Series 9

Thomas & Friends (previously known as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends) is a children's television series about the engines and other characters working on the railways of the Island of Sodor, and is based on The Railway Series books written by the Rev. W. Awdry.

This article lists and details episodes from the ninth Series of this show, which was first broadcast in 2005. This series was narrated by Michael Angelis for the U.K. audiences, while Michael Brandon narrated the episodes for the U.S. audiences.

Some episodes in this series have two titles: the original titles from the U.K. broadcasts are shown on top, while the American-adapted titles are shown underneath.

Production
Starting in this series for the half-hour episodes that aired in the United States, at the beginning of each show, the characters' numbers would appear on each cab starting from Henry to Edward to Thomas as the countdown. Then, the workmen would get Thomas ready for the new day and Thomas' driver would signal the workmen that Thomas is ready by blowing Thomas' whistle. Thomas would soon start his adventures. Towards the end of each show, the countdown would begin again, and Thomas would return to the station (since it is late). The workmen would get Thomas ready for tomorrow, and Thomas would go to sleep with a white sleeping cap with blue stripes on his funnel. In later seasons in the U.S., they were shortened to accommodate a plug for Lego's Duplo line of toys.

Sharon Miller began serving as script editor for this series.

30-minute episode version
The format of 30-minute episode version was unchanged from Series 8 (2004)

Episodes

 * 1) Percy and the Oil Painting
 * 2) Thomas and the Rainbow
 * 3) Thomas' Milkshake Muddle
 * 4) Mighty Mac
 * 5) Molly's Special Special
 * 6) Respect for Gordon
 * 7) Thomas and the Birthday Picnic
 * 8) Tuneful Toots
 * 9) Thomas and the Toy Shop
 * 10) Rheneas and the Dinosaur
 * 11) Thomas and the New Engine
 * 12) Toby Feels Left Out
 * 13) Thomas Tries His Best
 * 14) The Magic Lamp
 * 15) Thomas and the Statue
 * 16) Henry and the Flagpole
 * 17) Emily Knows Best
 * 18) Thomas' Day Off
 * 19) Thomas' New Trucks
 * 20) Duncan and the Old Mine
 * 21) Bold and Brave
 * 22) Skarloey the Brave
 * 23) Saving Edward
 * 24) Thomas and the Golden Eagle
 * 25) Keeping Up With James
 * 26) Flour Power

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Emily
 * Bill and Ben
 * Harvey
 * Diesel
 * Mavis
 * 'Arry and Bert
 * Salty
 * Skarloey
 * Rheneas
 * Peter Sam
 * Duncan
 * Rusty
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Bertie
 * Trevor
 * Harold
 * Cranky
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sodor Brass Band
 * The Dockyard Manager
 * The Ice-Cream Factory Manager
 * The Dairy Manager
 * Dowager Hatt (not named in US narration)
 * Lady Hatt (does not speak)
 * Farmer McColl (does not speak)
 * The Photographer (does not speak)
 * Henrietta (cameo)
 * Caroline (cameo)
 * Butch (cameo)
 * George (cameo)
 * Tiger Moth (cameo)
 * Big Mickey (cameo)
 * Stephen Hatt (cameo)
 * Bridget Hatt (cameo)
 * Jeremiah Jobling (cameo)
 * Refreshment Lady (cameo)
 * Lord Callan (cameo)
 * The Storyteller (cameo)
 * Arthur (DVD Game)
 * Allicia Botti (learning segment)
 * The Tailor (deleted scene cameo)
 * Jem Cole (music video cameo)

Characters introduced

 * Molly
 * Neville
 * Dennis
 * Mighty Mac
 * Mr. Percival
 * The Baker
 * The Famous Artist
 * The School Choir (vocalises)

Japanese Voice Cast

 * Jon Kabira as the Narrator
 * Kumiko Higa as Thomas
 * Nozomu Sasaki as Edward
 * Jun'ichi Kanemaru as Henry
 * Kenta Miyake as Gordon
 * Masashi Ebara as James
 * Chie Kōjiro as Percy
 * Tomohiro Tsuboi as Toby
 * Erina Yamazaki as Emily
 * Noriko Shitaya as Bill and Ben
 * Toshiharu Sakurai as Harvey
 * Keiko Nemoto as Molly and Dowager Hatt
 * Yukito Soma as Neville
 * Ken Sanders as Diesel
 * Kumiko Itō as Mavis
 * Shinichi Namiki as Iron 'Arry and Iron Bert
 * Ryuzou Ishino as Salty
 * Tsutomu Densaka as Dennis
 * Hideyuki Umezu as Skarloey
 * Daiki Nakamura as Rheneas
 * Satoshi Katougi as Peter Sam
 * Chikara Osaka as Duncan
 * Tokuyoshi Kawashima as Rusty
 * Taketoshi Kawano as Mighty and Mac
 * Saori Gotō as Annie and Clarabel
 * Takafumi Kawakami as Bertie
 * Mitsuhiro Sakamaki as Trevor and the Dairy Manager
 * Wataru Hatano as Harold
 * Takaya Kuroda as Cranky
 * Rokurō Naya as Sir Topham Hatt
 * Nobuaki Kanemitsu as the Dock Manager and the Ice-Cream Factory Manager

Half hour format
When Season 9 aired on PBS Kids, Nick Jr. and Treehouse, the airings were paired with not just Season 7 episodes, but even some Season 6 episodes which were originally narrated by Alec Baldwin and re-dubbed by Michael Brandon in the US, with Michael Angelis re-dubbing his narrations in the UK. In the Season 6 episodes, music was also re-dubbed with music from the New Series as well. In the beginning of the Nick Jr. airings in the UK, an opening when Thomas' crew gets him ready for another days work and an ending when Thomas' crew cleans him after a days work was added.

Trivia

 * This is the final series in which the half hour formats feature episodes directed by David Mitton.
 * Rusty was referred to as a female in early American narrations of Tuneful Toots and Duncan and the Old Mine that broadcast on PBS Kids.
 * This was Sharon Miller's first series as part of the writing team and as script editor. She later became the first head writer in the twelfth series.
 * A large-scale model of Thomas was built for when he interacts with the Narrow Gauge Engines.
 * This marks the only series Simon A. Brown was apart of the writing team.
 * This series marks the first for several things:
 * The first series where Thomas appears in every episode, albeit not speaking in all of them.
 * The first series to air on Channel 5's Milkshake! block.
 * The first series where the title cards are read aloud by the narrator including some of Series 6 and 7. However, a few US episodes did not have their titles read aloud in the Thomas and the Toy Workshop US DVD.
 * The first series in which Elizabeth, Arthur, Murdoch, Spencer and Jem Cole do not appear since their introductions. However, Elizabeth and Jem Cole did make appearances in music videos and Arthur did in a DVD game.
 * The first series in which Maron station does not appear since it returned in the sixth series.
 * The first series to be dubbed by 81 Produce in Japan.
 * This was the final series to have any of its episodes released on VHS in the US.
 * This season later re-aired on Channel 5 from 9th to 25th October 2006.