- "Go on, Douglas. You take the front of the train. Please?
"Alright. But only because you asked nicely, Emily."
"I said 'please'!"
"You didnae!"
"Well, I was thinkin' it!" - ― Emily, Douglas and Donald
Emily in the Middle is the fifteenth episode of the twenty-first series.
Plot[]
Donald and Douglas are called to Brendam Docks to deliver a very long load of steel pipes to Vicarstown, but begin to argue after seeing their train, with Donald confident they are capable of taking it, however Douglas disagrees and refuses to couple up. As Thomas is leaving, he meets Emily, who is on her way to help the twins with the load. Thomas warns Emily about the twins' notorious behaviour of arguing with each other, to which she replies that she will be fine with.
Douglas fouls the points in protest when Emily arrives and offers her help. Donald is eager to get going, and Douglas, seeing that three engines can take the train and solve their dilemma, bumps into Emily from behind before hooking up. Together, the long and heavy train begins to leave the docks.
As they are puffing along, Douglas thanks Emily for helping them out, however Emily mistakes him for his brother, to which he corrects her, followed by what he describes his twin as "the difficult one". This makes Emily laugh, but her laughter echoes through the steel pipes all the way to Donald, who begins to overhear the conversation. As Douglas explains to Emily about Donald's accidents and with Emily laughing so hard about it, it angers Donald so much that he stops the train. He tries to shout back that he is not going any further, but Douglas and Emily are so far behind that they cannot hear him, so Donald uncouples, puffs back along the train and tells Douglas about the conversation and laughter between him and Emily. He also says that it was so lonely at the front, that he now wants to swap places with Douglas. Emily happily agrees, so Douglas uncouples, but as the twins are backing up, Toby with some trucks comes from behind and seeing the two engines in his way, he diverts into a siding and crashes into the snow, causing him to have a snowy white beard. Donald and Douglas apologise to Toby, whilst Toby's driver helps to dig him out of the snow. When Douglas is going round to the front, a grumpy Gordon with his express has to stop, as the front of the steel pipe train is in the way of the express line at Suddery Junction.
As the long train comes to Gordon's Hill, Donald asks Emily what Douglas has been telling her and she answers that it is more to do with the twins. Donald then tells her about Douglas' most recent accident, which makes Emily laugh so hard, that her laughter is channelled through the pipes to Douglas, and he angrily stops the train halfway up the hill, uncouples and heads back to demand they swap places with Donald again. Emily thinks this is getting silly, and Donald is uncoupled, but their argument turns into a fight on the line adjacent to their train. Emily is left to hold the very long and heavy train by herself, which begins pushing her back down the hill despite her best efforts to stop it. As the twins shove each other, a lump of coal falls from Donald's tender and rolls down the hill, turning into a huge snowball. As it rolls down the hill, it is then that the twins, in a state of horror, realise about the runaway train, with Emily alone holding it back, that they stop fighting and begin to chase after them. As Emily frantically holds back against the weight of the heavy flatbeds, the giant snowball heads on a collision course with her, and she is helpless to stop it. The giant snowball knocks Emily off the rails; fortunately, she and her crew are unharmed, and when the twins arrive, they begin to blame each other over whose fault it was, until Emily whistles, snaps and yells at them for abandoning her and failing to realise that she needs help, for the sake of the situation, and the two knew she was right.
Harvey then comes with some workmen to help Emily back on the tracks, just as the still snow-bearded Toby, James, and Gordon come by. Gordon sniffs and says that it was the twins' fault for the accident. The twins are about to blame each other when they finally come to even ground to blame themselves for what happened. At Vicarstown, as Thomas is leaving the station with some trucks, he sees Emily now in front, her sides covered in snow, pulling the long steel pipe train. Thomas asks Emily how she handled things with the twins. She answers that it is fine now and that she has learned in the future to never be in the middle of the twins whenever they start an argument. Far at the back, an ashamed Donald and Douglas agree that the incident would never have happened if Emily were at the front and them at the back in the first place, then they start to argue about their agreements.
Characters[]
- Thomas
- Gordon
- James
- Toby
- Donald and Douglas
- Emily
- Porter
- Salty
- Cranky
- Harvey (cameo)
- Rosie (cameo)
- Caitlin (cameo)
- The Blond-haired Boy (cameo)
- Big Mickey (faceless, cameo)
Locations[]
Cast[]
UK, AUS, NZ and MYS[]
- John Hasler as Thomas
- Keith Wickham as Gordon and Salty
- Rob Rackstraw as James, Toby and Donald (Joe Mills voices Donald when he and Douglas argue about who caused Emily's derailment)
- Joe Mills as Douglas (Rob Rackstraw voices Douglas when he and Donald argue about who caused Emily's derailment)
- Teresa Gallagher as Emily
- Steven Kynman as Porter
- Matt Wilkinson as Cranky
US and CAN[]
- Joseph May as Thomas
- Kerry Shale as Gordon
- Rob Rackstraw as James and Donald (Joe Mills voices Donald when he and Douglas argue about who caused Emily's derailment)
- William Hope as Toby
- Joe Mills as Douglas (Rob Rackstraw voices Douglas when he and Donald argue about who caused Emily's derailment)
- Jules de Jongh as Emily
- David Menkin as Porter
- Keith Wickham as Salty
- Glenn Wrage as Cranky
Trivia[]
- Going by production order, this is the seventh episode of the twenty-first series. Because of this, it is before Cranky at the End of the Line, New Crane on the Dock and A Shed for Edward, all of which feature Carly, who is absent from her gantry rails at Brendam Docks in this episode. This means that this episode took place before those episodes, as well as The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor, also after this episode in production order, as the opening events of A Shed for Edward takes place during the ending scene of that episode. Additionally, Big Mickey still lacks his face in this episode.
