| Thomas & Friends Series 12 | |||
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DVD cover art |
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| Country of origin | UK, Canada | ||
| Broadcast | |||
| Original channel | Five | ||
| Original run | 1 September, 2008 – 26 September, 2008 | ||
| Season chronology | |||
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Thomas and Friends is a children's television series based on Rev. W. Awdry's children's books, The Railway Series.
Season 12 premiered on 1 September, 2008 in the United Kingdom [1], with Michael Angelis as the narrator. Michael Brandon narrated the same episodes in the United States.
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Season 12 marked the beginning of Thomas & Friends' transition into CGI. [2][3] Characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion capture animation - the physical models' molded faces were replaced by targets in order to fix a computer-animated face in post-production. Static models of people and animals were replaced by 3D animations. The animation was provided by Nitrogen Studios, the studio contracted for future full-CGI episodes. This change marked the movement of production of the show from the United Kingdom to Canada, [2][3][4], although the model scenes were still filmed at Shepperton Studios.
HIT Entertainment's Senior Vice President of Production and Programming, Christopher Skala, stated that the change, aside from budgetary reasons, was intended to convey more emotion and flexibility through the stories. Skala claimed that, of his focus group, even those who felt that Thomas, as an institution, should not be changed in this way ultimately responded positively to the demonstration of the new animation techniques.
In Series 12, Michael Angelis and Michael Brandon continued their roles as narrators in their respective regions. However, a 2007 press release indicated that Pierce Brosnan had been contracted to narrate the show. Beginning with the Great Discovery special, HIT Entertainment's release stated that Brosnan was on board for three series and three specials.[5] As Great Discovery's release approached, his billing was changed to "guest" narrator, both in press releases[6] and on the DVD artwork. However, behind-the-scenes footage featured on the Region 1 Great Discovery DVD shows Brosnan recording lines from Series 12 episodes, indicating that at some point he was intended to continue working on the show.[7]
Twenty episodes aired on the United Kingdom's Five during the Milkshake! block, airing one story in each broadcast.[1] In the United States, two episodes were aired in each twenty-eight-minute block, a format introduced with Series 8. The new episodes aired in a different order from the United Kingdom. Additionally, the first three blocks with Season 12's production codes featured the six episodes of Engines and Escapades.[8][9][10]
Closed captioning for the 30-minute version of the show was produced by CaptionMax.
| # | Total | Title (Top) US Title (Bottom) |
Written by | Original airdate | TV order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 302 | "Thomas and the Billboard" | Mark Robertson | 1 September, 2008 | 505a |
| When a photographer comes to photograph the engines for a billboard Diesel accidentally obscures Thomas. Believing that Diesel did it on purpose, Thomas deliberately avoids him when he accidentally loses the billboard and has to get another arranged. | |||||
| 2 | 303 | "Steady Eddie" | Sharon Miller | 2 September, 2008 | 505b |
| Edward, known for being the steadiest engine on Sodor, is told to take a brass wheel along the express line to the Waterworks, but opts to take the branch line so the people can see him. | |||||
| 3 | 304 | "Rosie's Funfair Special" "Rosie's Carnival Surprise" |
Andrew Viner | 3 September, 2008 | 511a |
| Rosie and Emily are pulling a train for a fair, but Rosie wants to pull it alone to prove her worth. Her attempt goes badly wrong, causing all sorts of accidents, and she only ends up delivering two trucks. | |||||
| 4 | 305 | "Mountain Marvel" | Sharon Miller | 4 September, 2008 | 512b |
| Peter Sam discovers a statue of the magical engine, Proteus, in a siding. He decides to take it to a storytelling session without his friends knowing. | |||||
| 5 | 306 | "Henry Gets It Wrong" | Abi Grant | 5 September, 2008 | 504b |
| The Sodor Wishing Tree is struck by lightning, so some workmen are bought in to help it. However, Henry believes they are going to cut it down, and decides to obstruct their route. | |||||
