Greg Tiernan – Thomas Crew Review

no other animator for Thomas had a journey quite like Greg tyan from having to oversee all of the animation for Four Seasons in four specials of Thomas to having to translate Thomas's model aesthetic into CGI to moving away from Kitty animation and working on more adult properties only for that to blow up in his face literally nobody else had an experience with Thomas quite like Greg Tian at a time when Thomas was in his worst era Greg tian's animation was often the highlight of a season or special but despite the amount of praise the CGI Series has been receiving in recent years Greg Tian is a name that we never see pop up it's always Sharon Miller this Andrew brener that or Michael White the other but never Greg Tian why is that why is it that the Andrew brener crew always get talked about when 80 to 90% of the CGI Assets in the show were from nitren Studios is it because the nitrogen era episodes aren't as loved as much by fans is it because of Greg tian's controversy about terrible working conditions on sausage party or is it something else entirely well that's what we're going to go through today this is part of a new series on my channel called crew review it was originally called rer review but I felt that name was a little restrictive hence the change I find the story of Greg tyin incredibly fascinating it's such a bizarre and weird story and that he's such an influential part of the Thomas history being the guy responsible for 90% of the show CGI only to abandon Thomas for sausage party and then to have all these allegations come out about terrible working conditions under him it's just such a bizarre story and I find it crazy how nobody in the Thomas fandom ever seems to talk about it so today I'm going to talk about also quick warning I will be showing some footage from the movie sausage par so viewer discretion is advised but with all that out of the way let's begin Greg Tian was born in Dublin Ireland and you can definitely tell that by the accent that the man has it is a very freeing experience to be able to just animate something that you don't have boundaries on and yeah we did the animation for CG Thomas yeah that's right believe it or not me and Greg are both from from Ireland huh now that I think about Michael White is also from Ireland hm Greg got a start in the animation industry working on Don blut films of all things because of some tax exemptions in Ireland at the time Don Blues actually had an Animation Studio in Dublin Ireland where Greg Tian got a job there working on such famous films as An American Tale The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven he worked on animation in Ireland the UK Germany America hell he even worked on the movie cool world of all things not going to lie Greg has a pretty impressive portfolio he worked on some other animated stuff in America too before moving to Vancouver in Canada where he and his wife Nicole stin would later set up nitrogen studios in 2003 Greg and Nicole were later approached by HIT Entertainment in 2007 about making a CGI test pilot for Thomas using Thomas and a stinky cheese as a basis for the test pilot Greg was actually quite familiar with Thomas and the Railway Series before even joining the show having seen some of the classic episodes when he was younger and even reading some of the Railway Series books too Greg was actually quite familiar with Thomas and the Railway Series before even even joining the show but when he got the job at HIT Entertainment he went back and rewatched the entire series of Thomas I'm not even joking from Thomas and Gordon all the way to series 11 he rewatched the entire Series in preparation for his work on CGI Thomas now that is a level of dedication not only that but he also got a copy of the Thomas a tank engine man a copy of the iOS book and he even started reading real Railway books and even signal guides too that is dedication hence why there are a lot of little Easter eggs like the reverends island of soda map in Misty Island it's so clear to me that this man is very clearly dedicated to CGI Thomas and that's pretty much the history of how Greg and Nicole got involved in Thomas as I said Greg and Nicole were asked to translate Thomas from model series into CGI which is a pretty unenviable task when you think about it like because one of the most famous parts of Thomas was the fact that it was real models on a real model set and when it was first announced that it was first switching to CGI I think everyone in the world pretty much hated the idea like if you ask the average person what what their thoughts were on Thomas they would usually say yeah I love the old stuff but hate the new stuff most people at the time did not like the idea of Thomas this classically modeled show switching to CGI so from the beginning it was really an uphill battle for Greg Tian now what's interesting about Thomas and the stinky cheese animation pilot was that it was a lot closer in the style to the original model series the way the models looked the way the workers actually have paint lines on them instead of actual clothing this sort of approach they were going for in the Thomas pilot was less like CGI Thomas and more like model series Thomas but done with a CGI assets if that makes sense I know a lot of fans wish the CGI series had gone in this route of having all the CGI characters be one-on-one scale replicas of everything in the model series maybe that would have helped connect them better but I'm personally really happy that the CGI series didn't go this route it just feels kind of weird and I much prefer the CGI Thomas being its own thing in my opinion