Thomas & Friends (formerly known as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends from 1989 until 2004, and re-titled Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! from season 22 until the series finale) is the American English dub of the show of the same name. In the United States, it had its first broadcast on Shining Time Station in 1989.
For American audiences, the series was redubbed using American railroad terminology among other changes done to fit the ideals of the American public (political correctness changing the perceived harshness of some of the dialogue).
Cast[]
Seasons 1-12[]
| Character | Actor[2] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Narrator
All characters |
Ringo Starr (seasons 1-2, original airings) | ||
| George Carlin (seasons 1-2, redub; seasons 3-4) | |||
| Alec Baldwin (season 5; season 6, original airings & home video releases) | |||
| Michael Angelis (season 6 episodes 7 and 8; season 7, original dub, currently lost apart from four episodes) | |||
| Michael Brandon (season 6, re-dub of six episodes; season 7, re-dub of twenty episodes; seasons 8-12) |
Seasons 13-24[]
| Character | Actor[2] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Thomas
|
Martin Sherman (seasons 13-18) | |
| Joseph May (seasons 19-24) | |||
|
Edward
|
William Hope | |
|
Toby
| ||
|
Whiff
| ||
|
Bash
| ||
|
Rocky
| ||
| File:Stephen Hatt (Thomas & Friends).png | Stephen Hatt
| ||
|
Farmer McColl
| ||
| File:The Duke of Boxford (Thomas & Friends).png | The Duke of Boxford
| ||
|
Henry
|
Kerry Shale | |
|
Gordon
| ||
|
Dash
| ||
|
Scruff
| ||
|
Harold
| ||
|
Max
| ||
|
Kevin
| ||
| File:Mr. Percival (Thomas & Friends).png | Mr. Percival
| ||
|
James
|
Kerry Shale (seasons 13-18) | |
 Rob Rackstraw (seasons 19-24)
| |||
|
Percy
|
Martin Sherman (seasons 13-18) | |
| Christopher Ragland (seasons 19-24) | |||
|
Emily
|
Jules de Jongh | |
|
Lady Hatt
| ||
|
Bridget Hatt
| ||
|
The Duchess of Boxford
| ||
|
Sir Topham Hatt
|
Kerry Shale (seasons 13-18) | |
| Original audio is retained (seasons 19-24) | |||
|
Spencer
|
Glenn Wrage | |
|
Ferdinand
| ||
|
Cranky
| ||
|
Rosie
|
Jules de Jongh (seasons 13-16) | |
| Original audio is retained (seasons 21-24) | |||
|
Mavis
|
Jules de Jongh (seasons 13-16) | |
| Original audio is retained (seasons 17-21) | |||
|
Stanley
|
Ben Small (seasons 15-18) | |
| David Menkin (season 19) | |||
| Rob Rackstraw (seasons 20-23) | |||
| John Schwab (S20E8) | |||
|
Charlie
|
Glenn Wrage (seasons 13-15) | |
| Ben Small (seasons 16-18) | |||
|
Porter
|
David Menkin | |
|
Jack
| ||
|
Diesel
|
Michael Brandon (seasons 13-16) | |
| Martin Sherman (seasons 17-18) | |||
| Original audio is retained (seasons 19-24) | |||
|
Victor
|
David Bedella (seasons 13-24) | |
| File:Trevor (Thomas & Friends).png | Trevor
|
Christopher Ragland | |
|
Butch
|
Glenn Wrage (seasons 15-16) | |
| Steven Kynman (seasons 17-19) | |||
|
Monty
|
Rob Rackstraw
| |
| File:Mr. Bubbles (Thomas & Friends).png | Mr. Bubbles
|
Michael Brandon | |
Narrator
|
Michael Brandon (seasons 13-16) | ||
| Mark Moraghan (seasons 17-21) | |||
| Joseph May (seasons 22-24) | |||
History[]
In 1988, producer Britt Allcroft began work on launching the Thomas franchise in the United States. Striking a deal with PBS, she co-created Shining Time Station with Rick Siggelkow, with the show acting as a vessel to introduce Thomas to American audiences. The series would be a half-hour program revolving around one or two episodes of Thomas and exploring the lessons and morals within the stories. Ringo Starr played Mr. Conductor, an eighteen-inch-tall man who told the stories of Thomas to the children who visited the station.
In a bid to fit the ideals of the American public, numerous changes took place to the episodes themselves. Several titles were changed; many technical terms were adapted to suit the American audiences' familiarity, and the title of 'Fat Controller' was politically corrected to 'Sir Topham Hatt' so as not to offend. The original British narration for the series was used, albeit slightly altered throughout with Ringo re-recording some parts to adapt the story with necessary changes, recommended by Allcroft's American television advisors, including child psychologist Dr. Ron Slaby.
After Ringo left Thomas and Shining Time to pursue his musical career, comedian George Carlin was brought in to replace him as Mr. Conductor in Shining Time Station and narrated the American dub (while Michael Angelis was brought in for the UK narration). Carlin also re-narrated Seasons 1 and 2 (11 of which Ringo had not re-narrated for US audiences). Following Shining Time Station's third season in 1992, the preference was to produce specials of that series instead. As a result, Thomas' fourth season was the first one to be released straight to video, which is how much of its future seasons would be released in the US.
Following Carlin's departure from the series after the fourth season, actor Alec Baldwin would be brought in to narrate the American version of the fifth season, and would later play Mr. Conductor in Thomas & the Magic Railroad. Baldwin would briefly return to narrate the sixth season in 2002, before moving on for his acting career. In 2004, British narrator Michael Angelis would very briefly narrate the full 7th series but for the US dub and 4 of his US narrations of episodes from the that series as well as 2 re-dubbed episodes from the previous series were released on the VHS and DVD release called "New Friends for Thomas & Other Adventures".
