TUGS

TUGS was a British children's television series first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, Robert D. Cardona, Peter Lord, David Mitton, Nick Park and D.B. Sweeney.

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 is noted for the high quality of its animation, which used detailed live-action models and Stop-Motion (much like the 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 is 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" (Also reffered to as Ghost Fleet)
 * "High Winds"
 * "Jinxed" (Also reffered to as The Unlucky Tug)
 * "Quarantine" (Also reffered to as OJ's Bad Day)
 * "Up River"
 * "Warrior"(Also reffered to as Warriors Longest Day'')
 * "High Tide"
 * "Munitions"
 * "4th of July" (Also referrred to as Regatta)
 * "Bigg City Freeze"

The Star Fleet
See:The Star Fleet

The Z-Stacks
See:The Z-Stacks

Human Characters
See:Human Characters in TUGS

Other Notable Characters
See:Notable Characters in TUGS

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 Star 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.
 * Britt Allcroft as Lillie Lightship, Sally Seaplane and Pearl.
 * David Mitton as Old Rusty
 * Mike Mulloy as Izzy Gomez, Captain Zero and Zug.
 * Lee Cornes as Grampus, The Coast Guard, Billy Shoepack and Boomer.
 * Don Austen as The Coast Guard Messenger.

Hopefully, more will be discovered over time.

If there was a US Cast this is what it would be like (characters in alphabetical order):


 * Ringo Starr as Captain Star, Fire Tug, Hercules and Ten Cents
 * Nika Futterman as Sunshine
 * Alec Baldwin as Big Max/Big Mac, Big Mickey, Socco/Burke, Bocco/Blair, the Garbage Corporation, AJ/OJ and Sea Tug/Sea Rogue
 * Jamie Kennedy as Top Hat
 * Sean Barrett as Bluenose, Frank, Eddie, Jack the Grappler, Johnny Cuba, Little Ditcher, Lord Stinker, Mighty Moe, Nantucket, Old Rusty, Scuttlebutt Pete, The Pirates and Warrior
 * Neil Crone as Captain Zero
 * Maurice La Marche as Zorran
 * Hank Azaria as Zebedee
 * Steve Tompkins as Zak
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Zug
 * Nancy Cartwright as Zip
 * Kevin Frank as Billy Shoepack, Boomer, The Coast Guard and Puffa
 * Britt Allcroft as Lillie Lightship, Sally Seaplane and Pearl
 * Tom Kenny as Grampus and The Fuel Depot
 * Rob Paulsen as Coast Guard's Messenger and Izzy Gomez
 * Sam Gold as the Quarry Master, Chuck/Sea Rogue's Uncle and The Shrimpers

In the Japanese version of the show, dubbed voices were used. Those credited were:


 * Rokurō Naya as Captain Star and Mighty Moe
 * Shigeru Nakahara as Ten Cents
 * Keiji Fujiwara as Big Mac, Sea Rogue and Frank
 * Masaaki Tsukada as O.J. and Captain Zero
 * Masashi Ebara as Top Hat and Zip
 * Mitsuaki Madono as Warrior
 * Yūko Mita as Sunshine
 * Hazime Ozeki as Zorran
 * Kōji Ishii as Zebedee and the Fire Chief
 * Hideyuki Umezu as Zak and Puffa
 * Taro Arakawa as Zug
 * Sakurako Kishiro as Grampus and Lillie Lightship

In the German version of the show, dubbed voices were used. Those credited were:


 * Sky du Mont as Captain Star
 * Cathlen Gawlich as Ten Cents and Sally Seaplane
 * Norbert Langer as Big Mac, Hercules, Sea Rogue, the Fire Chief and Frank
 * Oliver Rohrbeck as O.J., Lord Stinker, Sea Rogue's Uncle, Big Mickey and Eddie
 * Eberhard Prüter as Top Hat, Zebedee, Zip, Puffa and Little Ditcher
 * Tilo Schmitz as Warrior, Zak, Scuttlebutt Pete and Mighty Moe
 * Ilona Otto as Sunshine, Lillie Lightship and Pearl
 * Thomas Petruo as Captain Zero, Zorran, Zug and Izzy Gomez
 * Santiago Ziesmer as Grampus, Billy Shoepack, Boomer, Coast Guard and the Coast Guard's Messenger
 * Stefan Gossler as Johnny Cuba, Bluenose, Burke, Blair and Jack the Grappler

