James The Red Engine: Octopus Rescuer is the fourth episode of the first season of The Railroad Girl.
Summary[]
After witnessing a greedy toy collector stealing Bubbles' stuffed octopus, Octi, James, Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas go on a quest to retrieve it.
Story[]
One morning, James and Edward were on their way to Donald and Douglas' house when they saw Ernie having a yard sale in his front yard.
"Hey, Ernie," called James.
"Hello, boys," said Ernie, "what's up?"
"Not much," said Edward, "we were on our way to visit Donald and Douglas when we came across your yard sale here."
"If you want," said Ernie, "go ahead and buy something for yourselves."
"Oh, thanks," said James.
With that, James and Edward looked at the tables set up with all kinds of items.
"Wow," thought James, "he's selling a lot!"
James then found a beautiful hand-carved statue of two sea turtles.
"Whoa," said James, "that'll be a nice gift for Emily!"
"You like it," asked Ernie, "I carved that in my 7th Grade woodworking class."
"Yeah," said James, "I was wondering if I could buy it for Emily."
"Sure," said Ernie, "it's only 25 cents."
James paid Ernie a quarter.
"Hey, Ed," James called, "have you found anything?"
"Yes," said Edward.
Edward then showed James a handheld frame drum.
"Cool," said James, "what is it?"
"It's called a bodhran," explained Edward, "it's a small percussion instrument from Ireland. It's also called an Irish frame drum."
"Interesting," said James.
"That's one more to my collection," said Edward as he paid for the bodhran.
"Enjoy yourselves," said Ernie, "and say hello to Emily for me, alright, James?"
"Alright," James called back.
As James and Edward left, they saw a green Cadillac pull up and a man came out.
"Another customer, looks like," said James.
They watched the man approach a table that had toys on it. Among them was Bubbles' stuffed octopus, Octi.
"Ooh," said the man as he picked Octi up, "fascinating!"
Ernie saw the man and approached him, while the man quickly threw some other bits and pieces on top.
"Excuse me," said Ernie, "may I help you?"
"I'l give you 50 cents for all this junk," said the man.
Ernie then noticed Octi and tried to take it from the man.
"How did this get out here," Ernie asked.
"Just hand him the octopus," said Edward, "nice and easy."
"Oh, a pro," said the man, "very well. Five dollars."
Ernie shook his head and took the toy from the man.
"I'm sorry," said Ernie, "you can't have this."
"Wait," called the man as he followed Ernie, "I'll give you 50 bucks for it!"
"50 bucks ain't bad," James whispered to Edward.
"It's not for sale," said Ernie as he locked Octi in the box he was keeping the money in.
"Everything's for sale," said the man, "or trade! You like my watch?"
"Sorry," said Ernie, "I can't let you have it."
"Phew," said Edward, "that was close!"
The two engines then turned to leave towards their destination. However, James heard a crash and when he looked, he saw the man trying to unlock the money box.
"Oh no," said James, "he's stealing Octi!"
James then watched the man load Octi into a bag and take it to his car.
"What are we gonna do," asked Edward.
"I'm thinking," said James, "I'm thinking!"
Just then, James heard a voice.
"You're not just gonna let him get away with that, are you," asked the voice.
A miniature white version of James that had a halo over the funnel and holding a harp appeared on James' left front buffer.
"My buffer angel," gasped James.
"Don't listen to that guy," said another voice.
A miniature dark red version of James with horns on its smoke-box appeared on James' right front buffer.
"He's trying to lead you down the path of righteousness," said Devil James, "I'm gonna lead you down the path that rocks!"
"Oh, come off it," said Angel James.
"You come off it," said Devil James.
"You," said Angel James.
"You," said Devil James.
"You," said Angel James.
"You infinity," said Devil James.
Angel James growled out of frustration and clenched his harp while Devil James put on a pair of glasses and pulled out a piece of paper.
"Okay, listen up, big guy," said Devil James, "I've got 3 good reasons you should walk away."
Devil James then pointed to Angel James.
"Number One," said Devil James, "look at that guy! He's got that sissy stringy music thing."
Angel James was annoyed.
"We've been through this," said Angel James, "it's a harp. And you know it."
"Alright," said Devil James, "that's a harp. And that's a hula hoop."
"Halo," Angel James said, pointing to his halo.
Devil James then poured some bubble formula into his funnel.
