Season 1 (Thomas & Friends)

9

## Season 1

* Original
* Remastered
* Restored

The **first season** of Thomas & Friends started airing on 9th October 1984 in the UK. Ringo Starr narrated all twenty-six episodes in the UK, later re-narrating twenty-five in the US for Shining Time Station. George Carlin later re-narrated the entire season for the US.

## Production

Every episode in Season 1 was based on a story by the Rev. W. Awdry, with the exception of an episode written by the staff, Thomas' Christmas Party, the book based on said episode being commissioned by the staff so as to have every episode in print form first. The stories were adapted for television by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton. The seven engines introduced in this season became the core of the cast in later seasons. The Pilot for the season was an adaptation of Down the Mine, which was remade entirely when the rest of the episodes were shot.

## 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*)

## Characters

### Characters Introduced

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Annie and Clarabel
* Henrietta
* Terence
* Bertie
* Troublesome Trucks
* Sir Topham Hatt
* Mrs. Kyndley
* Stephen Hatt
* Bridget Hatt
* Engine Inspector
* The Little Boys
* The Ffarquhar Policeman
* The Butler
* The Knapford Stationmaster
* The Signalmen
* The Stone-dropping Boys
* Some Workmen
* Jeremiah Jobling (*not named*)
* Lady Hatt (*not named; does not speak*)
* Percy's Workshop Friends (*wheels and buffers only; do not speak*)
* Märklin Engine (*cameo*)
* Farmer Finney (*cameo*)
* Sir Topham Hatt's Blond-haired Assistant (*cameo*)
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster (*cameo*)
* Earnest (*portrait cameo*)
* The Green Bus (*indirectly mentioned*)

## Trivia

* When the season was first broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom, two episodes would be compiled into one ten minute block with a name board sequence featured in between. For subsequent broadcasts, the stories were shown individually.
* This season took roughly nine months to film, starting from January 1984 despite being made between 1982 and 1983.
* According to Ringo Starr, his narration for this season took eight days to record, including retakes for four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
* The Norwegian, Finnish, Slovenian and early Swedish narrations credit Ringo Starr as the narrator, even though they were re-dubbed in their respective languages.
* Most of the season's scripts were partially edited for the US versions.
* In the Ukrainian version, Ringo Starr's voice can be heard in the background.
* This was the only season for several things:
	+ The only season to have its UK recordings released in the US.
	+ The only seaaon where lead was used to create the human characters. From the second to eleventh season, all human characters were made from resin, so they could move around more easily.
	+ The only season where the trucks have their faces embedded in their bodies. From the second to eleventh season, the trucks have molded faces, although some first season style trucks appeared in some of these episodes.
	+ The only season to feature Old Coaches to date.
	+ The only season to date dubbed in Slovak, and the only season dubbed in Icelandic until the thirteenth season.
	+ The only seaaon in the Finnish dub that Thomas was known in all the episodes as Thomas the Tank Engine.
* The first seven episodes of this season were all later remade in 2015 for the 45-minute special The Adventure Begins.
* When the first broadcast on ITV, Dirty Objects was paired with Thomas' Christmas Party and Off the Rails with Down the Mine. On VHS however, Dirty Objects was paired with Off the Rails and Down the Mine with Thomas' Christmas Party.
* On CITV, this season was broadcast again between 18th November-24th December 1985 as separate episodes. Repeats of ten-minute blocks include the following:
	+ Wednesdays from 8th July-16th September 1987, ending with Toby and the Stout Gentleman and Thomas in Trouble. Thomas' Christmas Party was shown individually on 30th December.
	+ Mondays (also Thursdays in December) from 5th December 1988-20th February 1989 with a repeat showing of Thomas' Train/ Thomas and the Trucks on 27th February.
	+ Four pairings were repeated on Mondays from 30th July-20th August 1990.
* The UK's iTunes release uses the restored version of the season.