This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the board book.

Excellent Emily is the eighth episode of the twelfth series.

Plot

Following a terrible autumn storm, many engines are stuck, except for Emily who is the only one to finish her jobs on time and is thus called "excellent" by the Fat Controller. The Fat Controller tells Emily that she must take Trevor from Farmer McColl's to the airport as some metal tanks are blocking the runway, making Jeremy - who is carrying Dowager Hatt - unable to land. Just as the Fat Controller leaves, Murdoch arrives; he is also going to Farmer McColl's and he advises Emily to take the Wellsworth track due to flooding. But Emily refuses and decides to take the forest track as it is much quicker. Emily goes through a flooded track on the forest track which has now made her late, but it does not stop her.

In the forest, Emily meets Thomas, who warns her about a fallen tree on her line and tells her that she must wait for Harvey. But Emily says she does not need Harvey's help, so she finds the tree herself and decides to push it out of the way. However, the tree sticks on her front as Emily pushes it uphill. Once at the summit, the tree rolls out of the way and Emily is now completely covered in leaves but still carries on.

At a junction, Emily meets Duck, who tells her that not only is Trevor waiting for her, but there is danger up ahead; the tracks ahead are very muddy and she must avoid it. But once again, Emily's belief that she is "excellent" causes her to ignore him. Due to this, she carries on regardless which makes Duck worried.

As Emily races through the valleys, she thinks she is nearly at Farmer McColl's. After turning around the final bend, Emily ends up plunging into a damaged muddy flood submerging the tracks. She at first seems to be standing on top of the surface and determines she will easily puff through it, but then, the damaged track collapses from her weight and Emily derails and sinks down deep into the muddy rain water until coming to a stop up to her buffers. Emily is now stuck and does not feel "excellent" anymore, feeling sad for what she did and cries that she will now never get Trevor to the airport. She then sees Murdoch already at Farmer McColl's and realises that she should have listened to him. Whistling to get his attention, Emily apologises to Murdoch, and he pulls her out of the flood and back on track. After collecting Trevor from Farmer McColl's, Emily is about to leave when she remembers to ask Murdoch about which track to take to the airport. Murdoch tells her to take the valley route as Gordon's Hill is still being cleared of fallen trees.

Emily goes along the valley route, but soon sees a telegraph pole blocking her way. Remembering Thomas' advice, Emily waits for Harvey to clear the telegraph pole. Then, at a signalbox, Emily is told by the signalman that the shortcut is muddy; remembering Duck's advice, she takes the longer track. Once at the airport, Trevor clears the runway and Jeremy is able to land at last. The Fat Controller is happy to see his mother and praises Emily again, but Emily tells him that all of his engines are "excellent engines".

Characters

• Thomas
• Duck
• Emily
• Murdoch
• Sir Topham Hatt
• Signalman (not named)
• Gordon (does not speak)
• Harvey (does not speak)
• Trevor (does not speak)
• Jeremy (does not speak)
• Farmer McColl (does not speak)
• Dowager Hatt (does not speak; not named in US dub)
• Henry (cameo)
• Annie (cameo)
• Bulgy (cameo)
• Cranky (cameo)
• Sir Topham Hatt's Assistants (cameos)

Locations

• Brendam Docks
  • Sodor Shipping Company
• The Central Bridge
• McColl Farm
• Sodor Airport
• Wellsworth (mentioned)
• Gordon's Hill (mentioned)

