Woolly Bear

"Sorry, I'm late!" "Look what's crawled out of the hay!" "What's wrong?" "Talk about hairy caterpillars! It's worth being late to have seen you."

- Thomas teasing Percy Woolly Bear is the twenty-fifth episode of the second series. It is based on the story of the same name from the Railway Series book Tramway Engines.

Plot
In summer, long hay grows beside the line and work gangers cut it and rake it into heaps to dry in the sun. Percy then collects the hay in empty trucks and takes them to the station. There, Toby collects the trucks and takes them for the farm animals in the hills.

One day, Percy arrives at the station and starts to tease Thomas for thinking he was a ghost. Thomas retorts that Percy is a "green caterpillar with red stripes", which makes Percy angry. Thomas then reminds Percy that he has been late at the station every afternoon throughout the week. Percy tells Thomas that it is the hay that is making him late, but Thomas is not interested in Percy's excuses and Percy leaves.

Percy grumbles to himself during the afternoon that he is only ever late by a few minutes, but nevertheless, he and his driver decide to head to the station early after going to the harbour to drop off some trucks. At the harbour, however, there is trouble; a loose crate of treacle hanging over Percy drops and splatters all over him. The workmen at the harbour try to clean him up, but Percy has to leave and is still very sticky when he does.

Soon, Percy comes to the hill where the hay is laying, and by now it is very windy, which blows the hay up and onto the track. The line climbs here, so Percy's driver advises him to take a run at it. But Percy's wheels keep slipping on the hay and he must wait for the line to be cleared. While he does so, the wind blows some of the hay onto Percy and it clings to his sticky boiler.

At the station, Thomas waits impatiently for a very late Percy. Suddenly, all the passengers start laughing when Percy arrives, as he is now completely covered with hay, apologizing for his late arrival. Thomas laughs, saying Percy has crawled out of the hay. Percy does not know what Thomas is talking about, but Thomas tells him that seeing him like a hairy caterpillar is worth being late.

Percy runs back to the shed, where his driver shows him what he looks like in a mirror. Now Percy knows why everyone was laughing at him, stating that he looks like a woolly bear. He asks to be cleaned before Toby arrives, not knowing that Thomas has already told Toby everything.

In the end, it does not matter; when Toby and Thomas arrive, Percy is still a long way from being cleaned, causing the two to make jokes about woolly bear caterpillars and other creatures that crawl about in hay. Percy does not find these jokes very funny at all.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Jeremiah Jobling
 * Jem Cole
 * One Little Boy
 * One Naughty Boy
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Terence

Locations

 * Tidmouth
 * Tidmouth Yards
 * * Ffarquhar Sheds
 * * The Ffarquhar Stationmaster's House
 * Brendam Docks
 * The Branch Line Cutting
 * Elsbridge
 * Suddery Castle
 * Suddery Hill
 * The Hay Farm

Trivia

 * Thomas calls Percy "a green caterpillar with red stripes" in this story. The line derives from a criticism Wilbert Awdry made towards C. Reginald Dalby's illustrations in the Railway Series book, Percy the Small Engine.
 * Due to time constraints, this episode was cut out of both the Fox Family and Nick Jr. broadcasts of the Shining Time Station episode, Crackpot.
 * This episode marks the last with a few things:
 * The last appearances of The Naughty Boys.
 * Going by episode order, the last episode re-narrated by Ringo Starr for the US release, as well as the last known episode narrated by Simcha Barbiro in Israel.
 * The last episode to have Percy's happy face without teeth as well as the last appearance of his confused one. From the third series, his confused face would gain different eyebrows to resemble a furious one.
 * Ringo Starr's US dub of this episode has been broadcast on Shining Time Station but was never released on home video. However, the audio of his US narration appears on audio cassettes/CDs included with some releases of the Diesel's Devious Deed and Other Thomas the Tank Engine Stories picture book.
 * The JEI TV version of the Korean dub added subtitles to inform viewers what treacle is.
 * This episode was never released on VHS and DVD in South Korea.
 * Stock footage from Percy Runs Away is used.
 * A reference from the previous episode is made.

