| This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the Japanese VHS, the Malaysian VCD or the Buzz Book. |
- “I'm sorry about the trucks. I can't think how you managed to stop them in time."
"Oh, well, my driver told me about circus people who walk tightropes but I just didn't fancy doing it myself!” - ― Mavis and Toby
Toby's Tightrope is the fifteenth episode of the third series. It is based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book Tramway Engines.
Plot
One day, Percy arrives at the quarry to pick up some stone trucks. The only other engine in the quarry at the moment is Mavis, who is sheltering between rocks looking miserable. Percy tells the young diesel to cheer up but she explains that the manager found out about her going down Toby's line and causing trouble, so he has confined her to the quarry. She calls Toby a fusspot again, enraging Percy, who tells her that Toby knows a lot about trucks and that they must be left where he wants them. Percy then leaves to take his trucks to the harbour. Although Mavis likes Percy, she still does not understand why she cannot go down the line.
The quarry's siding arrangements are very awkward. Mavis is forced to make several trips by going backwards and forwards shunting a few trucks at a time if she wants to put them in the correct places for Toby. Mavis is desperate to leave the quarry and makes a plan; she starts by telling her driver the work would be a lot easier if she could use a small part of Toby's line. Suspecting nothing, the driver agrees and Mavis is allowed to go as far as the first level crossing.
The weather changes a few days later, which melts the ice and the snow away. This causes an increase in work and Mavis takes trains that are so long that she has to go beyond the level crossing. She decides to proceed with her plan to go further down the line without making it look like her fault and asks the trucks to bump her at the level crossing and tell no one she asked them. The trucks agree but things go awry when Toby arrives while she is gone and decides to shunt them himself. The trucks decide to bump Toby instead of Mavis anyway and, when he reaches the level crossing, the trucks give him a fearful bump and push him down the line.
Melted ice and snow have caused the river on Toby's line to become a torrent and wash away a crumbling wooden bridge after a log destroys a section of it, leaving only the rails behind which form a tightrope across the abyss. When Toby is finally able to stop after his driver fights for control, he is on the "tightrope" precariously above the water, ready to fall any second as more pieces of the bridge crumble into the torrent.
When Mavis hears what has happened, she is horrified and immediately goes to help. Toby is anchored to some rocks with chains as Mavis takes away the trucks. Eventually, she is able to pull Toby to safety and later apologises about what happened with the trucks. Toby thanks Mavis, telling her that, while he has heard of tightrope walkers from a circus, he had not imagined doing it himself.
The Fat Controller sees Mavis later and congratulates her for doing well in an emergency. Mavis admits she was responsible for the trucks' behaviour but asks if she can still use Toby's line, as Toby has offered to show her what to do. The Fat Controller agrees on the condition that Mavis' manager allows her to, which he does. Mavis is now happier than ever and is considered to be a Really Useful Engine.
Characters
Locations
Trivia
- According to concept art on Ffarquhar Quarry, this was originally intended to be the sixteenth episode of the third series.
- Despite Toby's name being in the episode's title, he only has two lines of speech in this episode.
- This is one of the few third series episodes to use the train brake sound effect from the 20th Century Fox Film sound effects library.
- Both this episode and the previous one aired on Christmas Day 1991 in the United States.
- This is Mavis' last episode with a leading role until the sixth series episode Salty's Secret.
- In the UK re-dub, most international dubs and the Ukrainian voice-over, the music is barely audible when Mavis pulls the trucks away and rescues Toby.
- This episode was shown alongside the fourth series episode Rusty to the Rescue in an airing of Storytime with Thomas.
- Starting with this episode, Percy's whistle is at a lower pitch and would stay that way for the rest of the series. It was previously at a lower pitch in Time for Trouble, then returned to normal in Thomas, Percy and the Dragon.
- In the second opening shot of Percy entering the quarry, a model of a Cadillac lorry from Tugs, the sister show of Thomas & Friends, makes an appearance.
- To achieve the effect of the Ffarquhar River Bridge, it stood as a complete sound structure then with cuts to close up on wheels. It was then replaced with a collapsible one and filmed in a sequence in slow motion. The water was pumped up from a catchment tank and the slow mo gave it a scale. The timbers breaking and falling away were pulled using thin fishing nylon.
Goofs
- Throughout the episode, Mavis' face is slightly tilted to the left.
- In the beginning of the episode, some studio equipment is visible at the top of the screen.
- When Mavis leaves her trucks, there are ten of them. But when Toby arrives, there are only seven. And when the trucks are pushing Toby, there are only five.
- When Mavis asks the trucks to bump her, the truck furthest to the left of her has a square face. However, when Toby arrives to collect the trucks, said truck now has a rectangular face.
- Percy's roof is not properly fitted when he leaves the quarry.
- When Toby backs down onto the trucks, his eyes are misaligned.
- When Toby stops at the level crossing, his face is crooked.
- In the restored version, a crew member's hand can be seen pushing the trucks when they "surge" against Toby.
- A wire can be seen pulling the log and the support beams off the bridge.
- When Mavis pulls Toby to safety:
- There are chains fastened to her cowcatchers. In the next shot, the chains disappear and are replaced by a single chain fastened to Mavis' front coupling. The chains fastened to both her front coupling and cowcatchers all appear in the next shot.
- His face is not properly put in place.
- Michael Angelis' original UK, George Carlin and other international dubs refer to the chains as "ropes" due to an error from the original story of The Railway Series.
In Other Languages
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Merchandise
Toby in Trouble (1992 Dean and Son book)- Toby's Tightrope (1992 Buzz Book)
- Mavis (2003 My Thomas Story Library book)
Home Video Releases
Episode
US narrationOther Languages
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 | |