Mister Moose's Fun Time was a television programme that aired on Fox Family Channel from August 17, 1998 to around 2000. It is a spinoff to the 1997 reboot of Captain Kangaroo, as titled The All New Captain Kangaroo. It regularly aired episodes from the the first four seasons of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, as told by George Carlin.
The program features the cast of the reboot, Mister Moose, Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Greenjeans, Bunny Rabbit and Joey the Kangaroo. As they tell jokes relating to the day, they present live action and animated segments from other international programmes. The segments used came from Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
This program also marked the first American television appearances of The Wiggles which predated The Wiggles television series premiering on Fox Family Channel on May 3, 1999.
Segments
- Jamie the Mouse (Denmark)
- Bob and Scott (France)
- Slurps (Spain)
- Big Sister and Little Brother (Sweden)
- Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (United Kingdom)
- The Wiggles (Australia)
- Funnybones (United Kingdom)
- I.C. Ice and the Icebergs (Germany)
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends Episodes
(Note: * means an episode was confirmed by someone who saw it by memory)
- Daisy (Christmas) *
- Percy's Predicament (Art Appreciation Day)
- Bulldog (T-Shirt Day)
- You Can't Win (Navy Captain Day) *
- A Bad Day for Sir Handel (Promo)
- Steam Roller (Moosecar Races Day)
- Henry and the Elephant (Circus Day) *
- TBD (Beach Day)
- TBD (Cowboy Day)
- TBD (Egypt Day)
- TBD (Independence Day)
- TBD (News Day)
Unknown Episodes
- Thomas Gets Tricked
- Thomas Saves the Day
- A Proud Day for James
- Saved from Scrap *
- The Runaway
- A Close Shave for Duck
- Woolly Bear *
- No Joke for James
- Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady
- Trucks
- Home at Last
- Rock 'n' Roll
- Bowled Out
Trivia
- When Fox Family was in development, the original title for Mister Moose's Fun Time was supposedly "The Captain's Toon Room", but it was probably changed to include Mister Moose's name in the title.
- When the show aired on Fox Family, it aired on a block called "Captain Kangaroo's Treasure House" which usually aired for two hours before Toon-A-Casserole. The shows that aired between it were The All New Captain Kangaroo which was the show it spun off from, Shining Time Station and The Magic Adventures of Mumfie, the latter two both of which being Britt Allcroft's series.
- According to Paul Pistore, who performed as Mister Moose in this series, there have been about sixty episodes made. As such, they would have possibly had sixty episodes of Thomas within the programme.
- Paul has confirmed that after Disney bought Fox Family, the programme was vaulted by them along with The All New Captain Kangaroo due to the advertising of rival Florida-based theme parks like SeaWorld and Busch Gardens in said programme.
- Looking back, Paul says that his favourite segments were Thomas the Tank Engine, I.C. Ice and the Icebergs and Bob and Scott.
- Whenever Thomas' segment would be coming up next, Thomas' chuffing and whistle pattern when he wakes Gordon up for the second time in Thomas Gets Tricked would be heard in the Treasure House as the characters would react to it.
- Some of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends episodes were never shown on Shining Time Station due to the programme ending back in 1996. Some were episodes that were originally narrated by Ringo Starr and shown on Shining Time Station, but not re-narrated by George Carlin and only appeared for home video releases.
- The only exception was Carlin's dub of A Proud Day for James as it first aired on the show and was not released on home video until Best of James in 2002.
- Some of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends episodes that were seen on original airings of Shining Time Station on PBS but were cut for time on Fox Family. For example:
- Woolly Bear and No Joke for James were originally featured on the PBS airing of the season 2 episodes, "Oh, What a Tangled Web" and "Crackpot", but then cut from the Fox Family airings.
- This could probably be the case with the following episodes that were also cut from the Fox Family airings:
- A Big Day for Thomas from "Stop the Press"
- Trouble for Thomas from "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle"
- Thomas Goes Fishing from "Is Anybody There?"
- The Deputation from "Sweet and Sour"
- Toby's Tightrope from "Do I Hear"
- This could probably be the case with the following episodes that were also cut from the Fox Family airings:
- Woolly Bear and No Joke for James were originally featured on the PBS airing of the season 2 episodes, "Oh, What a Tangled Web" and "Crackpot", but then cut from the Fox Family airings.
- The second series episodes, Daisy and Percy's Predicament, were never aired on Shining Time Station at all, due to co-creator Rick Siggelkow's disapproval of Daisy's design which he considered sexist. Both episodes featuring Daisy were first released on Daisy and Other Thomas Stories in 1993, then broadcast five years later.