Trivia

• This episode marks the first of a few things for Duck:
  • Not counting a cameo in a tenth series music video, his first appearance overall since the seventh series episode Not So Hasty Puddings and his first appearance in completely original footage since the seventh series episode Peace and Quiet.
  • His first speaking role since the seventh series episode James and the Queen of Sodor.
  • His first major speaking role since the sixth series episode Toby Had a Little Lamb.
  • His first interaction with Emily.
• This episode marks a few things for Murdoch:
  • His first speaking role since the seventh series episode Best Dressed Engine, as well as his last speaking role.
  • His only speaking role in the twelfth series, as well as in the HiT Entertainment era.
  • His only interaction with Emily.
  • His only appearance with a CGI face.
• This episode also marks the first of several things:
  • Dowager Hatt's first appearance in CGI.
  • The first episode to feature Kiyonobu Suzuki in the Japanese voice cast.
  • The first episode since the eighth series episode Emily's New Route where Emily derails and/or gets into an accident.
  • The first episode where an engine cries since the second series episode Dirty Work and the first where tears are not seen.
  • The first episode since the seventh series episode, Peace and Quiet to feature Harvey's chuckling face and its first appearance with a fully painted mouth to resemble a grinning face.
• This episode marks:
  • The second time an engine ignores another engine's advice and derails into water; the first was in the fifth series episode Something in the Air.
  • The third time an engine cries after getting into an accident; the first and second times were in the first series episodes Thomas, Terence and the Snow and Down the Mine.
• This episode marks the only time of a couple of things:
  • The only episode to feature Ryoichi Fukuzawa in the Japanese voice cast.
  • Trevor's only model-CGI hybrid appearance.
• This episode marks the last of several things:
  • Bulgy's last appearance until the twenty-first series episode Unscheduled Stops.
  • Trevor's last appearance until the fifteenth series episode Emily and Dash and the last time he is referred to by name until the twentieth series episode Three Steam Engines Gruff.
  • Trevor and Bulgy's last appearances in the model series.
  • Jeremy's last physical appearance, not counting the TrackMaster model toy of him used in the twentieth series episode Letters to Santa.
  • The final appearance of the Sodor Airport, though it was later mentioned in the twenty-fourth series double length episode World of Tomorrow.
  • The last appearance of Emily's normal and grinning faces and Trevor's laughing face. It is also the last episode (not counting stock footage) where Emily’s face is at its original size.
  • The last episode to feature the original fire engines. Since Day of the Diesels, Belle and Flynn have supplanted their roles.
  • The last appearance of Emily's close-up model.
• Duck gains a Liverpudlian accent while Murdoch gains a Scottish one in the UK dub.
• A rare picture shows Harvey with his CGI face, while the episode shows his grinning face that gained teeth from his chuckling face.
• This episode has similarities to the fifth series episode Something in the Air and the eighth series episode Emily's Adventure.
• The town Emily passes is made up of buildings from Great Waterton.

Goofs

• When Murdoch arrives at Brendam Docks, his steam platform is visible.
• The tracker for Emily's CGI face is visible in the water reflection in both the flooded track and muddy flood.
• When Emily plunges into the muddy flood, one of her crew is not seen in her cab; both of her crew are also completely absent when she leaves the farm with Trevor.
• Emily's driving wheels are not moving when she plunges into the muddy flood and when Murdoch pulls her out of the muddy flood.
• When Emily puffs through a muddy puddle, steam is not coming out of her funnel.
• When Trevor trundles across the runway, his driver is steering him whilst sitting in his coal bunker, which is empty.

Merchandise

Take-n-Play - Emily Stuck in the Brush (discontinued)

Books - Excellent Emily

In Other Languages

Language	Title
Croatian	Izvrsna Ema
Czech	Skvělá Emily
Finnish	Loistava Emilia
French	L'Excellente Emily
German	Ausgezeichnete Emily
Indonesian	Emily yang Hebat
Italian	L'eccellente Emily
Japanese	エミリーはゆうとうせい
Korean	훌륭한 에밀리 (Kids 1) 척척박사, 에밀리 (EBS)
Mandarin (China)	了不起的艾蜜莉
Polish	Wspaniała Emilka
Portuguese (Brazil)	A Excelente Emily
Spanish (Latin America)	Excelente Emily
Vietnamese	Emily Thật Xuất Sắc

Home Media Releases

UK The Complete Series 12 US/CAN/LATAM/BRA Railway Friends US/CAN DVD Boxsets Adventure Pack Full Steam Ahead Extraordinary Engines and Railway Friends Double Pack AUS The Party Surprise The Complete Series 12 AUS DVD Boxsets The Essential Collection MYS The Party Surprise and Other Adventures ZA Team Up with Thomas FRA A New Arrival IND/THA Henry Gets It Wrong JPN Unaired Video Collection (digital download) Digs & Discoveries (Loppi limited release) KOR Thomas the Little Engine and Friends Season 7 Vol. 2 TWN Come On! Thomas HK Thomas & Friends Volume 25 (DVD) Thomas & Friends Volume 43 (VCD)

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