The Veggie and Character Gang's Adventures of Thomas & Friends: Big World Big Adventures (2024)

The Veggie and Character Gang's Adventures of Thomas & Friends: Big World Big Adventures is the 13th episode of The Veggie and Character Gang's Adventures Series season 7

Its lesson is on Letting others Help you.

Summary[]

A racing car called Ace inspires Thomas The Tank Engine to become the first engine to travel the world, so Thomas and Veggie and Character Gang set off on an adventure which takes them to five continents, across deserts, through jungles and over dangerous mountains. On their journey, Thomas and the Veggie and Character Gang meet Nia, an engine who teaches them that everyone needs a little help from their friends.

Plot[]

Thomas is shunting at Knapford and struggles to shunt all of the oil tankers, which one has the brakes on. Gordon laughs at him and teases him for being a small tank engine. Thomas vows that he one day will see the world and pushes hard into the tankers just as workmen loosen the brakes, causing them to derail.

Coming in from the Mainland, an Australian rally car follows a dirt road towards the Vicarstown Bridge alongside the Flying Scotsman. He asks him if he is going the right way to Sodor, which Scotsman confirms, but notes that it is only for trains. The rally car jumps a broken part of the fence and lands on the rails, following Scotsman over the bridge and drives sideways as Sidney approaches in the opposite direction.

At Knapford, the Fat Controller asks Thomas to take some stinking fish trucks to Vicarstown, which he is reluctant to do. The Fat Controller tells him that James is not available to do it, and Thomas reluctantly agrees. However, instead of taking them, he couples them to Gordon's express, as he is headed to Vicarstown.

The rally car continues along the dirt road to Ffarquhar, and passes Bertie on the way. He later meets Thomas in the way and introduces himself as Ace. He tells him of his racing and his motto of being free and easy. Thomas expresses his own desire to see the world, but points out that he has to follow the rails. Ace assures that rails exist all over the world and that he could be the first railway engine to travel the world. They then agree to a race to the station. There, Ace tells him that is scheduled to take part in a continental rally race over five different continents. Thomas asks if it is starting on Sodor, which Ace dismisses and says it starts in Africa, and that he is on Sodor to take a ship there. Encouraged by Ace's words, Thomas speeds out of the station before Bertie can let off his remaining passengers.

Arriving back at Knapford, Thomas presents the idea of traveling the world to the Fat Controller, who shares his enthusiasm, but does not directly agree to it happening. At Vicarstown, the Flying Scotsman and Gordon discover that the latter was pulling the stinky fish trucks behind the express, much to his dismay.

As the Fat Controller re-emerges from his office, Thomas is missing and all the other engines also express their worries, subsequently they begin to look for him, but he is nowhere to be found. The Fat Controller later asks Carly at Brendam Docks, who explains that she loaded Thomas onto a ship bound for Africa, noting that he allegedly had agreed to the idea of Thomas travelling the world, much to the Fat Controller's dismay.

Thomas travels with Ace to Senegal in Africa, where they continue their journey through the Sahara desert. Once they arrive at the race starting line, the other rally cars laugh at the idea of Thomas having joined Ace to see the world. Ace argues that he never said that they were going together and that rails do not exist everywhere, much to Thomas' dismay. He leaves the scene as the race starts, before arriving at a yard and gets couples up to some trucks. Despite the yard manager's uncertainty of him being able to pull so many trucks, Thomas continues. As he goes, more and more trucks are coupled to his train, really showing the size of it.

Thomas arrives at yet another yard, where an orange tank engine laughs at him and offers to help him, which he dismisses, determined that he can manage by himself. However, once he reaches a steep hill, the orange engine arrives to help. She introduces herself as Nia, and decides to tag along with him, sharing advice and putting and inputs every once in a while. Thomas later finds it helpful, both from her and the trucks. Thomas also learns that they have traveled through several countries on their way to Dar es Salaam.

As they arrive in Dar es Salaam, the Fat Controller arrives in Senegal, asking around for Thomas. He eventually accepts the offer of traveling with camels through the Sahara desert, but becomes skeptical of the possibility of Thomas having traveled through there, since there are no rails. In Dar es Salaam, Nia meets her friend, Kwaku, and the two start a conversation before Thomas tries to ask him about Ace. He is successful in his second attempt, and Kwaku explains that the rally cars left on a ship bound for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Both Thomas and Nia are loaded onto another ship going to Brazil, but halfway there, Thomas discovers that Ace is in fact on their ship. He encourages Thomas to be more independent and decide for himself what he wants to do and not let any baggage drag him down.

