The third series of Thomas & Friends.
Production
Before production of the third series, of the smaller miniature engines. Clearwater Features closed down, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer of Thomas. Producer Robert D. Cardona departed the programme before the third series, and Britt Allcroft took his place as co-producer alongside David Mitton.
The series was a mix of episodes derived from the Railway Series, magazines stories (written by the series' former head writer, Andrew Brenner) and some 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. The Rev. W. Awdry took umbrage with the looser adaptations of his stories, and publicly criticized the original episodes for their lack of realism.
Episodes[]
| Screenshot | UK title (top)
US title (bottom) |
Written by | Date | Episode number # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Thomas Gets Bumped | Stephen Patton | 4th October 1991 | #01 |
| Thomas' branch line is closed due to bent rails on the line. He begins to think he's lost his passengers to Bertie. | ||||
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Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party | Stephen Patton | 18th October 1991 | #02 |
| Edward and Trevor help the Vicar with his garden party to fund a seaside trip for the children. | ||||
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Thomas, Percy and the Dragon | Stephen Patton | 14th October 1992 | #03 |
| Percy teases Thomas about being frightened all the time, but when Thomas is delivering a dragon in the night, Percy ends up getting a fright. | ||||
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Thomas and the Hurricane | Stephen Patton | 25th October 1991 | #04 |
| A hurricane force wind sweeps across the Island of Sodor and causes several problems for Thomas such as a fallen signal and a tree in his path. But the wind isn't enough to stop a soccer match, and it's a good thing too. | ||||
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Trapped by Trees | Stephen Patton | 1st November 1991 | #05 |
| Henry has the last laugh when a boastful Gordon takes no notice of his warnings about trees on the line. | ||||
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Thomas, Percy and the Post Train Thomas, Percy and the Mail Train |
Stephen Patton | 8th November 1991 | #06 |
| When a mail ship ends up getting delayed, Thomas and Percy worry that Harold will replace the mail train. | ||||
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Trust Thomas * | Stephen Patton | 15th November 1991 | #07 |
| Bertie learns that he can trust engines like Thomas when he remembers a missing tanker after having an accident with some cars. | ||||
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Henry's Forest | Stephen Patton | 22nd November 1991 | #08 |
| When a storm comes, Henry's favourite forest experiences severe devastation. Luckily, Terence soon arrives to help repair the forest. | ||||
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Mud and Leaves | Stephen Patton | 29th November 1991 | #09 |
| When a storm comes, Henry's favourite forest experiences severe devastation. Luckily, Terence soon arrives to help repair the forest. | ||||
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Bertie Saves the Day *** | Stephen Patton | 21st April 1992 | #10 |
| Algy the bus breaks down while touring some naturalists in the hills, and Bertie, despite being unwell, has to come and help. | ||||
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All at Sea ** | Stephen Patton | 13th December 1991 | #11 |
| Duck wishes that he could travel at sea, but he changes his mind when he learns that engines are happiest on the rails. | ||||
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Ballast *** | Stephen Patton | 20th December 1991 | #12 |
| Duck visits Rex the Arlesdale green engine introduces him to two other engines, Bert and Mike. When Duck discovers that they do not have any passengers yet, he leaves, promising to bring some for them. | ||||
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Tit for Tat *** | Stephen Patton | 3rd January 1992 | #13 |
| Bert is splashed by some visitors to the railway called the Clergymen and is determined to get back at them. | ||||
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Mike's Whistle *** | Stephen Patton | 10th January 1992 | #14 |
| After teasing Duck about his whistle, Mike boasts about his own. | ||||
| |
Useful Railway | Stephen Patton | 17th January 1992 | #15 |
| Rex thinks pulling wool trains is an easy job, but he quickly discovers otherwise. | ||||
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Tender Engines | Stephen Patton | 24th January 1992 | #16 |
| When Gordon's brother Flying Scotsman visits Sodor, Henry becomes jealous him with his two tenders. | ||||
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Super Rescue | Stephen Patton | 31st January 1992 | #17 |
| D199 ironically failed with a train of fuel tankers at a signal box, blocking the crossing. Henry, whose regulator had already jammed, came to help. However, after D7101's ejector leaked, making him unable to pull his passenger train. | ||||
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Escape to the Little Western *** | Stephen Patton | 7th February 1992 | #18 |
| Douglas travels to a station where only the diesels work. He meets an engine called Oliver, an auto coach called Isabel and a brake van called Toad, who are trying to escape from scrap. | ||||
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The Trouble With Bear | Stephen Patton | 14th February 1992 | #19 |
| When D7101 had encountered with an actual bear, Henry teased him about it and boasts that he would blow steam at it while calling him Bear. | ||||
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Donald's Duck | Stephen Patton | 21st February 1992 | #20 |
| Duck is given his own branch line for working hard and becomes conceited, which makes Donald cross until Duck and his driver play a joke on him. | ||||
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Oliver Owns Up | Stephen Patton | 28th February 1992 | #21 |
| Oliver becomes conceited and thinks that he can manage trucks, but is soon proven wrong. | ||||
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Bulgy | Stephen Patton | 6th March 1992 | #22 |
| While Algy is working harder than ever before, a new bus named Bulgy wants railways to be closed, and attempts to steal Duck and Oliver's passengers. | ||||
