This is a very good explanation! This situation just adds to the fact that the twins are in a high-stake situation (one of them may face the cutter's torch if not kept), which enchances the story in my opinion.

We needed that episode to be seen by the public in full completion to get the full story arc the Scottish twins were meant to have.

Originally, I agreed with the unlucky tug when he said he thinks The Missing Coach was one of the dumbest stories. But after watching this video, I don’t anymore

I have a better theory on what the twins' plan was. It goes like this with in-universe logic. Donald was rostered to take a goods train, Duck and Douglas was allocated to yard shunting at the time of the incident. The Coach is put in the carriage siding, the passengers don't know who did it. The twins swap tenders, leaving Douglas with the No. 9 tender. This is the crucial fact that is completely overlooked, as it was _intentionally_ left uncoupled. Douglas feigns as Donald suffering a defect with his tender, making him unable to take the goods. Donald with Douglas' takes the goods as expected. Now it looks like Douglas couldn't have shunted the Express has he would've been preparing to cover for Donald's goods train; preparing a locomotive for a run takes time. Donald couldn't have done it because of the uncoupled tender. This means only Duck could have shunted the Express with the Special Coach.

One of my favourite episodes of Sodor Retold is the one in which TFC contradicts the narrator by saying something like "Why would I send one back? I got two for the price of one".

TBH, I never did find this story confusing myself. I was kind of baffled by how people thought it was. Nice explanation, BTW.

This was a surprisingly well explained analysis of the Missing Coach and its importance. The lesson about someone owning up to his/her mistakes is the best thing is well presented in the episode itself in the books, and I must say, I really hate the fact that the Twins' introduction was rushed and the said episode was replaced by a Thomas-centric episode.

When the concept of panic is explained with this story, it makes so much more sense! Like outsiders would think it’s a really silly idea, but when you get insight on the twins it makes sense, like if they said: ”We didn’t know what we were thinking, we were so worried we thought the worst of the situation, an apology felt like it would just get us into more trouble”

"Daisy has no action" 😂

I have no idea on who though it was a good decision to have the episode almost completely film, than cancel it last minute, have to adapt another story, restart production, and ends up being just as confusing as The Missing Coach. It be one thing if it was film a little bit and didn’t make it far into production like Gordon Goes Foreign another Season 2 cancel episode, but this was pretty much done so I see your point and agree with it.

Gordon and Henry swapped Tenders in It’s Good to be Gordon.

Oh my God, Thank You! I've been saying this for years. Of Course the plan wouldn't have worked, it was thought out when they were scared. You don't think straight when you're scared.

One funny little thing about this is that as a kid I never heard this story but I in a way made my own version of this plot with my toys. I can’t imagine it being that confusing for that reason. It seems like an obvious plot to make when you have identical twin characters

My opinion is that the twins did the last part wrong. Donald should’ve stayed and Douglas should’ve taken Donald’s train. EDIT: alright, your explanation that the twins weren’t thinking clearly, like a child who thinks they did something bad, makes a lot of sense.

It was probably done because Alcroft wanted more Thomas stories. As she said, "I love having the number 1 engine." Which caused a rift between her and the author.

The best explanation I've seen (and modified) is as follows: Douglas is naturally going to be a nervous wreck, and just seeing the Fat Controller will likely cause him to give away a tell that he was at fault. An involuntary action. The two swapped tenders, so that Donald would pretend to be No. 10. Douglas, pretending to be No. 9, would take the goods train. With No. 9 suffering his tender disconnecting unexpectedly ("Some sort of defect, no doubt."), and No. 10 waiting and suddenly leaving with a goods train ("Perhaps he saw you coming and thought he was late."), neither twin could have been responsible for the mistake. They both had tight alibis. Donald, having done nothing wrong, would have no reason to be panicking (unlike Douglas), and thus would not give any tells. The fat controller seemed to buy the story, and told the passengers to "draw their own conclusions". But once they had left, he made it very clear that he had *not* been fooled. Somehow, someway, he had seen through the ruse, and had only played along to get the passengers to calm down. Of course by the time Douglas returned, his nerves would have been settled. And even if he did give any tells, it would be assumed to be in relation to playing musical tenders with his twin. ...of course, this is all assuming the fat controller hadn't already figured out the whole story as to _why_ it happened in the first place...

The most confusing thing about TMC is why it was cancelled to begin with, not the episode story itself, and you make a great point about other episodes having no action...

I really agree with you such a shame the story was canceled

I personally think that they swapped tenders because if Douglas took the train and they didn't swap tenders,donald would have unfairly got the blame.

Bro spit out facts through those 11 minutes

Thomas and Friends honestly missed an opportunity to have the Missing Coach (and maybe other cancelled episodes) during the CGI series

Never mind about the story being confusing. This was supposed to be the first episode of season 2. With no explanation on duck existing. It makes no sense.

I guess for the intended age demographic the story might be confusing? Though the story is pretty straightforward in its explanation. Regardless, I feel the best way to follow the story if you don't understand it is to get whatever toy trains you have lying around (we'll say TnP Edward and Gordon). Pretend the Edward toy is Donald, and Gordon toy is Douglas. Reenact the story, tender-swaps and all and BOOM, it all comes together. It might be easier to understand when the two characters look different.

