Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
Register
Advertisement
Main Page

This article is about 'the episode'. You may be looking for 'the DVD'.

“Oh, no!”
― Thomas seeing the new car run away, Arthur avoiding the runaway car and causing the fish to fly in the air, Rosie getting splattered with mud, and Thomas again when the car crashed into a haystack

Thomas and the Runaway Car is the seventeenth episode of the eleventh series.

Plot

Thomas has been given the important job of taking the Fat Controller's new car to the Sodor Show. Gordon has been given the job of taking the bandstand to the show and challenges Thomas to a race. Gordon manages to get a head start and Thomas in a rush tells Rocky to hurry up with loading the car onto the flatbed, but Rocky tells Thomas to wait because he needs to be careful. The car is finally placed on the flatbed, but Thomas starts so quickly he does not wait for the Dock manager to couple him up to the flatbed. Rocky and the workmen try to tell Thomas, but he has already gone, determined to beat Gordon.

When Thomas puffs to the top of Gordon's Hill, the flatbed rolls away from him and he chases after it. While Percy is waiting at a red signal, Arthur is pulling into a siding with heavy trucks of fish. Percy sees the runaway car coming and warns Arthur, who ends up backing up much too fast, biffing the buffers with fish flying in the air and splattering all over him. Up ahead, mud is all over the track and Rosie had just left the washdown. The runaway car runs past her which causes mud to fly and splat all over her, making her cross at her predicament.

The flatbed then races past Gordon and goes into a siding crashing into some buffers with the car then flying off and running into a haystack. When Thomas catches up, he is horrified to see what it happened and Gordon, feeling triumphant, chuffs to the show. Thomas realises that not only he lost the race, but the Fat Controller's car will never get to the show on time. He sets off to the Docks to get Rocky, but he stops knowing that he is not strong enough to pull Rocky on his own. When Gordon comes back after delivering the bandstand and winning the race, Thomas begs him to fetch Rocky. Gordon, taking pity on Thomas, is more than happy to help his friend as well as show off his strength. He goes to the Docks, fetches Rocky and brings him over to the hay field. After getting the car back on the flatbed, Thomas thanks Gordon by giving him the car to deliver and they arrive at the show together.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • The "new" car model is actually the same old one.
  • The crowd scene from Toby's Triumph is reused, only with the people changed around slightly.
  • This episode was shown in select USA cinemas as part of Thomas and Friends on the Big Screen.
  • This episode marks the only appearance of a few faces:
    • Arthur's unused wincing face, which was also seen in the DVD game, Arthur's Tricky Travels.
    • Rosie's unused clenched and cross face.
  • This episode marks Arthur's only speaking role in the eleventh series.
  • This episode marks the last of a few things:
    • The last episode until the sixteenth series episode, Percy and the Monster of Brendam in which the Fat Controller appears, but does not have a speaking role, and thus, the last episode in the model era where he appears but does not speak.
    • Rocky's last speaking role until Hero of the Rails, his last speaking role in an episode until the thirteenth series episode, Percy's Parcel, and thus, his last speaking role in the model era.
    • Jem Cole's last appearance in an episode until the fourteenth series episode, Jitters and Japes, and thus, his last appearance in the model era episode.
    • Arthur's last speaking appearance in an episode.
    • Rosie's last appearance in a fully model-filmed episode.
  • The flatbed the new car is on is the same one used for the Breakdown Train, which makes a cameo in this episode when the car passes Rosie.

Goofs

  • Gordon's buffer is crooked throughout the episode.
  • At the beginning of the episode, Thomas passes by Gordon who is pulling the Express. But when Thomas arrives at the docks, Gordon is already there.
  • In the first close-up of Rocky:
    • His left eye (viewers' right) moves up on its own right before the camera cuts to Thomas.
    • He is stationery and his piston and cable are not moving even though he is turning while lifting the car because the shot of him was filmed after loading the car on the flatbet.
  • When the flatbed rolls away from Thomas, a finger of a crew member is briefly seen releasing the flatbed in the bottom left-hand corner. Thomas' eyes are also misaligned in this scene.
  • Arthur goes to the siding several times, when he first appear while pulling fish, when he races backwards to avoid the runaway car and when he crashes into the buffers.
  • When Arthur crashes in the buffers, the fish fly low, but in the next shot, the fish suddenly fly high.
  • When Thomas passes Arthur, red wires can be seen beneath him.
  • Studio equipment can be seen on the top left corner after the runaway car and Thomas past Arthur.
  • When the flatbed passes Rosie, it splashes mud all over her, but when Thomas runs by, he does not.

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese Thomas e O Vagão Fugitivo
Chinese Mandarin 托马斯和逃跑的汽车
Croatian U Bjegunac Automobila
Czech Tomáš a Autíčko na Útěku
Danish Thomas og Den Løsslupne Bil
Dutch Thomas en de Weggelopen Wagon
Finnish Karannut Auto
French Thomas et Le Voiture Emballement
German Thomas und der Ausreißer
Greek O δραπέτης αυτοκίνητο
Hungarian Thomas és a Szökevény Autó
Italian Thomas e il Auto in Fuga
Japanese トーマスとにげるくるま
Korean 달아나는 자동차를 잡아라!
Latin American Spanish Thomas y el Vagón Fugitivo
Norwegian Thomas og Biljakten
Polish Tomek i Uciekający Samochód
Romanian Thomas și Mașina Fugară
Russian Томас и сбежавший автомобиль
Spanish Thomas y el Coche Desbocado
Swedish Thomas och Bilen Som Rymt

Home Media Releases


Advertisement