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"Percy, you are not to blame for the points failure but I do not run a jam factory."
"Yes, Sir—No, Sir!"
― The Fat Controller and Percy

Percy, James and the Fruitful Day is the twenty-fifth episode of the third series. It is based on the magazine story Percy Gets Jammed written by Andrew Brenner.

Plot

It is market day on Sodor and James is on his way to the harbour when he sees Percy at Lower Suddery. Percy is late with his line of trucks, as he should already be at the next station. James tells Percy that engines should always be on time and puffs importantly away. Feeling resentful, Percy mutters "bossy buffers" and continues on his way.

James arrives at the harbour to see all the wonderful fresh fruits being unloaded from the cargo ships. James waits as his trucks are loaded, then sets off along the main line. During his journey, he meets Thomas and cannot resist boasting. Thomas tells Annie and Clarabel that he knows that there will be trouble ahead for the boastful James.

Percy,JamesandtheFruitfulDay29

"Got yourself in a bit of a jam, eh James? What you might call a 'sticky situation'?"

Back at Lower Suddery, Percy is busy shunting in the yard when the stationmaster informs his driver that James' brakes are jammed and that Percy must go and help him at once. Percy quickly sets off and soon finds James stranded on the main line, which gives Percy an opportunity to tease him, since James was so boastful about his timeliness. Percy's driver intervenes and asks Percy if he can push the fruit trucks, to which Percy happily obliges. Soon, Percy is coupled to the trucks and sets off, leaving James fuming. Percy is in a hurry and is not paying attention to the line. With the trucks in front of him, he does not see that the points have failed and that he has been diverted onto a siding. Percy's driver sees the danger and applies the brakes but it is too late. The trucks run straight into the buffers and Percy crashes into the back of the van in front of him. His driver and fireman jump clear but Percy gets squirted and covered from funnel to buffers in squashed fruit. The Fat Controller arrives and sternly reminds Percy that, while the points failure was not his fault, he does not run a "jam factory". After that, Percy sadly chuffs back home.

That night in the sheds, all the engines are silent, with James and Percy both in disgrace and feeling very sorry for themselves. Thomas breaks the silence by reminding everyone that there is more than one way to end up in a jam and that, even when engines help each other out, things can still go wrong. One of the engines asks what the point is and Thomas points out that it means they learned a lot that day and therefore they are all Really Useful Engines after all, to which all the engines happily agree.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • This episode was first broadcast in the UK on Ringo Starr's 52nd birthday.
  • Stock footage from Thomas, Percy and the Post Train as well as a deleted scene from the previous episode are used.
  • This episode marks:
    • The first time a character angrily says "Be quiet!" instead of "Shut up!"
    • Annie and Clarabel's only speaking roles in the third series.
    • The only appearances of the Logging Halt.
    • The last appearances of Brendam Drawbridge and The Three Way Road.
  • Izzy Gomez, Big Mickey, the Fuel Depot Manager's office, a station and a warehouse from Tugs appear.
  • The van in front of Percy has "NE" written on it.
  • Dishwasher soap was used for the projectile green liquid squirted on Percy. Additionally, the horn sound uses a slowed down version of Bertie's horn.
  • For the 1993 repeat of the third series on Children's ITV, this was the last episode before the terrestrial broadcast ended until the sixth series ten years later.
  • This episode was shown alongside the second series episode Percy and Harold in an airing of Storytime with Thomas.
    • Both episodes, coincidentally, feature Percy as a spotlight character.

