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Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
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Series 3

Revision as of 19:37, 31 March 2020 by Lukeava12 (Message Wall | contribs) (→‎Episodes)
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Behind the Scenes

This article is about the series. You may be looking for the digital download release.


The third series of Thomas & Friends first aired on UK television on 25 February 1992. It was first released on VHS in the UK and aired in the US on Shining Time Station in November 1991 first, with the last ten episodes following in 1993. All twenty-six episodes were narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and by George Carlin in the US and New Zealand.

Production

Before production of the third series, Clearwater Features closed down, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer of Thomas. Producer Robert D. Cardona departed the programme before the third series, and Britt Allcroft took his place as co-producer alongside David Mitton.

The series was a mix of episodes derived from the Railway Series, magazines stories (written by the series' former head writer, Andrew Brenner) and some original stories by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas, the nominal main character. The Rev. W. Awdry took umbrage with the looser adaptations of his stories, and publicly criticized the original episodes for their lack of realism.

Episodes

(Note: * means that an episode was reused for Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales).

Screenshot UK title (top)
US title (bottom) 		Original UK release date Episode number #
AScarfforPercy52 A Scarf for Percy 25 February 1992 #01
Percy wishes he could wear scarves, but he gets more than he bargained for when he runs into Sir Topham Hatt's baggage.
Percy'sPromise55 Percy's Promise 3 March 1992 #02
Percy keeps a promise with Thomas to take the children going to the Vicar's Sunday School home. Along the way, he gets some help from Harold when he gets stuck in a flood.
TimeforTrouble55 Time for Trouble 17 March 1992 #03
Toby ends up stranded on the main line due to his small water tanks, causing trouble for James and the Express.
GordonandtheFamousVisitor5 Gordon and the Famous Visitor 24 March 1992 #04
Gordon is jealous when a famous engine comes to visit the railway. He declares domeless engines to not be respectable, but the tables turn when his dome blows off at the viaduct.
Donald'sDuck64 Donald's Duck 31 March 1992 #05
Duck is given his own branch line for working hard and becomes conceited, which makes Donald cross until Duck and his driver play a joke on him.
ThomasgetsBumped20 Thomas Gets Bumped 7 April 1992 #06
Thomas' branch line is closed due to bent rails on the line. He begins to think he's lost his passengers to Bertie.
Thomas,PercyandtheDragon13 Thomas, Percy and the Dragon* 7 April 1992 #07
Percy teases Thomas about being frightened all the time, but when Thomas is delivering a dragon in the night, Percy ends up getting a fright.
DieselDoesitAgain51 Diesel Does it Again 14 April 1992 #08
Diesel is sent to help Percy and Duck with goods work at the harbour, but ends up causing more trouble for the two engines.
Henry'sForest60 Henry's Forest 14 April 1992 #09
When a storm comes, Henry's favourite forest experiences severe devastation. His friends soon team together to cheer him up.
TheTroublewithMud13 The Trouble with Mud 21 April 1992 #10
Gordon refuses to get a washdown, and winds up having to do goods work instead of pulling the express.
NoJokeforJames79 No Joke for James 21 April 1992 #11
James gets comeuppance for his egotism after he tricks Thomas into pulling some smart new coaches, leaving Gordon to pull some trucks.
Thomas,PercyandthePostTrain63 Thomas, Percy and the Post Train
Thomas, Percy and the Mail Train*		 28 April 1992 #12
When a mail ship ends up getting delayed, Thomas and Percy worry that Harold will replace the mail train.
TrustThomas15 Trust Thomas 28 April 1992 #13
Bertie learns that he can trust engines like Thomas when he remembers a missing tanker after having an accident with some trucks.
Mavis43 Mavis 5 May 1992 #14
The new quarry diesel Mavis reorganizes things to her liking, making Toby cross.
Toby'sTightrope64 Toby's Tightrope 5 May 1992 #15
Mavis tries to make a plan to go further down the Quarry line, but she ends up putting Toby in danger.
Edward,TrevorandtheReallyUsefulParty84 Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party 12 May 1992 #16
Edward and Trevor help the Vicar with his garden party to fund a seaside trip for the children.
JamesandtheBees5 Buzz, Buzz
James Goes Buzz Buzz		 12 May 1992 #17
James thinks that he can easily scare off bees, but is proved wrong when he encounters a horde of wild bees.
AllatSea66 All at Sea 19 May 1992 #18
Duck wishes that he could travel at sea, but he changes his mind when he learns that engines are happiest on the rails.
OneGoodTurn39 One Good Turn 26 May 1992 #19
Bill and Ben end up in an argument at the turntable, so Edward and BoCo make a plan to make the twins friends again.
TenderEngines44 Tender Engines 2 June 1992 #20
When a new engine visits Sodor, Henry becomes jealous of his two tenders.
Escape44 Escape 9 June 1992 #21
Douglas travels to a station where only the diesels work. He meets Oliver and Toad, who are trying to escape from scrap.
OliverOwnsUp65 Oliver Owns Up 16 June 1992 #22
Oliver becomes conceited and thinks that he can manage trucks, but is soon proven wrong.
Bulgy(episode)41 Bulgy 23 June 1992 #23
A new bus named Bulgy wants railways to be scrapped, and attempts to steal Duck's passengers.
File:Heroes74.png Heroes 30 June 1992 #24
The Troublesome Trucks trick Bill and Ben into causing a big muddle in the yard, making them late to arrange Gordon's evening train.
Percy,JamesandtheFruitfulDay58 Percy, James and the Fruitful Day 7 July 1992 #25
James and Percy learn their brakes aren't the only thing that get jammed.
ThomasandPercy'sChristmasAdventure64 Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
Thomas and Percy's Mountain Adventure		 14 July 1992 #26
Thomas, Percy, Harold and Terence help some villagers after a severe snow storm.

