Air date: December 17th, 1986
Adapted from: Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree
It's the twenty-third of December and the final preparations are being made for a carol party to be held at Tidmouth. All the engines are working hard setting up the decorations. This year, the Fat Controller wants this carol party to be extra special.
The Fat Controller is waiting very impatiently when Thomas arrives. The Fat Controller tells Thomas that their Christmas tree has came and Thomas has to fetch it while Duck watches over Annie and Clarabel. Thomas is very excited and rushes off, collecting the tree safely, but on the way home, crashes into a snow drift and gets stuck. Thomas knows that he must get back in time and whistles, but can't get out of the heavy snow. Suddenly, an avalanche erupts and buries Thomas and the tree.
Back at the yards, the engines are waiting for Thomas. His delay begins to make them cross. The Fat Controller quiets them down and tells them that snow has knocked the telephone lines down and they must assume that he's stranded. Everyone now feels sorry and Donald and Douglas puff away to save him. They soon reach a snow drift much deeper than the rest. A cry for help is heard, but Douglas thinks it's the wind. Hearing the cry again, they realize that they're at the drift where Thomas is buried.
Time passes as the workmen decide to free him. Thomas' driver and fireman, who had taken shelter in a nearby cottage, join the rescue, and Thomas is freed from the snow. Thomas follows the twins home and arrive just as night falls. The Fat Controller rewards the engines by granting permission to sing carols. The engines happily chuff away to the station. Lights come on and The Fat Controller declares three cheers for Thomas and his friends.
Harold soon joins the party and drops off Father Christmas, much to everyone's joy. As the carols begin, Thomas tells Percy that it's no fun getting stuck in snow, but it was all worth it for the celebration. Thomas then wishes everyone a Happy Christmas.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Adaptation Induced Plothole: Diesel was sent away in disgrace earlier in the series, yet he's present at the Christmas party.
- Adapted Out: The Works Diesel is part of the rescue mission in the original story but isn't included in the adaptation.
- Back for the Finale: Every character introduced in Series 2 such as Bill, Ben, BoCo, Trevor, and surprisingly, Diesel, of all engines, are at the Christmas party.
- Christmas Episode: The second one of the series.
- Compressed Adaptation: Compared to most previous adaptations, a lot of scenes and dialogue are missing from the book due to episode length. Interestingly novelizations based on the show follow the book version in more detail (even having screenshots of unused scenes) implying the episode was meant to be a more accurate feature-length adaptation.
- Digital Destruction: In the restored version:
- Camera tripods are visible in the shot of the damaged phone lines and when Donald and Douglas set off to find Thomas.
- An alternant take where Thomas moves slower is used for the shot of Donald, Douglas, and Thomas passing the watermill, resulting in Thomas' whistle sound effect playing before Thomas is visible on-screen.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Thomas gets stuck in a huge snowdrift but is rescued by Donald and Douglas. He gets the Christmas tree on time and celebrates the carol party with the other engines.
- From Bad to Worse: When Thomas runs into a snowdrift, he has a hard time getting out, but the worst comes when an avalanche covers him.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Diesel is celebrating with the others at the Christmas party in the end. This sticks out even more since Diesel is not yet a permanent resident of the North Western Railway at this point and is yet to have a single redemption moment.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Thomas gets stuck in a snow drift while attempting to deliver the Christmas Tree. He is eventually saved by Donald and Douglas.
- Jerkass Realization: The other engines are angered by Thomas' delay, but The Fat Controller informs them that Thomas is somewhere stranded due to the severity of the snowy weather, causing them to feel sorry for him.
- Perpetual Smiler: Gordon and Henry are seen smiling despite being among the engines who were impatiently waiting for Thomas to arrive. This has more context in the original novel, where they are making jokes about what is holding Thomas up.
- Season Finale: This Christmas Episode wraps up Series 2.
- Silence, You Fool!: The Fat Controller says this to the other engines who were whistling angrily because Thomas didn't make it in time.
- Stock Footage: Footage from "Thomas, Terence and the Snow" is used, along with mirrored stock footage from "Thomas' Train".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Daisy and Henrietta are both absent from the Christmas party despite every other character (including Diesel surprisingly) being in attendance. While a reused chassis meant that Daisy couldn't appear on-screen at the same time as BoCo, Henrietta has no reason not to be included.
- Worth It: At the end of the episode, Thomas mentions to Percy that it was worth it for the party despite being stuck under the snowdrift.
