Thomas & Friends (Classic era, seasons 1-8)

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Thomas & Friends
🎵 They're 2, they're 4, they're 6, they're 8
Shunting trucks and hauling freight
Red and Green and Brown and Blue
They're the really useful crewǃ 🎵
Genre: Live-action
Running Time: 4 minutes and 30 seconds (seasons 1-7 and Jack and the Pack)
10 minutes (seasons 8)
Country: United Kingdom
Release Date: October 9 – December 31, 1984 (Season 1)
September 24 - December 17, 1986 (Season 2)
September 17, 1991 - September 14, 1992 (Season 3)
September 10, 1994 - May 30, 1995 (Season 4) - September 1 - October 30, 1998 (Season 5)
September 16- October 21, 2002 (Season 6)
October 6 - November 10, 2003 (Season 7)
August 15 - October 2, 2006 (Jack and the Pack)
August 1 - October 24, 2004 (Season 8)
Network(s): ITV/ITV1 (seasons 1-3 and 6-8 & Jack and the Pack)
Direct-to-Video and Cartoon Network (seasons 4-5)
Nick Jr. (seasons 6-8 & Jack and the Pack)
Created by: Britt Allcroft
Distributed by: Clearwater Features (Seasons 1 & 2)
The Britt Allcroft Company (Seasons 3-5)
Gullane Entertainment (Seasons 6 & 7 and Jack and the Pack)
HiT Entertainment (Seasons 8-19)
Starring: Ringo Starr (UK/US; seasons 1 & 2)
Michael Angelis (UK; seasons 3-16 & Jack and the Pack/US New Friends for Thomas and Other Adventures)
George Carlin (US; seasons 1-4)
Alec Baldwin (US; seasons 5 & 6/UK; Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
Michael Brandon (US; seasons 7-16 and Jack and the Pack)
Seasons: 8 and a half
Episodes: 221
Next show: Mid-late HiT model (Seasons 9-11; 2005-2007) and Sharon Miller eras (seasons 12-16; 2008-2012)


Thomas & Friends (also known as Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Thomas the Tank Engine) is a British children's television series. It is based on The Railway Series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry. It had its first broadcast on the ITV network in 1984 and started airing in the United States through Shining Time Station in January 1989 until September 1st, 2020, when all of Season 24's regular-length episodes were released in the US on Netflix. The series finished airing in airing order in the UK on January 20th, 2021. The last episode of the 1984-2021 series aired overall is Thomas' Animal Friends.

Note: This article will mainly focus on the first eight seasons. For Seasons 17-21, see this page.

Plot

The series follows the adventures of Thomas, an anthropomorphized train, on the fictional Island of Sodor with fellow engines Edward, Gordon, Henry, James, Percy, and Toby, along with many other anthropomorphized engines and vehicles. Thomas usually gets into trouble by doing jobs best left to bigger and more sensible engines, but never gives up on being a "Really Useful Engine". Many of the stories from the first four seasons are based on real-life events from Wilbert Awdry's personal experiences.

