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Since its creation, Thomas & Friends has been dubbed into many languages other than English.

Albania

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In Albania, the show is called "Tomas Lokomotiva dhe Shokët". The Albanian dub was aired on Çufo and Bang Bang. The first seven series were narrated by Agim Xheka, while the specials were narrated by Kastriot Ramollari from Hero of the Rails to Misty Island Rescue and by Xhelil Aliu from Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure to The Great Race.

Trivia

Azerbaijan

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In Azerbaijan, the show is called "Tomas və dostları". The Azerbaijani dub of the fourteenth and fifteenth series were aired on ANS. And the Azerbaijani voice-over of Thomas and the Magic Railroad and Azerbaijani dub of Big World! Big Adventures! were aired on ARB Günəş.

Trivia

Baltic Countries

In the Baltic countries, a Baltic Russian voice-over narrated by Vladimir Knyazev airs on Kidzone TV and Kidzone Mini. It plays the English dub in the background as a dubbing track was not used. It was created by an Estonian studio.

Trivia

  • They started creating the Baltic Russian voice-over from the seventeenth series.
  • In the twenty-fourth series episode, Sonny's Second Chance, the title was not read in Baltic Russian by the narrator but is left in English.

Belgium

In Belgium, the Dutch dub of the tenth series, eleventh series and thirteenth series were aired on Nick Junior Flanders from 2011 to 2015. From the 2015 until present day, the Dutch dub of the eighteenth to twentieth and the twenty-second series are airing on VTM Kids for the Flemish region. Currently, they are airing the twenty-second series. The French dub of the series was aired by the standard broadcasters for France, Gulli and Tiji.

See Also

Bosnia and Herzegovina

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In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the show is called "Tomica i prijatelji" sharing the same title as the croatian dub.

Trivia

  • To date, only the first and eighth to tenth series have been dubbed into Bosnian, however, the rest of the series like the second to seventh and eleventh to twenty-fourth are not dubbed.
  • The series was not released on home media.

Brazil

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In Brazil, the series is known as "Thomas e seus Amigos". It is currently narrated by Daniel Figueira voicing Thomas, with Tatá Guarnieri from the first to fifth series and Hero of the Rails to the twenty-first series and Dário de Castro narrating from the eighth to twelfth series.

Trivia

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Bulgaria

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In Bulgaria, the show is called "Томас и приятели". The twentieth series was aired on bTV Comedy in 2019 and was released on VOYO Bulgaria in 2021.

Trivia

  • The Bulgarian version is voiced over the English dub.
  • The intro and Engine Roll Call song is not a song in the Bulgarian dub; the lyrics were read only.

China

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In China, the series is known in Mandarin as "火車頭日記" (Huǒchētóu rìjì) which translates to "Locomotive Diary". The series was later reintroduced as "托马斯和朋友" (Tuōmǎsī hé péngyǒu), meaning "Thomas & Friends". The series is narrated by Jiang Guangtao.

Trivia

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Hong Kong

  • In Hong Kong, both the British English dub and a local Cantonese dub entitled "湯馬仕小火車" (tōng máh sih síu fó chē) are shown, literally translating to "Thomas the Little Train". Additionally, Hong Kong VCD and DVD Releases include both the English (UK) and Cantonese dubs. The series was narrated by actor Ko Hon-Man.

See Also

Croatia

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In Croatia, the series is known as "Tomica i Prijatelji" like in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The current narrator is Tomislav Stojković. It was also narrated by Goran Grgić for the first and second series and by Adalbert Turner Juci for the seventeenth series. The eighth to twelfth series Croatian dubs were aired on Nova TV and Mini TV. The twenty-second series was aired on RTL Kockica and released on RTL Play, as well as Big World! Big Adventures!.

Trivia

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Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the series is known by several names, the most common being "Lokomotiva Tomáš" and "Mašinka Tomáš" (both roughly translating to "Locomotive Thomas"). It used to be known as "Tomáš a přátelé" (Thomas and Friends) in the first and third series or "Tom a jeho přátelé" (Tom and his Friends) in the second series, in Calling All Engines! and Hero of the Rails the series is labelled as "Tomáš a kamarádi" (Thomas and Friends). The first to third series were narrated by Radovan Vaculík and from the fourth to the twentieth series it has been narrated by Bohuslav Kalva, Day of the Diesels is narrated by Zbyšek Pantůček. The episodes were aired on JimJam, Minimax and Barrandov.

Trivia

  • The series first aired in 2006 with the eighth series. Then, Calling All Engines! was aired and after that the first to third series were broadcasted, then the ninth to eleventh series, then the fourth to seventh and since the twelfth series it was broadcasted in chronological order.
    • The last six episodes of the eighteenth series aired more than a year later than the other episodes of this series.
    • None of the episodes from the first seven series were released on DVD. Only a few of the eighth to sixteenth series. After that only the episodes from Dinos and Discoveries, Start Your Engines! and Extraordinary Engines were released on DVD.
  • The first seven series have been premiered on JimJam, the eighth and ninth series on Minimax, the tenth to twelfth series on Barrandov and since the thirteenth series on Minimax again.
  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, The Adventure Begins, Thomas the Babysitter, Rocky Rescue, The Other Side of the Mountain, No Help at All, Wild Water Rescue, Goodbye Fat Controller, The Christmas Coffeepot and twenty-first series were not dubbed into Czech.
  • In the intro for the first three series the narrator said "JimJam presents Thomas/Tom and his Friends" but from the fourth to ninth series the new narrator only says "Locomotive Thomas".
  • Since the first series, the UK end credits were always used. However, in some episodes the narrator reads Czech credits out while the UK credits are running. But in others there is just the year mentioned in which year it was produced.
  • The lyrics of the Intro were first translated in the thirteenth series.
  • The songs from the specials (excluding the songs from Thomas and the Magic Railroad, The Great Discovery and The Adventure Begins), the Engine Roll Call from the eighteenth series onwards and the songs from the Big World! Big Adventures! series are the only songs that have been dubbed into Czech.
  • The opening credits from the first and second series credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed, while the opening credits from the third to sixteenth series credit Michael Angelis and from the seventeenth to twentieth series credit Mark Moraghan.
  • Since the title cards in the episodes were not translated, the narrator reads out the Czech titles since the first series.
  • The fourteenth series and Hero of the Rails were released in the same year and Big World! Big Adventures! and the twenty-second series on the same day.
  • Since The Great Race, the narrator does not read the special titles aloud.

See Also

Denmark

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In Denmark, the series is known as "Thomas og vennerne", "Lokomotivet Thomas og hans venner" or "Thomas og venner" and was narrated by Povl Dissing from the first to fourth series and Tommy Kenter from the fifth to seventh series. In the eighth to sixteenth series, Povl Dissing stepped back into the role of narrator, with Ole Fick narrating The Great Discovery. Since the seventeenth series, the series has been narrated by Lars Mikkelsen.

Trivia

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Faroe Islands

In Faroese, the series was known as "Tok Tummas" or "Toktummas". It is unknown what seasons were dubbed but it is assumed the first-fifth series were dubbed and aired on Sjonvarp Føroya.[1]

Estonia

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In Estonia, the series was dubbed into the Estonian language with the title "Toomas ja Sõbrad". The Estonian dub airs on Kidzone TV. Additionally, the twenty-third series was dubbed into the Võro language and was aired on Kidzone TV.

Trivia

  • The book Toby Had a Little Lamb was translated in Estonian.
  • The Estonian dub of the seventeenth to twenty-fourth series are voiced over the English dubs.
  • The songs were not dubbed but they dubbed the Diesel and Friends song in the fantasy sequence of Diesel Do Right, voiced over the English dub.
  • Only the seventeenth to twenty-fourth series were known to be dubbed, making this possible one of the few dubs to not to have a dub of the model series.
  • The Võro language dub mentions that the translation was supported by the Vana-Võromaa Traditional Culture Program from its Folk Culture Center.
  • The first sixteen series were not dubbed in Estonian.
    • The entire series were not released on home media with this dub either.

