Thomas and Percy's Adventure: Christmas or Mountain?

OPINIONS IN THIS BLOG ARE SOLELY MY OWN; THEY DON'T REFLECT ON THOSE BY THE THOMAS FANDOM ON WHOLE

Thomas the tank engine first steamed into America on Shining Time Station in 1989 with Ringo Starr portraying Mr. Conductor. To fit the American audiences, some lines were re-dubbed such as trucks being called "freight cars", the Fat Controller being referred to as Sir Topham Hatt, and some titles were also changed. For instance, The Sad Story of Henry became Come Out, Henry! (the ending was changed for some reason in the US dub, but that's another story, so to speak) and Thomas' Train became A Big Day for Thomas. I personally feeling changing the titles for American audiences is pointless, the only exception being Dirty Work (season 2) being referred to as Diesel's Devious Deed (otherwise known as Diesel's Devilish Deed for Thomas' Halloween Adventures), in which I find the American title more suitable, and Dirty Work being more fitting for the season 11 episode.

However, the one title they should never have changed was the season three finale Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure into Thomas and Percy's Mountain Adventure. However, the title change isn't the only problem with the American dub - it had been completely rewritten for American audiences in the episode Billy's Party (by this point, George Carlin is the role of Mr. Conductor) to include the holiday Thanksgiving. Why is it a problem? Thanksgiving is an AMERICAN holiday, and Sodor is a BRITISH island.

There's more reasons that rewriting the episode was a very big mistake - they reused the footage from the original Christmas Adventure episode which had snow and Christmas decorations. Let's face it - would it snow that much during November? That's a high possibility in Canada or Russia, but in America? That depends on where you live. It rarely snows in California where I live, and the weather is mostly warm, sometimes chilly when it's in autumn and winter. But snow? Probably not. Anyway, the inclusion of Christmas decorations makes it even more obvious as to why rewriting the episode was pointless. Plus, after the villagers thank Thomas and Percy for rescuing them (why they didn't credit Harold and Terence, I don't know), in the American dub, Thomas reminds Percy of his mail train, and the green engine puffs away to fetch it. Here's a comparison:

AMERICAN REDUB

"Well done, Percy! Well done, Thomas!" cheered the villagers.

"Percy, I've just remembered; your mail train is still back at the siding, isn't it?"

Percy hurried back to fetch it.

ORIGINAL BRITISH DUB

"Well done, Percy! Well done, Thomas!" cheered the villagers, "You're the best Santa Claus this village has ever had!"

"What's a Santa Claus?" asked Percy.

(Why he doesn't know who Santa is, I don't know either.)

"Santa Claus is someone who drops presents down chimneys at Christmas time."

Percy looked at his funnel. "I wonder if..."

"No!" laughed Thomas, "Chimneys, Percy! Not funnels! Which reminds me; your post train is still back in a siding, isn't it?"

Percy hurried back to fetch it.

That is a good 15 seconds of footage cut from the American dub! Afterward in both dubs, Toby and Henrietta come with hot drinks for the villagers, and they help them give the engines at Tidmouth Sheds a big surprise in the morning. Another problem is the sound syncing; on most US VHS/DVD releases, the final music cue, an instrumental of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, is cut because of the Thanksgiving theme, but on some copies of Percy's Ghostly Trick (early VHS releases), Thomas' Christmas Wonderland, and Ultimate Christmas, the cute is left in place, and the narration is out of sync. That's an example of lazy editing; they should've edited the sound effects in the US dub alongside the narration so it fits with the footage, especially when "the engines whistled in delight" at the end. The music, don't know if it could've been edited as well, but that can't excuse how poor the editing was for the US.

How could this have worked? Well, maybe if A) they'd chose another episode about being thankful and grateful for those around you, or B) if they filmed it as an American-exclusive episode, the US wouldn't have lost a great Christmas episode. As it stands, it's a good idea that was horribly botched up, and probably my least favorite George Carlin narration. It's actually watchable compared to S13-16, and it didn't turn Christmas into a generic non-denominational holiday just for political correctness, but Thomas and Percy's Mountain Adventure for the US is still not a great rewrite.

Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure Rating:

7.5/10

Thomas and Percy's Mountain Adventure Rating:

4/10

Brace yourselves, viewers - the Winter Holidays are coming on December 21!