Sidney Sings

"Ha, ha, ha, he, he, he, a very special job for me. All the way to Brendam Docks, to fetch a very special box!"

- Sidney, singing his song

Sidney Sings is the first episode of the twentieth season.

Plot
One day, Sidney is taking a train of empty trucks to the Blue Mountain Quarry, when he comes across Percy being placed on a flatbed after having an accident. Percy tells Sidney that he damaged his wheels in the crash and tries to remind him about the time he damaged his own wheels, but Sidney does not remember this. He then leaves to take his trucks to the quarry, but goes the wrong way.

A few days later, Sidney is at Knapford Station, when the Fat Controller arrives. He tells Sidney that Percy's new wheels have arrived, and he wants him to go to the Docks and bring them to the Steamworks. Sidney fears that he will forget about his job, so Thomas suggests that he sing a song to remind him about it. Sidney likes the idea, and begins singing a little song to himself as he leaves the station.

Sidney arrives at Wellsworth Station, where Gordon is waiting with the express. Sidney tells Gordon about his special job, but Gordon laughs at him and leaves. Sidney sets off down the line, but as he does, he forgets what his song was, as well as his job. After some thinking, he comes to the conclusion that he had to pick up an old boiler from the rubbish dump, and sets off at once.

At the dump, Whiff is shunting trucks of rubbish, when Sidney arrives. Sidney tells Whiff about his job, but Whiff tells him that the rubbish dump has no boilers. He tells Sidney that elephants never forget anything, which makes Sidney believe that he has to pick up an elephant from the Animal Park. He leaves the rubbish dump and arrives at the Animal Park, but finds no elephants.

Sidney returns to Knapford, where he finds a group of passengers complaining about their train being late. Sidney believes that this is his special job, and takes the passengers to Brendam Docks. When he arrives, he finds the Fat Controller waiting for him, and the Fat Controller reminds him about Percy and his new set of wheels. Sidney takes the new wheels to the Steamworks, cheerfully singing along the way.

By the time Sidney arrives at the Steamworks, it is already evening. When Percy asks him about his whereabouts, Sidney does not remember, but tells Percy that he has brought his new wheels and asks Percy if he thought he would have forgot. The two engines laugh together.

Characters
A man also speaks. He is voiced by Keith Wickham in the UK dub.
 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Whiff
 * Sidney
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sir Robert Norramby
 * The Bird Watcher
 * One of Dowager Hatt's Friends
 * The Welsh Bird Watcher
 * Norman (flashback)
 * Emily (cameo)
 * Scruff (cameo)
 * Rocky (cameo)
 * The Mayor of Sodor (cameo)
 * The Teacher (cameo)
 * Diesel (stock footage cameo)
 * Paxton (stock footage cameo)

Locations

 * Ulfstead Castle
 * Vicarstown Dieselworks
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Knapford
 * Wellsworth
 * Sodor Animal Park
 * Whiff's Waste Dump
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Steamworks
 * Blue Mountain Quarry (mentioned)

Trivia

 * This episode is the first episode to have music composed by Chris Renshaw.
 * Stock footage from The Missing Christmas Decorations is used.
 * Keith Wickham and Martin Sherman's lines in the stock footage are re-dubbed and said by Nigel Pilkington and Christopher Ragland.
 * In the PBS version of the Great Race trailer, it shows a snippet of it before the episode aired in the US.
 * The song Sidney sings is similar to "Little Brown Jug" by Joseph Winner.

Goofs

 * When Sidney goes to the Steamworks, his flatbed is missing.
 * In the first shot of the flashback to The Missing Christmas Decorations, Paxton, Diesel and Norman are standing in the entrance to the Dieselworks. But in the next shot, Paxton and Diesel disappear, Percy appears from out of nowhere and Norman has moved to the upper level.

US

 * Ultimate Friendship Adventures