Ideas

 * TUGS Video and DVD ideas
 * TUGS Episode Ideas
 * The new TUGS charater in the new TUGS series
 * Ten Cents' Adventures Movie Ideas
 * Things That Go! Collection VHS/DVD Ideas

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

Parodies (because TUGS is so popular)

 * 1) TUGS/Thomas
 * 2) TUGS/Glover
 * 3) TUGS/Horrid Henry
 * 4) TUGS/Noddy's toyland adventures
 * 5) TUGS/Caillou
 * 6) TUGS/Sonic
 * 7) TUGS/Thomas Parodies
 * 8) TUGS/Sonic Parodies
 * 9) TUGS/Garfield
 * 10) TUGS/Mario
 * 11) TUGS/Disney
 * 12) TUGS/Arthur
 * 13) TUGS/Blackadder
 * 14) TUGS/Young Ones
 * 15) TUGS/Are You Being Served?
 * 16) TUGS/The magic roundabout
 * 17) TUGS/Fireman Sam
 * 18) TUGS/Alvin and the Chipmunks
 * 19) TUGS/Wacky Races
 * 20) TUGS/Foxbusters
 * 21) TUGS/Big Nate
 * 22) TUGS/Theodore Tugboat
 * 23) TUGS/Thomas & The Magic Railroad
 * 24) TUGS/Thomas Parodies
 * 25) TUGS/Shining Time Station
 * 26) TUGS/Thomas' Railway Adventures
 * 27) TUGS/thomas the train season 1
 * 28) TUGS/Thomas Episodes
 * 29) TUGS/Thomas and Friends Season 2
 * 30) TUGS/Thomas the Model Railway Engine and Friends
 * 31) TUGS/Railroad Station Series
 * 32) TUGS/Matilda
 * 33) TUGS/Thomas the ERTL Adventures
 * 34) TUGS/The Addams Family
 * 35) TUGS/Female TUGS Characters
 * 36) TUGS/Sesame Street
 * 37) TUGS/Follow that bird
 * 38) TUGS/The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
 * 39) TUGS/Thomas the Model Series
 * 40) TUGS/Thomas villains
 * 41) TUGS/TUGS villains
 * 42) TUGS/Thomas the Bachmann Model & Friends
 * 43) TUGS/Scrubs
 * 44) TUGS/HO Thomas and Friends
 * 45) TUGS/Thomas and gordon
 * 46) TUGS/Thomas the Trackmaster Adventures
 * 47) TUGS/007
 * 48) TUGS/The Simpsons
 * 49) TUGS/Family Guy
 * 50) TUGS/Z-Stack of The Bigg City Port Parodies
 * 51) TUGS/Female TUGS Character Parodies
 * 52) TUGS/Thomas Episodes and Flims
 * 53) TUGS/Steam Engines
 * 54) TUGS/TUGS Episodes
 * 55) TUGS/TUGS videos
 * 56) TUGS/Thomas Stories
 * 57) TUGS/Disney's Toontown Online
 * 58) Multi Parody/Mister Moose's Fun Time
 * 59) TUGS/Percy
 * 60) TUGS/Toby
 * 61) TUGS/James
 * 62) TUGS/Diesel 10
 * 63) TUGS/Pucca
 * 64) TUGS/Colby's Clubhouse
 * 65) TUGS/Barney is rubbish!
 * 66) TUGS/My Big Big Friend
 * 67) TUGS/Gary the Steam Engine

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,Big Mac 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, Sunshine's stack was white at first, but at the end the episode, he is painted star tug yellow, this was obviously true and at the end of the episode, Sunshine had officially joined the Star tug fleet and would have reason to be 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 and OJ 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.