Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2017 November 7

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 7

Thomas & Friends -- originally by Kipling???

Just how much did Thomas & Friends directly borrow from Rudyard Kipling's short story ".007"? Because I've compared the two, and I see a yuge amount of similarity, especially regarding the characters: .007 = Thomas (although he's a 4-4-0 "American", whereas Thomas is a 0-6-0 side-tank engine); the overhead traveling-crane (barely mentioned) = Kevin; the rude Mogul = Gordon (although Gordon is a Gresley 4-6-2 "Pacific"); the visiting PRR Consolidation = Spencer (both are visitors, and both are equally arrogant); "Pony" the yard hog = Percy; the NJ commuter engine = James (a rather tenuous comparison because the NJ commuter is only a very minor character and not well-developed, but he is described as having "very shiny brake shoes", meaning they are worn out, whereas James has wooden brake shoes which are grossly inadequate); the Boston compound = Henry (although she is described as female, whereas Henry is male and is also a simple-expansion engine, but they're both equally sickly and also rather pompous); the stationmaster = Sir Topham Hatt; the Purple Emperor = the City of Truro (both are very fast engines, and both are down-to-earth). Also the main plot of ".007" is very similar to 2 early episodes of Thomas & Friends, "Thomas Gets Tricked" and "Thomas Saves the Day"; and there are other similarities as well: the NJ commuter at one point threatens to snap off his parlor car (whereas in "James Learns a Lesson", James actually does damage one of his coaches) because it "hauls worse than a snowplow" (whereas in "Terence the Tractor", the snowplow is described as "heavy and uncomfortable"); freight cars are describes as troublesome and frolicsome in ".007", just as they are in Thomas & Friends; in ".007", Pony mentions a "surface-railroad loco" (whereas in Thomas & Friends, there actually are 2 such -- Toby and Mavis); at one point, .007 is afraid of being at the edge of the water on the ferryboat pier (whereas in "Percy Takes the Plunge", Percy actually goes over the edge); and also, at one point the Mogul insults .007 by calling him a "coffeepot" (whereas in Thomas & Friends, the roster actually includes a coffeepot named Glynn). Not to mention that singing is also a significant part of both: in ".007", there are 3 songs (the stationmaster's song, the Purple Emperor's song, and the song of the breakdown crew), whereas in Thomas & Friends, many episodes include various songs ("Pop Goes the Diesel", "How I Love to Be By the Sea", etc., etc.) So, did all these things come from Kipling, or was it merely a coincidence? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:B9F4:7CD7:EC0A:69F7 (talk) 03:55, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

There is a fairly old letter in The Guardian [1] which suggests there might be some link, and refers to a book that you might try and look up. However, unless you can actually find something which says that Awdry had read the Kipling story (and I can't) it would be difficult to prove any connection. Wymspen (talk) 12:34, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

Wymspen, the OP asked about Thomas & Friends the TV series. If Awdry was inspired by Kipling then they should have asked about The Railway Series. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 01:18, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

Just a bit too pedantic, I think - the TV programmes are undoubtedly based on the books, so any connection with the Kipling story would have to be through that route. The chance that the TV producers went back to Kipling to borrow things which weren't even in the books seems pretty implausible. Wymspen (talk) 18:12, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

I'm not so sure. Some of the things the OP mentioned are not in the books. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 15:42, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

Glynn is not in the books, but all the other things are -- I checked. 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:0:0:0:EA04 (talk) 02:50, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Christopher Awdry is still alive. Maybe he could be asked? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:09, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

Professional wheelchair basketball league in the US

There was brief mention in various media during 2016 about plans to establish a professional wheelchair basketball league in the United States, set to launch in 2017. I have not found anything published this year, so what went wrong? I've just started the Wheelchair basketball in the United States article, so I'm looking for source material to improve it. Sources:

• Belton, Andrew C. (August 23, 2016). "Professional Wheelchair Basketball League Coming to the United States in 2017". Business 2 Community. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
• "WATCH: Professional Wheelchair Basketball League (PWBL) Promo". SLAMonline. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

This, unfortunately undated, blog suggests a lack of media exposure and negative public attitudes are a problem,

• Martin, Ryan. "Can Professional Wheelchair Basketball Exist in the United States?". numotion.com. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

BTW, several such leagues exist in Europe. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:02, 7 November 2017 (UTC)

• I've been to games by The Triangle Thunder, a local team here in Raleigh, NC. Don't know much more about them or their league, but hopefully that's a start for you. --Jayron32 11:37, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Jayron32, they are a NWBA Division III team, the lowest division for adult teams and definitely amateur. If there was a currently active professional league they would be recruiting players from NWBA Division I, not Division III. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:30, 8 November 2017 (UTC)