Dragon Run

**"Dragon Run"** is the seventh episode of the first series of *Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go*.

## Plot

Thomas has the honor of pulling the dragon to the Medieval Faire, but everyone wants a turn as well.

## Synopsis

Nia comes steaming into the yard, so excited that she can barely keep her wheels on the tracks. She ends up barreling right into Percy, Diesel and Kana, who are sitting outside Tidmouth Sheds. In their messy pile-up, they all look up to see a mighty dragon coming along down the tracks being pulled by Thomas. Thomas explains in a ‘ye olde‘ voice that he has been given the important role of "Dragon Guard": delivering the dragon prop to Kirk Ronan for the medieval fair. After Percy confuses ‘medieval fair’ with ‘evil fair’, Thomas and the others explain all about the medieval times, dragons, knights, and how people used to talk differently. All of Thomas' friends want a turn at pulling the dragon. But Thomas objects, saying that he is the ‘Blue Knight’ and the sole Dragon Guard. He does at least offer to let his friends come along and be fellow ‘Knights of the Turntable’.

Diesel calls himself the Black Knight, Kana calls herself Lady Kana the Fast Knight, Percy calls himself Percival the Green Knight, and Nia calls herself Noble Nia the Orange Knight. With their names decided, they start playing "Capture the Dragon" and chase after the Blue Knight, much to Thomas' confusion. Thomas manages to avoid Nia, Percy, and Diesel as they try to catch him, but he ends up running into a bunch of banners and trash cans outside of the recycling plant. The banners and trash cover his friends, making them look like knights. Suddenly, Thomas' coupling breaks and the dragon becomes a runaway, prompting all five knights to chase after it. It nearly crashes into Edward and Henry, before Noble Nia quickly pulls the bridge lever, sending it the other direction. Lady Kana keeps the dragon from getting dirty by running ahead through the mud, clearing the way. The dragon rushes through the tunnel, giving James quite the fright. After a lot of chasing, Diesel the Black Knight manages to get in front of it and brakes it to a standstill.

Thomas thanks Diesel for stopping the dragon and is just about to take it back when Diesel protests, saying that he has earned at least a little time to pull the dragon. Percy, Nia and Kana agree and want their own turns too. But Thomas is worried about losing the dragon again and wants to stay the sole Dragon Guard. Thomas and Diesel almost break out into a tug-of-war until Nia stops them by blowing her whistle. Diesel begrudgingly gives up the dragon and he and the others leave. Thomas is happy at first until he sees how sad his friends are and decides it is better to share his guard duties with the other Knights of the Turntable. The five friends all take turns pulling the dragon and almost make it to Kirk Ronan without mishap until a loose boulder from the hill knocks the dragon off the flatbed and it goes soaring into the sky towards the castle. It lands in the middle of the fair and everyone cheers. Sir Topham Hatt thanks Thomas and his fellow knights, declaring that they should all deliver the dragon to the fair like that every year.

## Cast

* Meesha Contreras as Thomas
* Luke Marty as James
* Charlie Zeltzer as Percy
* Talia Evans as Nia
* Shomoy James Mitchell as Diesel
* Ava Ro as Kana
* Bruce Dow as Sir Topham Hatt

Edward, Henry and Gordon have no lines in this episode.