Finland

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In Finland, the series is called "Tuomas Veturi" (Thomas the Locomotive). It was first shown on Cartoon Network in the late 1990s with Finnish subtitles. In 2003, it was dubbed into Finnish. with the third and fourth series coming out first on Nelonen. Nelonen continued showing Thomas & Friends episodes (first to fourth series) until 2006. MTV3 took over in 2009. The narrator was Aku Laitinen, who narrated up until Tale of the Brave. He also voices Sir Topham Hatt in the CGI series). Starting in the twenty-second series, Juha Varis, voicing Thomas, has narrated the series. From the first to fourth series were translated by Johanna Viksten and Anu Karvonen helped her out from the first to second series. From the fifth series to Blue Mountain Mystery, the translator was Tarja Dibaja.

Trivia

  • The opening credits of the first and second series credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed.
  • The opening credits of the third and the fourth series credit Michael Angelis as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed.
  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, sixteenth to twenty-first and twenty-third to twenty-fourth series, The Adventure Begins, The Great Race and Journey Beyond Sodor were not dubbed into Finnish. However, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure was supposed to be dubbed into Finnish in 2015 or 2017 but for unknown reasons the idea was scrapped.
  • The show first aired in Finland in 2003. The series had previously aired in British English on Cartoon Network with the same feed as Sweden.
  • Some changes were made in the translation throughout the series:
    • Series 5:
      • Duck is now called "Ankkanen".
      • Toad is now called "Tatu". previously he was called "Tomi"
      • Peter Sam is now called "Pietari".
    • Series 6:
      • Donald is now called "Terho".
    • Series 10:
      • Sir Handel is now called "Sir Hanski".
    • Series 22:
      • Harvey is now called "Heikki". previously he was called "Harri".
      • Trevor is now called "Teuvo". previously he was called "Teppo".
  • The eleventh series episodes use the ninth and tenth series opening.
  • The broadcasted thirteenth series episodes have title cards but on the DVDs the title cards are removed and the narrator reads the episode's title.
  • The last eight episodes of the second series, the first three episodes of the third series and the last sixteen episodes of the fourth series were not released on DVD.
  • The fifth, sixth, seventh and twelfth series were only shown exclusively on MTV3. The fifteenth series was supposed to be released on home video in 2015 but, for unknown reasons, remains unreleased.
  • The eighth and ninth series were not shown on television and were released only on DVDs.

See Also

France

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In French, the series is known as "Thomas et ses amis" or "Thomas le petit train" (Thomas the Small Train). The first five series were narrated by Gérard Boucaron and all series beyond included both a narrator and voice actors. Blanche Ravalec later narrated the series between the sixth and fifteenth series and then returned for the twentieth series. From the sixteenth to nineteenth series, Philippe Catoire narrated the series. In France, the series used to be shown on TF1 and TiJi for the first five series, on Playhouse Disney for the eighth series, France 5 from the ninth to the fifteenth series and on Gulli from the sixteenth to twentieth series. The fifteenth series was also re-aired on Gulli and was re-narrated by Philippe Catoire. In the French-speaking regions in Canada, the series was aired on Télé-Québec from the eighth to tenth series from January 2008 to June 2011 and for the fifteenth and sixteenth series from June 2014 to 2019 and also, Yoopa aired a few series of the show from 2010 until an unknown date and then, Télémagino aired the thirteenth to twentieth series from 2015 to 2018.

During production of the French dub of the fifteenth series, the episodes A Bad Day for Harold the Helicopter, Twin Trouble, Edward the Very Useful Engine, Rusty Saves the Day and Emily's New Coaches were dubbed for the US and Canada with the current voice cast and released in the Engine Friends DVD release in 2012.

The French dub of eighteen fifth series episodes, as well as the Canadian French dub of Thomas and the Magic Railroad were also released on home video in French-speaking regions of Canada.

Trivia

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Germany

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In Germany, the series is known as "Thomas, die kleine Lokomotive und seine Freunde" (Thomas the Small Locomotive and his Friends) or "Thomas & seine Freunde" (Thomas & his Friends). In the first five series, Thomas is also sometimes called "Thomas, die Rangierlokomotive" (literally: "Thomas the Shunting Engine"). It was narrated by Manfred Steffen from the first to fifth series. From the eighth to twentieth series, Sky du Mont has narrated it. Big World! Big Adventures! is called "Große Welt! Große Abenteuer!" and All Engines Go! is known as "Alle Maschinen los!", both literal translations.

In 1981, The Three Railway Engines and Thomas the Tank Engine were translated in one book called "Thomas die Tenderlok" (Thomas the Tank Engine) by Josef Guggenmos by the publisher Otto Maier Verlag Ravensburg. The production was discontinued in 1984.

The home video releases from 1996 to 1998 were distributed by Funky Fun for Kids of Concorde Video. From 2000 to 2003, they were distributed by Karussell. Europa Mini (later known as Europa) of Sony Music Entertainment took over in 2004 and distributed VHSs, DVDs, CDs and cassettes until 2018. As of 2019 and the Big World! Big Adventures! era, FM Kids of Justbridge Entertainment distributes the home media releases and the latter is also confirmed to be the commissioner of the dubbing of the Big World! Big Adventures! special.

The show started airing on RTL ZWEI in November 1996. It went on hiatus in 1999 and returned on the air in April 2000. It has aired on several channels since then, mainly Super RTL.

The first to fourth series aired reruns from 1998 to 2006, the fifth series from 2000 to 2005, the eighth and ninth series from 2005 to 2011, the tenth series from 2007 to 2009, the eleventh series from 2008 to 2009, the twelfth series from 2009 to 2011, the thirteenth and fourteenth series from 2010 to 2013, the fifteenth series from 2011 to 2015, the sixteenth series from 2012 to 2017, the seventeenth series from 2014 to 2017, the eighteenth series from 2015 to 2017, the nineteenth series from 2016 to 2017, the twentieth series from 2017 to 2019, the twenty-second series from 2018 to 2020 and the twenty-third series from 2019 to 2020. All Engines Go! started airing on Boomerang Germany in May 2022.

As of February 2020, the original show has stopped airing on television with the exception of All Tracks Lead to Rome, Mines of Mystery and Steam Team To The Rescue airing during Christmas that year following the show's cancellation back in October/November 2020. There were plans for CSC Studio to dub the twenty-fourth series into German, that ultimately led to nothing.[2]

The first four series were dubbed at "Autorensynchron Hamburg". Starting from the fifth series, the show has been dubbed at "Studio Hamburg Synchron", with the exception of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, which was dubbed at "Hermes Synchron GmbH" in Potsdam. It is unknown who wrote the German scripts for the first four series. Henning Stegelmann wrote the scripts from the fifth to the sixteenth series, as well as the twentieth series. Sascha Draeger wrote the script for King of the Railway, Cindy Beier wrote the seventeenth series, Tale of the Brave, the eighteenth and nineteenth series, Tammo Kaulbarsch wrote Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and Regina Kette has been writing the scripts since the twenty-second series. Henning Stegelmann has been the voice director since the fifth series, with the exception of the seventeenth series, Tale of the Brave, the eighteenth series, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and the nineteenth series when Cindy Beier took his place due to him being busy with other projects. Since Journey Beyond Sodor, Tammo Kaulbarsch has written and directed the songs.

All Engines Go! is still dubbed at Studio Hamburg with Stegelmann, Kette and Kaulbarsch in their positions from the original show.

