| For other uses, see Thomas and the Trucks (disambiguation). |
- “You've got a lot to learn about trucks then, little Thomas. After pushing them about here for a few weeks you'll know almost as much about them as Edward. Then, you'll be a really useful engine.”
- ― The Fat Controller to Thomas
Thomas and the Trucks, retitled Trouble for Thomas on North American releases, is the sixth episode of the first series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book Thomas the Tank Engine.
Plot
Thomas is fed up with his job of shunting coaches and complains relentlessly to the other engines every night, saying that he wishes to see the world for a change, despite the others taking little notice. One night, Edward comes to the shed and feels sorry for Thomas. Edward offers to let Thomas take his goods train, while he shunts coaches for him. Thomas happily agrees.
The next morning, both engines' drivers agree to switch jobs and Thomas sets off happily for the yard. Troublesome Trucks talk a lot, hardly attend to what they are doing and often play tricks on engines who are not used to them. Edward is well aware of this and has warned Thomas to be careful but he is too excited to listen. Thomas prepares the goods train and once coupled up, he starts to pull but the trucks are not ready. Despite their protests, Thomas just ignores them as he puffs out of the station rather stubbornly.
Thomas starts going faster, passing through Henry's Tunnel and the junction along the journey but the increased speed makes the trucks very cross. Thomas eventually slows down while climbing Gordon's Hill but, as his driver tries to apply the brakes at the top, the trucks begin to push him. Thomas loses control of the trucks as they rush down the hill towards Maron. He passes through the station and swerves into a siding in the goods yard and shuts his eyes until he finally stops in front of the buffers.
The Fat Controller comes up, having seen everything and questions Thomas about why he is there and why he came in so fast, to which Thomas explains that he took Edward's trucks who pushed him. The Fat Controller advises Thomas that he has a lot to learn about trucks and that, after shunting in the yard for a few weeks, he will know much more about them and will then be a Really Useful Engine.
Characters
- Thomas
- Edward
- Troublesome Trucks
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Troublesome Vans (faceless)
- Henry (does not speak)
- Gordon (does not speak)
- James (cameo)
- Stephen Hatt (cameo)
Locations
- Tidmouth Sheds
- Knapford
- Henry's Tunnel
- The Goat's Field
- Elsbridge
- Gordon's Hill
- Maron
- The Viaduct (deleted scene)
- Hackenbeck Tunnel (deleted scene)
Trivia
- At the beginning of the A Big Day for Thomas release of this episode, Mr. Conductor's whistle from Shining Time Station can be heard, indicating that the audio was sourced from an episode of Shining Time Station.
- The first shot of the episode is a deleted scene from Edward and Gordon.
- In the original version, the close-up of Thomas' whistle is reused from the previous episode. The restored versions of both episodes replace the shot with mirrored footage from Thomas and the Guard. The same also applies to Thomas' Christmas Party and Better Late than Never.
- This is the first episode of a few things:
- The first appearances of Thomas' wincing and infamous aghast faces and Edward's angry face.
- The first time Thomas and Edward interact.
- The first episode where Gordon appears but does not speak.
- The first time Thomas has some sort of accident.
- The first time Gordon's Hill is referred by name in the television series.
- In the original Polish dub, Ringo Starr's narration can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
- In the Korean version released by DVD Acadamy, George Carlin's narration can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
- In the original Swedish version, the episode title was not translated in Swedish.
- To make the trucks' faces, the crew used two white oval paper cut-outs, two black circle paper cut-outs, small strips of black tape, a brown crayon for the eyelids and even glue as well. They also used another strip of black tape for the mouth as well. This is evidenced in the first shot of one of the trucks.
- In the restored version, Thomas' eye movements are different in the scene where he says he wants to see the world.
- This episode was shown as a double bill with Thomas' Train from 27 February 1989 before the airing of the second series on 6 March 1989. This was also Jerry Foulkes' last contribution to Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends before his departure on 22 December 1989.
- This episode marks the last for a few things:
- The last appearance of Maron Bridge, excluding a deleted scene in Dirty Objects.
- The last episode introduced by Windsor Davies in character as Terrahawk's Sergeant Major Zero. Two other Terrahawks characters, Captain Mary Falconer and Dr. Tiger Ninestein, introduced the next two episodes before the arrival of Bonnie Langford in November 1984.
- The JEI TV version of the Korean dub added subtitles to inform viewers what buffers are.
