Thomas the Tank Engine: Animated!

Thomas the Tank Engine: Animated! is an animated children's television series created by Britt Allcroft, who also created the model television series. Adapted from the Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, the show is produced by Montreal-based animation production company Spectra Animation, London-based production company HiT Entertainment, Treehouse Originals, and Universal Animation Studios.

The show stars the voices of Edward Glen as the titular character, with Linda Ballantyne, Neil Crone, Kevin Frank, Frank Meschkuleit, Freddie Highmore, Ringo Starr, and Micheal Angelis. The show takes place on a fictional island called the Island of Sodor in the United Kingdom, and follows the stories of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends.

Premiering on September 28, 2003 in Canada on Treehouse, Thomas the Tank Engine: Animated! sparked a positive reception from critics and audiences of the original series, with praise for its development, plot, cast of characters, and animation. The show later aired on September 29, 2003 in Quebec on Télé-Québec, and on October 15, 2003 in the United States on PBS Kids. The show concluded on March 30, 2011, following the acquisition of Spectra Animation by Echo Media.

Voice cast

 * Edward Glen as Thomas, a small 0-6-0 E2 class tank engine from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. Thomas is painted in a light blue livery with red linings, and a number 1 on his sides. Depicted in origin episodes, Thomas is seen with a green livery, with "LB&SCR" and "70" on his side. Thomas is seen as cheeky, impatient, rude, and clever-thinking.
 * Linda Ballantyne as Percy, a small 0-4-0 class saddle tank engine from Avonside, and later found to have components by Hunslet and other locomotive builders in the United Kingdom. Percy is Thomas' best friend, and has been so since his arrival to the Island of Sodor. Percy is painted in a lime green livery with red linings, and a number 6 on the side.
 * Ballantyne also voices James, a modified 2-6-0 mogul Lancashire and Yorkshire Class 28 mixed-traffic engine. James is depicted with an extended running board, which was not present on most 2-6-0s. He is painted in a red livery with golden yellow linings, with the number 5 on his tender. In origin episodes, James is depicted in a black livery with red linings. James is seen as often snotty, sometimes boastful, and always admires his shiny red paint, not wanting it to get dirty.
 * Neil Crone as Gordon, a 4-6-2 Gresley Class A1 Pacific express engine from the London and North Eastern Railway. He is depicted in a light blue livery with red linings, much like Thomas, and has the number 4 on his tender. Gordon is seen as a grand engine, and feels that he is the pride of the railway. He is boastful, as he is the biggest engine of the fleet.
 * Freddie Highmore as Edward, a 4-4-0 K2 class tender locomotive from the Furness Railway. Edward is seen in a light blue livery with red linings, much like Thomas and Gordon, with the number 2 on his tender. Edward is seen as more wise, unlike the other engines. Edward is also the oldest engine on the Island of Sodor.
 * Highmore also voices Toby, a 0-6-0 C53 class tram engine from Great Eastern Railway. Depicted in a brown livery with grey for the outer skirt of the engine, Toby is seen with the number 7 on his side.
 * Ringo Starr as Duck, an 0-6-0 class tank engine from the Great Western Railway, depicted in a lime green livery with the number 8 on his side.
 * Frank Meschkuleit as Oliver, a 0-4-2 class locomotive of the 1400 class in the Great Western Railway, painted in a lime green livery with the number 11 on his side. Oliver is seen as a more precarious engine.
 * Meschkuleit also voices Donald, an 0-6-0 tender engine of the 652 Class, from the Caledonian Railway, depicted in a black livery with the number 9 on his tender.
 * Meschkuleit also provides the US and Canadian narration.
 * Michael Angelis as Douglas, an 0-6-0 tender engine of the 652 Class, from the Caledonian Railway, depicted in a black livery with the number 10 on his tender.
 * Angelis also provides the UK narration.
 * Kevin Frank as Henry, an unused 4-6-0 class tender engine, designed by British locomotive designer Sir Nigel Gresley, purchased by the Fat Controller in 1922. However, after suffering a devastating crash while carrying the Flying Kipper, Henry was rebuilt into a Stanier Black "5" steam locomotive.

Recurring characters

 * Ewan McGregor as The Flying Scotsman, a 4-6-2 Pacific A3 class express locomotive from the London and North Eastern Railway. Known worldwide for becoming the first steam engine to go 100mph, The Flying Scotsman is Gordon's elder brother.
 * Tara Strong as Bill (No. 1) and Ben (No. 2), two orange 0-4-0 saddle tank engines who work for the Sodor China Clay Company.

History
Following the growing success of the Thomas the Tank Engine brand in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were talks of an animated spin-off. In 1996, The Railway Series writer and creator Wilbert Awdry expressed in an interview with BBC that an animated spin-off to Thomas the Tank Engine was "not necessarily needed, though would be a nice change for the people more interested in animation."

In 2000, following the poor critical and commercial reception of Thomas' first feature-length motion picture debut, Thomas & The Magic Railroad, the team behind the show were skeptical to do an animated spin-off, with them mainly questioning on if it would do well both financially and critically. In the same year, Montreal-based production company L'Equipe Spectra founded the animation division of its company, Spectra Animation, which personalized in Flash animation.

Thomas the Tank Engine series creator Britt Allcroft was in talks with Alain Simard, the head of production at Spectra Animation, on the production of an animated Thomas the Tank Engine series. In agreement, Simard made a deal with Allcroft, and the show began production. While the production began, Spectra also worked on Kid Paddle, one of Spectra's earliest projects since its founding in 2000.

Acquisition of The Britt Allcroft Company by HiT Entertainment (2002-2003)
In May 2002, HiT Entertainment, the London-based company who owned the rights to the stop motion animated television show Bob the Builder, was in talks of acquiring the Thomas & Friends brand along with The Britt Allcroft Company. In July of the same year, the company was acquired for £139 million. With that came changes to the Thomas brand.