Full Name Given: Thomas
Age: 19
Occupation: sailor, soldier
Voice: Christian Bale

This precious little auburn-haired adventurer has got to be the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He's compassionate, intuitive, eager to learn, and even more eager to please. There's the enormous hero worship thing. There's the magnificent facial expressions. And there's that drop-dead gorgeous voice. I have never been able to listen to Christian Bale without at least a bit of a ::squee!::, but Thomas was the first time I heard him. And he's still the one who gets to me most. But the thing that really gets me is his klutziness. I can sympathize with him, as I am a total klutz myself. It's a miracle he shot Kokoum (sp?). Not that he killed him, but that he didn't kill himself. Poor kid. He saves Smith and gets yelled at because of it.

Thomas had such a small part, but he has a fandom to make up for it. Surprisingly, he has quite a following. Most say that it is because he is just so naïve and adorable. He gets pushed around so much and loyally follows any order given to him. He idolizes John Smith ::hackhack::, yet fears Ratcliff and finds himself confused when their commands contradict each other. But justice is served at the end, when it is he giving the orders, and he proves to be quite persuasive.

The scene prior to the departure of the Susan Constant is adorable. Once you convince yourself that the woman in purple actually is old enough to be his mother. His little sister gives him his father's hat, which is perhaps the most intelligent thing anyone does over the course of the whole movie (except, perhaps for the "Put 'im in chains" bit), not because his hair needs to be hidden - I love it - but because the hat looks simply precious. So, then the poor guy gets swept overboard. And for what? All so the writers can prove how strong, courageous, and charitable Smith is. Oh, whoopee. At least the hat was salvaged, too.

One must, naturally, wonder what becomes of the little blue-eyed wonder after the movie ends. It appears as though he is now in command, what with Smith and Ratcliff on their way back to England (though I somehow doubt that they sailed across the Atlantic with absolutely nothing more in the way of a chain-of-command). So why isn't Young Thomas in the sequel? Explanations within the story itself, aside, how does Disney explain it? I know it can't possibly be because they couldn't get Bale; that's never stopped them before (Smith certainly wasn't voiced by Mel Gibson in the sequel).

And certainly they couldn't think that he was so inconsequential that no one would notice. He was the catalyst for almost every important event in the first movie. And he is infinitely more appealing than the hero. Not a word is offered to explain his absence. I'd like to think that he was put in charge of keeping peace between the natives and the Englishmen elsewhere. He would probably enjoy that. I'd also like to think that he hasn't married and that he's still nineteen, if that's not too much.

And I'll never understand why they let Smith sing, but not Thomas. What, Disney? Bale didn't prove himself worthy in Newsies?

Psst! Like what you see here? There's more!

Move along before Robin gets suspicious

Updated August 1, 2003.