What happens when Thomas becomes Public Domain? 

Tbh with how much fan content of thomas exist on RU-vid alone feels like thomas was public domain for a long time

Just imagine it. - Writers: The Unlucky Tug, Victor Tanzig & Enterprisingengine93 - Animators: Wildnorwester & Mainland Studios - Music Composers: Luke Pickman & UpsideNow THIS COULD BE MORE AMAZING THEN THE MARC FORSTER MOVIE!!!!!

I can already see it now. When Thomas becomes public domain, we won't even go a whole day before a studio announces a horror movie named TRAIN or something.

I mean, Thomas may as well already be in the public domain considering Mattel lets pretty much all fan content stay on RU-vid. And there already are dark and edgy projects like Shed 17 or Sodor Fallout

If Thomas goes into Public Domain, We’re finally free from Mattel.

Honestly public domain is really only relevant for merchandise and marketability. As far as the media is concerned, it's largely irrelevant because, despite not being marketable, Thomas' fandom has still attracted MANY talented artists, actors, and animators. Sudrian Afro alone has composed all the old themes AND tons of original music.

*Closes book* yeah, like that's ever gonna happen.

i'd expect much more parodies, and much more fan content based on the railway series

i think that if thomas becomes public domain, not much will really change. although i bet that content creation will become easier we wont have to worry about content being taken down by mattel

I was just thinking about the day Thomas would enter public domain as well! Hopefully, by the time that happens, the horror aspect of public domain will have diminished. But who knows. A faithful adaptation to the books is entirely possible as you suggested.

Thomas becoming public domain would probably be for the better given how amazing this community is. Although it would probably still lead to the crappy cash grabs from outside companies.

I expect a low-budget horror parody announced day one.

Richard III got a WWII-styled adaptation in 1995 made possible by the public domain. In the hands of a creative genius, we could see a Thomas adaptation where the stories are set closer to the Golden Age of Steam than in canon and before WWII even or a retelling of the original book but with the adage of historical hindsight; giving the books more of that historical texture.

If Thomas The Tank Engine enters the public domain I will write into books called “The tales of Sodor”

If Thomas the tank engine gets horror movies or games in the public domain . I will snap myself out of existence . Thomas and friends was nostalgic for me. I dont want horror movies and horror games based on Thomas the tank engine

I'd love to see what the fandom could do with Thomas as public domain

Actually, the UK copyright laws aren't the same as the US copyright laws. In the US, a work becomes public domain after 95 years regardless of the work's origin. This means that in 2041 will be when the first book goes public domain for the US. 2042 on the other hand is when the blue boi himself goes into the public domain.

You know, by 2067, I'll be nearing retirement! Maybe I'll know a lot more about Thomas then.

The thing is we aren’t exactly sure how well the fandom or general public perception will retain in 30-40 years. That’s enough time for Mattel to do like 5 Thomas reboots. Another issue is, that will probably be amidst what I am coining right now, “The Big IP Craze” where so many iconic IPs and stories are entering the public domain that it creates a very chaotic period for entertainment. Characters from DC comics, Disney, looney tunes, ect will quickly become free. This could mean a new explosion of nostalgia for those series that survive the test of time but it could also mean people get tired of older IPs entirely due to oversaturation of franchises leaning on names (think superhero fatigue mostly caused by marvel oversaturating the market).

Either he gets the justice he deserves, or the same generic horror shit.

While the original series and AEG won’t be public domain until after our lifetime, the original railway series illustration’s being ours is something to look forward to later down the track.

Same thing that’s been going on ever since the first Thomas fan laid eyes upon season 6 and decided it better if he tried his hand at the regulator… …and then proceeded to drive it with utmost excellence, while Mattels current ‘engine’ continues to suffer steaming issues and frequent derailments and Mattel decided to try and paint it up as a fully functional loco (which itself is loco).

I’ll be 57 by the time 2067 happens Man, I’ll be old

YES!! Get the Fandom together and create Thomas in our own way. Show Mattel how to create a Good Thomas Series and rub our success in their ugly faces! With so much raw talent waiting to be let out, Thomas becoming a public domain, and the entire Fandom coming together over this could be the greatest thing to ever happen to the Thomas name since the Railway Series books!

It should also be mentioned that trademarks don't expire, and "Thomas The Tank Engine" is something Mattel has likely trademarked. So you couldn't call any of your products under that name. You can still call him Thomas, but not "Thomas The Tank Engine." It's the same with Mickey Mouse. It should also go without saying, but when the TRE and TTTE go Public Domain, it'll most likely only apply to the original illustrations by William Middleton and Reginald Payne at first. This means you'd only be able to use the versions of the characters as seen in those books only.

