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Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2007)

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“Little engines can do big things!”
―Thomas

Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a 2007 fantasy adventure film based on The Railway Series, the television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and its American spin-off Shining Time Station. It was produced by Gullane Pictures, The Britt Allcroft Company, Isle of Man Film Commission, Destination Films, and was distributed by Universal Pictures in the US, UK and Ireland. It stars Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Michael E. Rodgers, Cody McMains, Didi Conn and Russell Means. In the 110-minute uncut version of the film, it includes original voice talents by John Bellis, Michael Angelis, Keith Scott and Patrick Breen, and the performances of Doug Lennox. The latter five roles were ultimately cut from the final film.

Released on 14 July 2007 in the United Kingdom and Ireland and on 26 July 2007 in the United States and Canada, Thomas and the Magic Railroad was lambasted by critics upon its initial release, with criticism of the acting, plot, special effects, and lack of fidelity to its source material, with several critics pointing out the uneven connection to Shining Time Station, with many stating that it never aired in the UK. Grossing $19.7 million worldwide on its production budget of $19 million, the film was a box office bomb, and is frequently labeled as one of the biggest box office bombs in history. A sequel was originally conceived by Destination Films, revealed on 1 July 2000, though was quietly cancelled.

Plot[]

Mr. Conductor begins the film introducing Thomas the Tank Engine, his engine friends and the Island of Sodor.

At Killaban, Gordon complains to Thomas that he is eight seconds late with his passenger local. Thomas retorts that Gordon is being bossy, because he wants to be really reliable and right on time and says that he has to find Mr. Conductor, who is looking after the North Western Railway while Sir Topham Hatt is taking a holiday. When Gordon claims they can take care of themselves, he then changes his mind when an evil diesel named Diesel 10 speeds by, kicking up dust and dirt and leaving Gordon physically rattling in fear. Thomas reminds him how devious Diesel 10 is and how he is rated 10 out of 10 for devious deeds and brutal strength, and for his hatred of steam engines.

Mr. Conductor then introduces the town of Shining Time, where we see happy residents, full of life at the station.

Thomas is later thinking trouble is soon to come if Diesel has unfinished business. He talks to James at Tidmouth Sheds, after he accidentally bumps into some buffers. James explains that he was shut up in the sheds by Sir Topham Hatt for being naughty, when Diesel 10 shows up and voices his plan to destroy a lost engine named Lady and thus establish Diesels as the dominant engines on Sodor. While James is confused, Thomas is worried and goes to find Mr. Conductor.

After seeing Billy Twofeathers' map and noticing some strange lines on it, a boy from Shining Time named Patch heads off to Muffle Mountain to see Burnett Stone once the Rainbow Sun arrives.

There is something on Muffle Mountain, a secret that Burnett only shared with his childhood friend and future wife Tasha: he promised he would drive an engine and take her with him. When Patch sees the engine, Burnett reveals the engine's past - her name is Lady since she was sealed inside Muffle Mountain after Diesel 10 crashed and nearly destroyed her long ago. Burnett has fixed her up but informs Patch that she still needs coal to fully run again. Unfortunately, Lady requires special coal to build up steam, which he has not found yet.

At Diesel 10's mountain, Diesel 10 tells his sidekicks Splatter and Dodge of his plan to get rid of the lost engine. The two bumbling diesels report that Mr. Conductor is coming to Sodor, so Diesel 10 decides to destroy him too, only to humiliate himself in front of Splatter and Dodge when his claw whacks him on the nose.

File:ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad179.png

"Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!"

Mr. Conductor prepares to leave Shining Time. Despite difficulty with his gold dust and a little chat with Stacy about Burnett's pass, he soon meets Thomas on Sodor. Thomas reports that Diesel 10 is back, but Mr. Conductor was confident that he can use his gold dust to keep Diesel 10 in order.

Burnett looks at a painting of Lady and starts to have doubts in his belief of magic due to his failure to guard her. Meanwhile, far away, Burnett's granddaughter, Lily, prepares to visit him.

