10 Years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, later shortened to 10 Years of Thomas & Friends, is a US and Canadian VHS/DVD celebrating the tenth anniversary of the television series in the United States and Canada. It features two first series episodes, two second series episodes, five third series episodes and one fourth series episode narrated by George Carlin and one song. Each story was bookended with interviews about Thomas from various people at a Day Out with Thomas event at the Strasburg Rail Road in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. It was distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment on VHS in 1999, 2001 and 2004 and was released on DVD in 2005 in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of The Railway Series. Anchor Bay Entertainment re-released the DVD in 2007 and 2008 and Lionsgate released the title on DVD in 2009 and for digital streaming in 2013.
Description
VHS
This commemorative Collector's Edition video celebrates 10 years of Britt Allcroft's Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends in America, and highlights Thomas' favorite friends, as chosen by the experts - his loyal fans! Children love Thomas and his friends because they can identify with their everyday friendships, squabbles and rivalries and parents love Thomas because of its entertaining wholesome qualities that teach gentle messages important in developing good morals and values.
In this anniversary video, children from across the country came out for a special day with Thomas to share with us their favorite Thomas friends and episodes, and to help us choose these 10 classic Thomas stories. In a live-action clip introducing each episode, you'll learn straight from the fans just what they like about their favorite characters. The grand finale features the music of Thomas' theme with special appearances by all the friends Thomas has made over the last 10 years!
2005 DVD
This commemorative Collector's Edition DVD celebrates 10 years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends in America, and highlights Thomas' favorite friends, as chosen by the experts - his loyal fans! Children love Thomas and his friends because they can identify with their everyday friendships, squabbles and rivalries and parents love Thomas because of its entertaining wholesome qualities that teach gentle messages important in developing good morals and values.
In this anniversary DVD, children from across the country came out for a special day with Thomas to share with us their favorite Thomas friends and episodes, and to help us choose these 10 classic Thomas stories. In a live-action clip introducing each episode, you'll learn straight from the fans just what they like about their favorite characters. The grand finale features the music of Thomas' theme with special appearances by all the friends Thomas has made over the last 10 years!
2007/2008 DVD
This commemorative Collector's Edition, now for the first time on DVD, celebrates 10 years of Thomas & Friends in America, and highlights Thomas' favorite friends, as chosen by the experts - his loyal fans! Children love Thomas and his friends because they can identify with their everyday friendships, squabbles and rivalries and parents love Thomas because of its entertaining wholesome qualities that teach gentle messages important in developing good morals and values.
In this anniversary DVD, children from across the country came out for a special day with Thomas to share with us their favorite Thomas & Friends episodes, and to help us choose these 10 classic Thomas stories. In a live-action clip introducing each episode, you'll learn straight from the fans just what they like about their favorite characters. The grand finale features the Thomas & Friends theme music with special appearances by all the friends Thomas has made over the last 10 years!Episodes
- Thomas and Bertie's Great Race
- Old Iron
- The Trouble with Mud
- Terence the Tractor
- Percy's Ghostly Trick
- Mavis
- Henry and the Elephant
- Percy's Promise
- Buzz, Buzz
- All at Sea*
*Followed by a song
Song
Throughout the program, the instrumental Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover intro, the Let's Have a Race chorus after Thomas and Bertie's Great Race, the first Really Useful Engine verse and chorus after Old Iron, the Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover chorus after the Trouble with Mud, the second Toby verse after Percy's Ghostly Trick, the first Island Song verse after Mavis, the first Gone Fishing verse and chorus after Percy's Promise, the first Thomas' Anthem verse and chorus after Buzz, Buzz, and the Island Song chorus after All at Sea are featured as background music in the live action interstitials.
Bonus Features
- Breakfast-Time for Thomas read-along (from Salty's Secret and Other Adventures)
- Bios of your favorite engines (from Percy Saves the Day and Other Adventures)
- Build an Engine game (from The Early Years)
- Link to the Official Website
Trivia
- The filedates of the DVD show that it was finished on June 27, 2005.
- The release was made to celebrate a decade of Thomas the Tank Engine's introduction to America, which was on 29 January 1989, referred to as the air date of the Shining Time Station series premiere A Place Unlike Any Other.
- This was the last US VHS/DVD release of a few things:
- The last US VHS to have the original Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends logo on the cover.
- The last US DVD to have images of VHS releases on the back of the booklet.
- The last US DVD to have the menu on the Island of Sodor.
- This is the only DVD with the menu to play the Engine Roll Call on the menus.
