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“Down means 'go', and up means 'stop'. So upper still must mean 'go back'. I know, it's one of these backing signals.”
― Percy

Percy and the Signal is the seventh episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Percy the Small Engine.

Plot

Percy works very hard in the Big Station yard, though he can also be very cheeky and often plays jokes, which can get him into trouble. One day, Percy is feeling particularly cheeky; he startles Gordon by telling him his morning train is ready, which makes Gordon think he is running late. Percy then pulls out to reveal a line of dirty coal trucks, which makes Gordon very angry. Gordon begins to think of a way to teach Percy a lesson.

Next, Percy goes to James and tells him that the Fat Controller had sent a message for him to stay in the shed until he comes to see him. James is delighted, thinking the Fat Controller wants him to pull a special train and refuses to leave when his driver and fireman try to take him out. As a result, the other engines have to do James' work as well as their own, which makes them very angry. Finally, an engine inspector arrives to find out why James will not leave his shed; James tells him about the message the Fat Controller supposedly sent. The inspector points out the Fat Controller could not have sent a message as he is away for a week. Realising he was fooled, James is furious and quickly leaves to find Percy, but he has disappeared. When the Fat Controller returns, he tells both James and Percy off for causing trouble.

PercyandtheSignal22

"When the Fat Controller came back, he did see James... and Percy, too. Both engines wished he hadn't."

One morning later, a careless yet cheeky Percy is boasting to Gordon and James that he is taking trucks to Thomas' junction. He believes that the Fat Controller chose him because he is a Really Useful Engine, though James thinks it is simply to keep him out of the way. Gordon - realising what route Percy is taking - indicates to James that they have a chance to give Percy a taste of his own medicine. They claim they were talking about being careful with the junction signals, especially "backing" ones. Keen to show off, Percy claims that he knows all about signals but he worries as he has never heard of backing signals before.

Percy soon arrives at a signal set to "danger" but then sees the arm move to "line clear". Percy is surprised when it moves up instead of down, having never seen anything like it before. Knowing that down means "go" and up means "stop", he guesses upper still means "go back" and believes that it is a "backing" signal Gordon and James were discussing. Percy begins reversing but his driver quickly stops him. Percy insists that it is a "backing" signal and tells him what Gordon and James had said. The driver tells Percy the truth about signals that go further up, which makes him eager to leave before he is seen, but is too late as Gordon goes past with the Express and sees that Percy fell for the trick. Humiliated, Percy quickly and quietly finishes his work.

That night in the sheds, Gordon and James talk about signals; while they think it is funny, Percy thinks they are being very silly.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • In the restored version, in the scene when the Fat Controller was cross with James and Percy, the close-up of Percy looking sad is cut out.
  • Stock footage from Coal is used.
  • In a deleted scene, it is shown that Thomas also had to do James' work as well as his own branch line work when Percy told him to stay in the shed.
  • This episode marks the first appearance for the full exterior of Ffarquhar Sheds in the television series, as the interior was first shown in the second season premiere while only the right (viewers' left) berth's exterior was shown when Percy laughed at Thomas and commented on his appearance. A deleted shot from this episode shows Percy in the same berth before pulling up besides Gordon.
  • Thomas' Special Coach was seen in the scene where the Fat Controller was telling off James and Percy, indicating that The Missing Coach was concurrently filmed with this episode.
  • Neither this episode nor The Runaway aired in 1991 on CITV. Duck Takes Charge aired soon after Thomas and Trevor.
  • When this episode aired on Cartoon Network, the music and sound effects overlapped the original audio.
  • This episode marks the first on-screen appearance of James' original smug face, which would appear throughout the Britt Allcroft Company era, and the last appearance of his laughing face without his teeth, he would later have a laughing face with teeth to resemble a grinning face in future seasons. It was also the first onscreen appearance of Percy's sad face.
  • This episode marks the last appearance of Edward's angry face is seen without teeth on his model until the seventh series episode, Edward's Brass Band.
  • Percy's model fell off the set of Elsbridge during filming of this episode, which resulted in his middle lamp iron being glued and his left cylinder wobbling. This remained that way until the damage was repaired in the third series, although the left cylinder began wobbling again in the fifth series episodes Toby and the Flood and A Surprise for Percy.
  • The Korean title of this episode is same as the title for Percy Runs Away.
  • The JEI TV version of the Korean dub added subtitles to inform viewers what a shunting yard is.
  • This episode was never released on home video in South Korea.