Andreas Pollak was the dubbing script writer and voice director for Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Trivia

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Greece

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In Greece, the show is called "Τόμας το Τρενάκι" (Tomas to Trenaki) which when literally translated means "Thomas the Small Train". It is narrated by Vina Papadopoulou, with character voices performed by Haris Grigoropoulos and Loukas Frangoulis. The twenty-second to twenty-fourth series were aired on Nickelodeon.

Trivia

  • The show was first dubbed into Greek in 2001.
  • The original theme song is in a lower pitch and has lyrics and was performed by Anastasía Goútou.
  • The live action series feature a female voice actor who provides dub and female voices, while a male narrator provides voices for all male characters.
  • The second to fifth and eighth series intro featured scenes of Gordon, Henry and Edward over the first few seconds of the usual intro, so the title could be edited, as HiT did not provide a blank intro. In the original intro (first and second series), only the logo was changed.
  • The eighth and ninth series has the original intro.
  • Some DVD releases feature a blank dub of the edited intro.
  • All episodes from the first to fifth series are listed in the credits as being made in 1984.
  • DVD releases of eighth series episodes feature the new theme during the credits, despite the original theme playing during the intro.
  • Ringo Starr is credited as narrator on all episodes from the first to fifth, eighth and ninth series, despite only narrating the first two in English. Michael Angelis is also credited from the tenth series as well.
  • All television broadcasts of episodes from the first to fifth and eighth series have the Thomas and Gordon title card.
  • On most DVD releases of the eighth series, the first episode has the Thomas and Gordon title card.
  • On some DVD releases of the eighth series, the bridge scene where the title card usually appears is cut out and replaced by the eighth series style title card.
  • From the ninth series until The Great Discovery, the original theme remained with the new intro.
  • The voice actors are not credited.
  • In Calling All Engines!, the narrator accidentally says James instead of Jimmy once.
  • When the thirteenth series aired in 2013, the show was revamped; the characters regained their English names and the Engine Roll Call was completely re-written.
  • The sixth, seventh, twelfth, fifteenth, sixteenth and twenty-first series, as well as Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, Hero of the Rails and Blue Mountain Mystery were not dubbed into Greek.
  • This is the only adaptation to feature Duck as being a female character. However, in the seventeenth series, he regained his original gender.
  • This is the only adaptation along with the German dub to feature Mavis as a male character in the eighth series.

See Also

Hungary

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In Hungary, the series is known as "Thomas, a gőzmozdony" (which means "Thomas the Steam Engine"). It is also known as "Thomas és barátai" (which means Thomas & Friends). It was first broadcasted on Minimax in 2006 and was later broadcasted on M1 and later on JimJam. It is narrated by János Bata from the first to third series and Zoltán Csankó since the fourth series.

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Iceland

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In Iceland, the series was known in Icelandic as Tommi togvagn og vinir hans (literally: "Thomas the wagon and his friends") or Tommi togvagn and was narrated by David Thor Jonsson. The series was not very popular, possibly because there is no public railway system in Iceland.

Trivia

  • The first series logo in the intro and the titles of episodes were not translated. To remedy this, the narrator reads the titles aloud.
  • The first series intro credits Ringo Starr as the narrator instead of David Jonsson.
  • The first series can be found on VHS tapes/DVDs and VOD.
  • The thirteenth series can be found on VOD.
  • The thirteenth series was dubbed by Studio Syrland and made in 2016.
  • The thirteenth series intro does not have the "Based on the Railway Series by the Rev W. Awdry" text.
  • The second to twelfth series and fifteenth to twenty-fourth series were not dubbed in Icelandic.

See Also

India

In Hindi, the series retains its English title but written in Devanagari as थॉमस एंड फ्रेंड्स (Thŏmasa eṃḍa phreṃḍsa). It is also known as थॉमस टैंक इंजन और दोस्तों (Thŏmasa ṭaiṅka in̄jana aura dōstōṁ), which means Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. The Hindi dub was aired on Disney Junior and Pogo.

Big World! Big Adventures! was also dubbed into the Tamil and Telugu languages and aired on Disney Channel.

Trivia

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Indonesia

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In Indonesia, the series retains its English title. It is also known as "Thomas dan Teman-Teman". Indosiar was the first channel to broadcast the series in Indonesia. Bahar Mario and Budi Santoso narrated the eighth to tenth series and from the eleventh to twenty-first series, it was narrated by Muhammad Nur.

Trivia

  • Michael Angelis is credited as narrator in the opening credits, even though it was re-dubbed.
  • The first seven series, Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and Jack and the Sodor Construction Company were not dubbed in Indonesian.
  • Voice actors for each character were used since the eleventh series.
  • This is the second dub, like the Japanese dub, where Thomas and Percy have female voices to sound more child-like (twenty-third - twenty-fourth series only).
    • James and Edward also have female voices in the twenty-third or twenty-fourth series.

See Also

Israel

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In Israel, the series was dubbed into Hebrew as "תומס הקטר" (Tomas haKatar, "Thomas the Locomotive") and was later reintroduced as "תומס הקטר וחברים" (Tomas haKatar vaH̱averim, "Thomas the Locomotive and Friends"). However, the series has still been aired as "תומס הקטר" on certain channels. The first five series aired on the Hop! Channel from 2000 to 2005, the eighth to fourteenth series aired on the Israeli Educational TV from 2009 to 2013 and the fifteenth, seventeenth, twentieth, twenty second and twenty third series have aired on Hop! from 2013 to 2020. The twenty fourth series aired on the online streaming service BIGI in 2021. Each series was narrated by Simcha Barbiro, Ron Druyan, Dan Schatzberg and Doriel Zohar respectively. When the Israeli JimJam channel began offering optional dubbed versions of its content from 2015 to 2019, Nir Ron narrated a different dub of the first to eleventh series.

Trivia

  • The sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twenty first series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, The Adventure Begins, The Great Race, Journey Beyond Sodor and Thomas and the Royal Engine were not dubbed into Hebrew and it is unknown whether or not Hero of the Rails, Misty Island Rescue, Day of the Diesels and Blue Mountain Mystery have ever been dubbed either. The sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twenty first series had to be skipped due to production-related reasons.
  • For unknown reasons, Tale of the Brave and King of the Railway were released after Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. The latter premiered in Israel at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque in Summer 2016.
  • Thomas' Christmas Party, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree, Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, The Missing Christmas Decorations, Santa's Little Engine, Letters to Santa, The Christmas Coffeepot and Over the Hill were not dubbed into Hebrew due to explicit mentions of Christmas and its traditions in the original scripts, since the respective series they were in aired on Hop!. However, the first-eleventh series later aired on JimJam and dubbed versions of the first three Christmas episodes were likely available there.
  • In the Hop! dub of the classic series:
    • The Island of Sodor was not mentioned by name in the first and second series.
    • Edward's nickname Eddie was used as his proper name. Since the Educational TV dub of the eighth series, his formal name has been used instead.
    • The word "fireman" was mistranslated as כבאי (kabai, "firefighter"). The proper term for a steam engine fireman is מסיק (masik).
    • Terence's name was pronounced Trance, possibly by mistake due to lack of niqqud in the scripts.
    • Tender engines were referred to as קטרי פחם (katarei peħam, "coal engines"; referring to their "coal cars"), while tank engines were simply called קטרי קיטור (katarei kitor, "steam engines").
  • In the Hop! and BIGI dubs of the fifteenth series onwards:
    • HiT Entertainment's name was mistransliterated as "היט אינטרטיימנט" ("Hit Intertaiment"), instead of "היט אנטרטיינמנט" ("Hit Entertainment"). Several names of the original production crew were misspelt as well.
    • The UK voice cast is credited, albeit with their names in Hebrew, despite the show being re-dubbed.
    • Sharon Miller was misgendered male.
    • Den's name was pronounced as Dan.
    • In the seventeenth series, Sharon Miller was incorrectly credited as head writer and writers from the thirteenth-sixteenth series were mentioned in the credits, along with Nitrogen Studios, though the Arc Productions logo still appeared.
  • In the twenty-fourth series, the intro, The Journey Never Ends, Engine Roll Call and Let's Dream songs were retranslated and rerecorded.
  • In July 2021, A New Arrival and World of Tomorrow were shown together in yes Planet and Cinema City theatres as a full length release titled "הרפתקאות תומס הקטר" (Harpatkaot Tomas haKatar, "The Adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine"). This title was potentially misleading due to possible confusion with Big World! Big Adventures!.