you can definitely see the spill over to the animation that Greg did for series 12 where it's trying to replicate the model series look rather than doing its own thing like how Gordon still has lines in his forehead for example but even though Thomas was transitioning to CGI there was still very clearly an effort made by both teams to make the transition as smooth as possible even for filming on the first week of series 12 Greg Tian actually went down to the set of shepher and Studios to help the crew set up for CGI markers the series 12 animation is definitely the most primitive stuff Greg did in the Thomas series but I really do think that Greg Tian and his team knocked it out with the park when it came to Hero the [Music] rails I know looking at the animation now in 2024 it's easy to look back and think that's bad but for the time this was actually incredibly impressive animation like just look at some of these shots like they're so impressive I honestly think some of the shots still hold up to this day especially some of the ones that are in the morning or night scenes they look lovely keep in mind this was around the same time that HIT Entertainment was making all of their model properties take the switch to CGI such as Bob the Builder Fireman Sam and yes Thomas the Tank Engine and when you look at some of those other shows like their animation compared to Thomas it's completely night and day like Bob the Builder's animation looks nothing like its model series firan Sam's animation is like this nightmare fuel that I can't escape from compared to the amazing model series work that series had but when you compare how bad their animation was to how good Thomas's was I think Greg Tian did a wonderful job of translating Thomas's world into CGI now while nitrogen pretty much did its own thing when it came to the CGI era of Thomas there is still a clear attempt to keep the models and the look of Thomas close to the original as possible while it's not becoming a clone of that era if that makes sense so much care and thought was clearly put into the animation it's just such a shame that it was all in service of this terrible era it really felt like the CGI series had come into its own but at the same time it still felt like the show had enough respect for the model series and the model era of Thomas unlike Fireman Sam or Bob the Builder where it just feels like a completely disjointed show from the model series in the CGI era I think CGI Thomas did a really good balance Act of doing its own thing while paying homage to the model series like how all the framing of the cameras is done very similar to how it would have been done in the model series you can tell there is a lot of intentional restriction when it comes to Greg Tian and his camera work they will occasionally do these impressive shots that just wouldn't have been possible in the model series like having the camera positioned in places it wouldn't normally have been but for the most part I think Greg Tian and his team did a remarkable job of transitioning these characters into the C world I do have a few criticisms like I've never been a big fan of the faces they gave some of the CGI characters I think a lot of the green grass country sets can get stale and I'm not a big fan of how all the engines look like Cloud factories like seriously why is there's so much smoke and steam coming out of them but for the most part I think Greg did a remarkable job of translating Thomas into the CGI world like there are so many great scenes in the movie like this first shot of Thomas for example where Thomas is at the water tower and then Spencer zooms by it's so impressive the way you have the driver interacting with the scene and the way he even adjusts his cap it just wouldn't have been possible in model series to do that the way the water tower pipe gets affected by Spencer as it goes past the way Emily's trucks crash the way Spencer leaves leaves as he goes by this whole opening sequence is the perfect example of why to switch to CGI was such a good idea showcasing all the possibilities with CGI that wouldn't have been possible in the model series just even seeing Thomas speak for the first time was so revolutionary fizzling fire boxes what was that I distinctly remember watching it for the first time and being impressed that his Mount was finally moving I always felt like hero of the Rails had just this little extra bit of attention to detail like it really felt like the crew behind it were passionate about what they were doing every little animation thing is so impressive I think Greg did a fantastic job with CGI Thomas it's just a shame that everything that came after this movie feels so boring for all the Goodwill that hero of the Rails built up it really feels like a lot of it plateaued afterwards with that movie they really had proven that Thomas could be in CGI but after that movie everything else felt like a chore there was the odd episode which had impressive animation like the early bird is a good example but for the most part all the CGI episodes just felt kind of syy I just wish some of that Hero of the Rails magic was used more often in some of these episodes it's weird for a time period where all the episodes were bad ironically enough the best part of the movies or the specials was usually the animation like I think the best example of a movie that's really bad but has great animation is Misty Island Rescue where the characters and the story are completely nonsensical and yet the animation still always goes above and beyond like just remove yourself from the awful characters and the terrible rhyming dialogue for a minute and just