Another pic from 'The Missing Coach' found

A fourth picture from the cancelled Season Two episode The Missing Coach has emerged.

VIEW THE IMAGE HERE

YouTuber SteamTeam3211 found the image in a supposed book that was on ebay. The image depicts Duck with either Donald or Douglas at Tidmouth Station, confirming that Duck was also going to appear in the episode.

The episode was cancelled halfway through shooting as TV Series Creator Britt Allcroft thought that the episode was too compilcated for children to understand. As of now, no footage has emerged although 4 pictures have, including this one.

'The Lion of Sodor' coming to Marcus screenings

Zvents have listed the next theatrical screenings of selected episodes from the Thirteenth Series of Thomas called, Lion of Sodor.

So far, only The Lion of Sodor is the confirmed episode out of four, apart from the fact that Marcus Theatres will be hosting the events in their screenings in the US.

3 theatre locations have so far been confirmed; Marcus Crosswoods UltraScreen Cinema in Columbus OH, Marcus Hastings Theatre in Hastings MN and Marcus Majestic Cinema in Brookfield WI.

Ironically, the event will start at the same day of the UK premiere of Misty Island Rescue!.

Lion of Sodor hits Marcus Theatres in the US starting from Saturday October 2nd 2010 at 11:30am.

Complete Twelth series in new US boxset

Hit Entertainment are to re-release all 4 US DVD's featuring episodes from Season Twelve of Thomas in a boxset.

Adventure Pack will feature the previously released, Railway Friends with 6 episodes, High Speed Adventures also with 6, Team Up With Thomas with 4 including Mr. Perkins and Percy and the Bandstand again with 4 and Mr. Perkins.

This is the second time that a complete series has been available to the US for a boxset as The Early Years in 2004 featured the First Series remastered.

Adventure Pack hits US DVD shelves on November 16th 2010 at a running time of 178 minutes.

2 more images from 'Misty Island Rescue'

Amazon.com's page for Misty Island Rescue for DVD/Blu-Ray have published two more images from the special.

The first image shows the aftermath of Diesel's accidents after the Jobi Wood has fallen into a ravine, while he is left dangling from the edge when Thomas rescues him.

The second shows Thomas being lowered onto the ship to collect more Jobi Wood, which ultimately goes wrong.

Misty Island Rescue hits US DVD/Blu-Ray shelves on September 7th 2010 while the UK DVD release is on October 12th 2010.

Review: 'Hero of the Rails' on Nintendo Wii

Hero of the Rails on the Nintendo Wii is available in Britain, so for a rundown and a reivew, here's what you can expect when bought, and what I thought of it.

Things you can expect from the game;

- The game is in fullscreen (4:3), sadly not in widescreen (16:9).

- The characters that are playable in selected games are; Thomas, Gordon, James, Percy, Emily, Spencer and Hiro.

- Victor and Kevin are not playable, but appear in the Sorting game at the Steamworks, where they individually smile at you when you put the correct coloured parts into their right boxes.

- David Holt, who's voice is in a Busy Buses DVD, is the narrator of the game, who has Angelis tones in his voice. The characters don't speak.

- When selecting the game on the Wii menu, a HOTR and T&F logo with Thomas and Hiro under it is featured, along with a snippet of audio of Go, Go Thomas.

- The main menu has Go, Go Thomas playing with Hiro on the left for Story mode, Thomas on the right for Games mode, some songs notes under them which leads into the Go, Go Thomas music video as an extra, and in the background, Thomas is puffing left then right of the screen.

- Annie and Clarabel however make cameos on the main menu when Thomas is puffing past the screen. Cranky can be seen in the last game when Hiro is driven to the Docks, although you can only see Cranky's legs.

- The Go, Go Thomas music video is the sing-along version as seen on the UK HOTR DVD (with less guitar).

- The Games mode has the category's of each game from the story, apart from a few. The game where you give Hiro his parts are used altogether, 2 in his hideout, one in the Steamworks.

