Thomas and the Magic Railroad (found deleted scenes of children's fantasy adventure film; 2000): Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxFound
|title = <center>Thomas and the Magic Railroad (deleted scenes)</center>
|title=<center>Thomas and the Magic Railroad (deleted scenes)</center>
|image=ThomasandtheMagicRailroadPoster.png
|image=ThomasandtheMagicRailroadPoster.png
|imagecaption=Advertisement poster for the film.
|imagecaption=The Canadian poster for the film.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>  
|status=<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>  
|datefound=05 May 2020 (rough cut), 29 Sep 2020 (director's cut)
|foundby=TTTE Fandom (rough cut), Shout Factory (director's cut)
}}
}}
{{#ev:dailymotion|http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x227ybp_thomas-and-the-magic-railroad-original-uk-trailer-1999_shortfilms|320x240|right|VHS trailer for the film, containing original voices.|frame}}
The 2000 movie ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' was a financial box office flop, with the prime reason being, among many others, the incoherent storyline that was in the final cut. In 2007, an interview with Britt Allcroft on Sodor Island Forums revealed that the movie was cut up against her wishes.<ref>[http://sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/brittallcroftmagicrailroad.html Britt Allcroft E-mail Correspondence from 2007.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13</ref> Her interview revealed that the cuts were due to complaints by American test audiences. The cuts were less than minor: '''the original cut was 110 minutes long''', while the final movie was a mere 85 minutes.
The 2000 movie ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' was a financial box office flop, with the prime reason being, among many others, the incoherent storyline that was in the final cut. In 2007, an interview with Britt Allcroft on Sodor Island Forums revealed that the movie was cut up against her wishes.<ref>[http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/brittallcroftmagicrailroad.html Britt Allcroft email correspondence from 2007.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13.</ref> Her interview revealed that the cuts were due to the unnecessary complaints by American test audiences. The cuts were less than minor: the '''original cut''' was 110 minutes long, while the final movie was a mere 85 minutes.


==Differences from Final Cut==
==Differences from Final Cut==
A major character, 'P.T. Boomer', portrayed by Canadian actor Doug Lennox, was deemed too frightening for the younger audience and therefore was entirely cut out of the film before its release. Because of P.T. Boomer's absence from the final film, the plot elements that had been driven by him went unexplained.
===P.T. Boomer===
A major character, P.T. Boomer, portrayed by Canadian actor Doug Lennox, was deemed too frightening for the younger audiences and therefore was entirely cut out of the movie before its release. Because of P.T. Boomer's absence from the final film, the plot elements that had been driven by him went unexplained.


P.T. Boomer is described in the original cut of the script as being ''"a drifter through choice"'' and was intended to be Burnett Stone's adversary, the real culprit responsible for why Lady went too fast and crashed, not Diesel 10 as altered in the final cut. Jealous of the relationship that Burnett had with Tasha (Lily's Grandmother), Boomer bullied Burnett into allowing him to take Lady for a run and crashing her in revenge. After the accident, Boomer fled Indian Valley and Burnett spent years trying to restore her to no avail. He returns now a good forty years later a bitter and dark character, hell-bent on completing his revenge by finding and destroying Lady for good.<ref>[http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html Online investigation into the film's mysterious history.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13.</ref>
P.T. Boomer is described in the original cut of the script as being "a drifter through choice" and was intended to be Burnett Stone's adversary, the real culprit responsible for why Lady went too fast and crashed, rather than Diesel 10 as altered in the final version. Jealous of the relationship that Burnett had with Tasha (Lily's grandmother), Boomer bullied Burnett into allowing him to take Lady for a run and crashing her as a form of revenge. After the accident, Boomer fled Indian Valley, and Burnett spent years trying to restore her but to no success. He now returns a good forty years later, a bitter and dark character, determined to complete his revenge by finding and destroying Lady for good.<ref>[http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html Online Investigation Into the Film's Mysterious History.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13</ref>


When audiences complained about him being "too scary" (a weird claim when the secondary villain is literally a Diesel with a claw) he was cut out at the last minute, explaining the laziness of the movie's final cut. This cut was so close to the release, that one of the previews even contained Boomer briefly, falling off the viaduct along with Diesel 10. Coloring books contained references to him by name as well.
When audiences complained about him being "too scary," he was cut out at the last minute, explaining the laziness of the movie's final cut. This cut was so close to the release that one of the previews even contained Boomer briefly, falling off the viaduct along with Diesel 10. Colouring books contained references to him by name as well.


Boomer was seen in the movie in the form of two cameos, part of his confrontation with Burnett is seen by a distance as Stacy and Lily arrive in their car. Audibly the scene is re-dubbed so that Burnett is giving directions to a lost biker. The biker clad in an overcoat presents a dark contrast and appears somewhat menacing. Boomer is also visible on the back of Diesel 10's cab during the chase scene toward the end (the original ending had Boomer land on the back of Diesel 10 through the magic buffers).
Boomer was seen in the movie in the form of two cameos, part of his confrontation with Burnett is seen by a distance as Stacy and Lily arrive in their car. Audibly the scene is re-dubbed so that Burnett is giving directions to a lost biker. The biker clad in an overcoat presents a dark contrast and appears somewhat menacing. Boomer is also visible on the back of Diesel 10's cab during the chase scene toward the end (the May 1999 draft had Diesel 10 try to grab Thomas, but instead grab Boomer, leading him to put him on the back of his roof, as Boomer was in Thomas' cab when he followed Thomas into the other part of the Magic Railroad in the said draft, and the original filmed scene had Boomer land on the back of Diesel 10 through the magic buffers).


