| This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the Japanese VHS. |
- "What's a Santa Claus?"
"Santa Claus is someone who drops presents down chimneys during Christmas time."
"I wonder if…"
"No! Chimneys, Percy, not funnels!" - ― Percy and Thomas discussing Santa Claus
Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, retitled Thomas and Percy's Mountain Adventure on some North American and New Zealand releases, is the twenty-sixth and final episode of the third series.
Plot
Thomas often can be seen puffing happily along the line, possibly heading towards the small town of Ulfstead, snuggled deep in the heart of Sodor, to greet the villagers. One cold and snowy morning, Thomas promises to bring them plenty of parcels.
It is December and Christmas is near. However, an early blizzard arrives within a week and Thomas is about to get an extra post truck. Percy is unhappy that he cannot help but his chance comes when Thomas is forced to give Percy his job in favour of another. Thomas is not pleased with the change but Percy is delighted and sets off.
"You're the best Santa Claus this village has ever had!"
As he makes his way to the village, a fogman flags him down. He explains that the village is snowed under and that they need snowploughs, workmen and a helicopter, so Percy has to leave his trucks on the sidings and go back quickly. Thomas and Percy work together to save the villagers and Harold and Terence join in; Terence clears the snow and Harold drops food supplies for them. They call the team "the best Santa Claus the village has had", which confuses Percy. Thomas explains that Santa is the man who brings gifts during the Holidays. Percy looks at his funnel, wondering if Santa could go down funnels and, after Thomas clarifies that Santa goes down chimneys, he remembers that he has left the post vans in a siding.
Henrietta is loaded up with paint pots and parcels that night after Thomas and Percy puff home, while Toby sneaks her along with the villagers on board into the yard. When the engines wake up the next morning, they are surprised to find the sheds decorated and repainted with some parcels that lay everywhere. They all agree that it is the best holiday they have ever had on Sodor.
Characters
- Thomas
- Percy
- Toby
- Terence
- Harold
- The Ulfstead Fogman
- The Ulfstead Villagers
- Henrietta (does not speak)
- Sir Topham Hatt (does not speak)
- Edward (cameo)
- Henry (cameo)
- Gordon (cameo)
- James (cameo)
- Duck (cameo)
- Donald (cameo)
- Annie and Clarabel (cameos)
- Bertie (cameo)
- Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
- Farmer Finney (cameo)
- Farmer Trotter (cameo)
- The Vicar of Wellsworth's Son (cameo)
- The Railway Society (cameos)
- Harold's Pilots (cameos)
- Big Mickey (faceless, cameo)
- Stephen Hatt (deleted scene cameo)
- Douglas (mentioned in Japanese dub)
- Father Christmas (mentioned, except in the US dub)
Locations
- The Waterfall
- Ulfstead
- Tidmouth Sheds
- The Hillside Post Windmill
- Lower Suddery
- Bridge Signal Box
- Brendam Docks
- Dryaw Airfield
- Knapford (mentioned)
Trivia
- Stock footage from the third series episode All at Sea is used.
- This episode was heavily edited specifically for its airing on Shining Time Station to remove all references to Christmas and replace them with references to Thanksgiving, since the Shining Time Station Season 3 episode that it aired on, Billy's Party, was a Thanksgiving-themed episode and there were no Shining Time Station Season 3 Christmas episodes planned. Additionally, the conversation in which Percy asks Thomas about Santa Claus was also cut from the US dub entirely. As a result, the re-synced US dub is the shortest episode of the entire show, running at four minutes and twelve seconds, not counting the cut opening of the second series episode Bertie's Chase in the Shining Time Station episode Washout. The US version is also the first series finale of Thomas & Friends not to mention Christmas. All of this makes it the only episode to have a significantly different plot on US, Canadian and some New Zealand releases in comparison to the original UK episode.
- In one scene of Thomas and Percy, the latter is seen wearing a different version of his smiling face, which would later make frequent appearances in the fourth series.
- In the restored version, the scene when Percy leaves his post train in the sidings and goes backwards to get help is shortened and the next scene when Percy arrives at Harold's airfield is extended.
- This episode marks the last of several things:
- The last episode which Tommy Boyd introduced before his departure on 2 December 1992.
- The last episode to air on CITV in 1992. A repeat of the previous episode was used instead as the final episode until the sixth series episode No Sleep for Cranky on 6 January 2003.