Why They Are Really Useful

  1. After numerous failed attempts at adapting the Railway Series to TV and pleasing the likes of the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, Britt Allcroft, and her team decided to adapt the books more constructively and were able to please Awrdy that it was to his likening by contacting a stop-motion animation studio and hiring multiple mainstream TV writers at the time to make a proper Railway Series adaption without any production difficulties or lack of funding from the US market, as they managed to get enough money and funding that their hard work paid off, and thus created one of the most iconic kids shows of the 1980s and helped The Railway Series stay relevant at the time.
    • All of this is thanks to the talented team behind the series and the love and care they put into making it and how faithful the series is to the source material with its numerous amount of references and keeping the same tone as The Railway Series, but added more content for a wider audience and to fit with the TV time slot at the time, thus making the series a faithful adaption of Awrdy's work.
  2. The earlier episodes are very faithful to the original Railway Series books and are also fun to watch (e.g., "Thomas and Bertie", "Whistles and Sneezes", "A Close Shave" and "Edward's Exploit").
  3. The idea of talking railway engines is cool and feels realistic (as you can tell by The Railway Series).
  4. Many likable characters, such as
  5. The model work in the live-action model series is very well done, with lots of attention to detail. The same can be said with the CGI models of humans, vehicles, rolling stock, and even the engines.
  6. The Really Useful Around the World videos are pretty interesting and fun to watch.
  7. Well-done narration, especially from Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Michael Angelis, Alec Baldwin (only in Season 5) and Michael Brandon (only in Series 7)
    • Ringo Starr (yes, that's him of The Beatles) did a superb job of narrating the first two series for both the UK and US.
    • The late George Carlin is often ranked alongside Ringo as the best narrator of the Classic Era. His voices for Thomas, Percy, Bill, Ben, Gordon, James, The Fat Controller/Sir Topham Hatt, Donald, Douglas, Trevor, Duncan, Toad, Tom Tipper, Oliver, Boco, Edward, Duck, Daisy and Harold show how talented and enthusiastic he is.
    • Alec Baldwin did the best US narration (only in season 5).
    • After Alec Baldwin left, Michael Brandon did great in taking over.
    • The late Michael Angelis is also a legend of his name as he has a ton of great voices such as Thomas, Percy, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Donald, Douglas, Diesel, Duck, Duncan, and many others showing how enthusiastic he is.
    • Pierce Brosnan did great as well in "The Great Discovery".
  8. All of the theme songs are catchy.
  9. Speaking of Shining Time Station, the US dub is pretty good (except in Season 6 with Alec Baldwin's awful narration in that season).
  10. The Japanese dub is just as great as the UK and US dubs. It was the first Thomas dub to individually voice the characters, predating Thomas and the Magic Railroad by 10 years.
  11. The engines, rolling stock, and road vehicles are based on actual British railway engines, rolling stock, and vehicles, and most of the episodes were based on real-life events.
    • "The Sad Story of Henry" was inspired by an incident in America where a steam engine couldn't get out of a tunnel.
    • "The Flying Kipper" was based on an accident at Abbots Ripton in Huntingdonshire in 1876
    • Donald's accident in "Break Van" is based on an accident where a railway engine crashed tender-first into a signal box.
    • "A Better View for Gordon" is based on the famous 1895 Gare Montparnasse train crash in Paris.
    • "Busy Going Backwards" is based on a couple of "hair-raising" runaway trains in the Tondu Valleys that occurred during David Maidment's time as Area Manager in South Wales.
    • "Escape" is based on the time when British Railways started scrapping their steam engines in favor of the diesels.
    • "Percy's Promise" is based on an event where an engine went through a flooded branch line with its passenger train.
  12. There are so many great episodes, such as:
    • "Thomas and Gordon" ("Thomas Gets Tricked" in the US")
    • "Edward and Gordon" ("Edward Helps Out" in the US)
    • "Edward, Gordon and Henry" ("Henry to the Rescue" in the US)
    • "Thomas' Train" ("A Big Day for Thomas" in the US)