Because of the cuts, many key scenes that gave Britt Allcroft's original story substance and were filmed with Peter Fonda as Burnett Stone and Russell Means as Billy Twofeathers plus Cody McMains as Patch, were not in the released version because of the references to P.T. Boomer. The movie scenes with these cuts were either cut or altered. In addition, the test audience made the response that Means' role was hard to understand, Britt Allcroft found this shocking as he hardly was, and he "spoke with the voice of his history".<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/BrittAllcroft/posts/486082754759537 2012 Facebook post by Britt Allcroft on the passing of Russell Means.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13.</ref>
===Cuts Made to the Story===
Because of the cuts, many key scenes that gave Britt Allcroft's original story substance and were filmed with Peter Fonda as Burnett Stone and Russell Means as Billy Twofeathers plus Cody McMains as Patch were not in the released version because of the references to P.T. Boomer. The movie scenes that have the cuts were either cut or altered. In addition, the test audience made the response that Means' role was hard to understand, Britt Allcroft found this shocking as he hardly was, and he "spoke with the voice of his history."<ref>[http://facebook.com/BrittAllcroft/posts/486082754759537 2012 Facebook Post by Britt Allcroft on the Passing of Russell Means.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13</ref>


Various theatrical and home media trailers of the movie had depicted characters with voices largely differing from their voices in the original cuts. During Production, it was widely publicized online that an Isle of Mann cab driver and Volunteer Firefighter named John Bellis was to be the voice of Thomas. Having only heard him utter a meager few words, Britt knew that John was the right man to voice Thomas himself, turning to tell her colleagues ''"I have just heard the voice of Thomas. The man is exactly how Thomas would sound!"'' A few days later, she offered John the part, and he accepted.<ref>[http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html Online investigation into the film's mysterious history.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13.</ref>
Some characters from the original show were meant to appear in the film. Cranky the Crane was going to have a minor role in the film. In the scene where the diesels are at the coal yard, Cranky was originally going to drop fruit onto Diesel 10 instead of the hopper covering him in coal. This scene was scrapped just before filming, although Cranky did make a cameo in the final film. Throughout the story, there was going to be a subplot to Diesel 10's Magic Buffer arc. George the Steamroller was originally going to be a henchman for Diesel, destroying the buffers in exchange for the personal use of the Tidmouth turntable. Throughout the film, George would become uncertain about his actions, with the subplot ending in him betraying Diesel and derailing Splatter and Dodge just before the final chase. This concept never got past the storyboard phase, and George's model never went to Canada.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20190316145239/http://www.sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html Online investigation into the film's mysterious history.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13</ref>


Despite being flown out to Toronto record all of Thomas' dialogue, American test audiences however thought Bellis' voice made Thomas sound too old and thus John Bellis was canned. Thomas' voice was performed in the final cut by Canadian voice actor Eddie Glenn. Bellis was apparently disappointed by this, and to the point where he refuses to really discuss the matter with fans who have contacted him to ask him about it.
===Cut Voice Acting/Songs===
Various theatrical and home media trailers of the movie had depicted characters with voices largely differing from their voices in the original cuts. During Production, it was widely publicized online that an Isle of Mann cab driver and Volunteer Firefighter named John Bellis was to be the voice of Thomas. Having only heard him utter a meager few words, Britt knew that John was the right man to voice Thomas himself, turning to tell her colleagues, "I have just heard the voice of Thomas. The man is exactly how Thomas would sound!" A few days later, she offered John the part, and he accepted.<ref>[http://sodor-island.net/themagicrailroadminisite/mrrevealed.html Online Investigation Into the Film's Mysterious History.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13</ref>


The same trailers depicted Diesel 10 with a gruff English upper class accent, as opposed to the New Jersey accent he had in the theatrical release. Sodor Island Forums ended up digging up the information that Diesel 10 was originally voiced by Australian voice actor Keith Scott. But this voice was deemed too frightening by the American test audiences. Canadian actor Neil Crone was then brought in to do the voice of Diesel 10, where he gave him a Russian accent. This too would fall in the hands when the audiences made the wild claim that it would somehow be "offensive" and Crone revised his voice to a New Jersey accent.
Despite being flown out to Toronto, record all of Thomas's dialogue, American test audiences, however, thought Bellis' voice made Thomas sound too old and thus, John Bellis was canned. Thomas's voice was performed in the final cut by Canadian voice actor Eddie Glenn. Bellis was apparently disappointed by this, and to the point where he refuses to really discuss the matter with fans who have contacted him to ask him about it.


