Thomas' Wonderful Life

Thomas' Wonderful Life
Season 2, Episode X
Air date	December 24th, 2019
Written by	Semaj5nodorg4
Episode guide
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🎄Thomas’ Wonderful Life is the 2019 Christmas special of the second season of the Many Adventures on the Island of Sodor.

Plot

It was Christmas time on the Island of Sodor. All over the island, people and engines were busily preparing for the special day. The engines were especially busy carrying people and parcels to all of their destinations to make sure everything was running well and on time. However, no engine does this more than Thomas, for Christmas is his favorite time of year and he does everything he can to make sure everyone stays happy and jolly for the holiday season. He also loves this time of year because Sir Topham Hatt often gives him special jobs to help with the holiday preparations and they tend to be the most important ones. Some of the other engines get jealous and think Thomas gets too much attention, but they're happy that at least everyone else has a special job for Christmas and as long as Thomas knows what he's doing, they're happy that he's being a really useful engine.

It was the day before Christmas Eve and all the engines at Tidmouth Sheds were excited as their annual Christmas party was taking place at Knapford Station the next night. There were still lots to do to prepare for the party and everyone was curious what jobs they would be getting. Then Sir Topham Hatt arrives with news about the party and everyone is surprised that all of the special jobs were given to Thomas.

First, Sir Topham Hatt tells him that he needs to collect the decorations needed for the station at Brendam Docks and take them to Knapford. Next, Thomas has to collect the mail and parcels from the mail depot and deliver them to each station on the island to let everyone know about the party. Lastly, Sir Topham tells Thomas that he needs to collect the special Christmas tree and the Star of Knapford to the station. He warns Thomas that he might need some help with his jobs, Thomas says he can do it of his own. Sir Topham Hatt concedes and wishes everyone good luck and then he drives away.

After he leaves, Thomas is delighted to be given so many responsibilities, but some of the other engines, like Gordon and James, are jealous and accuse Thomas of being Sir Topham Hatt’s favorite engine around this time and they’re never given special jobs. Edward, Henry, and Emily deny this and say everyone gets a special job around Christmas. Percy, although a little jealous that Thomas is taking the mail, also agrees with them, but also tells Thomas that if he needs help with it, he'll be happy to help. Thomas thanks him, but is still certain he can handle it himself. Edward warns Thomas that it's a lot of jobs for one tank engine and he might run into trouble if he does too much. Thomas affirms that he's handled several jobs before and hasn't had trouble with them and claims again that he can do everything by himself. Then with that, he puffs away to do his jobs, leaving the engines wondering if he knows what he's doing.

Soon, news of Thomas' specials spread down the line and at the docks, the dockside team are talking about it. Salty, Porter, Carly, and Franklin say that Thomas is very lucky to be given all the jobs, but like Gordon and James, Cranky says that Thomas gets too much attention at this time of year and gets everything the others want. Salty denies this and says everyone plays an important part in the Christmas season. Then Diesel comes up and agrees with Cranky and complains that he's never given a special job for Christmas and sulks. Franklin tells Diesel to calm down and just be happy that at least he's still working. Then Porter advises him to stop thinking about it and that there's nothing he can do about Thomas' situation. This then gives Diesel an idea and decides to cause trouble for Thomas.

First, after Cranky had finished loading all of the decorations and Franklin loaded all of them into the trucks, Diesel decides to "help" get Thomas' train ready and bangs the trucks together on purpose. He hears a cracking noise from inside one of the trucks and looks around to see if anyone noticed, but no one did. Diesel is pleased and assumes he broke the decorations. Then at that moment, Thomas arrives to collect the decorations. He's completely unaware of what Diesel did and thanks him for getting his train ready. Diesel assures him that everything is prepared for him and once he's coupled to the train, Thomas puffs away back to Knapford, as Diesel smirks and sniggers.

Soon Thomas arrives at Knapford and feels proud of himself for arriving on time. Then when the workmen open the truck doors, they were surprised to see that most of the ornaments for the Christmas were broken to pieces. Sir Topham Hatt is upset and asks Thomas what happened along the way. Thomas says he doesn’t know and was sure that he was most careful with the trucks and didn't bang them and he apologizes for the mess. Sir Topham Hatt sighs and admits that he can always place a new shipment of ornaments that can arrive in time for the party. Thomas feels most relieved about this. Soon the rest of the decorations are unloaded then Thomas leaves to collect his next train.