    • "Thomas and the Trucks" ("Trouble for Thomas" in the US)
    • "Thomas and the Breakdown Train" ("Thomas Saves the Day" in the US)
    • "Troublesome Trucks" ("Foolish Freight Cars" in the US)
    • "James and the Express" ("A Proud Day for James" in the US)
    • "Thomas Goes Fishing"
    • "Thomas, Terence and the Snow" ("Terence the Tractor" in the US)
    • "Thomas and Bertie" ("Thomas and Bertie's Great Race" in the US)
    • "Percy Runs Away"
    • "Coal" ("Henry's Special Coal" in the US)
    • "The Flying Kipper"
    • "Whistles and Sneezes"
    • "Dirty Objects" ("James in a Mess" in the US)
    • "Off the Rails" ("Gordon Takes a Dip" in the US)
    • "Down the Mine"
    • "Thomas' Christmas Party"
    • "Thomas, Percy and the Coal" ("Double Trouble" in the US)
    • "Saved from Scrap"
    • "Old Iron"
    • "Thomas and Trevor" ("A New Friend for Thomas" in the US)
    • "Duck Takes Charge"
    • "Percy and Harold" ("Percy Proves a Point" in the US)
    • "Pop Goes the Diesel"
    • "A Close Shave" ("A Close Shave for Duck" in the US)
    • "Break Van" ("Donald and Douglas" in the US)
    • "The Deputation"
    • "Thomas Comes to Breakfast"
    • "The Diseasel"
    • "Edward's Exploit"
    • "Ghost Train" ("Percy's Ghostly Trick" in the US)
    • "Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree"
    • "Percy's Promise"
    • "Time for Trouble"
    • "Gordon and the Famous Visitor"
    • "Thomas, Percy and the Dragon"
    • "Henry's Forest" (though it was heavily criticized by the Reverend W. Awdry)
    • "Thomas, Percy and the Post Train" ("Thomas, Percy and the Mail Train" in the US")
    • "Trust Thomas"
    • "Mavis"
    • "Toby's Tightrope"
    • "Buzz, Buzz" ("James Goes Buzz, Buzz" in the US)
    • "All at Sea"
    • "Escape"
    • "Bulgy"
    • "Heroes"
    • "Granpuff"
    • "Sleeping Beauty"
    • "Bulldog"
    • "You Can't Win"
    • "Four Little Engines"
    • "Special Funnel"
    • "Steam Roller"
    • "Gallant Old Engine"
    • "Rusty to the Rescue"
    • "Bowled Out"
    • "Toad Stands By"
    • "Thomas and the Special Letter"
    • "Paint, Pots and Queens" ("Thomas Meets the Queen" in the US)
    • "Special Attraction"
    • "Fish" (Not be confused with the Season 8 episode)
    • "Cranky Bugs"
    • "Horrid Lorry"
    • "A Better View for Gordon"
    • "Lady Hatt's Birthday Party"
    • "Bye George!"
    • "Put Upon Percy"
    • "Toby and the Flood"
    • "Double Teething Troubles"
    • "Haunted Henry"
    • "Stepney Gets Lost"
    • "Toby's Discovery" (Despite Toby's worrisome personality that he would have more frequently later in seasons 9-16, and the season 18 episode, "Signals Crossed".)
    • "Something in the Air"
    • "Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach"
    • "Oliver's find"
    • "Happy Ever After"
    • "Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday"
    • "Make Someone Happy"
    • "Busy Going Backwards"
    • "Duncan Gets Spooked"
    • "Rusty and the Boulder"
    • "Salty's Secret"
    • "No Sleep For Cranky"
    • "A Bad Day for Harold the Helicopter" ("A Bad Day for Harold" in the US and only in Nick Jr. UK airings)
    • "Jack Jumps In"
    • "A Friend in Need"
    • "Twin Trouble"
    • "Scaredy Engines"
    • "James and the Red Balloon"
    • "Gordon Takes a Tumble"
    • "Percy's Chocolate Crunch"
    • "Toby Had a Little Lamb"
    • "Thomas the Jet Engine" ("Thomas and the Jet Engine" in the US)
    • "Dunkin Duncan"
    • "Faulty Whistles"
    • "Emily's New Coaches"
    • "Percy Gets It Right"
    • "Bill, Ben and Fergus"
    • "James and the Queen of Sodor"
    • "The Spotless Record"
    • "Toby's Windmill" ("Toby and the Windmill" in the US)
    • "Bad Day at Castle Loch"
    • "Salty's Stormy Tale"
    • "Snow Engine" ("Oliver the Snow Engine" in the US)
    • "Something Fishy"
    • "The Runaway Elephant"
    • "Peace And Quiet"
    • "Bulgy Rides Again"
    • "Harold and the Flying Horse"
    • "Best Dressed Engine"
    • "Gordon and Spencer"
    • "Not So Hasty Puddings" ("Not So Hasty Cakes" or "Thomas and the Avalanche" in the US)
    • "Three Cheers for Thomas" ("Hooray for Thomas" in the US, which also ended the classic series with a flourishing touch)
    • "Thomas to the Rescue"
    • "James Gets a New Coat"
    • "Thomas Saves the Day" (Not to be confused with the US title of the Season 1 episode)
    • "Emily's New Route"
    • "Thomas and the Firework Display"
    • "Gordon Takes Charge"
    • "Spic and Span"
    • "Edward the Great"
    • "Halloween"
    • "You Can Do It, Toby!"
    • "James Goes Too Far"
