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The Great Discovery

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This article is about the special. You may be looking for the book or the audiobook.


“But we're all leaders of the track.”
―Thomas

The Great Discovery is a Thomas & Friends movie released in 2008.

Plot

The railway is preparing for Sodor Day and Thomas and James are racing to the wharf to be given a special job by Mr. Percival. Thomas wins and is sent into the hills to collect lumber with Duncan. After Duncan teases Thomas by stating that Mr Percival wants him to work with Thomas because Duncan knows the tracks in the hills, Thomas teases back by calling Duncan small. This leads Duncan to pay Thomas out by sending him on an old, disused line which he claims will lead Thomas back to the wharf faster.

"I am brave and I am strong, I'll get to the wharf and it won't take long."

After avoiding an old, collapsing bridge, Thomas takes another route at the old junction and as he journeys further down the line, he comes across an old overgrown town.

The news of Thomas' discovery spreads and eventually reaches the Fat Controller, who tells Thomas that the town is Great Waterton - the largest town on Sodor when steam engines first came to the island that had since been thought to be lost. The Fat Controller decides that the restoration of the legendary lost town would be perfect for Sodor Day and calls the Pack to help. Thomas is told to take charge of the engines working around the town, while a new tank engine named Stanley is brought to do Thomas' regular jobs.

All of the engines take a liking to Stanley, who does a good job and has fun as well. Unfortunately, Thomas becomes jealous of Stanley after seeing him doing his jobs and fraternising with his friends. He is furious when Stanley takes his place at Tidmouth Sheds and the final straw comes when Thomas has an accident and Stanley takes his place as the leader of the restoration project. When Thomas came back from the works, the Fat Controller decided to let Stanley stay in charge as he has done a good job.

Later, Thomas is shunting stone trucks for Stanley to take away when he decides to make Stanley look silly by giving him a train too heavy for him to pull. Unfortunately, the plan backfires - as Stanley ascends the hill, a coupling breaks and the trucks race down the hill, veering into a siding and crashing into the newly finished tower. The Fat Controller states that this will likely set back the restoration past Sodor Day and Thomas takes the blame.

Later that night, Thomas decides to clear the rubble out of the way. He is almost finished when he accidentally bumps a truck into an old mine shaft. Racing in after it, Thomas crashes into a blocked tunnel and falls down into the water where he floats down an underground waterway.

After the engines meet at Great Waterton, Stanley asks where Thomas is and the engines soon realise that Thomas is missing. The Fat Controller organises a search effort and everyone search everywhere, but no one can find Thomas. While searching, Stanley realises about how upset Thomas has been about Stanley coming to Sodor and all that he had been doing and so decides to help put things right.

"This is a state of emergency. Everyone must look for Thomas!"

Everyone are just about to give up, when Percy reminds them that Thomas found Great Waterton on his own, that it is his town and that they cannot have the opening without him and everyone agrees. Stanley thinks Thomas ran away after the incident yesterday and tries to find him in the hills. Meanwhile, Thomas continues floating in the dark tunnel until he reaches an opening to the mine and is flung across a canyon and down a hill without the wooden planks that made him float into the mine.

Stanley decides to make another search effort by himself before he returns to work. Thomas, with the last of his steam, sounds a loud, long whistle. Stanley hears it and hurries to where Thomas is stranded beside the track. The two make up and Stanley pulls Thomas back onto the rails, but the strain is too much for Stanley and a valve bursts. Thomas, using some of Stanley's coal, pushes him back to Great Waterton. The word soon spreads that Thomas has been found.

"But we're all leaders of the track."

The standpipe tower is rebuilt, completing the restoration. As a sign of friendship, Thomas offers Stanley his last job - bringing the mayor to the festivities at Great Waterton. The engines gather at the town for the celebration and Thomas realises just how important his friends are.