When Diesel hears that his plan backfired, he gets cross and decides to try to trick Thomas again. After he hears that Thomas’ next job is collecting mail and parcels and invitations for the party, Diesel goes to the mail depot and when no one is looking, he rearranges the mail coaches so that Thomas will deliver the invitations to the wrong destinations. Diesel feels certain that he got Thomas this time, then he sees Thomas arrive and he quickly disappears. Thomas is once again completely unaware of what Diesel did and suspects nothing. Then once he is coupled up, he puffs away to deliver the mail.

Thomas makes good time and delivered each of the parcels and invitations to all the stations on his route. After he finished, he heads back to Knapford Station Yards and feels confident that he did good this time and tells Percy about it, until Sir Topham Hatt arrives. He tells Thomas that many of the stations received the invitations, but were given the wrong mail and parcels. He says that many people complained about this and he even asks Thomas is he sure that he can handle all three jobs.

Thomas pauses for a moment thinking about how he got the mail and parcels wrong, then he answers Sir Topham Hatt and says that he can fix this mistake by going around and taking the mail to the right destinations. Sir Topham Hatt reluctantly concedes and warns Thomas that he still has to collect the Star of Knapford and the special Christmas tree before the end of the day. Thomas assures him that he can fix everything, then Sir Topham nods and leaves. Percy, who was also uncertain that Thomas could handle everything, asks him if he needed help to get the mail straightened out. Thomas asserts himself and says no and tells Percy that he has everything under control, then he huffs away, leaving Percy feeling upset.

Soon Thomas is running around Sodor trying to fix the mail situation. It was a lot of work, but after a while, he manages to get the mail and parcels to right destinations. However, he is now late to pick the star and the tree. When Sir Topham Hatt sees him again, he tells Thomas that he got Percy to take the tree to Knapford instead, just to help Thomas save time. Thomas gets annoyed about this as he wanted to take the tree, but he is happy that he still gets to take the Star of Knapford, so he quickly rushes off to collect it from the docks.

Meanwhile, Diesel is feeling confident that he got Thomas in trouble now. However, as he is approaching Knapford, he overhears Percy telling Paxton that Thomas still managed to get the mail deliver to the right destinations even though he messed things up before. Diesel gets crosser than ever when he hears this, then he notices the Christmas tree is up in the station, and gets a very devious thought. He quickly goes into the yard and then he sees an oil tanker and some trucks in front of him, and bashes the tanker hard, causing a leak in its undercarriage. He then pushes them over to platform one and tells the others that he is just shunting, when really he was deliberately spilling oil on the tracks. Percy and Paxton are unaware of this.

Meanwhile, Thomas is rushing to the station, feeling pleased that he is almost done with his jobs. Then he is approaching Knapford, but as he was trying to brake, he suddenly realizes he can’t stop in time as the rails are oily. He brakes hard and drops sand on the rails, but it was too late. Thomas bumps into some trucks that were at platform one, which then cause the Star of Knapford to collapse off the flatbed and hits the Christmas tree, which then falls over and wrecks everything around the station, pulling down every last piece of decoration that the workmen had finished putting up.

Afterward, the station is in a terrible mess. Decorations and banners lay everywhere, the Star of Knapford was badly damaged, and the tree was ruined. Thomas feels most up upset, then to make matters worse, Sir Topham Hatt, Percy, Gordon, and James had seen everything. Sir Topham is furious with Thomas and told him that he warned him that he would need help and he completely ignored his warnings. He then says that the party is ruined for tomorrow night and there was no chance of fixing everything in time, so he decides to cancel the party. Thomas feels even more upset, then Gordon and James accuse him once again of doing everything and getting too much attention and causes nothing but trouble all the time. Percy, who is also upset, tells Thomas that he thought that were friends and he offered to help him, but after ignoring his warnings, he tells Thomas that it was his fault for the mess and was too cross to even look at him. Thomas, feeling overly upset with himself and embarrassed about everything, decides to run away.

Thomas heads to the loneliest parts of the island and comes across a siding on a lonely line. He stays there and laments about all the trouble he has caused that day and after thinking about Gordon and James’ words, thinks back to all the times in his life where he caused even more trouble and begins to wish he had never come to Sodor and then falls asleep. After a while, he is suddenly woken up by a strange voice. Thomas is startled and asks who is it and looks around. He doesn’t see anyone at first, then suddenly out of no where, a man in a conductor’s suit appears and introduces himself as Mr. Conductor.

