Thomas & Friends

Note: This article will only talk about the US version of seasons 1-15, as those were the only seasons of the show that aired on Sprout.

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"Hello, everybody! Welcome to the Island of Sodor!"

―Thomas

Thomas & Friends is a British-American children's television series created by Britt Allcroft. An adaptation of The Railway Series by Rev. Wilbert Awdry, the series and characters were introduced to America via PBS' Shining Time Station. Because both PBS and HiT Entertainment co-owned Sprout when the channel was launched, they aired a variety of shows from both their archive libraries on Sprout, including reruns of Thomas & Friends.

Plot

"Created by a father for his son, Thomas & Friends invites children to enter a world of imagination through the stories of Thomas the Tank Engine™ and his Island of Sodor friends. As children enjoy fun and adventure, they experience timeless life lessons of friendship and cooperation." (link)

Characters

Thomas (voiced by Martin Sherman) is an LB&SCR E2 class tank engine that is the #1 engine on the North Western Railway, and the star of the show. He's a cheeky little engine with six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome. He can be fussy and over-eager, often taking on jobs that are best left to bigger and stronger engines.
Edward (voiced by William Hope) is a Sharp, Stewart and Co. "Larger Seagull" K2 Class mixed-traffic tender engine is the #2 engine on the North Western Railway. He is one of the oldest engines on Sodor and is noted for being the kindest and wisest character in the series. Sometimes, the big engines pick on him for his age, but Edward always proves them wrong by being Really Useful.
Henry (voiced by Kerry Shale) is an LMS Stanier Class 5 "Black Five" mixed-traffic tender engine that is the #3 engine on the North Western Railway. Henry's personality has greatly changed throughout the series. In the classic series, he was rather grumpy, stubborn, and rude, but in season 8, he received a personality overhaul and became a neurotic, gentle, and nature-loving engine. Henry was originally a botched prototype of an LNER Gresley A1 and LNER C1 hybrid engine, but after receiving special Welsh coal and having an accident while pulling the Flying Kipper, he received a rebuild.
Gordon (voiced by Kerry Shale) is an LNER A3 Pacific express tender engine that is the #4 engine on the North Western Railway. Gordon pulls the express and is rather proud of the fact, and can be boastful and arrogant in regards to his strength, speed, and size. Although he has a slight rivalry with Thomas, sometimes they help each other out, like in the episodes "Down The Mine" and "Thomas Meets The Queen".
James (voiced by Kerry Shale) is an L&YR Class 28 mixed-traffic tender engine that is the #5 engine on the North Western Railway. James used to have black paint, but after he crashed into a cow field, he received red paint. James considers himself to be a Really Splendid Engine, especially due to his red paint and hates pulling trucks. James is extremely arrogant and vain, yet means well (most of the time) and is a hard worker.
Percy (voiced by Martin Sherman) is an Avonside Saddle Tank engine that is the #6 engine on the North Western Railway. Percy is very kind and empathetic and believes in the best of everyone. However, he is shown to be naive from time to time, as well as cheeky. His best friend is Thomas, and even though they have accidents sometimes, they still care for each other. Percy's favorite job is to pull the mail train.
Toby the Tram Engine (voiced by William Hope) is a GER class C53 tram engine that is the #7 engine on the North Western Railway. Toby is very wise due to his old age and is noted for his intelligence and kindness. Toby became meeker and more worrisome in later seasons, being skittish when faced with daunting tasks.
Emily the Stirling Engine (voiced by Jules de Jongh) is a GNR G3 Stirling Single engine that does not have a number and works on the North Western Railway. Emily is the only female member of the Steam Tea and acts as a compassionate motherly figure towards her friends. However, starting in season 8, Emily became rather bossy and rude. These personality changes were reverted during the switch to CGI, as Emily has returned to her old self.
Sir Topham Hatt (voiced by Kerry Shale) is the most prominent human in the series and is the manager of the North Western Railway. He acts as a fatherly figure to the engines. Sir Topham Hatt was very strict in earlier episodes, but later episodes show a comedic side to him, especially in the episode "Lady Hatt's Birthday Party".
Diesel (voiced by Martin Sherman) is the most consistent series antagonist. He is a British Rail (BR) Class 08 diesel-electric shunter and the first diesel engine on the NWR. He enjoys bullying other engines and harbors prejudice against steamers. However, he can be nice and helpful on rare occasions.

History on Sprout

The Railway Series was created by Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who would listen to the sound of trains as a boy, as stories for his son Christopher, who was confined to bed with the measles. Thomas & Friends premiered on September 26th, 2005, along with several other shows, to celebrate the launch of the Sprout network. Before that, they released it on Sprout On Demand. They aired most of the entire classic series (seasons 1-7) as individual episodes (unlike episodes of most other television shows, the classic episodes of Thomas lasted 4 minutes and 30 seconds), with restored high-definition versions of the first four seasons, for the first time in the US. Thomas and a menagerie of shows stopped airing on Sprout on September 26th, 2015, almost two years after NBCUniversal took full control of the channel and dropped PBS KIDS from their branding in November 2013. However, the show continued to air on PBS well into New Year's Eve 2017, when Nickelodeon acquired the show. Said network eventually lost the rights to the show a few years later and a reboot called All Engines Go currently airs on Netflix and Cartoonito.

