Rusty and the Boulder

"Yikes!"

- Skarloey

"Rusty and the Boulder" is the twenty-sixth episode of the fifth season.

Plot
A new quarry is being built near the mines and Rusty is afraid a giant boulder will fall onto the line. He confesses his fears to Thomas and Percy, but they forget about them when a new machine named Thumper arrives to help the building process. Later, Rusty's fears are amplified when a huge slab of rock nearly hits him one rainy day. However, no one takes much notice, and the next day the nail is put on the coffin: Thumper knocks the boulder loose and it chases Rusty down the line. Rusty escapes by going onto an uphill siding. Skarloey meets the boulder near the slate mines and runs into another siding. Rheneas soon meets the boulder, and narrowly avoids disaster by running into a coalbunker. Finally, Percy meets the boulder at the mines, where it crashes into the shed, completely destroying it and setting it on fire. The Fat Controller closes the mine down, and the boulder is placed on a nearby hill.

Featured characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Percy
 * Skarloey
 * Rheneas
 * Rusty
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Thumper (does not speak)
 * Terence (cameo)
 * George (cameo)
 * Butch (cameo)
 * Boulder

Trivia

 * Many of the scenes of Boulder chasing the engines look similar to the famous "boulder" scene from the Indiana Jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
 * Boulder's face is based upon Gordon's.

Goofs

 * In the begining of the episode Rusty has his small face.
 * When Boulder falls off the cliff it hits an outcrop but still falls vertically onto the track.
 * Once Boulder has fallen off the cliff, its moss disappears!
 * Skarloey looks scared before he has realised Boulder is coming.
 * Rheneas looks upset when boulder comes rolling towards him, not scared.
 * In the close-ups of Rheneas you can see the hook attached to the camera he is pulling along.
 * Boulder shouldn't have stayed on the viaduct the whole time; he should have even collapsed it with his weight.
 * Engines can't simply "swerve" into sidings. The points wouldn't have just been switched at the last second for the relevant characters. To add to that, Boulder was never seen running past any signalboxes or workmen to explain all the points being switched.
 * Boulder sets the shed alight when it collides with it, but no reason is given. It is unlikely that Boulder created sparks when it impacted the shed.
 * Building so close to a boulder would have not been authorised, in real life.