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= Thomas_and_Friends =
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Introduction
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'Thomas & Friends' (originally known as 'Thomas the Tank Engine
& Friends' or simply 'Thomas the Tank Engine'; later called
'Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!') is a British
children's television series. Based on 'The Railway Series' of books
by Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, English writer and
producer Britt Allcroft arranged a deal to bring the stories to life
as the TV series. In the United Kingdom, it had its first broadcast on
the ITV network on October 1984. In the United States, it had its
first broadcast on 'Shining Time Station' in 1989.
These books follow the adventures of a group of anthropomorphised
locomotives and road vehicles who live on the fictional Island of
Sodor. The titular protagonist Thomas is the most popular and famous
character in the series. The books were based on stories Wilbert told
to entertain his son, Christopher, during his recovery from measles.
Many of the stories from the first four series are based on events
from Awdry's personal experience.
Predecessors
==============
Before the airing of the first episode of 'Thomas & Friends' in
1984, previous attempts had been made to adapt Awdry's stories for
television. The first was 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'.
The engines were portrayed by 00 gauge Hornby Dublo models and driven
on authentic sets in 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. The
live broadcast did not fare well. Reportedly, a failure to switch the
points caused the model of Henry to derail and viewers of the live
broadcast witnessed a human hand, said to be one of a crew member,
picking him up and placing him back on the rails. Models moved
jerkily, and all effects and music had to be superimposed.
By 23 June, news of the broadcast hit the front pages of 'The Daily
Telegraph' and the 'Daily Mail'. Awdry himself branded the episode as
"unprofessional", and the point-switching debacle as an "elementary
mistake". As a result, the second episode scheduled for 28 June 1953
was put on hold, and then later cancelled. After the "Sad Story of
Henry" fiasco, the BBC did attempt to rescue the project by offering
to give Awdry and the 'Railway Series' publishers greater creative
control over the production of the episodes, but the publishers
declined the offer, preferring to focus on publishing new books for
the series.
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 out five 'Railway Series' books between 20 September to 2
October 1970.
''Thomas and Friends'' and its success
========================================
In 1979, British television producer Britt Allcroft was producing a
documentary on the Bluebell Railway, a heritage railway in Sussex
which actually featured in the 'Railway Series' book 'Stepney the
'Bluebell' Engine'. 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."
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). 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.
By 1981, Allcroft had secured the finances to produce the show, she
started to assemble the crew, including producer and director David
Mitton, also 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, who are also
musicians.
The series started production in 1984 by Allcroft's production
company, The Britt Allcroft Company; Clearwater Features Ltd. (Mitton
and Cardona's company); and ITV's Central Independent Television
region. 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. It later relocated to Shepperton Studios,
Middlesex, 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'. One episode ("The Missing
Coach") was in the process of being filmed, but was cancelled mid-way
through filming as Allcroft decided it was too confusing for young
viewers. The production team went on to use "Better Late Than Never"
instead. The story "Gordon Goes Foreign" from the 'Railway Series'
book 'The Eight Famous Engjnes' was also planned to be adapted but was
scrapped due to budgetary limitations.
In between production of the second and third series, the production
team were focused in producing two other television series: 'Tugs',
which ran for one series in 1989 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.
Just before production of series three, Clearwater closed on 31
December 1990, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole
producer. Series three was broadcast 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 become the show's
head writer starting in Series 16), and a couple of 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
(see Henry the Green Engine for more details). Robert D. Cardona left
as producer, while Britt Allcroft joined David Mitton as co-producer.
Angus Wright took over as executive producer.
Series four was first released directly 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. Some commentators took this as a
response to accusations of sexism levelled against the series two
years earlier. In reality, these were not "new" characters, but
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, but this took certain elements of plot
and dialogue from 'Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine'.
The fifth 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 action-oriented
plot-lines, with more severe accidents, than in the earlier series.
After series 5, Angus Wright stepped down as executive producer. It
was also 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 and the Magic Railroad' was released in July 2000 in the UK,
US, and Canada. It featured new characters created by Allcroft, along
with characters from the show that introduced 'Thomas' to the U.S.,
'Shining Time Station'. Despite high production values and the
popularity of the show, the film was criticised by British reviewers
who were unfamiliar with 'Shining Time Station'. The movie was well
received by young children on both sides of the Atlantic, but made
only $19.7 million at the box office, against a cost of The film was
broadcast on BBC1 on 1 January 2004 and again on 29 December 2008.
