I watched Thomas, so the wiki was a great refresher for me throughout the development process and beyond. And I know many of my writers used it as well. So, thank you, and the entire Thomas fandom for helping maintain such an amazing website.
- Note: All opinions expressed in interviews belong solely to the crew or cast member interviewed, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EpicLafiteau, the All Engines Go! Wiki or Mattel Television.