Never thought I’d make a cameo here 😂

We can make the model series we always wanted

Here’s a simple answer from me: we would not only celebrate, but make so many amazing content about Thomas like it’s back to the 80s - 90s. What about that? but I still like this theory.

I’ll see you guys in the 2060’s when I finally make my own train-with-face series then have the characters travel to the Island of Sodor for an arc of episodes then leave afterwards.

Good points! I've always wanted to see a live-action version of Thomas that's nicely produced, like a well-made period drama set in the 1950s with Thomas and the whole railway on Sodor, so it has the fantastical element of talking trains but aside from that everything else is quite realistic compared to now, with tweaks to accommodate for this alternative universe where mechanical machines are alive. It'd be awesome seeing the characters as live action engines and vehicles, and with a supporting cast of distinguished actors as the staff. Ciarán Hinds would make an amazing Sir Topham Hatt.

Considering that it practically is in Public Domain with Mattel's idiocy and the fandom's reach, I wouldn't be worried.

Well we've gotten those season 5 rushes from ThomasTankMerch

I just hope this doesn't mean people will make Sodor Fallout and Shed 17 movies😒

Will be very old people by then when these franchises get Freed.

2067 is a long way off, yes. By that point, many of the fans that have grown up with the show in the 90's and the 2000's, (Myself included) would be in our senior years! (e.g. 2005 borns would be 62 by the time the RWS enters the public domain). As a writer of a book about sentient talking vehicles, which was written with the style of the RWS in mind, yet taking my own spin on things (being set on a farm in Australia instead of the Island of Sodor) I've always had it in my head that my series happens to be one in the same canon as the RWS, just on the other side of the world. Unfortunately, in this instance I'd have to wait until 2067 for me to officially state that "Sodor exists in [x] project" If I ever get to see that glorious day when it does enter the public domain, you can count me in as one of the writing crew, to keep Awdry's legacy alive!

Can't wait to see what horror movie idea people come up with when thomas hits public domain

you forgot that "Oswald the lucky rabbit" was once public domain and some of the "Winnie the pooh" characters too

What I'm curious of is, in addition to what could, or will, happen when Thomas enters the Public Domain, what will happen when other train-themed stories (like The Little Engine That Could) enter the Public Domain?

I would love for ThomasTankMerch to show us rushes of The Missing Coach

Well we’ll all be old or at least middle aged by 2067 (being born in 2004 I’ll be 63 if I’m still around by then) so who knows what the younger Thomas fan generation by then will do with it (if there even is much of it then), imagine me seeing how it goes with my grandchildren and wondering wtf is going on if something dumb is happening though in May 2045 for the 100th anniversary of the whole franchise I’ll only be 40 before turning 41 in June Hopefully All Engines Go will end and they’ll go back to the original continuity starting from where they left off

If that does somehow end up happening, I would make a sort of "semi reboot" of The Railway Series books to add some characters like some of TULT's take on some TV characters if they were in the RWS. And make a book which is a canon version of Thomas and The Evil Diesel but make it a redemption arc for Diesel called "North Western Redemption" even make the missing books that were never made and rewrite "Centenary" to feel like a conclusion to the original saga of books with a added total of 50 books and then make a series that serves as a continuation after 2011 called "The Railway Series: Adventures Of Really Useful Engines" and it would continue on from 2011 to now and beyond.

That is a good video! Seeing fans take over Thomas when it hits public domain and doing their own production, I can see that happening and that is a long way away to 2067. Who know maybe when All Engines Go ends maybe we could see a revived series and if there was a revived series, I would want to keep in continuity with the classic tv series.

5:31 That's why I didn't want Disney to lose the rights of my favorite Disney character

If that happens, i would bring back Thomas and Friends Roleplay

I quite like the research put into this video, Mechanical Shed. Though if I were to make a Thomas franchise once Thomas enters the public domain in the 2060's. No matter how old a lot of us will become or have died by the time Thomas does enter the public domain in 2067 (UK copyright laws or otherwise), I would gladly make it purely out of respect and love and something for all children and adults to enjoy (like Bluey, Adventure Time, Animaniacs, SpongeBob, Bob the Builder, etc.) and not for the sake of acting just as egotistical as the rest of the fandom or Mattel respectively. But I would rather let someone else do that for me as long as I enjoy it, and not see it become worse than the reboot that must not be named or those abominable 75th anniversary RU-vid-exclusive miniseries shows that nobody remembers or even likes.

Can’t believe I’ll be 70 when Thomas enters the public domain!

This is very complicated. I still think why we fans could be the downfall!

