|
Background Information[]
Television Series[]
Dennis is a fictional standard gauge diesel shunter created by Sharon Miller working on the North Western Railway.
In 2005, Dennis made his debut in the ninth series of Thomas & Friends in the episode, Thomas' Day Off. He last appeared in the special, The Great Discovery.
Dennis has not appeared in the television series since 2008.
Dennis is based on British Railways No. 11001.
Behind the Scenes[]
Gauge 1 model[]
Production orthographics were drawn up for Dennis' gauge 1 model by Conrad Ayling on 13th July 2004. Dennis' model was scratch built from plastic to run on gauge 1 track, whilst his wheels and chassis were constructed from CNC. A second model was planned to be built however this model was never completed and was left unused.
The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eye balls were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eye balls would move however the crew member desired.
Six different facial expressions were sculpted for Dennis, although only five were used on-screen and one of which a drowsy face was left unused. The faces were first sculpted in clay by Sean Hedges-Quinn and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. Following this, a few faces would be test painted and using those as examples, the final on-screen variants would be produced, the earliest finished versions of Dennis' happy and ashamed faces are currently owned by Sean Hedges-Quinn.
Fonts[]
The following fonts are used on Dennis' Gauge 1 model:
- Helvetica Neue Medium Extended (number)
Present Day[]
After production of the model series wrapped in 2008, most of the models and sets would be put into storage, with some being put on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park. All other models would be logged and referenced from 2010 till early 2011 by HiT Entertainment, from this HiT would decide on which models were to enter storage once again, which would be given to crew members and which to be disposed off. Dennis' unfinished second model, would be disposed off by HiT Entertainment as it was no longer needed. The screen-used model however, would stay under HiT and later Mattel's ownership.
As of late 2023, Dennis' screen-used model is currently on display on the new Discover Thomas & Friends Exhibition at Drayton Manor Theme Park with his smiling face.
The second unfinished model was previously owned by a private collector after being rescued from the HIT skip in 2009, but was sold to Prop Gallery in 2022 and was painted up and completed to look like the original prop and was then sold off. The model is now currently owned by Facebook user Steven Pond also known as YouTube and Facebook user Bearded Skull Memorabilia.
Reference Sheets[]
Voice Actors[]
- Tsutomu Densaka (Japan)