TUGS

***TUGS*** was a British children's television series of thirteen episodes first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends*, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton.

*Tugs* is about two anthromorphized tug fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z Stacks, who compete against each other in the fictional Bigg City Port during the 1920s. The Star Fleet are honourable and hard-working, the Z-Stacks are underhanded and devious.

The series was noted for the high quality of its animation, which used detailed live-action models (much like sister series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends).

## History

After two successful seasons of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton decided to create a new television series - TUGS. The series was filmed at Shepperton Studios in 1988 using a similar animation process to its railway-based sister series. The only notable difference was that the boat models were pulled by transparent strings. Remote control devices were used to power mechanisms within the models, such as the moving eyes.

Tugs first aired on *Children's ITV* in Britain, and then on Australia's ABC network. The rights to the series were sold and it's currently not known who owns them. Redubbed and heavily edited footage later resurfaced as part of the low-budget children's series *Salty's Lighthouse*.

The models and sets were sold to Britt Allcroft, whose new company used the models, (albeit heavily modified) for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends from 1991 onwards. They are still used in current seasons.

David Mitton continued to work on *Thomas* until he retired after the seventh series in 2003, whilst Robert D. Cardona emigrated to Canada and devised a similar program about tugboats called *Theodore Tugboat*.

## Episodes

Thirteen episodes of *TUGS* were made. The series was "darker" in tone than many other television programs aimed at children. The plots often featured crime, violence and destruction, with punishment given to the characters carrying out these actions. The dialogue, too, was quite mature for a children's series. It featured slang and terminology that might these days be considered "over the heads" of young children. Characters would often insult each other, as well as using historical and maritime terms.

*See:List of TUGS episodes*

* **"Sunshine"**
* **"Pirate"**
* **"Trapped"**
* **"Ghosts"**
* **"High Winds"**
* **"Jinxed"**
* **"Quarantine"**
* **"Up River"**
* **"High Tide"**
* **"Munitions"**
* **"Warrior"**
* **"4th of July"** (Also reffered to as *Regatta*)
* **"Bigg Freeze"**

## Major characters

### See also

* Minor tugboat characters in TUGS
* Other Vessels in TUGS
* Cranes in TUGS
* Barges in TUGS
* Other Characters in TUGS
* TUGS Liner Characters

## The Major Locations in Bigg City Port

For other minor locations see the article *Bigg City Port*

* **Star Dock** - the home of Captain Star's well-known and much-loved fleet. Appears in every episode.
* **Zero Dock** - the home of Captain Zero's devious Z-Stack fleet. Appears in most episodes.
* **Lucky's yard** - this is where ships and tugs alike go to get repaired when they are damage or in need of maintenance. Appears in most episodes.
* **Up River** - former home of Sunshine, when he worked for the Salvage Company. Home to Billy Shoepack, Sea Rogue, His Uncle and Boomer (as a houseboat). In charge on logging.
* **Dender Rocks** - home of Lillie Lightship, appears in most episodes.
* **Municipal Garbage Corporation** - where Lord Stinker gets his garbage loads from, and the Jack the Grappler resides, appears in Regatta and Bigg frezze.

## Cast

Unfortunately, the cast of TUGS was never credited. Some of their identities are still ambiguous. However, thanks to the diligent research of various members of the Clearwater and Sodor Island Forums, several have been uncovered;

