The film starred Dovydaitus, Magee, Michaud, Jarrett, Neil Leighton, Will Stark, Wylie Queenan, Matthew Tillman, Brady McGrath, Eugene Dovydaitus (Nicky's father), Zoe Rose (Nicky's sister), Kestutis Povilauskas (their late grandfather), and Alex Lanham. Released in 2020 after a 4 year long production process, the film has received acclaim from the Thomas & Friends fandom and is generally seen as the biggest fan project ever.
The film has received 2 sequels: The Magic Halloween Parody and The Magic Christmas Parody, with Dovydaitus (both father and son), Magee, Jarrett, Michaud, Leighton, Queenan, McGrath, Twillman, Stark, and Lanham all returning, both in acting roles and production roles.
The film can be watched here
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Tropes featured in the parody:
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Sir Topham Hatt. The show and original film depicted him as the benevolent head of the North Western railway company, while the parody portrays him as a greedy, borderline fascist bureaucrat who cares little for the lives of his railway's employees and patrons and is willing to resort to illegal and sometimes life-threatening business practices to save money. Among other things, he has imported lead paint from China to paint the engines with, ignored a viaduct on the verge of collapsing, and mass marketed the engines without their knowledge or consent.
- Gordon. This version has much less (if any) respect for Thomas, whereas their original counterparts became Vitriolic Best Buds by the end of the first season.
- Henry, who is much more prone to condescension and trying to push the smaller engines around.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: James, of all characters. While still a Jerkass like all official versions of the character, he is noticeably more laid-back here, highlighted by his Pet the Dog conversation with George in the third act.
- Adaptation Expansion: In addition to adding more jokes, more character motivation was given to Mr. Conductor and the human characters.
- All for Nothing: After trying to get promoted, Mr. C eventually finds a dossier from Sir Topham Hatt revealing that the latter despises him and will never even consider promoting him.
- Anti-Villain: George only went along with Diesel 10's plan because he promised him that the turntable in Tidmouth Sheds would be converted into his own personal roller rink. He only destroyed a couple of buffers off-screen throughout the film, ultimately being inconsequential because him doing so didn't affect anything. Right when he was about to destroy the magic buffers, he stops because he realized what Diesel 10 was doing, and didn't even want a roller rink anyway. In the end, he ends up doing the right thing by changing the points for Thomas when he was about to hit a dead end.
- Arc Words: Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!
- Close on Title: Unlike the original movie, the parody jumps straight into the story after the production credits, and putting the title at the end.
- Continuity Nod: Mr. Conductor's father in the 1969 scenes who entrusts Lady to Young Burnett is based on the Ringo Starr version from the first season of Shining Time Station, while the modern day Mr. Conductor is based on the Alec Baldwin version from the original film. An additional Halloween short was made with the George Carlin version from the rest of Shining Time Station. All three are played by co-writer Robert Magee.
- Death by Adaptation: Boomer is killed when he and Diesel 10 fall off the collapsing viaduct (although we don't see the body, only his helmet sinking into the river) whereas in the original film's director's cut, he simply lands in the barge of sludge with Diesel 10 and is carried off Sodor.
- Fantasy Sequence: When Diesel 10 promises George he'd turn Tidmouth Sheds into a roller rink, he imagines himself dancing on it with the other automobiles on Sodor.
- Funny Background Event:
- The mural at Shining Time Station now features a hot air balloon with the Mattel logo on it. Which is on fire.
- During the end chase sequence, Oliver passes by in the background; Toad can be faintly heard asking him what the commotion is about.
- Inevitable Waterfall: Mr. Conductor and Rabbit fall into a river after confronting Diesel 10 at the viaduct. Said river ends in a waterfall.
- "I Want" Song: "I Want to be a Controller".
- Lampshade Hanging: Several, including Junior as the narrator saying how the audience has probably already seen the original movie.
- Lemony Narrator: Junior serves as this.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Right as they're about to reach the crumbling viaduct, Mr. Conductor reveals that he's actually Junior's father, not his cousin. When they survive, they hug each other and celebrate, with Junior ecstatic that he has a dad.Mr. Conductor: If we don't make it, there's something I have to tell you. I'm your father, Junior!
Junior: WHAT?! - Meme Acknowledgement: "Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle" was a throwaway line in the original movie, but turned into a meme years later. The parody completely milks this line, going so far as to making them Arc Words.
- Mythology Gag: Far more than the original film.
- Henry's crash from The Flying Kipper is mentioned to have happened only recently (explaining why the island still has a supply of his special coal, which he no longer required after his rebuild in said episode but suddenly needed again in the original film).
- One of the cereals Mr. C finds is called "BoCo Puffs." As Mr. C points out, "he hasn't been in the show in years."
- When Mr. C is floating on the river, Dodge sees him and quips "If he goes over that waterfall, he's doomed," a quote taken verbatim from Toby and the Flood.