Thomas, James and Gordon begin arguing about who should have taken Mr. Conductor and Gordon boasts that Thomas is too small to do important jobs, which angers Thomas as he shunts some Troublesome Trucks, unaware that Splatter and Dodge are shunting trucks nearby. Over in the yard, Splatter and Dodge are spying at the steam engines. Henry knows that Buzz Lightyear tells the other engines about why Diesel wants to find the lost engine, Percy and James decide to find her before Diesel does. Splatter and Dodge continue to laugh at Thomas as Harold flies by spreading sneezing powder, dumped by Diesel 10, over all Thomas and on them as well.

At Knapford, Mr. Conductor reads the note Sir Topham Hatt left him. After trying on his top hat and returning it after he notices the portrait of the Controller appears angry, then smiling, he receives a phone call from Sir Topham Hatt and receives his instructions.

That night, Buzz Lightyear and the engines are asleep at Tidmouth Sheds, but Mr. Conductor is having a hard time trying to sleep and pretends to talk with a ball and a bat. But that does no good and tries to have a cup of cocoa, when Diesel 10 rolls up and demolishes the scaffolding of the sheds with his powerful claw and scares the engines. Mr. Conductor reprimands Diesel 10, but then finally discovers that he has run out of gold dust. As Diesel 10, delighted, tries to get Mr. Conductor to confess to the lost engine's whereabouts otherwise he will destroy the shed even more, but Mr. Conductor frightens Diesel 10 away with a bag of sugar and threatens to dump the entire bag in his fuel tanks to seize him up permanently. Mr. Conductor voices his concern about his gold dust, but tells the engines to go back to sleep, despite their concerns. Buzz Lightyear uses his laser to blast the bag of sugar instead.

Later that night, Mr. Conductor has a nightmare of Shining Time in ruins and Stacy Jones begging him to come back home. He soon realizes that his universe is in danger and that he needs more gold dust.

The next morning, Mutt goes to Lily's hometown with Billy, as he knows that Lily can help Mr. Conductor, but only if she meets someone special at Shining Time first. To reach that end, he intentionally directs her onto the wrong train, placing her on the train bound for Shining Time instead of the train to Muffle Mountain. Meanwhile, Burnett Stone hears the sound of Lady's magic echoing through the mountain.

Back on Sodor, Mr. Conductor is helping make James's itch go away. When James notices that Mr. Conductor looks so tired and asks if it is because he is red considering Diesel 10's negative opinion of the color, Mr. Conductor happily reassures him that red is bright and cheerful just like his gold dust. He then sends James off to work while he departs to deal with his own problems.

Mr. Conductor goes to the windmill in search of more gold dust but ends up lost. He tries to blow his whistle, but his gold dust is completely gone. Meanwhile, the engines gather for a meeting. As Bertie passes by and tells them to smile, all have their individual concerns about Diesel 10 destroying Lady. Thomas heads off to look for Mr. Conductor to help him. Bertie offers a race with Thomas, but Thomas declines the offer and decides to help Mr. Conductor solve some mysteries.

Mr. Conductor finds a note left by Rabbit and tries a carrot and a stick of celery to make him think properly and has the idea of his beach-loving cousin Junior, who has used up most of his gold dust too, by snoring the whole time during his nap. He tells Junior to go to Shining Time Station first and pick up his emergency whistle, then go to Sodor, and warns him not to talk to anyone about the buffers. Before he can say anything else, the phone line goes dead.

The Rainbow Sun arrives at Shining Time and Mutt barks at Lily to get off the train. Lily finds the station empty and meets Junior. After a talk, Lily picks up the gold dust Junior leaves behind. At Sodor, Mr. Conductor is sleeping by a bush when he has another nightmare about Shining Time in ruins, the Big Dipper crumbling, and Lady's wheels rolling on the rails. He soon wakes up when he hears Thomas calling his name. Mr. Conductor tries to reply, but poor Thomas cannot hear him as he chuffs away.

Lily meets Stacy, who takes her to Burnett who is giving directions to a biker. That night, Burnett and Lily hear Lady's whistle coming from the mountains. Patch, who is outside with his horse, hears it too.

As Percy arrives at Knapford with the Mail Train, he and Thomas talk about Mr. Conductor and conclude that he travels to Sodor on a magic railroad by a set of magic buffers, as Percy overheard him the night before. Diesel 10 overhears them and goes to the Sodor Ironworks to tell Splatter and Dodge his plan. Toby, who has secretly followed them there, hears their plans when the diesels arrive and interrupts them by ringing his bell. Trying to smash him, Diesel 10's claw causes the shed to crash down on him, Splatter and Dodge, thus blocking their path.