See Also

Italy

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In Italy, the series is known as "Il Trenino Thomas" or "Il Trenino Thomas e i suoi amici" which translates to Thomas the Little Train and his friends. Angelo Maggi narrated the first to fifth series, Giorgio Bonino narrated the sixth and seventh series, plus Calling All Engines! and The Great Discovery, Saverio Indrio narrated series eight, Gianni Gaude narrated the ninth and tenth series and Giorgio Locuratolo narrated from the eleventh to the twenty-first series (except for the first five episodes in the production order of the nineteenth series, when he was temporarily replaced by Francesco Facchinetti). Cristina D'Avena narrated The Great Race. The first to fifth series aired on Disney Channel in 1998, then later on Playhouse Disney and in 2007 the first to eleventh series were aired on JimJam until its shutdown in 2015. The twelfth series was aired once in JimJam in a one-day marathon, then it got passed to Italia 1, which aired the twelfth to thirteenth series and then to Cartoonito, which aired twelfth to twenty-second series. It also aired on Frisbee from 2019.

Trivia

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Japan

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In Japan, the series is translated as "きかんしゃトーマス" (Romaji: "Kikansha Tōmasu" - Thomas the Locomotive). Thomas is extremely popular in Japan due to the prevalence of railways in everyday life. This dub of the show has also had individual voice actors since the model series. It was broadcast on Fuji Television from the first series until the eighth series and broadcast from the ninth series to the thirteenth series on TV Tokyo and recently on NHK. Leo Morimoto was the narrator from the first to the eighth series, followed by Jon Kabira from Calling All Engines! to the twenty-first series. Starting in the twenty-second series, Kumiko Higa, voicing Thomas, has narrated the series.

Trivia

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  • In 1973, Poplar Publishing released the Japanese translation of Awdry's 26 Railway Series books. The series was translated by Kuwabara Saburou and Shimizu Shuyu. Motoo Kuroiwa assisted with railway terminology. On November 2023, Really Useful Engines was published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The Railway Series in Japan. The book was translated by Mizuhito Kanehara.
  • Some Japanese DVDs include Railway Series stories narrated by Yoko Asagami.
  • Japan is the first country that gave the show its own individual voice cast predating Thomas and the Magic Railroad and the CGI era of the series (Series 13-24).
  • Several Japanese exclusive Thomas and Friends video games were released there.
  • In this dub, the nameboards are used for the introduction of the characters who appeared in each episode (the restored versions replace the nameboards with an image of the character in that episode instead). From the eighth series, the narrator calls the title of the episode at the end of each episode.
  • Many Japanese DVDs feature Head-on Promos of each character featured in the DVD episodes on the back covers.
  • 'Arry is called "Harry" in this dub.
  • After the eighth series, the original voice cast affiliated with Aoni Production was replaced with a new voice cast affiliated with 81 Produce due to the show being switched to another broadcasting station.
  • The eleventh series episodes use the eighth, ninth and tenth series opening.
  • It is unknown why the twelfth series was not aired but it is believed that Japanese kids would be confused upon seeing the mixture of live-action with CGI, which is ironic considering the fact a handful of films mixed with CGI and live-action have been released and redubbed for that country to appeal with Japanese audiences. However, Heave Ho Thomas!, Saved You! and Best Friends have been shown at Thomas Land's 3D Theatre and Excellent Emily, Saved You!, James Works it Out and Percy and the Bandstand were released on Unaired Video Collection. However, The former two episodes have yet to be released to the Japanese public.
  • In the seventeenth series, the opening credits credited Greg Tiernan as a director from Steamie Stafford, the first episode of the series in Japanese broadcast order but it was fixed from Gone Fishing, the thirteenth episode of the series.
  • Jack and the Sodor Construction Company was not dubbed in Japanese.
  • The reason why Thomas, Percy, Jack, Bill and Ben were given female actors instead of male actors was because they were made to sound more younger and child-like compared to their non-Japanese voices, which is common in Japanese dubs of other Western and American animated television shows, as well as anime (Pokémon is one of the best examples of this).
  • The CGI specials are slowed down to 24 FPS, adding an extra two minutes to their length. As a result, their audio is slightly distorted and low-pitched.
  • Both the opening credits (with the exception of the title card) and closing credits from The Adventure Begins are left in English.
  • From Hero of the Rails to Tale of the Brave, the English credits are played before the Japanese credits and the logos appear after each credits sequence. From The Great Race to Big World! Big Adventures!, the Japanese credits replace the English credits (with the exception of The Great Race, where it has the English credits before the post-credits scene).
  • Some model era DVDs were released as Thomas Classic Collection from the first series to the seventh series and it was also released as Thomas New Classic Collection from the ninth series to the eleventh series.
  • The eighth series is the only series that was not released on DVD by Sony Creative Products Inc. nor released digitally.
  • Calling All Engines! was released 3 times: the first time was on DVD in 2008, the second time was on Cartoon Network in 2009 and the third time was in 2014 when it was given its Japanese theatrical release, five years after its television release on Japanese Cartoon Network and six years after its official Japanese DVD release.
  • Due to the immense popularity of the Japanese version, various Thomas merchandise, such as toys (Departing Now) and books (Thomas the Tank Engine Encyclopedia), were released exclusively in that country.

See Also

Latin America

LatinAmericanThomaslogo

In Latin American countries, the series is called "Thomas y sus amigos". Discovery Kids was the first channel that aired the series from 2002 to 2018. It used to air on Canal 5 in Mexico, on Canal 9 in Argentina, Global TV in Peru, Azteca 7 in Mexico, TVN and Telecanal in Chile, among many other channels throughout the Central and South American continents.

The dub was provided by Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. for Shining Time Station, Diego Brizzi from the first-twelfth series, Óscar Gómez from Hero of the Rails to the twenty-first series, Héctor Cuevas, voicing Thomas, from the twenty second series to Ace's Brave Jump and Marc Winslow, voicing Thomas, from Nia's Bright Idea to the end of the twenty-fourth series.

Trivia

See Also

Latvia

Thomas logo alternate Latvian

In Latvia, the series is called "Tomass un draugi" and is narrated by Robert Dreija. The dub uses a voice over method similar to the original Ukrainian dub of the first four series and the Lithuanian dub. The Latvian dubs air on Kidzone TV and Kidzone TV Plus. And in the twenty-second to twenty-fourth series, the narrator was changed.

Trivia

Lithuania

In Lithuania, the series is called "Tomas ir draugai". The episodes are voiced over the English dub, similar to the Ukrainian and Latvian dubs. The dubs aired on Kidzone TV and Kidzone TV Plus.

Trivia

Malaysia

In Malaysia, the series retains its English title. Only the eleventh to eighteenth series were dubbed in Malay. The Malay dubs used to air on Astro Ceria and are now broadcasted on TV3 and also available on Astro on VOD. Sharul Titis and Zahisham Ujang are two of the narrators that dubbed unknown series.

Trivia

  • The songs were not dubbed in Malay.
  • The twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-third series were aired on TV3 in 2018 with the English dub.
  • The first ten series, the eighteenth, nineteenth and twenty-second series were not aired.