- Selecting the Racing game is one not seen in Story mode. You play as Thomas who races Percy around a Black Loch and back.

- At the end of each game on the Games mode, Hiro, Percy, Thomas and Hiro each blow their whistles in the night at Tidmouth Sheds, accompained by The Fat Controller. It ends with a circle closing in on either The Fat Controller, or Thomas, who winks.

- The Cut-in scenes are from the special. Selected scenes are used to tie in with the game, although some have been edited, as in, when the engines talk, their mouths have been freezed.

- One cut-in in particular has the shot of the Steam Team agreeing to help Thomas while at Tidmouth Sheds. Some of the engines then blow their whistles, but then you can hear Mavis' horn, she wasn't in that bit!

- All the cut-in scenes have a blue border, indicating the widescreen footage. This also goes for the music video.

- 3 locations which are not currently seen in the CGI era of Thomas are in the game; Black Loch, the Lighthouse and Great Waterton.

- The game can be completed in half-an-hour.

- The game is developed by newcomers, Barnstorm Games.

Gameplay
Some games have you racing or following an engine, which I have to admit, was the difficulty! I struggled to turn the Wii remote as fast as I can, I was tired. The downside is that even for children, some of the little games may be too easy to complete and a difficulty level setting being enabled may have improve this feature.

During this, you can blow the engine's whistle by vertically pointing the remote up and pulling it down, sometimes while pressing B and there is a lot of games, with nearly all of them in Story mode going across 8 chapters. You only get to play at least 7 characters, but that's fine by me. 

Video
The detailed 3D recreations of the characters and locations featured are superb, especially when 3 of the engines look shiny when cleaned! However the picture quality natureness of a Wii 4:3 game may lack the sharpness of widescreen games.

I was excited to start playing it. I was then dissapointed at first when I realised that it wasn't in Widescreen mode, which was a shame. 

Audio
Michael Angelis dosen't narrate it, although David Holt did a good job at resembling his voice, minus the accent. Three or four music cues are used in the games, even in story mode which have been recomposed specially for the game, I only recognised Engine Roll Call and Suprises.

Extras 
I wasn't sure at first whether to hang on to the game after finishing, I wanted to because of the animation and that it was enjoyable, but I held onto it when I went to the Games section.The games are essentially a playlist of categories as seen on Story mode, but compiled together.

Overall 
I did enjoy the game, and even though it is half-an-hour long, I strongly advise any of you to play the game, then go to the Games section, that'll make you keep it, not to mention the music video extra. I really like the game, even as a Thomas fan, and I do hope that Barnstorm will make another game, maybe and hopefully Misty Island Rescue, but with some improvements.

Gameplay - * * * * *

Video - * * * * * * *

Audio - * * * * * *

Extras - * * * * * *

Overall - * * * * * *

'Creaky Cranky' at No.1

Just to let all of you know, I was in my local Tesco Extra the other day, to see if they had HOTR on Wii (which I later bought off ASDA online).

They didn't have the game, and even though I have Creaky Cranky on DVD, I went to the DVD section to see how it did in the charts. I can tell everyone that in the first week of it's release, Creaky Cranky is No.1 in the Family section of the Tesco DVD charts.

We'll soon see how Misty Island Rescue will turn out when released...

Creaky Cranky is now available on DVD in all good UK retailers and in the US.

Exclusive: Various images from 2003-2009

All these images I found were on Google whilst I was surfing on the net. Starting from the Sixth Series to the Thirteenth Series.

(Largest HOTR Thomas shot that I could find.)

MORE EXCLUSIVES TO COME!!!

CREDIT THETOPHATTS IF USED!!!

3 new Take Along products for US

Ty's Toy Box have listed 3 new items from the Thomas Take Along merchandising series.

