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Air
Date:
4th
September 2007
These
are the stories they tell...
In which new
engine Nigel is absent minded, and inadvertently upsets Herbert, who gets into a spot of bother with some
cows...
Analysis:
Of all of the
episodes, this was considered to be the funniest of the scripts, and after watching the hilarious stop-motion with the cows
walking down the track, and Herbert's terrified expression, it's not difficult to see why!
Straight away,
there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the film. The episode is slightly worse in picture quality than the previous
three episodes, which were all filmed on a borrowed 35mm film camera. This episode was filmed using a digital camcorder, and
while the quality is slightly worse, the turn around time for making this episode was much, much shorter. In fact, it was
so much easier to make this way, that only Episode Five was then filmed using the 35mm film camera: every episode since has
used the same digital camcorder (and thanks to editing software and much practise, the quality of the film for each episode
has got better).
This episode
was a lot more historical than previous episodes. Rather than commenting generally on how a railway works (such as the
references to the goods trains in “Veto a V2!”), the very real and imposing figure of the London and North
Eastern Railway's late lamented chief engineer, Sir Nigel Gresley, and some background knowledge to his designs is
given. This also directly explains the reasons behind Herbert's and Nigel's names: Herbert Nigel Gresley
is the CME's real name.
This episode saw a Britannia
pacific locomotive used for the first time. This model would later form the basis of Stewart, the “Clan”
class standard 6MT that first appeared in a non-speaking role in Episode Eleven. Not only that, but a clue as to things to
come in Episodes Five and Six appear: Stephen appears incredibly briefly in his non-authentic express passenger blue
livery.
The
storyline was another adaptation of sorts: the TTTE episode, “Cows” was the initial inspiration although
here we have a much more extreme example of a locomotive with a phobia of cows! The shots of Herbert in the tunnel
with the cows was one of the best scenes in the series, and this episode has always been popular with the fans.
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