U.S. Title: Double Trouble
Air date: September 24th, 1986
Adapted from: More About Thomas the Tank Engine, "Thomas, Percy and the Coal"
Thomas boasts to Percy and Toby that he has the best paintwork on Sodor. When the two tell him they like their paint, Thomas rebuttals by saying blue is the only proper color for a really useful engine.
Later that day, Thomas is resting by the coal hopper when Percy arrives to fill up some trucks. Thomas cheekily warns Percy to be careful with the trucks' antics and that the buffers to the siding behind him don't look very safe. The trucks then push Percy into the siding and as the last truck passes, the coal chute causes a pile of coal to bury Thomas and ruin his paintwork. Percy laughs at Thomas and tells him that he looks disgraceful. Thomas grows cross and accuses Percy of getting him dirty on purpose. It takes so long for Thomas to be cleaned that he isn't on time to pull his train, so Toby has to take Annie and Clarabel. The two coaches feel sorry for Thomas' paint ruined.
That night at the sheds, Thomas is grumpy in the sheds and even if Toby thinks it was a great joke, Percy then becomes angry with Thomas for blaming him for ruining his paintwork and tells him that he has become a disgrace to The Fat Controller's railway.
The next day, Thomas is feeling more cheerful as Percy arrives with a train of trucks from the junction. The trucks are heavy, and Percy has to take on water at the water tower, but what he doesn't see is that it's right at the end of the siding with the unsafe buffers. As Percy moves to the siding, he finds he can't stop and crashes through the unsafe buffers, destroying them, and lands in a pile of coal. Thomas sees everything and leaves with his passenger train, pleased that Percy has learned his lesson too.
That night, Percy and Thomas make up for their arguing and both agree to be more careful with coal.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Toby was quite amused by Thomas being covered in coal.
- Bottle Episode: Apart from the first few scenes, this episode takes place entirely at the Tidmouth complex.
- Bowdlerise: In the UK narration as the hopper pours coal over Thomas, he cries out, "Help, I'm choking!". In both US narrations he cries, "Help, help!". It was changed due to the "choking" concept being too much for young viewers. Despite this, all narrations have the line "'I'm not disgraceful!' choked Thomas," kept in the episode.
- Break the Haughty: Thomas being covered in coal after boasting about his new paint. After that, he blames Percy for the accident, although he laughed at it.
- Digital Destruction: In the restored version, studio equipment is visible when Toby, Annie, and Clarabel pass the signal box.
- Disneyfication: As far as the ending goes, the book More About Thomas the Tank Engine shows Percy swearing to repay Thomas for laughing at his misfortune on coal, but instead, the two tank engines reconcile. Granted this was more likely done for the sake of being a Compressed Adaptation, as the series wouldn't adapt "Drip Tank", where the feud is resolved in the book.
- Easily Forgiven: Thomas and Percy forgive each other in the end and promise to be more careful with coal.
- Feud Episode: The episode revolves around the two tank engines quarreling about the coal. They soon made up for it and agreed to be careful with the coal in the future. This is a result of a Compressed Adaptation, the story in More About Thomas the Tank Engine ended with Thomas laughing at Percy's accident (with Percy swearing revenge), with them remaining on sour terms until the end of "Drip Tank" (that was never adapted due to "drip" being an offensive slang term in the UK). References to their feud in other stories from the book are taken out as a result.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: First, it was Percy who laughed at Thomas having his paint covered in coal. In return, Thomas laughs at Percy for falling into the coal after breaking the unsafe buffers.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- When the narrator says, "It took so long to clean Thomas, that he wasn't in time for his next train," a first series-style truck is seen.
- A hole can be seen in the Stationmaster's house in the shot of Percy laughing at Thomas getting buried in coal, meaning this episode was filmed after "Thomas Comes to Breakfast".
- Narcissist: Thomas is very boastful about his blue paint and believes it's the only proper color for an engine. Percy and Toby beg to differ, though.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Percy gave one to Thomas after the latter accused him of making him dirty on purpose:Percy: "Fancy, a really useful blue engine like Thomas becoming a disgrace to The Fat Controller's railway."
- Series Continuity Error: Considering that it's based on the More About Thomas the Tank Engine book, this episode was to have taken place after the events of the other season 2 episodes except for "The Runaway" and "Better Late Than Never" which were also based off of said book. Also, Percy wasn't relocated to Thomas' Branch Line until the episode "Duck Takes Charge". Intentional, as the book itself was written directly so that the series had more Thomas-themed stories to adapt.
