Emily in the Middle

"Ho Ho Ho..."

- Toby

Emily in the Middle is an episode from the twenty-first season.

Plot
Donald and Douglas were called to Brendam Docks to deliver a very long load of steel pipes to Vicarstown, but began arguing about who is to push from behind. As Thomas was leaving, he met Emily, who was on her way to help the twins with the load. He warns her about the twins notorious behavior of arguing with each other, of which she replies that she will be fine with. When she arrived and said that she'll push the load from behind, Donald is more than happy to join her, whilst Douglas, not wanting to be left behind, agrees to come along and also to push from behind. Douglas bumped into Emily from behind before hooking up, and together, the long train began to leave the docks.

As they were puffing along, Douglas thanked Emily for helping them out, and Emily mistakenly called Douglas Donald, in which he corrected her, followed by what he can describe about his twin. This made Emily laugh, but as she laughed, her laughter echoed through the steel pipes, to Donald, who began to overhear the conversation. As Douglas explained to Emily about Donald's accidents, and with Emily laughing so hard about it, it made Donald so cross that he stopped the train. He tried to shout back that he is not going any further, but Douglas and Emily were so far behind that they couldn't hear him, so Donald uncoupled, puffed back along the train and told Douglas about the conversation and laughter between him and Emily. He also said that it was so lonely at the front, that he now wanted to swap places with Douglas. Emily happily agrees, so Douglas uncoupled, but as the twins were backing up, Toby with some trucks were coming from behind, and seeing the two engines in his way, he diverted into a siding, and crashed into the snow, causing him to have a snowy white beard. Donald and Douglas apologised to Toby, whilst Toby's driver helped to dig him out of the snow. When Douglas was going round to the front, a grumpy Gordon with his express had to stop, as the front of the steel pipe train was in the way of the express line at Suddery Junction.

As the long train came to Gordon's Hill, Donald asked Emily of what Douglas had been telling her, and she answered that it was more to do with the twins. Donald then told her about Douglas's accident, of which made Emily laugh so hard, that her laughter went through the pipes, to Douglas, who overhearing stopped the train halfway up the hill, uncoupled and went back to tell Donald that they're swapping back. Emily thought this is getting silly, as an argument then began to mount. Donald was uncoupled, went onto the other line, and was chased up the hill by Douglas. But whilst the twins argued, Emily was left to hold the very long and heavy train, in which was starting to push her back down the hill. As the twins began bumping into each other, a lump of coal fell from Donald's tender, and rolled down the hill, turning into a huge snowball. It was then that the twins realised the runaway train with Emily at the end, and the snowball, that they stopped arguing and began to chase after them. The giant snowball knocked Emily off the tracks, and when the twins arrived, they began to argue of who's fault it is until Emily whistled loudly to stop the arguing. She scolded them saying that she was trying to help them, and if they could stop arguing for one minute, then they would know that she now really needs their help.

Harvey then came to help Emily back on the tracks, just as the still snow bearded Toby, James and Gordon came by. Gordon sniffed and said that it was the twin's fault for the accident. The twins were about to blame each other, when they finally came to even ground to blame themselves. At Vicarstown, as Thomas was leaving the station with some trucks, he saw Emily now in front, pulling the long steel pipe train. He asked her of how she handled things with the twins, she answered that it's fine now, and that she had learned in future to never be in the middle of the twins whenever they start an argument. Far at the back, Donald and Douglas happily explained that they should've let Emily be in front, and them be at the back in the first place, of which then started an argument of who came up with the idea.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Toby
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Emily
 * Porter
 * Salty
 * Cranky
 * Harvey (cameo)
 * Rosie (cameo)
 * Caitlin (cameo)
 * Big Mickey (cameo)
 * The Blond-haired Boy (cameo)

Locations

 * Rail Under Road Bridge and Signalbox
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Suddery Junction
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Vicarstown

UK

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Gordon and Salty
 * Rob Rackstraw as James, Toby, and Donald
 * Joe Mills as Douglas
 * Teresa Gallagher as Emily
 * Steven Kynman as Porter
 * Matt Wilkinson as Cranky

US

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Kerry Shale as Gordon
 * Rob Rackstraw as James and Donald
 * William Hope as Toby
 * Joe Mills as Douglas
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily
 * David Menkin as Porter
 * Keith Wickham as Salty
 * Glenn Wrage as Cranky

Trivia

 * The stories Donald and Douglas tell Emily are references to the previous episodes, Break Van, Twin Trouble and Love Me Tender.
 * This episode marks the third time in which an engine is hit by a snowball, the first being Percy's New Whistle and the second being Snow Tracks.
 * This episode marks the first appearance of Suddery Junction since the second season episode, The Diseasel.
 * This episode shows the longest train, totaling twenty-five wagons.
 * At Brendam Docks, Carly is absent from her gantry rails and Big Mickey lacks his face, meaning that this episode likely takes place before Cranky at the End of the Line

Goofs

 * At Brendam Docks, there are a few goofs/animation errors with these being:
 * Cranky is missing from his usual spot until the last scene of Brendam Docks.
 * Some of the ships at Brendam Docks are floating above the waterline.
 * When Emily whistles before the three leave the docks, a close up of one of the twin's whistles is shown instead of hers.
 * At multiple spots in the episode, Donald and Douglas are not coupled to Emily.
 * After Emily derails, Donald and Douglas switch voices, but switch back to their original ones afterwards.
 * At the docks and on Gordon's Hill, Donald and Douglas somehow turn around to face each other without a turntable.

UK/US

 * Christmas On Sodor (Direct-to-Home Video/DVD)