Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia
Register
Advertisement
Main Page

“I can go faster than you, Mr. Wind!”
― Thomas

Topped Off Thomas is the fourteenth episode of the tenth series.

Plot

Thomas' autumn hobby is to "race the wind". Thomas stops at a junction but is surprised to find Spencer who explains he has to pick up the Fat Controller and Lady Hatt, and the Duke and Duchess of Boxford at Kellsthorpe and take them to Callan Castle for tea. Thomas is upset about this since he wants to take them in Annie and Clarabel, but Spencer retorts that small engines like Thomas get small jobs and big engines like him get big jobs. Thomas crossly says that he can go faster than the wind, which Spencer puts off as nonsense. This made Thomas furious and challenges Spencer to a race to Kellsthorpe. The signal drops and the engines race off.

At Kellsthorpe, the Fat Controller and Lady Hatt are waiting on the platform with the Duke and Duchess of Boxford, when Spencer screeches to a halt while Thomas races through the station and ends up blowing the Fat Controller's hat off. Thomas reverses back into the station, worried about what the Fat Controller would say. The Fat Controller asks Thomas why he was going so fast, as he should know that engines should go slowly through the stations. Thomas apologises, and the Fat Controller booms that he cannot go to tea without his hat. Thomas promises to find his hat in time, and he chuffs quickly away.

Thomas is sure he will find the hat easily. He looks at the Maithwaite level crossing, to find the Fat Controller's hat on Bertie's roof. Thomas is proud to have found it, but then Gordon rushes past, blowing the top hat away. Thomas chases after the hat.

Thomas then sees the hat on top of Farmer McColl's scarecrow. Thomas is again proud to have found it, but then Harold hovers up from the other side of the hill. The wind from his blades blows the hat far away and Thomas again quickly sets off for the hat.

As Thomas steams along, he gets out of puff, and is out of places to look. Suddenly he sees the hat on a Windmill's sail. Thomas whistles happily, but then a great gust of wind blows the windmill sails around, and the hat flies off. Thomas groans and races after the top hat.

It is now getting late, and Thomas still has not found the hat. Thomas surrenders to the wind and lets out a sad wheesh of steam. Thomas starts back towards Kellsthorpe, and worries if he will ever be Really Useful again. He suddenly sees the hat in front of him, floating on the wind. Thomas says he was silly to think that he was as fast as the wind and hopes it can help him. The wind hears Thomas and the Fat Controller's hat falls gently onto Thomas' funnel. Thomas chuffs slowly towards Kellsthorpe to return the top hat.

When Thomas arrives, everyone is waiting for him. The Fat Controller gasps and sees that his hat is on Thomas' funnel. He calls Thomas a Really Useful engine for finding it. Thomas blows a happy wheesh of steam out of his funnel, and the hat falls gently onto the platform right in front of the Fat Controller. Thomas learns that going slowly is just as good as going fast, and maybe even better.

Characters

Locations

Trivia

  • Going by production order, this is the tenth episode of the tenth series.
  • This episode may have been inspired by the magazine story Thomas and the Windy Day.
  • From this episode onwards:
    • Spencer has silver paintwork and his wheels remained blue-grey.
    • Harold gains moving eyes.
  • An underscore variant of the music of the engines fighting from Calling All Engines! is used when Thomas and Spencer race to Kellsthorpe station.
  • Posters of Bulgy and the "Circus" are seen at Kellsthorpe station.
  • The scarecrow is the same one seen in Gordon Takes a Tumble.
  • Thomas' large scale model from the fifth series is used for when the hat lands on his funnel.
  • Thomas and Spencer each gained a new face that only appeared in this episode. However, the face that Thomas had was his unused outraged expression that was originally made for the third series while Spencer's was his unused clenched and surprised expressions that were made for the seventh series.
  • In a Chinese book and a behind the scene preview, a deleted scene of Thomas and Bertie at a different level crossing shows that Bertie was intended to have a larger role before Thomas' race with Spencer.
  • This episode marks the last of two things:
    • Kellsthorpe Road's final appearance until the seventeenth series episode, Wayward Winston, and the station's last appearance in the model era.
    • The last appearance of Thomas' tired face.
  • The US dub of this episode was never released on home media.

Goofs

  • Spencer's steam platform can be seen during the race to Kellsthorpe.
  • Thomas' face mask is loose at Kellsthorpe.
  • In the Thomas' view scene at Maithwaite, a steam platform is visible on his line.
  • When the narrator says "but just then a great gust of wind", the leaves were going to the left indicating the wind was blowing to the West, but the windmill blades were going to the right in the next scene as well as the leaves.
  • The narrator says that Thomas lets out a small sad wheesh of steam. But no amount of steam was coming out of Thomas despite what was being said, and the wheeshing sound being heard.
  • In Thomas' view scene at the countryside, the tracks in front of him lead to the bushes.
  • Between the scene of Thomas watching the hat floating above him and the one where the hat lands on his funnel, his siderods change position. This is because his large scale model was used.
  • During close-ups of Thomas' funnel, its brim is not as wide as it normally is.

Merchandise

In Other Languages

View content
Language Title
Brazilian Portuguese Thomas Atrás da Cartola
Chinese Mandarin 托马斯与风
Czech Zkrocený Tomáš
Danish Hatten af for Thomas
Dutch Hoedje af voor Thomas
Finnish Kaahailija-Tuomas
German Thomas und der Zylinder
Hungarian Kaland a Kalappal
Italian Thomas Sfida il Vento
Japanese トーマスとかぜ
Korean 바람이 화가 났나 봐요
Latin American Spanish Lento pero Seguro
Norwegian Thomas og flosshatten
Polish Tomek i Wiatr
Portuguese Thomas Sente Perho
Romanian Thomas Poartă Pălărie
Russian Томас и цилиндр
Spanish Thomas para en Seco
Swedish Nabbare än Vinden
Turkish Tepede Thomas

Home Media Releases

UK/AUS

UK DVD Boxsets

AUS DVD Boxsets

NL

NOR/SWE/DK/FIN

DVD Boxsets

JPN

THA

MYS

POL

SPN

DVD Boxsets

HUN

  • Thomas the Tank Engine 12 - The Most Important Task

ARA

DVD Boxsets

KOR

HK

TWN

References



Advertisement