''Thomas and Friends''
========================
The Britt Allcroft Company (which changed its name to Gullane
Entertainment in 2000) was purchased by HiT Entertainment in September
2002, a company specialising in children's entertainment.
The sixth and seventh series continued to introduce action-packed
storylines and new characters, and saw the introduction of a writing
staff. The sixth series in 2002 was 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 did not materialise for some time. Eventually, in
2006, thirteen episodes were released straight to DVD in two
collections: 'On Site with Thomas' and 'Thomas' Trusty Friends'. It
was the first series broadcast on ITV since series 3.
The fact that older sets were used and the episodes were shot on 35mm
camera (as opposed to the digital camera used at the time of the
episodes' release) suggest it was filmed some time before Series 8. In
Series 7 (2003) the programme title was officially shortened to
'Thomas & Friends', this name having been used on merchandise and
video covers for three years previously. Phil Fehrle replaced Allcroft
and Mitton as producer, though Mitton remained as the director.
Executive producer Angus Wright was replaced by Peter Urie and
Allcroft as executive producers for Series 6.
In 2003, Allcroft stepped down as executive producer, making Urie the
sole executive producer for Gullane Entertainment, and Jocelyn
Stevenson was the executive producer for HiT Entertainment.
The eighth series (2004) was the first released directly to VHS and
DVD as four episodes in the US and six in the UK were released before
airing on television on Nick Jr. in the UK and PBS in the US. It
introduced a number of significant changes to the show. Many of the
original founding team involved in the original show since 1984 left
the production, including Britt Allcroft, director and writer David
Mitton, and original composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. The
latter two had been embroiled in a protracted legal dispute with HiT
before their departure. Asquith, who was part of the original
production team since 1984, took over as director, while Simon Spencer
replaced Phil Fehrle as producer.
A new theme song and incidental music were composed by Ed Welch and
Robert Hartshorne, respectively. Episode runtime was increased to
seven minutes. The series was produced using digital video camera,
creating a somewhat different look for the show. Other changes
included the additions of CGI educational sequences and transitions
between stories. Executive producer Peter Urie also left, while
Jocelyn Stevenson remained in her role as executive producer. Sam
Barlow became the story executive, while Abi Grant and Paul Larson
served as script editors. This series saw the adoption of a
centralised cast, including Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James,
Percy, Toby and Emily.
HiT Entertainment was itself then acquired by Apax Partners, a private
equity company, in March 2005.
A straight-to-video film, 'Calling All Engines!', was released shortly
before Series 9 in 2005. While featuring characters from 'Thomas and
the Magic Railroad', it was not a direct sequel. It proved successful,
which resulted in more direct-to-video specials being produced.
Series 9 (2005) and 10 (2006) saw the expansion of the supporting cast
with new and old characters. From Series 9 the narrator would call out
the episodes' names and from Series 11 the theme song was sung
starting with the sound of a train whistle. Series 10 aired with
twenty-eight episodes rather than the twenty-six of previous years.
The eleventh series (2007) was filmed in high definition format.
Twenty episodes aired in the original broadcast, while six were
released directed to DVD as Engines and Escapades. Jocelyn Stevenson
had stepped down as executive producer after Series 10, with
Christopher Skala taking her place as executive producer for Series
11. Sharon Miller became the script editor from Series 9 to 11.
Series 12 (2008) saw the introduction of CGI effects (provided by HiT
Entertainment's subsidiary Hot Animation), with the intent of
producing the show entirely in CGI the following year. The traditional
models and sets were still used, but with computer animated faces
superimposed on the models to allow for changing facial expressions.
Humans and animals were fully computer animated to allow for walking
movement. Only twenty episodes were produced and broadcast (the U.S.
broadcast featured six additional episodes from 'Engines and
Escapades'). Sharon Miller became the head writer, starting with
Series 12.