The next day, with the diesels trapped, Buzz Lightyear and the steam engines work very hard on the main and branch lines, delivering goods and passengers to every station and yards, as repairs continue.

Thomas finds Henry with a bad cold and Buzz Lightyear offers to fetch six trucks of special Island of Sodor coal to make him better, Unbeknownst to him, the sixth truck rolls away into some magic buffers. Bertie passes and greets Thomas and his five trucks; Thomas is confused.

When Thomas tells Percy about the missing truck, they realize that the buffers where the truck disappeared are the buffers leading to the Magic Railroad. Thomas tells Percy to guard the buffers while he goes to find Mr. Conductor, citing that Percy is a brave engine.

Meanwhile, Mr. Conductor is wandering aimlessly when Diesel 10 appears. Mr. Conductor is captured by Diesel 10's claw and is dangled over the Big Dipper. Diesel 10 reveals that he knows about the buffers and threatens to drop Mr. Conductor if he does not reveal its whereabouts. Mr. Conductor notices the viaduct has begun to lose chunks of pieces, just like in his dream and realizes the world is beginning to fall apart without the gold dust. Mr. Conductor escapes by cutting a hydraulic tube to Diesel 10's claw, thus catapulting him to the windmill, much to Diesel 10's rage and fury. There, he sees the words: "Stoke up the magic in the mountain and the Lady will smile, then watch the swirls that spin so well." Splatter and Dodge ask Diesel 10 why he let Mr. Conductor escape, he replies that he just did it on purpose and was testing to see if he could escape. Splatter and Dodge thinks that he is lying and mock him, and Diesel 10 angrily decides to attempt to teach them "how to stop being stupid," but makes an even bigger fool of himself when he taps the coal hopper above him with his claw and pours coal all over himself with his claw. James, Gordon, Buzz Lightyear and Henry laugh at Diesel 10.

Lily is introduced to Patch, who offers her a horse ride to Shining Time. There she meets Junior again, who offers to take her to Sodor via the magic buffers. But as they were floating, Junior tells her that the Magic Railroad is vanishing, and about the lost engine. Along the way, they notice the missing coal truck that Thomas bumped earlier, and soon they make it to Sodor. They meet Thomas, who agrees to help and uncouples Annie and Clarabel, together they find Mr. Conductor at the windmill. When Mr. Conductor tells Junior about his clue to the gold dust, Lily is introduced to Mr. Conductor. While their backs are turned, Junior climbs onto the sail, as the strong wind current blows him off and he lands onto Diesel 10. Meanwhile Patch tells Burnett that he has no idea where Lily is since she was not at the station when he went back for her. Despite Lily having apparently vanished, Burnett is confident she will turn up again.

That night, Percy finds Splatter and Dodge at the magic buffers. He tries to stay brave like Thomas says he is, but he is too easily frightened by a flock of crows, a talking tumbleweed, and a slamming door. Splatter and Dodge argue about who tells Diesel 10 about the Magic Buffers until an owl frightens them. Finally they suggest telling Diesel 10 about the buffers tomorrow and Percy races back to warn Thomas.

Mr. Conductor and Lily camp out with Thomas. Mr. Conductor tries to keep Lily entertained, but she is worried about being late as her grandfather told her to return by sunset. After a conversation, they realize that Burnett may hold the key to the clue of the gold dust.

As Burnett reveals to Patch that Lady is magic, they realize that the railroad is vanishing and that it needs Lady. But Burnett does not know her secret, and time is running out.

Thomas and Percy decide they must get Lily back to Muffle Mountain before Diesel 10 destroys the magic railroad. Thomas wonders how Lily can get home without gold dust, Mr. Conductor reveals that only the lost engine could do so now. Then he has the idea and asks Thomas if he will take Lily to Muffle Mountain. Thomas is not sure but decides that he will try before he and Lily set off. Guided by a tumbleweed, the two roll right through the magic buffers. While journeying through the magic railroad, they discover the missing truck. Lily realizes the connection between the truck and the clue, so Thomas decides to go back for it before setting off again. They soon arrive on Muffle Mountain with the coal truck behind them. As Lily leaves to find Burnett, a gust of wind blows Thomas down the hill, away from the coal truck and back into the magic railroad through another portal at the bottom.

