| For other uses, see The Sad Story of Henry (disambiguation). |
- "Once, an engine attached to a train was afraid of a few drops of rain.
It went into a tunnel and squeaked through its funnel and wouldn't come out again." - ― Narrator
The Sad Story of Henry, retitled Come Out, Henry! on North American releases, is the third episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book The Three Railway Engines.
Plot
It is a very rainy day on Sodor and a big green tender engine named Henry is pulling a passenger train. He runs into a tunnel and stops there, refusing to go any further. Henry's driver and fireman argue with him but he refuses to come out, reasoning that the rain will spoil his green paint with red stripes. The guard tries blowing his whistle and waving his flag but Henry still refuses to move and blows steam at him.
Just then, another passenger train arrives and on board is the railway's director, Sir Topham Hatt, who is also known as the Fat Controller. He decides that Henry will be pulled out of the tunnel. The passengers tie a rope to Henry and try to pull him out, all except for the Fat Controller, who says that his doctor has forbidden him to pull. When Henry does not move, the passengers try pushing him out from the other end, again without the Fat Controller's help but with the same results.
Henry's crew and passengers point out to him that the rain has stopped but Henry still refuses to move, believing that the rain will start again. Meanwhile, Thomas arrives to help and tries to push Henry out. But even with another engine pushing, Henry refuses to move from inside the tunnel. The Fat Controller finally admits defeat and having had enough of Henry's stubbornness, tells him that they will let him stay in the tunnel. Soon the rails in front of Henry are taken up and a brick wall is erected in front of him.
"We shall take away your rails and leave you here for always and always and ALWAYS!"
Henry can only stay and watch the other engines passing through the adjacent tunnel. He often sees Edward and Gordon pass by; Edward always toots hello with his whistle, while Gordon has no sympathy for Henry and tells him it serves him right. Because Henry's fire has gone out, he has no steam to respond. Dirt and soot from the tunnel's roof have already ruined his paint anyway. Now that Henry is very sad, lonely and cold, he wonders if he will ever be let out to pull trains again.
Characters
- Edward
- Henry
- Gordon
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Thomas (does not speak)
- James (cameo)
- Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
- Sir Topham Hatt's Brown-haired Assistant (cameo)
Locations
Music
- Henry's Theme
- Henry's face [His driver and fireman argued with him]
- Henry's argues
- Fat Controller arrives [Sir Topham Hatt's Theme]
- Fat Controller organises [Sir Topham Hatt's Theme]
- Workmen buliding wall
- Henry Sad [Henry's Sad Theme]
Trivia
- The first two lines of the narration are based off the British nursery rhyme Dr. Foster.
- The scene featuring Henry being bricked up was recreated in CGI during a flashback in the 2012 special Blue Mountain Mystery. The story was later re-adapted for the 2015 special The Adventure Begins. The events was later mentioned by the narrator in James and the Express, Percy in the second series episode Percy Takes the Plunge, James and the narrator in the fourth series episode Henry and the Elephant, Gordon in the twentieth series episode Henry in the Dark, as well by Rosie in Big World! Big Adventures! during the song Where in the World Is Thomas? and Henry himself in the nineteenth series episode Henry Spots Trouble.
- In the Fox Family and Nick Jr. airings of the Shining Time Station episode Mysterious Stranger, the sequence of Henry being bricked up was shortened.
- This is the first episode with several things:
- The first episode where the narrator breaks the fourth wall as he addresses the viewers in regards to the lesson of the story.
- The first episode to feature Henry's sad and angry faces.
- The first episode to have a punctuation mark in the title in the US.
- The first episode to use stop-motion animation in a live-action model era episode.
- The first episode to feature just one location as a central part of its narrative (not counting the Pond Runby).
- The first episode in a series of four repeats on CITV in the late summer of 1990, beginning on Monday 30 July.
- Henry and the Fat Controller's first speaking roles in the television series.
- Henry's first leading role in the television series.
- Following the 1953 adaptation, this episode marks the second television adaptation of the story.
