Season 3 (Thomas & Friends)

## Season 3

* Original (1991)
* 1992
* Restored (2004)

The **third season** of Thomas & Friends first aired on UK television on 25 February 1992. It was first released on VHS in the UK and aired in the US on Shining Time Station in November 1991 first, with the last ten episodes following in 1993. All twenty-six episodes were narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and by George Carlin in the US and New Zealand.

## Production

Before production of the third series, Clearwater Features closed down, with Gullane Entertainment becoming the sole producer of Thomas. Producer Robert D. Cardona departed the programme before the third series, and Britt Allcroft took his place as co-producer alongside David Mitton.

The series was a mix of episodes derived from the Railway Series, magazines stories (written by the series' former head writer, Andrew Brenner) and some original stories by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas, the nominal main character. The Rev. W. Awdry took umbrage with the looser adaptations of his stories, and publicly criticized the original episodes for their lack of realism.

## Episodes

(*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 in 1998-2000.*)

## Specials

 Two children's television characters from Japan, Gachapin and Mukku, visit the United Kingdom. During their visit, they come to Sodor to meet Thomas, Sir Topham Hatt and the other engines. During the second half, they visit real railways and learn how steam locomotives work.

## Songs

Thomas We Love You (UK)
Junior Campbell
 It's Thomas the Tank Engine.
Masayuki Iwata

## Characters

* Thomas
* Edward
* Henry
* Gordon
* James
* Percy
* Toby
* Duck
* Donald and Douglas
* Bill and Ben
* Diesel
* BoCo
* Annie and Clarabel
* Troublesome Trucks
* Terence
* Bertie
* Trevor
* Harold
* Sir Topham Hatt
* The Vicar of Wellsworth
* The Little Boys
* Stephen Hatt
* Mrs. Kyndley
* Jem Cole
* Lady Hatt (*not named*)
* Jeremiah Jobling (*not named*)
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's Wife (*not named*)
* Henrietta (*does not speak*)
* Bridget Hatt (*cameo*)
* Farmer Finney (*cameo*)
* The Ffarquhar Stationmaster (*cameo*)
* One of the Stone-Dropping Boys (*cameo*)
* Harold's Pilots (*cameos*)​
* Märklin Engine (*scrapped model cameo*)
* Percy's Ghost Engine (*mentioned*)
* The Firelighter (*mentioned*)
* Father Christmas (*mentioned in the UK version*)
* Percy's Workshop Friends (*music video cameos*)
* Daisy (*mentioned in music video*)

### Characters Introduced

* Oliver
* Mavis
* The Chinese Dragon
* Bulgy
* The New Signalman
* The Brendam Yardmaster
* The Goods Depot Foreman
* The Quarry-Master
* Farmer Trotter (*not named*)
* Flying Scotsman (*not named; tenders and cab only; does not speak*)
* Toad (*does not speak*)
* The Railway Society (*do not speak*)
* The Injured Sailor (*does not speak*)
* City of Truro (*not named; does not speak*)
* The Boy (*cameo*)
* Big Mickey (*faceless, cameo*)
* Bulgy's Friend (*mentioned*)
* Ffarquhar Quarry Manager (*mentioned*)

