Playing with Tone - Duncan Gets Spooked 

You know what I've noticed about people's view on Thomas outside the fandom? On one side, some people believe that Thomas is a brainless baby show, while on the other side of the same coin, some people believe Thomas is "too scary and dark" for kids. It's actually kind of insane.

Can we all just point to videos like this as examples of how deep Thomas really is for when others say "wha, you still LIKE that stupid baby show?"

Stepney Gets Lost is a close second for me. The ominous greys, the hellish reds, the industrial activity, everything sells it. The music in particular, from the moment the fog kicks in, REALLY sells the tension. Screw the clickbait articles and videos. Spooky trains are cool.

Season 5 was the most fascinating season yet.

When I was a toddler, I was completely terrorized by Tyrannosaurus Debt in School House Rock. I actually ended up having a dream where he snuck into my room and bit my feet. His size, eyes, the musical score, and especially his toothy grin is what got to me the most. But after growing up, I can look on that cartoon as a funny childhood memory, that even pounded in my head about American Debt. This was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this video.

This was one of my favorite episodes as a kid, and still is to this day. Like Tug said, I love how it's left up to the audience whether or not Rusty's story is true. And of course, the visuals and music are amazing. I feel like more shows aimed at kids are finally starting to allow scarier content, but they've still got a long ways to go.

I’m 29 and I *still* keep my eyes shut on the ghost engine falling into the ravine.

I lately felt the story of 'Duncan Gets Spooked', and the Old Iron Bridge, could so easily have fit nicely into the fabric of Duke's Old Railway in Season 4; it feels so perfect. You could easily swap Rusty and Duncan for Duke and Sir Handel/Falcon, with Peter Sam/Stuart still involved in the primary act since he counted, and it feels so seamless a change. Knowing Duke's gift for telling a story to keep younger engines in line from 'Granpuff', it would hardly be far-fetched for Duke to come up with the legendary fallen engine as a warning message to Falcon when the latter - true to his Season 4 character - belittles Stuart for causing an accident. The story would have been more riveting if it was said to happen not long before Duke's Old Line closed for good, reinforcing the sense of neglect and run-down state that would have definitely anchored the key beats of the plot. Just think of how ingenious a coincidence that is. Regards, Samuel Farris.

Duncan Gets Spooked is awesome and I’m so glad it got some much deserved love.

Personally, the two Thomas episodes that scared me the most were Duncan gets Spooked and Scaredy Engines. Duncan gets spooked scared me because of the amazing and creepy music, and visuals. As for Scaredy Engines, once again, it scared me because of the music and visuals. But also, the scene where Thomas set off an old steam whistle and got scared also scared me at the same time. To be honest, I really do miss these days where Thomas experimented with Tone, and that's the biggest reason why Season 5 is my favorite Thomas season.

I couldn't stop having nightmares for weeks after i first saw this as a kid. Even now as a grown ass man it still creeps me out. Duncan Gets Spooked is THE scariest episode of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends period. Sorry Haunted Henry. It really is pathetic how companies treat kids as total idiots these days, not allowing them the choice of genre to enjoy and get lost in. Kids TV is practically nothing now but a blizzard of poorly written, cheaply animated cash-grab crap that teaches nothing other then *Make Friends & Be Happy* but what they're too stupid to realise is that kids are gonna be greatly surprised when they learn life isn't as simple as that. I literally see no reason why today's generations can't grow up with the same stuff we had in the 80s, 90s & Early 2000s.... such magical times for all of us. 📺🥰

What I like most about "Duncan Gets Spooked" is that it leaves a lot of room for speculation and headcannons. Not only that, it creates opportunities for creativity. I know someone who created the idea that Proteus, the little engine that was never touched on more that 3 times in the hit series, was the engine who fell off the bridge in Rusty's story. Honestly, I love that we get to experiment with creative explanations and ideas for the portrayal of ghost engines in the classic series of Thomas. It adds value to the series as a whole.

You're right Unlucky Tug, kids do need to be scared sometimes, we all do.

What a episode, a truely rememberable one for the unlucky tug

I appreciate your use of Humanity Pt. II from The Thing in this video, simply perfect.

The playing with tone video you did for Duncan Gets Spooked was very well done and a favorite video of mine you've done.

