The Greatest Stories is a US and Canadian two-disc DVD set which was released in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the Railway Series, featuring two first series episodes, two second series episodes, two third series episodes, one fourth series episode, one fifth series episode, one seventh series episode, four eighth series episodes, two ninth series episodes, two tenth series episodes and three eleventh series episodes.
Description
With Thomas & Friends™, children enter an exciting world of imagination with adventures full of friendship, cooperation and discovery. In this special 2-disc set, see how Thomas met his famous friends and became one of the most beloved preschool characters of all time. With legendary narrators George Carlin, Ringo Starr, and Alec Baldwin guiding the tour, this is one express train you don't want to miss!
Episodes
Disc 1
- Thomas Gets Tricked (Ringo Starr; restored)
- Edward Helps Out (Ringo Starr; restored)
- Diesel's Devious Deed (Ringo Starr; restored)
- Percy's Ghostly Trick (George Carlin; restored)
- Thomas, Percy and the Dragon (George Carlin; restored)
- Trust Thomas (George Carlin; restored)
- Henry and the Elephant (George Carlin; unrestored)
- Cranky Bugs (Alec Baldwin; unrestored)
- Snow Engine (Michael Brandon)
- Thomas Saves the Day (Michael Brandon)
- Edward the Great (Michael Brandon)
- James Gets a New Coat (Michael Brandon)
- Thomas to the Rescue (Michael Brandon)
- Thomas and the Birthday Picnic (Michael Brandon)
- Emily Knows Best (Michael Brandon)
Disc 2
- Percy and the Carnival (Michael Brandon)
- Thomas and the Birthday Mail (Michael Brandon)
- Sir Handel in Charge (Michael Brandon)
- Skarloey Storms Through (Michael Brandon)
- Duncan Does it All (Michael Brandon)
Bonus Features
- Sodor Activity Deport CD-Rom games (only works with Windows XP operating systems):
- "Create Your Own Thomas Story" from Track Stars
- Coloring Pages
- Wallpapers
- "How Did Thomas Meet His Friends?" Trivia Game
- Storybook Adventure Game from Thomas' Sodor Celebration!
- Thomas Saves the Day Enhanced Read-Along
- Four Character Sing-Alongs:
- Four Music Videos:
Trivia
- Thomas Gets Tricked and Edward Helps Out use the British narration.
- At the end of Diesel's Devious Deed, "steam" sound effects from Mr. Conductor's whistle can be heard.
- In James Gets a New Coat, the freight cars' laugh is muted out.
- Just like in the PBS airing Differences, the music in Thomas to the Rescue when Salty is at the quarry delivering fuel is absent.
- The back cover says that one of the bonus features is a DVD ROM feature with colouring pages and a desktop wallpaper. But this feature only works for computers running Windows XP operating systems.
- This is the second US DVD to feature UK episodes, the first being The Early Years.
- Some of the clips used in the Thomas' Trivia Game are from UK narrations of episodes.
- The eleventh series episodes use the eighth-tenth series intro and end credits.
- This particular release would later influence the artwork for complete series DVDs in the UK.
- On some later releases, it came with Blue Mountain Mystery Collectable Coloring Books.
- The audio overlaps in the French narration of Cranky Bugs.
- In "How Did Thomas Meet his Friends?" Trivia Game, video footage from Thomas Gets Tricked, Edward Helps Out, Come Out, Henry!, A Big Day for Thomas, Thomas Saves the Day, Trouble in the Shed, Thomas Breaks the Rules, Emily's New Coaches and Duncan and the Old Mine were used.
- There's a UK version of this DVD called The Best of Thomas and this UK DVD has 12 out of 20 episodes that are the same.
Goofs
- Diesel 10 is on the artwork for Disc 1, but he is not in any of the episodes.
- An image from the CGI Series is shown when one moves the cursor on the Netflix release, but no episodes from the CGI era are included.