| For other uses, see Thomas' Christmas Party (disambiguation). |
Thomas' Christmas Party is an episode of the first series, as well as the first Christmas episode in the series. The original story idea was written by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton, who requested the Reverend W. Awdry to publish the story as a Railway Series book of the same name.
Plot
It is Christmas time on the Island of Sodor. Thomas and Toby are very busy carrying people and parcels along the branch line. Despite Annie and Clarabel complaining that they are overloaded, Thomas retains his festive spirit.
On Thomas' branch line, just south of the tunnel, there is a little cottage where an older woman named Mrs. Kyndley lives. Thomas always whistles "Happy Christmas!" to her and agrees that Christmas would not be the same without her.
"Peep peep! Happy Christmas."
At the Sheds, all the other engines have been polished. Gordon tells Thomas that his driver will have to work fast to get him as smart as them. Thomas agrees but does not mind that for now and tells them that he wants to throw Mrs. Kyndley a party to thank her for saving him from a landslide the year before. When she was ill in bed, she waved her red dressing gown out the window to warn Thomas about the landslide ahead. The Fat Controller then sent her to Bournemouth to get better as a reward.
All the engines agree that a party is a great idea to thank Mrs. Kyndley, especially since they all never had the chance to thank her properly. They hope that the Fat Controller agrees as well, as indeed, he does. But on the day of the party, there is a heavy snowfall, trapping Mrs. Kyndley in her cottage. Thomas bravely has his snowplough fitted and sets off with Toby to rescue her and soon, they arrive at the cottage which is covered in snow. Thomas whistles to Mrs. Kyndley to tell her they have arrived when suddenly, Terence arrives with his snowplough to help clear a path from the cottage to the railway. Once everything is cleared, Percy takes the workmen home while Terence says goodbye to Mrs. Kyndley and promises to look after her cottage.
Thomas and Toby take Mrs. Kyndley to Tidmouth Sheds, where the party is supposed to be. But as they arrive, they find the Sheds in darkness. Suddenly, a switch is thrown and the Sheds are covered in lights. The Fat Controller congratulates the two engines, everybody sings carols and Mrs. Kyndley says that it was the best Christmas party ever.
Characters
- Thomas
- Edward
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Toby
- Annie and Clarabel
- Henrietta
- Bertie
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Mrs. Kyndley
- Terence (does not speak)
- Farmer Finney (cameo)
- Lady Hatt (cameo)
- Stephen Hatt (cameo)
- The Stone Dropping Boys (cameos)
Locations
- Island of Sodor
- Tidmouth Sheds
- Hackenbeck Tunnel
- The Viaduct (deleted scene)
- Hawin Ab (deleted scene)
- Knapford (deleted scene)
- Bournemouth (mentioned in Ringo Starr's dubs; not named in George Carlin's dub)
Trivia
- This is the first episode of a few things:
- The first Christmas-themed episode.
- The first episode written entirely by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton and not based on a book from The Railway Series, although Allcroft and Mitton requested Awdry to publish it as part of The Railway Series before the episode first aired.
- The first series finale (by production order).
- This is the last episode of several things:
- The last episode going by release order narrated by Ringo Starr for Shining Time Station (excluding Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree, which was just an edited version of the UK dub).
- The last episode narrated by Marián Labuda in Slovakia and dubbed in Slovak.
- The last appearance of LMS 12 Ton Vans.
- The last episode where Thomas has a realistic-looking brake pipe.
- The last time Thomas' whistle supports are blue until Thomas and the Magic Railroad and the sixth series episode Salty's Secret, respectively.
- The last episode to air in 1984. It did not air in the usual afternoon block but was aired at 9.45 on Christmas Day after a Dangermouse double bill, which aired at 9.25 in most regions. However, in Cumbria and Scotland, Dangermouse was replaced with a moderator's Christmas message.
- The last episode filmed at Clapham Junction and Clearwater Studios in Battersea. From the second series onwards, each model series would be filmed at Shepperton Studios.
- The last episode video edited by Lee Myung-pil for JEI TV in South Korea until the third series episode A Scarf for Percy.
- The last appearance of Hackenbeck Tunnel until the fourth series episode Train Stops Play, not counting its stock footage appearances in the second series episodes Bertie's Chase, Better Late than Never and Edward's Exploit.
- The last episode where Henry is in his new shape without splashers.
- The last episode where Thomas is wearing his secondary cheerful face mask. The second series would feature a slightly darker coloured version of it as well as a second cheerful face mask but without the teeth (more like a laughing face mask) while from the third series onwards, a slightly modified version of his first series cheerful face mask would be used.
- The last episode featuring Edward's first series happy face as well as Percy's first series smiling face until the third series.