Britt Allcroft revealed that the original voice intended for James and Percy was Michael Angelis, narrator for the UK series of "Thomas" from 1991-2012. English actor Patrick Breen originally also provided the voices for Dodge and Splatter. Both of them were canned by the test audiences. Susan Roman and Linda Ballantyne replaced Angelis as James and Percy respectively, whilst Neil Crone and Kevin Frank replaced Breen.
The same trailers depicted Diesel 10 with a gruff English upper-class accent, as opposed to the New Jersey accent he had in the theatrical release. Sodor Island Forums ended up digging up the information that Diesel 10 was originally voiced by Australian voice actor Keith Scott. But this voice was deemed too frightening by the American test audiences. Canadian actor Neil Crone was then brought in to do the voice of Diesel 10, where he gave him a Russian accent. This to would fall into the hands when the audiences made the wild claim that it would somehow be "offensive," and Crone revised his voice to a New Jersey accent. The troublesome trucks had also been voiced by Crone along with Splatter and Dodge's actor Kevin Frank in the director's cut, but most of their material was cut from the final film.


What was also revealed is that Lily, 20 years later, was originally meant to be the narrator, as opposed to Mr. Conductor (Alec Baldwin) in the final cut. The whole movie was meant to be told by an Adult Lily and Patch (played by Robert Tinkler) to their child. A scene toward the end shows the family in a panning shot of the Pennsylvania fields. The movie also contained several flashback scenes of Young Burnett (Jared Wall) and Tasha (Laura Bower) which ended up being cut due to some involving P.T. Boomer. The scenes are only audibly heard in the movie through Burnett's imagination.
Britt Allcroft revealed that the original voice intended for James and Percy was Michael Angelis, the narrator for the UK series from 1991-2012. English actor Patrick Breen originally also provided the voices for Dodge and Splatter. Both of them were canned by the test audiences. Susan Roman and Linda Ballantyne replaced Angelis as James and Percy respectively, whilst Neil Crone and Kevin Frank replaced Breen.


==Existing Deleted Scenes==
What was also revealed is that Lily, 20 years later, was originally meant to be the narrator instead of Mr. Conductor (played by Alec Baldwin) in the final cut. The whole movie was meant to be told by an Adult Lily and Patch (played by Robert Tinkler) to their child. A scene toward the end shows the family in a panning shot of the Pennsylvania fields. The movie also contained several flashback scenes of Young Burnett (Jared Wall) and Tasha (Laura Bower), which ended up being cut due to some involving P.T. Boomer. The scenes are only audibly heard in the movie through Burnett's imagination.
{{#ev:dailymotion|http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ps27r|320x240|right|The only commercially-released deleted scene, "Sundae Surprise" (aka "Summer Sundae").|frame}}
{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/7GHl0jZK74A|320x240|right|P.T. Boomer chase scene (cleaned up, reupload).|frame}}
{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l1-l2mHRFw|320x240|right||frame}}
The only scene from the original cut that was made available commercially was included on the DVD release as an extra. This scene, called "Sundae Surprise" was insignificant, showing Mr. Conductor Junior relaxing and deciding to take one more sip from his Sundae, only to be splashed by it through the giant straw.


In February 2009, a YouTube user by the name of Jord87 uploaded the original chase scene with P.T. Boomer as what had been a dubbing project for the user's film class. However the scene was overdubbed with overbearing music from the 1998 movie ''Dark City'' as part of this dubbing project. Despite both reasonable and admittedly annoying requests from fans to upload the unedited scene, the user only responded with immature and mocking insults toward them.
Two extra songs, known as "The Whistling Song" (not to be confused with the seventh season song of the same name) and "Girl In Green," were also present in the director's cut, but they were removed for unknown reasons.


The scene depicted showed Boomer being flung from the magic buffers and landing directly onto back of Diesel 10's cab, where he joins the pursuit of Lady and Burnett, and ends up falling off the viaduct with Diesel 10. The scene is slapped with a timecode and a watermark stating "Property of Destination No Unauthorized Duplication".
==Availability==
The only scene from the original cut that was made available commercially was included on the DVD release as an extra. This scene, called "Sundae Surprise," was insignificant, showing Mr. Conductor Junior relaxing and deciding to take one more sip from his Sundae, only to be splashed by it through the giant straw.


The scenes leak online is explained by the fact that a teacher at the Harris Institute in Toronto, Canada had worked on the movie, though only has access to the scene in question for educational purposes. He was tracked down by a forum user on Sodor Island Forums and got information that he was considering (as of March 2012) uploading the unaltered scene somewhere online. This didn't happened however, but given that he is a teacher and has more important things to do, it was understandable why he would forget.
In February 2009, a YouTube user by the name of Jord87 uploaded the original chase scene with P.T. Boomer as what had been a dubbing project for the user's film class. However, the scene was overdubbed with overbearing music from the 1998 movie ''Dark City'' as part of this dubbing project. Despite both reasonable and admittedly annoying requests from fans to upload the unedited scene, the user only responded with immature and mocking insults toward them.