HiT announced multiple changes to the show beginning in 2009. One new
aspect was the introduction of live-action host segments to 'Thomas
home video releases. The host took the form of a character who worked
on The Fat Controller's (Sir Topham Hatt's) railway, who would
instruct viewers in craft projects. For the final 2 DVDs released for
series 12 in 2009, the host was named Mr. Arkwright, played by Robert
Slate. In 2010, beginning with the DVD "Splish Splash Splosh", the
host was named Mr. Perkins, played by Ben Forster, and has remained
host until Forster died in 2017 after a battle with cancer and will be
replaced by Mark Moraghan, who will play "Mr Evans" in the upcoming
web series.
For budgetary reasons, the other major changes were a move to
production in CGI, rather than using physical models, and the addition
of a voice cast to support the established narrator. The DVD feature,
'Hero of the Rails', was the first 'Thomas & Friends' production
to showcase these changes, and Series 13 was the first television
series in the new format. The CGI animation for the series was
provided by Nitrogen Studios of Vancouver.
In September 2010, Apax was preparing to sell off HiT Entertainment
and its franchises, including Thomas - regarded as the single most
valuable asset - in order to help clear HiT's debts, and in February
2012, sold the company, along with the Thomas properties, to "US toy
giant", Mattel.
During production of Series 16 (2012), Sharon Miller stepped down as
head writer, and Andrew Brenner, who had written some 'Thomas' stories
in the third series, assumed the role after serving as script editor
for "Blue Mountain Mystery". Additionally, Sam Barlow stepped down as
story executive after the sixteenth series, and the production of the
CGI animation was moved from Nitrogen Studios (of Vancouver) to Arc
Productions (of Toronto). 'King of the Railway' and Series 17, both
released during 2013, serve as the first special and series developed
by the new animation and production teams respectively.
2014 saw 'Tale of the Brave' and Series 18, the second special and
series animated by Arc, respectively. 2015 saw 'The Adventure Begins',
a special coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the franchise, and
'Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure'; Series 19 began airing that
same year. 2016 saw some changes; longtime composers Robert and Peter
Hartshorne, father and son team, left the series and Chris Renshaw and
Oliver Davis took over. 2016 also saw 'Thomas & Friends: The Great
Race' and Series 20 began airing the same year. Series 20 was the last
series of the show to air on PBS Kids; when Series 21 began airing in
2017, the American broadcast of the show was moved to Nick Jr., ending
a period of almost 28 years of 'Thomas & Friends' on American
public television. 2017 also saw 'Journey Beyond Sodor'. The show was
pulled away from Nick Jr. at the end of 2019.
A twenty-second series of 'Thomas and Friends' was announced
consisting of 26 episodes with, among many other changes, such as
Edward, Henry and Toby being removed from the Steam Team to make room
for two new female steam engines named Nia (Africa) and Rebecca (UK),
and the narrator has been replaced with Thomas talking to the audience
(however, Mark Moraghan, the previous narrator has said that he will
still work on the series). Series 22 is set after 'Big World! Big
Adventures!', which came out on 20 July 2018. It introduced
gender-balanced and multicultural characters, and features a new theme
tune. The series is split into two-halves; the first half sees Thomas
travelling around the world and visiting India, Australia, and China,
while the second half takes place back on the Island of Sodor. The
series was released on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in the late half of
2018.
'Thomas & Friends' has since been renewed for a 23rd series which
debuted in 2019.
A 24th series was released in September 2020. The series was also the
final series animated by Jam Filled Toronto. It is currently unknown
which studio will succeed them.
A second live-action/animated 'Thomas & Friends' film is in
development at Mattel with Marc Forster serving as director.
On October 12, 2020, it was announced by Mattel that the series would
be rebooted beginning with the show's 25th season, and that Nelvana
would co-produce and animate the series. The deal consists of 104
11-minute episodes and 2 60-minute specials, and that the animation
would transition from 3D full CGI animation to 2D animation since it's
transition to full CGI from 2009, with new refreshed redesigns for
Thomas and his Friends. The redesign and the transition from 3D to 2D
animation received a mostly negative reception among fans, in which
many are comparing this to the upcoming series: My Little Pony: Pony
Life.
Cast
======================================================================
Originally, narrating was used as the only voice in the series until
2008. Britt Allcroft thought it essential to convey the episode as a
story that would be read from a book at home. Individual voice-over
actors were given to both the UK and US dubs of the series, following
the switch to full CGI animation in 2009.