With the acquisition of the Thomas & Friends franchise by HiT Entertainment, the series was now redubbed for American audiences terrestrially in the United Kingdom. American-born actor Michael Brandon was brought in as the new narrator for American audiences, narrating seasons 8 through 16, as well as re-narrating twenty episodes from season 7 and six episodes from season 6. Pierce Brosnan briefly served as guest narrator for the special The Great Discovery, and was initially set to replace both Michael Brandon and Michael Angelis in both narrations starting with the 12th season, but this fell through due to Pierce Brosnan resigning from Thomas & Friends.
In 2009, with the transition from models and sets to CGI, the series would move on to feature separate voice actors for the characters. The series' American and British dubs were both recorded in the United Kingdom, featuring the same pool of actors but in different roles for each dub, with some exceptions. Since the 16th season, many characters gradually began having the same voice actor in the US as the UK dub.[2]
Notes[]
- The characters Nia, Rebecca, Duck, Donald & Douglas, Oliver, Bill & Ben, Harvey, Hiro, Belle, Stephen, Connor, Caitlin, Timothy, Gator, Samson, Ryan, Glynn, Daisy, Arry & Bert, Diesel 10, Salty, Den, Dart, Paxton, Norman, Sidney, Winston, Stafford, Philip, Hugo, Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, Peter Sam, Rusty, Duncan, Millie, Luke, Mike, Rex, Bert, Annie & Clarabel, Henrietta, Troublesome Trucks, Toad, Slip Coach #1, 2, and 3, Marion, Jerome, Judy, Bradford, Bertie, Terence, Bulgy, Alfie, Oliver, Captain, Flynn, Merrick, Owen, Reg, Skiff, Big Mickey, Carly, Stephen and Bridget Hatt in two occasions, Dowager Hatt, Alicia Botti, and Sir Robert Norramby, all have their voices mostly retained from the original British version.
- Some characters are eventually voiced by their original British voices in later seasons. This includes Sir Topham Hatt in seasons 19-24, Rosie in seasons 21-24, Mavis in seasons 17-21, Diesel in seasons 19-24, Victor in seasons 17-24, and The Mayor of Sodor in seasons 19-21.
- The narrator of seasons 17-21, Mark Moraghan, is also retained in this dub.
- There are some exceptions where the same voice actors of the aforementioned characters redub lines relating to American terminology.
- Ringo Starr's US narration only covers 25 of the 26 first season episodes, and only 16 of the 26 second season episodes.
- Ringo Starr's narration for the episode "Thomas & the Missing Christmas Tree" was released on the VHS for the Shining Time Station Christmas special 'Tis a Gift. This, however, was the UK Narration with any lines mentioning Sir Topham Hatt as "The Fat Controller" removed.
- In the original airing of the first two seasons, Ringo Starr was kept as the narrator, but George Carlin replaced his role in the redub.
- The episode "Snow Tracks" was re-narrated by Mark Moraghan in 2013 for the Santa's Little Engine DVD. Additionally, Moraghan also re-narrated four clips of fourteenth and fifteenth series episodes in 2015 for the PBS Kids website which are "Charlie and Eddie", "Thomas' Crazy Day", "Up, Up and Away!" and "Percy's New Friends".
- The UK narration was once released in the United States on The Early Years three-disc DVD set in 2004.
- Michael Angelis re-recorded some of his narration for the U.S. DVD New Friends for Thomas and Other Adventures.
- Michael Brandon's re-narration of the seventh season has only been released with a re-composed score by Ed Welch and Robert Hartshorne (composers for Seasons 8-12) rather than the original score by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. The only exceptions are three episodes released on the Thomas and the Jet Engine DVD in 2004.
- Only 6 episodes of sixth season and 20 episodes of the seventh season are known to be re-dubbed by Michael Brandon with a re-composed score by Ed Welch and Robert Hartshorne (composers for Seasons 8-12) rather than the original score by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. It is unknown if Michael Brandon re-dubbed more episodes from these seasons due to only 26 of his narrations (of both seasons) airing solely on PBS kids and Treehouse TV. The UK dub of the Series 7 episode Rheneas and The Rollercoaster used Robert Hartshornes music exclusively on its Bumper Party Collection release.
- Despite attempts to use strictly American terminology for the dub, there have been several instances where British terminology is used.
- Various merchandising released in the US still use British terminology (referring to Sir Topham Hatt as "The Fat Controller" and the Freight Cars as "The Troublesome Trucks").
- In "The Flying Kipper", Ringo's original narration referring to the conductor as a guard is left intact. This is repeated in George Carlin's narration.
- Since the sixth season, the narrator has inconsistently referred to the trucks by their American standard (Freight Cars) and their British standard (Troublesome Trucks).
- Locomotives are exclusively referred to as "Engines" which is the British terminology for a Locomotive.
- Various instances of characters' US voices being slipped into the UK version are known to occur (or vice versa).
- For example, Porter's American voice actor, David Menkin, retains his voice in the original British version of the episodes "Pouty James" and "Cranky at the End of the Line", from seasons 20 and 21 respectively.
- This, along with Latin American Spanish, Finnish, French and Hebrew are the only languages of the CGI series to have voice actors that both narrate and voice characters.
- David Menkin was asked to replace Martin Sherman as the voice of Thomas after his departure, but Menkin declined in support of Sherman.
References[]
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