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An Interview with a Thomas & Friends Legend:
Steve Asquith
Steve started out with Clearwater
Features on the first ever TV Series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and carried on with the show until the model
unit completed filming in 2008. Here, he clears up rumours and tells us all about his career as part of Thomas's world.
Click here to read the interview.
An Interview with T&F Modelmaker and Designer:
John Lee
Talented and versatile Modelmaker
and Designer John Lee shares his recollections of working on Thomas and Friends. Click HERE to read John's story.
An Interview with former T&F Producer:
Phil Fehrle
Phil was gracious enough to set
some time aside from his busy schedule to answer our questions about his work on Series 6 and 7 (2002-2003), including
Jack & the Pack's origins. Phil's piece can be read HERE
An Interview with TUGS':
Giles Christopher
We had actually contacted Giles
back early Fall 2008 and to confirm that he was indeed the same chap who had worked on TUGS as 2nd Assistant Cameraman.
To celebrate TUGS' 20th Anniversary in 2009, Giles was kind enough to give us some behind the scenes insight about working
on the show which can be found HERE
Memories of Working on Series 1 by:
Tim Staffel
SiF is chuffed to have come into contact with Tim Staffel,
who worked as both Modelmaker and Supervisor for Clearwater on Series 1 of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Tim's
recollections of working on the show can be read HERE.
An interview with Thomas Live: Engine Builder
Chris Reynolds
On the 23rd July 2008, I had the pleasure of speaking to Alleffects
Owner Chris Reynolds about how he and his company first devised and built the engine characters featured in Thomas
and Friends Live: The Big Live Tour. The interview can be found HERE.
An interview with Artist and Illustrator
Edgar Hodges
Read about Edgar's contribution to the Rev. Awdry's 1979 and 1980
Thomas the Tank Engine annuals. You'll be amazed and fascinated about just how far-reaching Edgar's artistic contributions
have gone - and continues to this very day! We're honoured to present an
Memories of Thomas and Tugs by the man
who led them both...
David Mitton
An Interview With Ryan
For over eighteen months, I pursued David Mitton for
an interview about his work and life on the Thomas and Friends set, as well as his memories of TUGS. David sadly passed
away in May 2008, and so a lot of this interview will be found to be inconclusive, but will provide a great deal of insight
into a man who truly loved his work and had a real commitment and contribution to the childhood of many around the world...
How
did you come to be involved in the industry to begin with?
I started my career working on Thunderbirds as a
trainee special effects techo (Stage 5) in the sixties. My boss was the brilliant Derek Meddings now sadly departed.
His boss was Gerry Anderson. The studios were on the Slough trading estate close to the Mars factory and I served a
very happy three and a half years there blowing up all things associated to Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and UFO.
What did you do after that?
I, along with many others, were made redundant
as Lew Grade was downsizing the special effects/Puppet operations to focus on Space 1999. I went onto Battle of Britain
working under Wally Veovers. After that I started working for ABPC studios, my boss being Johnny Goodman. That was my start
in live production as a third assistant director on the Saint series, Avengers et al. I learned a great deal and owe
my development into this business through those experiences.
During your time on Thomas, did
you have any favourite scenes?
Many of my favourites were Brendam Docks at night and one of my fav sequence was Henry and the Flying Kipper.
I also love night 'spooky scenarios of which there are many. Then I loved the Iron Smelting works - very gritty
and lovely aspects. There were also some great shots on the narrow gauge quarries etc, mainly day time. To select
one favourite shot of all is too difficult. I liked so many. I enjoyed creating all aspects of the Island and
often related to my own childhood experiences and atmospheres both day and night.
You focussed a lot on Percy throughout your time writing the series - was he a
favourite character of yours?
I also loved things that went on between engines especially Percy and Thomas and treated them as Eccles
and Bluebottle from the Goon Show. I am the most ardent fan of Spike Milligan and am importing his wit and humour into some
of Orsum Island. So yes, while I did enjoy writing for all the characters, Thomas and Percy were great fun particularly.
We heard from Chris Tulloch a while back you're a big fan of explosions and such
- true?
Very true. I loved designing action sequences and am now so disappointed that HIT has considered then
very non politically correct in the shows after series 7.
Was TUGS always intended to be a one-series show, or were there more episodes
planned?
Series 2 was planned well in advance of Series 1 completing shooting and I had more than
96 scripts were written, which will forever lie dormant. TVS going bankrupt put paid to another series being made.
For the aformentioned Series 2 of TUGS, what could we have expected?
It was planned to have some more 'up river' adventures and new tugs would be introduced. However,
from basic research kids love to have a consistancy with characters, so Sunshine and Ten Cents , the STMC tugs and the Z stacks
would still be challenging each other. If you introduce too many new characters it defeats the object in many ways, watering
down the main characters to a point they might be thought of as 'extras'. The next 13 eps would still feature STMC and
the 'Z's', but the adventures would move away from the Bigg City docks area as it was particulary difficult to shoot on that
setting. Very restrictive.
There's been a rumour floating around for a while about a story from the Railway
Series - "The Missing Coach" which is said to be a lost episode - any reaction to this?
Yes we did begin to shoot that Missing Coach episode, but Briit considerd it not worthy of an episode after
we'd shot half of it. It was, if you like, rather a complicated story without too much action, thus it fell. Terry
Permane did shoot stills as he did on each and every scene. I possess 1500 colour reversal shots of everything
he shot and I treasure them.
Series 5 of Thomas saw a move away from source material and into original
writing. Why was this done?