In 2013, another scene was discovered from a BBC AP Archive article from August 1999 featuring raw unused footage of a scene including P.T. Boomer (Doug Lennox). This scene in question is described in scripts as P.T. Boomer checking through a pile of 'Shining Times' newspapers. He stops at one - scribbled in the top corner are the words 'Burnett Stone - Muffle Mountain'. Boomer gives a satisfied smile as a young boy collects the pile of newspapers and cycles away.<ref>[http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/ENTERTAINMENT-WEEKLY-THOMAS-THE-TANK/4e85d5cdcca432b3dc5b081477a44955?query=%22thomas+the+tank%22&amp;current=1&amp;orderBy=Relevance&amp;hits=33&amp;referrer=search&amp;search=%2fsearch%3fstartd%3d%26endd%3d%26allFilters%3d%26query%3d%2522thomas%2bthe%2btank%2522%26advsearchStartDateFilter%3d%26advsearchEndDateFilter%3d%26searchFilterHdSDFormat%3dAll%26searchFilterDigitized%3dAll%26searchFiltercolorFormat%3dAll%26searchFilteraspectratioFormat%3dAll&amp;allFilters=&amp;productType=IncludedProducts&amp;page=1 A 1999 production clip, featuring the filming of a P.T. Boomer scene.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13.</ref>
The scene depicted showed Boomer being flung from the magic buffers and landing directly onto the back of Diesel 10's cab, where he joins the pursuit of Lady and Burnett and ends up falling off the viaduct with Diesel 10. The scene is slapped with a time code and a watermark stating "Property of Destination No Unauthorized Duplication."


The film reel lies with the company vaults of Sony. Several petitions have been made urging Destination Films/Sony Films to release the workprint of the movie, all in jest. Britt Allcroft does what's in her power consistently to release what she can, were a workprint release possible, she would try to get it released. Part of the reason the workprint can't be released is that it contains a temp track, meaning music from other productions that are used to set the tone for composer reference. Even so, ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' was a box office flop, and if one were possible, it is unlikely it would get released anyhow.
The scenes leak online is explained by the fact that a teacher at the Harris Institute in Toronto, Canada, had worked on the movie, though only has access to the scene in question for educational purposes. He was tracked down by a forum user on Sodor Island Forums and got information that he was considering (as of March 2012) uploading the unaltered scene somewhere online. This didn't happen, however, but given that he is a teacher and has more important things to do, it was understandable why he would forget.


On July 21, 2014, a Vine user from Japan uploaded an original trailer made for the movie before Boomer was cut. These were low quality recordings taken in front of the TV screen, and the trailer had Japanese subtitles imposed over the video. This showed three scenes with Boomer present. One of Boomer sitting on the mountainside while seemingly stating "I'll get my revenge" (The audio lacks clarity), one of him carrying explosives and one of the explosion he set off that sends Thomas off the mountainside.
In 2013, another scene was discovered from a BBC AP Archive article from August 1999 featuring unused raw footage of a scene, including P.T. Boomer (Doug Lennox). This scene in question is described in scripts as P.T. Boomer checking through a pile of "Shining Times" newspapers. He stops at one - scribbled in the top corner are the words "Burnett Stone - Muffle Mountain." Boomer gives a satisfied smile as a young boy collects the pile of newspapers and cycles away.<ref>[http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/ENTERTAINMENT-WEEKLY-THOMAS-THE-TANK/4e85d5cdcca432b3dc5b081477a44955 A 1999 Production Clip, Featuring the Filming of a P.T. Boomer Scene.] Retrieved 11 Aug '13</ref>


A deleted scene of Burnett building a birdhouse can be found on "The Making of Thomas and the Magic Railroad" from the German DVD release.
On July 21st, 2014, a Vine user from Japan uploaded an original trailer made for the movie before Boomer was cut. These were low-quality recordings taken in front of the TV screen, and the trailer had Japanese subtitles imposed over the video. This showed three scenes with Boomer present. One of Boomer sitting on the mountainside while seemingly stating, "I'll get my revenge" (The audio lacks clarity), one of him carrying explosives, and one of the explosions he set off that sends Thomas off the mountainside.


On August 4, 2014, a higher quality version was uploaded by the Thomas archive channel TTTEArchives. The trailer was discovered to have been sourced from a Japanese Doraemon VHS. The trailer is in full English, but with Japanese subtitles.
A deleted scene of Burnett building a birdhouse can be found on "The Making of ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad''" from the German DVD release.


On November 28, 2015, P.T. Boomer's actor Doug Lennox passed away at the age of 77. In his memory, the original chase scene was uploaded to YouTube without the Dark City music. The original was passed out to various people by a SiF user in June 2015, though with the intention of keeping it private in cooperation with the wishes of the professor mentioned above. But soon enough, it was leaked by one person it was passed to. With the clear audio, it is revealed that the temp music for the score was music from the soundtracks of Stuart Little, composed by Alan Silvestri and Toy Story 2, composed by Randy Newman.
On August 4th, 2014, a higher quality version was uploaded by the Thomas archive channel TTTEArchives. The trailer was discovered to have been sourced from a Japanese ''Doraemon'' VHS. The trailer is in full English, but with Japanese subtitles.