The show aired at 7:30, 11:00, and 6:30AM ET when Sprout launched. It later aired at 10AM when The Sunny Side Up Show launched, 6:00 and 8AM ET when Sprout's Wiggly Waffle launched (later at 6:15 and 7:45), and 3:30PM (later at 3:45, 4:45, and 4:50) when The Sprout Sharing Show launched, and 7:34 and 7:47AM ET during The Let's Go Show. During The Good Night Show, the series aired at 6:45, 9:00, 9:30, and 10:15PM, moving to 7:15PM when the fourth season launched, getting replaced in the former timeslot by Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps.

When Sprout launched on Comcast on Demand in April 2005, seasons one to eight aired.

Season 9 episodes were added on March 3rd, 2007, and Season 10 episodes were added on November 21st the same year. Seasons 8-10 episodes were temporarily removed from the channel on September 13th the following year, eventually returned on April 1st, 2011. Season 11 episodes were added twelve days later.

Season 12 episodes were added on March 21st, 2011, along with PBS' Super WHY! and new episodes of Dive Olly Dive! and Barney & Friends.

Season 7 episodes were removed from the channel on August 22nd, 2011, and Seasons 13 and 14 episodes were added on October 10th the same year. Episodes of seasons 15 and 16 were added sometime around the next year.

Seasons 8 to 10 were removed from Sprout on June 25th, 2011, and episodes from the first seven seasons stopped airing during The Sprout Sharing Show and The Good Night Show a day later, and on Sprout's blocks on March 18th of the same year. Seasons 1 - 6 stopped airing later that year during The Good Night Show on October 9th, and on Sprout altogether on March 22nd, 2013, the same day Sprout's Wiggly Waffle dissolved.

Thomas had its very own Sprout Diner snack, Thomas' Club Car Sandwiches, and Michael Brandon reprised his role as the narrator here. This was made by Adrianna and her mom of the Shaughnessy family from Maryland, and chosen out of a contest in 2006 during Sprout's Thanksgiving Diner Party where Sprout asked viewers to send in a Thomas-themed recipe that would appear on Sprout Diner (i.e. "Thomas' Choo-Choo Chopped Salad.)"^[1] Other winners were Colin, 4, from Bremerton, Washington ("Thomas' Peanut Butter A-B-C Car"), Cara, 8, from Hockession, Delaware, Henry, 6, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Joey, Bella, and Tom from West Hartford, Connecticut, Sarah and Emma from Grand Haven, Missouri, Timothy, 6, from Springfield, Pennsylvania, and Carson, 4, from Cleveland, Alabama.^[2]

The series also had a Birthday Show recipe, Thomas' Train Car Cakes. Despite The Birthday Show dissolving sometime around 2007, the segment was also available on the Birthday Parties podcast.

"Dirty Work" was included in Lend a Helping Hand, and "Thomas and the Runaway Car" was included in Safety First.

The Thomas "Railway Friends" video sponsored Valentine's Day Sharing Show video contest in 2009.

On June 4th, 2010, for Things That Go week, Kelly and Chica celebrated Thomas' 65th anniversary on The Sunny Side Up Show with crafts, games, and activities based on the character. The Thomas birthday celebration continued throughout the weekend with a special broadcast of the Great Discovery movie at 12:30 p.m. and 4:50 p.m. ET on both Saturday, June 5, and Sunday, June 6. In addition, Sprout hosted sweepstakes of Thomas & Friends Activity Express book sets (Random House), The Great Discovery DVDs from Lionsgate, and Thomas cuddle pillows from Jay Franco on Sprout for Parents. A Thomas party section was featured in "Sprout's Birthday Party Center" on SproutOnline.com.^[3]

Apart from regular television episodes, Thomas also has several movies. Thomas and the Magic Railroad has aired on July 3rd and 11th 2015 during Summer of Sprout and was fitted as a cropped widescreen image. The Great Discovery aired on June 5 and 6, 2010. Hero of the Rails aired back-to-back with a special feature called The Birthday Express (a DVD consisting of the episodes "Percy's Parcel", "Double Trouble", "The Man In The Hills", and "The Party Surprise") to celebrate Thomas' birthday.^[4] Misty Island Rescue premiered on August 20, 2011. That special usually aired in a double feature with Day of the Diesels, which premiered on August 24, 2011, and also aired on September 5, 2011. Both of these dates were before its official DVD release in the United States.

The franchise has also sponsored Sprout's Kindest Kid Contest in 2013.

Games

Connections

Susan Kim served as a writer for both the original series and All Engines Go.
Stephen Skratt and Asher Lenz have composed for All Engines Go.

