Thomas Comes to Breakfast

Thomas Comes to Breakfast is the eighteenth episode of the second season and the fourty-fourth episode of the series. In the US, this episode first aired on the Shining Time Station episode, Two Old Hands in 1989 and then later, Nickel In a Pickle in 1991. In this episode, the Ffarquhar stationmaster gets a nasty surprise when Thomas crashes into his dining room.

Plot
Thomas' driver jokes that Thomas could almost run his branch line without him. Thomas doesn't realize he was joking though and becomes very conceited. He brags to Percy and Toby later at the sheds and both tell Thomas that he needs a driver, but to no avail.

The next morning, a fire lighter came and started the engine's fires. Thomas woke up as the warmth spread through his boiler and then realised his opportunity to run by himself and prove Percy and Toby wrong by stopping and wheeshing in front of them. Thomas slowly started moving along the track, but didn't know that he was only moving because a careless cleaner had fiddled with his controls. Thomas quickly realises he has made a huge mistake, but can't do anything about it without his driver. At the end of the tracks sits the stationmaster's house. Thomas crashes through the front window just as the family was sitting down to breakfast. Plaster and broken glass was everywhere - the stationmaster's wife was furious with Thomas for ruining their breakfast.

After workmen laid rails through the garden, Donald and Douglas arrived and pulled Thomas free of the house. Thomas' front has been badly damaged by his visit and was in disgrace.

Back at the shed, the Fat Controller was furious with Thomas for his silly actions and tells him that he's going to have to spend a long time at the works being mended. While he is away, a Diesel railcar was going to be brought in to run his branch line.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster and his Family
 * The Careless Cleaner (does not speak)
 * Annie and Clarabel (cameo)
 * Mrs. Kyndley (cameo)
 * Daisy (mentioned; not named)

Locations

 * Tidmouth
 * The Windmill
 * Ffarquhar Sheds
 * The Watermill
 * The Works (mentioned)

Cultural References

 * The cereal box that the stationmaster's son was holding is a recreation of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

Errors

 * Clarabel was facing the wrong way and her roof was lifted when Thomas comes into Tidmouth.
 * When the narrator mentions Thomas becoming conceited, Thomas looks sad. This reaction doesn't make sense for someone who's conceited.
 * When Toby and Percy are sleeping, Toby was tilted to the left.
 * In the close-up of Toby sleeping, his windows are open slightly, but in the wider shot of the three engines in the shed, Toby's right window (viewer perspective) is completely open. It then returns to be being slightly open when Thomas rolls out of the shed.
 * Just after Thomas finds that he can't stop, he passes a station building on his left, but in the next shot he hasn't passed it yet.
 * After Thomas rolled out of the shed, there was a shot of the inside of his cab. At the top right-hand corner, there's a gap where the roof was joined incorrectly.
 * In the shots from Thomas' perspective before he runs into the house, the tracks on the right all seem to end abruptly at a wall (presumably the wall is to hide the edge of the set).
 * Thomas should've called for help if he couldn't whistle.
 * Just before Thomas crashes into the house, the window didn't have glass in the frame.
 * As Thomas crashes into the house, his wheels aren't moving, nor do they move as he was being pulled out of the house.
 * In the interior shots of the house, the people are almost as big as Thomas due to the fact that their large scale models are used.
 * When Thomas is rescued, a bush is lying on his buffer beam, but when the Fat Controller is talking to him, the bush seems to have become larger.
 * While Thomas was being pulled out of the house, a wire is visible underneath him.
 * Bridget Hatt was the Stationmaster's daughter.
 * When Donald and Douglas pull Thomas out of the house, he was wearing his lamp. In the close-up of Thomas' front, the lamp has disappeared.
 * In a close-up of Thomas' driver, he was clean shaven, but in some non close-ups, he has a beard.
 * There should've been secure and strong buffers at the end of the track instead of simple stopping signs. Especially since they were in front of people's houses.
 * Douglas' left nameplate is peeling off slightly.
 * While Thomas is being pulled out of the house, a wire is visible underneath him.
 * At the end of the episode, a piece of hair is on Thomas' front.

US Home Video Releases

 * Tenders and Turntables and Other Stories
 * Thomas Comes to Breakfast and Other Thomas Adventures

Merchandise
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