| “ | I'm gonna get my revenge, Burnett Stone, on you and that engine. You know what revenge sounds like? | „ |
| ~ P.T. Boomer before setting the explosives on Muffle Mountain |
Passing Through Boomer, or P.T. Boomer for short, was intended to be the main antagonist of the 2000 live-action-model series hybrid family film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
He is a selfish, envious, greedy, heartless and opportunistic saboteaur who wears a pair of black goggles, a black coat and is usually seen riding a motorcycle. Boomer refuses to believe in magic of any kind, so after several years, he comes back with one goal: get revenge on Burnett Stone and destroy the Lost Engine (Lady) a second time.
He was portrayed by the late Doug Lennox.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- When he and Burnett Stone were far younger, he was very angry due to not wanting to understand about magic and was jealous that Lily’s grandmother Tasha loved Burnett and not him. This jealousy was so big to the point where eventually, Boomer found Lady and threatened to destroy her if Burnett didn’t drive Lady. Burnett then reveals that he gave into Boomer’s request and let Boomer drive Lady, using up all her coal and made Lady go too fast, causing Lady to crash, resulting in the deaths of Lady and Burnett’s wife, Tasha, with Boomer running away to escape comeuppance.
- Burnett states that, because of this crash, he was never able to fix Lady up and bring her to life to make her steam, plus Lady needs to be protected since all Boomer was interested in was gold and selling Lady and her trim for scrap, proving that P.T. Boomer literally killed a sentient steam engine alongside an innocent person inside said steam engine out of jealousy, and is willing to do it again if she gets revived.
- When he is first seen near Muffle Mountain, he is shown grabbing a box of dangerous explosives and taking it with him onto his motorcycle and driving it into the distance, with the narrator saying that she at first didn’t know that her grandfather, Burnett Stone, hid a secret inside of Muffle Mountain, and that little did the narrator also know that P.T. Boomer was determined to discover the secret, and that if Boomer had succeeded in doing so, he would’ve destroyed her home-universe of Shining Time Station, as well as the Island of Sodor, meaning he would’ve committed 2 full-blown omnicides had he succeeded in his plans, not to mention that all of the steam engines and vehicles on Sodor were all sentient beings, making his omnicide on Sodor even worse.
- When he encounters Billy Twofeathers at Shining Time Station, Billy Reveals that Boomer had left that island long ago and nearly caused an accident, recognizing who he’s dealing with.
- He then reveals to Twofeathers that he’s back for revenge, and tries to bribe him into telling him (Boomer) where Burnett Stone is located in order to exact revenge on Burnett. Then, when Billy says Burnett is wherever he wants to be, he then states that there is innocence at Shining Time and tells Boomer not to mess with it, leading to Boomer noticing a pot of flowers and punching it solely for no reason other than to destroy the innocence at Shining Time while leaving.
- He then is seen reading a book of locations, finding out that Burnett Stone is located in Muffle Mountain, and after finding out, triumphantly gives out a small evil chuckle, while also ripping the page out of the book. He tries to look for something in his pocket, while a roller-skating boy grabs the book and the page Boomer ripped out of it and puts it in his sack, while roller-skating away into the distance. Boomer then realizes this is an opportunity for him to get to Muffle Mountain, following the kid.
- We then cut to Muffle Mountain and see Burnett Stone in a depression, not seeming to understand about magic anymore and stating how his childhood seems so long, with Boomer being revealed later to be the cause of this depression. It is then revealed in a dialogue flashback that a kid told Burnett to guard the Lost Engine, even when Burnett sadly did not.
- He then interacts with Burnett, asking Stone about whether the Lost Engine (Lady) was inside Muffle Mountain. Burnett responds and covers up his secret by saying that even if the Lost Engine was inside Muffle Mountain, she’d be of no good use to Boomer now. P.T. Boomer then says that Burnett is wrong about his statement of Lady being of no good use to Boomer now, just like how Burnett is always wrong in Boomer’s eyes, with Boomer following up his statement by saying that he’s only after money and not magic and that Lady is only good for one thing: scrap, before leaves on his bike, telling Burnett that he’ll be back soon and that he’ll just have to level (i.e. blow up) Muffle Mountain himself.
- And to make the situation even worse is that, in the Thomas universe, being scrap is the equivalent of death/murder if you’re either a steam engine, diesel engine, or any non-rail vehicle for that matter, meaning that Boomer is technically saying that Lady is only good for deceased body parts.
