Climb aboard the new television series that reimagines the classic Thomas & Friends™ franchise, as Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
The show arrives on Channel 5 Milkshake! on Monday 8th November, featuring an entirely new storytelling approach, vibrant, 2D animation, and a collection of fun new characters to inspire today’s audiences.
“This new creative direction for the classic Thomas & Friends franchise is crafted to appeal to contemporary audiences, yet still maintain the beloved characters’ core ethos: the value of friendship. Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go features stories that are both timeless and timely, with themes that will resonate with children, parents and caregivers alike.” – Fred Soulie, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mattel Television
Produced by Mattel Television, in partnership with Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana Studio, Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go is only the fourth major revamp ever for the world-famous children’s animated show in its illustrious 75-year history. The new series follows Thomas, more playful and relatable than ever before, as the hero of his own adventure. Join Thomas as he strives to be the Number One Tank Engine through trial and error, all while just enjoying being a kid. And of course, Thomas will always have his friends by his side for every adventure.
Highlights of Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go include a greater range of character expressiveness, more physical comedy and music, and core characters that are now kids themselves and voiced by British child actors. The upbeat and colourful show is crafted to appeal to contemporary audiences’ sensibilities while maintaining Thomas’ core message about the value of friendship.
The series incorporates 26 social-emotional, cognitive, and physical life lessons throughout the series, including friendship, taking turns, teamwork, self-help and empathy. While Thomas is the hero of this series, he always has his friends by his side.
Four additional engines make up the core cast of characters: Percy – Thomas’ best friend who loves telling silly jokes, Percy has a lot of hidden courage (that not even he’s aware of!) and will do anything to help his friends. Nia – Nia is an engine who loves a good plan, offering both creative and practical solutions. Because Nia is so well travelled, she often has valuable insight into things the other engines haven’t seen before.
Diesel – Diesel is always trying to one-up Thomas and inadvertently causes trouble for everyone in his quest to be “the real Number One Tank Engine.” Kana – An all-new electric high-speed rail train, she is fast talking, loves to race and creates gusts of wind that blow windmills and bend trees in her wake.
“We can’t wait for the next generation of fans to meet Thomas and his friends. In Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go, we aim for audiences to have fun as we expand the world of Sodor in new and exciting ways. For the better part of the last decade, I’ve had the privilege of working on the Thomas & Friends television series and I’ve seen first-hand how Thomas and his core message about the value of friendship inspire a broad audience – children, parents and caregivers alike. These stories are both timeless and timely, with themes that continue to resonate with kids today”. – Christopher Keenan, Senior Vice President, Global Content & Executive Producer, Mattel Television
Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go will premiere on Channel 5 Milkshake on 8th November.
In the UK, the series will be preceded by a new 60-minute animated motion picture, Thomas & Friends: Race for the Sodor Cup™, showing at Vue and Odeon cinemas throughout the UK from Friday 17th September, which will be the first time that children and parents can see the new-look and feel Thomas & Friends before it hits television screens later in the year.