"Reason Number Two," said Devil James, "look what I can do."
Devil James then puffed really hard, sending a fountain of bubbles out of his funnel.
"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Devil James.
"But," said Regular James, "what does that have to do with anything?"
"No, no," said Angel James, "he's got a point."
"Look," said Regular James, "you're sorta confusing me, so...begone! Or, you know, however I get rid of you guys."
"That'll work," said Devil James as he and Angel James disappeared simultaneously.
"Alright," said Regular James, "I know what I must do!"
James then whistled loudly to let Ernie know what's going on. Ernie saw the unlocked money box and saw the man taking off in his car with Octi.
"Hey," yelled Ernie, "Stop!"
Ernie then got into his 1952 Volkswagen Beetle and took off after the man.
"Get him, Ernie," yelled James.
However, Ernie got only so far as the house next door to his when he hit a pothole, causing one of the tires to burst.
"You have got to be kidding me," said Ernie.
"Well," said Edward, "that dude, whoever he is, is long gone."
"This is terrible," said Ernie.
Ernie then turned to James and Edward.
"You two," said Ernie, "I have a special mission for both of you."
"Shoot," said James.
"I want you two to go and retrieve Octi from that man," said Ernie.
"Will do, sir," said James and Edward in unison.
"Try to be back by the time Bubbles gets home from school, alright," asked Ernie.
"You've got a deal," said James.
Later, James and Edward had arrived at Donald and Douglas' home, where the Scottish twin engines were feasting on a box of donuts and watching Jim Henson's 1982 film The Dark Crystal on their laptop.
"Where have ya been," asked Donald.
"Ya," said Douglas, "ya missed half the movie."
"Sorry we're late, guys," said Edward, "something developed and we couldn't make it at the agreed time."
"It's fine," said Douglas, "though, just outta curiosity, what happened?"
"Some dude stole Bubbles' toy octopus, Octi," said James.
Donald and Doulgas were shocked.
"That's terrible," said Donald.
"Ya," said Douglas, "we have to do somethin'!"
"And so we shall," said James, "Ernie gave us the mission of going to retrieve Octi."
"Cool," said Donald, "let's go!"
"Hold it," said James, "we need to get more info on this guy who stole Octi."
"Fantastic," said Edward, "Let's meet at the Narrow Gauge Railway."
With that, the friends met with the Narrow Gauge Engines and some others, including Edward's younger brother, Thomas. James even set up a drawing pad on an easel with a picture of Octi drawn on it.
"Alright," said James, "let's go over this. At precisely 8:32-ish, Exhibit A: Octi, was kidnapped."
Peter Sam then flipped the page with Octi on it and showed the man with a very long beard holding Octi.
"Exhibit B:," said James, "a composite sketch of the kidnapper."
The other engines began clamoring.
"He didn't have a beard like that," said Rusty.
"Fine," said James, "Peter Sam, give him a shave."
Peter Sam erased some of the man's beard to make it shorter. A lot shorter to be exact.
"No, it was longer than that," said Thomas.
"Oh, picky, picky, picky," said James.
"Let's just skip to Exhibit F: The Kidnapper's Vehicle," said Donald.
Donald then pulled out a model of the crime scene he and Douglas made with Lincoln Logs, LEGOs, and some of Rheneas' toy cars.
"Now," said Donald as he moved one of the cars, "as I remember correctly, the vehicle fled the scene in this direction."
"Are ya sure 'bout that, Donnie," asked Douglas as he moved the car again, "Certainly it went the other way."
Then, Skarloey, the youngest of the Narrow Gauge Engines, came in holding a pad of paper and a crayon.
"How do you spell 'FBI'," asked Skarloey.
Skarloey wasn't watching where he was going and he knocked into the table the model was resting on, causing it to fall off.
"Oi," said Donald, "whatch where ye goin'!"
"Oops," frowned Skarloey, "sorry."
"Don't be ashamed, lad," said Douglas with a smile, "it was an accident."
"Ya," said Donald, "we can always put it back together. Thank goodness I took a picture of it."
And that made Skarloey feel better.
"Excuse me," called Edward, "a little quieter, please?"
"Sure," said James, "sorry."
"And by the way, Skarloey," said Edward, "'FBI' is spelled the way it sounds; the letters 'F', 'B', and 'I'."
"Thanks," said Skarloey as he finished his drawing.