  13. "The Great Discovery" (A great special that ended the model series with a spectacular remark)
  14. The music and songs are well-done, such as:
    • "Thomas' Anthem"
    • "Let's Have a Race"
    • "Gone Fishing"
    • "Toby"
    • "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover"
    • "The Island Song"
    • "Really Useful Engine"
    • "Rules and Regulations"
    • "That's What Friends are For"
    • "Night Train"
    • "Accidents Will Happen"
    • "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining"
    • "It's Great to be an Engine"
    • "The Snow Song"
    • "Donald's Duck"
    • "Come for the Ride"
    • "Harold the Helicopter"
    • "Percy's Seaside Trip"
    • "James the Really Splendid Engine"
    • "Little Engines"
    • "Down by the Docks"
    • "Winter Wonderland"
    • "Never, Never, Never Give Up"
    • "The Red Balloon"
    • "There Once Was an Engine Who Ran Away"
    • "Troublesome Trucks"
    • "Salty"
    • "The Whistle Song"
    • "Sounds"
    • "Surprises"
    • "Determination"
    • "Ode to Gordon"
    • "Engine Roll Call"
      • The Japanese dub even had its exclusive song, "I'm Thomas the Tank Engine!".
  15. The crashes are epic and fun to watch (despite some being unrealistic).
  16. It's not afraid to be mature and have dark themes, (Especially in series 4 & 5).
    • One example of a dark episode is "Granpuff", where Duke tells the story of an engine named Smudger who misbehaved and often rolled off the rails before he got turned into a stationary generator because the manager wanted to make him "useful at last". If that's not bad enough, Duke then gets abandoned and buried alive in his shed by a landslide.
    • "Haunted Henry" was also a dark episode of the show because of the spooky atmosphere.
    • "Stepney Gets Lost" sees Stepney nearly get melted down until the Fat Controller saves him just in time.
  17. Many good morals that kids can learn, such as:
    • "Be patient" ("Thomas' Train", though the episode was bad, "The Runaway Elephant" and other episodes that have to do with patience)
    • "Don't spread lies about other people" ("Dirty Work"; series 2)
    • "Work together" (various episodes)
    • "How PTSD can affect us" ("The Old Bridge", though this episode was also bad.)
    • "Stay true to promises, no matter what" ("Percy's Promise")
    • "Always obey orders" ("Down the Mine" and "Percy Takes the Plunge")
    • "Some people can do things that others can't" ("Thomas, Terence and the Snow")
    • "Snow isn't as innocent as you think" ("Thomas, Terence and the Snow")
    • "Water is important for you" ("Gordon and Spencer")
    • "Brake vans are important for all trains" ("The Runaway Elephant")
    • "Help everyone in need" (various episodes)
    • "Size doesn't matter" ("Alfie Has Kittens")
    • "Boastfulness can bite you back" ("Thomas, Percy and the Coal")
  18. These seasons had a handful of goofy and comfortable episodes such as "Pop Goes the Diesel", "Donald's Duck", "Rock 'N' Roll", "Gallant Old Engine", "Cranky Bugs", "Something in the Air" and "One Good Turn".
  19. The dawn in "The Flying Kipper" is one of the series' best visuals.
  20. The series has a very relaxing and calm slice-of-life feel to it but doesn't make the show feel boring to watch, and when combined with the realistic tone and 1900s setting, it makes the show feel almost like being in the early 20th century for the viewer, which is very nice and makes the show rewatchable for all audiences.
  21. Several funny and humorous moments that offer younger audiences many laughs and giggles, such as the characters giving insults to each other and Thomas trying to control himself only to crash himself into a piece of environment (which can seen as both intense and hilarious at the same time).
  22. It helped The Railway Series become popular amongst a much larger audience in both the UK and even the US (a market where most British entertainment didn't do well aside from the Beatles and Monty Python), and because of this, both this show and the books gained a massive cult following and became one of the most beloved kids shows of all time alongside Sesame Street, LazyTown, Arthur, Blue's Clues, Fireman Sam (Stop-Motion era) and Mister Roger's Neighbourhood.
  23. There are some elements of Stop-Motion implemented in the show and they are very well-handled, such as the miniature human figures occasionally moving their heads or bodies around at times and a few objects falling onto the characters that make the world of Sodor feel more realistic and give the visuals more flair than ever before.

