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“It makes me proud to be an excavator!”
― Alfie

A Visit from Thomas, originally titled Oliversaurus, is the seventh episode of Jack and the Sodor Construction Company. It was released on Thomas' Trusty Friends.

Plot

Thomas takes the Fat Controller to see the site for the new school the Pack are preparing. He had given the land for the school and wants to see how it is turning out. Miss Jenny shows him around and sees Buster flattening the earth flat for a football field. Then she takes him to see Alfie digging foundation trenches for the school library. Finally she shows him Oliver and Max working on a new swimming pool.

After the Fat Controller leaves, Max tells Oliver to hurry up. However, he takes no notice and his bucket hits something hard buried in the ground. While Max takes no notice of it, Oliver's operator suggests that it could be important. This leads to the Foreman calling Miss Jenny, who calls the Fat Controller, who calls the Experts. The Experts realise that Oliver has discovered a dinosaur bone. Using his chisel, Oliver digs away more earth to uncover a complete skeleton of a Triceratops. The Fat Controller claims this as an important day for the Island of Sodor. Alfie also comments that he is proud to be an excavator. A photographer takes a picture of Oliver with the dinosaur and the following day, Thomas brings the Fat Controller, who shows the Pack that Oliver is on the front page of the Sodor Times with the headline: "Digger Digs Dino!" Oliver feels quite proud and just smiles.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • This episode was originally titled Oliversaurus, although that title is listed on Virgin TV Anywhere's website.
  • According to writer Paul Dawson, he was approached to write "Oliversaurus" in August 2002, and his episodes "were written in a weird (nonconventional) script layout dictated by the production company."[1]
  • This episode was filmed on December 4, 2002 and the filming for this episode was completed by January 27, 2003.[2]
  • Stock footage from Toby's Windmill and mirrored stock footage from Three Cheers for Thomas are used.
  • The dinosaur skeleton that Oliver discovered was a Triceratops that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous period.
  • The title is a bit misleading because despite having Thomas' name in the title, he does not speak at all in the episode.
    • This episode focuses more on Oliver than Thomas.
  • This was the first episode for several things:
    • The first time the American term "operators" is used in the UK narration and would be used for the remaining episodes.
    • Buster's first appearance in the series.
  • This was the only Jack and the Sodor Construction Company episode of several things:
    • The only episode in which Isobella appears, but does not speak.
    • The only episode where Thomas appears but does not speak. However, this would be the second episode where he does not speak in the premiere, with the first being Salty's Secret.
    • The only episode where Annie and Clarabel appear.
    • The only appearance of the school building site.
    • The only episode written by Paul Dawson, not counting the cancelled episode Jack's Snow Rescue.

Goofs

  • During the scene where Miss Jenny was showing the Fat Controller the site for the pool, Oliver has his digger removed in one shot.
  • Because footage from Three Cheers for Thomas is mirrored, Thomas' number and Annie and Clarabel's names are reversed.

In Other Languages

Language Title
Dutch Bezoek van Thomas
German Besuch von Thomas

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