Characters

Characters Introduced

Locations

Songs

Trivia

  • This special was shown in select theatres in the US throughout July 2008, in the UK throughout September 2008 and in Australia throughout November 2008. It made a return to Australian theatres on 17th January 2013.
  • The original title for this special was Leader of the Track.
  • Stock footage from the eleventh series episodes, Thomas and the Storyteller, Edward and the Mail, Thomas and the Lighthouse, Thomas in Trouble, Henry's Lucky Day and Percy and the Left Luggage are used.
  • Possibly due to its limited release by Kidtoon Films, the film is rated G in the United States.
  • This was the first special for multiple things:
    • The first special where both the UK and the US have the same narrator.
    • The first appearance of The Pack in the main series since the sixth series episode, A Friend in Need, excluding their appearances in ninth series music videos.
    • It also marks Monty's first appearance and Buster's only appearance in the main series; Max had been introduced in the sixth series without Monty, who had only previously appeared in the spin-off Jack and the Sodor Construction Company; the same applies with Buster.
    • The first time Percy's gauge 3.5 is used in the main series.
    • The first time in the series where each member of the Steam Team appears and have speaking roles.
    • The first special written by Sharon Miller.
    • The first US DVD released by Lionsgate.
    • The first special filmed digitally in 1080i interlaced high definition, even though it is not available on Blu-ray.
    • Harvey's first speaking role since the tenth series episode, Edward Strikes Out.
    • The first special not to feature Henrietta or Knapford station (if counting its appearance in stock footage in Calling All Engines!). However, they did appear in music videos from this special.
    • Terence's first appearance since the seventh series episode, Not So Hasty Puddings.
    • Dennis' first appearance since his debut in the ninth series.
    • The first special to have a member of the Steam Team speak only one line, with those engines being Edward, Henry, Toby and Emily.
    • Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Jack, Alfie, Oliver the Excavator, Mr. Percival, Rocky, Trevor, Max and Monty, Rosie and Whiff's first appearances in a special.
    • The first special in which Rusty, Cranky and Lady Hatt have speaking roles.
    • The first special to not have a video game based on it.
    • The first special to not have narration by Michael Brandon in the US and Michael Angelis in the UK.
    • The first special to be officially dubbed in Korean, as Calling All Engines! was not dubbed and Thomas and the Magic Railroad only got voiced-over.
    • The first special produced and dubbed by EBS (EBS Media) in South Korea.
    • The first special to be narrated Kim Seung-jun in South Korea.
    • The first special translated by Nam Ji-hyun in South Korea.
    • The first special directed by Choi Ji-hye in South Korea.
  • This was also the last special for several things:
    • The last special to feature songs composed by Ed Welch.
    • The last special edited by Kate Buckland.
    • The last special filmed interlaced.
    • The final Thomas & Friends production to be produced entirely with models. The twelfth series was produced using CGI elements like the faces, people and animals and starting with Hero of the Rails and ending with Series 24, all footage was done in CGI.
    • The last special to utilise the live-action storytelling format
    • The second and final production after the seventh series episode, Emily's New Coaches in which Emily speaks in a Scottish accent in the US dub.
    • The last appearance of Topham Hall's exterior. Its final appearances would be limited to the interior.
    • The last special until Blue Mountain Mystery to have songs during the runtime.
    • The last special to date to feature the theme song, Island of Sodor intro and Engine Roll Call.
    • The final feature-length Thomas and Friends production made at Shepperton Studios.
    • The last appearance of Ffarquhar Quarry until the sixteenth series episode, Whiff's Wish.
    • The last time Toby's Perspex model was used and the final appearance of his unused depressed face mask from Series 4.
  • This was the only time for several things:
    • Jamie Thomason's only special as voice director.
    • Stanley's only appearance as a full model, without a CGI face.
    • Harvey's only speaking role in a special.
    • Pierce Brosnan's only special as narrator. He was originally intended to narrate two more specials, as well as three series, but left during production of the twelfth series for unknown reasons.
    • The only special in which Diesel 10 appears, but does not speak.
    • The only appearances of Arthur, Duncan, Mighty Mac, Freddie, Ned, Buster, Madge, Jenny Packard, Molly, Terence, Jeremy, Dennis, Elizabeth, Lord Callan, the Storyteller, Mr. Bubbles, the Dairy Manager, Allicia Botti and members of the Railway Board in a special, apart from Duncan being indirectly mentioned in Hero of the Rails and being dropped out in Blue Mountain Mystery.
