Thomas and Friends - Season 4
| Thomas & Friends (series 4) | |
|---|---|
DVD cover art
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| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Cartoon Network |
| Original release | 10 September 1994 – 30 May 1995 |
| Series chronology | |
Thomas & Friends (previously known as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends) is a children's television series about the engines and other characters working on the railways of the Island of Sodor, and is based on The Railway Series books written by the Rev. W. Awdry.
This article lists and details episodes from the fourth series of the show, which was broadcast in 1994 and 1995. This series was narrated by Michael Angelis for the U.K. audiences, with George Carlin narrating the episodes for the U.S. audiences on Shining Time Station, which was also his last series. This was also the final season where Thomas only appeared in the U.S. as a segment on Shining Time Station. This was the only season in which Carlin's voice changed.
Some episodes in this series have two titles: the original titles from the U.K. broadcasts are shown on top, while the American-adapted titles are shown underneath. It was produced by Britt Allcroft (Thomas) Limited.
The fourth series saw the introduction of the smaller narrow gauge engines. For ease of filming, series 5 would introduce larger-scale versions of the characters, and from series 6-12, these larger models were used almost exclusively.
Half of the third series consisted of stories written by the show's staff, but only one original story, "Rusty to the Rescue" (written by Allcroft and Mitton), was written for the fourth series. The episodes which used The Railway Series did take some liberties with the source material, in order to fill the runtime and make the stories more accessible. From series 5 onward, all stories would be staff-written, without using the Awdrys' books as a source.
Stepney, a character based on a real-life engine and used to highlight the preservation movement in the books, was given an entirely different background when he was introduced. This decision carried on into later series, in which he was seen on either a fictionalized Bluebell Railway or as a member of The Fat Controller's railway.
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