Terence Breaks the Ice

"You have to be sensible if you want to stay safe!"

- Thomas and Terence

Terence Breaks the Ice is an episode from the twenty-first season.

Plot
Terence is helping to cut down trees for the Christmas market at Tidmouth. Thomas arrives to collect them and Terence comments that he is wearing his snowplow, which he originally refused to do when he first met Terence. Since being rescued from a snowdrift by Terence, Thomas has learned the importance of wearing a snowplow. After reminiscing about when they first met, Thomas leaves with the trees.

Thomas stops at Knapford on the way to Tidmouth to speak to Sir Topham Hatt, who asks him where the huge tree he was meant to get for the Earl's Christmas fair at Ulfstead Castle is. As it turns out, Sir Topham Hatt never asked Thomas to get a huge tree, having forgotten to do so. Thomas promises to get a big tree once he has dropped off the load he already has.

Thomas returns to the forest and asks Terence for a large tree. Terence knows where the ideal tree is, but it is on the other side of a nearby pond that has been frozen over. Thomas advises against going over the pond, but Terence is not worried because of his caterpillar tracks. He gets to the other side of the pond, but leaves a huge crack in the ice.

After the tree has been chopped down, Terence goes back over the frozen pond. Thomas notices the ice cracking, but Terence chooses not to stop, as he is almost to the other side. He runs over the crack he left earlier and the ice breaks, leaving both Terence's rear end and the front of his trailer in the pond. After Farmer Finney has gotten out of Terence's seat, he yells for Thomas to go get help, but Thomas knows that this will take too long. He decides to pull Terence out on his own and has his driver attach chains to his plow. Thomas pulls Terence free of the water, but the trailer's hitch breaks and it sinks to the bottom of the pond, taking the tree with it. Terence apologizes to Thomas for his recklessness, but Thomas is not at all upset.

At the Christmas fair at Ulfstead, Terence apologizes to Sir Topham Hatt for losing the tree, but he is just happy that Terence is safe. Sir Robert Norramby arrives to unveil the replacement tree and, anticlimactically, turns on the lights to reveal that he only has a small tree, which has been put amid a stack of presents to give the illusion that it is massive in size. Nonetheless, he thanks Thomas and Terence for the tree and wishes everyone a merry Christmas.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Terence
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sir Robert Norramby
 * Farmer Finney (not named)
 * Lady Hatt (cameo)
 * Dowager Hatt (cameo)
 * The Bird Watcher (cameo)
 * The Ginger-haired Boy (cameo)
 * The Blond-haired Boy (cameo)

Locations

 * Knapford
 * Ulfstead Castle
 * Terence's Field
 * Hackenbeck Tunnel
 * Tidmouth (mentioned)

UK and AUS

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Teresa Gallagher as Annie and Clarabel
 * Tom Stourton as Terence
 * Keith Wickham as Sir Topham Hatt, Farmer Finney and the woodsman
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby

USA and CAN

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Teresa Gallagher as Annie and Clarabel
 * Tom Stourton as Terence
 * Keith Wickham as Sir Topham Hatt, Farmer Finney and the woodsman
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby

Trivia

 * This episode marks the first of a few things for Terence:
 * His first appearance in full CGI.
 * His first appearance overall since The Great Discovery.
 * His first speaking role since the fifth season episode, Happy Ever After.
 * His first appearance in an episode since the seventh season episode, Not So Hasty Puddings.
 * A recreated CGI flashback of the first season episode, Thomas, Terence and the Snow was made and referenced along with a recreated music cue of Thomas crashing into the snow. Unlike the original episode where Terance pulled Annie and Clarabel first when they were uncoupled from Thomas, he pulls them all out at the same time in the flashback.
 * This episode marks Farmer Finney's first speaking role in the television series.
 * This is the first episode in the CGI Series to feature only one engine and the first to do so since the Jack and the Sodor Construction Company episode, Alfie Has Kittens.
 * At the beginning of the episode, a fawn and a rabbit are seen slipping and skiing on the ice. This is a reference to the 1942 animated Disney movie, Bambi.
 * The music in the scene where the tree sinks to the bottom of the lake and Terence apologizes to it sounds very similar to the soundtrack of the 1997 romantic drama, Titanic. Terence is also wrapped in a blanket afterwards, much like Rose, the film's main character.

Goofs

 * As Thomas enters Hackenbeck Tunnel, which reuses the model for Crosby Tunnel, the tunnel has three lines, but when he exits, it has two lines.
 * When Terence pulls Thomas, Annie and Clarabel back into the tunnel, his caterpiller wheels clip through the rails.

UK/US

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