Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
Register
Advertisement
Main Page

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the magazine story.

“Becca's pulling us along, Becca's pulling us along, Becca's pulling us along, we'll give her a bump!”
― The Troublesome Trucks singing

Chucklesome Trucks is the third episode of the twenty-third series.

Plot

One evening, the Fat Controller comes up to Thomas, James, Percy and Rebecca to ask for a volunteer to pull a special the next day. Thomas, James and Percy are eager to pull it until the Fat Controller reveals that it is some trucks to take to Vicarstown. This makes the three refuse to take them, leading to the Fat Controller to choose Rebecca for the job.

That night, Thomas, James and Percy state their experiences with trucks to Rebecca; Thomas mentions when the trucks pushed him down Gordon's Hill and almost made him derail and when James was pushed by the trucks into some tar wagons, while James mentions when they pushed Percy into the sea. Despite the warnings from the other engines to be careful of the trucks, Rebecca states her refusal to let them beat her.

The next day, Rebecca states about how exciting the engines' stories were with the trucks (to Emily's surprise) and wonders what stories she will have. While pulling her train, the trucks start bumping her. James pulls up alongside her and laughs at her, asking if she is having trouble with them, only to crash into some tar tankers again (which Henry is pulling). Despite their teasing, the trucks become surprised when Rebecca plays along with their jokes. This also shocks Thomas and Percy, leading to Thomas stopping at a green signal and running late and Percy crashing into some big puddles.

Rebecca drops off her trucks, who are quite surprised and confused when she states she will look forward to working with them again. She later sees Percy being rescued by Judy and Jerome, Thomas with an angry Fat Controller for being late at Wellsworth and James getting the tar washed off him. The Fat Controller later tells off Thomas, James and Percy for their accidents, but praises Rebecca when she arrives at the sheds.

Characters

Locations

Cast

UK

US

  • Joseph May as Thomas
  • Kerry Shale as Gordon and the Troublesome Trucks
  • Rob Rackstraw as James and the Troublesome Trucks
  • Christopher Ragland as Percy and the Troublesome Trucks
  • Jules de Jongh as Emily
  • Yvonne Grundy as Nia
  • Rachael Miller as Rebecca
  • Teresa Gallagher as Annie and Clarabel
  • Matt Wilkinson as Winston
  • Keith Wickham as Sir Topham Hatt

Trivia

  • Going by production order, this is the second episode of the twenty-third series.
  • According to Ian McCue, this episode was originally going to be in the twenty-first series, but it was pushed back to and reworked for the format of the twenty-third series after the twenty-first series was cut short. Logically, this would mean that the episode would not have featured Nia, as the twenty-first series was before she was introduced.
  • References to the first series episodes, Thomas and the Trucks and Dirty Objects as well as the second series episode, Percy Takes the Plunge are made. Stock footage from The Adventure Begins is used during the scene of Thomas and the Trucks; due to this, Thomas lacks his twenty-third series updates.
  • Recreated CGI flashbacks of Dirty Objects and Percy Takes the Plunge are featured.
  • In the CGI flashback of Dirty Objects, one of the Brazilian trucks from Big World! Big Adventures! can be seen as part of James' train.
    • Another one of James' trucks appears to be carrying an overflowing amount of stone, which is possibly a re-use of one of the stone-filled trucks that Thomas took in the twentieth series episode, Bradford the Brake Van.
  • This episode marks the last and only for a few things:
    • Winston's only speaking role after the nineteenth series episode, Henry Spots Trouble (though aside from exclamations, he does not have any dialogue in this episode) and his final speaking role in the original series.
    • Ryan, Judy and Jerome's only appearances in the twenty-third series, as well as Judy and Jerome's final appearances.
    • The only appearance of the Tar Tankers after the twelfth series episode, Best Friends and in the CGI era.
    • The Troublesome Tankers' last speaking roles in the original series.
  • This is the second time James crashes into tar wagons (the first time was Dirty Objects), making it the third time an engine has a crash with tar wagons, with the second being Percy and Gordon in the eighth series episode, Percy's Big Mistake.
  • The song Rebecca and the Troublesome Trucks sing is sung to the tune of the English nursery rhyme, Polly Put the Kettle On.
  • This is the first episode where James and Emily have their new details.
  • Apart from gasping, Winston does not have any dialogue in this episode.
  • The is the fifth episode in which the term "trucks" is used throughout the episode in the US dub instead of "cars", with the first being the sixth series episode, The World's Strongest Engine, the second being the eighth series episode, Emily's New Route, the third being the eleventh series episode, Henry's Lucky Day, and the fourth being the seventeenth series episode, No More Mr. Nice Engine.
  • The audio of James' US scream is taken from the nineteenth series episode, Philip to the Rescue.
  • The audio of Rebecca saying "Yay me!" is taken from the twenty-second series episode, What Rebecca Does.
  • On the Nick Jr. US airing of this episode, it was paired with Laid Back Shane.

Goofs

  • Emily's buffers are black instead of silver.
  • When James crashes into the tar tankers in the present day, he is already covered in tar before he actually hits the tankers.
  • In the scene of Emily and Rebecca talking at Knapford, Annie and Clarabel are clipping through their shed's door, and they disappear between shots.
  • In the UK dub, Thomas does not shout "Woo-hoo!" when he jumps off Gordon's Hill at the beginning.
  • In the distance shot of Vicarstown, the station is missing its letters.
  • In the shot of Rebecca and the trucks passing Thomas, Annie and Clarabel, the tankers' eyeballs and eyebrows are not rendered properly.
  • In the German dub, Gordon incorrectly refers to himself and Rebecca as tank engines.
  • When Rebecca passes Thomas, he had to stop to let her pass, however, she was on the other track so there was no need for Thomas to stop.
  • Cranky, Carly, and Big Mickey appear during the recreated flashback of Percy Takes the Plunge, despite them not being introduced at that time in that episode.
  • Henry's train of tar tankers did not have a brake van. This was done so that James can crash into a tanker to get covered in tar and not the brake van.

Merchandise

Home Media Releases

UK/AUS

NL

In Other Languages

Language Title
Arabic العربات المشاكسة
Brazilian Portuguese Vagões Engraçados
Dutch Pret Met de Trucks
Estonian Naerukallurid
German Die widerspenstigen Waggons
Hebrew קרונות מצחקקים
Indonesian Rebecca dan Truk Yang Lucu
Italian Rebecca e i Vagoni
Japanese レベッカといたずらかしゃ
Korean 레베카와 화차들
Latin American Spanish Las Travesuras de los Vagones
Latvian Jautrie Vagoni
Lithuanian Kikenantys Vagonai
Polish Znośne Wagony
Romanian Vagoanele Chicotitoare
Russian Весёлые вагоны
Spanish Unos Vagones Divertidos
Turkish Kikirdek Yük Vagonları

Advertisement