"Though," asked Duncan, "what're you drawing?"
"I'm making a "Wanted" poster for Octi," said Skarloey.
Skarloey showed his creation to Duncan. The picture was a picture of Octi made by simply drawing an octopus with a smiley face and a top hat on top and "Wanted. Call the FBI if you've seen him." in big red letters.
"So," asked Skarloey, "what do you think?"
"It does looks nice," said Duncan, "but we're looking for a toy, not a criminal."
"Oh," said Skarloey.
Thomas, curious of what his brother was up to, went to find Edward and found him with a list of such word combinations as "Lou's Thigh Burn" and "Lousy Try Brian" and plugging them into Skarloey's Speak N' Spell toy.
"What are you doing, Ed," asked Thomas.
"Before me and James came here," said Edward, "I took notice of the car's license plate and I'm trying to decipher it."
"It's a license plate," said Henry, "it's just a jumble of letters."
"Yeah," said James, "and there are about 3.5 million registered cars in Winter City alone."
"Come on," said Thomas, "let's leave Edward to play with his toys."
Little did Thomas know that his statement sparked another possibility into Edward's funnel.
"Hold on," said Edward.
Edward then typed "Al's Toy Barn" into the Speak N' Spell and hit the "Speak" button.
"Al's Toy Barn," said the Speak N' Spell.
The others were stunned.
"Al's Toy Barn," the others gasped.
"Peter Sam," said Edward, "draw that man in the chicken suit!"
Peter Sam then drew a picture of local toy store owner Al McWhiggin in his chicken costume holding Octi.
"It's the Chicken Man," gasped Skarloey.
"That's our guy," said James.
"I knew there was something I didn't like about that chicken," said Rheneas.
"Hey, look," said Thomas, "there's an Al McWhiggin listed here in the phone book!"
"The manhunt begins," said James.
James then turned to Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas.
"Alright, men," said James, "here's what we'll do. We'll search Winter City in all directions. Henry, you take the north side. Edward, you take the south side. Donald and Douglas, you take the east side. I'll take this side."
"Deal," said Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas in unison.
Soon, the 5 friends set out to find Al, of whom each got a photo of. Their mission was to ask everyone until at least someone gave them a tip. Henry saw a young man wearing a purple jacket over an orange t-shirt, purple bell-bottom pants, and white shoes coming out of the local cake shop carrying a cake.
"Excuse me, sir," Henry said as he held up his photo of Al, "have you seen this man?"
"Nope," said the man, "Sorry."
"Okay," said Henry, "thanks anyways!"
Meanwhile, Edward came to the park where he saw 2 anthropomorphic cats sitting on a bench. One of them was light brown and wearing a white scarf and the other was olive green with a torn black tie.
"Maybe those 2 can help," Edward thought.
Edward approached the cats and showed them his photo of Al.
"Pardon me, gentlemen," said Edward, "but have any of you seen this man?"
"Why, no," said the olive cat, "I haven't."
"Hey," yelled the brown cat, "he was talking to me!"
"No, he was talking to me," yelled the olive cat.
The two cats then broke out into a scuffle, which caused Edward to flee.
"Well," said Edward, "those 2 proved to be unhelpful."
Elsewhere, Donald and Douglas were coming the east side of town and soon came to Dunkin' Donuts outlet.
"Are ya thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Donnie" asked Douglas.
Donald then held up a twenty dollar bill.
"I sure am, Douggie," said Donald.
With that, the twins went inside and ordered their usually 18-count assorted cake donuts box.
"Your total comes to $18, please," said the cashier.
"Thank you," said Donald as he paid for the donuts.
"And by the way," asked Douglas, "have ya seen this man?"
Douglas showed the cashier his photo of Al.
"Yes," said the cashier, "That guy's my brother-in-law!"
"Well," said Douglas, "where does he live?"
"He lives in an apartment building in the west side of town," said the cashier.
"Thanks," said Donnie.
After getting their change, the twins went to a phone box and called James.
"What's up," asked James.
"We've got a lead," said Douglas.
Douglas told James what the cashier had told him and his twin.
"Great," said James, "I'll let Edward and Henry know and we'll meet up back at my house!"
"Deal," said Donald and Douglas in unison.
Soon, as promised, the friends met at James' house and discussed what had transpired while snacking on the donuts the Scots had brought.