Lily finds Patch, who takes her to Burnett's workshop. Lily figures out only special Island of Sodor coal can make Lady steam, so she sends Patch to collect the coal from the truck.

Diesel 10, with Junior still on his cab, races into the Smelters where he corners James who is working there. Junior tries to whistle both of them out, only to discover that he, too, is out of gold dust. As Diesel 10 drives the two closer into a melting pit, Junior uses the last of his extra gold dust to teleport himself and James away to safety much to Diesel 10's bewilderment. The two arrive near the buffers, where Mr. Conductor is there waiting. James happily departs, while Mr. Conductor and Junior, both out of gold dust, refuse to give up hope. Lily asks Burnett Stone if Tasha took a ride on Lady and if she loved her as much as Burnett did. Burnett says that she loved Lady because he loved her but could not fix her in time for Tasha to take a ride on her before she passed away.

By now, Burnett Stone has finally succeeded in making Lady steam, by using the special Island of Sodor coal from the truck Thomas and Lily picked up from the Magic Railroad. Together with Lily, Patch and Mutt on board, they set off into the magic railroad. The railroad, receiving energy from Lady, comes back to life, while Lady's face appears. The team encounter Thomas behind them before appearing on Sodor through the buffers, where they reunite with the two conductors. Junior happily states they can go to Shining Time, but Mr. Conductor fears that without gold dust, they will not make it back to Shining Time.

Before the team can find the rest of the clue, Thomas appears from the buffers, but they are found by Diesel 10, Splatter and Dodge. Diesel 10 starts to close in on the two engines, with his claw raised up and orders his cronies to destroy Lady, but Splatter and Dodge, fed up with Diesel 10's ways, betray him. Thomas offers to help Lady, with Burnett driving Lady. Mr. Conductor warns them about the collapsing viaduct. Just as the engines run away from the large diesel, the conductors realize that Lady is part of the clue to the gold dust.

File:ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad1078.png

"TIN KETTLE!!!"

Diesel 10 chases the fleeing magic engine, Thomas and Burnett throughout the Kirk Ronan sites, and even run pass Percy pulling a train, until they approach the Big Dipper. As Lady and Burnett pass, a gap appears on the viaduct. When Thomas manages to make it across the gap in time before it worsens whistling in victory, Diesel 10 brakes hard, but falls off due to his weight. He tries to hang on to a sleeper, but it breaks and he falls into a sludge barge and is towed away.

Thomas, Lady and Burnett return, where they and the rest of the team work out the answer to the riddle. Lily mixes water from the well with golden shavings from the magic railroad and with a little encouragement, tosses them into the air, where they form into gold dust. Delighted, the conductors resupply their whistles, while Thomas and Lady thank each other.

Patch and Mutt go to look around, while Junior gives Lily some gold dust. Junior tells Mr. Conductor that he wants to work now, so Mr. Conductor gives him his hat and sends him to a railroad with "palm trees and sunny spells." After Junior leaves, Sir Topham Hatt calls and says that he is on his way back, so Mr. Conductor sets off to welcome him, letting Sir Topham Hatt know that everything is under control before he hangs up. Lily offers her gold dust to Burnett, who sprinkles it on her bluebird toy and whispers that they will "always remember their Shining Time together."

With Lady and the Magic Railroad back to life, Shining Time is restored to its former glory. Thomas happily puffs home to Tidmouth Sheds into the sunset and the end credits roll.

Characters:[]

Characters Introduced[]

Locations[]

Cast[]

Voice Actors[]

Live-Action Actors[]

  • Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor
  • Jim Carrey as P.T. Boomer
  • Zendaya as Lily Stone
  • Tom Holland as Patch
  • Ciarán Hinds as Burnett Stone
  • Channing Tatum as Junior
  • Michael Sheen as Fergus Duncan
  • John Stamos as Horace Schemer
  • David Warner as Sir Robert Norramby
  • Lacey Chabert as herself
  • Dwayne Johnson as himself
  • Freddie Prinze Jr. as himself
  • Kevin Afghani as Himself
  • April Winchell as Herself
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic as himself
  • Simon Cowell as Himself
  • Paul Rudd as himself

Others[]

Trivia[]

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