BRITT ALCROFT: "The Missing Coach" is too confusing for children. ALSO BRITT ALCROFT: (proceeds to make "Thomas and the Magic Railroad")

I dont think its a good creative choice to just use another brown coach for this special coach. On top of it being impractical for a branch line coach like the one shown to be used on the express, it also just looks funny.

this is what I've been thinking for years

I think the honest problem with what the finalized episode adaption was going to be ended up being potentially “confusing” for children is just the simple fact that unfortunately, the two stories “Hullo, Twins!” and “The Missing Coach” were both gonna be crammed together in one big 4:30 episode. So many details had to be stripped and removed and may not translate well on the TV screen. I do overall think with this in mind, there was a lot of poor planning with this episode story adaption, and alas wasn’t taken into consideration until halfway being filmed. At that, I feel the episode should have been finished regardless because that’s a lot of time and filming completely wasted there, and the opening to “Break Van” with that rushed opening monologue was just terrible.

Finally someone has said it.

As someone who has liked the plot of the missing coach since I was like 9, it’s rlly not confusing They just swapped tenders It’s like twins swapping classes or something

Personally about the missing coach honestly it's not that confusing to me it's just a couple of plots just put into one and I can get that there's no action but I really like the missing coach

What’s really confusing is Four Little Engines airing as the first in the Four Little Engines saga when it’s obviously set at the end, or in the case of this season, Thomas, Percy and the Coal (which has Percy working on Thomas’s branch line) airing before Duck Takes Charge.

They swap tenders because each engine needs an alibi. Douglas (10) needs to be out yard so he couldn't have done it, but Donald (9) doesn't know that the coach got stowed. This means that no. 10 needs to not be around, but Douglas does to explain the situation. Hence the tender switch. Donald leaves as no. 10 to give 10 an alibi, and Douglas stays as no. 9 to explain the situation to Topham Hatt.

I'm with you here. One of my thoughts as to why the twins swapped their tenders is because they fooled The Fat Controller in _Hullo Twins,_ so they thought they could get away with it again. I also think it's funny how the coach itself only acts as a plot device for this story only. It's never mentioned again and not even seen in any illustration, which is odd, given that a lot of Christopher Awdry's books are focused on Thomas.

I wasn't too confused of the episode either.

The reason why allcroft canceled the episode in my opinion is kind of bad that part of the episode wasn’t confusing the actual coach is. This would be the only episode where Thomas has a third coach. If I watched the episode for the first time I would be used to Thomas pulling two coaches and I would be like,” wait what Thomas has three coaches I didn’t see it in season one ?!” When he is back to pulling two coaches I would be confused because it would be the only time that Thomas’ special coach is mentioned. So the tender swapping isn’t too confusing but Thomas mysteriously having a third coach and not ever again would be confusing.but, I would still like the episode and I think canceling it especially that late was a bad idea.

Good explanation. I never found it confusing, and to me, its an Awdry humour thing. The twins in the moment of panic just do the first thing that comes to mind! It could be genius, it could be moronic depending on interpretation, but it just ends up screwing over everybody involved in this comedy of lunacy, except for Duck, because Duck always wins!

Very good explanation, in my opinion would’ve been a great moral for kids to learn back then.

The Deputation has no action. Percy and the Signal has no action. Dirty Work has no action. Another reason this episode isn't confusing is because The Diseasel had Bill and Ben have their nameplates removed to confuse Boco out of revenge for taking their trucks. So how did Britt think The Missing Coach would confuse children, but not think The Diseasel would confuse children?

Why complete an episode then not release it? I would still release the episode especially if i spent hours or weeks shooting it. Just make it a lost episode or add it to a dvd special.

I don’t think the story would’ve been that confusing. So long as you remember that Donald and Douglas have swapped tenders, you can’t go wrong.

I owned up a few times but I still got punished... I never understood why but thats why I lied more than I owned up

It’s confusing because couldn’t Douglas have taken the train with his own tender and Donald stay behind? Since they were trying to act like that’s what was happening anyway? And then Duck could bring up that Douglas was the one who shunted the coaches there for they still get in trouble at the end?

While I can see Britt's point of wanting to cancel The Missing Coach due to it being difficult for younger audiences to understand, I don't agree with the decision. Let's not forget that over a decade later she would produce Thomas and the Magic Railroad, which might as well have been a total flop and in the end lead to Britt selling the franchise to HIT Entertainment. I'm not sure the argument of The Missing Coach being difficult for younger audiences to understand holds up when compared to that...

I 100% agree! I don’t find the story confusing at all, and it, along with Super Rescue and Gordon Goes Foreign have always stuck out to me since they are the only stories written by Wilbert (not counting the stories from Mountain Engines and Little Old Engines) that weren’t adapted to the TVS (that and the three mentioned are extremely good!!). Donald & Douglas are also two of my favourite characters, so it has always sucked that they never had a proper introduction…

There's one thing confusing about the story: who on God's green Earth decided to put a 2 axle coach on the express! Also I've seen the bit about how TFC finds out the mascarading with the tenders pointed to as the cause of the confusion? (Edit: nevermind, numbers are numbers and a disconnected tender is something else entirely

You earned yourself a subscriber I would’ve rather have seen this over Better Late Than Never.

