Thomas The Great Discovery is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on The Railway Series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry. Directed by Tom McGrath and Alex Hirshe in their directorial debuts. It stars Michael J. Fox, Ben Schwartz, Thomas Haden Church, and Alan Rickman as the voices of the lead characters.
The film was intended to be motion-captured, but after poor results, the studio decided to hire Animal Logic to complete the final computer animation.
The film's success helped establish DreamWorks Animation as a prime competitor to Pixar in feature film computer animation, and three sequels were released—Thomas and Tillie (2004), Thomas: Cousin Neville (2007), and Thomas: Gordon Returns (2010)—along with two holiday specials, a spin-off film, and a stage musical that kickstarted the Thomas franchise. Although plans for a fifth film were canceled prior to the fourth film's release, the project was revived in 2016, the same year as the spin-off and has since stalled, with production and a potential release date getting pushed back.
Plot[]
Sir Topham Hatt lives in his house and meets Thomas the Great Discovery, a blue inquisitive engine who wants to have an adventure. When countless people are banished to Sir Topham Hatt's house by Lord Finfwack, Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas set off on a quest to get a crown for Finfwack and compete in a spelling bee. Thomas introduces Sir Topham Hatt to his fellow engines, Percy, James, Gordon and Henry. Sir Topham Hatt and him go to find the crown in the castle, and they start to bond. On the way back they find themselves face-to-face with a hunter who tries to shoot them, they fall off a waterfall and they are safe, but the critters there yell at Sir Topham Hatt for bringing them to the hunting grounds, until Sir Topham Hatt accuses Thomas of lying about knowing the way back. An angry Sir Topham Hatt storms off and Thomas goes home discouraged. Percy and the other engines talk to him and convince him to talk to Sir Topham Hatt, so they get on the giant hamster from the castle and ride all the way to Lockit. Thomas goes to Sir Topham Hatt and tells him Finfwack is planning to kill him he and Lord Finfwack fight and Finfwack falls to his death, Sir Topham Hatt tells Thomas he wants him to live with him. They form a railway and live happily ever after.
Cast[]
- Michael J. Fox as Thomas
- Linda Ballantyne as Percy
- Ben Schwartz as James
- Thomas Haden Church as Gordon
- Dan Castellaneta as Henry
- Alan Rickman as Lord Finfwack
- Conrad Vernon as Police Chief
- Alex Hirsch as Knight Guards/Bystander
- Christopher Knights as Kinight Guards
- Cody Cameron as Forest Hunter
- Ben Ambrosini as Sir Topham Hatt
- Kath Sourcie as Sir Topham Hatt's agent
- Tom McGrath as Stand Keeper/Audience member
- Tara Strong as additional voices
- Christine Cavanaugh as additional voices
Home media[]
The film was released by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on October 23, 2001. Both releases included Thomas in the Shed Karaoke Dance Party, a 3-minute musical short film, that takes up right after Thomas's ending, with film's characters performing a medley of modern pop songs.
A 3D version of the film was released on Blu-ray 3D by Paramount Home Entertainment on December 1, 2010, along with Thomas and Tillie and Thomas: Cousin Neville, before the fourth film released to DVD and then a regular 2D Blu-ray boxset of the whole series was released six days later.
Sequels and spin-offs[]
- Main article(s): Thomas (franchise)
Three sequels were released over the years – Thomas and Tillie in 2004, Thomas: Cousin Neville in 2007, and Thomas: Gordon Returns in 2010. Thomas and Tillie was the only one to receive similar acclaim from critics, though all three sequels were commercially successful. Thomas: Naughty Crane (2007) and Thomas's Scary Stories (2010) were released as holiday-themed short films, and a spin-off film entitled The Legend of James was released in 2016. A fifth feature film was originally planned during the development of Thomas: Gordon Returns, but the idea was later abandoned by DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Leading up to NBCUniversal's planned acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016, it was announced that a fifth Thomas film would be released in 2019. On November 6, 2018, Variety reported that Chris Meledandri had been tasked to reboot both Thomas and James, with the original cast potentially returning to reprise their roles. While cast members reported that a script was completed for a fifth Thomas film, development stalled and future plans have yet to be officially announced.