Thomas & Friends "Series 7" (partially found original music of British children's TV series American dub; mid-2000s)
Thomas & Friends Season 7 was the last season in what fans refer to as the "classic era" of the TV series as it was last season feature many of the original crew such as producer Britt Alcroft, series director David Mitton, and composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. The next season would feature new crew and would be produced by HiT Entertainment who acquired the brand shortly after season 7 finished production. The season would be narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and by Michael Brandon in the US. In the UK, Season 7 would first air in October 2003 with 26 episodes and original music by Mike and Junior.
For US audiences however, season 7 aired on TV another year later in 2004. It was also aired in-between episodes from season 8 on PBS Kids. For this, the season 7 episodes would have revised music by new series composer Robert Hartshorne, most likely to keep consistent with the season 8 episodes that aired with the new music from Hartshorne. The UK would do a similar thing to some of the episodes in re-airings the following year.
Availability
Only three episodes of the US dub have ever been released with the original music intact. The three episodes would be on the "Thomas, and the Jet Engine" DVD released on July 20, 2004, two months before season 8 would start airing in the US. The episodes would be "Harold and the Flying Horse", "Bulgy Rides Again", and "Salty's Stormy Tale." All releases of season 7 episodes since then featured Brandon's narration with Hartshorne's music.
It seems unlikely that season 7 will see light in the US with the original music aside from the three episodes mentioned above. Fans of the older series have tried editing the original music back into Michael Brandon's narration. However, these are generally poor quality due to the noise removal drowning the narration and vocal removal from stereo sources. Some have also produced instrumentals of season 7 music from both the UK and US dubs to varying degrees of success.
Gallery
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 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 pitch pilot version of British children's TV series episode; 1983)
- Thomas the Tank Engine "The Missing Coach" (partially found footage from cancelled British children's TV series episode; 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
- The Adventures of Thomas (partially found production material of cancelled "Thomas the Tank Engine" live-action film; early-mid 2010s)
- Barry the Rescue Engine (lost production material of cancelled "The Railway Series" book; 1980s)
- Jack and the Sodor Construction Company (partially lost episodes and production material of cancelled spin-off series; 2002)
- 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 (found deleted scenes of children's fantasy adventure film; 2000)
- 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; 1991)
- 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 (lost live BBC broadcast adaptation of "The Railway Series" books; 1953)
- The Three Railway Engines (found original edition of book; 1945)
External Links
- ThomasS7MBEdits YouTube page.
- Thomas & Friends Wiki page on Season 7.
- TTTE Wikia page on "Thomas and the Jet Engine" DVD.
- A YouTube playlist of Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell's Season 7 music by Thomas & Friends N.S. Instrumentals.
- A YouTube playlist of Robert Hartshorne's US Season 7 music by Thomas & Friends N.S. Instrumentals.