- The DVD won 2 Parents' Choice Awards.
- Starting with this, the Series 8 opening theme would be played in the DVD menus for 1990s VHS programs and Thomas Gets Tricked as they did not have DVD releases until the mid 2000s.
- A tin bank was included in some limited edition releases of the VHS.
- Mr. Conductor's whistle from the second and third seasons of Shining Time Station is heard at the start of each episode, when similar episode transitions to Shining Time Station play.
- The Day Out with Thomas clips were featured in the music videos in Storytime with Thomas. The VHS version of this release came out on the same day the fifth series episodes, Stepney Gets Lost and Rusty and the Boulder aired in the US on Storytime with Thomas.
- Interviews feature children telling stories of their favourite characters, some of which reference episodes that were not shown in this program:
- The story about Thomas alludes to the first series episode, Thomas Gets Tricked.
- The story about Edward alludes to the first series episode, Edward Helps Out.
- The stories about Gordon allude to the first series episodes, Edward Helps Out and Henry to the Rescue.
- The story about Percy alludes to the first series episode Percy Runs Away.
- The story about Toby alludes to the third series episode Time for Trouble.
- The story about Henry alludes to the first series episode Come Out, Henry! and the third series episode Henry's Forest.
- The story about Harold alludes to the third series episode Thomas, Percy and the Mail Train.
- One story about James alludes to the first series episode, Thomas Saves the Day.
- The story about Duck alludes to the third series episode Bulgy.
- During the interviews there are certain clothing and inadvertent product placements due to this being taped live during the Day Out with Thomas event.
- A baby wearing a "Baby Mickey Mouse" shirt can be seen during an interview with a father and his kids.
- During the intermission where Thomas is taking pictures with children, a father taking a picture is seen wearing a "Harley Davidson" T-shirt.
- The music video appears twice in the DVD menu, once in the episode selection and again in the sing-along song menu.
- Some VHS copies are black tapes and some are blue tapes.
- During an interview, a parent mentions Culdee as one of her son's toys, thus marking the first time the Culdee Fell Railway has been alluded to in a television series production.
- The live-action segments were filmed at the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania. This American railroad would be later used for filming again for some scenes in Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- Julia Weinstein (who was a producer for Shining Time Station) was post-production supervisor for this.
- The recordings of the Day Out with Thomas event took place between May 1st and May 3rd, 1999.
- The back cover features an image from the third series episode, Gordon and the Famous Visitor.
- This is the first US and Canadian DVD to feature the new theme tune in the menus.
- James Goes Buzz Buzz is referred to under its UK title "Buzz, Buzz" on its title card and the episode selection menu on the DVD.
- This is the only VHS release captioned by the National Captioning Centre.
- The original VHS with a 2000-2004 styled ink label came in an original 1999 box, which means it was released in 2000 but the box did not change until 2001.
- The Canadian VHS tape reads "10th Anniversary - Best Friends"
- Thomas' Anthem Grand Finale is not closed-captioned on the VHS.
- The end credits say a "Gullane Pictures Release", making it the only regular Thomas & Friends VHS to credit it as such.
Goofs
- In the main menu intro, due to reusing Thomas' line from Thomas and His Friends Get Along, Thomas mentions the Web Fun option. However, the Web Fun option of the main menu is replaced with Fun & Games. Even then, the Web Fun feature is still in the Fun & Games menu.
- The front cover shows that James and Percy are not on the tracks.
- Wilbert Awdry was not mentioned on the release, despite having written the original stories for each of the episodes on this video (except for All at Sea). Shining Time Station was not mentioned either.
- Henry and the Elephant is incorrectly called "Henry the Elephant" on the back cover and in the DVD booklet. It is referred to by its proper name on the title card and episode selection menu.
- The VHS closed captioning incorrectly misspells Culdee and Skarloey as "Coldy" and "Skarloway" respectively.
- The DVD closed captioning incorrectly refers to Edward as "Andrew" during Thomas' Anthem Grand Finale.
- At the end of the VHS, the closing Britt Allcroft Company logo has the copyright date wipe ending at the 2nd '9' of '1999'.
Merchandise
Wooden Railway (discontinued)
DVD Packs
- 10 Years of Thomas & Friends and Thomas, Percy and the Dragon and Other Stories Double Pack
- 10 Years of Thomas & Friends and Best of Gordon Double Pack
- 10 Years of Thomas & Friends and Hooray for Thomas and Other Adventures Double Pack
- Totally Thomas Volume 7
- Ultimate Thomas Collection
- Best Tales on the Tracks
