Big Mickey/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Big Mickey was first introduced in 1989 in the series TUGS. He was voiced by the late Timothy Bateson. After the series ended production, and Clearwater Features was shut down in 1990, his model would be carried over onto the production of Thomas in 1991 with the third series of the television series.

Big Mickey's model was refurbished, modified and repainted warmer shade of grey paint, with his megaphone being removed.



Big Mickey is based on a USN 20t Tower Crane. Kobe, a red crane in Tanzania and a faceless purple crane in Rio De Janeiro are other members of this class.

When Big Mickey received his first speaking role in Thomas & Friends, in its twenty-first season, he was voiced by Rob Rackstraw, who gave him a deep British accent.

Gauge 1 model
Big Mickey was designed by director, David Mitton and built by model-maker, Robert Gauld-Galliers. The model was built out of plastic mouldings and styrene card to standard 10mm to the foot. It had two motors and gearboxes. One was used to turn his wheelhouse and the other was used to control the winch. Both of these features were controlled from the same remote.

The model was originally created for Thomas and Friends sister show TUGS. After production of TUGS ended, the model was bought by Britt Allcroft and carried over as a background crane in harbor scenes, particularly in Brendam Docks. During production of the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Big Mickey's model was carried over from Shepperton Studios to Canada, but was never used on-screen. During the trip back from Canada, Big Mickey's model was severely damaged and needed to be partially rebuilt.

During production of the seventh series, Big Mickey's original Futaba Corporation remote controller was replaced with a newer JR Propo one, it was sourced from their XP662 remote controller.

Big Mickey's model and controller is placed in the storage of HiT Entertainment and Mattel.


 * Big Mickey had many modifications throughout the television series. These include:
 * Series 3 (from TUGS):
 * He had cool grey paintwork.
 * His megaphone was taken away.
 * His top railing became thinner.
 * His walkway received more detailing.
 * He gains windows on his front.
 * Series 6:
 * He gained riveted steel sides.
 * He gained a new hook.
 * His hoist end became covered.
 * His crane arm became longer.
 * His wheelhouse walkway became square.
 * He gained a new base.
 * He became taller.

CGI model
In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Big Mickey was recreated from scratch in CGI by Nitrogen Studios. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Big Mickey's live-action model were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Big Mickey has had modifications throughout the CGI era. These include:


 * Series 13:
 * His overall size increased exponentially.
 * His wheelhouse became wider.
 * His crane arm became taller.
 * His paintwork became more cream coloured.
 * Series 21 (New Crane on the Dock):
 * He gained a face.

Voice Actors

 * Rob Rackstraw
 * Hinata Tadokoro
 * Nozomu Sasaki
 * Miłogost Reczek
 * Timothy Bateson
 * Pauli Virta
 * Denis Bespaliy
 * Jürgen Holdorf
 * Osvaldo Trejo