Thomas is startled and asks him what is he doing here. Mr. Conductor tells him he heard him say that he wishes he never came to Sodor and tells him not to say things like that because there are many people who say Thomas made their lives better. Thomas denies this as he is still in denial about what happened today and sticks with what he said before. Mr. Conductor, sensing that Thomas didn’t know what he was talking about, decides to show him how life on Sodor would have been different without him. Thomas doesn’t believe Mr. Conductor can actually do that, but Mr. Conductor tells him to think what he wants and advises him to go back to sleep and find out what will happen in the morning, then he disappears. Thomas rolls his eyes sarcastically then he shuts his eyes and goes back to sleep.

The next morning, Thomas wakes up, and feels better from the night before and goes back to work. When he gets to Knapford, he sees Annie and Clarabel and starts heading towards them, but then to his surprise, they don’t recognize him. Thomas is puzzled about this and thinks they’re playing around with him since he didn’t take them out yesterday and thought they were jokingly being cross with him, but the coaches confirm that they’ve never seen him before and they don’t belong to any engine. Thomas is very confused, then James backs down on the coaches and exclaims that they are his coaches and he too says that he’s never seen Thomas before. Thomas tries to convince James that he remembers him by telling him about the time Thomas rescued him with the breakdown train, but James says that never happened to him ever. Then Thomas tries to remind James about the whole incident at Knapford the previous day, but James still says that none of that happened. He then collects Annie and Clarabel and huffs away, calling Thomas a silly engine.

Thomas is offended, then he sees Edward, Gordon, and Henry arrive in the yard and he feels relieved. He tells them that James, Annie, and Clarabel were acting strange and saying they don’t recognized him. The three tender engines then say they don’t recognize him either. Thomas is shocked and tries to remind them of who he is. He tells Gordon about the times when the big engine dragged him along with the express as a form of payback for his cheekiness and when he rescued Thomas from a mine; he tells Henry about the time when he helped him overcome his fear of the rain; and he tells Edward that he taught him on how to be a really useful engine. Gordon, Henry, and Edward all look at each other with puzzled looks and ask Thomas if he’s feeling alright and if he’s talking about the right engines because all three of them have no idea what he’s talking about. Thomas can’t believe what he was hearing. He thinks they are also upset about the mess he caused yesterday at Knapford, then he hurries away.

Thomas makes his way to Knapford Yards, trying to figure out what was happening. Then Percy puffs alongside him and Thomas feels relieved at first and tells him all about the odd-goings-on today. However, Percy is confused and asks Thomas who he is and why he was telling him all of this. Thomas can’t believe that even Percy doesn’t remember him who is and tries to convince that they are friends and work and play together. Percy tells him that he doesn’t remember any of that and that he always works in the shunting yard as a station pilot and gets trains ready for the big engines and doesn’t play around. Thomas is flabbergasted and can’t believe what he was hearing. Then he hurries away again, leaving Percy very confused.

Soon Thomas is racing around asking everyone if they remember him. He comes across Bertie and tries to convince him that he had a great race with him, but the bus says he never raced an engine before and never will as he doesn’t like railways. Thomas then comes across Terence and tells him he rescued him from a snowdrift, but the tractor says he doesn’t have any recollection of it. He sees Emily and tries to remind her that he saved him from a nasty accident with Oliver, but she doesn’t remember. He comes across Donald and Douglas and tells them they rescued him from a snowdrift too and pulled him out of a stationmaster’s house, but the twins just laugh and say they never did that. Thomas grunts and hurries away. Thomas spends all day going to every engine, vehicle, and person trying to convince them they know him and remind them of experiences they had with him, but not a single one could remember who the little tank engine was. Thomas begins to feel very left out and concern.

