Series 3

The third season of Thomas & Friends first premiered on VHS on 11 November, 1991 in the UK before airing on television on February 25, 1992. It first aired in the US in 1991 on Shining Time Station, with the last 10 episodes following in 1993. All twenty-six episodes were narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and by George Carlin in the US and New Zealand.

Production
Before production of the third season, Clearwater Features closed down, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer. Producer Robert D. Cardona left before the third season and Britt Allcroft took his place as co-producer alongside David Mitton. According to Robert Gauld-Galliers, "Gordon Goes Foreign" was originally planned to be filmed into an episode, but it was not filmed because of high budgets.

The series was a combination of episodes derived from the Railway Series, magazines stories (written by the series' current head writer, Andrew Brenner) and a couple of original stories by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas, the nominal main character. The Rev. W. Awdry noticed the more loose adaptations and disapproved of the new stories citing they were unrealistic.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Bill and Ben
 * Diesel
 * BoCo
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Terence
 * Bertie
 * Trevor
 * Harold
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Vicar of Wellsworth
 * The Little Boys
 * Stephen Hatt
 * Jeremiah Jobling
 * Jem Cole
 * Mrs. Kyndley
 * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife
 * Lady Hatt
 * Henrietta
 * Bridget Hatt
 * Farmer Finney
 * Percy's Ghost Engine
 * The Firelighter
 * Father Christmas
 * Daisy

Characters Introduced

 * Oliver
 * Mavis
 * Bulgy
 * The New Signalman
 * The Railway Foreman
 * The Quarry-master
 * Toad
 * The Railway Society
 * The Injured Sailor
 * City of Truro
 * Flying Scotsman
 * Farmer Trotter
 * Big Mickey
 * Bulgy's Friend
 * The Photographer
 * Big City Engine

Trivia

 * This was the first season of several things:
 * The first season narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and George Carlin in the US and the first narrated by the latter that had not been previously released with Ringo Starr's narrations.
 * The first season to have episodes not based on material by either Awdry.
 * Britt Allcroft's first season as producer.
 * Angus Wright's first season as executive producer.
 * The first season to use Rockwell font.
 * The first season to feature TUGS models and props.
 * This season was the first to use the EMU Proteus 2 Orchestral to create the music. However, some of the music made with the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesiser for the first and second season was used.
 * The first season dubbed in Finnish.
 * The first season to introduce music videos.
 * The first season to have slow motion effects.
 * The first season broadcast when Children’s ITV was abbreviated to CITV.
 * From this season on, characters would angrily say "Be quiet!" instead of "Shut up!" presumably due to the production teams and script writers being accused of using a vulgar/offensive phrase.
 * The first season to have episodes released on home video before it was broadcast on television.
 * In the US, this is the first season to not have a Christmas themed season finale.
 * The biggest space of time between two seasons airing is between the second and third seasons. The second season first aired back in 1986 and the third season in 1992.
 * Gordon Goes Foreign was originally going to be an episode in this season, but it was cancelled for being too high budget. It is unknown if any of the other episodes made for this season ever replaced it.
 * In the Ukrainian version, Michael Angelis and George Carlin's voices can be heard in the background, as a dubbing track was not used. The first thirteen episodes have George Carlin's voice while the last thirteen episodes have Michael Angelis' voice. Angelis is also credited as narrator in the first thirteen episodes despite Carlin's narration in the background and the episodes being re-dubbed.
 * This is the only season dubbed by Gary Dixon and Gavin Beckwith.
 * For much of the season, Tidmouth Sheds appears to be much larger on the inside than in the first two seasons. While all the exterior scenes depict the shed with the usual six berths, there are nine tracks seen in most interior views.
 * This is the only season that has George Carlin's narration on VHS in New Zealand. However when the third season episodes were aired in New Zealand, Michael Angelis' narration was used instead. This is also the case when The Complete Third Series was released on DVD in New Zealand.
 * Model maker John Holmes did not receive credit for working on this season until 1992.
 * At the very end of Michael Angelis' early narrations, the credits were shown with a still of the final shot of each 16 episodes. When shown on television and in future video and DVD releases, the credits were shown alongside a still of Thomas.
 * This was the last season broadcast on CITV until 2003 when the sixth season was shown. Seasons 4 and 5 would air on Cartoon Network instead.
 * From Thomas Gets Bumped to Buzz, Buzz, each CITV broadcast featured two episodes compiled into one 10 minute block. The difference here was that only the title card for the second episode was shown after the first episode.
 * This season was produced in association with Fuji Television Network, Inc. as indicated by a message at the end of each episode. In 1991 airings, the message is in white, while in 1992 airings, it is yellow.
 * According to The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, it cost £1.3 million to produce all 26 episodes.
 * It was during this season that footage of Tidmouth Sheds was shot uniquely for the Japanese-exclusive special Thomas and the U.K. Trip.
 * All at Sea and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure were the only episodes in this season not based on The Railway Series or a magazine story.
 * The first 16 episodes of this season, from A Scarf for Percy to Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party, have Michael Angelis' early narration recorded in softer that they introduced shooting.
 * The last 10 episodes of this season, from Buzz, Buzz to Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, have Michael Angelis' narration recorded in vintage.
 * The Flying Scotsman makes an obscured appearance once in this season. He is not fully shown until 24 years later with the release of the special, The Great Race.
 * The last 10 episodes of this season, from Buzz, Buzz to Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, were all filmed in a different period after the previous 16 episodes (evidences such as S.S. Roxstar gaining red smokestacks, Thomas' red lining in his cab and Henry's brake pipes being removed, teeth were added to Percy's laughing face from the second season (which were not present in a deleted scene from Thomas, Percy and the Post Train), as well as various set locations from he first 16 episodes, such as Knapford or Tidmouth Hault, not appearing in the later 10, and viceversa, such as Tidmouth or Arlesburgh Harbour) and some slight changes on the details on the sets present in both periods.

Staffel 3 Temporada 3 העונה השלישית 第3シーズン Seria 3 第3季