The Sodor Supply Co. Cars have individually a Pipe Loader Engine on a truck while the flatbed comes with bundles of pipes. Next is Edward with the Jobi Tree on a truck linking to the events in Misty Island Rescue.

Latsly, the third is Hank with Fishing Cars, let's just hope with his release, Hank comes back in a possible Season Fourteen episode!

All 3 Take Alongs can be bought here.

New book detailing on engines

Amazon.co.uk have released details on a new book focusing on the events that have happened to some of the engines on Sodor.

The Big Book of Engines recalls events that engines have been involved in from the TV Series and even from The Railway Series books.

The description reads, Did you know...that Gordon has visited King's Cross Station in London? That James' brake pipe was mended by a bootlace? Or that Thomas once had fish in his tank? "The Big Book of Engines" is what every Thomas fan has been waiting for! Inside you'll find everything there is to know about Thomas and his engine friends on the Island of Sodor: fun facts, Thomas trivia and railway rivalry. With a page devoted to each character from Arthur to Whiff and including all the famous engines in the Steam Team, this book really is the ultimate guide to the world of Thomas and his friends. 

The Big Book of Engines hits UK book shelves soon.

S12 & 13 available on Demand Five

Channel five's on demand service, Demand Five have made all 20 episodes of the Twelth and Thirteenth series of Thomas available online.

Season Twelve and Season Thirteen can only be seen on demand in the UK for free, all in widescreen and clear quality with no watermarks.

All episodes are featured in their complete forms which will keep you hooked for over 6 hours! At least you won't have to worry when both series will be available complete on DVD.

VIEW THE COMPLETE TWELTH AND THIRTEENTH SERIES HERE!

New MIR US commercial

The Thomas & Friends Facebook page have posted the commercial for the US DVD & Blu-Ray release.

The commercial features more scenes from the newest special including Thomas on a zip line, Gordon, James and Edward on a ship and Thomas in the tunnel.

The commercial runs at 15 seconds.

View the commercial here!

Higher quality version of 'All You Need'

The Thomas & Friends Facebook page have posted a higher quality version of the Season Fourteen song and music video, All You Need.

View in higher quality here!

Larger version of 'Merry Winter Wish' cover

Lionsgate Publicity have published a larger version of the upcoming Season Fourteen holiday DVD release for the US.

Merry Winter Wish features four exclusive episodes from the fourteenth series along with a game starring The Fat Controller as a DVD extra.

Featured on the cover is a specially produced artwork with Thomas and a flatbed carrying a star while James, Edward, Henry and Percy are seen below at Knapford Station.

The hill that Thomas is on looks like a landscape that is much further away from Knapford, although it could be just specially produced.

Merry Winter Wish hits US DVD shelves on October 12th 2010.

MIR/HOTR Aussie cover revealed

The cover for the Australian Misty Island Rescue/Hero of the Rails double pack has been revealed by ezydvd.

Thomas is mainly on the cover with both movie's logos along with the tagline, Double Movie Collection. The description's for both specials have also been updated:

Contains both feature length specials in stunning CGI animation!

Misty Island Rescue:
When his friend Diesel gets into a fix, Thomas sets out to rescue him. He succeeds but subsequently ends up lost on remote Misty Island. Luckily for Thomas, a new set of train pals emerges to help him find his way home. Meanwhile, out on the deep, blue sea, Harold the Helicopter and Captain the Lifeboat are leading a search party to determine what in the world has become of their favorite locomotive.

Hero of the Rails:
For nearly 65 years, Thomas & Friends has been taking young children on fun adventures around the Island of Sodor. But Thomas and his friends have their biggest adventure yet later this year when they are spectacularly brought to life using groundbreaking computer animation (CGI) in the beautifully crafted ‘Hero of the Rails’ feature length special. Watch the residents of the Island of Sodor become fully animated with the ability to talk with their own unique voices, truly bringing them to life as never before!
 