Thomas takes a break and worry and wonders about what’s happening and why no one is remembering who he is. He asks himself is it because everyone’s cross with him about the mess he caused at Knapford the previous day or did he do something much worse than that. Then Mr. Conductor arrives again and tells him that it was none of what Thomas said and reminds him that this is what happened when he said he wished he never came to Sodor. Thomas suddenly remembers that, and then, he is convinced that Mr. Conductor was right. He becomes upset about this and although he really doesn’t want to know, he asks Mr. Conductor what else happened without him. Mr. Conductor sighs and tells him that a few of Thomas’ friends never came to Sodor because of his absence, which include, Stanley, Ryan, Daisy, and Toby and Henrietta. Thomas is shocked about this, about Toby and Henrietta.

Mr. Conductor sighs again and tells Thomas that there was something much worse than just losing some friends. He tells Thomas that after Glynn was retired, Sir Topham Hatt couldn’t find any other engine to replace him and overtime, he shutdown Thomas’ branchline. Thomas is horrified and he doesn’t want to believe it, then he and Mr. Conductor race to it. However when they arrive there, they see that the beginning to the line was abandoned and overgrown, clearly indicating that it was indeed shutdown. Thomas is heartbroken at the very sight of it.

Mr. Conductor sympathizes with him and reminds him that without Thomas, the Island of Sodor was a much rather depressing place and that Thomas really had an impact on everyone’s lives. His bright, cheery, cheeky and friendly personality made everyone’s lives better and made the island a better place to be and everyone got along better too. Thomas begins to cry and tells Mr. Conductor that he wishes to have his old life back again and that he will never say he never came to Sodor again. Suddenly, Thomas looks down and sees that Mr. Conductor had vanished. Thomas is very surprised and then he starts calling out desperately for him to make everything go back to normal when he was around, However, Mr. C was not showing up this time. Thomas shuts his eyes and pleads constantly to let him have his old life again and he will never say he wishes he never came to Sodor again.

Thomas pleads and pleads, then suddenly, he opens his eyes and hears someone calling his name. He looks up and sees Harold the Helicopter, exclaiming that he found him. Thomas is surprised and says that Harold remembers him. Harold chuckles and tells him that of course he does and jokingly asks him is there any other little blue tank engine on the island. He then tells Thomas that everyone had been searching for him all night and that Sir Topham Hatt was worried about him and wanted to see him back at Knapford. Thomas then realizes that it was all a dream and he is more excited than ever to have his life back again. He tells Harold that he is on his way back to Knapford and races off. Harold is a little confused about Thomas’ energy, but shrugs it off and flies away.

Along the way, Thomas passes by several engines, vehicles, and people and wishes all of them a Merry Christmas and tells them that he is very happy to see them again. Most of which include, Edward, Henry, Emily, Bertie, Terence, Donald and Douglas, Stanley, Ryan, Daisy, Annie and Clarabel, all of whom are very surprised indeed. Then Thomas passes by Toby and Henrietta and tells them he is most excited of all to see them again. The two of them are very surprised, but chuckle and thank Thomas anyway for the kind remark.

After a while, Thomas arrives back at Knapford and there is Sir Topham Hatt waiting for him along with Gordon, James, Percy, and Diesel. Sir Topham Hatt is very relieved to see him again, as well as the steam engines. Thomas tells them he’s very relieved to see them too, and he apologizes for running away last night and that he was truly sorry for the mess his made yesterday. Sir Topham Hatt assures him that it’s quite alright and that it wasn’t Thomas’ fault. Thomas is confused, then Sir Topham Hatt tells him that he found out from Percy that it was Diesel’s fault for spilling the oil on the tracks and causing Thomas to crash. Then Percy, Gordon, and James say they found out from other engines that Diesel caused the other mistakes for Thomas. Then out of guilt, Diesel admits that it was all true and that he did it out of jealousy for Thomas getting all the special jobs. Thomas, although cross with Diesel with causing so much trouble, feels relieved that nothing was his fault.

Gordon, James, and Percy also apologize to Thomas for what they said to him yesterday. Gordon and James tell him that Thomas doesn’t always cause accidents and he is a really useful and hardworking engine all the time. Then Percy tells Thomas that he felt bad for what he said yesterday and that he and Thomas will always remain friends, no matter what the case may be. Thomas tells each of them that they are all forgiven and that he is just happy to see them again and they all remember him. Everyone is puzzled, but Thomas quickly says that it’s a long story and he’ll tell them later, then he apologizes to them for being so conceited yesterday and that he really did need help with his jobs. It was too much work for him and having help would have most likely prevented the accidents. Then Thomas laments that it’s Christmas Eve and the station is still in a mess from yesterday and the party is still ruined.

