Thomas the Jet Engine

"Hi Gordon! Bye Gordon!"

- Thomas

"Thomas and the Jet Engine" is a sixth season episode written by Ross Hastings. It first aired on October the 5th, 2002.

Plot


Gordon is boasting about how fast he can go when Thomas is given the job of delivering a jet engine to Dryaw. Unfortunately, Cranky accidentally switches the jet engine on, causing Thomas to run at high speed along the line, during which time he passes an amazed Gordon.

Featured characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Henry
 * Bertie
 * Cranky
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Donald (cameo)
 * Dowager Hatt (cameo)

Trivia

 * Stock footage from "Gordon Takes a Tumble" is used.
 * Inspiration for this episode could have come from the jet-powered rail-sleds used by the United States Air Force.

Goofs

 * When James says "Speed isn't everything" his brakepipe is severely damaged. Later, when he says "But he's still full of hot air!", the pipe appears to have been cut off, with only a small bit still attached.
 * When Thomas says "But being reliable and really useful is" the track he is on simply ends behind him.
 * When the Fat Controller tells Thomas to collect the jet engine, and Percy asks what a jet engine is, look at his hat and shoulder and you can see fingerprints.
 * When Thomas puffs into Brendam he is on the middle line, but he is coupled to the jet engine impossibly fast, and when Cranky knocks the switch the chain holding the jet engine disappears.
 * The jet engine's switch is already on before Cranky hits it with his hook.
 * When the jet engine starts some barrels and crates are beside it, but after Cranky says "Uh-oh" they have moved.
 * When Thomas rushes through Lower Tidmouth the people are huddled closely together, but in the shot after some have disappeared and the rest are spaced further.
 * In the shot of the girder bridge, the left-most track leads to the background shrubbery.
 * Thomas is seen running past a freeze frame of the watermill.
 * Just after Bertie says "Want a race, Thomas?" the lines where Thomas came from lead to the bushes; when Thomas runs alongside Gordon the tracks up ahead lead to the bushes.
 * When Gordon's brake coach reveals Thomas, Thomas is not moving.
 * The noise of a rocket engine is up into the 150-decibel range, so it should be impossible for Gordon to have heard Thomas against the noise of the jet engine.
 * The jet engine is hollow: in the close-up of it running out of fuel, you can see the red tank through the nozzle.
 * Thomas overtakes Gordon, but Gordon arrives at Knapford first.
 * In the last close-up of Percy his left buffer has excess on the bottom and a girl in pink looks like she's boarding Percy's train of vans.
 * The jet engine should not have been transported with fuel in it or have already been on a truck; it could have fallen off.
 * At such speeds, especially at corners, Thomas would surely have derailed.
 * Thomas' wheels should have melted due from the heat from friction.

Quotes

 * Thomas: Oh-hhh boy!


 * Bertie: Want a race, Thomas? (Thomas whooshes by) . . . Never mind.