Thomas & Friends (series 17) facts for kids

Thomas & Friends
Official cover art for the series 17 DVD
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26
Release
Original network	Channel 5 (Ep. 1 - 20) Direct-to-video (Ep. 21 - 26)
Original release	3 June 2013 (2013-06-03) – 4 January 2014 (2014-01-04)
List of Thomas & Friends episodes

Thomas & Friends is a popular children's television series about trains and other characters. They all work on the railways of the Island of Sodor. The show is based on The Railway Series books, written by the Reverend W. Awdry.

This article tells you about the seventeenth series of the show. It first aired from 2013 to 2014. This series was special because it was the first time Mark Moraghan narrated the show. He narrated for both the United Kingdom and United States audiences.

Most episodes (1–20) first aired in the UK on Channel 5 in 2013. Later episodes (21–24) were shown on Nick Jr. (UK) in July 2014. The last two episodes (25 and 26) aired on Nick Jr. Too in November 2014. This series was also the first to be made by a company called Arc Productions.

Making the Show (Production)

During the making of the sixteenth series, Sharon Miller, who was the main writer, left her job. Andrew Brenner then took over as the new head writer. He had worked on Fireman Sam before. Andrew Brenner already knew a lot about Thomas & Friends. He had helped adapt the first two series of the show. He also wrote many original stories for the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends magazine. This magazine was published by Marvel Comics from 1987 to the early 1990s. Some of his stories were even used in later TV series without him knowing!

This series was also the first since the fifth series to have a railway expert on the team. Sam Wilkinson helped make sure the train parts of the show were accurate.

The computer animation (CGI) for this series was done by Arc Productions. They took over from Nitrogen Studios after Series 16 and the movie Blue Mountain Mystery were finished in 2012.

In April 2013, Lionsgate released a DVD called "Railway Mischief". This DVD had five episodes from the new series. These episodes were released months before they were shown on TV. You could only buy this DVD at Walmart.

Episodes

The seventeenth series of Thomas & Friends has 26 episodes. Each episode tells a new story about Thomas and his friends on the Island of Sodor. The stories teach important lessons about friendship, teamwork, and being helpful.

Some of the episodes include:

• Scruff's Makeover: Scruff doesn't want to get dirty again after being cleaned.
• Wayward Winston: Winston, a railway vehicle, rolls away without a driver!
• Gordon Runs Dry: Gordon has a problem with his boiler and needs to stop for water often.
• Calm Down Caitlin: Caitlin is too excited to be quiet at night while staying on Sodor.
• Steamie Stafford: Stafford, an electric engine, tries to act like a noisy steam engine.
• The Thomas Way: Thomas and Duck learn to work together when helping Harold.
• The Lost Puff: Paxton misunderstands that Thomas has lost his "puff" and goes looking for it!
• Santa's Little Engine: Thomas helps Sir Topham Hatt when his sleigh rolls away.

These are just a few examples of the fun adventures the engines have in this series!

Characters

This series introduced some new friends and brought back some familiar faces!

New Friends

• Luke
• Millie
• Stephen
• Sir Robert Norramby (also known as The Earl of Sodor)
• Porter

Friends Who Returned

• Duck
• Harvey
• Bill and Ben

Voices of the Characters

Many talented actors lend their voices to the engines and other characters on Sodor. For this series, David Menkin and Jonathan Broadbent joined the cast. Other actors like Bob Golding, Jonathan Forbes, Rebeca O'Mara, Miranda Raison, and Mike O'Grady also continued their roles.

Some actors took on new roles in this series:

• Martin Sherman became the voice of Diesel in the US.
• Keith Wickham started voicing Bertie.
• Ben Small took over the voice of Flynn.
• Steven Kynman voiced Butch in the US and Dart.
• Teresa Gallagher became the voice of Mavis in the US.
• David Bedella officially took over the voice of Victor in the UK.

Mark Moraghan was the narrator for both the UK and US versions of the show.