Dirty Objects

Dirty Objects, retitled James in a Mess in American releases, is the twenty-third episode of the first season. In the US, it aired on the Shining Time Station episodes Finders Keepers and A Dog's Life. In this episode, James gets covered in tar after ironically teasing Toby for being dirty.

Plot
Toby and Henrietta are settling into their new lives on the Island of Sodor, but they still look very old-fashioned and could use new paint. Due to their bad paintwork, the two become a subject of scorn for James who calls them "dirty objects". When Toby asks why James is red, James says that it is because he is a splendid engine who is never dirty and ready for anything. Toby then reminds James of the bootlace incident, causing James to become angry.

Later, James leaves his coaches and picks up a line of trucks for a slow goods train. James' bad mood is made even worse due to his hate of slow goods trains. Although the trucks start off behaving well, James is so rough with them that they vow to pay him out. As he climbs Gordon's Hill, James is supposed to stop and have his brakes pinned down. James, who had an accident with trucks before, should've remembered this, but forgets as he is too busy thinking of what he will say to Toby next time they meet. Seizing their chance, the trucks push James down the hill. Unable to stop, James zips through the station and crashes into some tar wagons.

Although James is not hurt, he is left looking very dirty from the tar. Percy and Toby come to help clean up the mess and Toby makes fun of James reminding him that, as a red engine, he is supposed to look splendid and ready for anything. Percy and Toby shunt James back to the sheds where the Fat Controller is waiting. He thanks Percy and Toby for their hard work and tells James that he needs to be cleaned.

The Fat Controller awards Toby a new coat of paint and agrees when Toby requests one for Henrietta too. Toby happily runs off to tell his coach the good news.

Characters

 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Henrietta (does not speak)
 * Gordon   (mentioned)
 * Henry (mentioned in Latin American version)

Locations

 * Elsbridge
 * Maron
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Knapford
 * Cronk Viaduct (deleted scene)

Errors

 * When James arrives at Knapford, his brake coach is in the middle of his train.
 * When James approaches Elsbridge in the first shot of the episode, his eyes bounce up and down.
 * In the scene where James is on Gordon's Hill with the trucks, a piece of string can be seen pulling him.
 * When James races through Maron his brakevan becomes brown.
 * In the shot of the tar wagons, look back at the station; James isn't there.
 * When James crashes, the truck at the front was missing its buffers and face, a stagehand is seen pushing James, and blu-tak is used to hold James' crew in place. Also, in a different angle of the same shot, the coupler to attach James to his tender appear to be black and red wires.
 * It's unknown why there were tar wagons on the main line.
 * There should've been a signal to indicating James that there's another train ahead.
 * In the Latin American version, when the line "they run into their buffers and pushed him down off the hill" James is referred as Henry.
 * At least some of James' coal should've fallen out of his tender when he crashed, but it didn't.
 * The covered object in James's first truck is replaced with coal.
 * Nobody knows how the breakdown crane can get in the sidings, when the points are blocked.
 * James' unhurt trucks were cleared away long before the narrator said so.
 * When James crashes in to the tar wagons he comes off the rails. When Toby and Percy come to help, his position of derailment changes.
 * When Toby says, "...and you never see his paint dirty", the edge of the set is visible.
 * When James, Percy, and Toby arrive at the yards the man next to the Fat Controller has blue-tak on his feet.
 * At least, when James' breakvan leaves Maron, James should at least have crashed and derailed but he crashed a second later.
 * It's unknown what happened to James' breakvan as it wasn't seen after the crash.
 * When Toby asks James why he is red, his eyebrows are missing.

US Home Video Releases

 * Thomas Breaks the Rules and Other Thomas Stories
 * Thomas and His Friends Get Along and Other Thomas Adventures
 * Best of James