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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the US/Canadian VHS/DVD, the South African VHS, the magazine story, the Buzz Book or the Step into Reading book.

“What's that, Duck, are you afraid of bees? They're only insects after all, so don't let that buzzbox diesel tell you different!"
"His name is BoCo and he didn't. We–"
"I wouldn't care if
hundreds were swarming around! I'd just blow smoke and make them buzz off."
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!”
― James and Duck about bees

Buzz, Buzz, retitled James Goes Buzz Buzz on some North American and New Zealand releases, is the seventeenth episode of the third series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Main Line Engines. In the US, it reran with Tender Engines in an episode of Storytime with Thomas.

Plot

Trevor is enjoying his work in the Vicarage Orchard. It is a beautiful day with birds singing and apples ripening. James arrives and compliments how Trevor feels as well as his paint. After Trevor admits that he is bright and cheerful, James asks about a strange noise; Trevor explains that it is the bees that are making honey and that he needs to take the beehives to the station as the Vicar is going to give some of his honey to his friends. When BoCo arrives, he warns the two of them not to make the bees angry or they will sting. However, James ignores him and both engines leave and set off for the next station.

Bill and Ben are busy arranging trucks but they leave when they see BoCo, who tells Duck about the time he first met the twins and how Edward soon put a stop to their games. Duck agrees that Edward is the only one who can keep Bill and Ben in order and then nicknames them "The Bees" and BoCo chuckles, finding it a good nickname as a result of their behaviour. James bustles in after having overheard part of the conversation. He butts in asking Duck if he is ever afraid of bees and boasts that he would make the bees buzz off by blowing smoke at them, much to Duck's amusement.

The next morning, James is preparing to pull the Express. As the passengers prepare to board the train, the porter is in a hurry and accidentally causes a beehive to fall off the trolley and break open. Like magic, everyone quickly takes cover outside the station and a swarm of bees buzz around James' crew, hoping they would fix their hive. However, they are more worried that the bees will sting them and so the bees cling onto James' nice and warm boiler instead. One of them burns his foot on a hot spot of James' boiler and, in retaliation, stings him right on his nose’s end, only for it to turn red and swollen. This proves to be James and his crew’s final straw and so they started without waiting for the guard's whistle and run off without the coaches. They try different methods to get rid of the bees, such as spinning on a turntable, washing them off and going through a tunnel to smoke them out but all methods are unsuccessful no matter what. Finally, James' driver says only one thing to do is to go back to the orchard, which allows the bees to fly off when they see a beehive at the Wellsworth vicarage.

Once back at the sheds, the Vicar comes by to see James and gives his crew some jars of honey in gratitude for saving the bees. He also jokingly notes that, even though it is not Christmas yet, it would be a good idea to call him "James the Red-Nosed Engine," much to James and his crew's laughter. Instead, the crew decides to call him "The Bee's Knees" as a sign of just how Really Useful he is than ever.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • This episode was filmed on 13 January 1992.
  • In the original third series on PAL VHS releases, this episode appeared on the Australian release of the VHS, Trust Thomas, while it appeared on the UK and New Zealand releases of the VHS Escape.
  • The bee that burns himself and stings James' nose is a cel-animated cartoon, making it the only time that animation was used in the Thomas & Friends series until the hand-drawn animation was used in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, CGI in the twelfth to the twenty-fourth series and 2D computer animation in All Engines Go. It was animated by Peter Chiang of The Magic Camera Company, who were only credited when the episode was first released in 1992.
    • An animation celluloid appeared on eBay and was owned by YouTube/SiF member BlueBerkBoco in 2011, who would sell it to another buyer on eBay four years later. In 2019, three more animation celluloids were sold to Twitter users @FlyingPringle, @IsaacM6991 and @TomsProps respectively.
  • The design of the bee would later be used for the two bees that appeared in the Shining Time Station episode, Stacy Forgets Her Name.
  • This episode marks the only appearance of James’ surprised face in the third series.
  • A reference to the second series episode The Diseasel is made.
  • This is the first third series episode without an "early narration" for the UK narration. It was also the first third series episode to not use a still of the final shot for the end credits.
  • On the Shining Time Station ending credits of the episode Stacy Cleans Up, 10 Years of Thomas & Friends VHS/DVD, PBS Kids Sprout airings and Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 3, the UK title is only used.
  • This episode marks James' surprised face’s first appearance.
  • This episode marks the last of a few things:
  • The Vicar tells James, "It's a pity it's not Christmas, then we could call you 'James the Red-Nosed Engine'!" This is a reference to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. A similar reference was later made in the seventeenth series episode Santa's Little Engine and again in the All Engines Go second series episode Whiteout!.
  • In the restored version:
    • The shot of a male and female passenger staring at the broken hive is omitted.
    • The scene of James spinning on the turntable is slowed down.
  • S.S. Vienna's model and Big Mickey from TUGS can be seen as Bill and Ben leave. The fire station, the steel company, a three berth garage and a large brown building from TUGS also appear.
  • This episode marks Tidmouth Tunnel's first appearance in the television series.
  • The honeycombs inside the broken beehive are actually pieces of foam.
  • The bee that stung James is referred to as a male. However in real life, only female bees can sting.
  • Recasts of two existing expressions for James were made especially for this episode, with the characteristic big red nose applied in place of the original nose. This was to ensure the existing faces would not be spoilt. The faces were repainted in a matte grey coat in 2001 and appeared again in the 2002 music video James the Really Splendid Engine.
  • Mrs. Kyndley has the lady with the floppy green hat's body from the second series episode Wrong Road.
    • Mrs. Kyndley fills the role of the old lady from the Railway Series story, however the reason for the beehive falling is left unmentioned.
  • A limited-edition Wooden Railway "James Goes Buzz Buzz" set was released to commemorate this episode. It featured a James with a red nose that, when rubbed, would temporarily go away, as well as BoCo, a turntable, a station with a beehive and the VHS James Goes Buzz Buzz and Other Thomas Stories. When assembled, the track is shaped like a bee.
  • This episode aired in the UK exactly 47 years after the first Railway Series book The Three Railway Engines was published. Coincidentally, this was also on George Carlin's 55th birthday.
  • Figures for James' crew in panicked positions were made for the episode but they were also reused in several later episodes:

