Tales from the Tracks

Tales from the Tracks is a DVD release featuring six eighth series episodes, four learning segments and two songs. The DVD was released in the US and Canada on VHS and DVD as Track Stars. The DVD was released under the title Stories From the Tracks for Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish audiences, Stories by Rails for Romanian audiences, Thomas and Friends - Volume 4 for Spanish audiences and Thomas Did It for Czech audiences.

UK/IRL 2005
Join Thomas & Friends with this collection of adventures from the Island of Sodor. This complimentary DVD contains six great stories, all of which feature everybody's favourite Number 1 Blue Engine...Thomas!

UK/IRL 2006/2008
Join Thomas & Friends with this collection of adventures from the Island of Sodor. This DVD contains six great stories, all of which feature everybody's favourite Number 1 Blue Engine...Thomas!

US/CAN
The Island of Sodor is always bustling with trainloads of work to be done, and keeping it all on track are the engine heroes!

Meet our track stars --- Thomas, Emily, Percy and James, and join them on exciting journeys to great destinations!

Can Thomas slow down? Will Emily deliver her passengers? Has Percy made a big mistake? Is anyone as bright as James?

Find out as Sodor's track stars ride the rails to adventure!

Finnish
Thomas and his friends are back with new adventures from Sodor. On this DVD, you'll see when James gets a new coat, which makes him so proud that he forgets one of his jobs. Gordon gets a very important special: He is going to take Sodor's new mayor on a special trip ﻿round the Island. Come and look!

UK/IRL/US/CAN

 * 1) Thomas Gets it Right * - A large storm leaves a lot of special jobs for the engines to do. They all boast about who'll go the fastest and make the most journeys. When Thomas is given the job of transporting eggs across the island, he is disappointed to learn that he must be careful and go extra slowly.
 * 2) Emily's New Route ** - The Fat Controller announces some new routes for the summer. Emily is glad that she's given the flour mill run instead of the scary Black Loch run. When the troublesome trucks make Emily late, the Fat Controller sends Emily back to Black Loch. Emily is unhappy, but all is not as expected.
 * 3) Percy's Big Mistake * - When Percy hears the Fat Controller use the words 'Percy' and 'scrap' he fears the worst and runs away. When Percy is found, he learns that the truth is nothing of the sort and promises to never jump to conclusions again.
 * 4) As Good as Gordon * - Gordon is taking the new Mayor of Sodor on a tour of the island, so Emily is given the job of pulling Gordon's express. Gordon always crosses the island "twice by tea-time" and Emily is desperate to prove she can to do the same.
 * 5) James Gets a New Coat * - James gets a new coat and feels so special that he ignores an important job so he can look at his reflection. Eventually, he's given an extra messy job to make up for it. After that he doesn't look so special.
 * 6) Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough ** - Thomas doesn't listen when Emily tells him to get his snowplough fitted and pays the price when he gets snowed in.

(*Followed by a Learning Segment)

(**Followed by a song)

NOR/SWE/DK/FIN/SPN

 * 1) Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough
 * 2) Thomas Gets It Right
 * 3) Percy's Big Mistake
 * 4) Emily's New Route
 * 5) James Gets a New Coat
 * 6) As Good as Gordon

ROM/CZ

 * 1) Thomas Gets It Right
 * 2) Emily's New Route
 * 3) Percy's Big Mistake
 * 4) As Good as Gordon
 * 5) James Gets a New Coat
 * 6) Thomas, Emily and the Snowplough

Learning Segments

 * 1) Guess the Engine - James
 * 2) Helping One Another
 * 3) Which Way Should Thomas and Emily Go?
 * 4) Truck Trouble

Songs

 * 1) Emily
 * 2) Engine Roll Call

UK/IRL

 * Interactive Puzzle DVD Game

US/CAN

 * James' Colors of Sodor
 * Thomas' A-maze-ing Adventures
 * Read-Along Story: A Better View for Gordon and other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories
 * Sodor Activity Depot DVD-Rom
 * Character Gallery
 * HiT Extras

