Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (LachStar's Timeline) (2024)

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends was a British live action model series which ran from 1984 to 2008. Based on The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Britt Allcroft. The series follows the adventures of Thomas, an anthromorpisised blue steam locomotive on the fictional North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor with his friends Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Duck and others who are engines of Sir Topham Hatt, also known as The Fat Controller. The rights to the series are owned by Gullane, a subsidiary of HiT entertainment.

Production history[]

Predecessors[]

The first attempt to adapt Awdry's stories for television came in 1953, when the editor of the Railway Series books, Eric Marriott, was approached by the BBC, who wished to use live-action model trains to re-create two stories from Awdry's first book, The Three Railway Engines.[3] 00 gauge Hornby Dublo models appeared on sets that reflected the style of the original illustrations. The first episode (based on "The Sad Story of Henry") was broadcast live on the evening of Sunday 14 June 1953 from Lime Grove Studios.[3][4][5] The live broadcast did not fare well: a failure to switch the points caused the model of Henry to derail and it had to be replaced on the rails by one of the operators. The models moved jerkily, and all effects and music had to be superimposed.[3][4][5]

News of the broadcast hit the front pages of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. Awdry branded the episode "unprofessional", and the point-switching debacle an "elementary mistake".[3][4][5] As a result, the second episode scheduled for 28 June 1953 was put on hold, and then later cancelled.[3][4][5] The BBC offered Awdry and the Railway Series publishers greater creative control over the production, but the publishers declined, preferring to focus on publishing new books for the series.[3]

Nearly twenty years later, the BBC featured Awdry's stories in the television story-telling show Jackanory. Fourteen years before Thomas and Friends was aired, Ted Ray (sitting in a stationmaster's office) read five Railway Series books in episodes that aired between 20 September to 2 October 1970.[3][6]

In 1973, Andrew Lloyd Webber (who had read The Railway Series as a child) approached publisher Kaye & Ward with a proposal for a musical television series, with songs from himself and lyricist Peter Reeves.[7] However, the publishers and the author refused to give Lloyd Webber's company "control of almost everything", which Lloyd Webber's lawyers argued was necessary in order to "secure the investment money from America which would be needed to pay for the animation and the film-making." The status of the project seemed uncertain, and while Stanley Pickard (Kaye & Ward's managing director at the time) told Awdry that he was "maintaining personal contact with Andrew and still had a slight hope that there might be a way out", Awdry remained apprehensive, saying that "Once the Americans get hold of it the whole series would be vulgarised and ruined." Eventually, an agreement was reached and Awdry received an advanced payment of £500.

A pilot episode was commissioned from Granada, which would feature 2D cutouts of the engines moving along a background in a style reminiscent of Ivor the Engine, with involvement from animator Brian Cosgrove. The cutouts and backgrounds were based on illustrations from The Railway Series. The pilot episode was completed by early 1976, but Granada ultimately decided not to produce a full series, as they feared that at the time Awdry's stories were not popular enough outside the UK to justify the time and money needed to make the series.[8] Andrew Lloyd Webber later established the Really Useful Group in 1977, a name derived from the phrase "Really Useful Engine". He would go on to work on a musical loosely inspired by The Railway Series, called Starlight Express, which premiered in 1984, and became one of his most well-known works.

Early years and the series' success[]

In 1979, British television producer Britt Allcroft was producing a documentary on the Bluebell Railway,[3][4] a heritage railway in Sussex which featured in the Railway Series book Stepney the Bluebell Engine.[9] As part of her research before filming, Allcroft read some books in The Railway Series and was highly entertained and impressed with the stories which Awdry had written, later remarking that "there was something in the stories that I felt I could develop that would connect with children. I saw a strong emotional content that would carry with little children's experiences with life."[4]

Allcroft worked to convince Awdry that she could, with funding, convert the stories into a successful television show. Her efforts were successful, and she purchased the television rights from the publishers of The Railway Series at a cost of what was then £50,000 ($74,000 in U.S. dollars at the time).[3][4] Allcroft still had to work to raise the money to finance production and (despite showing a keen interest) wanted a level of creative control which she did not want to forego. In the end, after several years of searching and having to place a second mortgage on her home, Allcroft raised sufficient funding from her local bank manager.[3][4][10][11]

By 1981, Allcroft had secured the finances to produce the show. She started to assemble the crew, including producer and director David Mitton, the founder of Clearwater Features Ltd.; crew member Steve Asquith; American-born producer Robert D. Cardona; and composers and songwriters Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell.

Series 1–3

The series started production in 1984, produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. (Mitton and Cardona's company) and ITV's Central Independent Television region.[12] The series was originally shot and produced with live action models at the Clearwater in-house studio in Battersea, a suburb of London, for Series 1. Production was later relocated to Shepperton Studios, Surrey, southwest of London, for subsequent series. The use of moving models was seen at the time of the series' conception as an effective method of animating the stories. Locomotives and other vehicles were operated by radio controls, while humans and animals were static figures. Stop motion was occasionally employed for instances in which a human or animal character would move. Hand-drawn animation was used in Series 3 to create bees (as seen in the episode "Buzz Buzz").