Series 5 was supposed to be a showcase series for the Movie and I worked extremely hard to develop
the scripts to accommodate Britt's demands one of which was really 'sod the budget Go for the best, creatively!' and I did.
In fact S5 was the longest shoot and I shot the most slates of any series - 2,700.
Your decision to leave Thomas in 2003 was one of surprise for many - not least
because of your dedication. What are your views on Thomas as it stands today?
It gives me great pleasure to see my crew still churning Thomas out today alongside my new venture Orsum
Island. Not many can claim to have two shows rumnning in a studio in these times. Only my crew and I knew how to produce
Thomas retaining the production qualities despite ever shrinking budgets, and I am proud of our contribution between
Series 1 to 7. I have my doubts on the use of CGI elements in the series, but I hope for the sake of Thomas and Percy,
the characters endure regardless.
What have you done since leaving the series?
I have been busy with a new venture - Adventures on Orsum Island, which is being produced through my new
company, Pineapple Squared Entertainment, which I have established with David Lane and Michelle Fabian Jones.
Sadly, not all questions were answered as David passed away before more mysteries could be solved and
his workload with Orsum Island took up a lot of his time, particularly throughout 2007 as they were shooting the series.
We hope that this will provide an invaluable insight into a man with an exceptionally creative mind and a dedication to his
work - as well as plenty of time for his fans.
David, you will be missed more than you will ever know... rest in peace dear friend.
An interview with C. Reginald Dalby's daughter
Kate Holland
Read Kate's memories about her father here
An update from Railway Series Illustrators
Full details can be found here
A conversation with Shining Time
Station co-creator/producer
During the evening of
Thursday, 17 January, I spent the better part of an hour by phone speaking to Rick Siggelkow, Executive Producer
and Vice President, Children's Division, for BBC Worldwide Americas. We had a fascinating discussion about his work on the
critically-acclaimed Shining-Time Station television series that Rick co-created and produced with Britt Allcroft
between 1989 and 1995. Fans will see that even after the passage of a dozen plus years, Rick still keeps a special place in
his heart for Shining Time Station.
J. Gratton, 21 January, 2008
Rick,
let’s go back to the beginning. How did you meet Britt and come up with the idea for Shining Time Station?
Jay Islin, who was the head of Channel Thirteen
(the NY PBS station) had brought a tape of “Thomas The Tank Engine” back from England
and gave it to me, asking if there was anything we could do with it. No one thought
that it would work or catch on in the US, but I showed the
tape to some children and saw how much they liked it. So I called Britt in London
to work out ideas on how to introduce Thomas to America by
expanding it into a ½ hour show. Britt came over to New York and we spent the
next few months developing a new series that eventually became “Shining Time Station.” By that time Ringo Starr was on board and we went on PBS a year later.
*J.G.’s notes: Sunday, 29 January, 1989 6:30 PM ET to
be precise ;-)
Can
you tell us a bit about how the Shining Time Station theme song came to be?
I knew the great composer Joe Roposo, who
had composed music for children’s shows like Sesame Street. I gave
Joe a call and Britt and I arranged to meet with him. He composed and recorded several music videos for us, and they were
so good that we hired him to write the theme song for Shining Time Station.
We were also familiar with talented singer
and musician Kevin Roth, who was independently producing CDs for kids. Kevin was hired to work on some music videos for us
and it seemed like the perfect match to have Kevin perform the theme song. I
think he nailed it on the first the second take. It’s still a beautiful
song.
Where, and what time of year in Toronto was Shining Time Station filmed?
The show was mostly shot at Studio Oasis. The Mr. Conductor scenes were also shot there.
We went to Toronto five times: first for the Holiday Special, then season
two, season three, and two more times for the prime-time specials.
The shoots happened in just about every season
of the year. The longest shoot was for the third season, and that went through
the winter, and lasted for 8 or 9 months, I had actually moved my family to Toronto
from NY.
Back to Ringo and George, I get the impression that they were really into playing their roles and
having a lot of fun. Did they ever share these feelings with you?
Yes, we all had fun. I like to say that if
you’re not having fun producing a kids show, you’re doing something wrong. They both had a lot of ideas they liked
to try out with the character and I think they each liked the magical powers Mr. Conductor had. It sounds trite to say they were reliving some aspects of their own childhoods, but I think there was an
element of that at work. The Mr. Conductor shoots with Ringo and George were always exciting because of who they were and
also because we were pushing the matte technology into places no other show had gone.
Given George Carlin’s mature comedy background, can you tell us how he became the next Mr.
Conductor and storyteller for the series?
When Ringo left the show we were faced with a problem.
The parents from that generation of children grew up with the Beatles and their music and held Ringo in high regard. Who else
was out there that held that same appeal? Mick Jagger? (laughs). We were looking for someone from that same period that had
a connection with the parents. That is how Britt and I chose George Carlin.
We sent him a few Thomas episodes and a script for
a test reading, and when we heard his lines it all made sense to have him become the new Mr. Conductor and storyteller.
George is renowned for his off-color humor in his
comedy acts, but there’s a whole other side of him that people don’t realize. In addition to having a great voice,
he’s very smart and is a brilliant storyteller.
I’d like to ask you to make a few comments about your work with
the following cast members.
Didi Conn
(Stacy Jones):
She is one of
the nicest people in the world – her sweetness is genuine. Of the entire cast, she was the most experienced actor. She
was very good with the kids and was the perfect gentle mother figure that we wanted for the show. Didi was great at improvising
scenes with Brian O’Connor. She’s currently developing and producing
a pilot for a kids show of her own, called “Didi Lightful.”