On January 4, 2016, Thomas & Friends railway consultant Sam Wilkinson posted a picture on his (now defunct) Facebook page of the beginning of an early rough cut of the film where it shows a scrapbook with a hand of an Adult Lily Stone in the beginning from the film. Sam was originally going to find more copies of the original workprint, as the rough cut he found had a lot of unfinished content. The project, according to Sam, is still ongoing, however, after a year without updates and HiT Entertainment possibly being concerned with damage control to the Thomas brand because of this, it seems very unlikely.
On November 28th, 2015, P.T. Boomer's actor, Doug Lennox, passed away at the age of 77. In his memory, the original chase scene was uploaded to YouTube without the Dark City music. The original was passed out to various people by a SiF user in June 2015, though to keep it private in cooperation with the wishes of the professor mentioned above. But soon enough, it was leaked by one person it was passed to. With the clear audio, it is revealed that the temp music for the score was music from the soundtracks of ''Stuart Little'', composed by Alan Silvestri, and ''Toy Story 2'', composed by Randy Newman.


On January 4th, 2016, ''Thomas & Friends'' railway consultant Sam Wilkinson posted a picture on his (now defunct) Facebook page of the beginning of an early rough cut of the film where it shows a scrapbook with a hand of an Adult Lily Stone at the beginning from the film. Sam was originally going to find more copies of the original workprint, as the rough cut he found had a lot of unfinished content. The project, according to Sam, is still ongoing; however, after a year without updates and HiT Entertainment possibly being concerned with damage control to the Thomas brand because of this, it seems very unlikely.


In December of 2019, a complete workprint of the film was leaked to the Thomas the Tank Engine fandom. It was shared around privately. By May 5th, it spread and eventually became available to the wider part of the internet to the dismay of the film's director, Britt Allcroft, and the rest of the fandom for jeopardizing the potential release of a higher quality "director's cut" on the upcoming Blu-Ray.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/BrittAllcroft/posts/3260565177311267 Britt Allcrot's first Facebook post asking fans to stop spreading the leaked workprint.] Retrieved 21 May '20</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/BrittAllcroft/posts/3268287239872394 Britt Allcrot's second Facebook post asking fans to stop spreading the leaked workprint.] Retrieved 21 May '20</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/BrittAllcroft/posts/3281044191930032 Britt Allcrot's third Facebook post asking fans to stop spreading the leaked workprint.] Retrieved 21 May '20</ref> This workprint contains unfinished special effects and sound. Furthermore, it was originally leaked in 480p but was later purged. Further mirrors of it are only in 240p.
On August 13th, 2020, the official ShoutKids YouTube Channel uploaded a trailer for the 20th Anniversary ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' Blu-ray. The trailer confirmed that the deleted scenes from the leaked workprint would appear on the Blu-ray as bonus features.<ref>[https://youtu.be/EWyEWGYz2NM The Shout Factory Kids trailer for the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray.] Retrieved 27 Sep '20</ref> It was also confirmed that deleted scenes that weren't in the leak will also be included.


