| For other uses, see Thomas Comes to Breakfast (disambiguation). |
- “You miserable engine! Just look what you've done to our breakfast! Now I shall have to cook some more!”
- ― The stationmaster's wife being furious after Thomas crashes into their house
Thomas Comes to Breakfast is the eighteenth episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book Branch Line Engines.
Plot
Thomas knows his branch line very well. One day, his driver compliments how well Thomas stops at stations and jokingly suggests he could almost manage without him. Thomas takes the joke to heart, not realising it was definitely meant to be a joke, and as a result, later brags at the sheds that he does not need a driver. Percy and Toby both disagree with this angrily as the thought of running without drivers frightens them, but Thomas insists he is not afraid to run by himself and willing to prove it.
The firelighter comes early next morning and starts the engines' fires, Thomas awakens first from the warmth filling his boiler. Noticing that Percy and Toby are still asleep, he decides to take the opportunity to run by himself and prove them wrong. Thomas slowly starts moving along the track, unaware that this is only because a careless cleaner has touched his controls. He soon realises it when he tries in vain to stop or "wheesh."
At the end of the siding ahead is a stationmaster's house, where he and his family are sitting down to breakfast. Thomas shuts his eyes as he runs off the rails, ploughs through the fence and hedges, and crashes through the front wall, creating disarray in the dining room. The stationmaster glares at a stunned Thomas, while his wife severely scolds the tank engine for ruining their breakfast. She then storms out of the dining room, slamming the door in anger, causing plaster to fall and cover Thomas.
After workmen prop up the house and set rails through the garden, Donald and Douglas come to Thomas' rescue. Together, the twins pull Thomas clear of the house and back onto the rails, revealing his front to be battered and bent from the impact with a bush and pieces of broken wood stuck to it.
"You are a very naughty engine. You must go to the works and have your front mended. It will be a long job."
Back at the Sheds, the Fat Controller speaks severely to him for his foolishness and informs him that he will have to go to the Works to have his front mended, which will take a long time. In his absence, a diesel railcar will come to run his branch line. The remorseful Thomas is shocked at hearing this, and the Fat Controller then concludes to him that diesels "never gallivant off to breakfast in stationmasters' houses."
Characters
- Thomas
- Percy
- Toby
- Donald and Douglas
- Sir Topham Hatt
- The Tidmouth Stationmaster's Wife
- The Tidmouth Stationmaster (does not speak)
- The Firelighter (does not speak)
- Annie and Clarabel (cameos)
- Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
- The Tidmouth Stationmaster's Children (cameos)
- Earnest (portrait cameo)
- The Careless Cleaner (mentioned)
- Daisy (indirectly mentioned)
Locations
- The Watermill
- Tidmouth
- Post Windmill (stock footage)
- The Works (mentioned)
Trivia
- This episode marks:
- The first episode of the second series to air in the US, being paired with Percy Runs Away when aired on Shining Time Station. This infamously created a few continuity errors for American audiences, as Toby and the Scottish Twins were brought in before their respective introductory episodes.
- The second time in the second series an engine crashes into someone's estate, the first being Duck in A Close Shave. Even the camera angles showing the front face views of Duck and Thomas are similar to each other.
- The one of only three in the television series that show Thomas without his head lamp (due to damage from the crash in this one), the other being in promotional images of Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree and the fifth series episode, Horrid Lorry, respectively.
- The final appearances of Thomas' duplicate sad face with modified eyebrows to resemble a worried one, his ill face until the eighth series episode, Chickens to School, and his scared face until the 2000 film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- In Canada, this episode aired before the second series episodes, Break Van and The Deputation, meaning Canadian audiences would not know who Donald and Douglas were.
- Stock footage from the first series episode, Thomas and the Guard is used as is a deleted scene from the second series episode, Thomas, Percy and the Coal.
- Yūki Satō voices both Scottish twins in the Japanese dub of the episode, the other being Thomas and the Special Letter where he voices Douglas.
- A portrait of Earnest, a Victorian-style steam engine depicted with a moustache, can be seen in the Tidmouth stationmaster's house.
- This episode was filmed at the same time as Break Van. Donald's tender is seen merged into the signal box when Thomas pulls into Tidmouth and in the first close-up of Percy at Tidmouth Yard Sheds.
- Footage of the episode was used as a reference to the original story read aloud by Christopher Awdry in the exclusive YouTube documentary, 70 Years of Friendship. Christopher also stated that this was one of his favourite stories.
- This episode is writer Michael White's favourite episode.
- Thomas' close-up model was used for the scenes inside of the house.
- In the restored version, when the narrator says "The stationmaster was furious!" the wall setup behind the stationmaster and the amount of plaster on him is different compared to the original version.
- In George Carlin's dub, when the Tidmouth stationmaster's wife shouts "Now I shall have to cook some more!" the sound of the door being banged sounds quieter than in all the other dubs for this episode.
- The cereal box that the stationmaster's son is holding is a recreation of a Kellogg's Corn Flakes box.
- Bridget Hatt's model is reused for the Tidmouth stationmaster's daughter.
- The events of this episode were later referenced by James in the 2017 special, Journey Beyond Sodor, and Edward in the 2018 special, Big World! Big Adventures!, during the song, Where in the World Is Thomas?. The scene where Thomas crashes into the Tidmouth stationmaster's house was also recreated in CGI during the song.