So your explanation for why the episode isn't confusing... is that the twins and their crews weren't thinking straight and made a decision that nobody in their right mind would make? The logic not tracking tracks I suppose, but I still feel that there's a large leap between "if someone feels worried and rushed, they will make potentially strange decisions" and "let's swap the tenders of two steam locomotives, and then send one of them out with a goods train, and have the one that made a mistake play dumb when being talked to by the authority figure". It could work, since Douglas is known to have nerves of steel, ala the Oliver saga, but even still they could have done a number of other simpler things. Good video overall, but could do with some more convincing as to why *that* plan of all plans was chosen.

The only really confusing part about The Missing Coach to me is probably the fact that Thomas suddenly has this special coach to begin with, and that it's coupled to Gordon's express first before being shunted to Thomas's train with people still inside. I mean, it makes more sense if you think about it, but I can easily see why it might come off confusing to children.

I've always been able to understand it

The tender swapping part was dumb.

You could probably do a great Ringo Starr sounding voiceover if you tried.

Two things on this. 1) It depends on the age of the kids. 4-7 year-olds might not get the story. But 8-10 probably would understand what happened. 2) When did Thomas start getting a third coach when he already had Annie and Clarabel? And why was that coach never seen again (even if the episode didn't air?) That would be the only confusing thing? Not what Donald and Douglas did. Other than that, it's definitely a missed episode.

I don't know tho I still think the Deputation is a better episode than this. It was an episode that proved that yes it's the fat controller's railway. But the engines stood up for what was right. I don't believe they should have put it on Percy tho. But glad they all stood by the twins in the end.

Imagine being a Railway Series story trying to get a TV adaptation and you're more boring compared to *COWS*

He’s not wrong the story is just about Douglas be worried he’d be sent away an screws up the special coach with the other coaches the twins crew’s come up with a plan but it fails

I don't think that the Missing Coach is confusing.

They might have thought it was confusing because the Scottish twins don't have nameplates

Yeah, it's really not that complicated. Donald tells Douglas to take his train and then covers for him, stating 'his' tender has a problem. Sir Topham doesn't fall for it, leaving the episode on a cliff-hanger. 'Break van" then starts with a scene explaining that the twins are on 'thin ice" with Sir Topham, with the episode then playing out as it does. it's said that Wilbert wasn't entirely happy with the story so I think a few minor changes like that would have been okay. They basically cancelled a story that Wilbert wasn't quite happy with but was needed (Break van) for one that Christopher thought was rather dull and didn't particulary want to do (Better Late than Never). imagine if they'd done the same with the Duck and Diesel Trilogy.

Great video and explanation!

Personally I think they should have kept this story in the TV series, especially since they were at the last hurdle in getting it completed. Alcroft's decision to cancel because the story lacked action to keep children entertained disregards the important takeaway lessons that children can learn for the real world. For example, The Deputation shows the engines challenging The Fat Controller's authority by putting forward an argument to not send away Donald and Douglas in a civil and respectful manner. The engines don't all gang up on TFC. I do think moral learning points are important in children's stories rather than just creating action packed things for no good reason. What do children learn from stories about runaways or derailments? I hope the T&F head honchos have the episode archived somewhere and have not disposed of it. It would be a good release for the 40th anniversary of the TV series. That's just my opinion anyway. I very much doubt it would happen though.

Awesome video i like it 🧡

Its such a shame

I COMPETELY AGREE

Great explanation

It took me like half an hour to reed the missing coach story😢

I agree.

You showed me the moral of The Missing Coach, which I had never thought about until this video. Thank you for that. The real confusing part of The Missing Coach is the actual coach itself and why it exists. We never see this coach again after Twin Engines, so what was the point of it?

When i first heared "the missing coach" i thought something was wrong but how you sayed it was perfect i didnt get it but how you sayed it i finaly understand

Never mind WHY they swapped tenders: HOW did they swap tenders? How would they be able to move without them?

To be honest, my issue isn’t that it’s confusing but rather it’s pointless, because the missing coach wasn’t brought up again nor did in the second story said that it was found later on (which I kinda wish it was). Another issue with the concept was no context of why the coach was even for Thomas, something I wish we got an episode on so at least it’s justified.

Also, I find the whole idea of shaping tenders to be rather idiotic and makes no sense.

As an adult its not but as a kid i think it would have been

I love your accent.

Britt is just hypocrital becasue she made episodes that would confuse kids

How did i watch this and get more confused

What a lovely video! Another good point is that Donald is the one who was meant to stay, so if the Fat Controller finds out that Douglas makes the mistake and that he wasn't the one who was meant to stay in the first place, he probably would have been sent Douglas away for sure. So Donald pretending to take the blow for his brother was more out of brotherly love.

W

You sound like David Platt off Corrie

Ehh we didn’t really need it