Sleeping Beauty

"Excuse me. Are you a vandal? Driver told me vandals break and smash things."

- Duke

Sleeping Beauty is the second episode of the fourth season. It aired in the US on the Shining Time Station special Second Chances in 1995.

Plot
After a hard day's work, the engines return to the shed and ask Thomas to continue the story of Duke. Thomas then reminds them of the story thus far.

While Duke was in his shed for many years, he was certainly not forgotten and recently a team of people visited the Fat Controller intending to find and rescue Duke. The team was prepared with maps and knew where to look, so the Fat Controller agreed. Everyone set off to the mountains in a train and began the long search. As the days passed, the search grew harder and there was no sign of Duke, but the rescuers were just as determined to find him.

Finally, the search ended, quite by accident, when one of the team members fell through the roof of Duke's shed, having not realised he was standing on it and age had weakened the roof to where it could collapse. Duke wakes up and asks the men if they are vandals, but they assure him that they are there to rescue him and reunite him with Stuart and Falcon. After digging him out of the shed, they took Duke to his new home, the Skarloey Railway. Falcon and Stuart - now Sir Handel and Peter Sam - were ready to greet their old friend, who complained that they woke him up and started to tell them about the older days.

The two engines laughed at this and told Duke that they were all due to go back to work tomorrow and they could keep Duke in order. Duke pretended to be cross, but he could not be happier to be back at work with his friends.

And that is the end of Thomas' story. All the engines agree that it was a great tale and how glad they are that it really did have a happy ending.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Henry
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duke
 * Falcon
 * Stuart
 * The Portly Man
 * Sir Topham Hatt (does not speak)
 * Gordon (cameo)
 * Skarloey (cameo)
 * Rheneas (cameo)
 * Jem Cole (cameo)
 * Farmer Trotter (cameo)

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * The Old Mine
 * Skarloey
 * Rheneas
 * Skarloey Railway Slate Quarry
 * Arlesdale
 * Rheneas Viaduct
 * Crovan's Gate
 * Sir Topham Hatt's Office
 * Glennock
 * Cros-ny-Cuirn
 * Bluebell Valley

Trivia

 * This episode is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, Duke the Lost Engine.
 * Stock footage from the previous episode is used.
 * Duck is the only standard gauge engine from the previous episode not to appear when Thomas is telling the story: James takes his place.
 * The Chinese version of this episode credits George Carlin as the narrator.
 * Many whistle sounds are missing in the American version of this episode.
 * This is the first episode to use a larger scale model for a Skarloey Railway engine.
 * The title refers to the fairy tale story and a Disney movie of the same name of a princess named Aurora who, due to a curse, falls asleep for one hundred years.

Goofs

 * In the last scene of Falcon and Stuart, Stuart is tilted slightly.
 * In the British version, Skarloey and Falcon have Rheneas' whistle sound.
 * In the early British and American versions, when Stuart and Falcon meet Duke on the Skarloey Railway, Stuart has Smudger's whistle sound and Falcon has a different whistle sound.
 * When Skarloey starts his journey, he is facing forwards, but in every shot after that, he is facing backwards.

Merchandise

 * Trading Cards

Home Media Releases
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UK

 * Rock 'n' Roll and other Stories (Direct-to-Home Video)
 * The Biggest Ever Christmas Collection
 * The Complete Fourth Series

DVD Boxsets

 * Classic Collection

WAL

 * Thomas the Tank Engine: Bumper Special 2

US

 * Rusty to the Rescue and Other Thomas Stories
 * Engine Friends
 * Season 4 (Digital Download)

DVD Boxsets

 * Adventure On the Tracks

JPN

 * Thomas and the Mountain Railway Engines
 * New Thomas the Tank Engine Vol.1
 * The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 2 Vol.4

AUS

 * Rock 'n' Roll and other Stories
 * The Biggest Ever Christmas Collection
 * The Complete Fourth Series
 * The Best of Thomas and Friends - Volume 1

DVD Boxsets

 * Complete Series 1-10
 * Classic Collection
 * Series Three and Series Four Double Pack

NZ

 * Bumper Video Collection Volume 5

GR

 * The Twin Engines Were Confused!

DVD Boxsets

 * 3 DVD Boxset 2

NL

 * The Greatest Stories: The Adventures of Thomas, Percy and Gordon
 * Merry Christmas!

NOR

 * Anniversary (Norwegian VHS/DVD)

GER

 * Full Steam Ahead!
 * Heroes (German VHS)

DVD Boxsets

 * Thomas and His Friends Box Set 2

IN

 * Oliver Owns Up and Other Stories

MYS

 * Four Little Engines and Other Thomas Adventures
 * One Good Turn and Other Adventures

UKR

 * A Train Thomas and Friends
 * Thomas and Friends - Season 4 (Ukrainian DVD)

ITA

 * The Sleeping Beauty

FIN

 * Rock 'n' Roll Locomotive (Finnish DVD)

SER

 * Synchronized

CHN

 * Thomas and Friends Season 1-4 (DVD)

THA

 * Thomas and Friends - Volume 12 (Thai DVD)

TWN

 * Thomas and Friends Volume 8 (Taiwanese DVD)
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