Honestly you talking about this gives me hope and a little worry when the time dose come

This is a quite terrifying thing to think about… Thomas entering public domain could lead to some unfortunate things, such as bad horror movies and video games…

I can't wait until our favorite Tank Engine and the others become public domain

You should also include TATMR and Shining Time Station on that list. I'd love to make a TTTE/ Shining Time Station reboot/ continuation, but by the time STS comes to the public domain, yeah I'll be long gone.

I am not a lawyer, but I understood that copyright expiry was the first day of the year after 70 years after death - for a death in 1997, this would be 1 January 2068.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a redux of the HIT era season that instead stuck to and followed the season 5/6 quality, still maintain some of the new characters such as Emily, Salty, etc, and embellish on the ones that became more mainstream in the 8-12 era, such as Rosie or whatever. So many engines were brought in for exactly one episode and were never heard from again. As for the cgi, I’d love certain things to be kept, like Hero of the Rails, but all in model form….

This is exactly what I was thinking about a few weeks ago

Funny thing really, I've said, in my tweet very long while ago, which I was unable to find it now, but I said. If Thomas entered Public Domain, the Fandom or perhaps Project Tiger Moth, or even better Whitehousefilms would resume T&F with Series 25. It would be very impressive to imagine that the show would aired from television S1-24 to RU-vid S25-present.

Thanks for making this! I was really wondering when Thomas becomes public domain... So basically the fandom has to come together to create a non-profit organization to continue production of Thomas after it enters the public domain And I also really hope more of Mattel's 3D models and scenes from Thomas get leaked because greedy corporations should not be respected.

Good to know that I won't have to worry that much about reaching 60 since I'll be 35 by the time John Kenney's version of Thomas and the others reach public domain.

If Thomas became public domain, I'd create a CGI Classic-Series Styled show and do the following: 1. Add more realism to the world, like in TUGS. 2. Add more British Characters. 3. Show the Peel Godred Branch with its electric engines. 4. Adapted more of the RWS stories, history, and lore. 5. Reposition locations from the model series to where they'd be located in the RWS, with a few exceptions. Just to name a few.

Liked the engine discourse format 5:00

My honest opinion about this video i would support Thomas going into the public domain as we all know what mattle has done with the brand/franchise.

Good stuff

What i am gonna do once Thomas becomes Public Domain: Make a Horror film of him vs Timotht

So there is going to be a long wait before Thomas becomes public domain. I'll be an old man then in my 60s! Overall, I agree with you, while I defiantly fear what people who hardly know anything about Thomas, by this I mean those not in the fandom or those who say Thomas creeped them out, or it's fascist blah blah blah, will do the characters, we can't deny that there is plenty of headache with in the fandom itself that will cause more clashes than what we already have now once the copyright expires in 2067. Overall, the fandoms greatest enemy is ourselves and I don't think there is much we can do than what we already do and that is putting our talents to use from the inspirational, magical island that is Sodor. And here is something else, what about TUGS going public domain? That's something else to think about!

I could already be a grandfather by the time it enters the public domain Dear god

Oh I have an idea! 🎶Mickey on a railway picking up stoneeees👆 🎶

If Thomas Became public domain. It would finally be in the safe hands of its loyal fandom.

I can see it now Voice Actors - TheRealTrampy Music - Milo The Otter Or Upside Now Models And Sets Made By - FlyingPringle Writers - The Unlucky Tug And The Real Trampy Now That Would Be Amazing

Technically Thomas would've been in the pubic domain back in 2015.

7:19 I hope I'm still alive to support this idea.

In my opinion, even though I am so against the idea of having Thomas in a horror genre once the series enters the Public Domain, but I do believe there are good things that could happen if there are studios doing their own spin on the series. After all, I've seen really cool AUs that fans did to make me feel this way.

Personally, I've always wanted to make a love letter to Awdry, by making a railway series origin story, but from the perspective of Awdry as a child, and the Island of Sodor being real (just without the talking trains).

To be fair, with the way the Thomas Fandom treats the Thomas property, he already is public domain.

The last Sherlock Holmes stories became public domain last year. Seeing what happens to Holmes in the next couple years might be a much better indicator of pop culture’s reaction to public domain than the things with ties to the mouse house.

I'm surprised there was not a mention of the Cursed Thomas or Shed 17 creepypastas that's been floating around online. They are examples of how Thomas The Tank Engine could potentially meet the same fate Winnie the Pooh and Mikey Mouse upon entering the public domain. Come 2067, there would be nothing illegal about adapting such nightmare fuels into commercially distributed movies.

That sound like a long time for it

i hope someone ends up 'remaking' that scrapped movie that was set during ww2. An open world video game would also be sick af, imagine going across sodor and maybe a little into the mainland it would be so fire.

