Engines of Eight

**Engines of Eight** is a show that first aired on May 5, 1973, and was last aired on May 31, 2000. It was created by Dockyard Films.

## Seasons

* Series 1
* Series 2
* Series 3
* Series 4
* Series 5

## Movies

* Engines Of Eight: The Movie
* Untitled Engines Of Eight Movie Sequel

## Specials

* Christmas Of Eight (technically an episode of Season 1 but is often considered a special, given that it runs for a total of 20 minutes, instead of normal episodes which usually have an approximately 10 minute or less timeframe.)
* Engines of Eight Specials (1981-1985)

## Spinoffs

* Tom And Jerry (cancelled)
* The Late Night Shed Show

## Home Media

### DVD

#### Worldwide

* Engines Of Eight Vol.1
* Dockyard Studios DVD Set Vol. I

## History

The show started out as a low-budget adaptation of the Saturday morning comic strip "Tom-Foolery" and Reverend Wilbert Awdry's famous Railway Series. The show's first season had most of its filming done in 1969–1972, and it was filmed using partially unmodified Triang/Hornby Dublo models; however, it featured detailed and “realistic” sets and clay-made facemasks, compared to the cheaper faces drawn on the smokebox door, like The Unfailibles. There was a pilot filmed in 1968, but all of the pilot episode's footage and props were lost in 1975 and have never been recovered.

A new episode batch for Season 1 was filmed from 1974 to 1976, airing from 1977 to 1978, and the initial success prompted the show's renewal for another 17 episodes. The episodes now used a combination of ready-to-run models, model kits, kit-bashes, and scratch-built models. They also experimented with animation; however, very little of this has surfaced. "Bad Case of Purple Blobs" is the only currently known episode that features cel animated scenes. These were scenes of Jamie with honey pie on his face and were made in collaboration with Stiek Animation Studios.

Every episode in Engines of Eight's first season would be re-drafted during the planning stages so as to avoid controversy. Episodes 8, 9, and 11 of Season 1 are the only known episodes where no controversy was written into the draft.

In 1979, The Late Night Shed Show was aired. It was a series commissioned between Seasons 1 and 2 to allow more production time for Season 2. It would last for one season with 17 episodes.

According to crew member Perry Emmerson, Season 2 featured more detailed and realistic sets than the season that directly preceded and proceeded it and was “arguably comparable to the sets seen in the original 1973 show.” The second series of the show would air throughout 1980.

In 1982, re-airings of Season 1 episodes featured new title cards and artwork of the characters based on the ones introduced in Season 2. The Season 2 character “Toby” was originally meant to be named Clara; why it was changed isn’t known, but it's assumed that the crew didn't like the name.

## The Beginning of The End

Beginning on January 24, 1986, Season 3 was aired. A different company completed this season. The company that completed the series was Crownmire Enterprises, as Dockyard Studios was temporarily closed in 1983 due to unknown reasons (possibly a gas leak, as employees claimed to be under the influence of carbon monoxide poisoning). This resulted in what’s considered by fans to be the worst season of the entire show. Most episodes of Season 3 haven't been found.

Seasons 4 and 5 do exist; however, footage and information are scarce. All that’s 100% known is that Season 4 introduces a broad-gauge railway run by five engines. Season 4 was aired starting on August 29, 1989, and Season 5 started airing on May 5, 1993. At this point, however, Dockyard Films and their success were going down the toilet, and their demise was coming closer by the day.

Around the same time Season 5 was being produced, plans for an Engines of Eight movie had begun. It was called Engines Of Eight: The Movie. It was intended for release on August 8, 1998, in the US and on November 8, 2000, in the UK, but was delayed numerous times due to editing differences. Despite the film being finished in 1999 (with a planned release for October 2, 1999, in the US and August 14, 2001, in the UK), Dockyard Films cancelled it due to a lawsuit.

## The Britt Allcroft Lawsuit and Demise

In 1999, a lawsuit by The Britt Allcroft Company was filed against Dockyard Films due to the similarities between Engines of Eight and Thomas and Friends (the former being accused of copying elements from the latter’s episodes). Unfortunately, the case did not end in Dockyard Film’s favor, bringing an end to the series before another rerun could fully air in its entirety (however, it would still see airings until May 31, 2000). Following Dockyard Films' closure, most of their stock (including EOE-related media) was sold off to the BBC, who still keep the films to this day.

## Revivals

In early 2000, a spinoff show called Tom And Jerry was created to try and continue Engines of Eight in a more cartoonish and slapstick fashion. Only four episodes were fully completed before the series was cancelled (well before a scheduled airing date of June 2000), and the episodes themselves have not surfaced anywhere. It is assumed that it was due to copyright with another franchise, also called Tom and Jerry.

In 2010, the BBC began proposing to bring back the show in CGI. Unfortunately, not much came about from this reboot aside from a test model of Tom and the Stout Director. It's best guessed that the test models were very poor in terms of CGI standards, so the show being brought back into CGI was discarded.

## Where Are The Props Now?

Models deemed subpar or of low quality were allegedly disposed of and salvaged for other models. Most of these models have sadly never been confirmed for their whereabouts, and others were completely burned in the 2011 Fire of Dockyard Films.

## Reboot

In 2023, YouTuber Geo Bluecropper Studios made Trainz Engines of Eight, a rebooted version of the show using recreated models in Trainz.