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
===Images===
<gallery mode=packed heights=125px>
<gallery mode=packed heights=125px>
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad103.jpg|Thomas and Gordon at Knapford (From the back cover of the Japanese DVD release)
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad103.jpg|Thomas and Gordon at Knapford (From the back cover of the Japanese DVD release).
SodorRailwaySign.jpg|The original Sodor Railway sign
SodorRailwaySign.jpg|The original Sodor Railway sign.
BurnettandTasha.jpg|Burnett and Tasha when they were young
BurnettandTasha.jpg|Burnett, and Tasha when they were young.
BurnettinThomasandtheMagicRailroadDeletedScene.jpg|Burnett building a birdhouse (From the Behind the Scenes German DVD release)
BurnettinThomasandtheMagicRailroadDeletedScene.jpg|Burnett building a birdhouse (From the Behind the Scenes German DVD release).
MrConductorandJuniorConductoronthePhones.jpg|Mr. Conductor and Junior Conductor on the phones
MrConductorandJuniorConductoronthePhones.jpg|Mr. Conductor and Junior Conductor on the phones.
JuniorinThomasandtheMagicRailroadDeletedScene.jpg|''"One last sun ray and one last sip of a summer sundae. I think I'm a poet."''
JuniorinThomasandtheMagicRailroadDeletedScene.jpg|"One last sunray and one last sip of a summer sundae. I think I'm a poet".
Junior'sSundae.jpg|Junior's sundae
Junior'sSundae.jpg|Junior's sundae.
SundaeSurprise.jpg|Deleted Scene: Sundae Surprise (Found on the DVD release)
SundaeSurprise.jpg|Deleted Scene: "Sundae Surprise" (Found on the DVD release).
PTBoomer.png|PT Boomer
PTBoomer.png|P.T. Boomer.
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad448.PNG|Danger Explosives
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad448.PNG|Danger Explosives.
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad449.PNG|PT Boomer at Muffle Mountain
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad449.PNG|P.T. Boomer at Muffle Mountain.
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad450.PNG|An explosion at Muffle Mountain
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad450.PNG|An explosion at Muffle Mountain
SplatterandDodge.png|Splatter and Dodge
SplatterandDodge.png|Splatter, and Dodge.
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad430.png|PT Boomer on top of Diesel 10
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad430.png|P.T. Boomer on top of Diesel 10.
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad81.png|Diesel 10 and PT Boomer
ThomasandtheMagicRailroad81.png|Diesel 10 and PT Boomer.
P.T.Boomerinsludge.jpg|P.T. Boomer in sludge
P.T.Boomerinsludge.jpg|P.T. Boomer in sludge.
Lily'sScrapbookDeletedScene.png|The Original Beginning of the Film
Lily'sScrapbookDeletedScene.png|The original beginning of the film.
</gallery>
</gallery>
===Videos===
{{Video|perrow  =1
  |service1    =youtube
  |id1          =nkOVxnRrssQ
  |description1 =MeltingMan234's video on the subject.
}}
===Promotional Material===
{{Video|perrow  =3
  |service1    =youtube
  |id1          =EWyEWGYz2NM
  |description1 =The 20th Anniversary Blu-ray trailer.
  |service2    =youtube
  |id2          =fwxwnJlBG8o
  |description2 =A 35mm trailer featuring the original voices.
  |service3    =youtube
  |id3          =KEzFy_RadP0
  |description3 =A Japanese trailer featuring P.T. Boomer.
}}
===Deleted Scenes===
{{Video|perrow  =4
  |service1    =dailymotion
  |id1          =x2ps27r
  |description1 =The only commercially-released deleted scene, "Sundae Surprise" (aka "Summer Sundae").
  |service2    =youtube
  |id2          =P2pnE0ylNUA
  |description2 =Footage of the chase scene featuring P.T. Boomer.
  |service3    =archiveorg
  |id3          =TATMRDeletedStorylines
  |description3 =Compilation of Deleted Scenes from the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray
  |service4    =youtube
  |id4          =eJvJ6xQ1r6U
  |description4 =Demo reel of the original voice cast also from the 20th Anniversary Blu-ary
}}
==See Also==
===Thomas & Friends===
*[[Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go (partially found test animation of reboot of British children TV series; 2019)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels (lost original cut of direct-to-DVD film; existence unconfirmed; 2011)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends "Jack Jumps In" (found Alec Baldwin narration of British children's TV series episode; 2002)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends "Series 7" (partially found original music of American dub of British children's TV series; mid 2000s)]]
*[[Thomas & Friends "Series 12" (partially found Pierce Brosnan narrations of British children's animated series; 2008)]]
===Thomas the Tank Engine===
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine (lost pilot episode of unproduced 2D animated adaptation of "The Railway Series" books; 1976)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "Down the Mine" (partially found unaired pitch pilot version of children's TV series; 1983)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "The Missing Coach" (partially found footage from unfinished episode of children's TV series; 1986)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "Season 3" (found original Michael Angelis narrations of British children's TV series episodes; 1991)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine "Season 4" (found pre-recorded version of British children's TV series episodes; 1994)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (partially lost deleted scenes of British children's TV series; 1984-2021)]]
===Other===
*[[Barry the Rescue Engine (lost production material of cancelled "The Railway Series" book; 1980s)]]
*[[Jack and the Sodor Construction Company (miscellaneous lost media of spinoff series; existence unconfirmed; 2002)]]
*[[The Sad Story of Henry (lost live BBC broadcast adaptation of "The Railway Series" books; 1953)]]
*[[Storytime with Thomas (partially found Fox Family series; 1999-2000)]]
*[[The Thomas & Friends Institute of Innovation (partially found informational short film; 2013-2014)]]
*[[Thomas and the Magic Railroad (lost test footage of 3.5" character models for British children's TV series; 1995)]]
*[[Thomas and the U.K. Trip & Thomas Number 1 (found Japanese "Thomas the Tank Engine" crossover TV special and music video; 1993)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine (found original illustrated edition of book; 1946)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (found build of cancelled NES port of educational game; 1993)]]
*[[Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (lost build of cancelled PlayStation educational game; 1999)]]
*[[The Three Railway Engines (found original edition of book; 1945)]]


==References==
==References==
<references />
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Lost films]]
[[Category:Found media]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]

Revision as of 16:07, 10 December 2022

ThomasandtheMagicRailroadPoster.png

The Canadian poster for the film.

Status: Found

Date found: 05 May 2020 (rough cut), 29 Sep 2020 (director's cut)

Found by: TTTE Fandom (rough cut), Shout Factory (director's cut)

The 2000 movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad was a financial box office flop, with the prime reason being, among many others, the incoherent storyline that was in the final cut. In 2007, an interview with Britt Allcroft on Sodor Island Forums revealed that the movie was cut up against her wishes.[1] Her interview revealed that the cuts were due to complaints by American test audiences. The cuts were less than minor: the original cut was 110 minutes long, while the final movie was a mere 85 minutes.

Differences from Final Cut

P.T. Boomer

A major character, P.T. Boomer, portrayed by Canadian actor Doug Lennox, was deemed too frightening for the younger audiences and therefore was entirely cut out of the movie before its release. Because of P.T. Boomer's absence from the final film, the plot elements that had been driven by him went unexplained.