Notes

By 2011, the series only aired during The Sunny Side Up Show on weekends.
During the 2009 - 2015 era, weekend broadcasts of The Sunny Side Up Show and The Sprout Sharing Show aired the Classic and Gullane Entertainment era episodes while Sprout's Wiggly Waffle aired the later HiT era (aka neoclassic) episodes, and The Good Night Show aired the Nitrogen/Miller episodes.
Chica once dressed up as Thomas for Halloween.
Before a 2015 Thomas broadcast, Lucy accidentally introduced Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps instead.
Footage from "Thomas Comes to Breakfast" plays during the show's Wiggly Waffle introduction.
When Season 11 aired on PBS Kids Sprout, several episodes used the intros from the eighth or twelfth seasons.
On airings of the episode "James Goes Buzz Buzz", the UK title ("Buzz, Buzz") was used.
In the airings of "Trouble For Thomas", the music at the end is played twice.
In the Sprout broadcast of "Thomas' Christmas Party", around the time the engines save Mrs. Kyndley and the time Thomas gets back to the sheds, the narration is dramatically out of sync.
In the airings of "Henry And The Elephant", the original opening and end credits are used.
On airings of "Thomas Meets The Queen", this episode was given its UK title, "Paint Pots And Queens".
On airings of "Rusty Helps Peter Sam", this episode is called the UK title, "Trucks!".
On airings of "Gallant Old Engine", this episode has stereo audio, and during the scene where Skarloey tells about the past of their railway, the Thomas theme plays faintly in the background.
On airings of "Haunted Henry," the line "Stupid bird!" was removed because Sprout considers "stupid" to be a bad word.
On airings of "Fish," instead of showing a big zoom-in on the broken tail lamp, it shows a wideout picture frame.
On airings of "Thomas And Stepney," this episode uses the unrestored opening credits.
"Day Of The Diesels", "Gordon And Spencer", "Dream On," "Thomas And The Storyteller," "Salty's Stormy Tale," and "Gordon And The Engineer" use different title cards on Sprout airings.
On airings of "Elizabeth The Vintage Quarry Truck", the UK title "Elizabeth The Vintage Lorry" was used.
In the airings of "Gordon And The Engineer", James has a speaking role; he says, "Hurry up, Gordon!", which he does not in other releases of this episode.
"Henry's Good Deeds" was the very last Thomas episode to air on Sprout.
In one promo, Oliver was erroneously referred to as "Percy."
Thomas has Donald and Douglas' whistle in a Live Sprout promo.
Nina and her Sproutlet friends once did "Thomas' Clock Stretch" on The Good Night Show.^[5] The segment aired in "Time & Clocks" and, appropriately, "Trains."^[6]
- They also did "Thomas the Tank Engine's End of the Night Stretch."^[7] The segment aired in "People Who Work at Night."^[8]
Thomas was featured in the Butterflies ident.
This is the second Sprout show to have had celebrities in the cast, the first being Sesame Street (which often includes celebrity guest stars).
One story aired on Sprout instead of two like in the PBS broadcasts.
During the intro on The Good Night Show, footage from the fifth season episode, "Lady Hatt's Birthday Party" plays and Michael Brandon reprises his role.
The show has a reboot called All Engines Go that is available on Netflix and airs on Cartoon Network's Cartoonito block. It received heavy criticism from original fans.
Reverend Wilbert Awdry sketched pictures to go with the Thomas stories & he was the 1st person to draw faces on the engines.
The railway that inspired Reverend Wilbert Awdry was the Great Western line from Paddington to Bristol.
The story "Down the Mine" is based on a real event at the United Kingdom's Lindal-in-Furness in 1892, when a train fell down an old mine.
Celebrity narrators have included Ringo Starr, Alec Baldwin, George Carlin, and Pierce Brosnan.

Episodes

See List of Thomas & Friends episodes

Gallery

See Thomas & Friends/Gallery

Videos

Sprout Diner - Thomas' Club Car Sandwich

Thomas and Friends on Sprout - All At Sea

Sprout The Birthday Show 6-13-08

PBS kids sprout Thomas and friends Broadcast (1)-0

PBS Kids Sprout

Sprout promo Thomas and Friends-0

Thomas & Friends on Sprout - Lady Hatt's Birthday Party

PBS Kids Sprout Thomas and friends promo

Sprout thomas and friends intro

Sprout Thomas Promo 2005

Sprout mother's day message

PBS kids sprout massage (2005)

External links

Sources

[1] Healthy Food Contest on Sprout

[2] Sprout Diner contest winners

[3] SPROUT® CELEBRATES THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE™’S BIRTHDAY LIVE ON THE SUNNY SIDE UP SHOW ON FRIDAY, JUNE 4 FROM 9-NOON ET

[4] SproutOnline.com schedule

[5] Sprout Stretches

[6] Trains adventure

[7] Thomas on SproutOnline.com

[8] Sprout Stretches

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