- While this was the last episode of the first series to be produced, it aired in the UK before Off the Rails and Down the Mine. It was only a year later that it aired as the final episode on Christmas Eve when the first series episodes were repeated individually every weekday in November and December 1985. When it aired on Christmas Eve 1985 as the last remaining standalone episode outside of Children's ITV in the UK, its runtime was at 9.50am between an episode of Fraggle Rock and the Walt Disney cartoon The Night Before Christmas.
- A flashback of The Railway Series story Mrs. Kyndley's Christmas is featured in this episode, having never being adapted or mentioned in the series prior.
- Stock footage from Thomas, Terence and the Snow is used.
- In the original version, stock footage from Thomas' Train is used.
- In the restored version, mirrored stock footage from Thomas and the Guard is used.
- The backing vocals of We Wish You a Merry Christmas are likely from Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell.
- The platform the Fat Controller is standing on is made out of Lego bricks.
- Only one line of the Christmas carol is sung in the Welsh dub, replacing other lines with Thomas' theme.
- Unlike many of George Carlin's other dubs, his dub for this episode was never aired on an episode of Shining Time Station. Instead, it was first released on VHS on Thomas' Christmas Party and Other Favorite Stories on 14 September 1994. It was later included as a bonus episode on some reprints of James Goes Buzz Buzz and Other Thomas Stories dated 14 October 1994.
- In some international dubs, We Wish You a Merry Christmas is sung in English. The Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese dubs are the only ones where the characters are not heard singing in English and Ringo Starr cannot be heard in the background. This was achieved by using the music cue heard in Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree.
- Christmas lights are used for the decoration lights at Tidmouth Sheds.
- On its original broadcast, this episode was paired with Dirty Objects. The text in the end credits was yellow. However, early VHS releases have it paired with Down the Mine, as do Norwegian and Swedish broadcasts.
- The text in the end credits is red on early VHS releases and broadcasts to suit the Christmas theme.
- This episode went through many changes after the original airing: The episode aired four days after Down the Mine aired on 20 December 1985 as an individual episode and was later repeated again on 30 December 1987 after a series of repeats ending with The Flying Kipper/Whistles and Sneezes on 9 September 1987, where the series went on hiatus for two months. This episode finally aired on 13 February 1989, two weeks before the repeat of Thomas' Train/Thomas and the Trucks. Thomas' Christmas Party was also not shown during the four pairings between 30 July-20 August 1990.
Goofs
- In the opening shot, Clarabel is facing the wrong way.
- When the narrator says, "Everyone was getting very excited," Gordon and James' eyes are misaligned.
- When Thomas has his snowplough fitted, one of the workmen has blu tack on his leg.
- In-between the stock footage from Thomas, Terence and the Snow and Thomas and Toby stopping at the cutting near the Cottage, Toby loses his brake van.
- In Ringo Starr's dubs and the Ukrainian voice-over, Thomas, Edward and Henry's whistles are heard with the last part of James' whistle heard intact before the others. In the George Carlin narration, when the engines whistle, only Thomas, Edward and Henry's whistles can be heard.
- At the Christmas party, Henry is in his old shape.
- In the Sprout Channel broadcast, around the time the engines save Mrs. Kyndley and the time Thomas gets back to the sheds, the narration is dramatically out of sync.
- When the Fat Controller stands on the platform, some blu-tack can be seen under his feet.
- At the beginning when Thomas whistles "Happy Christmas" to Mrs. Kyndley, Clarabel is the front coach and facing forwards.
- The audio clip of the engines singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was placed on the M&E track instead of the dialogue track. As a result, in the George Carlin dub and all other non-English dubs (excluding the Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese dubs), Ringo Starr can still be heard when the engines are singing.
- In George Carlin's dub, it is said that Terence was "working hard to clear a patch to the railroad line", rather than "clearing a path."
- In the close-up of Gordon when the narrator says that the Fat Controller has bad news, Tidmouth Sheds is missing.
- At the sheds:
- The engines' eyes are misaligned.
- The chimney above Gordon's shed is crooked.
- Gordon's lamp irons are crooked.
- Percy's left cylinder (viewers' right) is dangling down a bit.
- Edward is tilted a bit.
- James' eyes jolt down at one point and his left buffer (viewers' right) is also scratched.
- Henry has some white paint marks on his buffer beam, his running board and his face and his tender is crooked.
- When Toby takes Clarabel's spot, she has not moved somewhere else and is nowhere to be seen.
In Other Languages
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Merchandise
Thomas's Christmas Party (1984 Railway Series book)- Thomas' Christmas Party (1984 Ladybird book)
- Thomas' Christmas Party (1990 Buzz Book)
Magazine Story
- Thomas' Christmas Party (1987 magazine story)
Home Video Releases
Episode
Thomas' Christmas Party - UK
UK narration
Thomas' Christmas Party - US (George Carlin)
US narration (George Carlin)Reference
| #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 | |