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Background Information[]
Television Series[]
Kevin is a fictional crane created by Sharon Miller in 2009 and is one of the only road vehicle characters in the franchise until the 2021 reboot Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go that can move without a driver to control him. Kevin made his debut in the special, Hero of the Rails. In most of the episodes and specials he's in, he's usually seen being clumsy, often breaking things and crashing things by mistake while also exclaiming his unintentional accidents were "a slip of the hook" much to Victor's annoyance. He is based off a 4 wheel Ransomes & Rapier 6 ton crane with an added enclosed cab. Just like Kevin, they often have a habit of being clumsy and cumbersome.
Ever since his introduction, Kevin was voiced by Kerry Shale in the US dub and Matt Wilkinson in the UK dub. Matt Wilkinson provides Kevin with a Londonier Cockney accent while Kerry Shale gives Kevin the same higher pitched American voiced as Henry in the US dub, making both characters sound like a coincidence.
CGI Model[]
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Kevin was modelled in full CGI by Nitrogen Studios for Hero of the Rails. The model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.
According to Greg Tiernan, the CGI models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.
During production of Hero of the Rails, merchandising reference faces were created for each new character. Only one face mask of Kevin is known to have been produced for his merchandise. Kevin's face were designed by model maker, John Lee, which was one of his final contributions to the series.
Voice Actors[]
- Matt Wilkinson (UK; Hero of the Rails - twenty-second series, excluding Journey Beyond Sodor and Hasty Hannah)
- Kerry Shale (US; Hero of the Rails - twenty-third series, UK; Journey Beyond Sodor, Hasty Hannah and Gordon Gets the Giggles only)
- Manuel Campuzano (Latin America)
- Helge Winther Larsen (Norway; Hero of the Rails - Tale of the Brave)
- Takayuki Kawasugi (Japan)
- Robert Kotulla (Germany)
- Artur Pontek (Poland; Hero of the Rails - nineteenth series)
- Bartosz Martyna (Poland; The Great Race and twentieth series)
- Maciej Kosmala (Poland; Journey Beyond Sodor onwards)
- Marjolein Algera (The Netherlands)
- Samuel Harjanne (Finland; Hero of the Rails - King of the Railway)
- Juha Paananen (Finland; Tale of the Brave only)
- Jarmo Koski (Finland; twenty-second series)
- Moser Károly (Hungary; Hero of the Rails onwards, excluding the thirteenth series)
- Dor Srugo (Israel)
- Troells Toya (Denmark)
- Robson Kumode (Brazil)
- Salvador Serrano Jr. (Spain)
- Christian Damsgaard (Denmark)
- Prokhor Chekhovskoy (Russia)