For other uses, see Thomas Comes to Breakfast (disambiguation). |
- “You miserable engine! Just look what you've done to our breakfast! Now I shall have to cook some more!”
- ― The stationmaster's wife after Thomas crashes into her husband's house
Thomas Comes to Breakfast is the eighteenth episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Branch Line Engines.
Plot
Having run his branch line for many years, Thomas knows it very well. One day, his driver jokingly suggests that Thomas could almost manage without him. Thomas takes this remark seriously and boasts to Percy and Toby that he no longer needs a driver. The other engines strongly disagree but Thomas declares that he is unafraid to run on his own and vows to prove it.
The next morning, the firelighter comes to stoke the engines' fires and Thomas awakens as the warmth fills his boiler. Noticing that Percy and Toby are still asleep, he seizes the opportunity to run by himself. Thomas sets off down the track, unaware that his movement is a result of a careless cleaner fiddling with his controls. He only realises his mistake after he tries in vain to stop.
At the end of the siding ahead is a stationmaster's house, where he and his family are sitting down to breakfast. Thomas careens off the rails, plowing through the fence and crashing right through the dining room wall. Plaster and broken glass litter the room in his wake and the stationmaster's wife scolds him for ruining their breakfast. She storms out of the room and slams the door, causing plaster to fall on Thomas.
After workmen lay rails through the garden, Donald and Douglas arrive and help Thomas back onto the rails. Thomas' front has been battered and bent from the impact, with pieces of broken wood and a bush stuck to it.
Back at the Sheds, the Fat Controller reprimands Thomas for his gullibility and recklessness. He, then, informs him that he will have to go to the Works to have his front mended. In his absence, a diesel railcar will be brought in to run his branch line. The Fat Controller says that diesels always stay in their sheds until they are wanted and never gallivant off to breakfast in stationmasters' houses.
Characters
- Thomas
- Percy
- Toby
- Donald and Douglas
- Sir Topham Hatt
- The Tidmouth Stationmaster's Wife
- The Tidmouth Stationmaster (does not speak)
- The Firelighter (does not speak)
- Annie and Clarabel (cameos)
- Bridget Hatt (cameo)
- Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
- One Little Boy (cameo)
- The Tidmouth Stationmaster's Children (cameos)
- Earnest (portrait cameo)
- The Careless Cleaner (mentioned)
- Daisy (indirectly mentioned)
Locations
- The Watermill
- Tidmouth
- Post Windmill (stock footage)
- The Works (mentioned)
Trivia
- This episode marks:
- The first episode of the second series to air in the US, being paired with Percy Runs Away when aired on Shining Time Station. This infamously created a few continuity errors for American audiences, as Toby and the Scottish Twins were brought in before their respective introductory episodes.
- The second time in the second series an engine crashes into someone's estate, the first being Duck in A Close Shave. Even the camera angles showing the front face views of Duck and Thomas are similar to each other.
- The one of only three in the television series that show Thomas without his head lamp (due to damage from the crash in this one), the other being in promotional images of Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree and the fifth series episode, Horrid Lorry, respectively.
- The final appearances of Thomas' duplicate sad face with modified eyebrows to resemble a worried one, his ill face until the eighth series episode, Chickens to School and his scared face until the 2000 film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- In Canada, this episode aired before Break Van and The Deputation, meaning Canadian audiences would not know who Donald and Douglas were.
- Stock footage from Thomas and the Guard is used as is a deleted scene from Thomas, Percy and the Coal.
- A portrait of Earnest, a Victorian-style steam engine depicted with a mustache, can be seen in the Ffarquhar Stationmaster's house.
- This episode was filmed at the same time as Break Van. Donald's tender is seen merged into the signal box when Thomas pulls into Tidmouth and in the first close-up of Percy at Ffarquhar Sheds.
- Footage of the episode was used as a reference to the original story read aloud by Christopher Awdry in the exclusive YouTube documentary 70 Years of Friendship. Christopher also stated that this was one of his favourite stories.
- This is writer Michael White's favourite episode.
- A large scale model of Thomas was used for the scenes inside of the house.
- In the restored version, when the narrator says "The stationmaster was furious!", the wall set-up behind the stationmaster and the amount of plaster on him is different compared to the original version.
- In George Carlin's dub, when the stationmaster's wife shouts "Now I shall have to cook some more!", the sound of the door being banged sounds quieter than in all the other dubs for this episode.
- The cereal box that the stationmaster's son is holding is a recreation of a Kellogg's Corn Flakes box.
- Bridget Hatt's model is used for the Ffarquhar stationmaster's daughter.
- The events of this episode were later referenced by James in Journey Beyond Sodor and Edward in Big World! Big Adventures! during the song Where in the World is Thomas?. The scene where Thomas crashes into the stationmaster's house was also recreated in CGI during the song.
- A small portion of the opening was cut for both narrations when the episode aired on Shining Time Station.