See Also

Middle East

Arab World

Series22ArabicOpening

In Arabic speaking countries, the series is known as توماس والأصدقاء (transliterated: Tumas Wal'Asdiqa). It is dubbed in Literary Arabic across several dubs. It was narrated by Fouad Shamas in the first, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth to eleventh series, by Khaled El Sayed in the thirteenth to fifteenth series and by Ali Al-Qasim in the sixteenth to eighteenth series. The Arabic dub of the seventh series was aired on Ajyal. The Arabic dub of the thirteenth to fifteenth series was aired on Baraem and Jeem TV. The Arabic dub of the sixteenth to eighteenth, twenty-second, twenty-third series, Tale of the Brave and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure was aired on Spacetoon. The nineteenth to twenty-first series were also previously broadcast on OSN TV Kidzone.

Iran

In Iran the series is called توماس و دوستان. It was dubbed in Persian for the IRIB television network on IRIB TV2. Only season 12 was dubbed with two episodes skipped. Unlike most dubs produced in Iran it was legally authorised by HIT Entertainment. It featured a complete voice cast much like the Italian and Japanese dubs.

Trivia

  • The shot in the Big World! Big Adventures! intro where Thomas passes by Mount Rushmore with the engines’ faces is replaced with stock footage from Number One Engine.
  • The Arabic dub of The Great Discovery uses the same version of the Engine Roll Call used in the tenth and eleventh series.
  • The full version of the Engine Roll Call was not dubbed in the sixteenth to eighteenth series - after the episode, the intro just plays again overlaid with the dubbing credits.
  • The nineteenth to twenty-first series leave the Engine Roll Call in English.
  • Some airings of the first-seventh series used the Engine Roll Call from the eighth-eleventh series instead of the normal theme used for the opening.

See Also

The Netherlands

Dutch logo

Dutch logo

In the Netherlands, the series is currently known as "Thomas de Stoomlocomotief". It was previously known as "Thomas de Stoomlocomotief en zijn Vriendjes" for the first five series. The show was narrated by Erik de Zwart from the first to the eleventh series and up to Misty Island Rescue for the specials. Kas van Iersel narrated the thirteenth series only and Michiel de Jong took over from Day of the Diesels until Journey Beyond Sodor for the specials and from the fourteenth to the twentieth series for the television series. From the twenty-second to the twenty-fourth series, Jürgen Theuns narrated the show.

Trivia

  • When Cartoon Network first aired the series in 1997, the original English dub was shown. Starting on 11 May 1998, the channel aired the show in Dutch.
  • The Dutch dub of the first four series were produced together, meaning Erik de Zwart narrated a total of 104 5-minute episodes in the span of a few weeks, sometimes even narrating 40 episodes in one evening[4].
  • Erik de Zwart owns the video rights for the Dutch dubs of the series he narrated, meaning Mattel cannot distribute these dubs on home video or streaming without written permission from Erik de Zwart[5].
  • The fifth series premiered around the same time on Cartoon Network in the Netherlands as it did in the UK.
  • For the eighth until the eleventh series different masters of the Dutch dub exist. The original masters were made in the 4:3 aspect ratio for television but when the episodes came to DVD, they were edited to fit the original 16:9 aspect ratio.
  • The twelfth and twenty-first series were not dubbed into Dutch.
    Dubbing chart of the Dutch dub for select series and specials

    Dubbing chart of the Dutch dub for select series and specials

  • The sixth, seventh, fourteenth and fifteenth series were dubbed into Dutch exclusively for the Dutch JimJam channel.
  • The sixteenth series only had one episode dubbed into Dutch for a Belgian Take-n-Play DVD, that being Thomas and the Sounds of Sodor. This episode was dubbed alongside the eighteenth series in 2015.
  • The seventeenth series only had its final six episodes dubbed into Dutch for the Spills and Thrills home media release.
  • All episodes of the twenty-third series were dubbed into Dutch, except for Steam Team to the Rescue. It is unclear why this episode was left out.
  • None of the episodes from the fifth, sixth and seventh were released on DVDs.

See Also

Norway

In Norway, the series is known as "Lokomotivet Thomas" (Thomas the Engine) or "Thomas og Vennene Hans" (Thomas and his Friends). Trine Lossius Borg narrated the first and second series on television and VHS and narrated the third and fourth series on home video. Gro Solemdal narrated the third to fourth series on television and the fifth series on both television and home video. Terje Strømdal narrated the sixth series and Kalle Øby narrated from the eighth series until Tale of the Brave. Ane Barmen narrated from the eighteenth series onwards.

Trivia

  • The show was first broadcasted in Norway in 1986 and was the first country to dub the series into another language other than English.
  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the seventh and twelfth series and Jack and the Sodor Construction Company were not dubbed in Norwegian. The eleventh series did not air on Norwegian television but was released direct to DVD, except for Thomas and the Stinky Cheese and Percy and the Left Luggage, which were only released digitally. The last six episodes of the fifth series were not released on VHS or DVD but they have been broadcasted.
  • For unknown reasons, Calling All Engines! was released before the eighth series, The Great Discovery was released on DVD between the ninth and tenth series, Hero of the Rails was released on DVD in the middle of the tenth series, Misty Island Rescue was released during the eleventh series, Day of the Diesels was released at the end of the eleventh series and Blue Mountain Mystery was released in the middle of the thirteenth series.
  • The opening titles credited the UK narrators and not the Norwegian narrator. However, most videos did credit Trine Lossius Borg, although this was also on the tapes she did not narrate. Later TV airings also had a last frame of Norwegian credits after the normal credits.
    • In the Norwegian TV dubs of the third series told by Gro Solemdal, the first thirteen episodes credit George Carlin, while the last thirteen episodes credit Michael Angelis, despite being re-dubbed.
  • On home video, during the first four series, as well as the sixth series on TV and video, the narrator reads the episode's title. This stopped after the eighth series, although in some eleventh series episodes, the narrator says the episode's title when the title card is missing.
  • Gordon's catchphrase changes between "Oh, so undignified!", "Oh, how nefarious!" and "What a humiliation!"
  • Since the thirteenth series, Tidmouth Sheds is referred to as "Tidmouth Station". In the fifteenth series, it is sometimes referred to as "Tidmouthstallen" which means "Tidmouth Sheds".
  • When Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure first aired on Christmas Eve in 1996, the audio was gone for half of the episode. This was fixed when the episode aired again a few years later.
  • In Rusty and the Boulder, Rusty is referred to as female. It is evident in both that episode and Snow that Gro Solemdal gave Rusty a feminine voice.
  • Since the thirteenth series, Engine Roll Call is in Norwegian. But before that, Calling All Engines! and The Great Discovery dubbed the song since they were included in both specials.
  • When the Fat Controller's name is used, they do not say "Bertram", they say "Topham".
  • The eleventh series episodes use the eighth-tenth series opening, end credits and Engine Roll Call. The fourteenth and fifteenth series episodes use the thirteenth series dub of Engine Roll Call.
  • Like in the UK and US, the fifteenth series aired before Day of the Diesels, barring the last three episodes.
  • Since the fifteenth series, Arlesdale End is called "Arlesdale Station".
  • Bash and Dash often switch voices in this dub.
  • Dart's catchphrase is "Digre Dieseler" which means "Giant Diesels".
  • For unknown reasons, the last three episodes of the fifteenth series aired five months later than the rest of the series when it first aired.
  • The thirteenth series episodes on television have title cards but on the DVDs, the title cards are removed and the narrator reads the episode's title.
  • The first six series aired on NRK 1 until 2006. TV2 started broadcasting in 2007 starting with the eighth series. In autumn 2014, the series was made available to RiksTV (Series 1-4 and 8-9) and CMORE play (Series 1-4) users. As of 2016, the show once more airs on NRK via NRK Super starting with the eighteenth series.
  • In 2016, starting from the eighteenth series, the series gained a completely new voice cast and the characters now speak a lot more regional dialects.
  • When Big World! Big Adventures! and the twenty-second series were dubbed in Norwegian, a new voice cast was established, thus scrapping the concept of including more regional dialects. A lot of cast members from the first CGI dub returned for this new dub.
  • Norwegian is one of the few languages in which The Railway Series has been translated in, although only eight of the original books (as well as Henry and the Express) were released from 1988-1993, the rest remained untranslated for unknown reasons.