* **Patrick Allen** as Captain Star.
* **Simon Nash** as Ten Cents.
* **Shaun Prendergast** as Sunshine, Zak and Sea Rouge's Uncle.
* **Chris Tulloch** as Zorran.
* **John Baddeley** as Burke, Top Hat, Zip, Puffa, The Quarrymaster and The Shrimpers.
* **Timothy Bateson** as OJ, Big Mickey, Little Ditcher, Eddie , Lord Stinker and Garbage Master.
* **Nigel Anthony** as Hercules, Big Mac, Zebedee, Sea Rogue, Frank and the Fire Tug.
* **Sean Barrett** as Warrior, Blair, Scuttlebutt Pete', Mighty Moe, Bluenose, Johnny Cuba, Jack the Grappler, The Green Eye Things and Nantucket.
* **David Mitton** as Old Rusty
* **Mike Mulloy** as Izzy Gomez, Captain Zero and Zug.
* **Lee Cornes** as Grampus, Coastguard, Billy Shoepack and Boomer.
* **Britt Allcroft** as Lillie Lightship and Sally Seaplane
* **Don Austen** as The Coast Guard Messenger.

Hopefully, more will be discovered over time.

## Merchandise

TUGS Merchandise was rather common in the early 1990s. Some of that merchandise includes:

* Ertl models - Ten Cents and Sunshine are the only known models (although Ertl were supposed to release all of the Star Tugs).
* 13 Photo Books - Different titles for the TV series such as Ghost Fleet (Ghosts), Warrior's Longest Day (Warrior) and Bigg City Freeze (Bigg Freeze)
* 2 Annuals
* VHS Videos

Sunshine/Pirate
Trapped/Ghosts/High Winds
Jinxed/Quarantine/Up River
Bigg Freeze/Warrior/High Tide
Munitions/4th of July
**Note on the Videos:** The versions of the episodes on the videos were significantly edited for unknown reasons. Many original scenes had been extended/deleted and the program now had two different alternate title sequences

* Jigsaw
* Bed set
* Board Game
* Thimbles
* Card Game
* 5 Buzz Books - "Kidnapped, Run Aground, Nothing to Declare and Treasure Hunt"
* Publicity Pack - Ultra Rare!
* Activity Books
* Bath books
* Magazines

## Trivia

* Two of the Z-Stacks, Zebedee and Zip, appeared in an episode from the fifth series of *Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends* called *Something in the Air*. The models had been heavily modified (including the removal of 'head' and hat) to look less characteristic, and more contemporary in appearance to the setting of the story.
* "High Tide" was the only episode to include Zak in main plot and focus.
* Captain Star (as the narrator), Ten Cents, Sunshine, and Top Hat were the only characters who appeared in every episode.
* "Up River" is the only episode not to feature the Z stacks
* Sunshine's smoke stack was originally white and he is from the salvage company in Up River. In the pilot episode, there is a goof as such, where Sunshine still sports his original white stack, but is half painted star tug yellow, this was obviously some kind of goof, because Sunshine hadn't officially joined the Star tug fleet yet, and would have no reason to be half-painted in their colours.
* A second season was talked about, but (as of yet) nothing has been done.
* *Ghosts* was the only episode to use cartoon animation.
* On the Sunshine/Pirate and Munitions/4th of July videos Captain Star was called Captain Starr with two Rs (as in Ringo Starr).
* The engines (such as Puffa) and the tugs are of the same gauge as the Thomas the Tank Engine models
* "Jinxed" and *High Tide* are the only episodes to use stock footage
* Captain Zero only ever appeared in 3 episodes. Two of which he had speaking roles.
* Hercules was absent for 6 episodes in the series - more than any other main character. Warrior, Big Mac, Top Hat, and OJ all starred in 12 individual episodes - being missing in 1 episode each respectively.
* Zorran was absent in 1 episode, Zebedee and Zak were absent in 4 episodes each, Zug was absent in 3 episodes and Zip was absent in 2 episodes.
* There is an American spin-off of TUGS called *Salty's Lighthouse*, in which several characters have different voices, some have different names, and some male characters are considered female. Despite this, *Salty's Lighthouse* is not official canon of TUGS.
* A Campaign is underway at Sodor Island Forums to get *TUGS* onto DVD.
* The Goods Engine from *High Tide* now plays Rosie in Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

## See also

* Theodore Tugboat (Canadian series similar to TUGS)
* Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

## External links

* IMDB Profile
* Review of *TUGS*