- A portrait of Duke the Lost Engine is seen hanging in Tidmouth Sheds; the same portrait appeared in several interior sets in seasons 4 and 5 of the show.
- In a deleted scene, Mr. C references some of the original stories.
Mr. Conductor: I stood on Edward's front and threw a rope over the buffer of a runaway James. I watched Toby nearly plummet over a waterfall during a flood. I've been put upon and pushed aside while you run this railway off the rails.- When Toby travels from Knapford to the scrapyard, the music is taken from a similar scene in the episode Ghost Train.
- Noodle Incident: Schemer's absence until The Stinger (and by extension, his absence from the original film) is because he is in prison. A deleted scene reveals that Stacy evicted him from Shining Time Station beforehand.Billy: Thanks for getting rid of him, by the way. He was way too much at the end.
Stacy: Oh my god, don't remind me. - Oh, Crap!: Young Burnett's reaction when he realizes P.T. Boomer's planning to take Lady out for a joyride and crash her as revenge cheating on his girlfriend, Tasha.Boomer: You know Tasha, it's kind of funny. Burnett taught me something today too. That it's okay to take away your best friend's most prized possessions! That's why I'm going to do the same to him!
(Boomer gets on his bike and rides off)
Tasha: I'M NOT A POSSESSION! (to Burnett) What did he mean by that, Burnett? What prized possession?
Burnett: (Beat) Oh shit! - Ruder and Cruder: This film is far more profane and ridden with adult jokes than the original film, its TV series predecessor, and the book series that inspired the TV show.
- Shout-Out:
- The last line before the credits is "Fuck yeah, Sparkle sparkle sparkle!"
- When Diesel 10 falls into the sludge barge, the shot pulls away to reveal Ten Cents from TUGS pulling it.
- The music numbers "I Want to be a Controller" and "One Last Puff" are direct parodies of "I Want to be a Producer" and "One Day More" from The Producers and Les Misérables, respectively. A parody of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane is also heard when Mr. Conductor smokes on his remaining gold dust.
- During the meeting at the sheds:
Dodge: Splatter, look! I'm moonwalking!
Splatter: You're just backing up.
Dodge: But my wheels are Smooth Criminals!- The first part to Ringo Conductor's line "Hey, smoke enough of that grass and pop enough of those pills, you'll get yourself some 18-inch tall Liverpudlian men!" is a reference to Steppenwolf's "The Pusher".
- A junction box outside Shining Time Station has a sign that reads "IND.VAL.RR. A113".
- The Stinger: Schemer (portayed by Brian O'Connor, his original actor, to boot) breaks out of prison and calls up Little Schemey on a payphone to come pick him up.
- Take That!:
- The aforementioned Mattel balloon on fire. That is all.
- Mr. Conductor finds a poorly drawn map of Sodor signed "by Sam, age 35". This is a clear jab at Sam Wilkinson, a Thomas fan who was hired as the show's "railway consultant" when Mattel bought the brand. Part of Wilkinson's role entailed creating an updated map of the Island of Sodor, which was notably cluttered and poorly done. Mr. Conductor exclaims "whoever drew this map should be lined up and SHOT!", referencing an incident where Wilkinson said that anyone who pirates Thomas episodes "deserves to be lined up and shot."
- In a deleted scene, which served as Lily's introduction, Junior as the Narrator points out Lily is listening to a cover of "Suffragette City" by David Bowie on her headphones and we get this gem:
Junior: What, is she listening to David Bowie or whatever, what kind of movie does she think she's in? Guardians of the fucking Galaxy?- Mr. Conductor learns that he has been passed over for a promotion in favor of "Seamus O'Connely". It is mentioned that a few years prior, O'Connely set up a fundraiser to pay for repairs to James, only to steal the money and invest it in his tugboat company instead. This references the real-life 2014 fundraiser by Thomas fan Sean O'Connor, who attempted to purchase and restore one of the original James props from the show; upon being unable to buy the model, he refused to issue refunds and instead invested the money towards his company "The Star TUGS Exhibition".
- Tech Bro: Boomer is the wealthy CEO of Goldtech, a tech company that's involved in unethical practices such as the creation of Pinchy which killed Lily's father, and uses a veneer of progressiveness as an excuse to try and recklessly redevelop Shining Time without regard for how it will hurt the lives of the locals. He's much older than the usual example but clearly never grew out of it.
- The Stoner: Gold dust in this movie is also a powerful opioid, and Mr. Conductor and Junior use their whistles to get high off of it. Mr. Conductor goes throughout the movie trying to overcome his addiction. Lady and Burnett Stone also liked to get high off of gold dust in the 60s, and Lady produces more by smoking weed.
- Twist Villain: Diesel 10 was only evil because Pinchy was manipulating him, and thus was using Diesel 10 as an unwilling pawn.
- We Used to Be Friends: Burnett and Boomer used to be best friends before Boomer realized Tasha was cheating on him with Burnett, leading to him taking Lady out for a joyride and crashing her to get even.