Goofs

  • At the start of the episode, the studio can be seen reflecting off James's tender.
  • At Lower Suddery:
    • When James arrives, his front bogie wheels comes off the track.
    • James' tender body is not properly assembled to its chassis.
    • When James leaves Lower Suddery, his smoke generator is visible.
  • When James is watching his trucks being loaded, there are four open-topped trucks but, when he leaves the harbour, one of them has been replaced with a goods van.
  • As Percy sets off with James' trucks, the latter' pony truck is derailed and the former also jerks back before starting.
  • Just before Percy crashes, some rocks can be seen on the other track. This means that, even if switches did not fail, Percy still would have crashed anyway.
  • When Percy crashes:
    • The van jolts up but in the next shot it remains on the track.
    • He slightly shifts forward when he smashes into the van, indicating a film cut.
    • Percy is on the track when he crashes but later he shown to be derailed.
    • His cab roof is lifted.
    • His cylinder is dangling.
  • In the close up of the Fat Controller, his right arm (viewer's left) is weakly connected to his body.
  • At the sheds:
    • Some of the engines' eyes are misaligned.
    • Black tack is wrapped around James' funnel.
    • Thomas has some problems with his eyes:
      • They do not move the same time when the narrator says, "Still there was silence."
      • They also slightly jolt up when he says that things can still go wrong when helping each other out of a jam.
      • His left eye (viewers' right) moves up when he says, "So, that means we've learned a lot today."
  • This episode was mistitled on two US and Canadian VHS Releases:
    • On the back cover of some early copies of the Best of James VHS, it was titled "Percy and the Fruitful Day". Later copies have the complete title on the back cover.
    • On the back cover of the Two Thomas Adventures VHS, it was titled "Thomas, Percy and the Fruitful Day".

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese As picuinhas de Percy e James
Chinese Mandarin 培西詹姆士和富有成果的一天
Czech Percy, James a ovocný den
Danish Percy, James og en frugtbar dag
Dutch Percy en James in de soep
Finnish Hedelmällistä yhteistyötä
German Heute ist Obsttag
Greek Ο Τζέρι, Ο Τζίμι και η λαϊκή αγορά
Hungarian Percy és James gyümölcsöző napja
Italian Locomotive nei pasticci
Japanese くだものれっしゃ
Korean 퍼시와 제임스가 사고나던 날 (DVD Acadamy)
쨈이 된 과일들 (JEI TV)
Latin American Spanish Percy, James y un día fructífero
Norwegian Percy, James og den fruktbare dagen
Polish Percy, James i owocny dzień (Original)
Piotrek, Kuba i owocny dzień (Alternate)
Romanian Percy, James și ziua lor rodincă
Russian Перси, Джеймс и день фруктов
Serbian Persi, Džejms i dan pun voća
Slovenian Poldi, Jakob in uspešen dan
Swedish Percy, James och den fruktbara dagen
Thai วันโชคร้ายของเพอร์ซีและเจมส์
Turkish Percy, James ve Meyve Günü
Ukrainian Персі, Джеймс і плідний день
Welsh Helynt

Home Video Releases

United Kingdom UK

EscapeVHS Escape and Other Stories
ThomasGetsBumpedand17OtherStories Thomas Gets Bumped and 17 Other Stories
BiggestPartyVideoEver!VHS Biggest Party Video Ever!
TheCompleteThirdSeriesVHS The Complete Third Series
MyLittleThomasandPercyAdventures My Little Thomas and Percy Adventures
TheBestofJames The Best of James

United Kingdom UK VHS/DVD Packs

MyLittleThomas&FriendsVolume12002VHSBoxset My Little Thomas & Friends Volume 1
ClassicCollectionSeasons1-5boxset Classic Collection
TheBestofFriends The Best of Friends

Wales WAL

Helpand15otherstoriescover Help and 15 Other Stories

Australia AUS

EscapeandotherstoriesAustraliancover Escape and Other Stories (direct-to-VHS)
TheCompleteSeriesThreeAustralianDVD Series Three

Australia AUS DVD Packs

AustralianS1-5Collection Classic Collection: Series 1 - 5
SeriesThreeandFourAustralianDoublePack Series Three and Series Four 2-Disc Collection
CompleteSeries1-10 The Complete Series 1-10

New Zealand NZ

EscapeandOtherStoriesNewZealandVHScover Escape and Other Stories

USA US

SchemerAlone!1993VHScover Shining Time Station Volume 2: Schemer Alone
JamesGoesBuzzBuzzandOtherThomasStories1994VHScover James Goes Buzz Buzz and Other Thomas Stories
BestofJamesVHS Best of James
Thomas'fanfavoriteadventuresVHS Thomas' Fan Favorite Adventures (Blockbuster-exclusive)
2ThomasAdventuresVHS Two Thomas Adventures
ThomasandFriendsClassicVolume3 Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 3