Glad your back

One of my favorite Tug vids, good to see its triumphant return.

Glad I decided to subscribe yesterday after watching your video about your misfortune and perseverance. As for this video itself, I can agree with how eerie it was as a kid. To be honestly, for me the most disturbing part of the ghost train was the music and slow-motion of the bog pit sloshing. Back then, I assumed the mire ATE the ghost train whole!

I was 5 years old and got the best of Percy VHS.I remember being on the edge of my seat during the starting portion of the Percy's ghostly trick episode. It didn't scare me or anything, but the eerie night set, the music with the fog visuals really stuck with me.

Best episode by far. Good luck with the appeal.

I love how you used "The thing soundtrack" for this video. Great fit for the tone you're going for.

This video really got me into the Thomas Show's beautiful early soundtrack.

My opinion on the story Rusty tells Duncan is that the part of an engine falling off the Old Iron Bridge could very well be true, especially if the rails hadn't been maintained regularly. On other hand, I believe that the ghost element was just made up to spook Duncan as a way of teaching him to be a little more considerate of another's situation and that the mist was simply distorting the glow produced by the fireflies and playing tricks on him.

The opener for this video works even better as a re-upload

Such a pity that the CGI series didn't play with spooky and dark tones with less light hearted. It would be perfect.

The thing that creeped me out the most about Duncan Gets Spooked was that discordant “Weeeeeeeeeeerrrr.” 8:48 In the soundtrack after the narrator says, “But he never reaches the other side.”

This is still one of my favourite episodes for the music, ambience and just overall tone as Tug discusses. Even watching this now takes me back to seeing it as a 5 to 6 year old and being utterly terrified by the story. Even now as a 25 year old this gives me goosebumps!

Ghost Train is my absolute favorite episode just for my thoughts on it when I was a kid. I was so shook by when they scared Thomas and the atmosphere and tone was just so eerie, I had never seen anything like that as a kid before then. After that I didn't watch it much since I was so shook by it, but then rewatched it when I was about 12. Since then, every rewatch I had of that episode, I loved it more and more. If this was that episode for me, it would be my favorite, but I unfortunately didn't watch it until I was around 13 since I didn't have a good way to watch Season 5 up to that point. Still a fantastic episode though, and I wish more shows would do this more.

This is why I love the original series

0:04 AMONG US

To this day, this episode still haunts me. I love it, obviously, but the visuals and music will always stick with me. The "Duncan Gets Spooked Suite" just unlocks some primal fear as I brace myself for some kind of scare, whether it be a cheap jumpscare or nightmare inducing visual. It's Baby's First Horror Story in the best way possible.

The music in Duncan gets Spooked, especially the music that plays during Rusty’s story, still gives me chills to this day.

Spook

The music is what terrifies me the most about this episode, the music just sends chills down my spine to this day

I recon your going to get more views soon within a matter of weeks because there was a lot of people that were upset that the channel was taken down

in the beta production we saw in the mistakes and deleted scenes of season 5, you can see when duncan goes to the bridge, you can see the story was REAL.

I love the usage of Ennio Morricone's score for "The Thing".

This episode scared the heck out of me as a kid. I had the Spooks and Suprises VHS in the late 90s so I watched this, Rusty and the Boulder, Haunted Henry, Toby's Discovery etc. over and over.

Remarkable

An episode I would find really scary as a kid is when the workmen go inside the tunnel in Henry and the elephant and that elephant trunk coming out of the darkness and the workman screaming Help!! Always scared the shit out of me 🤣

One episode that scared me as a kid was Percy’s Ghostly Trick. That one scene of the abandoned farmer cart on the line knowing that Percy was somewhere down the line bound to collide with it have me chills

Duncan Gets spoked is one of my favorite episodes of all time

The first time I watched the episode, I was scared shitless, but for me, no episode beats Haunted Henry and Stepney Gets Lost

My Narrow Gauge OC’s always make sure to watch out for Ghosts, no matter what gauge or size.

Ah remember this episode it probably intrigued me more then scary wanted to know who was the engine that fell, what happend to its crew, and was it real sitting or in all in duncan head. The music also add to the spooky theme one of the best theme by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell IMHO.

