The Flying Kipper (Thomas & Friends)

Plot
While trying to take a train of fish Henry has a serious accident which causes him to get a rebuild.

Synopsis
One winter evening, Henry is told by his driver that they will be leaving early in the morning to pull the Flying Kipper, a special goods train that carries fish from the harbour to the Mainland. He also says that they might be allowed to take the express if they pull the Kipper nicely, which makes Henry excited.

At five o'clock the next morning, Henry enters the harbour, couples up to the heavily loaded vans and carefully starts. Although it's difficult at first, the journey goes very smoothly and Henry enjoys running through the snow-covered countryside as the sun rises. Soon, they near a yellow signal, indicating "caution" and prepare to stop until they notice the home signal is down, assuming that the line ahead is clear. Little do they know however that ahead of them, the points to the main line have frozen towards a siding and the home signal, which is supposed to be at "Danger", has been forced down by the snow.

In the siding is a goods train, waiting to let Henry pass. The driver and fireman are enjoying hot cocoa in the Brake Van when they learn that the Flying Kipper is due, so they decide to head back to their engine. Their exit comes just in time as Henry rushes onto the siding and, unable to stop in time, crashes straight into the back of the train, destroying the brake van and landing on his side, while his crew manage to jump clear before the collision.

When daylight comes, the Breakdown Train is brought in to clean up the mess. The Fat Controller comes up to a distraught Henry and kindly reassures him that the accident was not his fault, it was due to the weather. He then tells Henry that he is arranging for him to be sent to Crewe, where he will be given a brand-new shape and a larger firebox so that he won't have to run on Welsh coal anymore.

Henry is doubtful at first, but when spring arrives, he returns from Crewe feeling better than ever. Everyone is delighted to see Henry in his new shape and he looks so splendid and strong that the crowd gives him three cheers. Even the children wait to see Henry in his new shape, making them late for school. Before long, Henry even gets to pull the Express, which he does so well that Gordon becomes jealous.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Beautiful dawn sequence.
 * 2) Like many classic episodes of Thomas the music is superb and it gets nice and intense as the frozen points/switches are shown and both right before and during the crash.
 * 3) The series first on-screen crash looks amazing is one of the best in Season 1 alongside James' in "Dirty Objects".
 * 4) Fantastic narration from both Ringo Starr and George Carlin.
 * 5) Funny dialogue from the Guard/Conductor in the break van when he says "Who cares? This is good cocoa."
 * 6) Sir Topham Hatt is very likeable because he knows Henry isn't to blame for the accident and sends him to Crewe to be repaired.
 * 7) Henry's special coal issue is permanently fixed and his new shape looks even better than his old one.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Even though Henry was given a rebuild, in Seasons 10-16, he goes back to needing special coal which, would thankfully be corrected in King of the Railway and the Brenner era.
 * 2) In the restored version, all of the nighttime footage from Henry passing Knapford Bus Sheds to when he lands on his side during the accident is framed lower than on the original print. While thought to be due to film deterioration it wouldn't make sense as the camera recorded vertically and any damage to the tops of the frame would show on the bottom of the next one. It was likely done to hide the top of the set backdrop which is visible as Henry passes through a station in the original print. The rest of the footage was possibly left lower by accident when trying to correct the framing of that one scene.
 * 3) In the two last close-ups of Henry, after he had been rebuilt, he's in his old shape. In the previous episode "Coal", there was a nearly identical close-up of Henry in his new one. From this, it can be judged that the episodes were filmed concurrently, and the editors mixed up the footage.

Reception
It is widely considered a fan favorite among many Thomas fans and being the best episode of Season 1 scoring an 8.7/10 on IMDb and Unlucky Tug praising it for it's stunning dawn setting and fantastic score.

Trivia

 * The Rev. W. Awdry's original story was written to fix Henry because when he was in his old shape, he looked way too similar to Gordon, made worse when he was blue from books 2 through 4, the latter showed him with Gordon's buffers and steam pipes.

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