Percy and Harold

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***Percy and Harold***, retitled ***Percy Proves a Point*** on North American releases, is the ninth episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Percy the Small Engine.

## Plot

Percy is now working at the new harbour on Thomas' branch line. He often has to fetch trucks and, although he works hard, he still likes his new job and prefers branch line work over shunting for the Main Line engines at the big station. Along the branch line is an airfield and Percy hears the planes flying overhead. The loudest, though, is a helicopter, the noise of which Percy ends up complaining about.

One day, Percy stops with his train at the airfield to talk to the helicopter, whose name is Harold. Percy compliments Harold for his big, strong arms and Harold responds by saying that he thinks railways are slow and out of date. When they finish, Harold flies away and Percy sets off for the quarry. Percy finds Toby and expresses his feelings about Harold. Afterwards, he collects his trucks and heads back to the harbour.

On Percy's trip back to the harbour, they hear Harold's unmistakable buzzing overhead. Percy's crew encourage him to race with the helicopter, which Percy has never been allowed to do before and is excited. The trucks wail and beg Percy to stop but it is no use. They have to slow down when they reach the wharf and Percy is sure that they have lost the race. But when the fireman climbs onto the roof of the cab, he realises they have won, as he can see Harold still hovering and looking for a place to land.

In celebration of Percy's victory, the fireman sings a song about the race which Percy loves, especially the last line.

## Characters

* Thomas
* Percy
* Troublesome Trucks
* Harold
* Toby (*does not speak*)
* Harold's Pilots Template:Cameos
* Henry Template:Stock footage cameo
* Sir Topham Hatt Template:Mentioned

## Locations

* New Harbour
	+ New Harbour Bridges
* Ffarquhar Quarry
* The Watermill
* Suddery Castle
* The Branch Line Cutting
* The Branch Line Bridge
* The Dual Bends

## Trivia

* Stock footage from Coal is used.
* In George Carlin's dub, during the exchange between Harold and Percy at the airfield, the same audio recording of the line, "...said Harold," is used twice.
* In the Japanese dub, the music is omitted during Percy's Victory Song.
* Events of this episode were mentioned and recreated in CGI for the twentieth series episode Letters to Santa.
* This episode marks:
	+ Ffarquhar Quarry's first physical appearance in the television series.
	+ The only appearance of Knapford Airfield in the television series.
	+ The final appearance of Knapford Beach until the twenty-fourth series episode Thomas' Fuzzy Friend, as well its last appearance in the model era.
* When the episode aired on 25 June 1991, Tommy Boyd referenced this episode during his time as a boy, telling his mother what a "ding-dong-dang" is.
* When this episode aired on Cartoon Network, the music and sound effects overlapped the original audio.

## Goofs

* Throughout the episode:
	+ Percy's left (viewers' right) cylinder is loose.
	+ Percy only has half of his screw-link coupling.
	+ Percy's brake van also changes constantly.
* Percy's eyes are misaligned in several scenes.
* In the first shot:
	+ Percy pushes a box close to the rails.
	+ His whole train also bounces slightly.
* The shot of Percy after Thomas says "Well done, Percy! The Fat Controller is very pleased with us," is reused from the shot as the fireman is singing, as his legs can be seen on Percy's cab. Also, blu-tack is seen on Percy's bunker.
* When the narrator says "An airfield was close by," Thomas' face moves slightly. The same thing also happens with Percy's face when he says "Stupid thing. Why can't it go and buzz somewhere else?"
* When Harold takes off from the airfield:
	+ The windsock next to him remains completely still despite the massive amounts of wind his propeller blades would have produced.
	+ A crew member's shadow is also seen on Harold for a split second right before the shot cuts to Percy, probably because this scene is reversed as a crew member would started his propeller.
* When Percy says "Yes! Let's!", there is a gap between his left eye and his face mask.
* Because stock footage is used, Percy's driver is seen in Henry's cab and the fireman also changes appearance at the wharf.
* When Harold flies through The Branch Line Cutting, he hits a tree.
* Percy's trucks suddenly have faces when they say "We don't want to, we don't want to!"
* In the aerial shot of Harold flying alongside Percy:
	+ A truck vanishes from Percy's train.
	+ The end of Harold's red stripe can also be seen peeling off.
* In the shot of the distant signal, studio equipment is visible at the top of the screen.
* After Percy's fireman's song:
	+ His right eye (viewers' left) pops out of the face mask slightly.
	+ The shot of Percy also freezes mid-take in the restored version.

## In Other Languages

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## Merchandise

* Ladybird book - Percy and Harold and Percy Takes the Plunge
* Buzz Book - Percy and Harold
* My Thomas Story Library book - Harold
* Engine Adventures book - Harold
* Magazine story - Percy and Harold

## Episode

Percy and Harold - UKUK NarrationPercy Proves a Point - US (George Carlin)US Re-dub
## Reference

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de:Percy und Harold
es:Percy Aclara las Cosas
he:פרסי והרולד
it:La locomotiva e l'elicottero
ja:パーシーとハロルド
pl:Piotruś i Harold
ru:Паровоз и вертолёт