Top 10 Times Thomas the Tank Engine Traumatized Us
#10: The Dream Song
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Here’s a deep cut in the form of a bonus feature from the direct-to-DVD special “Calling All Engines!”. The song is a dream sequence, showing the engines’ fears about what might happen to them when their working lives on the railway come to an end. Seeing beloved characters like James, Percy and Gordon reduced to mere scarecrows and children’s playgrounds is surprisingly depressing, even if it’s only imagined. The melody and instrumentation of the song don’t help either. Everything sounds creepy and twisted, especially the key change going into the last verse. This was cut from the main running time of the special, and it’s not hard to see why.
#9: Smudger Becomes a Generator
On the Island of Sodor, a lot of emphasis is placed on how useful or not you are. If you misbehave or don’t perform to a high enough standard, you will be publicly shamed for it. Smudger’s fate is a great example of this. His cocky and brash ways mean he is careless and often derails. As punishment, his manager removes his wheels and turns him into a generator behind the engine shed, in full view of all of his friends. It’s such a needlessly extreme response. Smudger is annoying, sure, but bricking him up and making an example of him is simply way too harsh a message to be sending out to children.
#8: Duke Is Buried Alive
The season 4 opener “Granpuff” begins with the engines asking Thomas to tell them a story with a happy ending. Four and a half minutes later, the episode concludes with legendary engine Duke being closed away in a shed and buried under a landslide, lost to the depths of time. In fairness, the context makes it clear this episode is a two-parter, and it goes without saying Duke will be discovered safely in the follow up episode. But, if you were to see “Granpuff” without its sequel, you’d never know Duke was rescued, and his tale would end with him essentially being buried alive. You know, for kids.
#7: Percy’s Ghostly Trick
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The early seasons of “Thomas” don’t lack for savage put-downs between the engines. But even by those standards, season 2’s “Ghost Train” pushes the boundary. Percy plays a trick on Thomas to get back at his rude behavior, disguising himself as a ghost to scare him. This sequence is terrifying enough - just look at that atmosphere. But, what landed this moment on our list is Thomas’ response to Toby before the trick plays out. Toby implies that Percy has died, or at least been seriously injured, in an accident. But Thomas is more concerned that the accident will make him late for his next service. And they’re supposed to be best friends! Great moral, gang.
#6: Pop Goes the Diesel
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On paper, this scene is pretty harmless. Duck humbles Diesel by giving him a train of old trucks with jammed brakes, so Diesel can’t move them. Simple stuff right? Unfortunately, the execution of this sequence feels like it probably could have been done a bit differently. The super intense close-up shots of Diesel and the trucks straining and jerking forward are seriously creepy. And the noises that narrator Ringo Starr makes as the trucks are being dragged are… Well, it’s difficult not to hear them a certain way. If you watched this episode as a kid, you probably weren’t thinking that way. But looking back now as an adult, you sort of feel like Starr maybe gave away more of his secrets than you ever needed to know.
#5: Scruffey Gets Torn Apart
We’ve already featured one example of Sodor residents being publicly shamed for bad behavior, but this punishment takes things to a whole new level. Oliver and Toad plot to pay back the ringleader of the Troublesome Trucks, S.C. Ruffey. Except, it turns out the plan is little more than physical abuse. Oliver pulls the leader so hard he quite literally falls apart in full view of the station. Toad and Duck just sit and smile while S.C. Ruffey makes noises of pain and is ultimately left in pieces, his body having been pulled apart almost completely. He’s patched up and mended by the end of the episode, but it’s made clear he was never the same again. When people say “Thomas” is weirdly authoritarian, this is the sort of thing they mean.
#4: The Pouncing Truck
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Jump scares and uncanny visual edits probably aren’t what come to mind when you think of “Thomas & Friends”. And, if this example of them being used is anything to go by, it’s probably for the best they were a rarity. The “Troublesome Trucks” music video is pretty sedate and straightforward for the most part. Like most of the “Thomas” music videos, it’s a simple kid-friendly song set to stock footage from the show itself. Except for some reason, the editors decided to add in this crazy jump-scare for no reason. The truck’s face is creepy enough already. Why did they feel the need to edit it like this? Nobody needs to see this, quite frankly.
#3: Spiteful Brakevan is Squashed to Death
Another entry, another misbehaving piece of rolling stock being battered to smithereens by an engine. This time, it’s the so-called Spiteful Brake Van. What makes this moment so traumatizing is that it actually features what seems to be as good as death in the “Thomas” universe. The Spiteful Brake Van is crushed so violently that his face detaches from the rest of his body. And you even see it being crane-lifted away and out of shot! Absolutely no pity or sorrow is shown either. It’s strongly implied that he’s straight up been crushed to death by Douglas, and the fact he’s never seen again in the show supports this. Farewell, Brake Van, we hardly knew you.
#2: The Giant Boulder
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What could be worse than being crushed to death by an engine? Almost being crushed to death by a rampaging boulder - that’s what. And not just any old boulder, but a boulder that sometimes spawns an evil face and is strongly implied to be alive. The boulder appears to want to take revenge on Sir Topham Hatt’s decision to build a new quarry. The chaos and destruction it causes as it rolls furiously around the island is genuinely terrifying. It’s like Indiana Jones but somehow even more wild and menacing. And the episode’s ending, which suggests the boulder is still alive and waiting for its next move, is a truly spine-chilling moment. A great, but deeply unnerving, episode of “Thomas”.
#1: Henry Gets Bricked Up Inside a Tunnel
You all knew this was coming. One of the very first episodes of “Thomas” ever, “The Sad Story of Henry” features what is without doubt the most messed-up and traumatic moment this show had to offer. After stopping in a tunnel to avoid getting wet on a rainy day, Sir Topham Hatt decides that the only solution is to take away Henry’s rails and brick him up inside the tunnel. The sequence where workers build the wall in front of Henry is weirdly unsettling, and the narrator’s outro monologue just makes us sad. Just look at Henry’s face! He does get let out in the next episode, but that doesn’t make up for how bafflingly messed up and seriously cruel this all is.
