Nia's Balloon Blunder

"It's time to improvise!"

- Thomas Nia's Balloon Blunder is the sixteenth episode of the first series.

Plot
Thomas and Kana are outside the big station staring at a billboard, advertising a train parade happening at Vicarstown that day. Both Kana and Thomas are excited for the parade and cannot wait to see all the flags, balloons, and the band playing. Thomas does not know what he will do yet for the parade, saying he will just have to improvise. At first, Kana is confused, but Thomas explains that improvise simply means to make it up as he goes. Just then, the two friends are interrupted by a shadow looming overhead. It is a giant train balloon tied to Nia that she gets to carry in the parade. Emily soon arrives with Sir Topham Hatt on board, who explains that Nia must be careful, as it is quite a windy day, evidently by his hat blowing away. Nia asserts that she has a plan to get her balloon, 'Floaty', to the parade safely. But right after Sir Topham Hatt leaves, Floaty and the wind nearly drags Nia off the rails, but luckily, Thomas catches her in time. Nia explains that she has planned a route that will make for as little wind as possible. First through the Canyon, then through the Forest, and then finally straight through The Tunnel of Zoom, arriving right on time at Vicarstown for the train parade. Thomas exclaims that it is a 'train-tastic' plan and asks if he and Kana can come with her. Nia agrees, saying that bringing friends is part of the plan. So all three set off for Vicarstown.

Thomas, Kana, and Nia soon arrive at the Canyon with Floaty. Nia is pleased, but Kana is worried that if they are not careful, the balloon might pop against the sharp rocks jutting out of the canyon walls. Nia tries to go slowly but Floaty still starts to float towards the rocks, leading to Thomas having to improvise. He jumps up and blocks the balloon from going too far to the left and Kana jumps up to do the same on the right. The two friends continue until they are all safely out of the canyon with the balloon still floating. Nia promises that the next part of her plan will be way easier. They all arrive at the Forest and find that the dense trees block the wind from blowing the balloon. Unfortunately, the wind also blows the trees with their pointy branches closer to the balloon. Nia had not planned on that. Once again, Thomas improvises a plan. He has Kana whoosh through the Forest at lightning speed, blowing all the trees back temporarily. Quickly, Thomas and Nia steam through and out of the Forest just in time. Nia thanks Kana as they arrive at The Tunnel of Zoom at last. But there is a problem: the balloon is too big to float through the tunnel. Luckily, Thomas improvises and has himself and Kana push the balloon through while Nia pulls. It is a tight squeeze, but they manage to get it through.

But just as the three friends continue down the line, the wind picks up severely and starts tugging at the balloon. Nia, Thomas, and Kana try hard to hold it, but the rope snaps and Floaty floats away. The three engines try to catch Floaty, but she is too high up to reach. Nia is very sad, thinking her plan has failed, but when she lets off steam, she pushes the balloon further away. Thomas suggests that they use their steam to push Floaty where they want her to go. Nia is not very confident in the plan, saying that they will not be able to catch Floaty even if they push her to Vicarstown. But Thomas reminds her that they have to improvise. Nia concedes and decides to improvise, thinking of a new plan that involves pushing the balloon to Lookout Mountain. Thomas adds to the plan and says that Sandy and Carly can help hook the balloon back onto Nia. Kana offers to fast track to get them, promising to meet them both at Lookout Mountain. Thomas and Nia are left to use their steam to push Floaty to the mountain. As they arrive, they find Kana already there with Carly and Sandy. With one last big puff, Thomas and Nia push Floaty up, up, up the mountain. It almost goes too high, but luckily, Sandy grabs it. She is almost blown off the mountain by the strong wind, but Carly, Thomas, Nia, and Kana all manage to pull Sandy and the balloon to safety by working together. With Floaty finally caught, the five friends make their way to Vicarstown just in time for the parade to start. Sir Topham Hatt congratulates Nia for her successful plan. Nia sheepishly admits that it was not a perfect plan, but all her friends helped her improvise. And for that, all five of them get to pull Floaty in the parade as the good friends they are.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Nia
 * Carly
 * Sandy
 * Kana
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Emily
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Diesel
 * Kenji

Locations

 * Knapford
 * Crumble Canyon
 * The Dark Woods
 * The Tunnel of Zoom
 * Lookout Mountain
 * Vicarstown

UK

 * Aaron Barashi as Thomas
 * Sade Smith as Nia
 * Eva Mohamed as Carly
 * Holly Dixon as Sandy
 * Chloe Raphael as Kana
 * Bruce Dow as Sir Topham Hatt

US

 * Meesha Contreras as Thomas
 * Talia Evans as Nia
 * Jenna Warren as Carly
 * Glee Dango as Sandy
 * Ava Ro as Kana
 * Bruce Dow as Sir Topham Hatt

Trivia

 * From this episode onwards, the UK voice cast is credited in the end credits of the UK dub, which was not done for previous episodes as they just listed the US cast.
 * Thomas' quote "traintastic" is also a quote used in Chuggington. Ironically, the writer of this episode, Patrick Rieger, previously wrote for Chuggington.
 * This marks the first episode in All Engines Go to have Nia's name in the title.

Goofs

 * In the scene of Thomas, Nia and Kana from above after Kana does not catch the balloon, Thomas is missing his buffers and coupling.
 * Kana's front coupling rod vanishes in-between shots in the second half of the episode.
 * On the RTÉ Player, the episode image was of the original series episode Gordon Gets the Giggles, and the '2508b' was beside the episode title. This was also the case with every episode from Counting Cows onwards.

Merchandise

 * Magazines - Nia's Balloon Blunder

US/CAN

 * Special Delivery