Emily Knows Best


 * “I'll do what you say, Queen Emily.”
 * ―Percy

Emily Knows Best is the seventeenth episode of the ninth series.

Plot
Emily takes visitors to the ruined castle, where a queen once lived. Emily wishes to be a queen, as queens tell everyone what to do. She decides to visit Toby and Percy in the shunting yard, just down the line from the castle whilst waiting for the visitors to explore the castle.

Toby and Percy are waiting to take away some trucks, and Emily decides to play a game by being "Queen for the Day." But, Toby thinks that Emily's idea is silly, as she needs to be clever and know the right thing to do. Emily said she always knows what to do, but Toby laughs at her and made Emily cross wanting to prove Toby that she knows best. Before leaving with his trucks, Toby tells Percy, if he needs help, he must wait until Toby comes back. Not long after Toby departs, Percy is struggling to move his line of trucks. This gives Emily the perfect chance to prove that she knows best; she tells Percy to take his trucks along her track, which he does. However, Emily soon hears a crash in the distance and goes to investigate.

Emily realises that by telling Percy to go on her track, he had crashed into Mavis who was on the same line and the trucks knocked over a telegraph pole on the line. Then Toby runs into the wreckage too, and Emily knows that she is not as clever as she thought. With Toby's advice, Emily gets the stationmaster at Maithwaite to call for help. Soon, Percy and Toby are back on the rails, though Toby's front cowcatcher is badly damaged. The Fat Controller is very cross with Emily for causing trouble, but Emily has learned her lesson; from now on, she will leave the "knowing the right thing" job to Toby.

Characters

 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Emily
 * Mavis
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Maithwaite Stationmaster (does not speak)
 * Thomas  (cameo)
 * Annie and Clarabel  (cameo)
 * Henrietta  (cameo)
 * Henry  (stock footage cameo)
 * Gordon  (stock footage cameo)

Locations

 * Callan Castle
 * Maithwaite
 * The Ruined Castle
 * Sodor Suspension Bridge  (stock footage)

Trivia

 * Going by production order, this is the fifteenth episode of the ninth series.
 * A deleted scene from Calling All Engines! is used.
 * The music at the end of the episode is omitted in The Complete Series 9 and The Best of Thomas DVDs.
 * This episode marks Mavis' only appearance in the ninth series.
 * This is the first time in where the camera is shaken by the accident scene.
 * This is the third episode in the ninth series, after Rheneas and the Dinosaur and The Magic Lamp, where Thomas does not speak.
 * This episode in the UK and US is paired with Gordon Takes a Tumble and Thomas' Day Off.
 * When Percy gets the trucks moving, the front truck is wearing Toad's face masks.
 * This marks the last time until King of the Railway where a crash is caused by trucks.
 * This episode marks the second time in where an engine gets crashed by a telephone pole, the first was in Thomas and the Rainbow

Goofs

 * Mavis is nowhere to be seen when Toby and Percy are back on the rails.
 * Because stock footage is used, the Sodor Suspension Bridge is rusty.
 * When Percy starts again to push his trucks along Emily's track, Emily's driver and fireman are not in her cab.
 * When Emily is thinking to herself, her eyes are wonky.

Merchandise

 * Tomica  (discontinued)
 * Magazine Stories - Emily Knows Best