look at the animation on its own merits and you realize that it's actually pretty amazing stuff in fact this is even a sentiment shared by Greg Tian where he himself is not even a big fan of the rhing considering this animation was made all the way back in 2010 and still somewhat holds up to day I think that's incredibly impressive it's weird it's almost like the worst idea possible but yet they're just being executed in the best possible ways like just look at the shake shake bridge for example a stupid concept for sure but just look at how well they animated the thing all the little components the way it all swivels like the CGI here is so impressive I even like how the bridge breaks when ferdon goes over it it's so good the animation that nren did for myy Island Rescue is so bold and daring trying new things like water effects or the Mist nitren did such a good job at making Missy Island feel atmospheric and different and mysterious from Sodor the animation is honestly the best part of the movie a lot of fans complain and wish that nitrogen had done more Dynamic shots with the camera but you know what I really respect that Greg Tian had the restraint to not do that because yeah they could have totally done some crazy wacky angles from every single episode but I honestly like that they didn't do that they did occasionally do some super impressive shots but for the most part the camera usually stays locked down and static like like it was in the classic series or the model era a lot of people call the CGI series Greg did lazy but that couldn't be further from the truth Greg even talked about how the CGI was almost like a tool and how it's still very much a craftsmanship that goes on into every single model and asset that he creates like it's not lazy to film something in a particular way it shows restraint on the power of the animator so many cool character designs and bases came from Greg tan himself like hit would come to him with an idea and he would generate the idea for that basis it's so clear to me that Greg Tian very clear cares about keeping Thomas realistic as possible like people need to remind themselves that he is not a writer for a lot of these episodes it was his and the producers who wanted these episodes about Bubble liquid and clowns not Greg and it's such a shame that Greg wasn't a writer on Thomas because he very clearly had a love for the source material such as his favorite Railway Series books being very old engines and Duke the Lost Engine and he even talked about wanting to adapt duck in the diesel engine as CGI stories for example like for all the credit that Andrew brener and and others got it's such a shame that this guy who clearly cares about Thomas just as much doesn't seem to get the same recognition just because he worked in the wrong era where those episodes unrealistic yes but it was Greg who was the one who was always trying to make sure that there was a balance kept of realism now Day of the Diesels probably has the least impressive animation out of the four nitren era specials like Greg Tan's other three movies felt so atmospheric hero the rails had lovely morning shots and all those atmospheric scenes with hero M rescue did a fantastic job of making the atmosphere of Misty Island feel eerie and unique from Sodor While Blue Mountain Mystery felt very industrial and having a great sense of tone with Luke's back story such as him being in the dark here at the Steamworks or the way the storm comes in you know while Day of the Diesels just feels really Bland compared to those other specials it just feels like an extended episode you know but I don't necessarily think it was Greg's fault that the movie felt so drab because apparently the movie was meant to be much more atmospheric but hit wanted a change to be less dark and more toned down for children like this scene here where Percy meets Diesel 10 for the first time was meant to be set at night but that was later set today and Diesel 10 was meant to have a much more menacing voice but again that was also changed like you can kind of tell too with some of the scenes in the movie like how this scene with the baron shed is on fire is very intense and it's honestly one of the best scenes in the movie or the scene where Kevin meets Percy for the first time I just wish more scenes in the movie were like that you know or or the scenes with diesel 10 and the Diesel's charging you can definitely taste some of the earlier versions of the movie in some of the scenes in this movie like fire scene or the Kevin scene it's such a shame that Day of the Diesels was toned down by his because I can totally picture the original movie that nitren was going for like it starts off all bright and cheery and then suddenly it transitions into this dark fire scene with the barn on fire hell maybe that scene where Percy's at the Crossing actually took place at dusk I mean that would make sense since the next scene is at night time so also that scene with Percy meeting Diesel 10 for the first time that would have been so cool to see that at nighttime why didn't they do that I mean I know why because they originally did it that way and then he asked for them to tone it down but it would have really helped this movie stand out more you know it would have been known as like the dark Thomas movie you know because it would have felt very grimy and grubby it's such a shame that his asked them to tone it down cuz I got a feeling that Greg Tian definitely put a lot of love into the darker atmosphere of the movie only for it to kind of be squandered in the final product you know as it stands I think it's the worst nitrogen era movie Yes Mist island