Canada CAN

JamesGoesBuzzBuzzandOtherThomasStories1994VHScover James Goes Buzz Buzz and Other Thomas Stories
BestofJamesVHS Best of James

USA Canada US/CAN DVD Packs

BestofThomas,Percy&James Best of Thomas, Percy and James Platinum Edition
BestofCollection Best of Collection
JamesGoesBuzzBuzzandThomasandtheSpecialLetterDoubleFeature2 James Goes Buzz Buzz/Thomas and the Special Letter Double Feature
TotallyThomasVolume7 Totally Thomas Volume 7
UltimateThomasCollection Ultimate Thomas Collection
Best of James and Best of Thomas Double Feature Best of James/Best of Thomas Double Feature
BestTalesontheTracks Best Tales on the Tracks

South Africa ZA

India IND

OliverOwnsUpandOtherStories Oliver Owns Up and Other Stories

Malaysia MYS

Percy,JamesandtheFruitfulDayandotherThomasAdventures Percy, James and the Fruitful Day and Other Thomas Adventures (Volume 13) (VCD)
OneGoodTurnandotherAdventures One Good Turn and Other Adventures (DVD)

Italy ITA

LocomotiveinTrouble Engines in Messes

Netherlands NL

MerryChristmas!frontcover Merry Christmas!
Dubbeldik4frontcover Double Feature 4
TheGreatestStoriesTheAdventuresofJamesandHenrycover The Greatest Stories: The Adventures of James and Henry

Germany GER

Heroesand4OtherAdventures Heroes and 4 Other Adventures (direct-to-VHS)

Norway Finland NOR/FIN

Edward,TrevorandtheUsefulPartyNorwegianVHS Edward,TrevorandtheUsefulPartyFinnishVHScover Edward, Trevor and the Useful Party

Denmark DK

TheGreatEscapeandOtherStoriesDanishVHScover The Great Escape and Other Stories

Sweden SWE

Edward,TrevorandtheUsefulPartySwedishVHS Edward, Trevor and the Garden Party (VHS)
ThomasandtheGuardandEdwardTrevorandtheUsefulParty2002SwedishDVDcover Thomas and the Guard and Edward, Trevor and the Garden Party (DVD)

Slovenia SVN

PercyJamesandtheSuccessfulDayDVDCover Percy, James and the Fruitful Day

Serbia SRP

ThomastheTankEngine7SerbianDVD Thomas & Friends 7

Greece GRC

MischiefwithThomasGreekVHScover Mischief with Thomas (VHS)
TheTwinEnginesWereConfused!GreekDVDcover The Twin Engines Were Confused! (DVD)

Greece GRC DVD Boxset

3DVDBoxset2 3 DVD Boxset 2

Turkey TUR

ThomasandtheHeroesTurkishVCDcover Thomas and the Heroes

Thailand THA

ThomasandFriendsVolume11ThaiDVDCover Thomas & Friends Volume 11

Japan JPN

ThomastheTankEnginevol17(JapaneseVHS)originalcover Thomas the Tank Engine Volume 17 (direct-to-VHS)
The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 1 Vol.6 2000 DVD The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 1 Volume 6
ToTransportaLotTodaycover To Transport a Lot Today
LotsofPercyforEveryone!Front Lots of Percy for Everyone!

Japan JPN DVD Boxset

ThomastheTankEngine(8DVDBoxSet)cover The Complete DVD Box 1

South Korea KOR

BestOfJamesKoreanVHSCover Best of James
Thomas&FriendsVolume2(Korean) Thomas & Friends Volume 2

China CHN

ThomasSeason1-4DVD Thomas & Friends Season 1-4

Hong Kong HK

ThomasandFriendsVolume8HongKongVCDcover Thomas & Friends Volume 8 (VCD)
ThomasandFriendsVolume6ThaiDVD Thomas & Friends Volume 6 (DVD)

Episode

English

Other Languages

References



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