See Also

The Philippines

In the Philippines, the series retains its English title. Two Tagalog dubs of the show exist. The first dub covered the first and second series and aired on TV5.[6][7] The second dub covered the fourteenth to seventeenth series and previously aired on GMA 7, showing a clip from the sixteenth series episode, Bust My Buffers![8]. Other Philippine networks that the series aired are Studio 23[9] and ABS-CBN Sports and Action[10].

Trivia

See Also


Poland

In Poland, the series is known as "Tomek i przyjaciele" (formerly known as "Parowóz Tomek i Jego Przyjaciele"). Jaromir Sosnowski, Zbigniew Sawicki and Grzegorz Fedorowski narrated the first dub of the first series. Grzegorz Fedorowski narrated on his own from "Thomas in Trouble" to the fifth series .

Stefan Knothe later re-dubbed the first five series in the late 2000s and narrated the sixth to twenty-first series.

Trivia

  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and The Adventure Begins were not dubbed in Polish.
  • The opening credits in the eighth to sixteenth series credits Michael Angelis even though it was re-dubbed.
  • The opening credits in the seventeenth series onwards credits Mark Moraghan even though it was re-dubbed.
  • Currently, Stefan Knothe ties with Dutch narrator Erik de Zwart and the Finnish narrator Aku Laitinen as the longest serving narrator for a non-English dub of the series.
  • Some changes were made in the translation throughout the series:
    • Series 4:
      • The Flying Kipper is called "Latający Holender" (The Flying Dutchman) rather than "Latający Pikling" (Flying Pikling).
    • Series 8:
      • Maithwaite is called "Gajówka" rather than "Bąbelkowo".
    • Series 10:
      • Arlesdale End is called "Cichy Zakątek" (Quiet Nook) rather than "Wygwizdeczkowo".
    • Series 11:
      • Maron is called "Makaronowo" rather than "Kasztankowo".
      • Maithwaite is called "Bąbelkowo" again.
      • Arlesdale End is now called "Stary Zakątek" (Old Nook).
    • Series 15:
      • Maron is called by its English name.
      • Maithwaite is now called "Makowo".
    • Series 16:
      • The Flying Kipper is called "wagony towarowe" (freight wagons).
    • Series 17:
      • The Flying Kipper is now called "pociąg z rybami" (fish train).
      • Maron is called "Makaronowo" again.
  • The Grzegorz Fedorowski dub was voiced over the English dub for three series and most of the characters kept their English names.
  • Both Polish dubs refer to Old Slow Coach as male and Bertie as female. Bill and Ben were also referred to as female in the Grzegorz Fedorowski dub.
  • In The Grzegorz Fedorowski dub, The Fat Controller is referred to as The Fat Director.
  • The twelfth series was only dubbed and released in 2020 and uses the voice cast from the twenty-fourth series, although the original recording of the Engine Roll Call from the eighth series is reused.
  • The first seven series were not released on DVDs.

See Also

Portugal

In Portugal, the series is known as "Thomas e os seus amigos" translated into "Thomas and his Friends" or "Tomás e Amigos" translated into "Thomas and Friends". The show premiered in Portugal on RTP1 in 1997, as "Tomás, a Locomotiva e os Amigos". translated as " Thomas, the Locomotive and Friends" It was narrated by Jorge Paupério from the first series until the eleventh series, by Paulo Martinez in Calling All Engines!, by an unknown narrator in the Canal Panda dub of the thirteenth to fifteenth and twentieth series and by José Martins in the eighteenth to nineteenth series. The European Portuguese dubs were aired on JimJam from 2008 to 2022, Canal Panda from 2011 to 2015 and from 2019 to 2022 and RTP2 from around 2013 until a unknown date.

Trivia

See Also

Romania

In Romania, the series is known as "Locomotiva Thomas și prietenii săi". It was narrated by Alexandru Rusu for the first seven series and the tenth to twenty-first series, with Daniel Vulcu narrating the eighth to ninth series, plus Calling All Engines!. The show was first broadcasted in 2006 on MiniMax TV Romania, starting with the eighth series, followed up by Calling All Engines! in 2007 and the ninth series in 2008. JimJam TV Romania has also broadcasted the first to eleventh series, Calling All Engines! and The Great Discovery. All of the original three series are in restored format. Since 2010, MiniMax TV Romania has broadcasted the thirteenth series onwards and specials.

Trivia

See Also

Russia

In Russia, the series is known as "Томас и его друзья" (Tomas i ego druz'ya) and was first dubbed into Russian in 1995. Valery Nikitenko narrated the first dubs of the first four series in 1995-1996. Alexei Borzunov later re-narrated the first four series and narrated the fifth through eleventh series, Vladimir Antonik narrated the thirteenth through sixteenth series and Tale of the Brave through The Great Race and Denis Bespaliy has narrated the series since King of the Railway, excluding Tale of the Brave, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and The Great Race.

Trivia

  • The Russian title sequence of the first to twelfth series credits Ringo Starr and Michael Angelis as the narrators, even though it was re-dubbed. This is common in most dubs but the title and credits in the opening were audibly translated in Russian. However, the remastered dub features everything translated, except the narrator (Alexei Borzunov) not credited and all the time in the last scene it is "Directed by David Mitton".
  • From the seventeenth series until The Perfect Gift in the eighteenth series, the narrator reads out each episode's writer along with its title.
  • The twelfth series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and The Adventure Begins were not dubbed in Russian.

See Also

Scotland

In Scottish Gaelic, the series is called "Tòmas is a Threud", which in English translates to "Tòmas and His Flock" and is narrated by Ian MacAmhlaigh. It was often shown on BBC Alba from 2008 to 2015.

Trivia

  • To date, only the first, eighth and ninth series have been dubbed into Gaelic.
  • The narrator did not read the episode's titles aloud in the ninth series.
  • The eighth and ninth series were released on the BBC Alba website but in March 2015 and now all of the episodes say: Sorry, this episode is not currently available from there.

Serbia

In Serbia, the series is known as "Tomas i drugari" (or "Томас и другари" in Cyrillic writing) but is also known as "Thomas, parna lokomotiva". The Serbian dubs were aired on many television channels from RTV Pink, Happy TV, the Second Channel, Radio Television of Serbia, Pink Super Kids and Minimax in Serbia and was narrated by Bojan Žirović with the twelfth and thirteenth series narrated by another Serbian actor, Nikola Bulatovic.

Trivia

  • The Serbian dubs of the first and second series credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed.
  • The Serbian dubs of the third to sixteenth series credit Michael Angelis as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed.
  • The Serbian dubs from the seventeenth series onwards credit Mark Moraghan as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed.
  • The thirteenth series also had its own full DVD release with Serbian actor, Nikola Bulatovic to narrate the episodes.
  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, the twenty-first, twenty-third and twenty-fourth series were not dubbed in Serbian.

See Also

Slovakia

In Slovakia, the series is known as "Thomas a jeho priatelia" in the first series, "Tomáš a jeho kamaráti" in books published by Egmont and "Tomáš a priatelia" in from the twenty-second series onwards. Only the first, twenty-second and twenty-third series were dubbed into Slovak. The rest of the series had the Czech dub broadcasted in Slovakia because Czech and Slovak are very similar languages. It was narrated by Marián Labuda and translated by Marko Škop in the first series. The episodes first aired in 2003 on Slovenská televízia.

Trivia

  • The UK end credits were always used. However, in every episode the narrator reads the Slovak credits aloud.
  • The opening credits of the first series credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed.