- The Latin American title of this episode is the same as that of the eighteenth episode of the eleventh series.
Goofs
- Throughout the episode, when Thomas is pulling the trucks, they change their position rapidly. The number of trucks also change, such as when Thomas leaves Knapford, he has three vans. However, when he goes through Henry's Tunnel, he has two vans for the rest of the episode. Also, as Thomas comes out of Henry's Tunnel, the tracks bounce and the front GWR van also changes into a utility van. The utility van usually seen with bogie wheels also appears with only four wheels in one scene.
- In several American releases, notably those on PBS Kids Sprout, Best of Thomas, Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 1, Roku and the official Thomas & Friends YouTube channel, the episode's audio is out-of-sync. This is due to the audio being sourced from the Shining Time Station episode Jingle, Jingle, Jingle, in which the first few seconds of the opening of the episode are covered by Mr. Conductor's whistle and the end of the episode is cut short. When a full George Carlin version of the episode was made, these first few seconds of audio were removed. As a result of this, the audio throughout the episode is out-of-sync with the footage and ending musical cue plays twice.
- At the beginning of the episode, because of an alternate shot, Gordon is in the middle of the shed with Thomas and Henry to the left and James and Edward to the right but, in the close-ups, Thomas is in the middle, Gordon and James are on one side and Edward and Henry are on the other. This appears to be unused footage shots for the episode Edward and Gordon, as the engines are all in the same positions. Because of this alternate shot, Edward is smiling while the others are frowning. In fact, Edward is clearly shown frowning along with the others just before the narrator says, "The other engines didn't take much notice," even though he is said to feel sorry for Thomas.
- When Thomas shunts the first Troublesome Truck, the siding it is in does not have buffers at the end.
- In the second close-up of a troublesome truck, Knapford cannot be seen behind it. The same thing also happens in the close-up of Thomas' whistle.
- When the narrator says that the guard blew his whistle, a whistle sound is heard but the guard is only holding a green flag.
- For a brief second, when Thomas flies through Elsbridge, a crew member's hand can be seen in the top right corner of the screen, grabbing the footbridge to prevent the camera from hitting it,[4] and the left pair of tracks also come to an end.
- In the close-ups of Thomas pulling a truck, the rest of the train is missing.
- In some American home video releases, when Thomas puffs up Gordon's Hill, a voice says, "Look out for the train!" while the music and sound effects are briefly muted. In some other American home video releases, the voice can still be heard but the music and sound effects are not muted.
- In the restored version, the scene of the trucks bumping Thomas becomes out of sync due to three missing cuts the original version has where the trucks stay still for too long. The original version removes almost a full second for this scene, which explains the sudden desync of the audio in the restored version.
- The narrator refers to the siding as the goods yard when Thomas bumped into the buffers.
- In the close-up of Thomas hitting the buffers, his buffer housings are black as opposed to red and his brake pipe is different.
- When Thomas hits the buffers in the siding, there is a second track because the same truck close-up is used.
- When the narrator says, "When he opened his eyes..." Thomas' eyes are misaligned and his face is also slightly crooked.
- In some American home video releases, during the final shot of Thomas reversing out of the siding, the outro music begins to fade in several seconds too early before abruptly cutting off and then starting again at the correct point.
In Other Languages
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Magazine Stories
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Home Video Releases
Episode
Thomas and the Trucks - UK
UK Narration
Trouble for Thomas - US (George Carlin)
US Narration (George Carlin)
(out-of-sync)
(out-of-sync)
References
| #01 Thomas and Gordon | #10 James and the Express | #19 The Flying Kipper |
| #02 Edward and Gordon | #11 Thomas and the Guard | #20 Whistles and Sneezes |
| #03 The Sad Story of Henry | #12 Thomas Goes Fishing | #21 Toby and the Stout Gentleman |
| #04 Edward, Gordon and Henry | #13 Thomas, Terence and the Snow | #22 Thomas in Trouble |
| #05 Thomas' Train | #14 Thomas and Bertie | #23 Dirty Objects |
| #06 Thomas and the Trucks | #15 Tenders and Turntables | #24 Off the Rails |
| #07 Thomas and the Breakdown Train | #16 Trouble in the Shed | #25 Down the Mine |
| #08 James and the Coaches | #17 Percy Runs Away | #26 Thomas' Christmas Party |
| #09 Troublesome Trucks | #18 Coal | |