## Trivia

* This season marks the first of several things for the television series:
	+ The first season in which Daisy does not appear since her debut.
	+ The first season narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK, as well as the first narrated by George Carlin which had not been previously released with Ringo Starr's narrations.
	+ The first season made by The Britt Allcroft Company.
	+ The first season to have episodes not based on stories by Wilbert or Christopher Awdry.
	+ Britt Allcroft's first season as producer.
	+ Angus Wright's first season as executive producer.
	+ The first season to use Rockwell font.
	+ TUGS models and props make their Thomas & Friends debut.
	+ Junior Campbell and Mike O'Donnell used the EMU Proteus 2 Orchestral, Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000, Korg DSS-1, Roland Jupiter 6, Linn LM1 Drum Machine, the Yamaha Grand Piano, and the Yamaha RX5 drum module to create the score.
	+ The first season where Thomas' shocked face gains a buck tooth.
	+ The first season to feature a modified version of James' happy face where his bottom jaw is slightly more pointed.
	+ The first and only season where Edward's angry face gains some teeth.
	+ The first season where Terence's face gains teeth.
	+ The first season dubbed in Finnish.
	+ The first season which introduced music videos.
	+ The first season to have slow motion effects.
	+ The first season where Annie and Clarabel only speak in one episode.
	+ The first season to feature Duck's unused second season tired face and grinning face, as well as Diesel's from the latter series also being used on this series.
	+ From this series on, characters would say "be quiet" instead of "shut up", presumably to make the show's language gentler, although "shut up" was said in the second series only.
	+ The first season to have episodes released on home video before their television broadcast in the UK.
	+ The first season not to have a Christmas-themed series finale in the US.
	+ The first season released in the 1990s.
* This was the last season for two things:
	+ The last season to feature Thomas' drowsy face.
	+ The last season broadcast on CITV until 2003 when the sixth series was shown.
* This season was the only series of a few things:
	+ The only appearance of Arlesburgh in the model series.
	+ The only season dubbed by Gary Dixon and Gavin Beckwith.
	+ The only season that Thames Television was involved in production.
	+ The only season where Toad appears, but does not speak (minus faceless appearances in the new series, and a deleted scene from the sixth season).
	+ The only season where George Carlin's narration was released on VHS in New Zealand. However, when the third series aired on television in New Zealand outside Shining Time Station, Michael Angelis' narration was used instead. This is also the case when The Complete Third Series was released on DVD in New Zealand.
* The second and third series have the largest time gap between any two series: six years. The second series first aired back in 1986 alongside subsequent re-runs of the first and second series which later ceased in 1991 and the airing of the third series in 1992.
* Only sixteen episodes were released in the USA in 1991 with Thomas, Percy and the Dragon airing on 18th November 1991 - Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party on 27th December 1991. The last ten episodes aired in the UK in 1992 before they were released to American television through Shining Time Station a year later in 1993, from All at Sea airing on 26th March 1993 - One Good Turnairing on 20th August 1993. This marks the very first time a series has aired in the US early before airing in the UK on television.
* In the Ukrainian version, Michael Angelis and George Carlin's voices can be heard in the background, as a dubbing track was not used. The first thirteen episodes have Carlin's voice while the last thirteen episodes have Angelis' voice. Angelis is also credited as narrator in the first thirteen episodes despite Carlin's narration in the background and the episodes being re-dubbed.
	+ In the Norwegian television version, The first thirteen episodes credit George Carlin, while the last thirteen episodes credit Michael Angelis, despite Gro Solemdal redubbing them.
* For much of the series, Tidmouth Sheds appears to be much larger on the inside than in the first two series. While all the exterior scenes depict the shed with the usual six berths, there are nine tracks seen in most interior views.
* Model maker John Holmes did not receive credit for working on this series until 1992.
* At the very end of Michael Angelis' early narrations, the credits were shown with a still of the final shot of each sixteen episodes; there were certain parts of dialogue exclusive to these home videos but they were cut out when the series aired in 1992. When shown on television and in future video and DVD releases, the credits were shown alongside a still of Thomas.
* This was the last series to use the nameboards in the UK. However, the nameboards would last up to the fourth series for the US and Japan.
* The series was not shown on 10th March 1992 due to Budget Day.
* When this series was repeated on CITV from 8th January to 9th July 1993, the first few episodes were edited to fit the timeslot. The episode Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure was also left out.
* This series was produced in association with Fuji Television Network, Inc. as indicated by a message at the end of each episode. At the end of the first sixteen episodes, the message is in white, while at the end of the last ten episodes, it is yellow.
* This series was released on VHS in Australia on the same day that the show premiered on television in Malaysia.
* According to The Thomas the Tank Engine Man, it cost £1.3 million to produce all twenty-six episodes.
* It was during this series that footage of Tidmouth Sheds was shot uniquely for the Japanese-exclusive special Thomas and the U.K. Trip.
* All at Sea and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure were the only episodes in this series not based on The Railway Series or a magazine story.
* The Flying Scotsman makes an obscured appearance once in this series. He is not fully shown until 24 years later with the release of the special, The Great Race.
* Tommy Boyd and Glenn Kinsey were the first presenters to introduce the series. For the 1993 repeats, Glenn Kinsey introduced the series until 12th February 1993 and from then on the series was fully announced by Steve Ryde as an offscreen voiceover until the end of the terrestrial broadcast on 9th July 1993.
* The last ten episodes of this series, from Buzz, Buzz to Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure, were all filmed in a different period after the previous sixteen episodes. As such, some changes on the details on the models and sets have been made:
	+ S.S. Roxstar gained red smokestacks.
	+ Thomas' red lining on the back of his cab was removed.
	+ Henry's brake pipes were also removed.
	+ James' former laughing face became a grinning face.
	+ Duck's happy and jovial faces both gained some teeth.
	+ Bill and Ben's happy and laughing faces gained some teeth.
	+ The interior shots for Tidmouth Sheds featured nine berths instead of the usual six.
* The third series has the most deleted scenes out of all songs from the model series.
* The last series to not have all episodes to be released on VHS/DVD in South Korea until the eleventh series.
* The last series video edited by Lee Myung-pil for JEI TV in South Korea.
* The last ten episodes of this series are the episodes that are not redubbed in the UK

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