Thomas & Friends: The Adventure Begins

Thomas & Friends: The Adventure Begins is a 2015 British animated adventure comedy film produced by HIT Entertainment and animated by Arc Productions. It serves as a prequel to the British television series, Thomas & Friends. It is based on the first two books of The Railway Series: The Three Railway Engines and Thomas the Tank Engine, which were previously adapted into the first seven episodes of the show's first season in 1984. It commemorates the 70th anniversary of The Railway Series, making it the first instalment to officially adapt a story from The Railway Series since series 4.

John Hasler and Joseph May take over the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine as new voice actors in the UK and the US, respectively. Rob Rackstraw joins the US cast as James the Red Engine (he would join the UK cast later the same year), Keith Wickham takes over the role of Sir Topham Hatt in the US, and Christopher Ragland takes the role of the Troublesome Trucks in the UK and US, respectively. It also co-stars the voices of Tim Whitnall, Teresa Gallagher, William Hope and Kerry Shale, voice actors who were already working on the series at the time of the special's production. The production of the special itself was fast-tracked into Arc Productions' schedule for the franchise's 70th anniversary, and as a result, the 21st series of the show had eight episodes cut from its run when the ''Big World! Big Adventures!'' rebrand began development.

Plot
Gordon tells Edward that Sir Topham Hatt has bought a new engine to arrange coaches. After helping Gordon up the hill with his goods train by pushing behind, Edward is shunting at Knapford Station when he hears James, another engine who is roughly Edward's size, talking to a green tank engine from London, Brighton and South Coast Railway who introduces himself as Thomas, Sir Topham Hatt's new tank engine. Gordon teases him about his size, but Sir Topham Hatt introduces himself and asks Edward to teach him how to work in the yard. Initially, Thomas grapples with a slow brake response and crossing into the others' train lines. He also cheekily whistles at Gordon one day while he is resting and wakes him up, much to Gordon's annoyance.

That stormy night at Tidmouth Sheds, Thomas meets Henry, whom Edward tells the story about the time he hid in a tunnel to get out of the rain, fearing it would ruin his paint. The following day, Thomas is sent to the Sodor Steamworks where he is repainted blue and given the number 1. Gordon tells Thomas it's merely a replacement (the last No. 1 engine being a vertical-boilered engine called a "coffee-pot") and orders him to fetch his express coaches. Thomas nearly takes two four-wheeled coaches called Annie and Clarabel, who belong to James, but take a liking to Thomas. Soon, seeing Henry at the water tower, Thomas asks him about his fear of the rain. Henry explains that the rain makes him nervous, but Thomas tries fruitlessly to convince him that there is nothing to be afraid of.

The following day, Thomas takes longer to start than usual and arrives at Knapford with Gordon's coaches later than usual. Still cross with Thomas for waking him up, Gordon starts sooner than expected before Thomas can be uncoupled. By the time Gordon reaches Wellsworth, Thomas is worn out and is uncoupled. The next day, he accidentally disturbs two breakdown cranes named Judy and Jerome who are only used for emergencies only.

The next morning, Henry is ill and Thomas, being the only engine left, is instead asked to pull his train. Unfortunately, Thomas starts too soon and leaves the coaches behind, much to Sir Topham Hatt's dismay. Thomas sadly returns and is coupled to the train, but the other engines tease him about it at Tidmouth Sheds later that night. Edward kindly offers to let Thomas take his goods train for him the next day. However, Thomas brushes off Edward's advice about the Troublesome Trucks as nonsense and he gets too excited to take it, which leads him to almost have an accident after they push him down Gordon's Hill to the next station, where Sir Topham Hatt is waiting. Not approving of the engines' swap, he then orders Thomas and Edward to stay in the yard to fully educate Thomas about trucks. During this time, Thomas manages to help Henry overcome his fear of rain.

Sometime later, Thomas is working when a frightened James rushes by, launched by the Troublesome Trucks and his burning wooden brake blocks. Thomas chases after James and attempts to couple up behind him to stop him, but the trucks run James and themselves off the rails at a bend, which proves to Thomas that Edward was right about the trucks' foolishness. Thomas returns to Knapford and fetches Jerome and Judy to rescue James, who he takes to the Steamworks. Later that night, everyone congratulates Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt announces that James will be repaired and repainted, while Thomas will be rewarded with his own branch line. Everyone is happy for Thomas, except Gordon who asks who will fetch their coaches because tender engines don’t shunt until Sir Topham says the other engines will have to fetch their own coaches until he finds another small engine who can. A few days later, James returns to the yard, painted red with new brakes and Thomas is given Annie and Clarabel to run his branch line. He travels around Sodor and when he arrives at Ffarquhar Station, he meets Glynn the "Coffee-Pot" Engine who tells him to look after the branch line and wear the number 1 with pride.

Critical reception
The special received generally positive reviews; Common Sense Media gave the film a 4/5, stating, "Expect infighting among some of the engines as personalities clash and a few fretful moments, but ultimately there are happy resolutions and increasingly strong friendships as a result."