- In the Railway Series story of which this episode is based on, Thomas crashed into the stationmaster's house as a result of a siding ending on the road having no buffers to stop him, causing him to run off the rails and onto the road until he reached the house. Since the models are powered by electrified rails, Thomas' line extends across the road to get him closer to the house. However, the Ladybird and Buzz Book adaptations of this episode use the original Railway Series dialogue.
- After this episode aired on 13th August 1991, the further four episodes preceding the series were not shown and instead aired Edward's Exploit a week later.
- The JEI TV version of the Korean dub added subtitles to inform viewers what a rail car is.
Goofs
- Thomas' eyes are off-centre from each other for the majority of the episode.
- In the Japanese dub, Ringo Starr's narration can be faintly heard throughout the episode.
- Clarabel is facing the wrong way and her roof is also loose when Thomas comes into Tidmouth.
- In the close-ups of Thomas' driver, he is clean shaven but, in some wide shots, he has a beard.
- Thomas is wearing his depressed face mask when he is meant to be conceited.
- When Thomas enters Tidmouth and in the close-up of Percy looking cross, Donald's tender and a hole can be seen in the signal box in the background, indicating that this episode was filmed during the same time as Break Van.
- When Percy and Toby are shown sleeping, Toby is tilted to the left.
- In the close-up of Toby sleeping, his windows are open slightly but, in the wider shot of the three engines in the shed, Toby's right window is completely open. It is then again slightly open when Thomas is rolling out of the shed.
- When Thomas thinks he is "being clever", his eyes jitter.
- Due to portions of the script being taken verbatim from the original book, the narrator says:
- "There was the Stationmaster's house," as if it was on the same track as Ffarquhar Sheds, when it clearly is not.
- That workmen "laid rails through the garden", which they did not and the tracks were already laid across the pavement to allow Thomas to reach the house.
- That "bits of fencing, the bush and a broken window frame festooned Thomas' front", even though a plank of wood is the only bit of fencing seen and there is no window frame.
- When Thomas finds that he cannot stop:
- He passes a station building on his left but, in the next shot, he has not passed it yet.
- His body is slightly raised up from his chassis.
- His lamp is not placed on correctly.
- In the shots from Thomas' perspective before he runs into the house, the tracks on the right all seem to end abruptly at a wall, which is presumably there to hide the edge of the set.
- Thomas' wheels do not move as he crashes into the house and as Donald and Douglas pull him out of the house.
- After Thomas crashes into the house, his head lamp disappears, except for the shot of Donald and Douglas pulling him out.
- When Thomas is pulled free from the house, the bush seems to have become smaller and is lying on his buffer beam and when the Fat Controller is scolding him, the bush has become larger and moved back to its original position to cover Thomas' face in order to muffle his voice.
- Thomas' side rods change positions from when he crashes into the house to when he is rescued.
- George Carlin and some other foreign narrators do not have a muffled voice despite being stated that Thomas' voice was muffled by the bush.
- In the close-ups of the Fat Controller, the faded marks of where a smile had been visible behind his frown.
- When this episode was originally released on the Thomas Comes to Breakfast 1998 VHS in Canada, it had no narration and only included the music and sound effects. This was later corrected on the 2000 VHS tape release in Canada.
Quotes
- Thomas: Driver says I don't need him now.
- Percy: Don't be so daft.
- Toby: I'd never go anywhere without my driver. I'd be frightened.
- Thomas: Pah! I'm not scared.
- Toby: You'd never dare.
- Thomas: I would, then. You'll see.
In Other Languages
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Merchandise
- Wooden Railway - Thomas Comes to Breakfast Accessory Pack, Limited Edition Thomas Comes To Breakfast and Thomas Comes to Breakfast version of Thomas (discontinued)
- Plarail - The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's House
- Minis - Breakfast Thomas
- Railway Series Books - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Ladybird book - Thomas Comes to Breakfast and BoCo the Diseasel
- Book - Breakfast-Time for Thomas
- Buzz Book - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Pop-Up Books - Trouble on the Tracks
- Step into Reading book - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Engine Adventures - Thomas Goes Crash!
- Magazine Story - Thomas Comes to Breakfast
Home Video Releases
Episode
Reference
#01 Thomas, Percy and the Coal | #10 The Runaway | #19 Daisy |
#02 Cows | #11 Percy Takes the Plunge | #20 Percy's Predicament |
#03 Bertie's Chase | #12 Pop Goes the Diesel | #21 The Diseasel |
#04 Saved from Scrap | #13 Dirty Work | #22 Wrong Road |
#05 Old Iron | #14 A Close Shave | #23 Edward's Exploit |
#06 Thomas and Trevor | #15 Better Late than Never | #24 Ghost Train |
#07 Percy and the Signal | #16 Break Van | #25 Woolly Bear |
#08 Duck Takes Charge | #17 The Deputation | #26 Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree |
#09 Percy and Harold | #18 Thomas Comes to Breakfast | Cancelled: The Missing Coach |
Cancelled: Gordon Goes Foreign | ||