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What a Picture! *** | Stephen Patton | 13th June 1992 | #23 |
| Railway enthusiasts visit the China Clay Works, and Bill poses for a photograph with surprising results. | ||||
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Jack Jumps In | Stephen Patton | 14th June 1992 | #23 |
| A new front loader named Jack is eager to be really useful but foolishly tries to take a load of rocks up a hill himself, leading to disaster. | ||||
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A Friend in Need | Stephen Patton | 14th June 1992 | #23 |
| Ned the Steam Shovel knocks the keystone out of a bridge. It begins to fall as Thomas approaches it, so Jack tries to hold it up with his bucket. | ||||
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What's the Matter with Henry? *** | Stephen Patton | 20th March 1992 | #24 |
| Henry and the Scottish Twins are sent to collect coal cars and take them to the harbor. Henry is feeling ill but Donald and Douglas do not believe him and leave him a long line of cars. | ||||
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Heroes | Stephen Patton | 27th March 1992 | #25 |
| The freight cars trick Bill and Ben into causing a big muddle in the yard, making them late to arrange Gordon's evening train. | ||||
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Scrambled Eggs *** | Stephen Patton | 3rd April 1992 | #26 |
| Thomas is sent to work on Edward's branch line while his own line is being repaired. Bill and Ben are there and, much to his fury, tease him for not being painted yellow like them. But crashing into a lorry and getting covered in broken eggs is the worst part of his stay. | ||||
| |
Down the Drain *** | Stephen Patton | 10th April 1992 | #27 |
| While the China Clay Pits is almost restored, one day, it floods during a heavy rain, right when Ben takes his load of China Clay along there, causing him to get stuck halfway over the drain. | ||||
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Duck, James and the Fruitful Day * | Stephen Patton** | 17th April 1992 | #28 |
| James and Duck learn that brakes are not the only thing that get jammed. | ||||
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Mavis | Stephen Patton | 24th April 1992 | #29 |
| Mavis tries to make a plan to go further down the Quarry line, but she ends up putting Toby in danger. | ||||
| Toby's Tightrope | Stephen Patton | 1st May 1992 | #30 | |
| Mavis tries to make a plan to go further down the Quarry line, but she ends up putting Toby in danger. | ||||
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Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure Thomas and Percy's Mountain Adventure |
Stephen Patton | 27th December 1991 | #31 |
| Thomas, Percy, Harold and Terence help some villagers after a severe snowstorm, and the engines get a special holiday surprise. | ||||
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Characters[]
- Thomas
- Edward
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Toby
- Duck
- Donald and Douglas
- Bill and Ben
- Diesel
- Daisy
- BoCo
- Annie and Clarabel
- Aurora, Ariel and Anna
- Bertie
- Terence
- Lola
- Trevor
- Harold
- Troublesome Trucks
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Lady Hatt
- Stephen Hatt
- The Vicar of Wellsworth
- The Little Boys
- Jeremiah Jobling (not named)
- Jem Cole (not named)
- Mrs. Kyndley (not named)
- The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife (not named)
- Henrietta (does not speak)
- Spikey (does not speak)
- The Ffarquhar Stationmaster (does not speak)
- Bridget Hatt (does not speak)
- Farmer Finney (cameo)
- Harold's Pilots (cameo)
- Percy's Ghost Engine (mentioned)
Characters Introduced[]
- Oliver
- Bear
- Mavis
- Flying Scotsman
- Bert
- Rex
- Mike
- Alice and Mirabel
- Isabel and Dulcie
- Bulgy
- Fergus Duncan
- Jack
- Alfie
*Oliver the Excavator
- Max
- Kelly
- Byron
- Ned
- Isobella
- Kevin Volley
- Jenny Packard
- The Foreman
- The Thin Clergyman
- The Fat Clergyman
- The New Signalman
- The Railway Foreman
- The Quarry-master
- Tucker (not named)
- Vicker (not named)
- Farmer Trotter (not named)
- Toad (does not speak)
- [[Minor Human Characters in the Sprite Series#The Railway Society]|The Railway Society]] (does not speak)
- The Injured Sailor (does not speak)
- Vulcan (cameo)
- Gordon's Siblings (mentioned)
- Bulgy's Friend (mentioned)
- Ffarquhar Quarry Manager (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- This was the first series to boast several new elements of Thomas & Friends:
- The first series to have episodes not based on stories by either Awdry.
- Britt Allcroft's first series as producer.
- Angus Wright's first series as executive producer.
- The first series to use Rockwell font.
- Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell used the EMU Proteus 2 Orchestral to create the score. However, some of the music made with the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesiser for the first and second series was used.
- The first series where Thomas' shocked face gains a buck tooth.
- The first and only series where Edward's angry face gains some teeth.
- The first series which introduced music videos.
- The first series to have slow motion effects.
- The first series to have another female engine (Mavis).
- From this series on, characters would say "be quiet" instead of "shut up," presumably to make the show's language gentler. Although "shut up" was just said in Series 2.
- The first & final series to feature The Flying Scotsman until the seventh series and the special, Big World! Big Adventures!.
| << Series 2 | Series 3 | Series 4 >> |
| #01 Thomas Gets Bumped | #10 Mud and Leaves | #19 Escape to the Little Western | #28 Scrambled Eggs |
| #02 Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party | #11 Bertie Saves the Day | #20 The Trouble With Bear | #29 Down the Drain |
| #03 Thomas, Percy and the Dragon | #12 All at Sea | #21 Donald's Duck | #30 Duck, James and the Fruitful Day |
| #04 Thomas and the Hurricane | #13 Ballast | #22 Douglas and the Duck | #31 Mavis |
| #05 No Joke for James | #14 Tit for Tat | #23 Oliver Owns Up | #32 Toby's Tightrope |
| #06 Thomas, Percy and the Post Train | #15 Mike's Whistle | #24 Bulgy | #33 Thomas and Percy's Mountain Village Rescue |
| #07 Trust Thomas | #16 Useful Railway | #25 What a Picture! | #34 Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure |
| #08 Henry's Forest | #17 Tender Engines | #26 What's the Matter with Henry? | |
| #09 Henry and the Fox Hunt | #18 Super Rescue | #27 Heroes |