Honestly, i think tje most well see for the first deacde or so after it enters the public domain is remakes of already popular fan projects like victor tanzigs stories of sodor and wildnorwesters sodor the early/modern years series. And we will most definitely see horror adaptations, considering alot already exist. I think the 3 that will likely get adaptations first will be Timothy, shed 17 and sodor fallout.as again, their already popular. A big studio or 2 will definitely try and make their own cash grab movie, but remakes of fan adaptations will certainly be the dominant pieces of content we get when this happens

It’s a crying shame that we gotta wait so long to get Thomas in the public domain. Like I’ll be almost 60 by then

We shall revive the Glory Days of the Model Era

5:16 ayy is dat ma boy ninos duncan?

If there's a movie, I got a whole voice cast. ( just note that this list does not obey the word "budget", nor does it notice that some people on this list may be dead ) Thomas - Tom Holland Edward / Duck - Stephen Manghan Henry - Russel Saradier Gordon / The Fat Controller - Peter Weller James - Chevy Chase Percy / Donald & Douglas / Bill & Ben / Jack / Peter Sam - Robbie Williams Toby - Rutger Hauer Oliver / Alfie / Stepney - Lee Evans Diesel 10 - Tom Baker Emily / Daisy / Annie & Clarabel - Joanna Lumley Toad / Rheneas - Jim Broadbent Molly - Alex Kingston Rosie - Amber Salisbury Bertie - Andrew Brent Diesel / Salty - Kellen Goff George - Clint Walker Bulgy - Matthew Lillard Spencer - Sir Patrick Stewart Neville - David Near Cranky - Bruce Campbell Arry & Bert - James Cagney Carly - Amanda Tapping Billy / The Thin Controller - Richard Dean Anderson Charlie - Michael Shanks Murdoch - Michael Rosen BoCo - Timothy Busfield Mavis - Tara Strong Arthur / Dodge - Richard Hammond Duncan - David Tennant Bear - Christopher Judge The Works Diesel - Steve Buscemi Flying Scotsman - Mark Edward Fischback City of Truro - Josh Hutcherson Dennis - John Hannah Norman / Splatter - Kevin J. O'Connor Merlin - Dean Jones Derek - Keith Gordon Den - James Coburn Dart - John Stockwell Oliver ( excavator ) - Joseph Pelling ( damn, that took a while )

If it does become public domain, it means i will get the romanian dubs of the first 4 episodes of s6

We will be alot older by the 2060's, perhaps in our 60's 70's or 80's, but if we do make it then, it'll be intersting to see what will happen.

Technically, the three railway engines book is on public domain by English copyright law, so...

And I thought the Railway series would be in the domain in 2039 and 2040!

11:45 “at the end of the day, I don’t think any of that will become public domain in our lifetime” It will be in mine!

i get ur points i really do but u do have to think how many shows if one would be picked up by different companies as u said thomas isnt as ionic as there most likely would be a over saturation of the market

We need a law to prevent horror movies based on existing IPs entering the public domain. But what I think the fandom needs to do to save Thomas from Mattel and AEG is to do a kick starter to purchase the franchise considering we have the talent to make stuff like the early seasons when Mattel does not.

I don’t want Thomas to be in the public domain! Otherwise, someone will make a horror movie out of him!

I mean, people already make adult dubs of Thomas through George Carlin's comedy or original dubs like the videos made by Trampy.

I would like someone to make a Thomas film that shows us what was going on on sodor in ww2

By the time that happens everyone's gonna be grown.

On one hand, Thomas would be free of Mattel's clutches, as Mattel had been horribly mistreating him since late 2017. On the other hand, Thomas would be subject to a horror film the way Winnie the Pooh and Steamboat Mickey have been, and who knows what else?

It's possibly not going to happen until the year 2111.

Something you forgot to mention is that all this ONLY applies to Wilbert's stuff. Something people don't realise or forget is that something entering the public domain doesn't mean everything to do with that something does. Like if Disney made a Mickey Mouse movie tomorrow, it'd be under copyright... and that movie's rendition of the character is under copyright. But the original character is not. Chris and Britt are both still alive (AFAIK) so we don't know when anything they added to the franchise will enter the public domain.

As much as we tend to focus on bad things, I like to focus on the good. I think that with Thomas in Public Domain, British companies and loyal fans may put him to good use and bring back the Thomas we truly love.

If Thomas the Tank Engine enters the public domain, then I would be free to use him.

Shed 17 could become a real movie

It already is, that's how All engines go was invented.

I've thought about this question, but I already know the answer. Simply put, if Thomas were in the Public Domain, the franchise would easily be revitalized if put into the right hands, mine included, without being held back by the shackles of the ignorant cooperates of Mattel. The reboot could easily be cancelled by then, though I have a feeling that it won't exist beyond a few months or years from now.