    • Terence's only appearance in the HiT Entertainment model era.
    • The only time Thomas' four models were used at the same time, with his gauge 1 model used to interact with the normal scale engines and figures, his gauge 3 model used to interact with the gauge 1 Skarloey Railway engines and figures, his gauge 3.5 model used to interact with the Pack and their figures and his close-up model used to interact with close-up figures, this also applies to James' gauge 1, gauge 3 and close-up models and Percy's gauge 1, gauge 3.5 and close-up models.
    • The only special until King of the Railway where both the UK and the US have the same narrator.
    • The only special recorded and mixed by December in South Korea.
    • The only time where the full Series 11 opening footage was shown in the German dub, as Series 11 and Series 12 used the Series 8-10 footage, except for the last two scenes in the Island of Sodor introduction sequence, underlaid with the Engine Roll Call.
    • The only time to feature some facemasks:
  • The special marks the last appearances and speaking roles of several characters:
  • Before Pierce Brosnan was hired as a special guest narrator, Gwyneth Paltrow was in talks with HiT Entertainment according to SiF, thus would have made her the first female storyteller for the English dub of the series, however no agreement was made.
  • According to the credits, this special was produced in 2007.
  • The line "Welcome Stanley!" has become a popular internet meme.
  • According to the original US trailer, Fox was originally going to distribute the DVD, but Lionsgate took over instead. The trailer was released on the original Fox 2008 DVD release, Engines and Escapades. The trailer was altered with the concept logo and also have a quote saying, "Coming September 9th on DVD, from Hit Entertainment." Also, it included the Fox logo. This was later changed when KidToon Films released a trailer for the films release in theatres, altering the concept logo with the current one, getting rid of the Fox logo and replaced it with the Lionsgate logo and the quote was also altered saying, "The Great Discovery, from Hit Entertainment."
  • Among other things, the Sodor Daily newspaper reports that "Percy is in Tears" and mentions something about "Trevor the Traction Engine." Another article reports on an Allicia Botti concert. The paper's articles are apparently written by "J.K. Lee." The "Percy in Tears" article could refer to how sad he was after Thomas got lost.
  • In the US, special Walmart editions, including a bonus CD featuring all five songs from the special, were released.
  • On the UK DVD, in the game Follow the Whistle, part of the Thomas, You're the Leader song will play at the beginning along with an engine's whistle.
  • The first UK trailer was narrated by Tim Whitnall, who later joined the voice cast in 2014 (six years later).
  • Due to Jack and the Sodor Construction Company never being shown in Norway, Japan, Greece, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Czech Republic, Finland and Romania, viewers from those countries would not have known who Monty and Buster are.
    • Additionally, as the sixth series was not fully shown on Latin America and not shown at all in Spain, viewers would not have known who Jack and the Sodor Construction Crew are.
  • According to a behind-the-scenes photo, there are not any rails on the bridge that Molly and Rosie are on at the Great Waterton ceremony.
  • In the Japanese dub, Emily says Arthur's line when he tells her that Thomas has been found.
  • In Finland, this special aired before the tenth series premiered, meaning that the audience may not have known who Rocky, Rosie and Freddie were.
  • This special takes place in between the eleventh and twelfth series.
  • The Duke and Duchess of Boxford's Summer House Buildings from the eighth series were used for Topham Hall.
  • Learning Segments were planned to appear during the special similar to Calling All Engines! but they were later removed and put into the bonus features of the US DVD, as the crew felt "the story was served better by losing those moments."
  • According to Steve Asquith, a lightweight model of Thomas on wires was used in the shots of him flying across the ravine and hidden rigs under water were used for the flooded mine sequences.
  • During production, Thomas received three new brass models to replace his original perspex model, being twenty-four years old at this point.
  • The Korean version of Thomas, You're the Leader was never dubbed in Korean, but the Great Discovery version of the Engine Roll Call song was, it was only seen in theatrical releases however, the DVD version only used the English version.
  • Terence was not included in the lyrics for Where, oh Where is Thomas? in South Korea.
  • The US DVD includes the Latin American Spanish and French audio tracks.

