Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Thomas and the Magic Railroad is a 2000 film based on the well-known TV series and its American spinoff. This film was produced and distributed by Destination Films, and originally released to movie theatres by 2000.

Story
There is trouble on the Island of Sodor. An evil diesel locomotive by the name of Diesel 10 has arrived, with the intention of destroying the steam locomotives that live on the railway. Specifically, he has a plan to locate a magical lost engine and destroy her in order to remove the magic from the Island. Sir Topham Hatt, normally in charge of the railways on Sodor, is on holiday and has left Mr. Conductor in charge.

Mr. Conductor has problems of his own. The mysterious gold dust that allows him to magically transport from place to place is running out, and without it there will be no way for anyone to travel to Sodor. The lost engine is able to travel between Sodor and Muffle Mountain via the Magic Railroad, but nobody knows where she is.

An old man named Burnett Stone lives on Muffle Mountain, near Shining Time. Unknown to everyone, he is the guardian of the lost engine. The engine crashed after an earlier encounter with Diesel 10, and ever since then he has been trying to bring her back to life, so far without success.

His granddaughter Lily comes to visit him. She meets C. Junior, Mr. Conductor's cousin, who takes her to Sodor and introduces her to the talking engines who live there, including Thomas the Tank Engine. Later, Thomas is assigned to take Lily back, having discovered the start of the long-abandoned Magic Railroad by an old grotto. He finds a truck of special Island of Sodor coal and takes it with him. He arrives on the side of Muffle Mountain for he is, and Lily goes to her grandfather's house.

While there, Burnett shows her Lady, the lost engine, and explains his problem getting it to steam. Lily suggests using Island of Sodor coal from the truck Thomas brought. This proves to be exactly what was needed, and the engine comes to life. For the first time in years, Burnett smiles. Lily and Burnett take her along the Magic Railroad, which regenerates beneath her wheels. They are followed by Thomas, who has somehow found his way back to the line (he slid down the mountain into a pit that apparently led back to the magic railroad). They find their way back to Sodor, where Diesel 10 finds them and gives chase. He is foiled by a damaged viaduct, which collapses beneath him.

Thomas, Lady, Burnett and Lily meet Mr. Conductor and Junior. They use the water from a wishing well and shavings from the rails of the Magic Railroad to make more gold dust, and the Island of Sodor is saved.

Reception
The film proved popular among the young children at whom it was aimed, but it was a critical and box office failure. The scale of the failure was so great that Britt Allcroft, who produced, directed, wrote and appeared in the movie (as the voice of Lady) was asked to step down from her production company.

Among the criticisms were complaints of poor acting, bad direction and an incoherent plot, as well as complaints from fans of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends that the film was not true to its literary and televised origins and, despite the title, featured relatively little of Thomas. British fans complained that the film Americanised the setting and featured characters from Shining Time Station, which was never broadcast in the United Kingdom.

Many consider the film not to be canon, despite Britt Allcroft's involvement.

The animation technique used for the engine characters was the same as that in the television series, and a number of critics complained that this looked shoddy and low-budget on the big screen.

Problems and Changes
A major reason for the perceived incoherence and laziness of the plot was that some very severe edits were made in post-production. A major character, 'PT Boomer' (Pete Boom according to the Internet Movie Database), was entirely cut out of the film before its release, and so the plot elements that had been driven by him went unexplained. So close to release was this change that trailers for the film actually still featured him (such as a clip from the trailer in which he appears falling off the viaduct alongside Diesel 10). Oddly enough he still appears in the Movie during the Chase Scenes shown laying on the Back of Diesel 10.

The same trailers also depicted Diesel 10 with an upper class English accent rather than the American one he had in the release. The reason for this change is either that there was a different actor playing Diesel 10 in the trailer (an English one instead of an American one) or that that was the voice of PT Boomer.

Prior to filming, it had been announced that Thomas' voice would be provided by an Isle of Man taxi driver named John Bellis (who also worked as a fireman on the Isle of Man Steam Railway). However, during a test screening in Los Angeles, the test audiences disliked Bellis' voice for Thomas due to his Liverpudlian tones, claiming that he made Thomas sound too old. Subsequently, Bellis was dropped from his role and was replaced by Eddie Glen, who gave Thomas a more youthful voice.

It has also been revealed that Michael Angelis, the narrator for the UK version of the TV Series since 1991, would have been the voice for James & Percy. However, like Bellis, Angelis also suffered at the hands of the American test audiences, claiming that he made the characters sound too old. Eventually, James was voiced by Susan Roman, while Percy was voiced by Linda Ballantyne.

It has been revealed that Cranky the Crane and George the Steamroller were originally in the film with roles but they never appeared in the finished film.

Horace Schemer who owned the jukebox on the TV series was not written in the script.

Filming
The movie was filmed at the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania, Ontario and on the Isle of Man. Castletown railway station on the Isle of Man Railway formed part of Shining Time Station and the goods shed at Port St Mary railway station became Burnett Stone's workshop. The Strasburg Railroad was used for shots of the full-sized Indian Valley railroad.

Sodor was realised using models and chromakey. The models were animated using live action remote control, as on the television series.

The Magic Railroad was created using models and CGI.

From the TV Series
A number of characters are seen or mentioned in this film who previously appeared in the television series. These characters are:


 * Thomas the Tank Engine
 * Henry the Green Engine
 * Gordon the Big Engine
 * James the Red Engine
 * Percy the Small Engine
 * Toby the Tram Engine
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * Harold the Helicopter
 * Bertie the Bus
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Cranky the Crane (leg cameo)
 * Butch (cameo)

The Fat Controller is seen throughout the movie on posters, and his voice can be heard (muffled) over the telephone in several scenes. All the characters in the movie refer to him as Sir Topham Hatt. His wife, Lady Hatt can be seen in a photograph in The Fat Controller's office.