Brian O’Connor (Schemer):
I’m still
in touch with Brian. A brilliant comic. He worked incredibly hard on the show. He would take the script and come back later
with suggestions for his scenes which we almost always accepted. Schemer’s obsession with nickels and his curl were
his inventions. He was really into physical humor and didn’t shrink away from pratfalls. After Shining Time Station,
Brian returned to school and became a guidance counselor and helping teens professionally which is great, and he’s still
developing ideas for kids shows.
Tom Jackson (Billy Twofeathers):
A super guy.
Tom brought a quiet dignity to the show along with introducing some Native myths
and music. He played the straight man to balance the antics between Schemer and Stacy. We also thought that he was a good
role model for boys, who really don’t see that many grounded men on television. So many men on kids TV are buffoons
or bad guys, although I think that’s changing. He was a solid guy and his
character was an important part of the show.
The kids: Jason Woliner (Matt Jones), Ari Madger (Dan Jones), Erica Luttrell
(Kara Cupper), Nicole Leach (Tanya Cupper), Danielle Marcot (Becky), Jonathan Shapiro (Schemee):
I’m sorry
to say that I’ve not kept up contact with the kids as I’ve done with the adult cast members. Many child actors
get out of acting when they get older. I understand that Jason is a performer-director in New York.
It would be great if I could get back in touch with all of them.
The Jukebox Band (Flexitoon Puppets):
An enormously
talented group of people who brought the puppets to life and as a result the puppet band assumed a larger role in the series
than we’d first thought they would. In the beginning we would shoot the puppets with three cameras like a concert, but
then Craig introduced the concept of shooting pieces of the song separately. There would be costume and scenery changes, so
the songs became more like little stories or music videos. All wonderful characters.
Child developmental psychologist Dr. Ron Slaby is credited as the Series
Advisor for Shining Time Station. Can you tell us about some of his recommendations for the storylines?
When the Thomas
episodes were brought over from England to the States, there
were language issues with the terminology used between our two countries. For example, what we call ‘freight cars’
over here are called ‘trucks’ in England, so Ron helped us out finding equivalent words that would be
easily understood by American children. He also thought that “Fat Controller”
should be changed to 'Sir Topham Hatt', because he thought, and I agreed, that it was a less prerogative name.
Another thing
was that the episodes adapted from the Rev. Awdry’s stories sometimes felt heavy handed in terms of the punishment given
to the engines. Ron felt the engines needed a way to redeem themselves.
Attitudes had
changed and become more liberal since the stories were written. Ron would suggest a few word changes in the Thomas episodes
to make the harsher words sound softer – more like the way an American parent would address their child.
Ron also read
our episode scripts and provided us with notes suggesting dialogue clarifications such as ‘this is not a word that a
child might use’.
Ron helped us
out with addressing a few of the big issues that we centered the episodes around (bullying, racism). I remember (laughs) one
story where we were planning to have ‘Elvis’ visit Shining Time Station. Of course the real Elvis Presley was
dead, and we were going to use an Elvis impersonator. We ran our concern past Ron. Ron just laughed and said that it wasn’t
a problem!
Seriously, any
preschool show should have an advisor like Dr. Slaby on board.
Why didn’t Shining Time Station go on to produce a 4th Series?
At that point we’d produced 65 episodes and the feeling
from the investors was that we’d done enough. In the industry, if you have 65 shows a series can go into syndication
and still provide a return on investment. Britt had also subsidized as much as she could and PBS didn’t have any extra
money to put into the show.
Had it continued, the series would have eventually wound
down. I’ll always have fond memories of co-producing Shining Time Station - even after I moved on to the BBC
in 1995. I loved working on the show.
'How the Station got its Name' was the last episode in Series 3. Was the episode intended to be a series send-off?
Yes, How the Station
got its Name was considered to be a nice way to wrap up the series. There was never an official end to the series or wrap
party. At that point the cast and crew were hoping that the specials were going to be produced, so it was kind of left open
ended. You always hope for more.
Did you enjoy producing the specials?
Producing the specials was great. We were able to use a
whole new set of stories where Shining Time Station wasn’t limited to being a sitcom on the set. The specials really
opened up the show as we were able to expand the action outdoors.
Where were the outdoor scenes for the specials
filmed? Were they all shot in the Toronto area? I've learned that 'Once Upon a Time' filmed sequences on the South Simcoe
Railway in Tottemham.
That’s correct on both
counts.
You had a few famous names guest-starring in the specials, namely Lloyd
Bridges (Mr. Nicholas)
in 'T’is a Gift' in
1990, and Jack Klugman (as Max Okowsky) in ‘Second Chances’ in 1995. Were they great to work with? I couldn’t help but notice that Jack’s
voice was extremely coarse in 'Second Chances'.
They were all wonderful to work with and immediately
fit right in with the regular cast and the spirit of the show. Jack had just
had major surgery on his throat, which is why his voice sounded coarse.
Many fans were and still are touched by the sentimental music video in ‘T’is
a Gift’, with the child and the hobo that lived on his train set. It drove home how lonely people can be during what
should be the happiest time of year. What was your reaction to it?
At the time we loved the song but worried it might
be too heavy for a kids Christmas show. But we went with it for the reasons you
mentioned and I remember after the show had aired the minister at my church made a point of referring it into his holiday
sermon, so I knew it had touched people and that we’d made the right decision.
Do you have a favorite episode or Special?
Every
time I think of one that might be a favorite, I think of another episode or special that I like just as much for different
reasons.
A bit of the behind the scenes magic, can
you tell us how the effect of trains arriving and departing at Shining Time Station was done?
