Series 2 (Thomas & Friends)

## Series 2

The **second series** of Thomas & Friends premiered on 24 September 1986 in the UK. Ringo Starr narrated all twenty-six episodes in the UK as well as seventeen of them on Shining Time Station, with George Carlin re-narrating all of the episodes for the US, with most of them being aired between 1991 and 1998.

## Production

The majority of the episodes were based on stories written by the Reverend W. Awdry. Christopher Awdry was commissioned to write a new Railway Series book as source material for the second series. Two stories from More About Thomas the Tank Engine provided additional roles for Bertie the Bus and Harold the Helicopter. The episode Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree was a one-off story written by Christopher Awdry. According to the original end credits for Thomas and Trevor, the episode is "based on the story by Christopher Awdry from original material by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton." All of Christopher Awdry's new stories were added later in production.Template:Ref

Percy's Promise, Gordon Goes Foreign and Double Header were originally considered but were dropped and replaced by Christopher Awdry's new stories. According to Robert Gauld-Galliers, "Gordon Goes Foreign" in particular was not filmed because its production costs' budget was too high. Additionally, The Missing Coach, based on a story from The Twin Engines, was due to be filmed. The episode was halfway through production before Britt Allcroft decided to cut the episode, citing a lack of action and a storyline which was too convoluted for young viewers to follow. Percy's Promise and Double Header, whose name would be changed to Time for Trouble, would be seen in the third series.

## Episodes

(*Note: \* means that an episode was not narrated by Ringo Starr in the US and was only narrated by George Carlin in the US.*)

(*Note: \*\* means that an episode was narrated by George Carlin in the US but was never re-aired on Shining Time Station and was only released on VHS or DVD.*)

(*Note: \*\*\* means both reasons*).

(*Note: \*\*\*\* means that an episode was reused for Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales*).

(*Note: \*\*\*\*\* means that an episode was seen on Mister Moose's Fun Time in 1998-2000.*)

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Annie and Clarabel
* Henrietta
* Troublesome Trucks
* Terence
* Bertie
* Sir Topham Hatt
* Mrs. Kyndley
* Engine Inspector
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster
* Jeremiah Jobling Template:Not named
* Stephen Hatt Template:Cameo
* Bridget Hatt Template:Cameo
* Farmer Finney Template:Cameo
* The Ffarquhar Policeman Template:Cameo
* The First Butler Template:Cameo
* The Little Boys Template:Cameos
* One of the Stone-Dropping Boys Template:Cameo
* Earnest (*portrait cameo*)
* Märklin Engine (*scrapped model cameo*)

### Characters Introduced

* Duck
* Donald and Douglas
* Bill and Ben
* Diesel
* Daisy
* BoCo
* The Spiteful Brake Van
* Trevor
* Harold
* Jem Cole
* The Vicar of Wellsworth
* The Barber
* Daisy's Fitter
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife
* Three Engine Inspectors
* Percy's Ghost Engine Template:Does not speak
* Father Christmas Template:Does not speak
* The Naughty Boys Template:Do not speak
* The Lady with the Floppy Green Hat Template:Does not speak
* The Enthusiasts Template:Do not speak
* The Barber's Customer Template:Does not speak
* The Firelighter Template:Does not speak
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Children Template:Cameos
* Harold's Pilots Template:Cameos
* The Careless Cleaner Template:Mentioned
* Sam the Farmer (*mentioned; deleted scene*)
* Big City Engine (*dropped*)
* The Foreign Gentlemen (*dropped*)

