Emily's Best Friend

"Best friend? I thought I was your best friend?" "Excuse me? I'm Emily's best friend." "You can't be her best friend, I am." "But none of you are, I am."

- Philip, Marion, Henry and Edward

Emily's Best Friend is the first episode of the twenty-fourth series.

Plot
One morning, the Fat Controller drives to Tidmouth Sheds to tell the engines about the grand unveiling of a sculpture at the town square, and that the engines would work in pairs. He tells Gordon and Rebecca to take passengers from Knapford to the town square, Nia and James to collect a delivery from the Sodor Ironworks, and Thomas and Percy to shunt trucks at Brendam Docks. Emily, meanwhile, has the job of delivering sand, but wishes she had someone to spend time with while doing her job: a best friend.

On her way to the docks, she sees Philip shunting a fairground ride and asks him if he could help her as her best friend, but Philip states he does not need any help. At Knapford, she sees Gordon and Rebecca leaving the platforms to take their passengers to the town square. As she heads to the docks, she sees Marion and asks her for some help, but she is too busy digging up an embankment. Following this exchange, Nia and James go by pulling their train of iron girders and laughing together, further depressing Emily.

When Emily arrives at the docks to collect the sand, she sees Thomas and Percy shunting empty trucks. After the two leave, she sees Henry and asks him for some help delivering the sand. Like Marion and Philip, Henry states that he does not need any help, but will meet her at the unveiling. When Edward steams by pulling scrap trucks, Emily decides to help him out, leaving her sand trucks in the siding.

When Emily and Edward reach the scrap yard, she calls him her best friend, which confuses Philip, Marion and Henry, who are all under the impression that they are her best friend. Philip then mentions that the unveiling is of a sand sculpture, which reminds Emily of her own job. However, when Emily arrives back at the docks, the sand trucks are missing.

At the town square, all the engines gathered around for the unveiling. When Emily arrives, she tells Thomas what happened, fearing that the Fat Controller will be upset with her until the Earl reveals the finished sand sculpture of the Steam Team. Thomas then tells her that he and Percy delivered the sand while she was helping Edward, and Emily admits that she was surrounded by best friends all along.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Emily
 * Nia
 * Rebecca
 * Marion
 * Philip
 * Reg
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sir Robert Norramby
 * Cranky
 * Big Mickey
 * Carly
 * The Mayor of Sodor
 * Mr. Bubbles
 * The Teacher
 * The Bird Watcher
 * The Ginger-haired Boy
 * Albert's Wife
 * Little Thomas
 * The Female Puppet Show Entertainer
 * Madeleine's Parents
 * The Indian Fashion Designer
 * The Grumpy Passenger

Locations

 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * The Sheep Field
 * Knapford
 * Brendam Docks
 * Crocks Scrap Yard
 * Town Square
 * Harwick
 * Sodor Ironworks

UK, IRL, AUS, NZ and MYS

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Edward, Henry, Gordon and Sir Topham Hatt
 * Rob Rackstraw as James
 * Nigel Pilkington as Percy
 * Teresa Gallagher as Emily
 * Lucy Montgomery as Marion
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
 * Tim Whitnall as Reg
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby

US and CAN

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * William Hope as Edward
 * Kerry Shale as Henry and Gordon
 * Rob Rackstraw as James
 * Christopher Ragland as Percy
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily
 * Lucy Montgomery as Marion
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
 * Tim Whitnall as Reg
 * Keith Wickham as Sir Topham Hatt
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby

Trivia

 * Current and former Steam Team member Toby does not to appear in this episode.
 * This episode marks the first of a few things:
 * The first episode of the CGI series to have an assistant director and the first since the fifth series.
 * The first appearance of the post van in CGI. It was last seen in the seventh series episode, Bulgy Rides Again.
 * The first appearances of the taxis since the sixteenth series.
 * The first episode not dubbed in German since the twenty-first series episode, Confused Coaches.
 * The first episode not dubbed in Korean.
 * This episode marks the only and last of a few things:
 * Marion, The Mayor of Sodor and the Grumpy Passenger's last appearances and their only appearances in the twenty-fourth series.
 * The only time since the seventeenth series episode, Henry's Hero (and the final time overall) that the Smelters' Yard is mentioned.
 * The only episode to feature Lucy Montgomery to voice Marion.
 * On Italian television airing, the Engine Roll Call song was played for the end song, instead of Let's Dream song.
 * In the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Baltic Russian dubs, the UK dub can be heard in the background as a dubbing track was not used.

Goofs

 * At the docks, Emily's piston rods are clipping through her cylinders and her side rods are clipping through her running boards.
 * When Emily returns to the docks, a narrow gauge van can be seen on one of the tracks.
 * Rebecca has Emily's whistle.
 * James has Duck's whistle sound when the sand sculpture is unveiled.
 * In the sand sculpture, the Steam Team engines are missing their couplings. Additionally, Percy, Nia and Rebecca are missing their coupling hook bases, and Percy is missing his buffers.

UK/IRL/AUS

 * Animal Adventures