You must
mean the lights in the window at the rear of the station set. Visualize a circular piece of plywood. A strip of cardboard
with vertical slits cut into it was connected to the plywood’s outside edge. The plywood disc would rotate as a bright
light shone through the slits which would then be projected onto the station’s frosted windows.
We had
a stage hand that became such an expert with timing stops that you’ll notice the train reversing a few inches upon arriving
at the station; just as you’d experience on a real train.
Did you ever have the opportunity to visit
Thomas and Friends at Shepperton Studios?
Oh yes,
I went out there a couple of times. David Mitton had built an extraordinary set and it was a pleasure to watch him work.
Shining Time Station received many accolades for its content, and
for teaching life’s lessons and morals (responsibility, humility, honesty, friendship) in a non-patronizing way. Many
fans would like to see Shining Time’s return to television, though many say that the feel and content would be next
to impossible to recreate today. I’m interested to hear your take on this and was there ever talk of bringing the series
back?
It was a great
show for its time. Mind you this was before things like school shootings and internet predators became such a concern. Parents
today feel more besieged by these events and are more concerned about protecting their kids from the outside world. I don’t know how they would feel about having their kids hanging out at a train station interacting
with adults, even though it’s obviously a fantasy situation.
My generation
of producers felt that kids’ television may not change the world, but it can help make the world a better place. I don’t
see as much of that in today’s kids TV. It’s become more of a big
business and more about demographic share and making money. Shining Time was
one of those rare shows where a really talented group of people came together at the same time from a variety of different
areas – puppets, musicians, live actors, model builders, etc. Some of how the show developed was directed and planned
by me and Britt, but of it was also timing and luck that brought us all together and make it work. As a producer, that is
something very special.
Britt and I took
a collaborative approach for producing the show. We found that if you listen to people, you’ll find that they have great
ideas and have more enthusiasm if you make them part of the process.
I sometimes think
of trying to find a way to bring it back. I’ve even talked to Britt about it.
Maybe as a reunion special for a PBS fundraising event? I would love to see that, as would most of the original cast.
HiT Entertainment now owns the rights to Shining Time Station. Any talk of bringing
it back is only a fantasy at this point – but from a creative standpoint I’m sure it could be done and I think
people would flock to see it.
Were you involved in the early movie discussions before you moved on to the BBC?
I was involved in the movie discussions before moving
on to the BBC. The earlier film treatment had a circus train coming to
Shining Time and an evil Ringmaster kidnapped Mr. Conductor. As I remember it,
Thomas and the other trains had to come to his rescue. Over the course of the
story a circus girl became friends with the Shining Time kids and overcame her fear of horses to become a circus stunt rider,
and in one memorable scene Schemer was shot from cannon.
Can you tell us about some of your other work since leaving Shining Time, in particularly
about your latest endeavor – Dinosapien?
I went on to produce the “Noddy and Friends”
half-hour series for PBS and the science fiction “tween”: series Ace Lightning
that was syndicated in the US and aired on BBC in the UK, and CBC in Canada. In 2006, I shot Dinosapien in Drumheller, Alberta. The concept for the show was to explore what would’ve it been like if certain species of dinosaurs
survived to this day and had evolved into intelligent beings in North America.
In addition to the paleontological science and research that you put into producing
the show, I understand that you’ve included elements of old American Indian legends in the show. Can you elaborate on
those points?
I’m part Native American which helped inspire
the character of Billy Twofeathers in Shining Time Station. I like to make the
connection between these legends and science, and in Dinosapien there is a native character named Ten Bears who is a medicine
man. Some of the series concept was built upon American Indian legends that were their way of explaining the large dinosaur
bones they came across in the badlands. These bones were all given different names such as ‘unktechi’ as once
belonging to large creatures. The final episode of Dinosapien, ‘The
Thunderbird’ is based on one of these legends.
Since Dinosapien is filmed in western Canada, did you ever entertain the
idea of inviting Tom Jackson to guest-star in an episode?
At the time we were filming
in Drumheller, Tom was busy with other commitments and was unavailable.
Where/when can fans catch episodes of Dinosapien?
Is there an official website that they can visit?
If they
Google “Dinosapien” they’ll find a few web sites, including the web
site run by Discovery Kids, who air the show in the US. As of now, it runs seven days a week in the US,
and airs in the UK and
Australia, and has been sold into about 20 other countries.
Lastly, what message would you like to send to both the old and new fans of Shining
Time Station?
It’s very gratifying to
know that the series has touched so many lives and that it’s still playing for all the fans, old and new, who have kept
it alive on the Internet. I just want to sincerely thank everyone out there who
visits Shining Time Station.
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
On
behalf of SiF, I'd like to sincerely thank Mr. Siggelkow for sharing his personal time and insight with us. We wish Rick
all the best and many happy returns with his current and upcoming projects.
Link
to Rick's series on the Discovery Kids website: Dinosapien
Additional
acknowledgements:
My
thanks also to the BBC's Georgie Hollett for getting me in touch with Rick.
______________________
An Interview with Flexitoons Puppets and Marionettes
creator
Craig Marin
Interview compiled and submitted by Orion Anderson with our thanks
For those unfamiliar with his relation to Thomas, the Juke-Box Band were a
part of the Shining Time Station series in America - Thomas's launchpad in the States.
How did you become involved with Shining Time Station?
