I'm glad they're not completely leaving the show, but it's just not gonna be the same not seeing them as part of the main cast and that just tears me up inside. It's really not gonna be the same with Edward and Henry no longer part of the main cast. I'm not against them adding in female characters as long as they have some actual character and character development to them, but if you're gonna add them in just for the sake of making the main cast gender equal, then no, I'm not ok with that. At one hand I'm glad that they still have the same writing team, but I'm completely torn up by the fact that Mattel is interfering with the production of this with the dream sequences and changing up the format, and it's just not the same now that the main cast is different. I wanna give the new season and special a chance, I really do. I've nothing against Nia at the time I'm writing this, but I'm just gonna wait for BWBA to come out so I can actually make some impressions on her, cause the Merchandise and marketing descriptions don't have me interested. It's probably just me, but I'm probably the only one who actually remembers that the 2nd half will take place back on Sodor, cause everyone is so distracted with the dream sequences and Thomas traveling the world, and I think Rebecca has some potential and I'm glad than an engine of her basis is actually appearing on the show, and she's the one newbie I'm really looking forward too.
The one thing I'm looking forward to the most with this season though is the 2nd half of it along with Rebecca. There are some moments I liked, like the scenes with the Chinese dragon, the clips with Thomas and Nia in the parade and San Francisco (Whatever happened to predictability?) and to be totally honest, I like the new theme, but I just wish we went back to the last opening we had from the last few seasons. For the record, I'm not against the idea of Thomas traveling around the world, but the execution from what I've seen in the clips so far with the fantasy sequences is just bizarre to say the least.