Shining Time Station is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by The Britt Allcroft Company (now Gullane Entertainment, a subsidiary of HiT Entertainment) and Quality Family Entertainment in New York City for New York City's PBS station WNET, and was originally taped in New York City during its first season and in Toronto during the rest of its run. It incorporated sequences from the British television show Thomas & Friends, which was in turn based on a series of books that had been written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The series aired on PBS from January 29, 1989 until June 11, 1993, and then continued on the network in reruns until June 11, 1998.[1][2] It aired on Fox Family from 1998 to 1999. It also aired on Nick Jr. in 2000 and on Canadian television networks such as APTN and SCN. Elements from the show were incorporated into the Thomas and Friends film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Background

After the success of Thomas & Friends in the United Kingdom, Britt Allcroft and her production company teamed up with PBS station WNET in New York City to produce and distribute the sitcom-esque Shining Time Station, every episode of which would include a couple of episodes of Thomas & Friends. The series starred Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Didi Conn, Brian O'Connor, and The Flexitoon Puppets.[3] Ringo Starr, who had already been providing the voice of the storyteller for the British series, agreed to extend the role to include the on-screen character called Mr. Conductor in Shining Time Station. He later left the show and was replaced by George Carlin.

Shining Time Station received critical acclaim. In a review for Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker states that, compared to the faster paced Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, "'Shining Time Station' wants to slow things down. It's an old-fashioned show that creates a gentle, lulling atmosphere to convince children that life is fun and that trains are the way to travel."[4] It was a ratings success as well. In its first season, the show averaged a 0.9 Nielsen rating, translating to about 1.2 million viewers on average.[2] At the peak of its popularity, the show brought in up to 7.5 million viewers per week.[2]

Overview

The Shining Time Station is a train station on the Indian Valley Railroad in an unknown part of the United States of America. It is managed by Stacy Jones. Its workshop is run in the first season by Harry Cupper, and thereafter by Billy Twofeathers. A local named Horace Schemer, simply referred to as Schemer, runs the station's arcade and serves as the series's comic relief. The narrative is driven by regular and incidental visitors to the station.

Mr. Conductor is a tiny man who lives in a signal house inside the station's mural and tells the stories taken from Thomas & Friends to the kids. He also introduces songs to the kids in The Anything Tunnel. Sometimes, he may present a magic bubble to the kids that has the song inside as a way of introducing it. On occasion, the kids may look through a film viewer to see the song or film.

Cast

Series regulars (1989–1995)

Didi Conn – Stacy Jones

Brian O'Connor – Horace Schemer

Season 1 regulars (1989)

Christmas Special characters (1990)

Seasons 2–3 regulars (1991–1993)

Recurring characters (full series; 1989–1995)

Jerome Dempsey - Mayor Osgood Bob Flopdinger

Mart Hulswit - Mr. J.B. King, Esq.

Bobo Lewis - Midge Smoot

Recurring characters (Seasons 2–3; 1991–1993)

1995 Family Specials characters

The Jukebox Band

Jonathan Freeman – Tito Swing The Piano Man

Olga Marin – Didi The Drummer

Wayne White – Tex The Guitarist (1989)

Alan Semok – Tex The Guitarist (1990–1995)

Craig Marin – Rex The Guitarist

Peter Baird/Alan Semok/Vaneese Thomas – Grace The Bass Player (1989)

Peter Baird/Kenny Miele – Grace The Bass Player (1990–1995)

Their songs were produced and arranged by Steve Horelick and co-arranged by Larry Wolf.

Segments

The intro to each episode consists of the main theme song of the show, played to various footage of Union Pacific 844 and beginning credits of the recurring characters. Only the first verse is sung for the beginning theme. The closing credits contain more shots of the 844 and the credits, in addition to the full Shining Time Station theme song.