Slovenia

In Slovenia, the show is known as "Lokomotivček Tomaž in Prijatelji" or "Tomaž in Prijatelji" and was narrated by Vladimir Jurc from the first series to the sixth. The Slovenian dub was aired on RTVS and Minimax.

Trivia

  • Early VHS/DVD episodes use the UK title and end credits, with the translated episode title simply added below the original episode title. As a consequence, either Ringo Starr or Michael Angelis is credited as the narrator on some episodes, even though the show was dubbed.
  • The seventh to thirteenth series were not aired but the names of the characters introduced in those series can be found in magazines. Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, the seventh to twelveth, twenty-first, twenty-third, twenty-fourth series, Calling All Engines!, The Great Discovery and The Adventure Begins were not dubbed in Slovenian.
  • The first to fifth series were highly localised with location names replaced by Slovenian ones with similar roles. For example, the Island of Sodor was referred to as "otok" (simply "island"). In Coal, Welsh coal is replaced with "Trbovljski premog" (coal from Trbovlje - Slovenia's largest coal mine). In The Flying Kipper, Crewe works is referred to as "Zalog" (town near Slovenian Railroad's largest railroad workshop). In Break Van, it is said the Scottish twins came from the Gorenjska region of Slovenia instead of Scotland, more precisely from Jesenice (a large city in said region) instead of Glasgow. Their accent has also been localised, being a regional dialect from Gorenjska.
  • Since the fourteenth series, several names of characters changed.
  • Since the fourteenth series, episodes are plagued by incorrect literal translations of (British) technical terms and jokes. For instance, "trucks" are often referred to as "tovornjaki" (lit. lorries - correct term would be "tovorni vagoni" - freight wagons), "funnels" are called "lijaki" (lit. funnels - correct term would be "dimniki" - chimneys) and so on. In Charlie and Eddie, for example, Charlie's jokes are translated literally and since the puns are English exclusive, they do not function when translated.

See Also

South Africa

In South Africa, the movie King of the Railway was dubbed and released on DVD. The special is known as "Koning van die spoor". It is the only known piece of the franchise to have been dubbed in Afrikaans as most releases retain the UK dub and narration.

Trivia

  • None of the episodes from first six series were released on DVDs. But the first five series were released on VHSs.
    • No episodes from the sixth series were released on home media either.

See Also

South Korea

In South Korea, the dub broadcasted by KBS 1 of the first four series were translated as "기관차 토마스와 친구들" ("Gigwancha Tomaseuwa Chingudeul" - Thomas the Engine and Friends) and "꼬마 기차 토마스", the first four series from JEI TV were translated as "칙칙폭폭 토마스 기관차" ("Chigchigpogpog Tomaseu Gigwancha" - Huffs and Puffs Thomas the Engine), the fifth to tenth and the twelfth to fifteenth series from EBS, as well as the eleventh and twelfth series from Kids 1 were translated as "꼬마기관차 토마스와 친구들" ("Kkoma Gigwancha Tomaseuwa Chingudeul" - Thomas the Little Engine and Friends), the sixteenth to twenty-first series from KBS 2 and the twenty-second to twenty-third series and Thomas and the Royal Engine from Tooniverse were translated as "토마스와 친구들" ("Tomaseuwa Chingudeul" - Thomas and Friends). The redub of first to fourth series were narrated by Jang Gwang, by Kim Il for the fifth to seventh series, by Kim Seung-jun from the eighth to the tenth series and twelfth (redub) to twenty-first series, by Yu Dong-kyun from the eleventh to twelfth series, while Tale of the Brave, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, The Great Race and Journey Beyond Sodor were narrated by Park Sang-u and the original dub of Misty Island Rescue was narrated by Ji Jin-hee.

This dub does not air in North Korea because the North Korean government bans the transmission of any foreign television program that is not made in their country in general.

This series aired on South Korean television through KBS 2 EBS, EBS English, JEI TV, Tooniverse, Daekyo Kids TV, Kids 1, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and JEI English TV, CBeebies (with Korean subtitles), Animax and Nickelodeon. Tooniverse aired the fifth to seventh series, King of the Railway and twenty-second to twenty-third series. Daekyo Kids aired the fifth to tenth series. The Disney Channel aired the thirteenth to nineteenth series. Disney Junior aired the thirteenth to twentieth series,. The thirteenth to fifteenth series aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Then finally, CBeebies aired the fourteenth to sixteenth, twenty-third and twenty-fourth series.

The Railway Series

The Three Railway Engines to Thomas Comes Home and Thomas's Christmas Party to Thomas and Gordon Off the Rails books were translated in Korean and published by Jung Ang Educational Foundation Inc. in 1996. Also, The Three Railway Engines to Troublesome Engines books were translated in Korean and published by Adongmoonhak in 2005.

Trivia

  • Calling All Engines!, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company and The Adventure Begins were not dubbed in Korean.
  • Unlike either of the two English dubs, all of the characters got their individual voice actors starting in the twelfth series. This only happened in the dub broadcasted by EBS. (recorded and mixed by POPES) Additionally, the original dub of the first four series also featured a voice cast prior to the twelfth series.
  • The songs from Misty Island Rescue, Day of the Diesels and Big World! Big Adventures! were not dubbed in the Korean language.
  • The redub of the first four series featured subtitles with descriptions of railway terminology and descriptions of terms like "tank engine" or "tender engine", as well as many of the Sudric names.
  • The fourteenth to twenty-third series, Day of the Diesels, Blue Mountain Mystery, King of the Railway and Big World! Big Adventures! were not released on DVD. Plus, the original dub of the first four series were not released either on VHS, DVD or VOD. The redub of the twelfth series was not released on DVD and the Korean dub of the thirteenth series was not released on DVD either.
  • The Korean dub of Tale of the Brave to Journey Beyond Sodor use a different voice cast than the one used for the sixteenth to twenty-first series and Big World! Big Adventures!
  • This is one of the few dubs of the show (along with the Welsh dub) to translate signs within an episode. (Fifth to seventh series only).
  • The re-dub of Blue Mountain Mystery and King of the Railway songs were sang by Kim Hye-seong.
  • Since the release of Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go! in South Korea, the remaining original series (twenty-third and twenty-fourth series) have been moved to JEI TV so that the reboot can air on Tooniverse.
  • Between Series 19 and 21, the arrangements of the theme musics from Series 13 to 18 were still used, despite being out of sync with the footage.

See Also

Spain

In Spain, the series is known as "El tren Thomas y sus amigos". It is currently narrated by César Díaz Capilla. It was previously narrated by Salomé Larrucea from the eighth to nineteenth series and by Pepa Castro in the twentieth series, while Roberto Cuadrado voiced many of the characters in the live action series.

Trivia

  • The series was first known to be dubbed in 2007.
  • Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jack and the Sodor Construction Company, The Adventure Begins, twelfth to fourteenth and twenty-first series were not dubbed.
  • It is unknown if the first seven series were ever dubbed.

See Also

Catalonia

Catalan logo

Catalan logo

In Catalonia, Spain, the series is known as "En Thomas i els seus amics". The thirteenth to fifteenth series were dubbed in Catalan and aired on Super 3 around 2011-2013. Also, a few early series were dubbed in Catalan and aired on Kanal 3 and K3 around 2000. And some Story Library Books of the CGI episodes and specials were dubbed in Catalan for Audiobook releases. They were released on Google Playstore in May 2022. Narrated by Carles Llado.

Galicia

In Galicia, Spain, the series is known as "Tomás e os seus amigos". The sixteenth and seventeenth series were dubbed in Galician and aired on TVG2 around 2015-2017.

Sweden

In Sweden, the series is currently known as "Thomas och Vännerna" (Thomas and Friends) today but it has also gone under the names "Det lilla Ångloket" (The little steam engine) and "Thomas Tåget och hans vänner" (Thomas the train and his friends). Louise Raeder narrated the original dub of the first two series. Håkan Mohede later re-dubbed the first two series and also narrated the third–seventh series. Since the eighth series, the series has been narrated by Claes Ljungmark.