## Trivia

* This was the first series of a few things:
	+ The first series filmed at Shepperton Studios.
	+ The first series where trucks have resin faces.
	+ The first series to use stories by Christopher Awdry.
	+ The first series to have diesel locomotives.
	+ The first series to have a female engine.
	+ The first series in which the phrase, "Bust my buffers!" is said.
	+ The first series to have Edward's new happy faces.
	+ The first series to add Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000 to compose the music. This was the timpani sample for Harold, Donald and Douglas' Theme.
	+ The first series where Lady Hatt does not appear.
	+ The first series to have a character that travels by air.
	+ The first series video edited by Kang Hyun-gi for JEI TV in South Korea.
* This was the final series of several things:
	+ Ringo Starr's last series as narrator, although he would return to voice Thomas in the The Official BBC Children in Need Medley, 23 years later on.
	+ Robert D. Cardona's last series as the producer.
	+ Britt Allcroft's last series as executive producer until the sixth series.
	+ The last series made by Clearwater Features.
	+ The last series where the end credits would roll over the final shot of an episode (not counting US VHS releases).
	+ The last series not to have any Music Videos.
	+ The last series commissioned by Central Independent Television.
	+ The last series to have Norwegian translation by Beate Mulholland in the TV dub.
	+ The last appearance of Thomas' original first series "O" face, excluding flashback from the first series episode, Down the Mine which was used in the fourth series episode, Paint Pots and Queens.
	+ The last series until the seventeenth series to feature the same narrator for both the UK and US for the majority of the series, excluding episodes selected for New Friends for Thomas and Other Adventures which were narrated by Michael Angelis and the original recordings for the twelfth series which were narrated by Pierce Brosnan.
	+ The last series in which Bertie has no eyebrows.
	+ The last series released in the 1980s.
	+ The last series to use yellow transitions. However, they're still used for the restored versions of Japanese releases for the rest of the Classic Series.
	+ The last series to feature Thomas' frightened face until the seventh series, and the last production overall until *Thomas and the Magic Railroad*.
	+ The last production to feature Thomas' shocked face without a bucktooth until Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
	+ The last series to create the score with the Roland Jupiter 6 synthesizer from original material.
	+ The last series dubbed in Romansh.
	+ The last series that not released completely on VHS in South Korea.
	+ The last series to have two dubs in Sweden.
	+ The last series aired by TV4 until the eighth series in Sweden.
	+ The last series entirely dubbed in French until the twelfth series.
* The episodes Daisy and Percy's Predicament were the only stories not to be featured on Shining Time Station as around that time co-creator Rick Siggelkow disapproved of Daisy's design being overly sexist both stories would not be seen until Percy Takes the Plunge (DVD) as part of a compromise with Britt Allcroft along with merchandise of her being sold in the states
* This is the only series to feature Hackenbeck Tunnel via stock footage.
* Percy's Promise and Time for Trouble were originally going to be part of this series, but were pushed back to the third series to make way for the adaptations of More About Thomas the Tank Engine.
* This series began production in September 1985 and completed filming in June 1986.
* This is the only production where a character angrily says "Shut up!" until Thomas and the Magic Railroad. This is likely due to broadcasting concerns after this series.
* Starting from the episode, Pop Goes the Diesel, the laughing sound effect from the trucks was heard. That sound effect was later reused in the following series.
* Henry regains his wheel arches, which were removed when he received his new shape after his accident with The Flying Kipper.
* The biggest space of time between two series airing is between this series, which aired in 1986 and the third series, which did not air until 1992, six years later.
* When first broadcast on ITV, two episodes were compiled into one ten minute block with the nameboard sequence featured in between. For broadcasts in 1991, the stories were shown individually.
* In the original Polish and Ukrainian dubs, Ringo Starr' narration can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* In the Korean dub of DVD Acadamy, George Carlin' narration can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* In the Italian, Romanian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Greek, Turkish, Korean DVDs of C4U Media, Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese dubs, credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed in their respective languages.
* The Korean DVDs of DVD Acadamy credit George Carlin as the narrator, even though they were voiced over in their respective language.
* Doubles of the second series later aired in re-runs on Children's ITV from 6th April-13th July 1988 as a complete series, then re-aired with twenty episodes on Mondays in 1989, beginning with Bertie's Chase and Saved from Scrap on 6th March before ending with The Diseasel and Wrong Road on 22nd May, at the same time TUGS aired on Tuesdays.
* When ITV dropped the first series, fifteen episodes from the second series were broadcast every Tuesday starting with Thomas, Percy and the Coal on 21st May 1991 and aired the episodes out of order, Bertie's Chase and Saved From Scrap were the next episodes to air and continued with Thomas and Trevor, Duck Takes Charge, Percy Takes The Plunge and the Duck and the Diesel Engine saga until 23rd July and then went on to air Thomas Comes to Breakfast, The Diseasel and Edward's Exploit, finally airing Ghost Train on 27th August 1991 . These episodes were all separate soon after Clearwater Features had shut down their production arm, this series used a Central Television logo and were all introduced by Tommy Boyd and Glenn Kinsey.
* The first three VHS releases from this series, released on 23rd March 1987 under Screen Legends and repeated under Pickwick Video in 1989 alongside The Very Best of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends on 6th May 1991. The Video Collection released of this series on VHS first on 25th May 1992 and later repeated on 22nd November 1993 to tie in with other VHS tapes from the previous season and the next series.
* Some episodes had been trimmed down for both the 1989 and 1991 airings. Woolly Bear was the last episode aired in 1991, whilst Wrong Road was the last episode aired in 1989. Additionally, The Runaway did not air in 1991.
* Matthew Kelly was the presenter responsible for the first debut on 24th September 1986. Further repeats of ten minute blocks were introduced by Gary Terzza, Debbie Shore, Mark Granger, Jerry Foulkes and Scally the Dog. The individual episodes in 1991 were introduced by Tommy Boyd and Glenn Kinsey.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/ChildrensTVArch/status/1529781950227312641

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