Home video history
====================
Over the history of the programme, the TV episodes and specials have
been released for home viewing in a variety of compilations, formats
and languages, by a variety of publishing houses.
Storytelling
==============
Up until series 12, narration and dialogue were performed by a single
storyteller. Starting from series 22 up until series 24, Thomas the
Tank Engine himself takes over as the narrator.
Models
========
The original live action models were filmed on an extensive model
railway layout built at the studios. The models were built to the 1:32
scale, known in model railway circles as "Gauge 1". From Series 1 to
3, the locomotives used chassis made by Märklin with specially made
bodies. Along with the moving-eye and eyelid mechanisms and resin
faces, these bodies also included smoke generators. Coaches and trucks
were made using Tenmille kits. Later models were constructed entirely
from scratch. Some of the models from the sister television series
'Tugs' were reused in later episodes of the series.
From Series 5 to 12, some larger-scale models were used for the narrow
gauge characters, to more easily fit the complex mechanisms into them
while retaining a sufficient level of detail. In Series 6, the
characters known as "the Pack" (construction machines) were also
constructed on a large scale, and larger models of Thomas and Percy
were made to interact with them. In the ninth series, another larger
Thomas model was built to the same scale as the narrow gauge engines
to provide greater possibilities for interaction. It was joined by a
large version of James in the tenth series. In 2009, some of these
models were put on display in a special exhibit at Drayton Manor Theme
Park's Thomas Land. Nitrogen Studios, who provided the animation for
the series from series 12 to 16, also had some of the original models
on display.
Face movements
================
At the show's conception in 1984, live action model animation would
not deliver lip sync, but show co-creator Britt Allcroft and model
director David Mitton did not see this as an inhibition. About 20
years later however, with advancement in technology, the show saw the
introduction of CGI by HIT Entertainment's subsidiary HOT Animation.
At first this was used to generate smoke and other effects, but later,
HIT (the current owners of 'Thomas') announced its intent to introduce
a fully CGI series in 2009. With Series 12, CGI by Nitrogen Studios
was used to animate characters' faces and to make people and animals
mobile within the stories. The following series (the show's 13th) saw
a transition to full CGI animation.
Music
=======
Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell composed the show's original main
title theme, incidental music and songs, which were used for series
1-7 comprising 182 episodes between 1984 and 2003. The instruments for
series 1-2 was the Roland Jupiter-6 and instrumentals for series 3-7
was the E-mu Proteus sound module.
In 2004, Robert Hartshorne took O'Donnell and Campbell's place as
composer, while Ed Welch became the show's songwriter from Series 8 to
'The Great Discovery', and Welch left after 'The Great Discovery'.
Hartshorne took his place as songwriter from Series 12 and onwards.
From 'Day of the Diesels'/2011-2016, Robert's son Peter Hartshorne
helped him with the music.
In 2016 the Hartshornes left the series and Chris Renshaw and Oliver
Davis took their places.
Head writer
=============
Since series 12, there has been a head writer for the series. Prior to
the introduction of a head writer, the script editor performed similar
duties. Sharon Miller served as head writer from series 12-16 and
stepped down after series 16 and was replaced by Andrew Brenner, who
had written many "Thomas" stories for various magazines as well as his
own original stories, several of which were later adapted for
television episodes for Series 3 and Series 5, for which he had
remained uncredited. Brenner had been a writer of several other
children's animated series, such as 'Angelina Ballerina', 'Tractor
Tom', 'Fireman Sam', 'The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers', 'Spot', 'Poppy
Cat', and 'Binka', as well as being the creator of 'Caribou Kitchen',
and 'Humf' and writer for several magazines featuring children's
characters such as 'The Real Ghostbusters', 'Fireman Sam',
'Scooby-Doo', 'Tom and Jerry', and Thomas's sister series 'Tugs' and
has written scripts and took over as head writer for Thomas for 'King
of the Railway' until the twenty-third series. David Stoten succeeded
him as head writer starting with the twenty-fourth series. Sharon
Miller has also been the voice director since the second CGI animated
film 'Misty Island Rescue', and continues to work on the series in
this capacity.
;Script editors