- A small portion of the opening was cut for both narrations when the episode aired on Shining Time Station.
- In The Railway Series story of which this episode is based on, Thomas crashed into the stationmaster's house as a result of a siding ending on the road having no buffers to stop him, causing him to run off the rails and onto the road until he reached the house. Since the models are powered by electrified rails, Thomas' line extends across the road to get him closer to the house. However, the Ladybird and Buzz Book adaptations of this episode used the original dialogue from The Railway Series.
- After this episode aired on 13 August 1991, the further four episodes preceding the series were not shown and instead aired the second series episode, Edward's Exploit, a week later.
- The JEI TV version of the Korean dub added subtitles to inform viewers what a rail car is.
Goofs
- Thomas' eyes are off-centre from each other for the majority of the episode.
- In the Japanese dub, Ringo Starr's narration can be faintly heard throughout the episode.
- Clarabel is facing the wrong way and her roof is also loose when Thomas comes into Tidmouth.
- In the close-ups of Thomas' driver, he is clean shaven, but in some wide shots, he has a beard.
- Thomas is wearing his depressed face mask when he is meant to be conceited.
- When Percy and Toby are shown sleeping, Toby is tilted to the left.
- In the close-up of Toby sleeping, his windows are open slightly, but in the wider shot of the three engines in the shed, Toby's right window is completely open. It is then again slightly open when Thomas is rolling out of the shed.
- When Thomas thinks he is "being clever," his eyes jitter.
- Due to portions of the script being taken verbatim from the original book, the narrator says:
- "There was the stationmaster's house," as if it was on the same track as the sheds, when it clearly is not.
- That workmen "laid rails through the garden," which they did not and the tracks were already laid across the pavement to allow Thomas to reach the house.
- That "bits of fencing, the bush and a broken window frame festooned Thomas' front," even though a plank of wood is the only bit of fencing seen and there is no window frame.
- When Thomas finds that he cannot stop:
- He passes a station building on his left, but in the next shot, he has not passed it yet.
- His body is slightly raised up from his chassis.
- His lamp is not placed on correctly.
- In the shots from Thomas' perspective before he runs into the house, the tracks on the right all seem to end abruptly at a wall, which is presumably there to hide the edge of the set.
- Thomas' wheels do not move as he crashes into the house and as Donald and Douglas pull him out of the house.
- After Thomas crashes into the house, his head lamp disappears, except for the shot of Donald and Douglas pulling him out.
- In the original version, after plaster falls onto Thomas, the scene briefly stops before fading to the next scene.
- When Thomas is pulled free from the house, the bush seems to have become smaller and is lying on his buffer beam and when the Fat Controller is scolding him, the bush has become larger and moved back to its original position to cover Thomas' face in order to muffle his voice.
- Thomas' side rods change positions from when he crashes into the house to when he is rescued.
- In the close up of Thomas's buffer beam after he's pulled out of the house, another buffer beam that's been bent can be seen on top of his own.
- George Carlin and some other foreign narrators do not have a muffled voice despite being stated that Thomas' voice was muffled by the bush.
- In the close-ups of the Fat Controller, the faded marks of where a smile had been are visible behind his frown.
- When this episode was originally released on the Thomas Comes to Breakfast 1998 VHS in Canada, it had no narration and only included the music and sound effects. This was later corrected on the 2000 VHS tape release in Canada.
- In the subtitles on Amazon Prime, Donald and Douglas' theme was mistaken for an "Irish Jig" when the characters are Scottish.
Quotes
- Thomas: Driver says I don't need him now.
- Percy: Don't be so daft.
- Toby: I'd never go anywhere without my driver. I'd be frightened.
- Thomas: Pah! I'm not scared.
- Toby: You'd never dare.
- Thomas: I would, then. You'll see.
In Other Languages
| View content | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Merchandise
- Wooden Railway - Thomas Comes to Breakfast Accessory Pack, Limited Edition Thomas Comes To Breakfast and Thomas Comes to Breakfast version of Thomas (discontinued)
- Plarail - The Tidmouth Stationmaster's House
- Minis - Breakfast Thomas
- Railway Series Books - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Ladybird book - Thomas Comes to Breakfast and BoCo the Diseasel
- Book - Breakfast-Time for Thomas
- Buzz Book - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Pop-Up Books - Trouble on the Tracks
- Step into Reading book - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Engine Adventures - Thomas Goes Crash!
- Magazine Story - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
Home Video Releases
Episode
Thomas Comes to Breakfast - UK
UK Narration
Reference
| #01 Thomas, Percy and the Coal | #10 The Runaway | #19 Daisy |
| #02 Cows | #11 Percy Takes the Plunge | #20 Percy's Predicament |
| #03 Bertie's Chase | #12 Pop Goes the Diesel | #21 The Diseasel |
| #04 Saved from Scrap | #13 Dirty Work | #22 Wrong Road |
| #05 Old Iron | #14 A Close Shave | #23 Edward's Exploit |
| #06 Thomas and Trevor | #15 Better Late than Never | #24 Ghost Train |
| #07 Percy and the Signal | #16 Break Van | #25 Woolly Bear |
| #08 Duck Takes Charge | #17 The Deputation | #26 Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree |
| #09 Percy and Harold | #18 Thomas Comes to Breakfast | Cancelled: The Missing Coach |
| Cancelled: Gordon Goes Foreign | ||