This article is about the mini-series. You may be looking for the group of characters.

Jack & the Sodor Construction Company (or Jack and the Pack [1][2]) was a mini-series devised by Phil Fehrle to be a spin-off of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. All thirteen episodes were narrated by Michael Angelis in the UK and Michael Brandon in the US.

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Production

Plans for this mini-series were soon scrapped following HiT Entertainment's takeover, likely due to it being considered too similar to Bob the Builder, the company's existing construction-themed series. Twenty-six episodes were planned, but only thirteen (half of the series) were filmed due to the takeover and budget constraints. The characters of the Sodor Construction Company first appeared in two sixth series episodes, Jack Jumps In and A Friend in Need, which were written as the pilot episodes for the mini-series. On August 24, 2006, a US DVD called On Site with Thomas and Other Adventures was released, containing six episodes of the series. Later, on October 2nd of that same year, a UK DVD called Thomas' Trusty Friends was released, containing eleven episodes of the series, including all the remaining ones that had not yet been released. Since then, The Pack has made appearances in The Great Discovery special and the twelfth series episode Percy and the Bandstand.

Jack returned in CGI form in the 2013 special King of the Railway and appeared again in the second 2015 special Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure, in which Alfie, Oliver, Max and Monty also returned. They have since become recurring characters, and starting with the twenty-third series, new members have started being introduced.

For this series, large-scale models of Thomas, Percy and Trevor were built. Thomas and Percy's models are now on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum in Japan (previously on display at Thomas Town). Trevor is preserved to Twitter user ThomasTankMerch. They also own a 7 plank truck that was used during the show's production.

Episodes

Pilots

Screenshot UK title (top)

US title (bottom) Written by Original UK release date Episode number # Jack Jumps In Phil Fehrle

Jonathan Trueman

Abi Grant 24th September 2002 #01 Jack the front loader is eager to be really useful but foolishly tries to take a load of rocks up a hill himself, leading to disaster. A Friend in Need Phil Fehrle

Jonathan Trueman

Abi Grant 25th September 2002 #02 Ned the steam shovel knocks the keystone out of a bridge. It begins to fall as Thomas approaches it, so Jack tries to hold it up with his bucket.

Completed/Released

Cancelled

Characters

Characters Introduced

Trivia

This series takes place after the events of A Friend in Need, although it was filmed alongside the seventh series in 2003 [3] , but not released until 2006.

, but not released until 2006. This mini-series, if classified as a series in its own right, is the shortest series to date, having only thirteen episodes.

Lots of the episodes had different titles (e.g. Oliversaurus; Who's the Boss; Buster 1, Moles 0; Byron Saves The Day; Nelson Gets Carried Away; Five Easy Pieces; Scaredy Scaredy; Another Fine Mess) but they were renamed to include Thomas or Percy. In fact, only 4 episodes kept their original titles. (Jack Owns Up, The Tortoise and the Hare, Alfie Has Kittens and Mud Glorious Mud).

This is the second series directed by Steve Asquith, following the sixth series.

The opening and closing credits for the spin-off series use the eighth series intro sequence and credit scene.

This series was never shown in Latin America, Brazil, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Indonesia, South Korea, Russia, Norway, Finland, Japan, Greece, Israel, Middle East, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Romania, Sweden or Wales.

Percy's model for this series has red step ladders on the end of his running board instead of green, and his dome is green instead of gold.

Series 21 is also one of the shortest series to date with 18 episodes due to the developement of Big World! Big Adventures! and Series 22 being planned next.

The Official Website, as well as various magazine articles and file facts, state that the Horrid Lorries were "especially built to work at the Sodor Construction Company". It is therefore possible that they may have been originally intended to be a part of the Pack.

This is the only series to feature Alfie's horn sound.

If classified as a series, then this the only series in which where Gordon, James, Henry, Toby and Salty appear, but never speak. Also, if that being the case, this is the only series in which where Toby does not appear outside of stock footage and the only series to date where Edward does not appear.



References