is bad but at least that movie had some pretty animation and very atmospheric scenes there's just so many nothing scenes in day of diesels Day of the Diesels is just pure boredom in my opinion boring is worse than bad but the best example of Greg tan and nitrogen studi dedication to CGI Thomas has to be Blue Mountain Mystery where they went all the way to Wales to look at Welsh Railways such as the Talon Railway just to get accurate measurements and sizes of the engines the amount of dedication nitrogen had when it came to scarlo engines versus aric Duncan is so obvious there was so many little details in this movie even super fans would notice like how Owen is based on the dinck incline or the amazing Nar gauge trucks or Rolling Stock there are so many little Easter eggs and examples of little narau Rolling Stock throughout the movie half of which I don't even know the names to like Greg turnon didn't have to go the extra mile to do this he didn't have to go to Wales he didn't have to get all these specific wagons he could have very easily just copy and pasted a bunch of random trucks and call it a day but no he went the extra mile for this movie so many cool assets and Designs were used throughout the film hell there's even this super obscure Easter egg right here did you catch it let's see it again did you catch it that time so this engine the camera is panning across in the foreground is known as the marklin engine back in series 1 the crew actually used the marklin engine on the set for a Goods train being pulled in the background and Greg Tian somehow knew about the super obscure detail then made a CGI version of the marklin engine just in the scene here where Thomas comes into the yard and as the camera passes like it's such a cool detail that only a tiny fraction of Thomas fans would even notice they could have easily used some mot scrap but no Greg went that extra mile and I really appreciate that honestly Blue Mountain Mystery animation feels like such a love letter to real Welsh Railways like how Luc is based on Peter Pan or how authentic the scarlo railway engines are or even just the real life Railway practices that the movie has such as a rock Crusher or the incline or the aerial winch system which fun fact is known as a blondon hence the name blondon Bridge or even the rust and sea effects on Victor which looks so good or the crashes in the movie and the dust effects all of it looks so effective another thing I really like about Blue Mountain Mystery is how fatefully they adapted the flashback sequences like for example Henry when he's inside the tunnel yes they do have them in the wrong shape I'll give you that but when they were matching up the footage they actually lowered the bridge like it was in series 1 which is like really cool and and it's also something that the adventure begins didn't do and then when they recreated Thomas the mine they Faithfully adapted the whole set and the way that he falls down again obviously Thomas's driver and fireman weren't inside the cab at the time but like it's just really fateful to how it looked in the original model series you know so much passion and attention to detail was put into animation and I will never understand why some fans call it lazy and yeah that's kind of it for Greg tian's tenure with Thomas it started out really strong with hero the rails it kind of dipped in the middle but then it ended really well with Blue Mountain Mystery in my opinion the perfect way to end his career with Thomas speaking of ending his career so uh do you remember that weird movie sausage party you know that movie that had that pixir tier level animation but was an adult animated movie with plenty of swearing many many cultural stereotypes and an overall sense of juvenile humor well what if I told you that the people behind the animation for the early years of Thomas Tank Engine were behind that movie so after working on Thomas Greg Tian stepped away from the show we'd already done four Thomas movies um it was a thousand minutes thousand minutes of Animation over 120 TV shows and we had a blast while we were doing it but so you know we've we love Thomas but we we we've been there done that and I've got a lot of pinned up emotion the Thomas years and so I got to get it out somehow after all the years of working on Kitty animation Greg was ready to try some more adult animation it is a very freeing experience to be able to just animate something that you don't have boundaries on along with co-director Conan Vernon and Seth Rogan of all people they came up with the idea of food coming to life and how crazy it would be it's just so crazy to me you know seeing Greg Turnin the Thomas director being inside the same room as Seth Rogan it's just so mad to me but anyway the basic idea for sausage party was to make an Oran movie but for adults as Greg tan said there had never really been anything quite like it before because nobody has ever really done this before ever done an R-rated animated movie in a lot of ways I can see where Greg is coming from here like I totally get his philosophy of trying to make more adult animation for a mainstream Marcus but nothing about this movie to me anyway feels particularly adult yes there's a lot of sexual references and phallic imagery and jokes for adults but nothing about this movie feels particularly mature to me the movie Just Feels Like A Stoner comedy nothing about the movie feels particularly mature or adult to me like the whole script just feels like it was written by a 13-year-old who had just learned what swears were for the first time you know like there's a smart way to do adult humor like The Simpsons