Goofs

 * As Toby and Percy have their respective goods train scenes with Thomas at Tidmouth Yard, their trains have SR 25 Ton Brake Vans. When they puff through the valley, their brake vans are replaced by BR 20s and Toby's train gains an extra truck. As Percy passes past Suddery Castle, his brake van is an SR 25 again.
 * Percy's brake van disappears as he enters the harbour.
 * The studio lights can be seen reflected on Percy when the treacle lands on him. The treacle completely covers only one half of Percy's face, yet when the workmen are trying to clean him up, his face is covered in treacle stains on both sides.
 * In the close-up of Percy's wheels slipping on the hay, a gear is seen behind one of them.
 * When Percy looks in the mirror, studio equipment is visible in the top-left corner. In the same shot, Percy's eyes are wonky.
 * The narrator said that Thomas was laughing when he saw Percy, but Thomas looks somewhat disgusted.
 * In the restored version, when Thomas and Toby back into the shed, Toby stops slightly outside of the shed, but in the next scene, he is further in. Thomas has also moved further in both versions.
 * Throughout the episode, Percy's left (viewers' right) cylinder is dangling and wobbling, except at Tidmouth.
 * When Percy says, "Ugly, indeed I'm..." a small gap can be seen between his face and eyes.
 * When Percy says, "Green caterpillar, indeed!" Thomas' eyes are wonky.
 * In the Norwegian re-dub, the first few seconds of the audio of the next episode are played at the beginning. Then the audio cuts off and switches over to the music from Woolly Bear. The same thing happens in the Swedish re-dub presumably because the same dubbing track was used.
 * At Elsbridge, Thomas' headlamp is missing part of its bottom and is slightly facing a different direction. Also some of the figurines have sticky tac under their feet.
 * Towards the end of the episode, Toby's left eye (viewers' right) jitters a bit for about a second, and Thomas' face is slightly crooked.

Quotes

 * Percy: [whistles as if he were a ghost] WHEEEEEEEESH!!!
 * Narrator: Percy gave a ghostly whistle.
 * Percy: Don't be frightened, Thomas. It's only me.
 * Thomas: Your ugly fizz is enough to frighten everyone. You're like...
 * Percy: Ugly, indeed! I'm....
 * Thomas: A green caterpillar with red stripes. You crawl like one, too.
 * Percy: I don't.
 * Thomas: Who's been late every afternoon this week?
 * Percy: It's the hay.
 * Thomas: I can't help that. Time's time, and the Fat Controller relies on me to keep it. I can't if you crawl in the hay until all hours.
 * Percy: Green caterpillar, indeed!




 * Percy: [arrives at the station, covered in hay] Sorry I'm late!
 * Thomas: Look what's crawled out of the hay.
 * Percy: What's wrong?
 * Thomas: Talk about hairy caterpillars. It's worth being late to have seen you.

Merchandise

 * Buzz Books - Woolly Bear
 * Magazine stories - Woolly Bear
 * Ladybird Books - Daisy & Percy's Predicament & Woolly Bear

Home Media Releases
{{Scroll box|

UK

 * The Deputation and Other Stories
 * The Best of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends
 * Ghost Train and other stories/Time for Trouble and other stories
 * The Complete Series 2
 * Seasonal Scrapes
 * 5 Episode Video

DVD Boxsets

 * Classic Collection

US

 * Percy's Ghostly Trick and Other Thomas Stories
 * Thomas' Sodor Stories
 * Thomas & Friends Classic Volume 2

CAN

 * Percy's Ghostly Trick and Other Thomas Stories

DVD Boxsets

 * Adventure On the Tracks
 * Thomas' Halloween Adventures/Percy's Ghostly Trick Double Feature
 * Thomas Gets Tricked/Percy's Ghostly Trick Double Feature

AUS

 * The Deputation and Other Stories
 * The Complete Series 2
 * My First Thomas with Percy

DVD Boxsets

 * Complete Series 1-10
 * My First Thomas
 * My First Thomas
 * Classic Collection
 * Series One and Series Two Double Pack

NZ

 * The Deputation and Other Stories
 * Bumper Video Collection Volume 3

FRE

 * The Talkative Trains

JPN

 * Thomas the Tank Engine Volume 11
 * The Complete Works of Thomas the Tank Engine 1 Vol.7
 * Anytime With Percy!
 * Startled in Spite of Oneself
 * The Complete DVD Box 1

UKR

 * A Train Thomas and Friends

NOR

 * Ghost Train

PHL

 * Edward's Exploit

ZA

 * Volume 4

GRC

 * A Lively Companionship

IND

 * Ghost Train and Other Stories

GER

 * Thomas Animal Adventure
 * Thomas and His Friends Vol. 6
 * The Woolly Bear and 4 Other Adventures

ITA

 * The Brave Locomotive

ROM

 * Thomas Comes to Breakfast

DVD Packs

 * Triple Pack 2

SER

 * Thomas the Tank Engine 5

MYS

 * Edward's Exploit and Other Thomas Adventures
 * The Deputation and Other Adventures

CHN

 * Thomas and Friends Season 1-4

HK

 * Thomas and Friends Volume 6
 * Thomas and Friends Volume 3

THA
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 * Thomas and Friends - Volume 8

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