The first series (1984) used stories from the first eight books, along with one specially written by the Rev. W. Awdry, Thomas's Christmas Party. The second series (1986) used stories from Book No.9 (Edward the Blue Engine) to Book No.30 (More About Thomas the Tank Engine). The latter book was unusual, as it was written specifically by Christopher Awdry to be adapted by the show. At that time, it was a contractual obligation that the series could only adapt stories that appeared in print. The series also used a story from a Thomas Annual, "Thomas and Trevor", and a specially written stand-alone story, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree. The story "Gordon Goes Foreign" from the Railway Series book The Eight Famous Engines was also adapted.

In between production of the second and third series, the production team were focused on producing two other television series: Tugs, which ran for four seasons in 1989, 1993, 1999 and 2001 for Television South (TVS); and the American television series Shining Time Station, which repackaged Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends for the American television market from 1989 to 1996.

Clearwater closed on 31 December 1990, just before production of the third series, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer. Series 3 had its first 16 episodes released on VHS in November 1991 before its broadcast debut in 1992 on CITV. It was made at a cost of £1.3 million (approximately $9.3.million in U.S. dollars at the time).] The series was a combination of episodes derived from The Railway Series, stories in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends magazine (written by Andrew Brenner, who would later be properly credited and hired as a full time writer in 1996) and original stories by Allcroft and Mitton.

One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas (the nominal main character). Awdry complained that the new stories would be unrealistic. Cardona left as producer, while Allcroft joined Mitton as co-producer. Allcroft's husband, Angus Wright, took over as executive producer.

Series 4-6[]

Series 4 was first released direct to video between 1994 and 1995, before its broadcast debut on Cartoon Network. The producers planned to introduce some new female characters, including motor car Caroline, Nancy, and The Refreshment Lady.[16] Some commentators took this as a response to accusations of sexism levelled against the series two years earlier.[17] In reality, these were not "new" characters, but rather creations of Awdry from the original Railway Series books. Series four was almost entirely based on The Railway Series. The narrow-gauge engines were introduced, and were the focus of a number of episodes. Only one original story ("Rusty to the Rescue", written by Allcroft and Mitton) was used, the rest were all adapted from the Railway Series books, but this took certain elements of its plot and dialogue from Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine.

The fifth series (1996) (also first released directly to video before its TV airings on Cartoon Network) was the last season to mainly consist of adapted stories from the Railway Series books and magazines. The Culdee Fell Mountain Railway engines, The Works Diesel and Wilbert the Forest engine (Based on the real life engine from the Dean Forest railway named after the Reverend himself) were introduced to the series for the first time.

The sixth series (1998) (also first released directly to video before its TV airings on Cartoon Network) was a radical shift, as all episodes were written by Allcroft and Mitton with no further stories being adapted from the Railway Series. This series saw the introduction of new characters, such as Cranky, The Horrid Lorries and Old Slow Coach. It also focused on more dramatic and darker action-oriented plotlines, along with more severe accidents, than the earlier series.[citation needed] After series 5, Angus Wright stepped down as executive producer. It was the final series broadcast on Cartoon Network, as Nickelodeon UK would eventually acquire the broadcast rights to the show for it to air on their newly created Nick Jr. channel in 1999. CN continued to air older series until their broadcast rights fully expired in 2001.

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: The Movie was released in theatres across the UK, USA and Canada in August of 2000. It was directed by Allcroft and Mitton, featured new characters created by Christopher Awdry as well as almost every Thomas character that was in the show at the time, and even a few Tugs characters. The film received glowing reviews from children, parents and film critics alike, and mad $61 million dollars at the box office. Soon after, The Britt Allcroft company (now known as Gullane) Would merge with HiT entertainment, becoming a subsidiary. Allcroft and Mitton would fortunately still be given creative control.

Later years[]

The seventh and eighth seasons (2002-2003) were first released directly to VHS and DVD as forty-six episodes in the US and fifty-two in the UK, and continued to introduce action-packed storylines, as well as new characters. These series saw the introduction of a writing staff. The sixth series (2002) saw an attempt to create a spin-off based on the successful Bob the Builder series. Two episodes introduced a group of construction machine characters known as "The Pack". The spin-off ran for two seasons and 52 episodes from 2004-2006. In early 2004, HiT entertainment (and by extension Gullane) would be purchased by Viacom, making all of their shows (including Thomas) exclusive to Nickelodeon/Nick Jr.

The Ninth series (2004) saw a few changes, such as new HD cameras now being used to film, Steve Asquith becoming a director along with Britt and David and series composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell now having a full orchestra of instruments.

Seasons 10-12 (2005-2007) Would continue introducing new characters, and also bring back adaptations, with a few books such as the Aresdale Railway Engine books being adapted. By this point, the team was getting tired of working on the show, and decided to create a second movie to be the finale of the series. This second movie, title Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends: The Great Discovery, would be released in Theatres in Summer 2008, marking the end of a 24 year long legacy.

In 2012, Andrew Brenner would created a CGI reboot of the series, now titled Thomas & Friends. This reboot would only last five years but would still be considered one of the best reboots ever made.

Episode list[]

Coming soon!

Gallery[]