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For other uses, see Thomas Goes Fishing (disambiguation).
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“I want to fish."
"But they all had the same answer."
"Engines don't go fishing."
"Silly stick-in-the-muds.”
― Thomas, the narrator and James

Thomas Goes Fishing is the twelfth episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Tank Engine Thomas Again.

Plot

ThomasGoesFishing8

"Engines don't go fishing."

Along Thomas' branch line, he often looks forward to the sight of the river near the bridge and the people that fish there. He often wants to stay and watch but his driver will not let him; he wonders the Fat Controller would say if they fell behind schedule. Whenever Thomas meets another engine, he shares with them his longing to fish. In response, they all say that "Engines don't go fishing," which he does not take seriously.

One day, Thomas arrives at Elsbridge to find the water column is out of order, to his annoyance. Thomas is thirsty, so his driver suggests that they fetch water from the river instead. The crew finds a bucket and some rope and they hurry to the bridge. Once there, they lower the bucket down to the river. Unfortunately, the bucket is old and has five holes, so they have to hurry and pour the water into Thomas' tank before it drains out. They repeat this several times until at last, Thomas' thirst is quenched.

Before long, Thomas develops a sudden pain in his boiler. Steam rushes from his safety valve and Thomas is alarmed that he may burst. The crew dampens the fire and they struggle on to Ffarquhar. Annie and Clarabel are uncoupled and Thomas, still aching, limps onto a siding right out of the way. While Clarabel's guard phones for an inspector and the Fat Controller, workmen put signs saying "DANGER KEEP AWAY" all around Thomas. The Fat Controller arrives with the inspector and they console Thomas over the situation. The driver explains what happened and the inspector determines that the feed pipe is blocked.

When the inspector looks inside Thomas' tank, he notices something then climbs down and asks the Fat Controller to take a look in the tank as well. The Fat Controller agrees and when he looks up, he is shocked at what he sees; they agree that what they saw were fish and the driver deduces that they were collected in the river while in the process of filling the tank. The Fat Controller jokes that Thomas got to go fishing after all but as fish do not suit him, they must be removed at once. Thomas' crew and the inspector carefully fish them out with instructions from the Fat Controller. And afterwards, they have a meal of fish and chips. The Fat Controller hopes that Thomas has learned his lesson, to which Thomas replies that he now understands why engines do not go fishing: it is too uncomfortable.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • This story is Wilbert and Christopher Awdry's favorite.
  • Alternate stock footage from the previous episode and extended stock footage from Thomas and the Trucks as well as a deleted scene from Thomas' Train is used.
  • The events were referenced in the fourth series episode Fish.
  • This is the first episode of a few things:
    • The first episode to have the same title in both the UK and US.
    • The first episode to not be dubbed in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.
    • The first episode to introduce Thomas' scared face.
    • The first episode where an engine suffers from pain as well as the first episode to feature a serious dreadful experience for an engine.
  • The episode can be seen in the Japanese game Magical Adventure.
  • In 2010, Thomas' aghast face, also known as the infamous "O" face, when the Fat Controller asks the inspector if he saw fish, along with the musical note that went with the shot, became an internet meme.
  • This was the last episode to air on Thursdays on 22 December 1988 and also the final episode to air in 1988 before airing the other remaining episodes on Mondays from 9 January to 22 May 1989.
  • This episode was never released on VHS and DVD in South Korea.
  • During the second half of the episode, when Thomas is uncoupled from his coaches and struggles onto the siding, a remixed sadder version of his theme song plays. This is basically his theme song combined with the Breakdown Train theme to give a depressing vibe in respect of the serious situation that the episode shows.

