It's Great to be an Engine!

It's Great to Be an Engine! is a UK/IRL/US/CAN VHS/DVD featuring seven eighth series episodes and one song. The South African DVD features one seventh series episode with redubbed music and two eighth series episodes. It was released under the title Thomas and Friends - Volume 2 for Spanish audiences and Thomas' Best Contraption for Czech audiences.

US/CAN
Magic carpets, rip-roaring races, snow, sleet, wind and trainloads of ice cream! Every season on the Island of Sodor brings new opportunities for adventure and discovery. And that means there is never a dull moment for Thomas and all the engines on Sir Topham Hatt's Railway. Will Emily get the timber to Farmer McColl in time to save the baby calves? Will Toby muster enough confidence to push Gordon up a hill? Maybe with a little encouragement from his friends. And will James learn that it's better to be useful than to be important? Watch and find out. Share in these timeless stories featuring seven of the island's classic characters, and you'll see why it's true that It's Great to be an Engine!

2004 UK/IRL
Thomas & Friends are back with over 55 minutes of non-stop new stories and fun on the beautiful Island of Sodor. Brand new to video/DVD, It's Great to be an Engine includes 7 exciting stories plus interactive sections such as 'Dot To Dot,' 'Henry Huffs Out Of The Station' and a new song to sing along to! Episodes on this video/DVD are:

2008 UK/IRL
Thomas & Friends are back with over 55 minutes of non-stop stories and fun on the beautiful island of Sodor. 'It's Great To Be An Engine' includes 7 exciting stories plus interactive sections such as 'Dot To Dot,' 'Henry Huffs Out Of The Station' and a song to sing along to! Episodes on this DVD are:

DK/FIN/NOR/SWE
Thomas and his friends are back ﻿with new adventures from Sodor. Now we'll see when Gordon shall teach Percy, who usually shunts trucks, to pull coaches. But Gordon soon gets conceited about his own knowledge...

UK/IRL/US

 * 1) Too Hot for Thomas - It's a hot Summer on Sodor and the ice-cream lady runs out of ice-cream. Thomas must collect all the ingredients for her to make lots more. He arrives at the seaside and is delighted to hear the children cheer!
 * 2) Emily's Adventure * - A storm sweeps across Sodor, blowing off the roof of Farmer McColl's barn. Emily goes to fetch new timber, but finds Elizabeth clearing a fallen water tower from the track and impatiently tells her to hurry up. Thomas suggests Emily tries asking nicely for a change, so reluctantly, but politely, she asks Elizabeth for help and is on her way.
 * 3) You Can Do it, Toby! - Gordon huffs at Toby - telling him he is not a proper engine - so he feels sad. However, when Gordon and his express get stuck, Toby is sent to help. He pushes and pushes and helps Gordon up the hill.
 * 4) Gordon Takes Charge ** - It's Winter and all the roads are blocked with snow. The Fat Controller asks Percy to help pull passengers and tells Gordon to show Percy what to do. Gordon is too busy showing off to Percy that he doesn't noticed the icy track and slips right through a station, headlong into a huge pile of snow! Gordon was embarrassed and the Fat Controller is cross!
 * 5) Edward the Great - Spencer is taking the Duke and Duchess to their Summer house whilst Edward helps move their furniture. Edward puffs off, but is quickly passed by Spencer who teases him. When the Duke decides to stop to take photographs, Spencer falls asleep and Edwards puffs on past. Spencer wakes to see Edward about to cross the finish line first.
 * 6) James Goes Too Far * - James is given the important job of delivering coal to all the stations on Sodor. He is very excited, but decides he's too busy to wait at the water tower or to help Edward take his trucks to the quarry. James puffs harder and harder until his water tanks goes dry. Salty comes to the rescue and reminds James that no job is more important than helping another engine!
 * 7) Percy and the Magic Carpet - It's a windy day and Percy is proud to be chosen to collect something important from the docks, but is disappointed it's merely a roll of carpet. Salty suggests the carpet might be "magic" and teaches Percy some magic words, but - oh no! - the carpets bands snap, it gets caught in a gust of wind and finally lands on the tracks - with Thomas heading straight towards it!