The true cinematic experience that season five had

spoopy

I liked this video

I keep hearing the trumpets during the Ghostbusters instrumental at the beginning and I can't stop hearing Super Ghostbusters

This episode always gave me nightmares as a kid and ironically, it got me back into the show after I grew out of it. I had a dream about this episode in 2016 and while Duncan was on the bridge, instead of seeing the ghost, he just randomly told me to get back into the show. I took his advice needless to say

Myths & Legends.

I wonder if The Old Iron Bridge Engine could work as being the Skarloey Railway’s original #4 and Proteus as the original #3 (saying they were real) before Sir Handel and Peter Sam arrived on it, I don’t think they’d work as being engines on the Mid Sodor Railway since it seemed implied they were on the Skarloey Railway anyway and how Skarloey knew Proteus, Peter Sam obviously didn’t know about him and if he did then Duke would’ve told him while on the Mid Sodor.

My family says I was scared of Thomas when I was little, and I can't exactly remember why. I think it was Diesel 10.

one of the best thomas ep

If it wasn't for episodes like 'Duncan gets Spooked' we wouldn't have fan-made creations like 'A Dark Night for Bert' & 'the horrors at Hawin Lake" for example

When you add the deleted scenes from the behind-the-scenes, this episode really is one of the scariest ones ever.

Huh tug redid the what if things how cool all of these were awsome

This episode scared the crap out of me as a kid and the remakes still kind of do…………..

Back

Hearing about your dragon story made me think about some of my once traumatic moments I saw on tv as a child that I now laugh about. One is the infamous THX logo, which I now jokingly call my “childhood nemesis” because of how frequent I used to see those bumpers as a kid. But another one is the also infamous scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the bad guys open the ark. One evening, my little childhood self couldn’t sleep or even stay in my room, so I went to the living room because I wanted my mommy. Coincidentally, I walked into my parents’ movie night… at the perfect time where those bad guys were about to open the ark! Long story short, I was unsurprisingly terrified of what I just witnessed… but nowadays, I considered it as hilarious karma. It wasn’t any of the filmmaker’s(or even Hollywood) fault, nor was it my parents! That incident serves me right for barging into my parents’ movie night instead of just going to bed or at least entertain myself with my toys 😂

This episode scared the HELL out of me when I was a kid. If I were to make a video of the things that scared me as a kid, Duncan gets spooked would easily take number 1.

This episode scared the crap outta me as a kid.

I'm gonna be honest with you, a little over a decade ago I saw the scary episodes and I like them except for one because of the music. When I saw it I just plain out didnt like it until a video I came across called Percy and the Ghost Diesel use the same music over again. I'm not gonna joke with you, I was upstairs, alone, with the lights one, but it was nighttime and it really scared the shit outta me, now that I'm older and experienced alot of horror I'm no longer scared. I did try to find the video that was my first demon but I couldn't find it, I might one day and face the thing that scared me the most

3:50 Funny thing is that shot wasn’t the thing that scared me. I’d seen the dragon before in a picture book so it didn’t scare me. It was the sequence after it. The intense slasher-esque music, the glowing dragon appearing out of the darkness, all building up to scaring the living scrapyard out of Percy. Every time that section came on, I always left the room. To paraphrase, it wasn’t the dragon itself that scared me, but the music that came with it. It makes me wonder if sound can be scarier than sight.

As a kid I always found the concept of a spirit of a train crossing the bridge but never making it across to be disturbing.

I Like Comidy In Thomas And Friends And The Spooky Ones Like Duncan Gets Spooked it is Amazing

I can relate because diesel in the model series always freaked me out as a child so much that I ran into another room anytime I saw him making a creepy face now though I have no clue why I was scared of him

If I may, Tug: I think there is one episode of the Brenner Era that gives off the same vibes as Duncan Gets Spooked. And that would be Flatbeds of Fear. The episode does explain later on that the noise following the engines was just the wind blowing through the pipes, but there are a few elements that convinced me otherwise. In Salty's story, we see a flashback of the flatbeds breaking away from the engine, and at the beginning and end, we catch a glimpse of the mysterious flatbeds lurking in the shadows, unseen. So, that noise may have been the wind blowing through the pipes, but then again, perhaps it really was the Flatbeds of Fear. Those might have been flatbeds being pulled by another engine, but they don't directly state it, making us wonder if the story is really true.