However, Sir Topham Hatt speaks up and tells Thomas there is still time to fix all of the mess from yesterday. Thomas and the others perk up and Sir Topham tells them that overnight, he was able to make arrangements to have more decorations, last minute invitations, a new Christmas tree, and a repaired Star of Knapford be ready before tonight and the party can still happen. The engines are delighted and after much thought, Thomas asks Sir Topham Hatt if it would be all right if this time, he can have a lot more help from his friends to make this happen on time. Sir Topham Hatt chuckles and delightedly agrees.

Soon Thomas, Percy, James, Gordon and the other engines were busily at work cleaning the station and getting everything ready for the party that evening. Edward and Henry helped clean up the debris in the station; James brought in the new decorations; Emily collected the repaired Star of Knapford and the new Christmas tree; Gordon went around collecting passengers; and lastly, Thomas and Percy hurried around with their mail trains delivering the last minute party invitations to all the stations. It was hard work for many of them, but they were all staying confident that they could do this. At last, by early evening, Knapford Station was cleaned up and redecorated again with a new Christmas tree and the Star of Knapford hanging brightly in the middle. Everything looked perfect and Thomas thanks everyone for their help and he couldn’t have done it without them. Then Sir Topham Hatt tells them he is proud of all of them for their hard work and managing to get the station ready in time. He then tells them that can go ahead and get ready for the party, which the engines gladly do.

Later that night, after everything is all set, the party begins. All the engines and everyone on Sodor are there and are ready to celebrate. Sir Topham Hatt then gives a speech about the events over the past few days and says that although he was worried that the party was ruined at first, thanks to his engines, they managed to do the impossible and fix everything in time. He then makes a special announcement for Thomas for being found again and that he always has friends to help him out and he can count on him, and all the other engines for that matter, to be really useful engines. Everyone cheers and begin singing Christmas carols loud and proud and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.

While they do so, Thomas quietly tells Percy that he’s very happy to be with everyone and that he always has friends who are there to help him out when he’s in trouble. Percy smiles and tells him that he is always there to help others out too and that he is his best friend. Thomas smiles happily, then he looks up at the sky and quietly thanks Mr. Conductor for helping him see past his problem and helping him realize just how much of a wonderful life he has. Lastly, he secretly wishes to see Mr. C again in his dreams again some day, then he continues celebrating the Christmas party with the rest of his friends.

Characters

• Thomas
• Edward
• Henry
• Gordon
• James
• Percy
• Toby
• Donald and Douglas
• Emily
• Porter
• Diesel
• Salty
• Paxton
• Annie and Clarabel
• Henrietta
• Terence
• Bertie
• Harold
• Cranky
• Carly
• Franklin
• Sir Topham Hatt
• Mr. Conductor
• Oliver (does not speak)
• Stanley (does not speak)
• Ryan (does not speak)
• Daisy (does not speak)
• Duck (cameo)
• Bill and Ben (cameo)
• Harvey (cameo)
• Rosie (cameo)
• Belle (cameo)
• Timothy (cameo)
• BoCo (cameo)
• Mavis (cameo)
• ‘Arry and Bert (cameo)
• Philip (cameo)
• Toad (cameo)
• Rocky (cameo)
• Jerome and Judy (cameo)
• Big Mickey (cameo)
• Glynn (mentioned)

Locations

• Tidmouth Sheds
• Brendam Docks
• Knapford
• Knapford Yards
• Wellsworth
• Maron
• Arlesburgh Goods Yard
• Thomas's Branch Line

Trivia

• This special is based on the 1946 Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
• Numerous references to television series episodes and specials are made throughout the special. All of which include:
  • Thomas and Gordon, Thomas and the Breakdown Train, Down the Mine, Thomas, Terence and the Snow, Thomas and Bertie, Thomas in Trouble, Down the Mine, Thomas Comes to Breakfast, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree, Emily's New Coaches, The Great Discovery, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, and The Adventure Begins.
• Ringo Starr’s version of Mr. Conductor is portrayed in this special.
• This marks the Star of Knapford's first appearance since the fourteenth season television series episode, Merry Winter Wish.
• This special was originally supposed to be published back in December 2018, but was initially cancelled due to story complications, but after much thought, the author decided to bring it back and publish it in 2019.