- “Bulgy! But... I thought you'd been turned into a henhouse."
"Pwah! Only for a while. Then I was a mobile vegetable stand, but now I am back in service, hah, hah, hah! And if you don't mind my saying so, we'd all be better off if everyone simply used roads instead of railways.” - ―Thomas and Bulgy
Unscheduled Stops is the tenth episode of the twenty-first series.
Plot
When Bertie breaks down while they are racing, Thomas takes on his passengers. An elderly man says that Bertie always drops him off between stops. Soon Thomas is getting requests for lots of other unscheduled stops, which makes him run late and upsets his own passengers as well as the Fat Controller, who recruits Bulgy to take them so that Thomas can run on time.
Characters
- Thomas
- Annie and Clarabel
- Bertie
- Bulgy
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Albert's Wife
- Thomas the Baby
- Bertie's Driver
- Farmer McColl (does not speak)
- Gordon (cameo)
- Philip (cameo)
- The Teacher (cameo)
- The Bird Watcher (cameo)
- The Ginger-haired Boy (cameo)
- The Blond-haired Boy (cameo)
- Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameo)
- The Ffarquhar Stationmaster (cameo)
- Farmer Trotter (mentioned)
Locations
- Thomas' Branch Line
- Dryaw
- Road and Rail Runby and Road Bridge
- The Windmill
- Crowe's Farm Crossing
- Maithwaite
- Ffarquhar
- Knapford
- McColl Farm
- Farmer Trotter's Pig Farm
Cast
UK
- John Hasler as Thomas
- Teresa Gallagher as Annie, Clarabel and Albert's Wife
- Keith Wickham as Bertie, Sir Topham Hatt and some Passengers
- Colin McFarlane as Bulgy and Bertie's Driver
- William Hope as a Passenger
- Nigel Pilkington as a Passenger
US
- Joseph May as Thomas
- Teresa Gallagher as Annie, Clarabel and Albert's Wife
- Keith Wickham as Bertie, Sir Topham Hatt and some Passengers
- Colin McFarlane as Bulgy and Bertie's Driver
- William Hope as a Passenger
- Nigel Pilkington as a Passenger
Trivia
- Going by production order, this is the fifteenth episode of the twenty-first series.
- Nigel Pilkington joins the US voice cast.
- This episode marks the first of a few things for Bulgy:
- His first full appearance in CGI.
- His first appearance in the series since the twelfth series episode, Excellent Emily.
- His first speaking role since the seventh series episode, Bulgy Rides Again.
- His only appearance in the twenty-first series.
- Thomas and Bulgy reference both the latter's henhouse and vegetable bus states from the third series episode, Bulgy and the seventh series episode, Bulgy Rides Again respectively.
- This episode marks the first time Bertie's driver has spoken since the second series episode, Bertie's Chase.
- In the Nick Jr USA broadcast of this episode, it is paired with Springtime for Diesel.
- A shortened version of the episode, narrated by Joseph May as Thomas, can be found on the official YouTube channel and the Nick Jr. website.
- An old man passenger's CGI rig would later be modified into a CGI version of Cyril the Fogman.
In Other Languages
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
| Brazilian Portuguese | Paradas Não Planejadas |
| Japanese | トーマス、バスになる? |
| Polish | Nieplanowane Przystanki |
| Romanian | Opriri Neanunțate |
| Russian | Остановки по требованию |
| Spanish | Paradas no Programadas |
Home Media Releases
UK
- On the Go with Thomas
- The Complete Series 21 (coming soon)