| 6 | 307 | "Heave Ho Thomas!" | Sharon Miller | 8 September, 2008 | 506a |
| An American engine named Hank arrives on Sodor and Thomas must show him around, while doing his jobs. Misinterpreting Hank's compliments towards him as an insult, Thomas attempts to pull all his heavy trains at once... | |||||
| 7 | 308 | "Toby's Special Surprise" | Sharon Miller | 9 September, 2008 | 506b |
| After his friends are given important jobs and he isn't, Toby comes to the conclusion that he must find something special. But his search makes him late for his actual job. | |||||
| 8 | 309 | "Excellent Emily" | Paul Larson | 10 September, 2008 | 509b |
| Emily is the only one who finishes her jobs on time, and thus is called "Excellent" by the Fat Controller. This goes straight to her smokebox, and she ignores the advice of all the other engines, which gets her into trouble. | |||||
| 9 | 310 | "The Party Surprise" | Simon Spencer | 11 September, 2008 | 513b |
| Freddie decides to organize a winter party at the wharf instead of at Mr. Percival's house, so that Colin the Crane can join in, but neglects to tell Mr. Percival, with disastrous results. | |||||
| 10 | 311 | "Saved You!" | Paul Larson | 12 September, 2008 | 513a |
| Thomas has to take a fireman to Maithwaite for a medal ceremony and decides to try and help the engines on the way, but all his attempts end in failure. | |||||
| 11 | 312 | "Duncan and the Hot Air Balloon" | Mark Robertson | 15 September, 2008 | 512a |
| The Percival twins are to be getting a ride in a hot air balloon for their birthday, but Duncan, who used to give them their rides, wants to take them himself, so he attempts to get rid of the balloon. | |||||
| 12 | 313 | "James Works It Out" | Simon Spencer | 16 September, 2008 | 510b |
| James is given the job of taking coal to Great Waterton. Amongst his train is Hector, who gives James advice on how to cope with the winter weather. James, refusing to be told what to do by a truck, ignores him, which gets him into trouble | |||||
| 13 | 314 | "Tram Trouble" | Sharon Miller | 17 September, 2008 | 510a |
| The Great Waterton parade is to take place, and Toby is given the job of leading it. Thomas is pleased for him, but begins to worry when he learns that a new steam tram, named Flora, must also take part. | |||||
| 14 | 315 | "Don't Go Back" | Simon Spencer | 18 September, 2008 | 507a |
| While working at the Quarry, Diesel challenges Thomas to a race. There is a catch, however; the engines must race backwards. Their racing results in Mavis, 'Arry and Bert all being derailed. | |||||
| 15 | 316 | "Gordon Takes a Shortcut" | Wayne Jackman | 19 September, 2008 | 508b |
| Gordon boasts to Stanley that he never gets lost. Later, when competing against the tank engine to get to Great Waterton, he decides to go along another track, believing it to be a shortcut. He soon discovers it isn't. | |||||
| 16 | 317 | "The Man in the Hills" | Sharon Miller | 22 September, 2008 | 509a |
| It is the Thin Controller's birthday, and Sir Handel is to tell everyone a story about "The Man in the Hills", said to be completely white. Thomas decides to find the real Man in the Hills, but his choices do not match the description. | |||||
| 17 | 318 | "Thomas Puts the Brakes On" | Mark Robertson | 23 September, 2008 | 508a |
| Thomas is given the job of delivering bricks to repair a bridge, but things go wrong when his brakes start making strange noises. | |||||
| 18 | 319 | "Percy and the Bandstand" | Paul Larson | 24 September, 2008 | 507b |
| A New Bandstand is being built at Great Waterton. The Fat Controller orders Percy to collect Lady Hatt, but not tell her where she is going. But Lady Hatt asks Percy to take her to her favourite places and Percy becomes worried that they might be late. | |||||
| 19 | 320 | "Push Me, Pull You" | Sharon Miller | 25 September, 2008 | 511b |
| Skarloey refuses help from Rheneas to pull the puppet show train. So he and Rhenas couple the trucks between them and pull all their might to take the load. Skarloey succeeds, but finds himself in a lot of trouble. | |||||
| 20 | 321 | "Best Friends" | Anna Starkey | 26 September, 2008 | 504a |
| Percy wishes that he can pull the Brass Band to a special concert at Great Waterton, so when Thomas is chosen to pull them, he feels bad and cannot bring himself to tell Percy. | |||||
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