(*Followed by a Learning Segment) (**Followed by a song)

ZA

 * 1) Fish
 * 2) The Old Iron Bridge
 * 3) Emily's Adventure

DK/FIN/NOR/SWE/ROM

 * 1) Too Hot for Thomas
 * 2) Emily's Adventure
 * 3) You Can Do It, Toby!
 * 4) Gordon Takes Charge
 * 5) Edward the Great
 * 6) James Goes Too Far
 * 7) Percy and the Magic Carpet

SPN

 * 1) Emily's Adventure
 * 2) Thomas Saves the Day
 * 3) Edward the Great
 * 4) Percy and the Magic Carpet
 * 5) Don't Tell Thomas
 * 6) Gordon the Teacher
 * 7) Too Hot for Thomas

CZ

 * 1) Too Hot for Thomas
 * 2) Gordon Takes Charge
 * 3) James Goes Too Far
 * 4) You Can Do it, Toby!
 * 5) Edward the Great
 * 6) Percy and the Magic Carpet

UK/IRL/US

 * A World Around You

UK/IRL/US

 * 1) Dot to Dot - Edward
 * 2) Henry Huffs Out of the Station

South Africa

 * 1) Dot to Dot - Edward
 * 2) What Thomas Needs to do in the Winter
 * 3) Helping One Another

UK/IRL

 * If You Were an Engine Game
 * Day Out with Thomas Preview

US

 * Read to Race
 * If Your Were An Engine...
 * Cargo Challenge
 * Character Gallery
 * Read Along 'The Special Delivery'
 * Sneak Peaks
 * Web Fun

DK

 * Fireman Sam bonus episode

Trivia

 * This is the first VHS/DVD release for several things:
 * The first DVD under the same title for UK/Irish and US regions to have the same episodes and no extra episodes for one region.
 * The first US release captioned by Caption Technologies Inc.
 * The first US VHS/DVD to use seven episodes on a VHS since 1998 with the A Big Day for Thomas release during the Britt Allcroft Company era.
 * The first Thomas UK and Irish VHS release in letterboxed widescreen.
 * Starting with this UK and Irish DVD, the menu starts with Thomas saying "It's Thomas. Hello Thomas."
 * This is one of the few HiT Entertainment series releases that does not have the Engine Roll Call in it, as well as the first HiT release to not contain that song.
 * A photoshopped image from Toby's Windmill is on the 2008 rear sleeve of the UK and Irish DVD, with Toby's face changed from sad to happy.
 * The US DVD uses the CiTV theme music for the Menu and the Cargo Challenge Game.
 * In the 2004 UK and Irish DVD Extras selection opening with the scene of Emily's whistle from Emily's Adventure, the audio is really low pitched making the whistle sound different.
 * On the Universal reprint, Web Fun is removed.
 * In the booklet of the US DVD, it is shown that on Thomas' Cargo Challenge that kids can choose either 2, 5, or 10 trucks for Thomas to pull. However, on the actual game, they can only choose 2, 4, or 6 trucks.
 * The episodes and learning segments paired in the South African DVD are the same as when they were paired on the TV half hour format airing, Difficulties.
 * This is the only US VHS/DVD to feature Gordon Takes Charge.

Goofs

 * In one of the intermissions, Edward has Thomas' whistle.
 * The US trailer has a closeup of Gordon's whistle with the sound of Thomas'.
 * In the US DVD menu, Annie and Clarabel's names are missing and Thomas is behind the fence at the platform when it should be behind him.
 * The front cover of the 2004 UK and Irish DVD said "7 Unseen Stories," but Too Hot for Thomas and Percy and the Magic Carpet are the only unseen episodes as the others already aired on TV.
 * In the 2004 UK extras selection, the bushes can be seen through left side of Salty's face.
 * Michael Angelis is credited in the opening of the Norwegian DVD.
 * In the booklet of the US DVD, Edward the Great is not listed in the Pick a Story section, unlike the other episodes.

UK/IRL

 * Triple Pack
 * The Ultimate Collection
 * 5 Adventurous DVDs

US

 * Family Fun Pack Volume 1
 * Fun Pack
 * All-Aboard for Adventure!
 * Let's Explore with Thomas
 * It's Great to Be an Engine! and Thomas' Sodor Celebration! 2-pack
 * It's Great to Be an Engine! and Steamies vs. Diesels 2-pack
 * It's Great to Be an Engine! and Tales from the Tracks 2-pack
 * It's Great to Be an Engine! and Songs from the Station 2-pack
 * It's Great to Be an Engine! and Bob the Builder: Bob's Favorite Adventures Double Feature DVD
 * DVD 2-Pack with Come Ride the Rails and Wooden Railway Thomas and Toby

Arabic

 * Whistle Express Collection!

ZA

 * 4 Disc Collection

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