Goofs

  • When Thomas and James race to the wharf, the number of lines between them changes.
  • Thomas and James switch tracks at one point when they race through the wharf.
  • When Thomas and James enter the wharf, Freddie and Skarloey appear twice in two different places.
  • Mighty and Mac have the same whistle sound.
  • The date for the newspaper is Monday, 24th March 1955. However, this date is incorrect, as 24th March 1955 was actually a Thursday. This also leads to a number of errors, as most characters who are featured in the special either had not arrived on Sodor yet at the time or their basis were not built by then.
  • When Thomas and the Fat Controller leave Great Waterton for Tidmouth Sheds, a red wire can be seen hanging by Thomas' wheels.
  • The yellow cab lining on the left side of Thomas' close-up model is chipped.
  • When Thomas arrives at the Great Waterton sheds, James can be seen stopped behind the breakdown crane before he starts moving into frame.
  • When Percy leaves Thomas with Annie and Clarabel, he can be seen stopped offscreen before he moves into frame. Despite this, his puffing can be heard before he starts moving.
  • When Stanley arrives, one of Henry's eyebrows are missing.
  • When Stanley pulls the trucks up the hill, his steam platform continues to emit steam after he has passed over it.
  • Stanley's siderods are out of alignment when his wheels spin as he struggles with the trucks.
  • When the coupling on Stanley's trucks snap the truck that is visible is now green instead of gray. Also when the coupling does snap the ground jolts upwards.
  • When the engines are shown covered in brick dust, Toby's face looks crooked and loose.
  • When Stanley returns to Great Waterton after the accident, he is on the track to Thomas' left. In the next scene, when Thomas is alone in a siding, Stanley is on the track to Thomas' right.
  • When the narrator says "the engines looked", James' face is loose.
  • When Percy tells Sir Topham Hatt how important Thomas is to Great Waterton his left buffer is chipped.
  • When Stanley leaves Great Waterton to look for Thomas, James is seen at the back of the group of engines. After Stanley realises that Thomas has been feeling upset, James is seen behind the line of stone trucks.
  • In the close-ups of Thomas in the mine, the light from inside his lamp can be seen shining through the bottom of it.
  • When Thomas sees the barrier in the disused mine he brakes, but before he smashes through the barrier, his wheels are moving again.
  • When Thomas falls off the bank the planks of wood that also fall are bigger than him.
  • When Thomas starts drifting across the water there is clearly what looks like a piece of wood beneath him to help him stay afloat that is not in any other shot during the mine sequence.
  • When Thomas tips over, a bent piece of rail used to push him up and off the rails can clearly be seen.
  • When Thomas comes to a stop at the bottom of the hill, the grass goes over his face, but in every following scene, the amount covering his face is different, since the next shot is a close up of Thomas' face, so it would need to be clean to show his expression.
  • After Stanley pulls Thomas onto the tracks, the points that lead to where Thomas landed can be seen; this proves a hidden track was used to help Thomas onto the line.
  • After Thomas is pulled back onto the rails, he becomes clean.
  • After being pulled back onto the tracks and after Stanley's boiler valve bursts, Thomas whistles. But the narrator said earlier that Thomas had ran out of puff and could not whistle again.
  • At the opening of Great Waterton, Gordon and Henry swap places twice by the standpipe and Jack is sitting on the rails.
  • During the scenes with Jack and the Pack, Percy's stepladder is red, this is because they used his large scale model from the Jack and the Sodor Construction Company series which does not have a green stepladder.
  • Ned's eye pupils appear to be thicker than usual.
  • In the shot of Thomas, Max and Monty, Max and Monty's dumpsters are raised. But in the next shot, Max's dumpster has lowered.
  • Before Stanley appears on-screen pulling the trucks up the hill, a thin wire is seen pulling him. The same thing happens when Stanley pulls Thomas back onto the tracks.
  • The narrator said that the Fat Controller and Miss Jenny arrived after the tower fell down, but the Fat Controller is already at Great Waterton when Stanley starts pulling the trucks and when they rolled down the hill.
  • When the Skarloey Railway engines look for Thomas, Duncan is seen smiling.
  • Madge's eyes are wonky when she first starts talking to Mighty Mac.
  • The bridge Molly and Rosie are on during the grand opening at Great Waterton did not have any tracks as shown in a behind-the-scenes photo.
  • Duck is incorrectly mentioned in the Finnish version of the special at one point.
  • At various points of the special, a steam platform is visible in Thomas' scenes such as when he arrives at the siding after the tower accident and when he arrives at Great Waterton with the trucks before the opening.
  • When Duncan arrives at the Transfer yards logs can already be seen on Thomas' flatbeds.
  • When the camera pans over the long line of trucks one of them is crooked.
  • When Thomas slides towards the bottom of the hill the ground slightly sinks down.
  • When Thomas starts reversing back to the other side of the bridge the paint on his front wheel is chipped.
  • After the truck rolls into the mine, Thomas's eyes are wonky.
  • In the widescreen version when the entire bridge collapses the edge of the set can be seen to the far right.
  • On the UK DVD, in the game Follow the Whistle, Gordon is in Edward's place. He also has Edward's whistle sound and face whenever he blows his whistle.
  • In the UK version, the American term "freight cars" is accidentally used at one point.
  • In the US version, the British term "trucks" is used at multiple points.
  • In South Korea, this special is stated to be the first Thomas movie on the trailer and DVD.
  • In the German and Swedish dubs, the audio of the Engine Roll Call from Series 8-12 was used, so Edward's line is sung while Stanley's part is shown.
  • When Thomas derails the set bounces a bit, and his train tumbles off the tracks twice.
  • When Stanley coupling snaps the ground jolts up.
  • As the Fat Controller says that Great Waterton may not be ready in time for Sodor Day, some of the engines have wonky eyes.
  • Thomas's wheels are moving when he crashes through the blocked tunnel, despite having his brakes applied.
  • In some scenes Gordon's buffers are crooked.
  • When Thomas races towards the blocked mine, Pierce Brosnan says that the tunnel was "block" and not "blocked."

