Air date: October 28th, 2005 (UK)
"Yeah... I've been there."
The Fat Controller announces to his engines that a new Diesel engine called Dennis has arrived on Sodor and tells Thomas that he is being given a day off after his recent spell of busy work. But lazy Dennis soon has him working ragged anyway.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- An Aesop: It's better to do your work than to try to make excuses to avoid it.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Dennis playing sick.Dennis: Heelllp.....heelllp....
- Deep South: Dennis in the US dub.
- Easily Forgiven: After all of one slightly annoyed glare, Thomas remains sympathetic to Dennis despite admitting he was lying to shove his work onto him.
- Inconsistent Dub: The US narration switches between the terms 'truck' and 'freight car' on several occasions.
- It's All About Me: Dennis, as the narration explains:"He didn't care about the tiles. He didn't care about Thomas. All he cared about was getting far away from his work."
- Laser-Guided Karma: After faking breaking down, Dennis gets into an accident and is genuinely damaged.
- Laziness Callout: After Thomas rescues Dennis and delivers the tiles to the school, Sir Topham Hatt scolds Dennis for not doing his job like he was supposed to. Dennis feels ashamed, and since Thomas has shown him that being really useful is much better than being really lazy, he promises to try to be more useful from now on.
- Lazy Bum: Dennis.
- Playing Sick: Dennis does this to avoid working.
- Pulled from Your Day Off: Thomas thanks to Dennis taking advantage of him.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Thomas when being washed."Shiny and bright! Shiny and bright! That's what I'll be to start the day right!
- Taking Advantage of Generosity: Dennis constantly tries to exploit Thomas into helping him, to the point he is dissatisfied when he only assists him in doing his job rather than outright doing the whole workload himself.
