2016 SIF Alternative Christmas Message

The **2016 SIF Alternative Christmas Message** was a one-off special released by Sodor Island Fansite and produced by Haydn Spencer. The special mainly stars Atlas and Clay with appearances by the rest of the Waterdown engines.

## About the Tradition

Starting in 2009, Sodor Island Fansite have released an alternative Christmas message, inspired by the annual Royal Christmas Message in Britain. Past characters given this honor include Diesel and Derek from ProfessorVengeance's *Tales from the Other Railway*, W.P. Allen of Simon Martin's *British Railway Stories,* and Gawdry.

## Plot

The special opens in similar fashion to the character introductions from The Great Race, with an announcer introducing Atlas as the speech host. As Atlas begins his speech, he soon runs out of things to say while the green screen behind him malfunctions. Soon, Crawfoots and Traverse begin to argue over how the speech should be shot, arguing about everything from the green screen to the lighting. Eventually Crawfoots removes the green screen to reveal an irate Clay, who begins to rant about how he should've been selected for the speech. Traverse decides to keep filming which Crawfoots abides. After Atlas informs Clay that he was about to recap the year, Clay begins to bemoan 2016 as an awful year and rants about having an existential crisis. After Clay finishes his rant, Atlas recaps some of the better moments of 2016, such as the moments that unfolded in Kindred Spirits, which Clay interrupts and implores Atlas to stop talking about it for the sake of his sanity. Atlas abides, but makes a pun about Crossed Lines, which results in Clay getting hit in the face with the title sequence.

Atlas then resumes recapping the better moments of 2016, such as the news of a breakthrough in ALS research thanks to the ice bucket challenge and the advancement of new-build steam locomotives. He also talks about what the engines have done, such as movie night and Overwatch tournaments. Atlas then throws the segment over to Dawn and Ramona to talk about the return of The Flying Scotsman. As Dawn throws acclaims about the engine, Cojak interjects when Dawn mentions her preferred livery choice for the engine. Ramona then interjects, mocking the tone Dawn had throughout the segment, mentioning Dawn did it to her throughout the American Presidential Election. Dawn then proceeds to tell Ramona, again, about how The Flying Scotsman was 'a living legend'. Cojak interjects, saying the Scotsman was 'a bottomless money pit' and an engine with a 'God complex'. Dawn, with Ramona egging her on, proceeds to go after Cojak in a fit of rage.

After it cuts away, Atlas tries to convince Clay that 2016 wasn't as bad as he thinks. But Clay remains unmoved, saying Christmas time has been very depressing for him, and begins to reminisce about the early days with Creed again. Atlas then tries to get Clay into the spirit of the holiday with a sing-song "Festivising" (a parody of "Streamlining" from *The Great Race*). After Atlas finishes the number, they are shown heading towards the annual Christmas Party. When they arrive, Ramona and Dawn tells them about the fight between Dawn and Cojak which ruined the Christmas decoration and put Cojak's head in a giant Christmas present. In need of more lines, Atlas asks Mr. Crawfoots and Mr. Traverse for the backup script, which Traverse throws down from his helicopter. As Atlas tries to recreate a past Christmas Speech, Clay finally runs out of patience and goes on a tirade about how everything is rehashed and how Atlas has done horrendously as host and ends by trying to cancel Christmas, which Ramona states that it's celebrated worldwide, and then proceeds to cancel the speech. Atlas, offended by what Clay has said, steams away.

Atlas, disapointed in how the speech has gone, sits in a siding outside the yards. Ember soon rolls up alongside, checking up on him. He explains the days events and how he tried to get Clay to cheer up and made a mess of the speech. She then mentions one particular Christmas back on the Masonry Bridge Line, where the engines were stuck in the sheds and cross after an incident between Trigger and Icarus. After a while, the engines just spent time talking amongst each other and creating the bond that lasted throughout each engines lives. She concludes that Christmas is about spending time with those that one cares about. Ember then mentions that Atlas should go back to West Shed since he is beginning to have hallucinations. An unusual sequence then begins as the Flying Scotsman's face is revealed to be in the moon with Gordon's face in a shooting star hurtling right into the Flying Scotsman's right eye. Atlas then finally wakes up covered in snow and freezing and proceeds to head back to West Shed to finish the speech, spoofing off the bridge scene from *The Great Race*.

Inside the shed, Crawfoots disciplines Clay, saying he can't cancel the Christmas speech and the can't-do attitude is not becoming of a Waterdown engine, stating "We don't do cancelling." This gets a response from Traverse about how his trains were cancelled, and the two argue as Atlas backs into the shed. Atlas explains he was away to clear his head and Clay, apologetically, says Atlas did a good job with the speech and formally apologizes for his negative mood. Atlas then apologizes for shoving Christmas cheer onto Clay and recap that even in a year that has been very dark, there are good moments and that we just need to find them and hold onto them. At the insistence of Traverse to wrap it up, Atlas wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and finishes. Then Clay attempts to run the obituaries, with Atlas trying to stop him.

In between credit rolls, Cojak wakes up to find himself on his side through a brick wall, with Crawfoots assuring the police chief that he would take care of the mess.

## Characters

* Atlas
* Zebedee
* Boomer (cameo)
* Charles Crawfoots
* Theodore Traverse
* Sherlock Hill (cameo)
* Dawn
* Clay
* Ince Castle
* Cojak
* Ramona
* Creed (cameo)
* Flying Scotsman
* Ember
* Trigger (mentioned)
* Icarus (mentioned)

## Trivia

* This is the first major special since Kindred Spirits
* Michelle Hurtado replaces Lauren as the voice of Ramona
* ButterflyCoffee also replaces Lauren as the voice of Ember.
* There are 4 spoofs off of The Great Race in the Special.
* Many of the characters have received new faces for the special.
* In the sequence where Atlas and Clay are heading towards the Christmas Party, you can see The "Berkeley" nameplate.
* The script dropped to Atlas is the script from the 2013 speech, which was hosted by SireEmEye's Brad and Henry.
* To date, this is the final SIF Alternative Christmas Message, due to the amount of time and effort the messages require.