Bob the Builder

Bob the Builder is a British animated children's franchise created by Keith Chapman as a production of HiT Entertainment, now owned by Mattel. The original series started in April 1999 and ended in December 2011, and later had a reboot series that ran from 2015 to 2018.

History with Thomas & Friends
When creating the series, Chapman looked at other children's media such as Thomas the Tank Engine. However, he felt that it looked very old fashioned, as The Railway Series, the book series of which the Thomas the Tank Engine television series was based off, was written back in the 1940s. Despite this, it was still one of the most succesful British preschool television series, and so Chapman thought that surely a construction concept could be as big as Thomas. HiT was not too sure if it would, but for a few years, Bob the Builder would actually become more popular than Thomas, before Thomas would become more popular than Bob again years later.

In the early 2000s, Bob the Builder was being very successful in the United Kingdom. Because of this, HiT Entertainment was planning on purchasing Gullane Entertainment, owner of Thomas the Tank Engine. The two sides were unable to agree on a price, however, and the merger fell through. Bob the Builder continued its success with the number one record in December that year.

In 2002, the board of Gullane Entertainment agreed for their company to be purchased by HiT for £139 million, both Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends were now owned by the same company.

Appearances
Both Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends characters appeared together in The Official BBC Children in Need Medley from 2009.

Thomas the Tank Engine References in Bob the Builder

 * In the special Scramber to the Rescue, a toy train with an engine resembling Thomas can be seen in the toy factory. It also uses Thomas' whistle sound effect and the coaches are painted like the Green Express Coaches. The face used was taken from an illustration by Clive Spong in The Railway Series.

Bob the Builder References in Thomas & Friends

 * A child in a Bob the Builder costume is seen at a Halloween party in the books Halloween in Anopha and A Ghost on the Track.
 * The Minis toy range produced a Construction Toby toy which featured the 2015 design of Bob the Builder in his cab, as well as his new 'B' logo all over Toby's paintwork. This makes it the first variant to feature a trademarked character that is not part of a crossover theme. Both franchises are owned by Mattel, meaning no license was required. The Bob the Builder toy promo was also featured on the US checklist, showing four die-cast models.

Connections

 * Rupert Degas provided the voices for Scrambler and other characters in Project: Build It and Ready, Steady, Build!
 * Teresa Gallagher provided voices in the 2015 television series.
 * Eberhard Haar provided the voice of Scoop in the German dub.
 * Holly Hazelton provided the voice of Mila in the UK dub of the 2015 television series.
 * Mia Hope Gaywood provided voices.
 * Steven Kynman provided the voice for Lofty in the UK dub of the 2015 television series.
 * Rob Rackstraw provided the voices for Scoop, Muck, Travis, Spud, Mr. Bentley, and other characters in the UK dub of the original series, Project: Build It, Ready, Steady, Build!. He also provided the voice for Spud and Mr. Bentley in the US dub of Project: Build It and Ready, Steady, Build!
 * Colin McFarlane provided the voices for characters like J.J in the original series.
 * David Menkin provided the voices for Scoop and Travis in the US dub of Ready, Steady, Build!
 * Lucy Montgomery provided voices in the 2015 television series.
 * Neil Morrissey provided the voices for Bob, Roley, Lofty, and others in the UK dub of the original series, Project: Build It, Ready, Steady, Build!
 * Achim Schülke provided the voice for Spud in the German dub.
 * Juha Varis provided the voice of Dodger in the Finnish dub of Project: Build It.
 * Jukka Voutilainen provided voices in the Finnish dub.
 * María Fernanda Morales provided the voice of Wendy in the Latin American dub.
 * Ricardo Silva provided the voice of Scoop in the Latin American dub.
 * Gabriel Gama provided the voice of Muck in the Latin American dub of the original series.
 * Víctor Ugarte provided the voice of Muck in the Latin American dub of Project: Build It and Ready, Steady, Build!
 * Ernesto Lezama provided the voice of Roley in the Latin American dub.
 * Francisco Colmenero provided the voice of Lofty in the Latin American dub.

Trivia

 * Bob the Builder has appeared in various VHS, DVD and digital download compilation releases with Thomas & Friends and other properties owned by HiT Entertainment. These include HiT Favorites, HiT Children's Favourites, The Little Big Club, Awesome Adventures and ABC For Kids Favourites.
 * Certain Thomas & Friends DVDs include Bob the Builder episodes as bonus episodes.
 * Some whistle sound effects used in both franchises:
 * Spencer's whistle can be heard in a Bob the Builder special called "The Big Dino Dig".
 * Sir Handel's whistle from the US dub and early UK version of Sleeping Beauty can be heard in the Bob the Builder special called "The Knights of Can-a-Lot."
 * Lady's and Millie's whistle can be heard in the Bob the Builder special called "Built to be Wild."
 * Both franchises have a merchandise line known as Take Along produced by Learning Curve.
 * In "Trains and Treehouses" the coaches on Mr. Bentley’s old train set are very similar in colour to the Red Express Coaches.
 * Neil Morrissey - the voice of Bob, Roley, Lofty, and others in the UK - narrated the UK trailers of Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
 * It has been suggested that plans for the Thomas & Friends spin-off series Jack and the Sodor Construction Company may have been scrapped since HiT Entertainment considered it too similar to Bob the Builder.
 * The post-2018 Steam Team liveries match the core five machines of Bob the Builder (red, orange, yellow, green and blue).