P.T. Boomer is described in the original cut of the script as being "a drifter through choice" and was intended to be Burnett Stone's adversary, the real culprit responsible for why Lady went too fast and crashed, rather than Diesel 10 as altered in the final version. Jealous of the relationship that Burnett had with Tasha (Lily's grandmother), Boomer bullied Burnett into allowing him to take Lady for a run and crashing her as a form of revenge. After the accident, Boomer fled Indian Valley, and Burnett spent years trying to restore her but to no success. He now returns a good forty years later, a bitter and dark character, determined to complete his revenge by finding and destroying Lady for good.[2]

When audiences complained about him being "too scary," he was cut out at the last minute, explaining the laziness of the movie's final cut. This cut was so close to the release that one of the previews even contained Boomer briefly, falling off the viaduct along with Diesel 10. Colouring books contained references to him by name as well.

Boomer was seen in the movie in the form of two cameos, part of his confrontation with Burnett is seen by a distance as Stacy and Lily arrive in their car. Audibly the scene is re-dubbed so that Burnett is giving directions to a lost biker. The biker clad in an overcoat presents a dark contrast and appears somewhat menacing. Boomer is also visible on the back of Diesel 10's cab during the chase scene toward the end (the May 1999 draft had Diesel 10 try to grab Thomas, but instead grab Boomer, leading him to put him on the back of his roof, as Boomer was in Thomas' cab when he followed Thomas into the other part of the Magic Railroad in the said draft, and the original filmed scene had Boomer land on the back of Diesel 10 through the magic buffers).

Cuts Made to the Story

Because of the cuts, many key scenes that gave Britt Allcroft's original story substance and were filmed with Peter Fonda as Burnett Stone and Russell Means as Billy Twofeathers plus Cody McMains as Patch were not in the released version because of the references to P.T. Boomer. The movie scenes that have the cuts were either cut or altered. In addition, the test audience made the response that Means' role was hard to understand, Britt Allcroft found this shocking as he hardly was, and he "spoke with the voice of his history."[3]

Some characters from the original show were meant to appear in the film. Cranky the Crane was going to have a minor role in the film. In the scene where the diesels are at the coal yard, Cranky was originally going to drop fruit onto Diesel 10 instead of the hopper covering him in coal. This scene was scrapped just before filming, although Cranky did make a cameo in the final film. Throughout the story, there was going to be a subplot to Diesel 10's Magic Buffer arc. George the Steamroller was originally going to be a henchman for Diesel, destroying the buffers in exchange for the personal use of the Tidmouth turntable. Throughout the film, George would become uncertain about his actions, with the subplot ending in him betraying Diesel and derailing Splatter and Dodge just before the final chase. This concept never got past the storyboard phase, and George's model never went to Canada.[4]

Cut Voice Acting/Songs

Various theatrical and home media trailers of the movie had depicted characters with voices largely differing from their voices in the original cuts. During Production, it was widely publicized online that an Isle of Mann cab driver and Volunteer Firefighter named John Bellis was to be the voice of Thomas. Having only heard him utter a meager few words, Britt knew that John was the right man to voice Thomas himself, turning to tell her colleagues, "I have just heard the voice of Thomas. The man is exactly how Thomas would sound!" A few days later, she offered John the part, and he accepted.[5]

Despite being flown out to Toronto, record all of Thomas's dialogue, American test audiences, however, thought Bellis' voice made Thomas sound too old and thus, John Bellis was canned. Thomas's voice was performed in the final cut by Canadian voice actor Eddie Glenn. Bellis was apparently disappointed by this, and to the point where he refuses to really discuss the matter with fans who have contacted him to ask him about it.

The same trailers depicted Diesel 10 with a gruff English upper-class accent, as opposed to the New Jersey accent he had in the theatrical release. Sodor Island Forums ended up digging up the information that Diesel 10 was originally voiced by Australian voice actor Keith Scott. But this voice was deemed too frightening by the American test audiences. Canadian actor Neil Crone was then brought in to do the voice of Diesel 10, where he gave him a Russian accent. This to would fall into the hands when the audiences made the wild claim that it would somehow be "offensive," and Crone revised his voice to a New Jersey accent. The troublesome trucks had also been voiced by Crone along with Splatter and Dodge's actor Kevin Frank in the director's cut, but most of their material was cut from the final film.

Britt Allcroft revealed that the original voice intended for James and Percy was Michael Angelis, the narrator for the UK series from 1991-2012. English actor Patrick Breen originally also provided the voices for Dodge and Splatter. Both of them were canned by the test audiences. Susan Roman and Linda Ballantyne replaced Angelis as James and Percy respectively, whilst Neil Crone and Kevin Frank replaced Breen.

What was also revealed is that Lily, 20 years later, was originally meant to be the narrator instead of Mr. Conductor (played by Alec Baldwin) in the final cut. The whole movie was meant to be told by an Adult Lily and Patch (played by Robert Tinkler) to their child. A scene toward the end shows the family in a panning shot of the Pennsylvania fields. The movie also contained several flashback scenes of Young Burnett (Jared Wall) and Tasha (Laura Bower), which ended up being cut due to some involving P.T. Boomer. The scenes are only audibly heard in the movie through Burnett's imagination.

