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This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the 2010, 2012 or 2013 magazine story.

“What's that noise, boss?"
"Who knows, Kevin, who knows? Some early bird!”
― Kevin and Victor

The Early Bird is the sixth episode of the thirteenth series.

Plot

Percy is at the Sodor Steamworks for repairs, so the Fat Controller puts Thomas in charge of the mail run. Thomas is excited to do it, but Gordon tells him to ask Percy for advice on how. Thomas ignores Gordon and heads back to Tidmouth Sheds.

Early next morning, Thomas delivers mail to the Quarry, Brendam Docks and the Steamworks. To alert managers at each location, he blows his whistle loudly, and unknowingly wakes up Mavis, Cranky, Victor and Kevin. On his way back, Thomas is surprised to see Mavis and Cranky making mistakes with their work, unaware that they have fallen asleep as a result of being woken too early.

When Thomas returns to Tidmouth Sheds, the Fat Controller scolds him for blowing his whistle too loudly as Mavis and Cranky have made mistakes. Thomas feels bad, though he is given a second chance to take the train again as Percy is still under repair. Gordon overhears the conversation, and recommends, again, that Thomas should ask Percy for advice. This time, Thomas puffs to the steamworks to ask Percy, and he tells Thomas to deliver the mail quietly and to not blow his whistle this time.

So when Thomas takes his second mail train, he quietly makes his deliveries and does not whistle. Percy had woken up early to see him and congratulates Thomas on a job well done -- but Thomas has fallen asleep.

Characters

Locations

Cast

UK

US

Trivia

  • This episode's plot is similar to the eleventh series episode, Edward and the Mail.
  • This episode's title is a reference to the saying, "The Early Bird Gets the Worm."
  • Stock footage from Hero of the Rails is used.
  • This is the only episode written by David Richard Fox.
  • In Poland, this episode premiered before Hero of the Rails, so the audience would not know about Victor, Kevin or the Sodor Steamworks.
  • On the Korean DVD subtitles, the word "Slate" is not translated.
  • The theme throughout the whole episode was a re-composed version of the opening theme from The Runaway Elephant.

Goofs

  • As Gordon pulls the express, the brake coach is at the front of the train, instead of the rear.
  • The quarry walls at Ffarquhar Quarry have tints of pink.
  • As Thomas puffs away from Mavis' shed, the track she is on ends abruptly.
  • When Thomas spins round on the turntable, its rails seem to go round with it.
  • On the Korean subtitles of this episode's DVD releases, when Thomas accidentally wakes up Mavis, the word "whistle" is translated as "경적" (horn) but almost all the other scenes were translated it correctly as "기적" (whistle).
  • When Thomas wakes up to deliver the mail, the US dub refers to the mail cars with the UK term "trucks".

Merchandise

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Catalan L'ocell matiner
Chinese Mandarin 早起的鸟儿
Czech Ranní ptáče
Danish Tidlig foregår
Dutch De Vroege Vogel
Finnish Aamunvirkku
French Le lève-tôt
German Der frühe Vogel
Der frühe Vogel...
Greek Το πρωινό πουλί
Hungarian A koránkelő postás
Icelandic Morgunhaninn
Indonesian Keberangkatan Awal
Italian Thomas si Sveglia Presto
Japanese トーマスのはやおき
Korean 일찍 일어난 토마스 (dub)
부지런한 토마스 (subtitles)
Latin American Spanish Levantándose Temprano
Norwegian Morgenfulgen
Polish Skoro Świt
Romanian Cine se Trezește de Minineață...
Russian Ранняя пташка
Serbian Ranoranilac
Swedish Upp Tidigt
Welsh Mae'r riser cynnar

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