| For other uses, see Cranky Bugs (disambiguation). |
| For other uses, see Cranky. |
- "You should see the situation from Cranky's point of view. He's high up in the air, coping with wind, rain and baking sun, then, he looks down and sees you two little engines being annoying! No wonder he called you 'bugs'!"
- ― James
Cranky Bugs is the first episode of the fifth series. In the US, it aired with Horrid Lorry in an episode of Storytime with Thomas.
Plot
Thomas and Percy enjoy working at the docks, but find themselves delayed one day when a new crane named Cranky starts pushing his weight around and insults them. Thomas and Percy inform James and Gordon about Cranky and are surprised to know the big engines agree with him; while Gordon believes that cranes need a lot of attention like him, James tells Thomas and Percy to think about how Cranky feels - he is high up in the air and has to cope with inclement weather, and then looks down on the two engines annoying him.
Matters are made even worse when Cranky finds out Gordon and James agree with his ways, causing him to be more bossy. He tells Percy to shunt some trucks closer to him. Percy is too upset to concentrate and he pushes the trucks too far, leading Cranky to drop a crate of sand on top of Percy. Cranky then tricks Thomas by telling him to shunt his flatbeds to the outside line, believing that it will be easier for Cranky to load up. As Thomas does so, Cranky leaves the loads beside the trucks, rather than in them. This series of setbacks causes confusion and delay. The Fat Controller is not happy in the least; while unaware of Cranky's bad behaviour, he assumes Thomas and Percy are responsible for the problems, and punishes them by giving them a timeout in their sheds to consider how they will improve themselves the next day. Thomas and Percy are both also upset, with Cranky.
That night, a terrible thunderstorm rages across Sodor. Henry, Gordon, James and Duck have taken refuge in the harbour shed. Duck is sure that they will be safe, but it becomes clear they are already in danger when a tramp steamer loses control, runs aground into the dockyard and destroys the shed, causing the roof to fall in, trapping Duck and the big engines, and knocking Cranky over in the process. When the storm is over, the Fat Controller tells Cranky that Thomas and Percy are coming to help him so that he can help the other engines. When Cranky realises that he needs to apologise to the two tank engines for how rude he was and tells the Fat Controller to apologise to Thomas and Percy on his behalf, the Fat Controller realises that Cranky is the culprit for the incidents and that he owes the two tank engines an apology as well.
Thomas and Percy come to the rescue, and Cranky is soon back upright and rescuing the engines from what remains of the shed. However, Cranky turns back to old ways by mistakenly calling his rescuers "mites" and Percy, offended that Cranky has reverted to his insulting attitude, attempts to leave. Thomas warns Percy not to move as he's still attached to Cranky, but it is too late as he has accidentally pulled him down again.
Cranky is soon back upright again and still looks down on Thomas and Percy, but ever since that stormy night, he never causes trouble for them again, knowing as mites they may bite back.
Characters
- Thomas
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Duck
- Cranky
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Butch (cameo)
- Big Mickey (faceless; cameo)
- Diesel (extended scene cameo)
- Edward (original script; role replaced by Duck)
Locations
- Brendam Docks
- Tidmouth Sheds (stock footage)
Trivia
- According to the film slates:
- The first portion of the episode at Brendam Docks was filmed on 23 and 24 September 1997.
- The shot of the Fat Controller driving his car into the docks that was also used in Double Teething Troubles was filmed on 26 September 1997.
- The scene of the big storm at the Brendam Docks shed was filmed between 2 and 6 October 1997.
- The last scene of the day after the storm was filmed on 6 and 7 October 1997.
- The scene at Brendam Docks of the Fat Controller scolding Thomas and Percy was filmed on 7 October 1997.
- The close-up shots of the Fat Controller scolding Cranky after the storm were filmed on 8 October 1997.
- The close-up shots of the Fat Controller scolding Thomas and Percy were filmed on 16 October 1997.
- The shots of the old tramp steamer were filmed on 17 October 1997.
- In addition to being the first episode of the fifth series to finish filming, it was also the first to have music composed for it. According to an interview with Mike O'Donnell, it took him and Junior Campbell at least a week to create the music for this episode. On average, it would take a week to create music for three episodes, but they found this task particularly hard as they had "to get back into the groove of it."[2]
- The working title for this episode was Cranky the Dockside Crane.
- Stock footage from Henry's Forest and pre-filmed footage from Double Teething Troubles are used.
- Class 40's theme when he breaks down in the fourth series episode, Bowled Out, is heard when Cranky rescues the engines stuck in the shed.
- Big Mickey, S.S. Vienna and Izzy Gomez from TUGS can be seen. The LT Warehouse that is first seen when Cranky leaves the loads beside Thomas' trucks was also seen in the TUGS episode High Tide, in the scene where Top Hat confronts the Z-Stacks at the Canal.
- This is the first episode of several things:
- The first episode aired by EBS in South Korea.
- The first episode to be narrated by Alec Baldwin in the US, Gro Solemdal in Norway for VHS, Tommy Kenter in Denmark and Kim Il in South Korea.
- Butch and Cranky's first appearance in the series.
- David Maidment's first episode credited as the railway consultant.
- The first episode of Takeshi Aono voicing the Fat Controller in the Japanese dub.