Futurama Family Guy South Park and a town called Panic are all great examples of having Kitty like stuff but actually being quite adult nothing about this movie to me feels adult other than all of the profanity or shock humor or cursing or sex puns claiming this is adult H nah this isn't adult this is just some juvenile movie like I get what the movie is going for an allegory for God and the religious belief systems that the food have but for me personally it's just not my cup of tea no pun intended after the release of sausage party it was reported on cartoon Brew about the animators of sausage party were forced to work long hours and were not being paid for their overtime one of the sources described Greg having a Disturbing Behavior and an abusive management style so basically what happened was Greg tyin forced the animators to work overtime and if they didn't do that overtime that they weren't getting paid for by the way they would either lose their jobs or Worse get blacklisted from the industry of the a animators that worked on food fight 36 of them went uncredited because of this blacklisting it's such a weird twist Greg Tian this guy who is behind Thomas and was very clearly passionate about everything he did and you know always put in 110% just to hear that was so bizarre to me it was like a Twist Disney villain or something for all the promises and hope that Greg Tian had for revolutionizing animation in the industry he ironically made a complete show of an animated feature and ironically enough his controversy is the thing that kind of made him famous and after that you'd think that Greg Tian and Conan's careers would be over but apparently not the pair would later go on to work on The Adams Family and then The Adams Family too while sausage party would later gain a sequel series called sausage party futopia which is apparently meant to be coming out in 2024 AKA this year like Seth Rogan is returning but it's unclear if Greg TI is coming back so yeah pretty bizarre I find the story of Greg Tian to be endlessly fascinating in that he really clearly cared about making the series of Thomas better going as far to rewatch the entire model series and getting the Thomas Tank Engine man book and the iOS book or even going to shepher and Studios to help the crew there or going to whales to make sure the scarlo railway engines were as accurate to the Welch Railways as it could be even throwing Easter eggs it only hardcore fans with spot in terms of Thomas I think he did a fantastic job but then you see him go and make sausage party and then realize what a show of production that was and then him not paying the animators and threatening to Blacklist them it really makes you question whether we really know who Greg Tian is at all part of me wonders if Greg was just way too over in on his head when it came to sausage party and perhaps that's why he acted the way he did during the movies production now to be clear I'm not making excuses for Greg here like what he did was wrong but I'm just trying to make you all understand the situation A little better we may never know what really happened behind the scenes of that movie and I think that's what makes Greg Tian such a mysterious man to me despite being the man behind the CGI assets which was used throughout most of the show and really going above and beyond when it came to his work in Thomas we still don't properly know anything about the man he's very mysterious in that regard I just find the whole story of Greg tieran endlessly fascinating I'd love to hear what your comments are down below and what you make of Greg tan as I personally I'm constantly fascinated by his whole story on that note I think it's time to end let me know your thoughts on Greg tan down below and I'll catch you all in the next [Music] one do I have to say yeah yeah sure why not ah yeah bu I'm Greg ton I did the animation for CGI Thomas ah yeah ah yeah bu I'm Greg T yeah we did anination for CGI Thomas I did the animation for CGI Thomas try up ah yeah B I'm Greg ton I did the animation for SE no animation no you can't do it no no just forget about the first card I did the animation for CGI Thomas try out we did the animation for CGI Thomas animation animation I did the animation I did the animation I did the anate I can't do no no you can you can I did the animation animation yeah I did the animation who did the animation I did the animation I can't animation anation animation now say it in D animation animation an animation there you go I did the animation I did the an yeah I did the animation I did the animation for CGI doblin no I did the animation for CGI Thomas I did the animation for CGI Thomas I did the animation for CGI Thomas oh God I did the animation for SE no animation animation I did the animation try I did the animation I did the animation an animation I did the animation anation an animation animation animation I did the animation I did an amination amination you're what are you saying you're saying amination animation animation just try the first yeah I'm GRE turn yeah we did the anination no animation animation yeah I did the anim just try the first did the an anation an animation I did the animation animation animation I did the animation yeah I did a animation we did a we did the an animation there you go we did the animation for CG Thomas yeah ah yeah Bo GRE heing yeah we did the animation proed you E Thomas [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah

Channel: Thomas Theorist

Views: 26,552

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Id: wJpRj1Joauo

Length: 25min 52sec (1552 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024