Goofs

  • Gordon's eyes are misaligned throughout the episode.
  • When Percy creeps up on Gordon, the red coach's windows and roof are crooked.
  • When Percy pulls away from Gordon at the beginning, the coal in his second truck and his brake van's roof are lifted.
  • When Percy tells James to stay in the shed, less steam appear in the background but in the next shot, there is a lot of steam.
  • In the Japanese dub, as Gordon, Henry and Edward passed James, Ringo Starr's dub can faintly be heard in the background.
  • When James leaves the sheds, the track rocks back and forth. The same mistake also occurs when Gordon puffs past Percy at the signal.
  • In the original Swedish dub, James is referred to as Gordon when he says, "More likely, he wants you out of the way."
  • James' face is loose in the shot of him and Gordon when they are going to play a trick on Percy.
  • At Elsbridge, Percy's left clinder is loose and his middle lamp is glued on due the model falling off the set.
  • There are several errors of the signal:
    • The lower-quadrant semaphore signal in which Percy stops at is not the sort that is meant to point upwards. The correct signal would have been an upper-quadrant semaphore signal.
    • The signal is facing the wrong way around. The red side on the signal is supposed to face Percy, while the white side is supposed to face away from Percy.
    • The signal shown in its close-up is also different from the signal in the shot where Percy stops at.
    • The wire used to make the signal point up higher than it should is visible.
  • In the close-up of Percy's wheels when he reverses from the signal, a wire is visible in the track.
  • Some of Percy's steam are still coming out from the track, when he reverses from the signal.
  • Because stock footage is used, Percy's driver is in Henry's cab.
  • As Percy approaches the pedestrian bridge at Elsbridge, the shadow of a studio worker is seen moving around off-set from the metal beams on the bridge.
  • When Percy is backing up to the sheds, no workmen are seen operating the turntable.

Quotes

Inspector: Show a wheel, James. You can't stay here all day.
James: The Fat Controller told me to stay here. He sent a message this morning.
Inspector: He did not. How could he? He's away for a week.
James: Oh. Oh! Where's Percy?!
Narrator: Percy had wisely disappeared.

Percy: I say, you engines, I'm to take some trucks to Thomas' junction. The Fat Controller chose me especially. He must know I'm a really useful engine.
James: More likely he wants you out of the way.
[Gordon looks across to him]
Gordon: James and I were just speaking about signals at the junction. We can't be too careful about signals but, then, I needn't say that to a really useful engine like you, Percy.
James: We had spoken of backing signals. They need extra special care, you know. Would you like me to explain?
Percy: No, thank you, James. I know all about signals.

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese O problema
Chinese Mandarin 培西和信号
Croatian Pero i signal
Czech Percy a signal
Danish Percy og signalet
Dutch Percy en het sein
Finnish Pekka ja opastemerkki
French Pierre et le signal
German Percy und das Signal
Greek Ο Τζέρι και τα Σήματα
Hungarian Percy és a tolatójelzés
Italian Percy e il segnale
Japanese パーシーとしんごう
Korean 장난꾸러기, 퍼시
Latin American Spanish Percy y la señal
Norwegian Percy og signalet
Polish Piotrek i semafor
Romanian Percy şi semnalul
Romansh Parcival ed il signal
Russian Перси и семафор
Serbian Persi i znak
Slovenian Poldi in signal
Swedish Percy och signalen
Turkish Percy ve sinyal
Ukrainian Персі і сигнали
Welsh Pyrsi a'r Signal

Merchandise

Home Video Releases

UK

UK DVD Packs

WAL

US

CAN

  • Thomas Gets Bumped and Other Stories
  • Thomas and His Friends Get Along
  • Best of Percy

US/CAN DVD Packs

AUS

AUS DVD Packs

NZ

ZA

IND

MYS

PHL

ITA

FRA

ROM

ROM DVD Pack

NL

NL DVD Pack

GER

NOR/ICE

DK

SWE

FIN

SVN

HRV

SRP

GRC

GRC DVD Boxset

TUR

  • It's Good to Be a Train (VCD)
  • It's Good to Be a Train and Full Speed Ahead (DVD)

THA

JPN

JPN DVD Boxsets

CHN

HK

Episode

References



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