Series 1 (Thomas & Friends)

## Series 1

The **first series** of Thomas & Friends started airing on 9th October 1984 in the UK. Ringo Starr narrated its twenty-six episodes in the UK, later re-dubbing twenty-five in the US for Shining Time Station from 1989 to 1990. George Carlin re-dubbed the entire series for the US from 1991 to 1993.

## Production

All episodes in the first series were adaptations of the Reverend W. Awdry's stories, with the exception of an episode written by the staff, Thomas' Christmas Party, a book based on the eponymous episode was made as well. The stories were adapted by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton. The seven engines introduced in this series became the core of the cast in later series. The pilot for the series was Down the Mine, which was remade entirely when the rest of the episodes were shot.

## The Pilot

 The original 1983 pilot episode of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. The pilot was based on the Railway Series story Down the Mine and differed from the final aired version. The pilot was never broadcast, but instead was re-filmed after the series was greenlit by ITV. Only one scene from the pilot can be seen from the final version of the episode.

## 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 shown in* Shining Time Station *and only released on VHS or DVD.*)

(*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 from 1998 to 2000.*)

## Characters

### Characters Introduced

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

## Trivia

* When the series was first broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom, two episodes would be compiled into one ten minute block with a nameboard sequence featured in between. For subsequent broadcasts, the stories were shown individually.
* Filming lasted seven months, commencing in September 1983 and wrapping in March 1984. Post-production wrapped on 24th April 1984.
* According to Ringo Starr, he spent eight days recording his dubs, including retakes for four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
* In the Norwegian, original Swedish, Finnish, Slovenian and C4U Media's Korean DVDs 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 thought they were re-dubbed in their respective language.
* In the original Swedish dub, the episode titles were not translated in Swedish.
* Most of the series' scripts were partially edited for the US re-dubs.
* Central Independent Television commissioned the production of this series and the next.
* In the original Polish and Ukrainian dubs, Ringo Starr's dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* In the Korean dub of DVD Acadamy, George Carlin' dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.
* Several features are exclusive to this series:
	+ It is the only series until the twenty-first to have its UK recordings released in the US, excluding the second series episode, Thomas Comes to Breakfast included in some copies of Tenders and Turntables and Other Stories, the fifth series episode, Something in the Air released on the Roku Channel, the seventh series episode, The Grand Opening released on both Kabillion on Demand and the Roku Channel and the segments selected for Tales on the Rails.
	+ This was the only time lead was used to create the human characters. From the second to eleventh series, all human characters were made from resin, so they could move around more easily.
	+ The only series where trucks have their faces embedded in their bodies. From the second to eleventh series, the trucks have moulded faces, although some first series-style trucks appeared in some of these episodes.
	+ The only series dubbed in Slovak, and the only series dubbed in Icelandic until the thirteenth series.
	+ The only series in the Finnish dub where Thomas is always called Thomas the Tank Engine.
	+ The only series shot at Clapham Junction and Clearwater Studios in Battersea. All future series were shot at Shepperton Studios.
	+ The only series to be released on Betamax. Two tapes were released and consist of all the episodes. The first includes episodes 1-13, and the second includes episodes 14-26. Kaledioscope re-released them on VHS on 28th April 1986, and VCI also re-released them on 16th May 1988, each with similar tactics, such as the nameboards being used in the opening titles. This also happened for the 1990 Bumper Special, as well as the Betamax releases. From 22nd November 1993, the VHS releases were given new covers and renamed from their original versions.
* The first seven episodes were remade in the 2015 special The Adventure Begins.
* When 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, the first series was broadcast again between 18th November - 24th December 1985 as separate episodes. Repeats of ten-minute blocks include the following:
	+ Wednesdays from 8th July - 9th September 1987, ending with The Flying Kipper and Whistles and Sneezes. Thomas' Christmas Party was shown individually on 30th December.
	+ Mondays and Thursdays from 5th - 22nd December 1988, then Mondays only from 12th January - 20th February 1989 with a repeat showing of Thomas' Train/Thomas and the Trucks on 27th February which was shortly followed by the second series from 6th March-22nd May 1989 before TUGS was shown on CiTV.
	+ Four double bills were repeated on Mondays from 30th July - 20th August 1990.
* According to an article in the Sunday Telegraph, it cost £500,000 to produce all twenty-six episodes.
* The UK dub's iTunes release uses the restored version of the series.
* The final sets built were the ones involving Toby's Old Tramway, and so the majority of promotional images from the first series depict these sets.
* Some sound effects were specially recorded for the first series at the Talyllyn Railway.Template:Ref
* This series was introduced by a variety of Children's ITV presenters. Windsor Davies, in character as Sergeant Major Zero from *Terrahawks,* introduced the first four pairs of episodes of the series for four weeks until the arrival of Bonnie Langford on 6th November 1984; she in turn introduced a run of eight episodes for a month. Matthew Kelly took charge of introducing more episodes from 4th December 1984 until the pairing of Dirty Objects and Thomas' Christmas Party on Christmas Day. The following year, Roland Rat introduced the remaining two episodes finally ending the series.

## References

bg:Sezon 1
cy:Tymor 1
de:Staffel 1
es:Temporada 1
fi:Kausi 1
he:העונה הראשונה
hu:1. évad
it:Stagione 1
ja:第1シーズン
pl:Seria 1
pt-br:Temporada 1
ru:Сезон 1
zh:第1季