Thomas the Tank Engine and the Journey to England

"Hi, Thomas! I'm Fred, and I came from the United States. And, I'm Ted. Hi! Welcome to Sodor!"

- Fred, Ted, and Thomas

Thomas the Tank Engine and the Journey to England is a British/American/Canadian Thomas & Friends/Fred and Ted/Terrytoons crossover special combining live-action (Facilitate/Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends/Silent films/Stock libraries footages), and animation (Fred and Ted/Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends/Terrytoons/Theatrical animated cartoon short film series from The Golden age of American animation footages/2D computer graphics added for silent films/stock libraries footages for some scenes in the songs) including traditional, 2D hand-drawn cel animation (Fred and Ted/Terrytoons/Theatrical animated cartoon short film series from The Golden age of American animation footages), and 3D stop-motion model animation/live-action model animation (Original Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends footage). It aired in April 1995 exclusively in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. On Fox Kids Network, the Woody Woodpecker short called Astronut Woody was shown before the special.

Woody Woodpecker short
The cartoon begins in Woody's tree, which he has "just about all pecked to pieces". Woody decides that it is time to move out, and comes across a launchpad with a rocket on it destined for the Moon. Mistaking it for a high-rise apartment building, Woody enters the rocket and starts to make himself at home. One of the things he discovers is the astronaut's food, which is concealed in tubes.

Meanwhile, in the rocket's control room, the colonel in charge of the launch discovers Woody in the rocket and heads up to the top to try to eject him. Mistaking him for the landlord Woody offers him some ice water, but the colonel orders him to leave. Woody does, but not before hitting the colonel in the face with a pie and being forcefully thrown out of the rocket. The colonel then heads back into the control room to prepare for blast off, while Woody immediately sneaks back into the rocket. Suddenly realizing where he is once the colonel starts counting down, Woody tears apart some of the rocket's electronics to stop the blast off, once again bringing the colonel outside to try and stop him. Woody first throws a motor at the colonel, then cuts the elevator so it drops on him. As the colonel climbs up to the top of the rocket (his only means of getting up there now), Woody climbs down, then goes into the control room and launches the rocket. Only the top of the rocket, where Woody had been making home, blasts off and crashes down to the ground with the colonel in it. Looking at the wreck, the colonel shrugs and says "well, back to the drawing board".

The colonel tries a second time to launch the rocket after a while, but Woody again interrupts. This time, he is disguised as the rocket's head electrician, needing to make adjustments. The adjustments cause the colonel's chair to launch into the air instead of the rocket, and since the chair is not intended for flight he does not get very far before crashing back to earth. He lands on the floor of the control room and again decides it is time to go "back to the drawing board". The second time, Woody interrupts dressed as an astronaut and dispatches the colonel to the rocket, claiming someone wants to talk to him in there. Woody then launches the rocket again, but this time it only gets a few feet off the ground before crashing through the launchpad.

The colonel makes one more attempt to launch, but Woody again interrupts dressed as the head electrician to make adjustments. This time, the entire building housing the control room lifts off the ground as the colonel protests in frustration. Woody then decides it is time for lunch and finds a food tube marked "instant banquet", which when squeezed creates a banquet table. He then squeezes a tube labeled "table companion" and a woman comes out. The cartoon ends with Woody's laugh.

Thomas and the Journey to England
Two children's storybook characters from the United States, Fred and Ted, travel to the United Kingdom.

First day
During their visit, they stop on Sodor to meet Thomas, Sir Topham Hatt, and the other engines.

Second day
During the second half of the program, they visit real railways as recommended by Sir Topham Hatt and learn how steam locomotives work.

Production
According to producers Haim Saban, Shuki Levy, Micheline Charest, Ronald A. Weinberg, and Andy Heyward, in 1995, CINAR, Saban Entertainment, and DIC Entertainment submitted the plan of this special to the Britt Allcroft Company. Later, Britt Allcroft requested to submit the storyboard, and Tony Eastman completed and submitted it overnight. In the winter, the special was traditionally animated in the UK with the animation cooperation of CINAR Animation, a CINAR company, and DIC Entertainment Europe, a DIC Entertinment company, and the cooperation of Southwest Airlines, the British Tourist Authority, and Kensington, Inc. Also, the scenes of Thomas and his friends interacting with Fred, and Ted were filmed at Shepperton Studios for this special during the production of the third series with the filming cooperation of The Britt Allcroft Company.

The special was broadcast in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada on 3 and 4 April 1995, the year after the fourth series broadcast.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * Percy
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Fred
 * Ted
 * Henry
 * James
 * Oliver
 * Mavis
 * Bulgy
 * Edward
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Donald and Douglas
 * Bill and Ben
 * Diesel
 * BoCo
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Toad
 * Bertie
 * Trevor
 * Harold
 * Wilbert
 * Peckett No. 1900

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Shepperton Studios
 * Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
 * Kent & East Sussex Railway
 * Big Ben
 * Buckingham Palace
 * Tower Bridge
 * Great Western Railway

First day

 * 1) Swamp Water Taffy (1970)
 * 2) The Proton Pulsator (1970)
 * 3) Slinky Minky (1970)
 * 4) Oscar's Birthday Present (1971)
 * 5) Berry Funny (1971)

Second day

 * 1) Oscar's Thinking Cap (1971)
 * 2) Big Mo (1971)
 * 3) No Space Like Home (1971)
 * 4) Kooky Cucumbers (1971)

Songs

 * Thomas' Anthem
 * Sing-A-Long Song Time

In credits order

 * Joshua Seth as Thomas
 * Richard Newman as Gordon
 * Brianne Siddall as Percy
 * Tom Wyner as Sir Topham Hatt
 * Wally Wingert as Fred
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Ted
 * Sandy Duncan as Facilitate

Rest of cast listed alphabetically

 * Grace Stafford as Woody Woodpecker
 * Dallas McKennon as military colonel

Trivia

 * This was the first mark of several things:
 * Oliver, Mavis and Bulgy's nameboards first appeared.
 * There are four instances of songs by The Beatles being played (of which Ringo Starr was the drummer) and one instance of a song that was covered by Marmalade (of which Junior Campbell was part):
 * "Magical Mystery Tour" can be heard during the intro.
 * An instrumental version of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is used when the theatrical animated cartoon short film series during the Golden age of American animation is being introduced.
 * An instrumental version of "The Fool on the Hill" is used when Tidmouth Sheds first appears.
 * "When I'm Sixty-Four" plays during the end credits.
 * Thomas' Anthem is played in English, thus being the first time a Thomas song is broadcast in English in the UK, the USA, and Canada.
 * The special include a segment called Sing-A-Long Song Time image songs in the UK, the USA, and Canada, introduced by Sandy Duncan. These consist of acquired songs, which relate the moral of the special. The songs are set to an arrangement of footage, mainly from stock libraries, and silent films, & specially added cutout animation, 2D computer graphics, and animation for some scenes in the songs.

Goofs

 * When Thomas is talking to Fred and Ted, a wire is hanging from underneath Thomas' running board.
 * Henry's firebox is crooked.
 * When James and Henry puff out of the shed, they are going slowly, but the sound of them puffing is fast.