While I do respect this episode and always found it eerie as a kid, the episode I always found frighting was "Rusty and the Bolder". The fact that it was implied that that thing was ALIVE and would actually GO AFTER (and possibly stalk) both the engines and the quarry is legitimately frightening to me. It implies that there are certain parts of the island that were never meant to be found. Places that should have been left... alone.

5:15 Halloween from Season 8 has a ghost engine (and even a real CGI ghost) too as well as few various NON Classic episodes.

I like to think the engine that died was Proteus

Seasons 3, 4, and 5 were in the same leagues as Coco, Soul, Up, The Iron Giant, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Rango.

For me, as a kid, the scariest thing in a TTTE episode was when Duke was put in the shed slowly buried alive by erosion. Now, it doesn't bother me, but back then, I could barely keep my eyes open at that scene.

The spooky season is amongus bum bum bum bum bum bum bummmmmm budadum

There is deleted scene from this episode where Duncan makes it to half of the bridge and then the ghost of engine appears all silver,it comes right in front of Duncan and yells,then a scary face with no eyes appears on the engine and Duncan tells his driver to take him back,when he goes back the ghost dissappears,his driver asks him is he spooked and he says that he's asleep,when his driver wasn't looking he opened his eyes and it points to the moon.

ayyy am early

Adaline The Phantom Engine Series is based on Duncan Gets Spooked

If this was a story in the railway series, then Rusty would probably just flat out say once Duncan left that he made the story up, and we would’ve gotten an explination for the fireflies,

I couldn't watch Stepney Gets Lost for the longest time.

I sometimes get a little spooked by the episodes like Ghost train Percy and The dragon etc.

As a Kid I was always scared of Troublesome Trucks Faces Especially the large Van faces.

Kids need to get scared every now and then. because if we never get scared then we never learn to brave.

Proof that this show is not solely for kids.

I'm sorry you got the shaft

I'm glad I didn't see this episode for the first time until I was almost 19, but at the same time, I'm a bit disappointed, too. Was this episode included on the ''Spills and Chills'' DVD? If so, we always turned it off after Toby's Discovery and Rusty and the Boulder and never watched anything more because it was ''too scary''. I really wish my parents gave me a second chance as a kid, and how I'd think of the episode today, all those years later.

Positive comment

Speaking of fear was I the only one who muted the tv and got scared when James screamed when he got stung by the bee? No? Just me? Well then…

This episode scared the daylights out of me when I was 5 years old and it traumatized me until I was 14. I guess you could say I got more spooked than Duncan 😂

How to fix The Phantom Express.... 1. If showing visuals of the ghost engines from the engine's point of view just like in the model series, reuse the models of one of the Logging Locomotives or Charlie, the most hated characters in the fandom to poke fun at them. 2. Add ambiguity to the story. 3. Add some gnarly trees and fog to the scenery.

Some people likes to be scared sometimes.

2:39 that Child should not be diong that he isvprobably blind at this point...

The phantom express could be Duncan’s ghost engine. I’m not joking.

it's funny the very first Thomas season I saw was season 5 and when I saw Duncan get spook I was like ok I was't scared. it's funny to me also the fire fly's gosht look like smugder so my theory is that was smudger's gosht

Is Jack and the Pack part of the Classic or NON-Classic Series?

00:02 Amog us

"More times than not, episodes end with the characters all laughing. Once you notice it, you'll never un-notice it." Paw Patrol endings in a nutshell. Austin Powers: "HELP! I'm stuck in this nutshell! How did I get in this nutshell?!" In all seriousness though, considering that both Paw Patrol & Bob the Builder were created by the same person, it makes me wonder what if we got a "Duncan Gets Spooked!"-esque episode in Paw Patrol! Would've been something interesting & new!

They might not be fireflies in some ghost legends ghosts can take the form of balls of light so I think the ghost story is true.

What is wubba😊 are you calling it a dog toy?????😂

I feel like the HiT Era played with tone better than the Brenner Era to an extent. Just look at episodes like Thomas to the Rescue, Squeak Rattle and Roll, Percy's Big Mistake, The Magic Lamp, Halloween, etc.