Trivia

 * A complimentary copy of Tales from the Tracks, with a different cover and no bonus features, was given to anyone who attended the Thomas & Friends 60th Anniversary Party in Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom in 2005.
 * The 2005 UK and Irish DVD has no DVD menus and is in a 4:3 aspect ratio.
 * In the 2006 UK and Irish episode selections, music from Thomas Gets it Right when the engines head off to do their jobs is heard.
 * A book released to promote Track Stars included a prototype cover, which Percy was not on, and a different description hinting the focus would not just be on Thomas, Percy, Emily, and James, but Edward, Gordon and Henry as well, but Edward does not speak in two episodes and he makes a cameo in two episodes and Henry makes a cameo in four episodes.
 * Track Stars was the last independent US release from HiT Entertainment. All future releases would be distributed by other companies (starting with 20th Century Fox on Tales from the Tracks).
 * This is the first DVD in the US to feature the Latin American Spanish language track.
 * A Latin American Spanish version of this DVD was later released in the US and Latin America, distributed by 20th Century Fox, but the DVD only included Spanish audio track and it had no menus. Despite being a Spanish-only release, the Thomas & Friends logo on the cover and all text remained in English.
 * The first US VHS since Best of Gordon to have a sticker label on the tape.
 * A double feature of the Spanish DVD and a Spanish DVD of Milkshake Muddle was later released by Lionsgate in 2011.
 * In the Character Gallery, a snapshot of Percy at Tidmouth Sheds from Thomas and the Magic Railroad is used.
 * In this DVD, Kipper does not appear in the Sneak Peeks, but in some of the other US HIT DVDs, trailers for that show appear.
 * In the Read along section, Instrumental music from the episodes on the DVD can be heard.
 * 2009 US DVD reprints include a bonus episode of Roary the Racing Car.
 * On the 2014 re-release in the fun and games section, the DVD-ROM Depot and HiT Extras are removed.
 * The picture of Thomas and Gordon on the Romanian release is mirrored.
 * The VHS has no previews.
 * This is the only US VHS/DVD to include Percy’s Big Mistake, Emily's New Route, Thomas Gets it Right and As Good As Gordon.

Goofs

 * In the fun and games menu, Percy's wheels are not moving and his buffer housings are black instead of red.
 * In the James' Colors of Sodor game:
 * In Level 1, James states that Wilbert is one of the purple engines alongside Lady. This is not true, as Wilbert is actually dark blue.
 * In Level 2, James mispronounces Farmer McColl's name as Farmer McCool.
 * In Level 3, Gordon and Emily are missing their tenders and one of Salty's stripes by his face are blue.
 * In the Thomas' A-maze-ing Adventures game, the narrator says that Thomas fired up his boilers, but Thomas only has one boiler.
 * Michael Angelis is credited as narrator in the opening of the Norwegian DVD, even though it was redubbed.
 * In Universal Home Entertainment re-releases, after going to the DVD menu on HiT Entertainment Auto Play, it takes you to the Fun and Games menu for unknown reasons instead of the main menu just like the Universal re-release of Thomas and the Really Brave Engines and Other Adventures.
 * On the Songs and More menu, Guess the Engine is titled Name That Engine.
 * In the Universal Home Entertainment re-release, the program plays when you select Menu in the Character Gallery instead of Fun and Games menu.
 * On Sodor Activity Depot:
 * In Create Your Own Thomas and Friends Story:
 * Farmer McColl's name is misnamed Farmer McCool.
 * Brendam is called Brendham.
 * When an engine is pulling the mail with Percy, he is seen pulling coaches.
 * Mavis does not have Ffarquhar Quarry name on her side at the start.
 * In Coloring Sheets:
 * Mavis does not have her name or Ffarquhar Quarry on her side.
 * On the US and Latin American discs, it says 2005 instead of 2006, Suggesting that this DVD was being prepared for release in late 2005.

UK/IRL

 * 5 Adventurous DVDs
 * Triple Pack
 * The Ultimate Collection

US

 * Steam Engine Stories
 * Train Loads of Stories
 * Action Pack
 * Friendship on the Tracks

Latin America

 * Track Stars and Milkshake Muddle Double Feature

Arabic

 * Whistle Express Collection!

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