Thomas the Jet Engine

Thomas the Jet Engine, retitled Thomas and the Jet Engine in American releases, is the twenty-second episode of the sixth series.

Plot

Gordon is boasting about how fast he can go when Thomas has given the job of delivering a jet engine to Dryaw. He now wishes he could go faster than Gordon.

Thomas is very excited when he arrives at the Docks and is soon ready to leave, but Cranky is taking his time. Thomas tells him to hurry up and Cranky gets cross because he does not like to be told what to do by an engine. Suddenly, Cranky carelessly turns the jet engine on with his hook. The jet engine is soon rocketing Thomas along the track. Thomas' driver tries to apply the brakes, but Thomas cannot stop.

Signals are changed and points are switched for the runaway Thomas, who is very excited and soon flies by James, Henry and Percy, who are all very amazed. When Bertie sees Thomas, he asks him if he would like to have a race, but when Thomas whooshes past him, Bertie quickly reconsiders. Gordon, who is pulling the Express, does not know Thomas is racing on the main line. Soon Thomas whooshes past Gordon, who is very surprised.

At last, the jet engine runs out of fuel and Thomas is back to his normal speed. Still on his way to the jet engine's destination, he steams gently into Knapford and teases Gordon by saying that he is the fastest engine. Henry and James agree, but Percy feels sorry for Gordon and tells the engines that he does not have to go as fast as a jet engine even though James says that Gordon is full of hot air and Gordon fumes away.

Characters

• Thomas
• Henry
• Gordon
• James
• Percy
• Bertie
• Cranky
• Sir Topham Hatt
• Donald (cameo)
• Tiger Moth (cameo)
• Dowager Hatt (cameo)
• Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
• One of the stone-dropping boys (cameo)
• Mr. Walsh (cameo)
• Cyril the Fogman (cameo)
• Farmer Trotter (cameo)
• One Member of the Elsbridge Cricket Club (cameo)
• Big Mickey (faceless, cameo)
• Allicia Botti (mentioned in poster)

Locations

• Crosby Tunnel
• Knapford
• Brendam Docks
  • Sodor Shipping Company
  • Brendam Warehouse
• Lower Tidmouth
• Crosby
• Dryaw
• The Watermill
• Maron
• Gordon's Hill
• The Viaduct

Trivia

• Stock footage from Bye George! and Gordon Takes a Tumble is used.
• This is the first time that Knapford Station is referred to by name in the television series.
• Inspiration for this episode could have come from the rocket-powered rail-sleds used by the United States Air Force.
• This is the second episode to have a rendition of the runaway theme combined with the William Tell Overture (Finale), the first being Busy Going Backwards.
• In the episode itself, Thomas is smiling when he races past Lower Tidmouth, but in a promotional photo, he looks shocked.
• The shot of the Jet Engine being lowered on to the tracks appears to be a reverse shot of it going up.
• Some shots of Thomas with the Jet Engine are sped up.
• Three posters at Knapford read "Allicia Botti in Concert Tonight at the Castle."
• Toad's scrap model from Escape can be seen in one of the shots of Thomas racing out of the Docks.
• The events of this episode were mentioned by Thomas in the eighteenth series episode Emily Saves the World.
• This episode is also referenced in Marvelous Machines.
• In a picture of Thomas passing Henry on Gordon's Hill, the former is on the left track instead of the middle.
• Dowager Hatt, Sir Topham Hatt's mother, makes a cameo in the crowd of passengers watching Thomas speed by Lower Tidmouth. Plus Jeremiah Jobling and a stone-dropping boy too.
• This is the last appearance of Lower Tidmouth to date.

Goofs

• In the close-up of Gordon's driver in his cab, Knapford is missing.
• In Thomas' first close-up at Knapford, the track he is on simply ends behind him.
• The Fat Controller tells Thomas to take the jet engine to the airfield, but at the end of the episode, he takes it back to Knapford.
• When Percy asks what a jet engine is, there are fingerprints on the Fat Controller's hat and shoulder.
• When Gordon is talking at Knapford, some wires are visible in Percy's cab window.
• When Cranky knocks the switch, the chain holding the jet engine disappears.
• The jet engine's switch is already on before Cranky hits it with his hook, so the engine would have been turned off.
• When the jet engine starts, there are some barrels and crates beside it, but after Cranky says "Uh-oh," they have moved.
• When Thomas rushes through Lower Tidmouth, the people are huddled close together, but in the next shot, some have disappeared and the rest are spaced further apart.
• In the shot of the girder bridge, the left-most track leads to the background shrubbery. This can be noticeable before Thomas overtakes Gordon.
• Just after Bertie says "Want a race, Thomas?" the lines where Thomas came from lead to the bushes; when Thomas runs alongside Gordon, the tracks up ahead also lead to the bushes.
• When Thomas passes Gordon, the Jet Engine does not appear to be switched on since no fumes are coming out of the back.
• The jet engine is hollow, but in the close-up of it running out of fuel, the red tank is visible through the nozzle.
• In the last close-up of Percy, his left buffer has excess rubber on the bottom and a girl in pink looks like she is boarding Percy's train of trucks.
• In the Russian narration, when the engines are at the station the second time, Michael Angelis' narration is heard in the background.
• Just before Thomas overtakes Gordon, in the wide shot of Thomas before the point of view shot, Gordon's brake coach is seen at the edge of the screen showing that the train isn't moving.
• When James gets covered in the dust, his body is crooked.
• A chain can be seen pulling Gordon along as well as moving to its right as the camera shows Thomas racing past him. In the same scene, his buffers and coupling are crooked.
• In the picture of a deleted scene, the station footbridge at Maron is missing.

Quotes

• James: Speed isn't everything.
• Thomas: But being reliable and useful is.
• Gordon: You slow engines will never understand, because you'll never go as fast as me.

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• Thomas:  [taken on a wild ride driven by the jet engine] Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooa!

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• Bertie: Want a race, Thomas? (Thomas whooshes by) … Uh, never mind.

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• Cranky: (after realising he accidentally started the Jet Engine) Uh-oh!

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• Thomas: [after his wild ride] Sorry for overtaking you back there, Gordon.
• Gordon: Overtake me? I didn't notice.
• Henry: You didn't notice the fastest engine on the Island of Sodor?
• 'Thomas': Yes. I am the fastest.
• Percy: Gordon doesn't have to go as fast as a jet engine. He's a steam engine.
• James: But he's still full of hot air!

Merchandise

• Wooden Railway (discontinued)
• Capsule Plarail
• Take Along (discontinued)
• Motor Road and Rail (discontinued)
• TrackMaster
• Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)
• Books - Thomas and the Jet Engine and Thomas and the Jet Engine (Germany only)
• Egmont - Thomas and the Jet Engine
• Magazine Stories - Rocket Power

In Other Languages

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