- He later shows up when Patch is upset at how Burnett Stone will not tell him where he heard the Lost Engine’s whistle, trying to bribe Patch into telling him where he (Patch) exactly heard that whistle by offering Patch several bucks of money, telling Patch to think of all he could buy with Boomer’s money, much to Patch’s unhesitant disapproval.
- After Thomas arrives at Muffle Mountain (unknowingly to Boomer), he monologues about how he’s going to get his revenge on both Burnett and Lady, rhetorically asking Burnett what revenge sounds like, leading to Boomer blowing up the entirety of Muffle Mountain, with Thomas falling off of the top of Muffle Mountain, evilly cackling when Thomas realizes while falling that he left his coal truck behind.
- He is later shown chasing Patch and Lily to stop them from getting to Burnett Stone, failing in trying to successfully chase them due to Thomas falling on top of Boomer’s motorcycle, causing Boomer to crash and fall off his motorcycle.
- In the grand climactic chase scene, P.T. Boomer appears out of the magic buffers, telling Diesel 10 to wait for him as he too, is after Lady, with Diesel 10 stating that it now makes 2 of them, both of them teaming up to destroy Lady in the process. Then, he tries to help Diesel 10 in killing off Thomas, Lady, and Burnett Stone.
- While one could argue he genuinely loves Tasha Stone romantically, it isn’t genuine as, while he was envious that Burnett was in love with Tasha instead of him, he wouldn’t have allowed her to die alongside Lady if Boomer truly loved Tasha.
- While he teamed up with Diesel 10 in the climax to destroy Lady, this isn’t a genuine friendship as their relationship together is a little vague in whether or not they care for each other due to their little screentime together. Not to mention the fact that Boomer was going to have Diesel 10's Sodor realm destroyed as well, meaning that Boomer only just viewed him as a pawn and did not care that Diesel 10 would die after he succeeded in his plans.
- While one could argue that he has a bit of a ridiculous defeat of falling into sludge, it doesn’t detract from his villainy as the narrative doesn't portray it for laughs. There is no goofy or silly music playing in the background or any slapstick or comedic lines that follow this defeat, it’s just him being angry about how he lost (albeit not saying a word about it). Additionally, everything involving him in the film thus far is played dead seriously and his worst crimes are played for horror and nightmare fuel, as well as drama.
- Unlike most of the villains in the Thomas series (including Diesel and Diesel 10) that are affable, comedic, have numerous redeeming qualities, and are mostly bog-standard due to them being mostly bullies and jerks or being "kill the heroes" villains that rely on fridge horror, P.T. Boomer has absolutely none of them, and is overall a cruel, heartless, sadistic, ruthless, greedy, and irredeemable monster that is so awful that not even a character like Thomas would even try to reason with him, making him stand out as the darkest villain to have originated in an otherwise light-hearted franchise.
Trivia[]
- To highlight his Pure Evil status, P.T. Boomer's involvement in the plot was removed from the theatrical cut precisely because test audiences complained that he was too frightening for a younger audience, which led to him being demoted into being a cameo and for Diesel 10, who was originally going to be the secondary antagonist, to be rewritten into the main one, yet this led to the film's plot being left with several plot holes that made audiences feel the plot to be contrived and dislike the film which ended up becoming a critical and financial failure.
- In spite of his original role being cut, P.T. Boomer still appeared in the finished film briefly in a scene in which Boomer, with Lennox redubbed by supervising sound editor Nelson Ferreira, as a lost motorcyclist who simply asks Burtnett Stone about directions, unlike the original cut where he and Burnett were arguing. Some of Diesel 10's shots even kept Boomer on him due to it being too late to reshoot those scenes. However, because the rest of his scenes were cut and his role changed, the theatrical cut's P.T. Boomer isn't Pure Evil.
- Originally, his fate alongside Diesel 10 was originally more gruesome in some of the film's original drafts, where Junior (who was riding Percy after the chase along with Mr. Conductor) was going to turn Boomer and Diesel 10 into sludge with his magic bandana.
- He was one of two Pure Evil versions of P.T. Boomer alongside his fanon Sodor Fallout counterpart.
- He is also the only Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Pure Evil to be official even if he was cut.
External Links[]
- P.T. Boomer on the Unpublished Villains Wiki.