No Help at All

"No help at all? Well, you're... no fun at all, Timothy!"

- Ben

No Help at All is the twenty-fourth episode of the nineteenth series.

Plot
Timothy sometimes finds it difficult working with Bill and Ben at the China Clay Pits due to their mischievous ways. After they play a trick on Marion, Timothy begins to think that the twins are no help at all. Ben crossly says that Timothy is no fun at all, and they puff away. However, Timothy takes no notice.

Later, the twins pass through Knapford and overhear the Fat Controller talking to Thomas about Porter, who is working on his own and needs help at the docks as Emily is being repaired at the Steamworks, Mavis is being repaired at the Dieselworks, and Salty is helping out on the Mainland. Bill and Ben cheekily tell him that Timothy could help out since he is no help at all at the clay pits. Thomas knows they are only teasing, but the Fat Controller thinks their idea is a good one.

Porter and Cranky are busy working to sort out the mess at the docks when Timothy arrives. They are very glad to see him, and Timothy is glad to be away from Bill and Ben. Together, the dockside team work to sort out the trucks. Later in the afternoon, the Fat Controller arrives to see how Timothy is getting on. Cranky and Porter both think he is a very useful engine. However, Timothy is surprised when the Fat Controller tells him that it was Bill and Ben's idea to send him to the docks.

Meanwhile, back at the clay pits, Bill and Ben are too busy bickering to work properly, and Marion is struggling to do all the work on her own. She crossly tells them that they should be helping, but they take no notice.

The twins head to the docks and ask Timothy if he can come back yet. However, Timothy declines since Porter would be on his own again if he left. Porter suggests that they try working together instead of relying on Timothy, but Bill and Ben take no notice and crossly head back to the clay pits. A few days later, Salty returns from the mainland, which means Timothy can go back to the clay pits. However, he begins to worry about what he will find when he gets there.

Bill and Ben decide that if Timothy will not work with them, they will not work at all. The Fat Controller arrives and demands to know what has happened to the clay pits. They tell him about Timothy not coming back from the docks, but he reminds the twins that it was their idea to send him there in the first place. Immediately, Bill and Ben blame each other and begin to argue, but the Fat Controller stops them, angrily saying it is time they started pulling their weight.

Just as it looks like the work will never get done, Timothy arrives with Salty and Porter behind him to help Bill and Ben clean up the mess. The twins are very grateful, and Timothy reminds them that that is what friends are for.

Marion, however, is in a siding, alone and she is calling for anyone, but there is nobody around.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Bill and Ben
 * Porter
 * Timothy
 * Marion
 * Salty
 * Cranky
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Henry
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * The Bird Watcher
 * The Lady with the Big Hat
 * Big Mickey
 * Emily
 * Mavis

Locations

 * Island of Sodor
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Sodor China Clay Company
 * Knapford
 * M.C. Bunn
 * Sodor Steamworks
 * Vicarstown Dieselworks
 * The Mainland

UK

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Jonathan Broadbent as Bill and Ben
 * Steven Kynman as Porter
 * Tim Whitnall as Timothy
 * Olivia Colman as Marion
 * Keith Wickham as Salty and the Fat Controller
 * Matt Wilkinson as Cranky

US

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Jonathan Broadbent as Bill and Ben
 * Tim Whitnall as Timothy
 * Olivia Colman as Marion
 * David Menkin as Porter
 * Keith Wickham as Salty and Sir Topham Hatt
 * Glenn Wrage as Cranky

Trivia

 * Going by production order, this is the twenty-fifth episode of the nineteenth series.
 * The episode takes place during the episodes, Salty All at Sea, Den and Dart and Best Engine Ever:
 * Stock footage from Salty All at Sea is used because of this.
 * While the Fat Controller is trying to figure out who could help out at Brendam Docks, he mentions Emily being at the Steamworks and Mavis at the Dieselworks, referencing Best Engine Ever and Den and Dart respectively.
 * An arrangement of Arthur's theme from Something Fishy composed by Robert Hartshorne is heard at both the beginning and end of the episode.
 * A cover of Down by the Docks is performed and composed by Robert Hartshorne in the episode. An instrumental snippet of We Make a Team Together is also heard.
 * This is the first time where a Thomas & Friends song is sung in an episode instead of being heard instrumentally.
 * Despite being responsible for composing Down by the Docks in the first place, Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell are left uncredited.
 * This episode marks Bill, Ben and Timothy's only speaking roles in the nineteenth series. although Bill and Ben were meant to appear in Slow Stephen.
 * This episode marks the last of a few things:
 * Timothy's last appearance in an episode, not counting being indirectly mentioned in Hunt the Truck.
 * Bill and Ben's last speaking roles in an episode until the twenty-second series episode, What Rebecca Does and their last appearances in an episode until the twenty-first series episode, Stuck in Gear.
 * The last appearance of the Sodor China Clay Company in an episode, not counting being mentioned in Hunt the Truck.
 * The last episode in which Jonathan Broadbent voices Bill and Ben, as well as the last episode to feature him as part of the voice cast. Tim Whitnall and Matt Wilkinson later voiced them in Big World! Big Adventures!, before Rasmus Hardiker took over voicing Bill from the twenty-second series onwards, while Wilkinson continued to voice Ben after the aforementioned special.
 * In the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Baltic Russian and Vietnamese dubs, the UK English dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.

Goofs

 * When Bill and Ben arrive at the docks, Timothy has trucks coupled behind him. However, in the next shot, they have disappeared.
 * When the truck tips over, it is right in front of Ben's buffers. But in the next shot, he has moved backwards.
 * Bill and Ben occasionally switch whistle sounds.
 * In most shots, Bill and Ben's couplers are much longer than usual.
 * In the three scenes of the Fat Controller talking to Bill and Ben, the bushes behind him change and the trucks on the left move in the third shot.
 * Due to the use of stock footage from Salty All at Sea, Lucinda suddenly switches from sailing forwards to backwards during the shots where Timothy worries about going back to the Clay Pits.

Quotes

 * Bill: It was Ben's fault.
 * Ben: What?! My fault? But you're the one who said Timothy was no help at all!
 * Bill: Did not!
 * Ben: Did too!
 * Bill: Did not!
 * The Fat Controller: Enough! It's about time you two started pulling your weight!


 * Marion: (noticing there is nobody there) Hello? Anyone? Hello?

UK

 * Full Steam to the Rescue!
 * The Complete Series 19

US

 * Ultimate Friendship Adventures

CHN

 * The Other Side of the Mountain

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