My 2 1/2 year old son loves Thomas, so I was excited to buy him this DVD. However, this collection includes episodes about mudslides, floods, and something about being trapped in a mine. The first (and only) time he watched it, he kept running out of the room to hide in another room. What a disappointment. I don't know why the creators of shows for small children think they have to make things scary. What a waste.

Thomas the Tank Engine Races, Rescues and Runaways is a wonderful DVD with fantastic adventures that keep my 3 year old grandson entertained for hours. He loves the stories and wants the songs over and over.

The contents are all right but I was disappointed to hear it all in American English voices and slight "ethical" adaptations from the real deal like not call the fat controler by the name used in the origonal version. My kid doesn't seem to mind though.

I'm a father of two toddlers with the VHS version and this thing is awful!

Perhaps I've been spoiled by the Disney music series, but the unimaginative plots and ugly presentations were unpleasant while the crashes were obnoxious.

In the much applauded section on crashes, for example, one of the cars gets hit and flies high into the air (there was a shot of the train high in the air with nothing but sky in the background). The scene then returns to Percy on the ground looking up. At that point, a glob of red stuff (blood?), falls on Percy's forehead. Perhaps I just don't get the beauty that the other reviewers are seeing. And, then there was also the ball that rolled into a fire (imagine a large stone rolling across a table top train model and then having a cheesy amateur explosion that ends with fire around the base of the ball).

The only thing more surprising is the number of positive reviews. I can't explain those. I can only provide mine. Perhaps my old VHS version is different.

I have to laugh. We got this video and it had my kids (boy and girl; 3 and 5 respectively) sitting on the edge of their seats.

It's the music and Alec Baldwin's narrative that makes this video a success. They really managed to bring a little 'peril' to Sodor, but it is nothing scary.

Another thing we like about this collection of videos is that there are alot of the lesser known characters such as George, Duck, Skarloey, Oliver, and Toad.

Titles are:

Toby and the Flood
Put Upon Percy
Horrid Lorry(s)
Bye George!
Something In The Air
Oliver's Find

Five Stars. A good addition to the home video sheds.