Flexitoons Puppets & Marionettes - The Jukebox Band - the show's station band that performs a song inside the jukebox. They consist of pianist Tito Swing, drummer Didi, guitarists Tex and Rex (who control the guitar together), and bass guitarist Grace Bass. JJ Silvers is the manager of The Jukebox Band.

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends - Storytellers, Ringo Starr and George Carlin

- Storytellers, Ringo Starr and George Carlin The Anything Tunnel- Inside the anything tunnel, which is the tunnel on the station mural, there is a song with a cartoon, a stop motion clip, or a live action clip. Sometimes instead of the anything tunnel, Mr. Conductor would show a magic bubble or one of the kids look through a film viewer.

Episodes

Series overview

Season Episodes Originally aired First aired Last aired 1 20 January 29, 1989 ( ) June 11, 1989 ( 1989-06-11 ) 2 20 November 18, 1991 ( ) December 27, 1991 ( 1991-12-27 ) 3 25 March 22, 1993 ( ) June 11, 1993 ( 1993-06-11 )

Season 1 (1989)

Season 1 consists of 20 episodes.

Mr. Conductor: Ringo Starr

Christmas special (1990)

Mr. Conductor: Ringo Starr

Season 2 (1991)

Season 2 consists of 20 episodes.

Jason Woliner and Nicole Leach reprise their Season 1 main roles for two episodes.

Mr. Conductor: George Carlin

Season 3 (1993)

Didi Conn has a haircut starting with this season.

Starting with this season, Danielle Marcot was added to the opening credits.

This season consisted of 25 episodes.

Mr. Conductor: George Carlin

TV Family Specials (1995)

Mr. Conductor: George Carlin

Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales (1996)

Mr. Conductor: George Carlin

No. Title Story 1 Story 2 Story 3 Story 4 Story 5 Song Airdate 1 Missing Whistles Bulls Eyes Train Stops Play Percy's Ghostly Trick Thomas, Percy and the Dragon Special Funnel Really Useful Engine October 7, 1996 2 Wildlife Four Little Engines Trouble For Thomas Toad Stands By Thomas Saves The Day Rusty Helps Peter Sam Toby October 14, 1996 3 Wish You Were Here Thomas, Percy and the Mail Train Mind That Bike Home at Last Rock 'n' Roll Thomas and the Special Letter Island Song October 21, 1996 4 For the Birds A Bad Day For Sir Handel Steam Roller Old Iron Double Trouble Bowled Out Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover October 28, 1996 5 Splish, Splash, Splosh Passengers and Polish Gallant Old Engine Bertie's Chase Peter Sam and the Refreshment Lady You Can't Win Gone Fishing November 4, 1996 6 Paint the Town Red Come Out, Henry! Fish Whistles and Sneezes Henry and the Elephant Bulldog Let's Have a Race November 11, 1996

Merchandise

VHS

The beginning of each VHS copy of Shining Time Station (except for Shining Time Station Singsongs, Schemer Presents: The World According to Me, The Jukebox Band: A Day in the Life, and The Jukebox Band: Lullaby) featured a model scale of a typical 1950's drive-in movie theater called the "Shining Time Drive In Movie Theater" with parody commercials before the episode started. Then, after the episode of Shining Time station was shown, a short segment known as "Schemer Presents!" was shown. Each segment featured Schemer and he taught the viewers how to do something and have someone help him. Afterwards, the announcer wishes everyone a safe drive home. The Drive-In segments were created by Chip Lord & Mickey McGowan.

'Tis a Gift

Sweet and Sour

Stacy Cleans Up

Schemer Alone

Bully for Mr. Conductor

Becky Makes a Wish

Billy's Party

Schemer's Special Club

Mr. Conductor's Evil Twin

Shining Time Station Singsongs

Schemer Presents: The World According to Me

The Jukebox Band: A Day in the Life

The Jukebox Band: Lullaby

Books

A book, titled This Old Band, was written by Britt Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. It featured the Juke Box Band and was published by Quality Family Entertainment in 1994.

References