Thomas & Friends

Genre

Animation, Family

Created by

Britt Allcroft

Licensed by

The Britt Allcroft Company (1989-2002)
Gullane Entertainment (2002-2003)
HiT Entertainment (2003-present)

Closed captioning

National Captioning Institute (VHS Releases 1990-1993)
Captions, Inc. Los Angeles (VHS Releases 1994-1998)
The National Captioning Centre (“10 Years of Thomas” VHS only)
The Transcription Company (“Thomas and His Friends Get Along” DVD only)
Caption Technologies, Inc. (2004-2013)
The Caption Center (VHS/DVD Releases 1998-2001, excluding “10 Years of Thomas”, “Spills and Chills” and “Make Someone Happy”)
CaptionMax (“Best of James”, 2009-2017)
J.R. Media Services Incorporated (DVD Releases “Steamies vs. Diesels”, 2006-2008)

Network

PBS

No. of episodes

400+

Original run

June 7, 1990–December 16, 2016

Rating

TV-Y

Overview

It's about a group of tank engines who live in the Island of Sodor, mainly about the title character, Thomas, and the head of the North Western Railway, Sir Topham Hatt, also known as the Fat Controller.

Characters

Character's name	Description	Seasons appeared in	Sonic counterpart(s)	MLP counterpart
Thomas	A blue tank engine numbered "1".	All	Sonic	Pinkie Pie
Edward	A blue mixed-traffic engine numbered "2".	All	Uncle Chuck	Twilight Sparkle
Henry	A green mixed-traffic engine numbered "3".	All	Rotor	Applejack
Gordon	A pompous blue express engine numbered "4".	All	Big the Cat	Rainbow Dash
James	A red mixed-traffic engine numbered "5".	All	Knuckles Antoine	Rarity
Percy	A small green saddletank numbered "6". Best friend of Thomas.	All	Tails	Fluttershy
Toby	A old brown steam tram numbered "7".	All	Vector
Duck	A Great Western pannier tank engine numbered "8".	2-6 (most frequently), 12, 17	Espio
Donald and Douglas	Twin black Scottish mixed-traffic engines numbered "9" and "10".	2-4, 6-7, 11-12	Scratch and Grounder
Bill and Ben	Yellow tank engine twins from the Brendam Bay.	2-12	Sleet and Dingo
Diesel	A black anti-heroic Diesel engine.	2-3, 6-present	Shadow	Discord
Daisy	A green female Diesel engine who acts stubborn but not that villainous.	2 and 4	Rouge Breezie	Trixie
Boco	A green male Diesel engine.	2-5	Silver
Oliver	A Great Western tank engine numbered "11".	3-7, 12
Mavis	A black female Diesel engine.	3-present	Blaze	Sunset Shimmer
Bulgy	A double decker bus with a bad temper.	3 and 7
Stepney	An orange-yellow tank engine from London.	4-7, 12	Chris Thorndyke
Skarloey Railway engines	Mainly consists of Skarloey, Rheneas, Sir Handel, and Peter Sam.	4-present
Emily	A dark green female Stirling engine. Thomas's love interest.	7-present	Amy Rose
Molly	A yellow female tender engine.	9-11	Bunnie
Rosie	A pink tank engine who idolizes Thomas in her first appearance.	10-16	Cream Tikal	Sweetie Belle
Billy	An orange tank engine with buck teeth.	11 (one episode)	Charmy
Flora	A steam tram who works for the Sodor Tramways in Great Waterton.	12 (one episode)	Cosmo
Charlie	A purple tank engine who tells jokes.	13-present	Charmy
Bertie	A red bus.	All	Cheese
Harold	A white helicopter that patrols the island.	2-present	Dulcy
Diesel 10	The scariest Diesel on Sodor.	TV specials	Dr. Eggman
Lady	A Victorian-style steam engine who runs the Magic Railroad.	Movie (Thomas and the Magic Railroad)	Sally Acorn Vanilla	Princess Cadance
Sir Topham Hatt	The manager of the North Western Railway.	All	King Acorn	Princess Celestia

List of episodes and videos

Season 1 (1984)
Season 2 (1986)
Season 3 (1991)
Season 4 (1994)
Season 5 (1998)
Season 6 (2002)
Season 7 (2003)
Season 8 (2004)
Season 9 (2005)
Season 10 (2006)
Season 11 (2007)
Season 12 (2008)
Season 13 (2009)
Season 14 (2010)
Season 15 (2011)
Season 16 (2012)
Season 17 (2013)
Season 18 (2014-2015)
Season 19 (2015)

This list will not go past Season 19 due to PBS no longer airing the program.

Broadcast history

Channel aired	Broadcast run
Only available on VHS/DVD	1990-2004
	2004-2017
	2004-2017
	2005-2015

Episodes of Thomas & Friends presented in high definition (HDTV) format were only seen on the main programming PBS channels. All other channels, especially those affiliated with PBS Kids, were only presented in standard definition (480i/SDTV) format and in a 4:3 pan-and-scan (or possibly, letterbox) aspect ratio.

Websites

http://www.thomasthetankengine.com (1996-2003)
http://www.hitentertainment.com/thomasthetankengine (2003-2005)
http://www.thomasandfriends.com (2005-present)

Gallery

TV Shows
Dr. Seuss	How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) • Horton Hears a Who! (1970) • The Cat in the Hat (1971) • The Lorax (1972) • Dr. Seuss on the Loose (1973) • The Hoober-Bloob Highway (1975) • Grinch Night (1977) • Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano (1980) • The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982)
Animated series	My Little Pony (1984–1987) • Super Mario Bros. Super Show (1989) • Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990) • Super Mario World (1991) • My Little Pony Tales (1992) • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993–1996) • Sonic the Hedgehog (1993–1994) • Arthur (1996–2005) • Pokémon (1998–2003) • Sonic Underground (1999) • Kirby: Right Back at Ya! (2002–2006) • Sonic X (2003–2006) • My Little Pony (2003–2007) • My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (2010–2019) • My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020)
Game shows	Wheel of Fortune (1983) • Jeopardy! (1984)
Educational	Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968–2001) • Thomas & Friends (1984) • Kidsongs (1985–1998) • Barney & Friends (1988–1995) • Shining Time Station (1989–1996) (List of episodes • List of videos)
Comedy	Full House (1987–1995) • All That (1994–2000) • The Amanda Show (1999–2001)