Air date: September 9, 2005 (UK), September 18, 2005 (US)
Gordon is suffering from a spot of bother; his firebox is rattling whenever he cools down at night, which has resulted in teasing from Thomas and Percy. Gordon tells them that tank engines have very bad manners, though he feels quite embarrassed about his problem.
The next morning, Gordon finds Percy still teasing him. When he arrives at Knapford, the teasing continues, this time by Emily and Diesel. Gordon has had enough; he decides to make demands in order to stop the teasing. So he pulls up ahead of James at the water column, tells Percy not to hang around at platform one as it is his platform, and finally he tells Thomas, James, and Emily to give a polite "toot toot" of their whistles the next time they see him - all because he is the fastest and best.
However, when Gordon sees Emily passing him, he does not get the polite "toot toot" that he expects - only to miss a red signal and crash into a train of jam tankers ahead of him. Whilst waiting to be rescued, Gordon gets teased again by Percy, Thomas, and James. Soon Edward arrives with the breakdown train and he takes Gordon to the Works to be mended.
Meanwhile, Emily and Henry take turns in pulling the express and they quickly realize that Gordon must be quite strong to do it regularly. Even Percy misses Gordon as the rattle helps him to get to sleep. A few days later, Gordon is mended with all the jam cleaned out of his boiler and his firebox no longer rattling. That night, Gordon apologizes to his friends for his rattling firebox and for his "toot toot" demands because he did not deserve it. However, Thomas and the other engines now know that Gordon deserves a polite "toot toot" as he works very hard indeed as the express engine.
And, since that day, all of the Fat Controller's engines greet their friends with a polite toot of their whistles for being really useful.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- All of the Other Reindeer: The engines to Gordon.
- An Aesop:
- Respect should be given when it's deserved, and not demanded.
- Don't make fun of people for having a serious problem.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Percy, and the other engines to a lesser extent, start teasing Gordon over his rattling firebox.
- Break the Haughty: Happens to Gordon after he crashed into a line of jam tankers.
- Brutal Honesty / "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Percy gives one to Gordon that’s straight and to the point: "You're a boastful, bossy, big, blue boiler!"
- Both Sides Have a Point:
- The other engines are right that they shouldn't respect Gordon just because he demanded it.
- Meanwhile Gordon is right that he does works very hard, and it should at least be acknowledged.
- Control Freak: Tired of being a laughing stock, Gordon attempts to make the other engines follow orders and display respect for him.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: What Gordon was implying to the engines.
- Felony Misdemeanor: James is utterly shocked (and made a loud Gasp! in the US dub only) when Gordon pulls up in front of him at the water tower.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: Thomas, Percy and James take turns passing by to laugh at Gordon's accident.
- Humble Pie: Gordon is apologetic after returning from the Works.
- Humiliation Conga: Gordon crashes into a line of tankers, with several engines passing by and laughing at him.
- Jerkass Realization: Both sides. Gordon is humbled after his accident, while the other engines start to miss him during his absence at the Works, as well as notice the heavy workload Gordon takes off of them.
- No-Respect Guy: Gordon is completely convinced he is this to the other teasing engines.
- Sticky Situation: Gordon ends up crashing into a bunch of tankers filled with red jam/jelly which means that he had to stay in the Works for a while due to the jam/jelly being hard to clean out.
- The Unapologetic: The other engines never directly apologized to Gordon for teasing him about his firebox rattling, despite missing him as he was at the works.
- Well, Excuse Me, Prince!: Emily angrily refuses Gordon's order to toot him while passing by. This made him cross and didn't pay any attention until he saw a line of tankers filled with jam/jelly up ahead!
