Super RTL

Super RTL is a German TV-channel that has been airing Thomas & Friends since the fifth series in 2000. Before that, the show was broadcasted on RTL ZWEI, which, like Super RTL, is also part of the RTL Group.

The first five series aired from 2000 to 2006 regularly, with Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure airing as an exception in December 2007. Series 8 to 12 aired from 2005 to 2011. The Nitrogen CGI era was aired from 2010 to 2017. Series 17 to 20 were aired from 2014 to 2019. Seasons 22 and 23 aired from 2018 to 2020.

The show went on hiatus in February 2020, only returning in December of that year for the premiere of Digs and Discoveries and Steam Team to the Rescue. The All Engines Go reboot would start airing on Boomerang in May 2022.

Trivia[]

From Seasons 18 to 20, only the Dinos and Discoveries, Start Your Engines!, and Extraordinary Engines episodes were shown on TV because only those episodes were dubbed in German.
December 28th, 2007 marked the only time that an episode produced by The Britt Allcroft Company was paired with an episode produced by HiT Entertainment, those episodes being Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure and Thomas' Frosty Friend. It was also one of two times that two episodes with two different narrators were paired up and it was the last airing of an episode narrated by Manfred Steffen. The second time was on July 5th, 2019, when Skiff and the Mermaid and Number One Engine were paired up, that also marked the last airing of an episode narrated by Sky du Mont.
Several learning games based on kids shows airing on Super RTL, including Thomas and Friends, were available on a website called "Toggolino Club" from 2001 to around 2017, for a monthly fee of one euro. Most of the games were removed when the channel underwent a big design overhaul in late 2014 and the site primarily became a streaming service for kids shows at that point.
March 18th, 2011 marked the last airing of a fully model filmed episode, that being Thomas and the Statue, the model era in general stopped airing on April 15th, 2011 with the last episode being Best Friends. In addition, March 15th, 2017 marked the last airing of an episode animated by Nitrogen Studios, that episode being Happy Birthday Sir!, the specials animated by them continued to air until December 2019.