Goofs

  • When Bill and Ben puff away, one of them is not puffing smoke and both of them also do not make any sounds.
  • Studio equipment is visible when BoCo talks to Duck.
  • The narrator states that the bee that stung James' nose burnt one foot but the bee is seen reacting to a burn of his two feet.
  • When the people are racing out of the station, the platform bounces up in some frames, one of the stone pillars by the entrance moves slightly and in the second of the three frames that were shot for this sequence, a passenger figure has fallen over and is lying face down on the station floor and some of the passengers have black sticky tack under their feet that also leave stains on the platform.
  • When the bees fly around James’ driver and fireman, his cab roof is white. In the same shot, the station wall behind them is now a blank, grey wall.
  • In some scenes, some black glue can be seen wrapped around James' funnel, which indicates that at some point, James' funnel had been broken during production.
  • When James arrives at Tidmouth, he stops at the front of the station but in his point-of-view of the bee, he is in the middle of the station.
  • There appear to be two Mrs. Kyndley's at Tidmouth: one in her first series form and one in her fifth series form.
  • When James backs on his train before being stung, he moves too far back and hits the coaches. They can be seen moving backwards after James stops.
  • In the Finnish dub, Trevor is called a "car engine" by accident.
  • James' red nose smiling face's nose is smaller than his nose on his previous two red nose faces.
  • Studio equipment can be seen in the background when Bill and Ben are at Brendam docks.
  • When BoCo arrives, the roof of his brake van is both raised and bent and his buffers are also crooked.
  • Trevor has some small scratches on his face.
  • Before James buzzes away, some scratch marks can be seen below his face and lamp irons.
  • When James tells the bees to buzz off, the bees are not shown on his boiler.
  • A small black dot mark is visible in BoCo's face.

Quotes

James: Hello, Trevor. You look as bright and cheerful as my red paint.
Trevor: Oh, I am.
James: What's that noise?
Trevor: It's the bees. They're all in these boxy things called beehives. I'm taking them to the station. The Vicar says his bees make good honey and he's giving some of them to his friends.
Narrator: Just then, BoCo the Diesel Engine hummed in.
[BoCo arrives]
BoCo: Take care, you two. Don't make the bees angry. They might sting you.
Narrator: James didn't like being told what to do by a diesel and he buzzed away.
[James ignores BoCo and leaves the orchard]
BoCo: Goodbye, Trevor. [continues on his way with his vans]

BoCo: I remember the first time I met those two. They nearly made my eyes pop out. Edward soon put a stop to their games.
Duck: Edward is the only one who can keep Bill and Ben in order. I sometimes call them "the bees".
BoCo: A good name. They're terrors when they start buzzing around.
Narrator: James bustled in.
[James bustles in]
James: What's that, Duck? Are you afraid of bees? They're only insects, after all. So don't let that buzz-box diesel tell you different.
Duck: His name is BoCo and he didn't. We...
James: I wouldn't care if hundreds were swarming around! I'd just blow smoke and make them buzz off!
Duck: Buzz, buzz, buzz!

James: [after the bees swarm to his boiler] Buzz off, buzz off!
Narrator: One bee burned his foot.
Bee: Ooh! Aah! Ow! Phew, phew!
Narrator: The bee thought James had burnt him on purpose... so it stung James right back on the nose. [the bee stings James on the nose]
James: EEEEEEEEE!!!
Narrator: He had enough, so had his fireman and driver.

Merchandise

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Albanian Gumëzhimat
Chinese Mandarin 嗡嗡嗡嗡
Czech Velke bzuceni
Danish James og bierne
Dutch Gezoem
Finnish Pörinää
German Summ, summ, summ
Greek Οι μέλισσες
Hungarian Méhek
Italian Api all'attacco
Japanese あかはなのジェームス
Korean 꿀벌의 친구, 제임스 (DVD Acadamy)
빨간 코가 된 제임스 (JEI TV)
Latin American Spanish Bzzz bzzz
Norwegian James og biene
Polish Pszczoły
Romanian Bâzz, bâzz
Russian Жу, Жу
Serbian Zum, Zum
Slovenian Brenčanje
Swedish James och bina
Turkish Vız, Vız Arı
Ukrainian Знищання
Welsh Helynt Hefo Gwenyn

Home Video Releases

UK

UK DVD Packs

WAL

US

CAN

  • James Goes Buzz Buzz and Other Thomas Stories
  • 10 Years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
  • Best of James

US/CAN DVD Packs

AUS

AUS DVD Packs

NZ

  • Escape and Other Stories

ZA

IND

MYS

ITA

NL

GER

NOR

DK

SWE

FIN

SVN

SER

GRC

GRC DVD Boxset

TUR

THA

JPN

JPN VHS/DVD Boxsets

KOR

CHN

HK

Episode

References



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