"Disgraceful, Disgusting, and Despicable" Qualities

  1. Because Thomas is the titular character, he often takes up too much screen time. Fans either blame him, the writers, or even both of them for this. Here's a video that pointed this out. Thankfully, this was toned down during series 17-21 and has been less of an issue.
    • The main reason why fans complained about this is due to Thomas being a bit too unlikable in some of the episodes he is in when compared to other characters like Percy or Gordon, as he can act pretty rude at times and tends to get rather annoying at times in the show too, and it doesn't help that The Railway Series focused on different characters other than Thomas, which can make the show falling behind on the book series in general. Thankfully, this was toned down in the Brenner era by making Thomas more likable and giving the other characters more focus than him, which is a bit of an improvement but still.
  2. Like most long-running shows, the series eventually went downhill.
    • It first began to go downhill during series 8, but it didn't get too bad until Season 9 when the series was hit with a massive decline in quality (with Seasons 12-15 being just as bad, if not worse, though Seasons 11 and late-season 16 are slight improvements). It wasn’t until Season 17 that the series massively redeemed itself after years of complaints from fans and critics.
    • Sadly, it went through another decline in quality by Season 22 with the "Big World! Big Adventures!" rebrand and hasn't been the same ever since. Season 24 showed some improvement over 22 and 23, but because of the original series ending after series 24 with a reboot, all of that hope for things to become better was pretty much gone (unless you're counting the Marc Forster Thomas movie).
    • Speaking of the reboot, that's something interesting to talk about. The series reboot has been critically panned by fans and has taken the quality of the Thomas franchise to new levels of low, WAY worse than Seasons 9-16 and 22-24. The following reasons and more make the aforementioned seasons look like masterpieces in comparison.
      • It relies way too much on cartoonish physics (which is jarring and out-of-place considering the realistic tone of the original series, with some exceptions though).
      • The writers and directors have little to no understanding of the Thomas franchise (the latter are Nelvana, mind you).
      • Thomas is now the main star of every episode, leaving little to no room for the other characters to get the spotlight.
      • The engines (especially Thomas and Percy) are now having more fun rather than doing work.
      • It completely abandons the British aspect and feels from the original.
      • The Fat Controller/Sir Topham Hatt's role as railway director has been taken away and he's now treated as an utter joke.
      • Thomas acts far more childlike than in the original.
      • Gordon is now a father figure to Thomas, which makes no sense logic-wise.
      • Also, Diesel is now Thomas's best friend, rather than a villain.
      • The substances the original show and the Railway Series books had is completely nonexistent.
      • Even the humans are demoted to background characters.
  3. Quite possibly the absolute worst offender of them all was the infamous first attempt at making a TV adaptation of the books from 1953, which only adapted "The Sad Story of Henry". The only episode ever made was done live; as a result, it featured multiple problems throughout. The problems went from superimposed rain being put in very poorly, live narration from a script that wasn't adapted as faithfully as the '80s cartoon, and the Hornby 00 models moving very jerkishly throughout the railway. At one point, the operator had forgotten to set some of the points needed for the model to cross, thus leading to Henry derailing and a human hand putting it back on the rails on-camera, while the Mariott family and the Reverend W. Awdry were watching at home. As a result of that, and the disaster making front-page news over the murder trial of notorious serial killer John Christie, BBC canceled the program after that episode.