- The last appearance of Ulfstead (not counting a stock footage appearance in the seventh series episode, Snow Engine, mentioned appearances in King of the Railway, Journey Beyond Sodor and All Engines Go!).
- Brendam Docks' last appearance without Cranky, as he would be introduced in the fifth series premiere Cranky Bugs.
- The last episode in the UK to include any kind of Christmas carols until the eighteenth series episode Duncan the Humbug.
- The last appearance of Lower Suddery until the sixth series episode, Jack Frost (not counting a stock footage appearance in the fifth series episode, Haunted Henry).
- The last episode narrated by Pedro D'Aguillón Jr. in Latin America for Shining Time Station, Radovan Vaculík in the Czech Republic, János Bata (for Minimax) and József Kerekes (for JimJam) in Hungary.
- The last episode video edited by Lee Myung-pil for JEI TV in South Korea.
- The last episode released on home video in Turkey until the release of Extraordinary Engines on DVD in 2017.
- The final UK episode to air during George Awdry's lifetime.
- This episode was last broadcast in Australia on Christmas Eve 2003 on ABC.
- This episode marks the only appearance of Brendam Goods Station.
- This is one of two episodes from the third series that were originally written by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton, the other being All at Sea.
- Big Mickey, a fishing boat, the crawler tractor and the Fuel Depot Manager's office building from Tugs appear in the episode.
- On the end credits of the Shining Time Station episode Billy's Party, the back cover of Thomas' Christmas Wonderland and Other Thomas Adventures, the Holiday Express DVD, Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 3 and the Roku Channel, the UK title is used, the Shining Time Station end credits include the caption "(revised)".
Goofs
- In the opening shot of the episode:
- The edge of the set can be seen through the stream.
- Annie appears to be facing backwards. However, in a deleted scene, she is facing the correct way.
- On the Korean Thomas & Friends Volume 2 VHS, the English title card misspells "Adventure" as "Adwenture".
- James' face appears to be missing when he is struggling to move the tankers out of the snow. In the same shot, he has fingerprints all over his boiler.
- In the Japanese dub, Douglas is mentioned when Donald is shown.
- Percy's eyes are misaligned throughout most of the episode.
- At Brendam Goods Station, Percy's right lamp iron is missing.
- Percy's mail trucks have fingerprints on them when he travels down the line before being stopped.
- When Percy's driver says "What's that?" the mail trucks are nowhere to be seen.
- In the close-up of the fogman, the studio is reflected in his lamp.
- Harold simply drops the parcels without any parachutes and thus some of them hit the people after bouncing on the ground.
- Because the conversation in which Percy asks Thomas about Santa Claus was removed from the US dub, the narration becomes entirely out of sync with the footage, music and sound effects. In versions where the footage is properly cut to sync up with the narration, the music and sound effects are out of sync after that point, except on "echoed" copies of Percy's Ghostly Trick and Other Stories.
- The exterior shots of Tidmouth Sheds show it with the usual six berths but in the interior shots, eleven tracks are shown.
- A deleted scene included in the Toby music video shows that the tracks in the sheds end in front of the engines.
- At the end of the episode, Donald and Douglas' whistle sounds can be heard but neither twins are nowhere to be seen.
- In the close-up of James and Henry at the end of the episode, some small scale figures have plastic bases under their feet.
- In the French dub, Terence is called by his original English name instead of his French name, Thierry.
In Other Languages
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Merchandise
The Snowy Surprise (2010 My Thomas Story Library book)- The Snowy Surprise (2017 Engine Adventures book)
Home Video Releases
Episode
English
Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure - UK
UK narration
Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure - US (Extended)
US narration(extended, out of sync)
Other Languages
Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure - RUS
Russian dubReferences
| #01 A Scarf for Percy | #10 The Trouble with Mud | #19 One Good Turn |
| #02 Percy's Promise | #11 No Joke for James | #20 Tender Engines |
| #03 Time for Trouble | #12 Thomas, Percy and the Post Train | #21 Escape |
| #04 Gordon and the Famous Visitor | #13 Trust Thomas | #22 Oliver Owns Up |
| #05 Donald's Duck | #14 Mavis | #23 Bulgy |
| #06 Thomas Gets Bumped | #15 Toby's Tightrope | #24 Heroes |
| #07 Thomas, Percy and the Dragon | #16 Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party | #25 Percy, James and the Fruitful Day |
| #08 Diesel Does It Again | #17 Buzz, Buzz | #26 Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure |
| #09 Henry's Forest | #18 All at Sea | |