Trivia

See Also

Switzerland

The first four Railway Series books were dubbed into Swiss-German by the "Globi-Verlag AG, Zürich" in 1987.

In some areas of Switzerland, the series was dubbed in Romansh, known as "Tumasch la locomotiva a vapur e ses amis".

Trivia

Taiwan

In Taiwan, the series is known as "湯瑪士小火車" (Tāngmǎshì xiǎo huǒchē) and is narrated by Guan Zhihong. The series is shown being re-dubbed into Mandarin.

Trivia

See Also

Thailand

In Thailand, the series is known as โธมัสยอดหัวรถจักร (Ṭhomạs̄ yxd h̄ạw rt̄h cạkr) or โทมัสและเพื่อน (Thomạs̄ læa pheụ̄̀xn). Only the first to eighth, eleventh to seventeenth series and twentieth to twenty-fourth series were dubbed in Thai.

Trivia

See Also

Turkey

In Turkey, the series is known as "Tren Thomas" and "Thomas ve Arkadaşları". The Turkish dubs of Series 20 to twenty-fourth series currently air on Minika Çocuk every day. This series was narrated by Kerem Kobanbay from the first to eleventh series and by Timur Çayır from the eighteenth to twenty-second series.

Trivia

  • The Turkish dubs of the third series and the thirteenth to sixteenth series credit Michael Angelis as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed.

See Also

Ukraine

In Ukraine, the series was known as "Паровоз Томас та його друзі" (Paravoz Tomas ta yoho druzi) and was later introduced as "Томас і друзі" (Tomas i druzi) and was narrated by lector Mykola Koziy for the first four series with the translations done by Oleksa Nehrebeckyj and Yuriy Hrebelʹnyk from the seventeenth series until the twentieth series. The dub for the first four series uses a voice over method, as the Ukrainian voice track is layered over the original English dub, a common practice in Eastern Europe. The first four series were the only series dubbed until the seventeenth to twentieth series and the twenty-second series were dubbed. The Ukrainian dub of the first four series were only aired from 1997-1998 and were never re-broadcasted.

Trivia

  • The Ukrainian dubs of the first and second series have Ringo Starr's voice in the background, the third series has George Carlin's voice in the first thirteen episodes and the last thirteen episodes of the third series as well as all of the fourth series have Michael Angelis' voice.
  • It is unknown if the first twelve episodes of the first series, Percy Runs Away, Coal, Dirty Work, A Close Shave and Wrong Road were ever dubbed into Ukrainian. They likely were, though due to the archive nature of this dub, they were not recorded from their airings. The Christmas Coffeepot and Over the Hill were not dubbed either.
  • The opening credits from the seventeenth series onwards credit Mark Moraghan as the narrator, even though it was re-dubbed.
  • Since the seventeenth series, uncredited voice actors have provided the characters' voices.
  • The fifth to sixteenth series, as well as the twenty-first, twenty-third and twenty-fourth series were not dubbed in Ukrainian.
  • The twenty-second series uses the Engine Roll Call from the thirteenth series, which results in Edward and Henry being mentioned instead of Nia and Rebecca.

Uzbekistan

In Uzbekistan, the series is known as "Tomas va do'stlari". The seventeenth series is voiced over the English dub.

Trivia

Vietnam

In Vietnam, the series is known as "Thomas và những người bạn" but it is not popular. Only the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, seventeenth, twenty-third and twenty-fourth series were dubbed in Vietnamese.

Trivia

  • It was aired on HTV3 12/11/2012 (formerly) and SCTV3-SeeTV 12/04/2021 on the twenty-third series and 02/08/2021 on the twenty-fourth series.
  • Thanh Huống is a Vietnamese voice actress who played Emily from Thomas & Friends (HTV3) . She also wrote the lyrics to the Vietnamese translation of the Engine Roll Call.
  • Thomas and Friends was commonly dubbed in the Southern Vietnamese dialect. HTV3 was dubbed in the Mekong Delta dialect (Its another Southern Vietnamese dialect from a countryside in the Mekong River Delta) while the rest are dubbed in Saigonese dialect (Southern Vietnamese dialect from the Southwest).
  • ACE Media was formerly TVM Corp that dubbed Thomas and Friends on HTV3 and some voice actors had changed the character roles, such as Thomas, Gordon, Sir Topham Hatt, James, Henry and Percy.
  • The seventeenth series was dubbed in Vietnamese by ACE Media before the voice-over release by CBeebies and BHD KIDS.
  • From the point the thirteenth, fourteenth and seventeenth series were released, the twelfth series intro was still used.
  • The Vietnamese dubs of the fourth to eighth series, as well as the fifteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second series were voice-over the English dubs (US), in Northern Vietnamese dialect (BHD KIDS, CBeebies, VTC11) and a bit of Southern Vietnamese dialect (SCTV3-SeeTV, MYKINGDOM).
  • In the SCTV3-SeeTV dub, they followed the US dub rather than the UK dub (original). Only HTV3 and ACE Media dubs followed by the UK dub.
  • The Vietnamese dub was not provided blank footage for the title cards.
  • Engine Roll Call and Don't Stop were dubbed in Vietnamese. Only the HTV3 dubbed the Engine Roll Call song but for SCTV3 dub it was talking over the Don't Stop song in instrumental.
  • The Vietnamese intro of the seventeenth (BHD KIDS), eighteenth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth series were not dubbed.
  • The Vietnamese dub of the twenty-first series featured a different instrumental for the intro song rather than the original one.
  • The first three series, Thomas and the Magic Railroad and Jack and the Sodor Construction Company were not dubbed in Vietnamese.
  • The ninth, tenth, eleventh and sixteenth series are unknown to be dubbed/voiced-over in Vietnamese.

Wales

In Wales, the series is called "Tomos a'i Ffrindiau" (originally "Tomos y Tanc a'i Ffrindiau") and is narrated by John Ogwen. It is often broadcast on Cyw, S4C's children's block. Episodes are available for catch up on the S4C website and the BBC iPlayer for a week after they have aired.

The dub of the first two series was made by HTV Wales (The Welsh dub of ITV). S4C then took over starting with Series 3. In 2023, Series Thirteen and Fourteen, which were the most recent dubs for the show and had been on rotation on S4C for many years, were removed from circulation from S4C Clic (the online platform for the channel) and replaced with the first series of All Engines Go (Pob Injan Ewch), although the original name on the S4C website remains the same.

The Railway Series

Welsh was the first and for many years, only translation of The Railway Series books. In 1950, Welsh minister Sir Ben Bowen Thomas suggested that Edmund Ward publish the engines' adventures in the Welsh language. As a result, J.T. Jones, a former winner of two National Eisteddfod literary awards, was paid seven guineas to translate the first four titles - Y Tri Injian Tren, Thomas yr Injian Danc, James yr Injian Coch and Thomas Injian-Danc Eto each of which were produced in a print-run of 5,000 volumes.

Trivia

See Also

References

  1. ↑ http://svf.fo/sendingar/barnasendingar.html
  2. ↑ https://twitter.com/Late_Jurassic/status/1522191631000219651
  3. ↑ https://www.awn.com/news/hit-entertainment-seals-international-deals
  4. ↑ https://leiden.courant.nu/issue/LD/1998-06-15/edition/0/page/2
  5. ↑ https://www.nicospilt.com/index_nvbs-erik-de-zwart.htm
  6. ↑ https://phtvradiosked.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/old-tv5-sked-2009-2010/
  7. ↑ 755
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIX7vZQytx0
  9. ↑ https://phtvradiosked.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/studio-23-sked-part-2-2013/
  10. ↑ https://phtvradiosked.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/abs-cbn-sports-action-channel-23-sked-3/
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