  4. There are some occasional bad or mediocre episodes, or episodes that aren't as good as some others, such as:
    • "Better Late Than Never"
    • "Gordon and the Gremlin"
      • While these two episodes are not terrible, they are pretty boring compared to the rest of the seasons.
    • "Percy and the Haunted Mine" Due to having Percy's child like personality, which became the norm in the HIT era, which this episode aired a couple of years before said era.
    • "Middle Engine" Quite possibly the worst episode of not only season 6, but the whole classic series.
    • "Buffer Bother"
    • "Dirty Work"("Diesel's Devious Deed or Diesel's Devillish Deed" in the US)
    • "Rusty Saves the Day"
    • "The Old Bridge" ("The Old Iron Bridge" in the US, and only in Nick Jr. UK airings) Also could count as the worst classic episode, and also Season 7 as a whole.
    • "What's the Matter with Henry?"
    • "Rheneas and the Roller Coaster"
    • "Thomas and the Tuba" (which started the downfall of the series)
    • "Henry and the Wishing Tree"
    • "Percy's Big Mistake"
    • "Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough"
    • "Thomas and the Circus"
    • "As Good as Gordon"
    • "Emily's Adventure" Which was where Emily's bossy personality was worse.
    • "Chickens to School"
    • "Too Hot for Thomas"
    • "Percy and the Magic Carpet" (Which ended Season 8 in a mediocre way)
  5. Alec Baldwin's narration takes a huge nosedive in quality starting in series 6. It becomes a lot more bland, boring, and unenthusiastic. He also stopped doing his character voices from series 5, like Henry, Duncan, Gordon, and especially Bill and Ben, and not even attempting a Scottish accent for Donald, Douglas, and Duncan respectively. He still makes some good voices here and there, like Elizabeth, Byron, and Salty, (and the foreman in Middle Engine of all episodes) but that's about it. The only Season 6 episodes that Alec does a good job narrating are "Elizabeth the Vintage Quarry Truck", "Jack Jumps In" and "A Friend in Need", while the only voice that he kept consistent from Series 5 is Sir Topham Hatt.
    • In Duncan's case, he no longer has a Scottish accent given by Baldwin in that season.
    • Henry no longer sounds like he did in season 5 either, while he could technically sound like he is holding in a bad sneeze, his voice for Henry was nonetheless enjoyable in season 5.
    • What's sad to see and hear that happen is that the reason why he was sounding like this is probably because of his divorce with Kim Basinger, which that event happened the same year series 6 was released in the UK.
  6. Unfortunately, Thomas garnered controversy in 2003 when moral guardians said that the crashes could scare kids.
  7. There are some unlikable characters, such as...
    • The Policeman from Thomas in Trouble
    • Bulgy the busand George the steamroller (depending on your view if you find them entertaining
    • Class 40 (The Diesel Engine from Bowled Out)
    • Arry and Bert, arguably the worst characters, which it didn't help that Arry and Bert started off as the scary diesels that take steam engines to the scrap yard into regular bullies.
  8. The seasons aren't always perfect and have their share of hiccups.
    • The early seasons have tons of goofs and filming trouble.
    • Season 1, although excellent, may seem less engaging and lackluster compared to the more dynamic Seasons 2-5 for some viewers.
    • While not always a negative aspect, Season 5 exhibits a darker and edgier tone compared to the first four seasons, with episodes such as "Haunted Henry," "Duncan Gets Spooked," and "Toby's Discovery" potentially being quite frightening for younger viewers who are easily disturbed.
    • Although Season 6 is impressive, it has its flaws. The season is marred by subpar narration from Alec Baldwin for the US dub, as noted in BQ#5, lackluster camera work, and generally inferior visuals compared to other seasons of the model era. In fact, even Seasons 1 and 2 boast more appealing visuals than this season.
