Project Lucetia

Project Lucetia (also known by its original working title Project Alcot) is an ongoing Thomas the Tank Engine fan project created and led by Al Timotheus. The goal of the project is to resurrect the cancelled Tines Sensahthe film Thomas and The Engine of The Mountains with the help of as many TTTE and Tines Sensahthe fans alike as possible. It is named after the secondary title character, Lucetia the Engine of The Mountains, and was originally named after Alcot, the main antagonist of the film.

Original film production and cancellation


The original incarnation of TATEOTM was conceived in 2012, two years before Half-Pariah and was worked on until around 2014-2015. Production halted for a year or two until in 2016 when Adam Guzik (Sensahthe) announced that the film was cancelled, claiming that he did not think it would be very good. He publicly released the script, which was completed in 2012.

The Project
On June 9, 2023, having been inspired from reading the script, Tim O'Hayre (Al Timotheus) a YouTuber and member of the TTTE community (by means of involvement in the Fandom), announced, via a post on the official Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki, his latest project, where he set a goal to resurrect TATEOTM. He described the film's fate and explained his plans. "In 2012, two years before "Tobias and The Half-Pariah", Adam Guzik (Tines Sensahthe) began production on another Thomas fan film, titled "Thomas and the Engine of the Mountains." Some scenes were filmed, and for some time, a trailer or two were on YouTube.

The plot centers around Thomas as he mourns the loss of his brother, Jinty, who died in an accident, and he blames Percy for his death and is not willing to forgive him. Thomas' grief turns into hatred for Percy, and he even seeks solace in a new engine, Alcot, who turns out to be not as innocent as he seems. He also learns the legend of the Engine of the Mountains, who grants wishes to anyone who meets her. Thomas finds her one day, and wants to use his wish to bring back his brother, but it does not quite work like that. Eventually, Sodor goes into chaos when Alcot's true intentions are revealed, and everything goes downhill from there.

The script was written and eventually completed in 2012, and it was worked on even sometime after the release of Half-Pariah. However, in 2016, after not touching the film for a while, Adam announced the sad news that the film was officially cancelled, and all that is left of the it now (at least to the public) is the completed script that explains the story, along with a poster and some screenshots of filming. As much as we wish he would reconsider, he has stated clearly that he has no intentions of revisiting the project, believing that it would not have been a very good movie.

However, after reading the script, I disagree. This story is one of the greatest that I have ever read. I believe that this film deserves another chance. And if Adam can't do it, then it is up to us, the fan community of the franchise, to pick up where he left off. I hereby declare Project Lucetia, a campaign aiming to resurrect this film from the ashes, and to succeed where Tines failed. The project is named after the title character, Lucetia, the Engine of the Mountains herself. Even though Adam may never reconsider bringing the movie back himself, I am certain that he will be willing to help his fans at least a little with this project. Even though we only have the script, a poster, and a couple of screenshots from the film to work with, I still have faith in this film. It is up to us to finish what Adam started, and to make another one of the greatest Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends fan films of all time, alongside Half-Pariah and Arcane Merchant (the latter of which comes out this December).

To all of those who are with me on this journey, please upvote this discussion. Although I am the creator and leader of this project (at least for now), I cannot do this by myself. I know that there are diehard fans out there who still wish for this lost idea to become a reality, and to those people, I believe we can still make it work. If we just work together, give it our best shot, and have fun in the process, then maybe, just MAYBE, we'll be able to pull it off. And if we do, I am sure that Adam will be very proud of us for what we can accomplish.

So what are we waiting for? Let's get the engines of our creative imaginations huffing and puffing, and get TATEOTM back on track! ONWARDS!"

- Al Timotheus

Trivia

 * It is possible that "Lucetia" could be a mispelling of "Lucretia."