Specials

Screenshot Title Original release date Episode number #
ThomasandtheU.K.Trip Thomas and the U.K. Trip 30 and 31 December 1991 (Japan only) n/a
Two children's television characters from Japan, Gachapin and Mukku, visit the United Kingdom. During their visit, they come to Sodor to meet Thomas, Sir Topham Hatt and the other engines. During the second half, they visit real railways and learn how steam locomotives work.

Songs

Screenshot Title Composers Original release date
ThomasGetsBumped13 Thomas' Anthem (US)
Thomas We Love You (UK)		 Mike O'Donnell
Junior Campbell		 17 August 1994 (US; VHS)
4 March 1996 (UK; VHS)
It's Thomas the Tank Engine.
Hip, hip, hip, hip, hooray!...
ThomasandGordon1 I'm Thomas the Tank Engine Seiji Katsu
Masayuki Iwata		 30 December 1991 (Japan only)
Boku wa kikansha Tōmasu da
Tanku kikansha Tōmasu da...

Characters

Characters Introduced

Trivia

  • This was the first series to boast several new elements of Thomas & Friends:
    • The first series narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and George Carlin in the US, as well as the first narrated by Carlin which had not been previously released with Ringo Starr's narrations.
    • The first series to have episodes not based on stories by either Awdry.
    • Britt Allcroft's first series as producer.
    • Angus Wright's first series as executive producer.
    • The first series to use Rockwell font.
    • TUGS models and props make their Thomas & Friends debut.
    • Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell used the EMU Proteus 2 Orchestral to create the score. However, some of the music made with the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesiser for the first and second series was used.
    • The first series where Thomas' shocked face gains a buck tooth.
    • The first and only series where Edward's angry face gains some teeth.
    • The first series dubbed in Finnish.
    • The first series which introduced music videos.
    • The first series to have slow motion effects.
    • The first series where Annie and Clarabel only speak in one episode.
    • From this series on, characters would say "be quiet" instead of "shut up," presumably to make the show's language gentler. Although "shut up" was just said in Series 2.
    • The first series to air in the United States via Shining Time Station before airing in the United Kingdom a year later.
    • The first series to have episodes released on home video before their television broadcast in the UK.
    • In the US, the first series to not have a Christmas-themed series finale.
  • The second and third series have the largest gap between any two series: six years. The second series first aired back in 1986 alongside subsequent re-runs of the first and second series which later ceased in 1991 and the airing of the third series in 1992.
  • Only sixteen episodes were released to the USA in 1991 with Thomas, Percy and the Dragon airing on November 18th, 1991 - Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party on December 16th, 1991. The last ten episodes aired in the UK in 1992 before they were released to American television through Shining Time Station a year later in 1993 from All at Sea airing on March 26th, 1993 - One Good Turn airing on August 20th, 1993.
  • In the Ukrainian version, Michael Angelis and George Carlin's voices can be heard in the background, as a dubbing track was not used. The first thirteen episodes have Carlin's voice while the last thirteen episodes have Angelis' voice. Angelis is also credited as narrator in the first thirteen episodes despite Carlin's narration in the background and the episodes being re-dubbed.
  • This is the only series dubbed by Gary Dixon and Gavin Beckwith.
  • The only series in which where Toad doesn't speak, minus his faceless appearances in the new series, and his appearance in a deleted scene in Series 6.