"It's great you got a tip finally," said James, "did you really have to get these?"
"We couldn't help it, James," said Donald.
"Ya," said Douglas, "we couldn't resist."
"It's alright," said James.
"So," said Henry, "what now?
"Now," said James, "we go to Al's apartment to retrieve Octi."
"Great," said Edward, "let's go!"
With that, they went to Al's apartment building after gaining the address. However, when they are about to go inside, they found a "No Engines Allowed" plastered on the door.
"Drat," said Edward, "now how are we supposed to get Octi?"
"Let's ask Porter," said James, "he'll know what to do."
With that, the friends went to Porter's home, where Porter was putting the finishing touches on a model he was making of the solar system when James, Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas entered.
"Hey, dudes," said Porter, "what can I do for you?"
"Can you invent some kind of device that'll transform us into humans," asked James.
James explained the problem to Porter.
"I'll see what I can do," said Porter.
With that, Porter got to work and soon produced a strange-looking device that looked like a ray gun.
"This should do it," said Porter, "I call it "The Transformer Ray"."
Porter then aimed the device at James, Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas and squeezed the trigger. In a flash, James, Edward, Donald, and Douglas were transformed into human versions of themselves. James was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt commemorating his favorite baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, black jeans, and a pair of red trainers, Edward was wearing a blue crew neck sweater over a grey polo shirt, khakis, and dark blue Chelsea boots, Henry was wearing a green t-shirt with blue jeans and green sneakers, and both Donald and Douglas were wearing black shirts with their names stitched into them, navy blue jeans and black sneakers. James and Edward both had black hair, but James had brown eyes and Edward had blue eyes. Henry had brown hair and green eyes. Donald and Douglas were both redheads with green eyes.
"Wow," said Porter, "it worked on the first try!"
"Great," said Edward, "now let's go!"
With that, they hopped a bus to the west side of Winter City, where they walked to Al's apartment building, where they saw Al napping on the couch with a bowl of Cheetos on his chest.
"Perfect," whispered Henry, "he's asleep."
"Now's our chance," said James.
They soon found Octi in a display case. James opened the case with a glass cutter, grabbed Octi, and they tiptoed out of the apartment, then caught a bus back to the part of Winter City they lived.
"Mission accomplished," said James.
Soon, after having Porter transform them back into engines, they went to Ernie's house, where Ernie was waiting patiently.
"Fantastic," said Ernie, "you guys did a really great job!"
Just then, a police car pulled up in front of the house, with Al following.
"What are the cops here for," asked James.
An officer stepped out of the car, and an angry Al pointed at James and his friends.
"That's them, officer," said Al, "those are the guys who broke into my apartment and stole my toy!"
"Is this true," asked the officer.
"No, it's not," said Ernie, "that man stole my daughter's favorite toy. I gave this to her on her first birthday!"
Al was shocked.
"So that's why you wouldn't let me have it," said Al.
"Exactly," said Ernie.
"I'm very sorry," said Al.
Al then turned to the officer.
"I'd like to drop all charges if that's alright," said Al.
"Alright, boys," said the officer, "you're off the hook. But don't do that again."
"Yes, sir," said James, Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas in unison.
With that, the officer and Al left just as Bertie the bus pulled up and Bubbles got off.
"Just in time," thought Edward.
Bubbles then noticed Octi in Ernie's hands.
"What's Octi doing out here," asked Bubbles.
"It was an accident," said Ernie, "I accidentally took Octi out to the yard sale. But the good news is, I didn't put him on sale."
"That's good," said Bubbles.
Bubbles took her toy and went inside.
"Anyways," said Ernie, "for doing such a good job, here's 50 dollars for each of you."
Ernie paid James, Edward, Henry, Donald, and Douglas each a fifty dollar bill.
"Gee," said James, "thanks!"
"No problem," said Ernie.
"Now we can finally buy that telescope," said Edward.
With that, the friends all left to buy the telescope.
The End
Notes[]
- This is the only time we see some of the engines as humans
- This episode reveals that James' favorite baseball team is the Cincinnati Reds
- Porter makes his debut in this episode
References[]
- Toy Story 2: The major plot to this episode was inspired by the 1999 sequel to Pixar's iconic 1995 film.
- The Emperor's New Groove: The scene with Angel and Devil James was inspired by the part in said film after Kronk tosses Kuzco's "corpse" into the canal.