## Music

 **‣** Surfettes Debut - Kent Buchanon *[Title card]*

 **‣** ? *["Vanzilla"]*

 **‣** Walkie-Talkie - Benson Taylor, Jeff Tymoschuk *[Thomas explains the car seats]*

 **‣** Gunfighters and Lawmen - John Cacavas *[Annie, Clarabel, and Thomas in the back seat]*

 **‣** Walkie-Talkie - Benson Taylor, Jeff Tymoschuk *[Thomas continues to explain the car seats]*

 **‣** Homecoming - Stephane Joly *[Music playing in the one working speaker]*

 **‣** Walkie-Talkie - Benson Taylor, Jeff Tymoschuk *[Thomas continues to explain the car seats]*

 **‣** Spy Steppa - Steve Everitt *[Thomas gets ready to steakout the sweet spot]*

 **‣** ? *[Thomas sneaking into Kana's room]*

 **‣** ? *[Nia next to Diesel]*

 **‣** ? *[Thomas tells Diesel he'll move things around]*

 **‣** Surfettes Debut - Kent Buchanon *[Thomas plans all the seats in the car]*

 **‣** The Evil Twins - Gregor Narholz *[Thomas sees his friends found his plans]*

 **‣** ? *[Percy opens the door]*

 **‣** Pop Punk - Doug Rockwell *[Engine friends fighting]*

 **‣** You Make Me Wanna Dance (b) - Richard Myhill *[Thomas doing exercises]*

 **‣** Emergency Force - Richard Birdsall *[The race for the sweet spot]*

 **‣** Magic By Candlelight - Marian McPartland *[Engine friends upset about getting yelled at by Sir Topham Hatt]*

 **‣** Walkie-Talkie - Benson Taylor, Jeff Tymoschuk *[Thomas explaining the sweet spot in the living room]*

## Physical distribution

This episode is available on the "Special Delivery" DVD.

## Trivia

* This episode reveals that Percy's full name is Percival, a fact which was never mentioned in the original series.
* According to Rick Suvalle, the reason why Thomas does not refer to Edward or Henry by name was because the line was recorded before they were chosen to appear.
* The dragon is described as 'wooden' in the Caribu book adaptation of the episode, despite it moving like more flexible material such as rubber.
* In the Latin American dub, this episode is titled "The Dragon's Escape".
* This episode was released early on Cartoon Network's Video on Demand services on 13th September 2021.
* Bruce Dow joins the voice cast.
* This episode marks the first of a few things:
	+ The first time that Kirk Ronan has appeared in the franchise since the original series episode, Make Someone Happy.
	+ Edward and Sir Topham Hatt's first appearance in *All Engines Go*.
	+ The first episode of *All Engines Go* to feature human characters.

## References

* ***Dragon Run*** - The meaning of the title is the place on a racket or bat where a hit will have maximum effect.
* ***Red Hot Chili Peppers*** - The title card's alternative rock opening riff sounds nearly identical to the alternative rock band's 1991 song "Suck My Kiss".
* ***Christopher Cross*** - The tune played in the scene during which Thomas mentions the seat behind the driver's seat resembles the 1981 song "Arthur's Theme".
	+ ***Air Supply*** - The tune also resembles the 1982 song "Even the Nights Are Better".
* ***The Beatles*** - In Thomas' flashback of his painful experience of Nia playing Auto Attack with him, an ad on the back of the comic Thomas is reading depicts a submarine colored yellow. This could reference this group's 1966 song "Yellow Submarine".
* ***Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert's Revenge*** - The track "Spy Steppa" by Steve Everitt from this videogame's trailer can briefly be heard in this episode.

## Errors

* During the scene of Diesel trying to catch up to him, Thomas is missing his bunker before and after he enters a tunnel.
* Edward's number is facing backwards when he and Henry are going down the hill.
* Henry's side cab window is missing when he and Edward go down the hill.
* When Edward and Henry come up to the bridge, Edward's dome and whistle are layered behind his cab. In the next shot of the bridge raising up, his dome is layered behind Henry's.
* Edward and Henry's wheels do not move when they approach the bridge.
* Thomas' tail lamp is missing when he and his friends approach the tunnel.
* Diesel has his US voice in the UK dub when he chases the dragon and when he says Huh.
* James' lamp in on the wrong side of his running board when he greets Thomas and while the dragon is chasing him.
* Percy's right-hand buffer is missing during certain parts of the episode.
* When thanking Diesel for stopping the dragon, Thomas' body is separated from his running board making part of the tracks next to him visible through him. Then after he thanks Diesel, his smokebox frames and left wheel arch disappear for a split second.
* When Sir Topham Hatt thanks Thomas for bringing the dragon, Thomas is seen next to Percy and Percy is seen next to Diesel. But in the next shot, Thomas is seen in between Nia and Percy, and Percy is seen on the other side of Diesel.
* Thomas' lamp shifts over to his left during the second-to-last shot of the episode.