Hero Of The Rails

Pierce Brosnan's Involvement In The Series
Right now, we're trying to get in touch with representatives at HIT Entertainment to ask about Pierce Brosnan's future involvement with the Thomas brand. Since the release of The Great Discovery in October, and prior to that even, we have seen Pierce's title change from a Three Series / Three Specials deal to a Special Guest Storyteller role specifically for the above release.

Personally, I'd feel it a great shame if Pierce's involvement was dropped from the series, but there are other schools of thought on the matter. At the time of Pierce's appointment, there was no word or final decision made on the series change to Full CGI in 2009, this is particularly true of a SiF member's trip to the Shepperton set in January of 2008 when it was merely speculation and rumour. However, with HIT's insistance to repeat the current interstitials for the 30-minute format (which is yet to air on Nick Jr UK), it meant that these would have had to have been re-recorded by Pierce, while Michael Angelis and Brandon already have their narrative in place - therefore, when the final decision has been made on the (cost-effective) CGI switchover has come about, rather than going to the expense of re-recording the dialogue already in place for the sake of one series, the powers that be have opted to return to the previous storytellers for one more series with the models, and introduce Brosnan in the 2009 special and series as the storyteller.

Currently we have no concrete info to go on, and are still waiting responses from HIT Entertainment, Pierce Brosnan's management and Michael Brandon's representatives.

Hero Of The Rails
Currently, this is a very hot topic as it will be the very first full-CGI release made by Nitrogen Studios in September / October of 2009, showcasing for the extent of the changes to be made for the very first time. Surprisingly enough, the changes appear to have been accepted by now, and the main issue for people here on the forum appears to be the fact that a Japanese engine has somehow appeared on the island and become compliant with our Standard Gauge... when they are traditionally 3ft 6in, and ours stands at a larger 4ft 8.5in gauge.

Therefore, a similar problem would appear with Hank, who arrived in Series 12, only his problem is more roundabout - he's too large, too powerful and too heavy to be compliant with our UK loading gauges. However, realism isn't too much of a concerning problem in the TV Series, and hopefully viewers will appreciate it for it's content.

Thankfully, at the first sign of new material, the reaction has always been the same with a bombardment of interest from all sides... :)