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Analysis:
This episode is one of the shortest episodes in the series.
This is not a reflection on the vast amount of planning, set adaptation, filming, editing, animating and lastly stressing
that went into it!
Tavish the J39 was chosen as the story's main
character – it would introduce him properly, and hopefully give the audience a few much needed laughs after the drama
of Episode Six.
The snow set was carefully worked on, using an identical
baseboard to the normal set (which was being re-designed for the “Sir Ralph Wedgwood” Trilogy of
episodes) and re-used a lot of the components found on the normal set, such as the shed, the goods platform, the station,
the signal gantry and the windmill. The snow was a mixtures of Scenic Snow (from the Scenic products range), talcum
powder and soap powder, that was stuck down carefully with glue in selected areas, and powdered over other areas, such as
the buildings and plant life.
The most realistic shot of the set, the one that sums
up the snow set's quality, was the shot of Tavish on the point work near the start of the episode. The problems came
with keeping the tracks entirely clean for running, and this meant that from time to time, the film makers found they really
did have to keep the tracks clear of snow!!! Life imitating art and all that!
Tavish's snowplough was made from plasti-card
and painted appropriately. It was felt that a more traditional design of snowplough should be used, although a new one (which
is more “Eastern Region” looking) has been made for the 2008 Christmas special, “Silent
Night”.
As far as stories are concerned, this one was wholly more
fun, with Sir Ralph and Tavish's back and forth argument being the highlight of the episode. It was also
the first time that all the members of the main cast had lines in an entire episode together – the other episodes were
of course, mostly two-parters and hence from part to part, not all of the engines spoke.
This was an episode in which many changes to the style of the
episodes took place – the name of the studios had been changed to “Loughborough Martin Works” after
the series' creator, Simon Martin. Further, the title sequence was edited with some new footage, and the biggest change, better
organised and more aesthetically pleasing end credits, which included pictures of the engines on each “page”.
Episode Seven was a monster to make, and, compared to
the earlier episodes, a great improvement, both visually and in script (which was tighter, and for the most part, funnier).
It was received with great aplomb, becoming a great success (when compared to the previous six episodes), for viewing
figures for December 2007.
It would be well over twelve weeks until the next episode
– and then began the web of intrigue surrounding a certain A4 Pacific...
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