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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the Dutch DVD, the German DVD, the Scandinavian DVD, the Hungarian DVD, the Japanese DVD or the magazine story.

“The old story was right, there is something magical at the end of the rainbow - my friends! Friends are the most wonderful thing of all!”
― Thomas seeing the end of the rainbow

Thomas and the Rainbow is the second episode of the ninth series.

Plot

After an overnight summer storm knocks the telephone poles down, the Fat Controller tasks Thomas to take engineers to fix them. Thomas goes to Brendam Docks with Annie and Clarabel and whilst the engineers climb aboard his train, he sees a rainbow in the sky. Edward, who is shunting flatbeds nearby, tells Thomas that according to legend "you will find something magical at the end of a rainbow." This prompts Thomas to find the end of the rainbow.

During his journey, Thomas meets Percy at a junction, but does not have time to talk to him as he wants to find the end of the rainbow. Climbing up Gordon's Hill, the end of the rainbow seems to be at the summit; but when Thomas gets there, the rainbow has moved. After dropping off some engineers by a bridge, Thomas ignores some children's calls of "hello" as he carries on finding the rainbow. Unfortunately, Thomas gets so carried away trying to find the end of the rainbow that he ignores Henry's call for assistance with his trucks and Toby's warning that something is blocking the track ahead. It turns out to be a broken telephone pole, which Thomas runs into and he, Annie and Clarabel derail.

Now Thomas cannot finish his job and as all the telephone poles are not fixed, his driver cannot call for help. However, Thomas sees Percy passing by on another line and whistles for help to him, but Percy does not respond; Thomas thinks Percy is giving him the silent treatment because he did not have time to talk to Percy. But Percy does hear Thomas' call for help and sends the message down the line. The message eventually reaches Harvey, who sets off to the rescue.

Finally Harvey arrives and gets Thomas, Annie and Clarabel back on the rails; he also tells Thomas that all of his friends worked together to rescue him. Thomas carries on with his work, but now ignores the rainbow. Once all the telephone poles are fixed, Thomas goes home to Tidmouth Sheds to find the end of the rainbow; the something magical are his friends.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • Going by production order, this is the first episode of the ninth series.
  • This episode marks Harvey's only speaking role in the ninth series.
  • This episode aired before the special Calling All Engines! was released, meaning that the audience would not know about the newly rebuilt Tidmouth Sheds with the seventh berth for Emily.
  • This episode was nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award.
  • Abi Grant stated on her website that this was one of her favourite episodes centred around Thomas himself.
  • Stock footage from the Learning Segment, Helping One Another is used.
  • Kumiko Higa, Thomas' Japanese voice actress from Calling All Engines! until the original series' end, has stated that this is her favourite episode in the 2015 edition of Thomas Goods Encyclopedia. The reason it is her favourite is because it was her first time voicing Thomas.

Goofs

  • At the beginning of the episode, Henry has Gordon's whistle sound.
  • In the shot of the workman getting into Annie, a wire can be seen through her window.
  • When Thomas passes Henry, all three signals are up, but Thomas passes the signal at danger.

Merchandise

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese Thomas e o arco - íris
Chinese Mandarin 托马斯和彩虹
Croatian Tomica i duga
Czech Tomáš a duha
Danish Thomas og Regnbuen
Dutch Thomas en de Regenboog
Finnish Tuomas ja Sateenkaari
German Thomas und der Regenbogen
Hungarian Thomas és a Szivárvány
Italian Thomas e l'Arcobaleno
Japanese トーマスとにじ
Korean 무지개의 끝
Latin American Spanish Thomas y el Arcoiris
Norwegian Thomas og Regnbuen
Polish Tomek i tęcza
Romanian Thomas și Curcubeul
Russian Томас и радуга
Scottish Gaelic Tòmas Agus Am Bogha Frois
Swedish Thomas och Regnbågen
Turkish Thomas ve Gökkuşağı

Home Media Releases

UK/IRL

DVD Packs

AUS

  • The Complete Series 9

DVD Boxsets

US/CAN

DVD Packs

JPN

MYS

ZA/NOR/SWE/DK/FIN

NL

GER

HK

CHN

SPN

DVD Boxsets

THA

HUN

KOR

TWN


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