Goofs

  • Some of the gold paint on James' dome is faded when he tells Thomas about engines never going fishing.
  • When Thomas leaves Elsbridge station, Clarabel is facing foward.
  • The old bucket is said to have five holes but a close-up shot of the bucket shows an extra one. Also, no water is seen leaking in the next two shots.
  • When the bucket is lifted from the river, the water is shown to be brown and muddy. However, when the water is poured into Thomas' tank, the water appears to be clean.
  • When Thomas begins to feel a pain in his boiler, he passes by the spot he ends up stopping in.
  • Thick pencil marks are visible on the "DANGER KEEP AWAY" signs.
  • The audio clip of the Fat Controller saying "Mmm" was placed on the M&E track instead of the dialogue track, as can be heard on some prints of the original "Volume 1" Guild Home Video release. As a result, the George Carlin narration and all international versions have this audio clip in the background.
  • When the men are first seen with the "DANGER" signs, the red lining around Thomas' number is peeling away.
  • The narrator says they put the signs in front and behind Thomas but in one shot of Thomas, a sign that is supposed to be behind him is on the left side (viewers' right) of him.
  • When the Fat Controller and the inspector are looking in Thomas' tank, the light pole behind Thomas is missing.
  • In the restored version, studio equipment can be seen when Thomas says "Bother! I'm thirsty!" and when the inspector looks inside Thomas' tank.
  • When Thomas puffs on to the siding, steam continues to vent from the tracks even after he leaves but in the next shot, it all disappears. Later, when the inspector clambers up to check Thomas' tanks, Thomas abruptly stops hissing steam but when the inspector comes down, he is hissing steam again and once the Fat Controller climbs up, the steam vanishes. Then, when the Fat Controller asks Thomas' driver how the fish got there, the steam reappears. Throughout all of this, the hissing sound continues even when Thomas is not letting off steam.
  • When Thomas is at Elsbridge, the siding usually seen at the water column is not there, except in the close-up of the out of order sign. When it is seen, it ends in the grass.
  • There is a tiny hole in Thomas' smokebox when the Inspector looks into his tank.
  • When the bucket is pulled in and out of the water, the string attached to it leading into Thomas' cab is visible.
  • When Thomas got a boiler pain, he is wearing Percy's tired face mask in two shots.
  • In the Welsh dub, only one of the "DANGER KEEP AWAY" signs is translated into Welsh, while the others remain printed in English.

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Chinese Mandarin 托马斯去钓鱼
Croatian Tomica ide u ribolov
Czech Tomáš na rybách
Danish Thomas på en fisketur
Dutch Thomas gaat vissen
Finnish Tuomas veturi kalassa
French Thomas va à la pêche
German Thomas geht angeln
Greek Ο Τόμας πηγαίνει για ψάρεμα
Hebrew תומס הולך לדוג
Hungarian Thomas halászni megy
Icelandic Tommi fara veiða
Italian I trenini non vanno a pescare!
Japanese トーマスとさかなつり
Korean 물고기 소동
Norwegian Thomas på fisketur
Polish Tomek jedzie na ryby
Romanian Thomas Se duce la pescuit
Romansh Tumasch va a pestgar
Russian Паровозы не ловят рыбу
Serbian Tomas na pecanju
Slovak Thomas ide na rybačku
Slovenian Tomaž gre na ribolov
Swedish Thomas på fisketur
Turkish Thomas Balığa Çıkıyor
Welsh Tomos yn Pysgota

Merchandise

Home Video Releases

UK

UK VHS/DVD Boxsets

WAL

  • Troublesome Trucks and 8 Other Stories

US

CAN

  • James Learns a Lesson and Other Stories (Ringo Starr's US dub)
  • The Early Years (UK dub)

US/CAN VHS/DVD Boxsets

AUS

AUS DVD Packs

NZ

ZA

IND

MYS

PHL

ITA

FRA

ROM

ROM DVD Pack

NL

NL DVD Boxsets

GER

NOR

DK

SWE/FIN

ICE

  • Thomas the Tank Engine 2

SVN

HRV

SRP

GRC

GRC DVD Boxset

TUR

THA

JPN

JPN VHS/DVD Boxsets

CHN

HK

PC Game

Episode

References



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