Two extra songs, known as "The Whistling Song" (not to be confused with the seventh season song of the same name) and "Girl In Green," were also present in the director's cut, but they were removed for unknown reasons.

Availability

The only scene from the original cut that was made available commercially was included on the DVD release as an extra. This scene, called "Sundae Surprise," was insignificant, showing Mr. Conductor Junior relaxing and deciding to take one more sip from his Sundae, only to be splashed by it through the giant straw.

In February 2009, a YouTube user by the name of Jord87 uploaded the original chase scene with P.T. Boomer as what had been a dubbing project for the user's film class. However, the scene was overdubbed with overbearing music from the 1998 movie Dark City as part of this dubbing project. Despite both reasonable and admittedly annoying requests from fans to upload the unedited scene, the user only responded with immature and mocking insults toward them.

The scene depicted showed Boomer being flung from the magic buffers and landing directly onto the back of Diesel 10's cab, where he joins the pursuit of Lady and Burnett and ends up falling off the viaduct with Diesel 10. The scene is slapped with a time code and a watermark stating "Property of Destination No Unauthorized Duplication."

The scenes leak online is explained by the fact that a teacher at the Harris Institute in Toronto, Canada, had worked on the movie, though only has access to the scene in question for educational purposes. He was tracked down by a forum user on Sodor Island Forums and got information that he was considering (as of March 2012) uploading the unaltered scene somewhere online. This didn't happen, however, but given that he is a teacher and has more important things to do, it was understandable why he would forget.

In 2013, another scene was discovered from a BBC AP Archive article from August 1999 featuring unused raw footage of a scene, including P.T. Boomer (Doug Lennox). This scene in question is described in scripts as P.T. Boomer checking through a pile of "Shining Times" newspapers. He stops at one - scribbled in the top corner are the words "Burnett Stone - Muffle Mountain." Boomer gives a satisfied smile as a young boy collects the pile of newspapers and cycles away.[6]

On July 21st, 2014, a Vine user from Japan uploaded an original trailer made for the movie before Boomer was cut. These were low-quality recordings taken in front of the TV screen, and the trailer had Japanese subtitles imposed over the video. This showed three scenes with Boomer present. One of Boomer sitting on the mountainside while seemingly stating, "I'll get my revenge" (The audio lacks clarity), one of him carrying explosives, and one of the explosions he set off that sends Thomas off the mountainside.

A deleted scene of Burnett building a birdhouse can be found on "The Making of Thomas and the Magic Railroad" from the German DVD release.

On August 4th, 2014, a higher quality version was uploaded by the Thomas archive channel TTTEArchives. The trailer was discovered to have been sourced from a Japanese Doraemon VHS. The trailer is in full English, but with Japanese subtitles.

On November 28th, 2015, P.T. Boomer's actor, Doug Lennox, passed away at the age of 77. In his memory, the original chase scene was uploaded to YouTube without the Dark City music. The original was passed out to various people by a SiF user in June 2015, though to keep it private in cooperation with the wishes of the professor mentioned above. But soon enough, it was leaked by one person it was passed to. With the clear audio, it is revealed that the temp music for the score was music from the soundtracks of Stuart Little, composed by Alan Silvestri, and Toy Story 2, composed by Randy Newman.

On January 4th, 2016, Thomas & Friends railway consultant Sam Wilkinson posted a picture on his (now defunct) Facebook page of the beginning of an early rough cut of the film where it shows a scrapbook with a hand of an Adult Lily Stone at the beginning from the film. Sam was originally going to find more copies of the original workprint, as the rough cut he found had a lot of unfinished content. The project, according to Sam, is still ongoing; however, after a year without updates and HiT Entertainment possibly being concerned with damage control to the Thomas brand because of this, it seems very unlikely.

In December of 2019, a complete workprint of the film was leaked to the Thomas the Tank Engine fandom. It was shared around privately. By May 5th, it spread and eventually became available to the wider part of the internet to the dismay of the film's director, Britt Allcroft, and the rest of the fandom for jeopardizing the potential release of a higher quality "director's cut" on the upcoming Blu-Ray.[7][8][9] This workprint contains unfinished special effects and sound. Furthermore, it was originally leaked in 480p but was later purged. Further mirrors of it are only in 240p.

On August 13th, 2020, the official ShoutKids YouTube Channel uploaded a trailer for the 20th Anniversary Thomas and the Magic Railroad Blu-ray. The trailer confirmed that the deleted scenes from the leaked workprint would appear on the Blu-ray as bonus features.[10] It was also confirmed that deleted scenes that weren't in the leak will also be included.

Gallery

Images

Videos

MeltingMan234's video on the subject.

Promotional Material

The 20th Anniversary Blu-ray trailer.

A 35mm trailer featuring the original voices.

A Japanese trailer featuring P.T. Boomer.

Deleted Scenes

The only commercially-released deleted scene, "Sundae Surprise" (aka "Summer Sundae").

Footage of the chase scene featuring P.T. Boomer.

Compilation of Deleted Scenes from the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray

Demo reel of the original voice cast also from the 20th Anniversary Blu-ary

See Also

Thomas & Friends

Thomas the Tank Engine

Other

References