Misty Island Rescue/Hero of the Rails - Double Movie Collection is released in Australia as a 2-disc set on Thursday 30th September 2010.

Promo featuring Stinky Cheese CGI test

A US produced promo of the CGI era of Thomas & Friends features never-before-seen clips from the CGI test piece of Thomas and the Stinky Cheese.

The promo features clips from Season Twelve and Hero of the Rails along with the suprise clips from the very Season 11 episode remake.

The test footage shows how improved Nitrogen Studios were after they proved themselves with HOTR and Season 13 which is suprising how much they touched up the animation.

Short clips from the episode include Thomas with the cheese load going across a bridge, a camera pan going across Thomas, Thomas arriving at the dairy, the Fat Controller and his bodyguards and the cheese crash with Bert.

View the promo here!!!

More info on HOTR Wii

Play.com have added more information of what you can expect on the Hero of the Rails Wii game.

Under the section of Special Features, Thomas & Friends: Hero Of The Rails Includes:

8 journeys, 8 mini-games, FMV from Thomas 'Hero Of The Rails' (I have no idea what that's supposed to mean!).

Play as your favourite engines, including, Thomas, Percy, Spencer, Gordon, Emily and Hiro! all in beautiful 3D. Race engines, toot your whistle between stations and complete activities to find the parts that will repair Hiro. Take part in 'Racing', 'Shunting', 'Repairing', 'Painting' & many more activities!

My copy of the game should be arriving either Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Mine hasn't been sent by hmv yet, but whatever day, I am currently in Belguim for a holiday and I will be back home by Friday evening, so I can't wait to try the game.
 

Not forgetting my copy of The Early Years US DVD set!

Hero of the Rails will be released on both Nintendo Wii/DS on August 20th 2010 in the UK.

Exclusive: Eighth series promos

You may have seen these before, you might not have seen some of them before, you probably saw them years ago....., and then forgot about it.

Here are some selected promotional images from the Eighth Series of Thomas & Friends.

MORE EXCLUSIVES TO COME!!!

CREDIT BYONU, SI3DFILMS AND THETOPHATTS IF USED!!!

MIR UK DVD/book, new trailer and another returnee

Play.com have added a new trailer onto their Misty Island Rescue DVD product page, which is the new UK Thomas commercial.

Well known UK based voice actor Gary Martin, who is known for voicing such characters like the Honey Monster and Epideme from Red Dwarf, voices the new 20 second commercial which features more scenes from the film.

The DVD comes with a free book of the special looking similar to the US book and is likely to be a non-Play.com offer, as Hero of the Rails DVD's last year had a poster for free for anyone who purchased it.

Finally on a closer inspection of the trailer, at the end, a birds-eye view shot shows the engines with Ferdinand and Captain at the Search and Rescue Center.

Looking very carefully on my HD laptop, I can confirm that Butch returns to the series who is seen next to Bertie who also makes an appearance. Rocky also cameos in the shot, who has a role in the special and Victor can be seen in the Steamworks during a scene with Ferdinand.

Misty Island Rescue hits UK DVD shelves on October 11th 2010.

View the new commercial here!

'Christmas Express' pulled to earlier date

Play.com have confirmed that the festive Christmas Express DVD will not be released on 29th November, but will be at an earlier date of 8th November.

The upcoming DVD runs at 50 minutes duration and is currently not known what episodes will be featured, while the cover has yet to be revealed.

Christmas Express hits UK DVD shelves at the earlier date of 8th November 2010.

Season Thirteen coming to PBS with trailer

The US Thomas & Friends website now has a trailer available on it's homepage, showcasing the Thirteenth Series coming soon to PBS.

The trailer shows scenes from various episodes of the 2009 produced series, with voice clips heard.

Find out when Season Thirteen airs in your PBS area here!

Unseen pics from the Seventh to Tenth Series

You might have seen some of these before, you might have not seen some of these before. Here are some pics I found from the Seventh series to the Tenth series.