As they arrive in Rio, the Fat Controller reaches Dar es Salaam, again asking around for Thomas. A crane tells him that he loaded Thomas on a ship bound for Rio, much to the Fat Controller's dismay. In Brazil, Ace heads out to his race in the Amazon rainforest and Thomas decides to follow him. However, he is not allowed to fill up on coal without having to leave with a train. He accepts to take a train of coffee to San Francisco, with Nia tagging along to help him. Even though they do not encounter Ace and other rally cars for some time, they eventually do and Thomas is determined to follow them. Nia tries to advise to fill up on water, but he ignores her, claiming she is jealous of Ace.

The rally cars later disappear for some time, before Thomas and Nia find Ace flipped onto his roof. He becomes frightened of an animal lurking around, revealed to be a monkey. Ace is loaded onto their train and they continue through the rain forest. Eventually Thomas runs out of water, to Ace's disappointment. Nia suggests that they could make a funnel out of leaves in order to take on rain water in their tanks, which their drivers do. Once filled up, they continue their journey. They later encounter mudded terrain and rush over the tracks before sinking into it. Their troubles are not over as they reach a bridge over a river, which collapses just as the last trucks make it over. With extra effort, Thomas and Nia pull the remaining trucks onto the tracks again.

The Fat Controller arrives in Rio de Janeiro and asks a diesel engine about Thomas. He confirms that he has seen him and that he was taking a train to San Francisco. Right afterwards, some locals drag the Fat Controller to join the carnival. He later sees a billboard sponsoring a plane, which he later flies with over the Amazon, looking for Thomas, without success.

Thomas, Nia and Ace eventually reach the United States, heading into the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Ace reminds Thomas to also have fun, noting that nothing of the sort has yet to happen. Nia teases Thomas about him not liking to go backwards, which he dismisses just as she forces the train backwards. Unlike their time in Africa, their train collides with an American diesel heading the same way as them. Nia apologises, but the American diesel assures her that she is ok. Ace later challenges them to a race, teasing them about not being able to drive separately. Thomas and Nia agree and each take two parts of the train respectively. The two swap leads in the beginning, until Ace asks Thomas that they play a trick on Nia, which he agrees to. They take a different track along the cliff sides, which Ace explains leads to the salt flats, where the next race is scheduled to be held. Thomas collides with loose rocks and the train goes in a loop over the tracks before landing again. They pass an elderly tender engine, whose trucks detach and collide into theirs as they enter an old railroad mine and come through on the other side, derailing.

The elderly tender engine later arrives and Thomas asks him to fetch the breakdown train, which he is confused over. He explains that in the desert, they only use man and horsepower when trains derail, or at worst, they are just left to rust. He departs, much to Thomas' dismay.

The Fat Controller arrives in San Francisco ahead of Thomas, thereby not having anyone to confirm to have seen him, however a diesel tells him that an orange tank engine delivered coffee from Brazil earlier. Defeated, the Fat Controller settles in at a local Sailor's Cafe.

The elderly tender engine arrives the next morning with cowboys, cowgirls and horses to help re-rail Ace, Thomas and his train. Thomas thanks the engine before departing for the salt flats. As they arrive at the flats, Thomas changes his mind about seeing the world, and is now determined to find and apologize to Nia for the trick they played on her. As he grudgingly leaves, he wishes Ace good luck with his race.

Thomas eventually arrives in San Francisco and delivers his trucks. He asks a diesel shunter, Natalie, if she has seen Nia, which she confirms and that she was loaded onto a ship headed for China. Thomas heads over to a green crane and asks him to load him onto the next ship to China. Having heard Thomas' whistle from the Sailor's Cafe, the Fat Controller briefly becomes hopeful, but that quickly dies out when he thinks he must have imagined it.

Arriving in China, Thomas begins to long for his friendship with Nia and expresses regret of having played a trick on her. As he reverses into a yard with some coaches, Yong Bao arrives at the station and recognises him. He then asks Thomas about his presence in China, to which he explains that he is looking for a friend. As he describes Nia, a Chinese diesel comes past and tells him that Nia was headed to the Rainbow Mountains. As Thomas departs, Yong Bao shouts that he should use a snowplough while traveling the mountains. Thomas rushes up the snowy mountains and eventually spots Nia further up. He attempts to get her attention by shouting her name and whistling, but she ignores him. He then decides to apologise, which finally draws her attention. She asks him if he thought it was right to trick her, which he admits it was not. She then asks if he means it with his apology, but just then a snow avalanche occurs and derails Nia, sending her down to Thomas' tracks before resting on the cliff. Thomas tries to save her himself, but quickly realises that he cannot do it. Just then, Yong Bao arrives and saves Thomas from doing so on his own and helps him remain steady on the tracks until the breakdown train arrives to help Nia back on the tracks. After Nia is back on the tracks, Yong Bao asks them where they are headed. Thomas replies that they would be heading back to Sodor, to which Yong Bao says that it would require them to head through Asia and Europe.