We
were working with eccentric National Lampoon writer Sean Kelly on various projects, and he called us up and said he was over
at WNET-THIRTEEN (Public Broadcasting Station) and that "the producers were working on a show that needed
puppets, and they need the Flexitoon puppets but they just don't know it yet." So we packed up some of the puppets
and marionettes from our Nickelodeon series PINWHEEL, and went over to meet the producers. This was
on a Friday. They called Monday and said that "the other puppeteers said they could bring something different to the party,
and we were the only ones who proved it." So Flexitoon was hired to build and perform the Juke Box Band on Shining
Time Station.
What was a typical
day like working on the set of Shining Time Station?
We shot the first 20 episodes in New York City (where
we're stationed), and all the rest in Toronto. The Juke Box Band were usually the first segments shot for the series.
I'd get the scripts earlier and "puppetize" them. I'd also draw storyboards and work closely with a co-director
on integrating the scenes and musical numbers within the context of the rest of the show. We'd shoot all the two or three
camera-stuff first to get it out of the way. Then we'd go to single-camera film-style and the fun would begin.
We'd redress the puppets and marionettes, add custom props and sets to the juke box, or move to one of the other sets (the
dressing room or Tito's vault, for instance.) Many of the props, hats and set-pieces were constructed before,
during and after hours. The six of us puppeteers were always busy behind-the-scenes: Olga Felgemacher (Didi the
Drummer) and Jonathan Freeman (Tito Swing) were making the costumes and hats. The late Peter Baird (Grace
the Bass) restrung the marionettes. Alan Semok (Tex) constructed intricate mechanisms; Ken Miele (Grace's
assistant) did woodwork; and I (Rex)designed/painted/ constructed/ supervised and co-directed. One time
a business person came back into our magical enclave and declared "Oh, just like elves" to which Peter Baird - -
looking up from his newly minted Finnigin Pin declared "More like trolls!"
Did you control the jukebox as well?
I'm not sure what you mean
by CONTROL, but we were very "instrumental" in all things Juke Box. The six of us performed and voiced all
the characters (Grace's voice was dubbed in later).
In the special " One of
the Family" , Mr. Conductor goes inside the jukebox; how did you get the puppets to interact with Mr. Conductor?
That
required a lot of preplanning and careful storyboarding. After lining up the individual shots, we had the stage manager
read Mister C's lines from off screen. We kept strict eye focus as to where he would eventually be integrated.
And the results were quite believable. Our only regret was that we never had Ringo appear in the Juke Box to drum with
Didi. A tap-dance on the tom-tom would've been one for the ages!
Was the idea that the Jukebox Puppet Band would be in Thomas and the Magic Railroad ever proposed to you?
Certainly,
given the cross-over popularity of the characters. (Newsday said "the best American part of the show is a cast of
crazy musical puppets known as The Flexitoons") But I guess the producers thought it's be "hipper" to
have a girl pop group instead. A real faux pas on their part. Oh we had big plans for them. The preliminary
discussion was to have the juke box knocked over and all the characters would scatter and get lost. They'd be out in
the world! Alone. There would be a song that each of them sings, and by the end, they'd all hear the others song
and reunite once again, singing joyful five-part harmony.
In closing, did you enjoy working on Shining Time Station?
Absolutely
and without a doubt. The people, the producers, the finished product touched and continues to touch millions of families.
On behalf of all the puppeteers, FLEXITOON is proud to be part of a such great series.
You
can view several Juke Box Band numbers on our website:
www.flexitoon.com
Click on the Shining Time Station page and Video Gallery.
______________________
Christopher Signore's interview with
Mike
O'Donnell
During the course
of my Music Petition to release Mike O’Donnell and Junior Campbell’s classic themes to CD, I was hoping to get
in touch with the pair to help give it a proper boost. Up until now, both of them were very scarce to find until Troublesome
Truck lent an extremely helpful hand in getting in touch with Mike O’Donnell, where TT was able to get some friendly
feedback on his time with Thomas.
Replied on 5th July, 2007
We got involved with Thomas through a mutual friend who knew the series was about to be made
and gave us Britt Allcroft's number, she briefed us on the type of theme she was looking for and we submitted a
couple of ideas. One became the Thomas theme and the other was later used as Toby's theme. There was some pretty
stiff competition to get the series music but thankfully Britt and the director David Mitton chose us, and that was the beginning
of a long and happy working relationship.
Obviously the music is one of the last things in the creative chain, and consequently
there was always a strict deadline to meet and although we treated each episode like an individual entity and spent as much
time as possible creating the soundtrack it was always an intensive workload to get the series finished on
time - hard work but very enjoyable, and ultimately very satisfying.
You obviously picked up on the fact that we wrote different themes for each engine and characters,
we liked the idea of giving all the "stars" of the show their own musical identity. Junior and I believed it
didn't matter how old the audience was they would always appreciate good music, and we tried our very best to deliver
that.
As Thomas became more successful the need for more episodes became necessary
and during the twenty years we were involved with Thomas we composed the music for seven series and wrote and produced
thirty one songs. There appears to be a lot of interest for Thomas on you tube and my space - it's great fun to
see what people are doing on these sites with the original Thomas theme.
Around 1988 David Mitton and his partner Bob Cardonna devised a new series called TUGS.
As we had been working with David on Thomas he asked us to compose the music for TUGS. Unfortunately only one series
was made.
Full of confidence and excitement, I was able to follow
up on a reply, giving him a brief interview with further questions.
Replied on 20th
July, 2007.
When writing the music for Thomas, what
were your inspirations for the incidental music and/or character themes? Plenty of Thomas fans I know say that Oliver’s
Series 3 Theme is very reminiscent of "The Great Escape"!
