I'd like to give my feelings on a rather controversial topic, and that is Thomas and Friends' former head writer, Sharon Miller, and the frankly insulting amount of disrespect that is shot in her direction by a large proportion of this fanbase.
I freely admit that I did not enjoy the majority of her episodes from the CGI series (or indeed, most of S13-16). I also freely admit that many characters introduced by her and her team were not the best developed.
However, I cannot accept people solely criticising Miller for this, and praising Britt Allcroft to the high heavens, when she did exactly the same thing. Bertram. Derek. Old Slow Coach. Thumper. All characters who were poorly developed, often didn't speak and rarely seen after their debut episode. In fact, I believe Cranky, Arry and Bert are the only characters introduced in S5 that are still around.
Secondly, some of the episodes from S5 are (in my opinion) pretty bad. Snow, Rusty and the Boulder and Toby and the Flood are three I don't enjoy very much. Admittedly, they're better in terms of storyline than much of the CGI episodes, but at least episodes such as Tickled Pink had elements from the Railway Series.
In addition to all of this, Miller's specials were, on the whole, not dreadful. The Great Discovery (although I'm not a fan) was well-written, and a nice send-off for the model series. Hero of the Rails was pretty good, we really felt for Hiro (although I'm not sure about Spencer as an antagonist). Misty Island Rescue, despite the Logging Locos, was full of suspense and excitement, just what a Thomas special needs. Day of the Diesels was where I think she really fell down - the patchy storyline and slightly racist undertones are hard to ignore, but having a character other than Thomas as the main protagonist was refreshing.
Blue Mountain Mystery, although not perfect, was absolutely the best special ever at the time of its release. It was fun, it was heartfelt, the choice of characters was well-considered, it provided some excellent background information on Victor and Luke, and the wonderful character of Paxton was majorly developed. This film showed what can happen when a brilliant person with massive potential teams up with another fantastic writer.
However, I'd like to put her writing to rest for now, and instead concentrate on her other role in production, at which she truly excels: her role as voice director.
I honestly don't think she could do this much better. The voices of the characters have always astounded me, especially since the show started introducing new and guest voice actors. Steven Kynman, for example, started his career on Thomas as Paxton and Peter Sam, and now look at how many roles he has!
Each voice is evidently carefully considered, with the engine's basis and origin taken into consideration. The most obvious example of this is the narrow gauge engines. Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel and Peter Sam's Welsh accents are superb, especially considering their counterparts on the Talyllyn Railway. The attention to detail is amazing - Millie's voice actress, Miranda Raison, is even fluent in French. That's how much work Sharon Miller has put - and still puts - into the show.
Sharon Miller is a record breaker. She is second only to the Reverend Awdry in the number of stories / episodes she has written, and has worked on the show for more seasons than any other member of the production crew. She's worked on the series for the models, the hybrids, Nitrogen and Arc. As such, she is quite possibly the most dedicated person to have ever worked for the television series.
THAT is how she should be remembered.