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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the magazine story.

“An honest steamie can beat a pouty puffer any day!”
― Percy

Edward the Great is the fourteenth episode of the eighth series.

Plot

Edward is nearly the same size as James and the same colour as Thomas. He can also shunt goods and take passengers. He enjoys being useful and helpful, but he feels left out when he is not as strong as the other engines. One day, the Duke and Duchess of Boxford are visiting along with their engine Spencer to see their new summerhouse. When Spencer arrives at Knapford, his driver tells him that he beat Gordon's record. Spencer boasts that he is faster and finer than all the engines on Sodor put together, which makes the Fat Controller's engines very cross. Gordon says that Spencer is a big, silver showoff, to which everyone agrees. The Fat Controller arrives and tells them that whilst Spencer is taking the Duke and Duchess to their new summerhouse, another engine will take their furniture. Thomas, Percy, James and Gordon want the chance to pull it to show Spencer that they are faster than him, but the Fat Controller lets Edward take the furniture, as the others have other work to do. James and Gordon believe that Edward will lose the race, but Thomas and Percy stand up for Edward and that he can beat Spencer. Edward takes off, but Spencer speeds past Edward until he is out of sight.

Edward struggles up Gordon's hill with the heavy furniture, but makes it to the top and races down the hill to catch up to Spencer. Later, Spencer stops at Edward's station for the Duke and Duchess to have tea and cakes. Edward catches up and is very tired and wishing for a rest, but continues on when the stationmaster and the porters cheer for him after hearing about the race. The Duke and Duchess finish their tea and cakes and Spencer goes off in a flash speeding past Edward, once again leaving him to struggle with the heavy furniture.

Later, Spencer stops once again for the Duke and Duchess to take some photographs of the countryside, and Spencer goes to sleep to pass the time, not worrying that he will lose. When Gordon is puffing by and sees Spencer, he believes Edward is losing the race and says that Edward is a waste of steam. But when he sees Edward trying so hard to catch up, he feels bad about what he said and congratulates Edward, also saying that he is a credit to the railway. Edward is so happy that he picks up speed and finds puff he never knew he had.

When the Duke and Duchess finish taking the photographs and get back on board, Spencer's driver rings the bell for him to go. However, Spencer does not hear the bell as he is still asleep dreaming of victory, and so he also does not hear Edward puff past him. When Spencer's driver rings the bell again, Spencer wakes up shocked to see that Edward is heading towards the summerhouse and tries to catch up with him, but his driver tells him to slow down because of the old tracks. Spencer slows down and knows he is going to lose the race. Edward makes it to the summerhouse and is happy that he has won the race against Spencer and he feels like the pride of the Fat Controller's Sodor railway.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • Going by production order, this is the eighth episode of the eighth series.
  • The title of the episode is a reference to an Achaemenid-Persian military king from Iran, Cyrus the Great.
  • Abi Grant stated on her website that this was one of her favourite episodes centred around Edward.
  • From this episode throughout the rest of the series, Salty's horn sound is Derek's in two half steps higher in pitch.
  • Extended stock footage from the classic era and seventh series episode Gordon and Spencer is used. The footage has been edited to include a small twinkle effect as Spencer leaves Henry's Tunnel.
  • This episode marks the first to feature Edward's unused fourth series unamused face. This is one of the only two episodes to feature the said face, the other being the ninth series episode, Thomas and the Birthday Picnic.
  • This episode also marks the first and only episode to feature Spencer's unused seventh series laughing and sleeping faces.
  • This episode marks the first appearance of Edward's cross face since the third series episode, Escape, not counting a deleted scene appearance in the sixth series episode, Harvey to the Rescue.
  • A poster at Knapford reads "Allicia Botti Flower Show Grand Opening!" in the close-up of Spencer's driver.
  • Donald and Douglas were going to appear in the episode, but they were cut due to time constraints. This would have been their only full appearance in the eighth series, as they are otherwise only mentioned in You Can Do it, Toby! Donald and Douglas' deleted scene appeared in the My Thomas Story Library book of Spencer with the twins cheering Edward on and telling him he is a first rate engine. The shot where they appeared in would be featured in the music video for A World Around You.
  • While the Duke and Duchess have refreshments, posters advertising the White Star Line and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway are visible in the top left corner. A picture of City of Truro can also be seen inside Spencer's coach.
  • The concept of Spencer falling asleep and unintentionally allowing Edward to overtake him by having him win the race is extremely similar to Aesop's fable, The Tortoise and the Hare. The story and title are used for another episode.
  • While Spencer is sleeping, the first six notes of Lullaby by Romantic Era composer Johannes Brahms can be heard.
  • In the individual version of the episode, the last bit of music is omitted at the end.
  • This episode marks the last of a few things:
    • The last time where Spencer is seen in his blue-grey livery as starting from his next appearance onwards, his paint changes to metallic silver. This could be the reason why he did not appear in the ninth series.
    • The last appearance of the flour mill.
    • The last Series 8 episode to release in Canada.
  • This episode marks the only time with a few things:

Goofs

  • Edward's whistle is bent in the opening shot.
  • When Edward is in a siding, Henry has Gordon's whistle sound.
  • Gordon and the narrator mentioned that Spencer is silver, even though the latter is painted blue-grey in this episode.
  • Due to the use of stock footage, Spencer has bronze buffers, and the bores of Henry's Tunnel have one track each.
  • Whenever Spencer goes fast, or once when he was stopping, he makes aeroplane jet engine sounds, even though he is a steam engine.
    • This is probably intentional, to emphasize Spencer's speed.
  • In the first overhead shot of Edward and Spencer racing, Spencer's steam platform is visible.
  • When Spencer stops, the Duke and Duchess are already out of the coach taking pictures. Also, Spencer's puffing is out of sync with his speed.
  • Edward's eyes are misaligned when he sneaks past a sleeping Spencer.
  • As the episode starts with an introductory of Edward, Michael Brandon's voice cracks during the opening scene while narrating about who Edward is and what he does.
  • In the German dub, Boxford is accidentally mispronounced as "Bosford" once.
  • In the Norwegian dub, Thomas is referred to as "Tommy" at one point in the Knapford Scene.

Merchandise

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Arabic إدوارد العظيم
Brazilian Portuguese Edward, o Grande
Chinese Mandarin 伟大的爱德华
Croatian Edo veliki
Czech Edvard veliký
Danish Edward den store
Dutch Edward de Grote
Finnish Edvard Suuri
French Edouard est un Champion!
German Edward, der Große
Hungarian A Verseny
Italian Edward il grande
Japanese いだいなエドワード
Korean 에드워드의 승리
Latin American Spanish El Gran Edward
Norwegian Edward den store
Polish Edek Wielki
Romanian Edward cel Mare
Russian Эдвард великий
Spanish Edward el Grande
Swedish Edvard den store

Home Media Releases

UK

DVD Boxsets

US/CAN

DVD Boxsets

AUS

  • The Complete Series 8

DVD Packs

NL

GER

POL

MYS

IND

HUN

DVD Boxsets

DK

NOR/SWE

FIN

CZ

ROM

DVD Packs

ZA

DVD Boxsets

SPN

DVD Boxsets

THA

TWN

JPN

KOR

HK


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