We just took inspiration from the films, in fact all the characters themes
had a number of different versions. In the episode you mentioned the film did remind us of "The Great Escape" so we adapted
Oliver's theme to reflect this, I remember we were particularly fond of that sequence.
Which
type of synthesisers did you use for both Thomas and TUGS? I’m interested as you update them for every new Thomas Series,
which make the music sound better than the last
Series 1 and 2 were done using a Roland Jupiter 6 synth. We then added a Prophet 2000 sampler as
well. After this we used an EMU Proteus 2 orchestral and a Proteus Ultra and then eventually added a Proteus 2000 to the line
up. Each module had its good sounds and bad ones but between them we managed to get the sounds we wanted.
What was your favourite Series to compose? Many fans have favoured Series 2 whilst others, including myself,
are quite drawn to the dramatic and exciting themes throughout Series 5. Also, do you or Junior Campbell have any themes that
you personally enjoyed making?
We enjoyed making all of them but as the films and stories got more dramatic, and the music technology
got more advanced, it gave us more scope to develop the music so each new series sounded bigger and better than the previous.
What were your thoughts on creating the music for TUGS? Their music was clearly far different
from Thomas’ but it still gave a huge depth to all 13 episodes that were made. Was that any better or just as enjoyable
as composing for Thomas?
TUGS was a completely different feel for us, it was just as enjoyable as Thomas but with a totally different
musical approach, the episodes were longer so it gave us the chance to develop the score. Bob and David wanted a big theme
to reflect the ocean and the big harbour which I think worked really well, shame there wasn't another series.
Where did the idea of writing the Thomas Songs come from? They’ve no doubt been extremely popular
to fans old and new, especially as most of them have made use of the character/incidental themes. Which has been your favourite
also?
Britt
Allcroft thought of the song idea, and she gave us the initial brief for how she wanted the songs to be. We always liked the
idea of the characters having their own themes and tying the songs in with this, seemed to be the right approach. No real
favourites - they each have their own identity and I think they all stand up in their own right, we are both very proud of
them.
On
behalf of Sodor Island Fan site, we’d like to wish Mike huge thanks for replying and good health for him and Junior.
______________________
An interview
with Thomas and Friends Storyteller
Michael
Brandon
SiF is very honoured
to be able to share Michael Brandon's insight as the North-American narrator for Thomas and Friends since 2003. Our timing
for contacting Mr. Brandon is somewhat bittersweet, since this is his final year as narrator for the series...
Reply received 26 July, 2007
1) How did you become involved as a narrator with the north-american dubbed version of the series?
I was approached by the people at Hit Entertainment during my run of
Jerry Springer the Opera at the National Theatre. We met after the show and talked for hours. I felt we had a wonderful connection
creatively, I really liked them and felt they truly cared about all the aspects of the show and felt excited to
be involved.
2) Did you have any prior knowledge, or exposure to Thomas
and Friends, or of the Rev. Awdry's stories prior to signing on as narrator?
Yes, I was already a dad and my son Alex was born in Los Angeles
and we watched Thomas the Tank together in his early years before moving back to London.
3) Could you describe what a typical
day is like recording your lines for an episode in the studio? Do you use a video of the episode as a means to cue your
lines and set the mood and tone for your storytelling?
I usually received the stories in script form, sometimes with videos,
and in the last years on dvd. I read them and worked on the various accents needed for each episode. Scottish (Donald
and Douglas), etc., American Western, English (Bertie the Bus and Spencer), etc. and then I worked on the voices
for new characters. When I felt I had the story and characters in my mind, I watched the tapes and dvd's to
see what other ideas came from the situations and images.
I would go into the studio at around 9 am and work until four pm. Most
times there was a monitor for me to see the story and characters, and I change voices as each comes on screen going straight
through the story. Sometimes it's quite interesting when all the trains are in the yard and all talking. Then I might
be seven or so different voices in a row.
4) Who is your favourite
character to narrate? (For Ringo, it was Gordon, because it permitted him to use a 'deep' voice.)
Really hard to say which voice was my favourite, I really did love
them all. Toby is very adorable and Percy is so cute, and Sir Topham Hatt (the Fat Controller) was Dad to them all, and Thomas
is very mischievous, but I have to say, Diesel is lots of fun for me.
5) Do you have any role models for how you
narrate the personalities of the other characters?
There are over sixty characters and I tried to give each their own
sound. A sound that fit their particular personalities. I kept files on each one and tried to keep each one the
same year after year. Kids get to know their characters and like them to be the same.
6) Do you have friends or young relatives who
are fans of the show, and who recognise your voice?
It was always very gratifying when people wrote to me, or come up
to me to say how happy I made their children, and how well they liked my voices. Last January, a man hugged me so hard, he
said his son was autistic and even now as a teenager he still loved Thomas and all his friends so much, and he wanted me to
know how happy it made him. That made me cry.
7) While in London, did you ever
have the opportunity to visit the model set at Shepperton Studios, or met with your British narrator counterpart - Michael
Angelis?
When I was filming Miss Marple last winter, I was walking to the
production office and stopped in my tracks. There was a huge picture of Thomas on the studio door. I went inside and
there they were. Everybody and all the tracks and stations, and all of Sodor. Wow! and Yes I did get to meet Michael
Angelis and he is such a nice man, and we had a wonderful evening talking at a thomas the tank party.
8) A few years ago, there was a little stir generated in the Thomas Community about the U.S. narration of the
character 'Rusty', whose gender somehow switched from being 'male' to 'female' when the script was rewritten and narrated
on our side of the 'Big Pond' (e.g. Duncan and the Old Mine). This 'oversight' with Rusty's gender was happily rectified shortly
thereafter. Were you privy to this little scandal? ;-)
The problem was not Rusty's I can assure you, but a conflict in production.
