Wild Water Rescue

"Percy? Are you okay?" "I'm practicing my photo face. This face? Or this face?" "Or this face. If any engine should get their picture in the paper, it should be a modern diesel engine, like me."

- Thomas, Percy and Diesel

Wild Water Rescue is an episode from the nineteenth season.

Plot
There has been a big storm on Sodor, and Percy is helping the Sodor Search and Rescue team to clear up the mess and rescue anyone who needs help. Back at the rescue centre, the Fat Controller proudly announces that the team have completed their one-thousandth rescue. And to celebrate, the mayor is to present the rescue centre with a new alarm bell.

At Brendam Docks, Percy tells Thomas all about the mayor and the new alarm bell. Percy hopes that he will have his photograph taken and placed in the Sodor Newspaper. Thomas is sure that the photographer will only want photos of the rescue team, but Percy is too busy practicing his photo face to listen. Diesel overhears them talking, and believes that the only engine who should get his picture in the newspaper is a modern diesel engine.

Percy heads towards Knapford to pick up the mayor, still practicing his photo face. He stops at a level crossing where Diesel pulls up next to him. Diesel tells him that the mayor is waiting for him at the old quarry. Percy is puzzled, but he doesn't want to be late to have his photograph taken, so he hurries away towards the quarry. Meanwhile Diesel heads to Knapford and tells the Fat Controller that Percy has a problem and can't take them to the rescue centre. So the Fat Controller and the mayor climb aboard Diesel's coach.

Percy arrives at the gloomy old quarry, unaware that Diesel has sent him on a wild goose chase. As he looks around for the mayor, he gets spooked by some crows and puffs straight into a flooded section of track. The water splashes his fire, leaving poor Percy stranded.

Meanwhile at the rescue centre, the mayor proudly presents the team with their brand new alarm bell. A photographer arrives and asks the rescue vehicles to gather for their photograph. Diesel tries to get into the photo too, but the photographer only wants the rescue vehicles in his photo. Diesel sheepishly reverses out of the frame.

Later that evening, Diesel brings the Fat Controller and the mayor back to Knapford, still sulking that he couldn't be in the photograph with the rescue team. Thomas overhears and becomes confused: he thought Percy was supposed to be at the rescue centre, not Diesel. Thomas firmly asks him where Percy is, and Diesel remembers that he sent Percy to the quarry, so he hurries there at once.

Diesel finds Percy stranded in the water, which he finds quite amusing. He offers to help him, boasting that he has a generator instead of a firebox. But as Diesel oils into the water, his generator fizzes and sparks, and he breaks down right behind Percy. Percy feels very guilty that he has caused both engines to get stuck, but Diesel confesses that he tricked Percy into coming to the quarry so that he could pick up the mayor instead. He even tries to say sorry, but he can't quite bring himself to say it. Suddenly Harold appears above them, and the rescue team puffs into the quarry, along with the Fat Controller, the mayor and the photographer, who manages to snap a picture of Diesel being lifted out of the water by Rocky.

The next day, Percy puffs into the Dieselworks and finds Diesel having his generator fixed. He thanks Diesel for trying to save him from the water, even if he did trick him in the first place. The Fat Controller arrives too and shows Diesel the newspaper. On the front cover is the photograph of Diesel being lifted by Rocky. Percy jokes that Diesel managed to get his picture taken after all, and Diesel can't help but smile.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Diesel
 * Rocky
 * Harold
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Mayor of Sodor
 * The Photographer
 * Henry (cameo)
 * Belle (cameo)
 * Flynn (cameo)
 * Butch (cameo)
 * Captain (cameo)
 * The Bird Watcher (cameo)
 * The Teacher (cameo)
 * The Fireman (cameo)
 * The Bird Watcher (cameo)
 * The Lady with the Big Hat (cameo)
 * Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameo)

Locations

 * Sodor Search and Rescue Centre
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Knapford
 * M.C. BUNN
 * The Old Quarry
 * Sodor Dieselworks
 * Elsbridge (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Going by production order, this is the fifteenth episode of the nineteenth season.
 * This episode marks the first for a few things:
 * The first time Elsbridge is mentioned by name in the television series.
 * The first time where all the six current members of the Sodor Search and Rescue Centre team all appear together, although Harold and Rocky are the only ones that speak in this episode.
 * Reused animation from Henry Spots Trouble is used.

Goofs

 * The brakevan on Henry's train changes colours.

US

 * Wild Water Rescue and Other Engine Adventures

Merchandise

 * Take-n-Play Lake Levee Repair