- This episode marks a few things:
- Emily's last episode with a leading role until the twenty-third series episode, Rangers of the Rails.
- The last appearance of Suddery Junction until the twenty-fourth series episode, World of Tomorrow.
- The third time where an engine is hit by a snowball, the first being in the eighth series episode, Percy's New Whistle and the second being in the thirteenth series episode, Snow Tracks.
- Vicarstown Station's first appearance in an episode.
- The third time where the title is not shown in the very beginning. The first being the seventeenth series episode, Steamie Stafford and the second being the twentieth series episode, Henry in the Dark.
- The last time Big Mickey appears faceless.
- This episode marks a few things for Donald and Douglas (and their Japanese actor Kyousei Tsukui to an extent):
- Their only speaking roles in the twenty-first series.
- Their last episodic appearances in the original series.
- Their final leading roles in the original series, as well as their only leading roles in the twenty-first series.
- Their final individual speaking roles in the original series, excluding their singing voices being grouped with other engines in Big World! Big Adventures!
- The last production where Kyousei Tsukui voices Donald and Douglas in the Japanese dub, and for him to be as part of the Japanese voice cast, before he retired from voice acting due to losing his voice from ALS five years later. It is also the only episode to feature him as part of the Japanese voice cast in the twenty-first series.
- This episode could have been inspired by the magazine story, Emily's Slide Show.
- The stories Donald and Douglas tell Emily are references to the second series episode, Break Van, the sixth series episode, Twin Trouble and the twentieth series episode, Love Me Tender.
- This episode features the largest amount of wagons in a single train, totalling twenty-five altogether. If online videos were to count, it would be second-largest, with the largest being the fifty wagons pulled by Sam in A New Friend on Sodor.
- A shortened version of the episode, narrated by Joseph May as Thomas, can be found on the official YouTube channel and formerly on the Nick Jr. US website.
- Some episode descriptions say that the Fat Controller asked Emily to help Donald and Douglas, despite him not appearing in the episode.
- In the US dub, Toby's "Oh!" when he notices his snow beard was reused from the beginning of The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor.
Goofs[]
- William Hope is credited in the UK end credits despite none of his characters speaking in that dub.
- At Brendam Docks, there are a few goofs/animation errors with these being:
- Cranky is missing from his usual spot until the last scene of Brendam Docks.
- Thomas' red lining on his tanks bounces up and down.
- The ships at Brendam Docks are floating above the waterline.
- Just before leaving with the train, Donald has Emily's whistle sound.
- Douglas has Donald's whistle sound when he stops on the hill.
- At multiple points during the episode, Donald and Douglas are not coupled to Emily.
- After Emily derails, Donald and Douglas briefly switch voices.
- At the docks and on Gordon's Hill, Donald and Douglas somehow turn around to face each other without a turntable.
- When Donald stops the train, Douglas rolls back to ask what is wrong, but later, he appears to be uncoupled.
- Caitlin does not emit steam despite moving.
- The Korean title card shows early than title reading of narrator.
In Other Languages[]
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
| Brazilian Portuguese | Emily no Meio |
| Chinese Mandarin | 中间的埃米莉 |
| Indonesian | Emily di Tengah |
| Japanese | あいだにはいったエミリー |
| Korean | 못 말리는 쌍둥이 |
| Latin American Spanish | Emily Queda en Medio |
| Polish | Emilka Pośrodku |
| Russian | Глупый спор |
| Thai | เอมิลี่อยู่ตรงกลาง |
| Turkish | Emily Ortada |
| Vietnamese | Người Hòa Giải Emily |
Home Media Releases[]
UK/AUS[]
- Christmas on Sodor (Direct-to-Home Video)
- The Complete Series 21
US[]
- Christmas on Sodor (Direct-to-Home Video)
| #01 Springtime for Diesel | #07 Hasty Hannah | #13 A Shed for Edward |
| #02 A Most Singular Engine | #08 Cranky at the End of the Line | #14 The Big Freeze |
| #03 Dowager Hatt's Busy Day | #09 New Crane on the Dock | #15 Emily in the Middle |
| #04 Stuck in Gear | #10 Unscheduled Stops | #16 Terence Breaks the Ice |
| #05 Runaway Engine | #11 Philip's Number | #17 Daisy's Perfect Christmas |
| #06 P.A. Problems | #12 The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor | #18 Confused Coaches |