I remember it well. We are all glad for Rusty it's sorted.
9) You've been narrating the series for North-American
audiences since 2003. What is its special appeal that kept on bringing you back year after year?
I had a wonderful opportunity to work with great people. Simon Spencer,
Graeme, and Pete, we were a team. The hours flew by and the work was such fun. We loved finding the little moments for the
wonderful little trains and helicopters to help each other and make it all work out. Truly one of the best opportunities
in my career.
10) We've recently learned that actor Pierce Brosnan will be
taking on the mantle as narrator from 2008 onwards. Do you have any advice to pass on to Pierce? Are you sorry to be leaving
the series?
I think you can tell how much I enjoyed working on the series.
Yes, I am very sorry to leave. I hope that Pierce keeps each character important and real and has as much fun as I
did.
11) In closing, would you like to say anything special to the fans of your
narration work for Thomas and Friends?
It has been my great honour to have been a part of the wonderful world of
Thomas and his friends and everyone on the Island of Sodor. Maybe someday I will be invited back. I was very grateful to have
been there.
Sincerely
Michael Brandon
On behalf of SiF, I'd like to thank
Mr. Brandon for devoting some time from his busy schedule in order to answer my questions. We wish you all the best, Michael.
:)
I would also like to extend our
thanks to Mr. Joel Dean of Talentworks, for passing my message on to Mr. Brandon. :)
Link to storytellers page
Footnote: for reasons that are not
known to us, we were pleasantly surprised to hear Michael in his role as Storyteller in Series 12 and he is indeed confirmed
for Series 13. Dry rails and smooth running to you Michael :)
________________________
Thomas
and Friends: Series 5 Railway Consultant
David
Maidment
Correspondence with James Gratton - 26 May, 2007
You may recall seeing Mr. Maidment's name in the Series 5
episode credits. When I initially found reference to a 'David Maidment' on the Railway Children website, I asked them whether this
was the same gentleman who was associated with Thomas and Friends. I've always been curious about what he contributed to the
series, and as you will find out by reading David's reply - a lot! Here then, is David's reply...
Dear James,
Yes, it was me. I was a BR manager for 36 years, Chief Operating
Manager LMR (a Fat Controller in my own right) from 1982-6, and Head of Safety Policy for BR/Railtrack from 1990-6, when I
retired spending 5 years then in part time work as a railway safety consultant.
As a result of conferences etc on safety overseas during the early
1990s, I became aware of the plight of street children on railway stations around the world, but especially in India and in
1995 I founded the Railway Children. Around 1997 I wrote to Britt Allcroft asking if the company would consider a donation
to the charity because of the common railway interest, and I was invited to lunch with their Marketing Director (? Steve Wright) in
Southampton. It was explained to me that the company was reluctant to just make a donation as they frequently received
such requests, but they liked the idea of the Railway Children and said they'd think about it. We spent a pleasant lunch
with me telling a number of anecdotes about my time as a Stationmaster and Area Manager in South Wales and as COM, at Crewe.
A couple of days later I received a phone call asking if I would
pen a few of the anecdotes I told as David Mitton was keen to use true stories as the basis of the extra tales as they were
often better than fiction. I duly spent a couple of happy mornings typing with two fingers and sent them off, whereupon
I received £10,000 donation for the charity and a two year contract to vet the scripts to ensure there were no railway 'howlers'
in the texts or videos that would get complaints.
My stories, as far as I can recollect, involved a best kept station
competition, the anecdote about a terrifying ram that occupied one of my derelict closed stations in Llanhilleth (Western
Valley above Newport), a tree that slid down the bank in a storm and stood upright in the middle of the track between Ebbw
Vale and Aberbeeg (my station), a couple of hair-raising runaway trains in the Tondu valleys, the inept attempts of the new
D95XX Paxman diesels to bank trains up to Ebbw Vale (they used to run hot halfway up the bank and cut out, leaving the Cl
37 to pull the train and banker) and finally my story about a royal train (I was in charge quite frequently while I was COM
LMR) when we got the Queen's bath water on the ceiling - David Mitton converted this to the special when the same thing happened
to the Fat Controller's mother, though her dog was a mongrel, not a Corgi ! I also showed them the famous poster of
the French accident in the 1890s when a steam loco ran through the buffer stops of a Paris terminal station and was tipped
at 45 degrees into the road outside. The cartoon poster has the French driver 's speech balloon, expressing the profanity
'Merde' or the english "Oh sh*t !"!
I was invited to Shepperton studios to see the making of one of the
stories of 'Thomas and Friends' - the one where Gordon repeats the error illustrated on the French poster, and later had a
pleasant lunch with Britt Allcroft and met David Mitton. While I was there I was taken to see the set for a new 'Avengers'
TV serial - a spectacular London snow scene. My two year contract was not onerous - I had the script for the one video
to check on which I was named as consultant. I can remember commenting on a couple of minor details about signalling,
but it was really an excuse to be able to donate money to the charity without it creating a precedent for other charities
to seek donations. I have been asked by at least two two year olds for my autograph on the video (or at least by their
dads !).
Unfortunately Britt sold the Thomas rights on shortly afterwards
and although I tried to contact the new owners, there was never any follow-up from them.