Thomas and Nia head back to Sodor via other countries, stretching from India, Russia and other countries before arriving on the mainland and then heading to the Vicarstown Bridge. They stop on the mainland side and Thomas states that Nia should head home. She explains that her old shed is no more and that her home is not worthy of being a home anymore. Thomas concludes that she could settle down on Sodor and that the Fat Controller would accept it. As they arrive at Knapford, all the other engines along with the Thin Controller, who has been running the railway in the Fat Controller's absence, welcome them. However, the Thin Controller and Percy question why the Fat Controller is not with him, having thought that he would be had he finally found Thomas. Thomas is surprised that he went looking for him, while the now exhausted Fat Controller is now travelling on a ship to China, now asking if he has seen Thomas, which Ace overhears.

Songs[]

• The Veggie and Character Gang's Adventures Series Theme Song
• Still (performed by Ben Folds)
• Where oh Where is Thomas
• Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies: Daffy Duck the Wizard
• The Forgiveness Song
• What Have We Learned

Cast[]

• Phil Vischer as Bob
• Mike Nawrocki as Larry
• Lisa Vischer as Junior
• Kira Buckland as Laura
• Bret Iwan as Mickey Mouse
• Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse
• Tress MacNeille as Daisy Duck
• Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
• Bill Farmer as Goofy/Pluto
• Daniel Tamberelli as Arnold Perlstein
• Daniel DeSanto as Carlos Ramon
• Tara Meyer as Dorothy Ann Hudson
• Erica Luttrell as Keesha Franklin
• Maia Filar as Phoebe Terese
• Stuart Stone as Ralphie Tennelli
• Andre Ottley-Lorant as Tim Wright
• Lisa Yamanaka as Wanda Li
• Jeff Bergman as Bugs Bunny
• Eilizabeth Daily as Tommy and Buttercup
• Nancy Cartwright as Chuckie
• Kath Soucie as Phil and Lil
• Cree Summer as Susie
• Tara Strong as Dil and Bubbles
• Dionne Quan as Kimi
• Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
• Travis Oates as Piglet
• Daveigh Chase as Lilo
• Chris Sanders as Stitch
• Andrea Libman as Emmy
• Danny McKinnon as Max
• Chantal Strand as Cassie
• Ty Olsson as Ord
• Jason Michas as Zak
• Kathleen Barr as Wheezie
• Cathy Cavadini as Blossom
• Joseph May as Thomas
• William Hope as Edward and Toby
• Kerry Shale as Henry, Gordon, Beau, Diesel, Harold and Mr. Percival
• Rob Rackstraw as James, Donald, Sam, Big Mickey, the Thin Clergyman and the Senegal Race Announcer
• Christopher Ragland as Percy, Racing Car 4 and the Cowboys
• Steven Kynman as Duck and Paxton
• Joe Mills as Douglas and Oliver (uncredited)
• Tim Whitnall as Bill, Timothy and a Moai Head
• Matt Wilkinson as Ben, Tony and Carter
• Rufus Jones as the Flying Scotsman
• Jules de Jongh as Emily
• Nicola Stapleton as Rosie
• Teresa Gallagher as Marion, Daisy, Natalie, the American Diesel, Cassia and Annie and Clarabel
• Bob Golding as Sidney
• Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
• Keith Wickham as Bertie, Captain, Sir Topham Hatt and Dowager Hatt
• Glenn Wrage as Cranky
• Lucy Montgomery as Carly and the Cowgirls
• Dan Li as Yong Bao
• Gabriel Porras as Carlos, Fernando, Emerson, the Brazilian Troublesome Trucks and Various South American Voices
• Su-Lin Looi as the Chinese Diesel Shunter
• Yvonne Grundy as Nia
  • Patricia Kihoro as Nia's singing voice
• Rachael Miller as Angelique
• Abubakar Salim as Kwaku, an African Troublesome Van, Kobe and Various African Voices
• Richie Campbell as an African Troublesome Van and Various African Voices
• Akiya Henry as the African Troublesome Tankers and Various African Voices
• Chipo Chung as an African Troublesome Van and Various African Voices
• Dona Adwera as Various African Voices
• Peter Andre as Ace
• David Menkin as Racing Car 3 and the Cowboys

Fun Facts[]

Moral[]

• Everyone needs help sometimes
• Let others help you even if you don't want it

Trivia[]

• This episode doesn't take place in the theater, but it still has the theme song.

Transcript[]