    • Season 7 is not bad at all either. But in the US and especially in the later UK versions, they (HiT Entertainment) completely changed the music from Mike and Junior in place of famously, Robert Hartshorne and the theme song was also changed from the Classic intro to the Season 8 intro, which angered and disappointed fans, and that problem has not been fixed ever since. Hell, HIT Entertainment did not even bother changing the new music, opening and closing sequences back to the old music and opening and closing sequences when all of the first seven seasons were released on Amazon Prime in 2016 for the US, which is lazy of them since they didn't do anything about the criticism they received from fans back then.
    • While Season 8 is pretty good has a handful of good episodes and is the best season of the HiT model era, it's considered to be of somewhat lesser quality than the previous seasons and the start of the series' downfall. It also has some inconsistencies and continuity errors, like the infamous plot hole regarding Henry being bad at pulling the express. Plus, there are a few bad episodes. Other problems include the fact that Emily has been flanderized just one season after being introduced and numerous side characters from previous seasons such as Duck, BoCo, Oliver, Bill, Ben, Donald, and Douglas are either nowhere to be seen or only make small cameo appearances. Oh, and this season can be boring for some people.
  9. Sometimes, the continuity contradicts itself kind of like SpongeBob in a way. "Rusty Saves the Day" and "Henry and the Wishing Tree" are the worst offenders for different and obvious reasons.
  10. There are visual errors here and there, too:
    • An example is that whether or not the engines can control themselves without their driver or firemen is very inconsistent. Many people have thought that since the trains were alive, they could move on their own. In episodes like "Daisy", they seem to be able to move without them, but other episodes such as "Thomas Comes to Breakfast" and "Old Iron" make it clear that engines do need drivers.
      • This inconsistency worsens starting from series 8 onwards, as the engine crews are seen less often in the cabs, and "The Great Discovery" has several instances where Thomas goes into areas that a driver would not have allowed him to, and has at least one accident the driver and fireman would have been injured in. However, throughout series 9-16, the engine drivers and firemen are seen more regularly in the engines' cabs but are strangely silent, and are doing little more than making the engines move and other actions for the engines without question.
        • In the 2021 reboot, as announced in the SiF blog post, the engines will now move without their crews to run them.
    • Geographic inaccuracy error: In some episodes of the US version of the series, the term "railroad" is used to refer to the North Western Railway as a railroad, despite Sodor's railways being geographically British. This happened one time in the UK dub of "Elizabeth the Vintage Lorry", with The Fat Controller saying Elizabeth is the "grandest lorry in the whole railroad", which is again geographically inaccurate because a railroad is an American term for a railway. This is thankfully fixed in Baldwin's narration when Sir Topham Hatt calls Elizabeth "the grandest truck in the whole railway".
  11. Though unintentionally most of the time, some episodes in the good seasons can teach kids bad morals, such as: "It's okay if bullies pick on people other than you" ("Middle Engine") and "Be clumsy and you might get what you want" ("Buffer Bother").
  12. Sir Topham Hatt can be unlikable in some episodes. ("Thomas and The Trucks") ("Percy's Predicament" (at least with Percy), "Break Van", "Thomas Comes To Breakfast", "Percy, James And The Fruitful Day", "Cranky Bugs" (at first), "Something In The Air", "Duncan Get's Spooked", "Middle Engine", "Percy Gets It Right", etc) Mainly because he gets cross with his engines for accidents that were not their fault.
    • However, it can be forgivable in episodes like Cranky Bugs and Percy gets it right since he did apologize.