- The first episode to use the phrase, "confusion and delay," which would become the Fat Controller's catchphrase starting in the sixth series episode, Dunkin Duncan.
- The first episode to be released following the passing of Rev. W Awdry in 1997.
- The first time that the Fat Controller's car is seen moving on-screen.
- The first episode since the second series episode, Wrong Road to feature Gordon's second series shocked face mask.
- The first time Thomas' suspicious face is used and the first appearance of his grinning face with a wider mouth and higher eyebrows which would be used mostly in the fifth series only along with his regular grinning face.
- The first episode to be dubbed at Studio Hamburg Synchron GmbH in Germany.
- The first episode to be translated by Aleksi Koskela in the Finnish Dub. Johanna Viksten was the previous translator for the first series to fourth series.
- The first episode in the Finnish dub where Duck is called "Ankkanen". Previously he was called by his original English name.
- The first episode to have a character scream.
- In the first shot of Brendam, there is a truck that has the number eight written on it.
- The barrel the Fat Controller stands on near the end of the episode is the "Best Quality Diesel Oil" barrel from the fourth series episode, Bowled Out.
- In the early draft, Thomas and Percy arrive late at every station to blame Cranky and get him in trouble. The Fat Controller sees through their plan and scolds them severely; he threatens to get a diesel engine to replace them. This storyline was removed in the final version for time.
- This was also very similar to the scene of the TUGS episode, Quarantine, where Captain Star threaten Ten Cents and Sunshine to sold them for scrap.
- Concept art shows that Edward was originally going to be in the episode during the tramp steamer scene, but his role was replaced by Duck for unknown reasons. In the same concept art, a fuel tanker can be seen; the first draft implies that there would've been a threat of fire following the tramper crashing into the quay.
- Despite his appearance in the episode, Henry does not appear in the nameboard sequence at the end of the episode in the Japanese dub.
- The wooden section of the Skarloey Engine Sheds appears at the docks.
- In the US and other international dubs:
- The tramp steamer's horn is heard before crashing into the sheds.
- The straining metal sound is heard as Cranky tips over and falls.
- This marks the last time Percy speaks in a series premiere until the eighth series premiere episode, although he does not speak until near the end of the episode.
- An extended scene of the opening shot shows Diesel shunting the goods train next to Thomas and Percy backwards. Had this made it into the final episode, it would have marked Diesel's only appearance in the fifth series.
- An early script reveals that the episode would have ended when Percy accidentally pulls Cranky down unlike the final version, where midway through the fall the episode would have ended with a freeze frame.
- An edited version of the concept art for this episode was used in the Leica reel for Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
Goofs
- Gordon's buffers and middle lamp iron are crooked throughout the episode.
- Thomas's dome is crooked in some scenes.
- In some close-ups of Cranky, his eye mechanism is visible through his windows.
- When Cranky complains about the load and the engines, Thomas and Percy both have flatbeds in front of them, but in the shot of Thomas and Percy after Cranky bangs the load down, the flatbeds have disappeared.
- Cranky has a gap between his face plate and eyes after he drops the crate on Percy.
- When Cranky says, "You must have known my arm can't reach you there!", the narrator says he was complaining, but Cranky is wearing his laughing face mask.
- Cranky's position at the docks changes between the day and night sequences.
- In the UK dub, the narrator says that Cranky and the big engines were trapped by the docks, but Duck is a tank engine, not a big engine.
- When the engines are trapped in the shed, the roof is only covering James, Duck, and Gordon, but when Cranky is clearing the wreckage, all four of them were under the roof while it is being lifted.
- When Gordon says, "Oh, thank you! What would I have done without you?", his lamp is not attached to his lamp iron. Also, the Korean dub translates Gordon's line as "크랭키, 너 때문에 살았어" ("keulaengki, neo ttaemun-e sal-ass-eo"), but that is considered poor grammar and said sarcastically. Also, it translates to as "Cranky, I lived for you" and it makes no sense. "크랭키, 너 덕분에 살았어" ("keulaengki, neo deogbun-e sal-ass-eo") should be the correct sentence.
In Other Languages
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Merchandise
Books
The Cranky Day and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories- Cranky (2003 My Thomas Story Library book)
- Cranky (2017 Engine Adventures book)
Toys
- Down by the Docks Set (Wooden Railway set)
- Thomas, Percy and Cranky (Trading Card)
Home Video Releases
Episode
References
| #01 Cranky Bugs | #10 Toby and the Flood | #19 Happy Ever After |
| #02 Horrid Lorry | #11 Haunted Henry | #20 Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday |
| #03 A Better View for Gordon | #12 Double Teething Troubles | #21 A Surprise for Percy |
| #04 Lady Hatt's Birthday Party | #13 Stepney Gets Lost | #22 Make Someone Happy |
| #05 James and the Trouble with Trees | #14 Toby's Discovery | #23 Busy Going Backwards |
| #06 Gordon and the Gremlin | #15 Something in the Air | #24 Duncan Gets Spooked |
| #07 Bye George! | #16 Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach | #25 Rusty and the Boulder |
| #08 Baa! | #17 Thomas and the Rumours | #26 Snow |
| #09 Put Upon Percy | #18 Oliver's Find | Cancelled: James and 'Super' E.D. |