- In the Shining Time Station episode Does It Bite?, the last few seconds are cut off. Also, for that same episode, Starr's end narration of "How long do you think Henry would stay in the tunnel before he overcomes his fear of the rain, and then decides to journey out again?" is different than the home media and audiobook versions.
- The UK narration keeps the original format from The Railway Series where the Fat Controller intended to leave Henry in the tunnel forever. In the North American ones, it was said to be until Henry was ready to leave and the wall was to protect him. The narration change was to make the Fat Controller more lenient and so first-time viewers would understand the context of the storyline better so they could predict what happens later.
- The Welsh title of this episode is simply Henry's name in Welsh.
- On 30 April 1999,[4] the Fat Controller (portrayed by Simon Fisher-Becker) visited The Den, meeting presenter Damien McCaul and puppets Soky and Dustin the Turkey. During his visit, Soky mentions the events of The Sad Story of Henry and incorrectly stated that Gordon was the one who did not want to leave the tunnel, when it was actually Henry. The Fat Controller continues by saying he bricked up Gordon in the tunnel.[5]
Goofs
- In a few close-ups of Henry in the tunnel, the tracks in front of him have already been taken up.
- In the first scene of Henry having stopped at the other end of the tunnel, the points in front of him appear misaligned from the connector track. They are properly connected in subsequent scenes, however.
- In some shots, purple marks are visible on the Fat Controller's right hand, such as when he says, that his doctor has forbidden him to pull.
- When the passengers try to pull Henry out of the tunnel, almost all of them have blu-tack on their feet.
- At some stages, the level of the wall can be seen being decreased in the original version and Henry also moves a bit both in the original and restored versions.
- In the restored version, when the guard tries to get Henry out by blowing his whistle and waving his flags, the scene is played forward and then backwards.
- At first, the buffers of Henry's last coach are at their normal height. But when Thomas comes to push, the buffers have been lowered to accommodate Thomas' buffers. In the close-up of Thomas buffering up to the coaches, his buffer housing is black instead of red and the detail of his buffer housing is different, he is also missing his headlamp lens.
- In the close-up of Henry's wheels when Thomas pushes him, the red stripe is peeling on Henry's cylinder.
- When the workmen are walling up the tunnel, the buffers have no track connected to them. But in the last close-up, there is track in front of the buffers.
- When James leaves after bringing the Fat Controller:
- The puffing noise can be heard before James starts to move.
- The edge of the set can be seen and the sky has ruffles in it.
- The second coach's roof is bent and the train has no brake coach.
- In the close-up of Edward, his whistle is crooked.
- In the close-up of Gordon, his buffers are crooked.
- As Thomas tries to push Henry, the yellow stripe around his cab is bent.
- In the French dub, when Edward greets Henry at the tunnel, the narrator calls Edward "Nicolas".
In Other Languages
| View content | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Merchandise
The Sad Story of Henry and Thomas's Train and Thomas and the Guard (1988 Ladybird book)- Henry and the Tunnel (1997 My First Thomas book)
- Henry's Bad Day (2006 Step into Reading book)
- Come Out, Henry (1998 Wooden Railway story pack)
Home Video Releases
Episode
UK narration
US narration (George Carlin)References
| #01 Thomas and Gordon | #10 James and the Express | #19 The Flying Kipper |
| #02 Edward and Gordon | #11 Thomas and the Guard | #20 Whistles and Sneezes |
| #03 The Sad Story of Henry | #12 Thomas Goes Fishing | #21 Toby and the Stout Gentleman |
| #04 Edward, Gordon and Henry | #13 Thomas, Terence and the Snow | #22 Thomas in Trouble |
| #05 Thomas' Train | #14 Thomas and Bertie | #23 Dirty Objects |
| #06 Thomas and the Trucks | #15 Tenders and Turntables | #24 Thomas' Christmas Party |
| #07 Thomas and the Breakdown Train | #16 Trouble in the Shed | #25 Off the Rails |
| #08 James and the Coaches | #17 Percy Runs Away | #26 Down the Mine |
| #09 Troublesome Trucks | #18 Coal | |