Other Characters
Played by Alec Baldwin, Mr. Conductor is an 8-inch-tall conductor who steps in to manage Sodor while Sir Topham Hatt is on holiday. The part was previously played by Ringo Starr (Season 1) and George Carlin (Seasons 2-3) of Shining Time Station.
 * Mr. Conductor

Diesel 10 (voiced by Neil Crone) is a true villainous diesel. He tried to destroy the Golden Engine (Lady) the last time he visited the Island of Sodor, and he returned in the film, albeit failing again. He has a gigantic, fully working and moving claw he affectionately calls "Pinchy."
 * Diesel 10



These two (voiced by Neil Crone and Kevin Frank) are Diesel 10's dim-witted sidekicks during the film. They are not quite as smart as they like to believe, and Diesel 10 calls them "Splodge" because he claims he doesn't have time to say both their names. They defect from Diesel 10 at the end of the film, and to this day their whereabouts are unknown.
 * Splatter and Dodge



Lady is a purple-red and gold tank engine (although the official site on one occasion, in a section with letters to Sir Topham Hatt, a response to an email stated that Lady was pink when asked if there were any pink engines on Sodor).
 * Lady

Lady is what holds the Magic Railroad together. Lady is kept hidden in Burnett Stone's workshop in Muffle Mountain after Diesel 10 made her crash. Stone repaired her, but she would not run. Eventually, his granddaughter Lily suggested using Sodor coal, which finally allowed her to make steam and return to the Island of Sodor. Diesel 10 found Lady, and chased her and Thomas. Thomas and Lady outran him, however, leaving him to his fate. It was found that Lady was the source of Mr. Conductor's gold dust. She was voiced by Britt Allcroft.

Lady is also the second Thomas engine character (after Percy) of freelance design rather than inspired by a specific real-life class of engine, or to which a specific inspiration was later assigned (like Henry and James). Unlike Percy though who is a generic amalgam of multiple industrial shunting engines, Lady is wholly fanciful, although from the running-plate up she is reminiscent of elaborate British engines built during the Edwardian era. Her square cylinder casings and permanent electric head/tail-lights however are an oddity, more akin to later American switchers.



Lily (played by Mara Wilson) is a young girl with a huge imagination to try to help her grandpa and Mr. Conductor.
 * Lily

Burnett Stone (played by Peter Fonda) is a shy man that doesn't speak about the truth that he has Lady and used to visit the Island of Sodor. But with the help of Mr. Conductor and Lily he saves the island of sodor from Diesel 10.
 * Burnett Stone

The cousin of Mr. Conductor (played by Michael E. Rodgers), who likes nothing better than surfing and lying on the beach. Mr Conductor requires his help to replenish the supply of gold dust.
 * C. Junior

A boy played by Cody McMains who enjoys horse riding and helping Burnett Stone. He is one of the few people who understands that Burnett is not unfriendly, just sad.
 * Patch

The kind mistress of Shining Time Station, who helps Lily out when she ends up at Shining Time by mistake. She is played by Didi Conn the same actress who played her in the Shining Time Station Television Series and Specials.
 * Stacy Jones

An intelligent dog who realises that Lily can help, and so sends her to Shining Time Station. The dog who acts as Mutt was also in another show called Come Outside, on CBeebies.
 * Mutt

A wise Native American engineer who understands the magic of the valley better than anyone. He is played by Russell Means and previously played by Tom Jackson.
 * Billy Twofeathers

Voices

 * Thomas: Edward Glen
 * Henry/Bertie/Harold/Dodge: Kevin Frank
 * Gordon/Diesel 10/Splatter: Neil Crone
 * James: Susan Roman
 * Percy: Linda Ballantyne
 * Toby: Colm Feore
 * Lady: Britt Allcroft
 * Annie/Clarabel: Shelley Skinner

References to the TV series

 * Thomas being late for Gordon is a reference to 'Thomas & Gordon' and 'Gordon & The Gremlin'
 * The fly annoying James is a reference to 'Buzz Buzz'
 * James saying that he was naughty is a reference to 'Troublesome Trucks'
 * Thomas and Percy delivering the post is a reference to 'Thomas, Percy & The Post Train'
 * Henry being sick later in the movie is a reference to his previous problems in 'Coal'
 * Bertie challenging Thomas to a race is a reference to 'Thomas and Bertie'.
 * In many Shining Time Station scenes, a jukebox can be seen which is a clear reference to the jukebox in the Shining Time Station TV series although this one was more rounded at the top whereas the original was more square. And Schemer was nowhere to be seen as well as the Juke Box Puppet Band.
 * In some scenes where Mr. Conductor's signal house can be seen, the mural around it is very similar to the one from the TV series. It still has the "anything tunnel." and the train dubbed "Old Smokey". However, it is revealed in the movie that with gold dust, the anything tunnel is connected to Conductor's railroad, a railroad that leads from the Indian Valley to the Island of Sodor.  In other words, Conductor’s railroad is the Magic Railroad.
 * The sign for Shining Time that Patch is working on looks exactly the same as the one from the TV series, it even includes the same population of 5,006 and says "give or take"
 * Billy's train is called the Rainbow Sun, a clear reference to the Shining Time Station theme song