One or two other answers to your questions - I had no prior contact
with Rev Awdry's work before contacting Britt Allcroft. I remember being asked to draw the Paxman 650hp diesel (the
D95XX) but I think they had cold feet about depicting the Paxman company in such a derogatory (and perhaps libellous) way
! I definitely remember their preference for true stories rather than fiction, and they certainly thought some
of my experiences were odder than they might have conceived from makebelieve. They did change some of the stories -
they amalgamated the best kept station competition and the ram - having him eat the flowers. In fact, I had sheep all
over the railway which closed to passengers in 1962, a couple of years before I was appointed, but we had heavy steel and
coal traffic. This ram inhabited the waiting room of Llanhilleth station and attacked vandals who tried to enter there.
I told some other royal train experiences but I think they decided
that we had better keep them for another time unless we both wished to finish up incarcerated in the Tower of London !
I hope this is of interest to you and your Fansite and Forums.
No problem about publicity, but I would appreciate a website link to that of the Railway Children and encouragement to your
colleagues and members to support the charity (50% of the £2million annual income comes from people within the railway industry
and enthusiast market).
Best wishes,
David Maidment
Chairman, Railway Children
Co-Chair, Consortium for Street Children
Children's Rights Advisor, Amnesty International UK.
We invite visitors to visit David's Railway Children website to learn more about this Charity, its good works,
and more importantly to make a donation if you can.
_________________________________
With 2006 now at a close, over ten years
have elapsed since 'New Little Engine' was published in 1996. The 40th volume in the Railway Series is also
the final one to date that artist Clive Spong was able to illustrate.
Jim Gratton managed to track down and contact Mr.
Spong, and was pleasantly surprised when he set some time aside from his busy schedule to answer a few questions...
Reply
received 21 September, 2006
|
Q: |
Author
Brian Sibley, in his book 'The Thomas the Tank Engine Man' mentioned that you were the first Railway Series artist who read
the stories while growing up.
How
did you become involved with illustrating the Railway Series volumes penned by Christopher Awdry? |
| A: |
I remember having the first 3 or 4 Railway Series
books when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Like all boys in the 50's I had quite an interest in steam trains, and had model
railway layouts until my early teens.
After working in various advertising agencies for some years, I decided to go
freelance and specialize in illustration. In 1982, my agent, Linden Artists asked if I'd like to do some sample pictures for
a new train book, following the existing style. It turned out to be 'Really Useful Engines' and it all went on from there. |
|
|
| Q: |
Given the 'Awdry'
insistence for railway accuracy in the story illustrations, did you have any apprehensions about signing-on to the Railway
Series? |
| A: |
Although I had
a very basic knowledge of steam engines, I was concerned about getting the technical details right. However, both the author
and publishers provided me with mounds of photographic reference and copies of previous artwork. |
|
|
| Q: |
Did you ever
have the opportunity to meet the Reverend Awdry? |
| A: |
I met Rev. Awdry
on 3 occasions - twice at his home and once at a steam railway show. A very interesting man - he had the entire history and
geography of Sodor and it's railways in his head.
I also met Christopher Awdry a few times. |
|
My notes: This could
have been during the writing of WVA's "Thomas's Christmas Party"(1984). Regarding Mr. Spong's remarks about the Rev. Awdry's
detailed knowledge of Sodor, I would like to add the following...
Under his entry for
Tidmouth in 'the Island of Sodor (1987), the Rev. Awdry bemoans the inconsistencies in how the station, yard, engine sheds
etc. were illustrated in the original Railway Series (Vols. 1-26). However, WVA adds this: "The Engine Sheds are shown with
most accuracy in Thomas's Christmas Party". I interpret this as a compliment of sorts to the artist! |
|
|
| Q: |
Who is your favorite Railway Series
artist from the Rev. Awdry's volumes 1-26? |
| A: |
My favourite illustrator
in the series was Peter Edwards (books 18-26). Although his style was quite loose and didn't pay so much attention to the
mechanical detail, I liked his landscapes and his characters' faces were very expressive and animated. |
|
|
| Q: |
Based on your own work on the Railway
Series volumes 27-40, do you have a personal favorite? |
| A: |
As for the books
I've done myself, I like the last 3 or 4 best, simply because by then I wasn't concentrating so much on trying to reproduce
the original style, but letting a bit more of my own come through.
I also liked no. 35 'The Great Railway Show' as
it was fun to illustrate some "real" historical locomotives. |
|
|
| Q: |
What technique did you use for
illustrating the stories? Many members (including myself) admire the varied facial expressions of the characters, in addition
to the mechanical and railway crew realism depicted in your illustrations. |
| A: |
I don't have any
particular technique for illustrating the stories. The medium I use is just watercolour & gouache. As for the realism,
I rely on photographic archive material and obviously the author checked all the details at rough pencil stage before I went
to finished artwork. |
|
|
|
Q: |
As mentioned earlier, Volume #40
- 'New Little Engine’ was published in 1996, with no new subsequent titles. If the Railway Series were, by some miracle,
to resume in the near-future, would you consider illustrating volume #41? |
|
A: |
I would be happy
to illustrate any further railway books should the opportunity arise. |
|
|
|
Q: |
What projects are you currently
involved with? |
|
A: |
The great majority of work I've done
since is much more on the educational side. e.g. children's encyclopaedias; history, geography text books; illustrated books
for language students - that kind of thing. Not much in the way of children's fiction recently. Still, I'm happy to have a
go at anything that comes along. What I enjoy most about my work is the variety of style and subject matter. |
|
|
On
behalf of Sodor Island Fansite and Forums, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Mr. Spong for sharing his insight
with us.
We
wish him continued success with his work, and perhaps someday that 'miracle' will be realized, and we may once again see Clive's
artwork in RS volume #41!
_____________________________
|