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese A Grande Descoberta
Czech Skvělý objev
Danish Det Store Fund
Dutch De Grote Ontdekking
Finnish Suuri Löytöretki
French La Grande Découverte
Le Grande Voyage
German Die große Entdeckung
Greek Η μεγαλη ανακαλυψη
Hebrew התגלית המופלאה (JimJam)
Hungarian A Nagy Felfedezés
Italian La Grande Scoperta
Japanese トーマスをすくえ!! ミステリーマウンテン
Korean 극장판 토마스와 친구들: 토마스의 위대한 모험
Latin American Spanish El Gran Descubrimiento
Norwegian Den Store Oppdagelsen
Polish Wielkie Odkrycie
Romanian Marea Descoperire
Russian Великое открытие
Swedish Den Stora Upptäckten

Merchandise

Take Along

  • Stanley (discontinued)
  • Thomas and Morgan's Mine Car (discontinued)
  • Working Hard Gift Pack (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Grand Opening 4 Pack (discontinued)
  • Morgan's Mine Set (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Fold and Go Set (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Expansion Pack (discontinued)

Wooden Railway

  • Stanley (discontinued)
  • Mud Covered Thomas (discontinued)
  • Morgan's Mine (discontinued)
  • Sodor day Thomas and Stanley (discontinued)
  • A Race to the Wharf Set (discontinued)
  • The Great Discovery Set (discontinued)

Motor Road and Rail

  • Stanley (discontinued)

TrackMaster

  • Stanley (discontinued)
  • Thomas at Action Canyon (Thomas at Tumblin' Bridge in the UK) (discontinued)
  • Thomas at Morgan's Mine (discontinued)

Hornby

  • Thomas and the Great Discovery Set (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Station (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Butchers (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Post Office (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Blacksmiths (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Footbridge (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Blacksmiths (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Ben's Books (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Ed's Garage (discontinued)
  • Great Waterton Station Platform (discontinued)
  • Stanley's Shed (discontinued)

LEGO

  • Stanley at Great Waterton (discontinued)
  • Thomas at Morgan's Mine (discontinued)
  • James Celebrates Sodor Day (discontinued)

Capsule Plarail

  • Stanley

Collectible Railway

  • Stanley

Adventures

  • Stanley

Wood

  • Stanley

Books

Other

DVD Bonus Features

UK

US

South Korea

DVD Boxsets

UK

US

AUS

  • The Complete Ninth Series and The Great Discovery Double Pack

GER

Trailers and Featurettes

External Link


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