Reception

Series 1-7 (1984-2003 [UK], 1989-2004 [US]) was met with critical acclaim and are often to be the best of the series by critics and fans of the Railway Series, who praised the series for its writing, humor, characters and early episodes' connection to the Railway Series books and the original stories. Specifically, series 2, 4, and 5 were highly acclaimed by fans. Despite that, several episodes such as "Middle Engine", "Rusty Saves the Day" and "What's the Matter with Henry" were negatively received by fans.

The Jack and the Construction Crew miniseries (2006) (which was filmed alongside series 7) was praised for its 13-episode run and the chances for Mrs. Jenny's construction crew to get a chance to shine.

Series 8 (2004) received a mixed reception with criticism primarily with HiT Entertainment's decision to dumb down the series for very young audiences and others including inconsistencies, minor flanderization of some characters (though nowhere near as bad as Seasons 9-16 and mostly depends on the episode), inaccuracies and some bad episodes. There were still solid fan favorites such as "Thomas to the Rescue", "James Gets a New Coat", "Halloween", "Edward the Great", "Squeak, Rattle, and Roll", "Don't Tell Thomas", "Emily's New Route", "You Can Do It, Toby", and "Thomas and the Fireworks Display", but there were a couple of stinkers such as "Emily's Adventure" and "Thomas Gets it Right" as examples.

Seasons 17-21 (2013-2017) received mostly positive reception, due to having the same charm as the first seven seasons of the show (and to some extent, Season 8), redeeming the characters who used to be flanderized and the better writing, along with improved animation and great voice acting in the UK and US.

Really Useful Around the World (2015-2016; a short-lived YouTube miniseries spin-off) was met with positive feedback for the idea of Thomas traveling around the world, learning different cultures, and going to different non-Sudrian places. This concept carried onto the Big World! Big Adventures! era from 2018-2020.

Great Race Friends Near and Far (2016-2017; another short-lived YouTube miniseries spin-off) was met with good reception for giving the engines introduced in "The Great Race" to shine, including Etinee, Ashima, Rajiv, and Frieda.

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Trivia

  • It first aired in the US on PBS as a segment on Shining Time Station. It then premiered on PBS in 2004 as a standalone program, airing on the channel until 2017. The show then aired on Nickelodeon (and later Nick Jr.) until 2020.
  • The Three Railway Engines, the first book of the Railway Series was published on George Carlin's eighth birthday in 1945.
  • George Carlin was the preferred choice for the narrator of the US dub by Kenn Viselman, the head of marketing for the franchise.
  • According to Britt Allcroft, she chose Ringo Starr as the narrator of the UK dub after hearing his voice on television and thought children would relate to him. At first, Allcroft denied that he was chosen because of his Beatles fame since she was not a fan of the band at the time.
    • Ringo accepted the job of narrator after reading all of the Railway Series books released at that time. He also recorded narration for the Ladybird audiobooks.
    • Ringo Starr recorded the narration for the first season in eight days. That includes re-doing four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
    • After Ringo left the show in 1989/1990 (both British and American versions) to continue and focus more on his music career, he stated in an interview that Thomas will always have a special place in his heart and he is proud to be a part of Thomas' world.
  • On the BBC game show Pointless, when asked who took over narrating the UK version of the series from Starr in 1991, four out of the one hundred people remembered that it was Michael Angelis.
  • The show is extremely popular in Japan due to trains being one of the most common ways to travel in the aforementioned country and many of the show's merchandise is exclusive to the Japanese market. Fuji TV, a popular Japanese TV network that aired the program, helped co-produce the show's third season and it even got three crossovers with a Japanese children's program named Ponkickies.
  • Alec Baldwin is the last narrator to play Mr. Conductor.
    • Alec Baldwin is also the first narrator to not narrate any Railway Series story adaptations.
  • While Carlin usually insulted most of the shows he worked on, he usually spoke very fondly of both Shining Time Station and Thomas and Friends, even in some of his stand-up comedy routines. In an interview on "TV Legends" conducted shortly before he died of heart failure at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California at the age of 71 on June 22, 2008, he explained that he signed on to both shows so that people could see a gentler side of him.
    • In technicality, George Carlin was the first official American Thomas narrator after Ringo Starr's narrations were done.
  • Due to different societal norms in the United States, the Fat Controller is always referred to by his real name, Sir Topham Hatt.
  • In 2020, a second full worldwide theatrical Thomas & Friends movie release was announced and would be directed by Marc Forster, who also did Christopher Robin in 2018. The release date is not known to be confirmed yet, and neither is the plot for the second fully wide theatrical release.

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