Thomas the Tank Engine and the Infernal Empire

**Thomas the Tank Engine and the Infernal Empire** is an action/adventure dark fantasy buddy period piece based on *The Railway Series*.

## Synopsis

Sir Topham Hatt hunts for Irish Republican Army member and suspected cannibal Fallen Angel on the Island of East Sodor, enlisting the help of Thomas the Tank Engine and an aborigine of the isle. Imperialist and genocidal activity within the East Sodor railway industry could prove even more visceral than the exploits of the IRA, but who knows if Hatt will ever learn the truth?

## Cast

* TBA as Sir Topham Hatt, baronet of the East Sodor railway who is unaware of their ethnic cleansing, being enlisted by them to go after alleged IRA member Fallen Angel.
* TBA as The Aborigine, one of the aborigines of the Island of East Sodor, a member of one of its two tribes; her family was murdered by the railroad barons.
* TBA as Wifey Queer, the proprietor of BDSM gay bar and cannabis market The Gay Pride, formerly a tavern for the colonizers. Queer is one of many closeted LGBTQIA+ immigrants to East Sodor who fled to the island to evade persecution.
* TBA as The Bloody Baron, the lead baron of the East Sodor railway industry who wishes to bulldoze aboriginal grounds in order to reach a gold deposit.
* TBA as Fallen Angel, a cannibal who invariably poses as an Irish Republican Army terrorist and an aboriginal to sway the hand of the Commonwealth.

## Writing

White colonialism and indigenous genocide are at the forefront of Thomas the Tank Engine and the Infernal Empire, flipping the potentially imperialist beliefs of Awdry for modern resonance. Fallen Angel and his gang disguising as aborigines-- painting their faces, wearing grass skirts, masks, and bones, cannibalizing people, and wielding spears-- is in direct contrast to the peaceful aborigines who only fight out of retaliation to ethnic cleansing and cultural assassination. Nonetheless, the colonialist mindset of the Commonwealth prevents them from seeing through this, with only Hatt and co. believing the innocence of the aborigines.

Generally harmless imagery related to native cultures, predominantly Carribean and Polynesian society, are integrated into the East Sodor aboriginal landscape, with canoes, catamarans, and grass roofs. The inclusion of Moai-like statues and totem poles has been debated as it could be viewed as stereotypical in the future but carvings will likely be present. Notably, the film is set on the Island of East Sodor, a Pacific Island rather than an English one; Trigger developed the themes before realizing the location of Sodor and renamed it as such.

## Quotes

"*Don't boink with Sir Topham Hatt, ye blooming piece of shite.*"
- Sir Topham Hatt

"*There was a day when this boozer's name meant "the chuffed lions," but that's not today. Today, it means batty chaps, Nancies, luvvies, lick-a-lot-a-pusses, and sufficient leg over, ciggies, bevies, ale, shandy, and summat stiffer and riskier to go around for 'em.*"
- Wifey Queer

"*The men and bints of the colony think the natives are cannibals, right? Well, let's validate their suspicions... they'll say 'Haddaway and shite" to the tribes being peaceful and just in the governor's way after this...*"
- The Bloody Baron

## Parents Guide

### Violence & Gore

* This movie has sequences of intense and brutal action violence, countless murders, blood and gore, and a few scenes of cannibalism.
* In an ambush scene, terrorists shoot and murder many Imperial Guards with bloody bullet wounds to their chest, one of which also has a graze wound on his forehead and vomits out blood. A terrorist with a dagger approaches the wounded man, crouches down and plunges the knife into his forehead as the scene cuts to a second terrorist vomiting and wetting himself after witnessing what happens. When the terrorist with the dagger rises, his hands, nose, and mouth are completely covered in blood, implying that he scalped the man judging by the motion of his knife before slicing out and eating his brain. In a later scene, the same cannibal slurps his blood from the edge of a cut-throat knife.
* A man is shot with bloody bullet wounds and then has his heart cut out, a criminal with a large dagger stands over the shot man and raises it into the air. The man brings his arm down to slice and we see it cut into his chest as he screams in pain and his heart is audibly eaten offscreen with blood splattered on his mouth and hands when we cut back.
* One scene shows the aftermath of the genocide of a tribe. A hundred corpses, including children and toddlers, lay scattered across the ground in pools of blood. The ruins of their huts burn in the background, splattered with blood.
* A tribe of islanders with spears and arrows assault a squad of Imperial police officers after riding in on canoes and catamarans, with officers shot in the eyes and face with arrows. Police shoot the islanders with blood spray and the sheriff impales the chieftain in the heart with a blade; once the battle ends, all of the islanders lie dead on the ground.
* Islander children are cut down with a sword.

### Frightening/Intense Scenes

* Foxes watch one on a spit get cooked over a fire as a woman rips a leg off and tosses it to the living ones. The foxes become rabid and bare their fangs, eating the leg in a frenzy.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of strong violence and action, language, suggestive material, some drug content, and thematic elements.