  • For much of the series, Tidmouth Sheds appears to be much larger on the inside than in the first two series. While all the exterior scenes depict the shed with the usual six berths, there are nine tracks seen in most interior views.
  • This is the only series where George Carlin's narration was released on VHS in New Zealand. However, when the third series aired on television in New Zealand outside Shining Time Station, Michael Angelis' narration was used instead. This is also the case when The Complete Third Series was released on DVD in New Zealand.
  • Model maker John Holmes did not receive credit for working on this series until 1992.
  • At the very end of Michael Angelis' early narrations, the credits were shown with a still of the final shot of each 16 episodes there were certain parts of dialogue exclusive to these home videos but were cut out when the series aired in 1992. When shown on television and in future video and DVD releases, the credits were shown alongside a still of Thomas.
  • This was the last series broadcast on CITV until 2003 when the sixth series was shown. Series 4 and 5 would air on Cartoon Network instead.
  • From Thomas Gets Bumped to Buzz, Buzz, each CITV broadcast featured two episodes compiled into a ten-minute block. The difference here was that only the title card for the second episode was shown after the first episode.
  • This series was produced in association with Fuji Television Network, Inc. as indicated by a message at the end of each episode. At the end of the first sixteen episodes, the message is in white, while at the end of the last ten episodes, it is yellow.
  • When this series was repeated on CITV from 8 January to 9 July 1993, some episodes were cut to fit the timeslot.
  • According to The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, it cost £1.3 million to produce all twenty-six episodes.
  • It was during this series that footage of Tidmouth Sheds was shot uniquely for the Japanese-exclusive special Thomas and the U.K. Trip.
  • All at Sea and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure were the only episodes in this series not based on The Railway Series or a magazine story.
  • The Flying Scotsman makes an obscured appearance once in this series. He is not fully shown until 24 years later with the release of the special, The Great Race.
  • The last ten episodes of this series, from Buzz, Buzz to Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, were all filmed in a different period after the previous sixteen episodes. As such, some changes on the details on the models and sets have been made:
    • S.S. Roxstar gained red smokestacks.
    • Thomas' red lining on the back of his cab was removed.
    • Henry's brake pipes were also removed.
    • The interior shots for Tidmouth Sheds featured eight berths instead of the usual six.
    • James' laughing face gained teeth.
  • The character who has had the most screen time in Series 3 is Percy.

Gallery

Opening Titles

Ending Sequence

Promotion and Marketing

<< Series 2

Series 3

Series 4 >>

#01 A Scarf for Percy #10 The Trouble with Mud #19 One Good Turn
#02 Percy's Promise #11 No Joke for James #20 Tender Engines
#03 Time for Trouble #12 Thomas, Percy and the Post Train #21 Escape
#04 Gordon and the Famous Visitor #13 Trust Thomas #22 Oliver Owns Up
#05 Donald's Duck #14 Mavis #23 Bulgy
#06 Thomas Gets Bumped #15 Toby's Tightrope #24 Heroes
#07 Thomas, Percy and the Dragon #16 Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party #25 Percy, James and the Fruitful Day
#08 Diesel Does It Again #17 Buzz, Buzz #26 Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
#09 Henry's Forest #18 All at Sea
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