U.S. Title: Come Out, Henry!
Air date: October 16th, 1984
Adapted from: The Three Railway Engines, "The Sad Story of Henry"
Once an engine attached to a train
was afraid of a few drops of rain.
He went into a tunnel,
and squeaked through his funnel,
and wouldn't come out again.
One wet and rainy day on the Island of Sodor, Henry is tasked with pulling a passenger train. He stops in a tunnel to take shelter from the storm. His driver and fireman argue with him to come out, but he refuses to move, claiming that the rain will spoil his lovely green paint with red stripes. The guard blows his whistle until he has no more breath and waves his flag until his arms ache, but no matter what he does, Henry refuses to come out of the tunnel and instead blows steam at him, telling him he isn't going to spoil his paint for him.
A little later, Sir Topham Hatt, also known as the Fat Controller, comes to the tunnel. As he is in charge of all of the engines on Sodor, he decides to get Henry out of the tunnel one way or another. When he arrives, he tells Henry that he will pull him out. Upon hearing this, Henry blows steam at him.
The Fat Controller ties a rope to Henry and all of Henry's passengers pull. Unfortunately for them, the Fat Controller doesn't help, claiming that his doctor has forbidden him to pull. No matter how hard the passengers pull, Henry stays in the tunnel.
The passengers then try pushing Henry out from the other end. The Fat Controller tells them to push, but doesn't help, claiming that his doctor has also forbidden him to push. The passengers all push as hard as they can, but Henry still stays in the tunnel.
At last, Thomas comes to the tunnel. As Henry's guard stops him, the passengers tell him he can come out now, as it has stopped raining. Henry retaliates by saying that may be true, but the rain will begin again soon, and asks them what will become of his paint when that happens. Thomas buffers up to Henry's coaches and pushes as hard as he can, but Henry puts his brakes on and remains in the tunnel.
Eventually, the Fat Controller gives up. He tells Henry that he's going to take his rails away and leave him in the tunnel. He and the workmen take up the old rails and build a wall in front of Henry to seal him in the tunnel, as well as a set of buffers near the wall to stop approaching engines from running into it.
When at last the wall is finished, all Henry can do is watch the engines rush through the other tunnel nearby. He feels sad because he thinks no one will ever see his lovely green paint and red stripes again. As time goes on, Edward and Gordon often pass by, with the former saying hello to Henry and the latter saying it serves him right. Henry doesn't have any more steam to answer, as his fire has gone out, and soot and dirt from the tunnel ends up spoiling his paint anyway. Henry wonders if he will ever be let out of the tunnel and get to pull trains again.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Achilles in His Tent: Deconstructed. Henry refuses to come out of the tunnel due to his fear of the rain spoiling his paint. As a result, he's bricked up and left there indefinitely. Eventually resulting in his paint getting spoiled for real.
- An Aesop: Don't make up excuses just to not leave wherever you are standing, as it could have its consequences.
- And I Must Scream: Henry is left to rot in the tunnel for "Always and always and always" (“Until he’s ready to come out” in the US version) at the end; the narrator even mentions how Henry has no steam left to answer with. He quite literally has no coal, and he must steam.
- And That's Terrible: Inverted; after Henry is punished by being horrifyingly entombed alive, forever, for the crime of being unwilling to work, the narrator says "but I think he deserved his punishment. Don't you?"
- Bowdlerise: Several examples in the North American localization.
- In the UK version, The Fat Controller bricks Henry in the tunnel "for always and always and always." However, in the North American release, he bricks him in the tunnel "until he's ready to come out".
- The UK narration states the workmen bricked Henry in the tunnel so he wouldn't get out anymore while the North American one states they bricked him up so that the other engines wouldn't bump into him.
- Finally, in the UK, the narrator (Starr) stated that he thinks Henry deserved to be bricked up and then asks the audience if they agree, but in North America, the narrator asks the audience how long they think Henry will stay in the tunnel before he overcomes his fear of the rain.
- Bottle Episode: The majority of the episode takes place in or around the tunnel.
- Composite Character: Thomas takes the place of an unnamed red engine who tries to push Henry out of the tunnel.
- The Dandy: Henry cherishes his "green paint and red stripes".
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Henry blowing steam at The Fat Controller, who happens to be the man in charge of the railway.
- Digital Destruction: In the restored version, when Henry mutters "I'm not going to spoil my lovely green paint and red stripes for you", the footage begins playing in reverse, causing the steam present to go back inside him.
- Dirty Coward: Played straight with Henry. His fear of the rain ruining his paint has made him less concerned about taking the passengers to their destination.Henry: I'm not going to spoil my lovely green paint and red stripes for you!
- Disproportionate Retribution: Henry's punishment counts as this, especially in the UK version. The US Version shows it to be done because the railway had no other options left.
- Downer Ending: The Fat Controller punishes Henry by bricking him inside the tunnel due to the engine's stubbornness in not coming out of the tunnel.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: While Edward was friendly in passing by Henry in the tunnel, Gordon passes by, amusedly telling him it served him right.
- Grounded Forever: In the UK version, Henry's punishment for refusing to leave the tunnel is being bricked up for "always and always and always." Averted in the US version where his punishment is being bricked up "until he’s ready to come out of the tunnel."
- Hypocritical Humor: The Fat Controller scolds Henry for making excuses to why he can't come out of the tunnel when he in turn makes excuses for why he can't help the passengers get Henry out of the tunnel.
- Irony: The reason Henry stayed in the tunnel was to keep the paint from spoiling his green paint with red stripes, but by staying in the tunnel, soot and dirt ended up spoiling his paint, arguably more so than if he just went out in the rain.
- Jerkass: Henry prioritises his paintwork over his passengers, and is nothing but rude and uncooperative to them as well as his crew as they attempt to get him out of the tunnel, only seeing the error of his ways after he gets bricked up.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When Henry refuses to leave the tunnel and The Fat Controller and the passengers are unable to get him out despite their best efforts, The Fat Controller bricks Henry up in the tunnel and leaves him there. As Henry had stayed in the tunnel to avoid getting his paint spoiled by the rain, soot and dirt from the tunnel ends up spoiling it anyway.
- Narcissist: What else would you call somebody who prioritizes their appearance over their job? Especially when it needlessly inconveniences so many people.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Edward, Gordon, and Henry, in that respective order. Edward is nice and friendly and whistles hello to Henry as he passes by Henry's Tunnel, Gordon is rude and pompous, mocking Henry as he passes by Henry's Tunnel, and although Henry was vain and selfish by refusing to come out of his tunnel because he thought the rain would spoil his paint, he ends up seeing the error of his ways when he gets bricked up as punishment.
- No Sympathy: Gordon has zero sympathy for Henry's situation. He even says that he deserved it.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: When Henry refuses to leave the tunnel out of fear of the rain spoiling his paint, Sir Topham Hatt bricks him up as punishment. Although Henry overcomes his fear and gets let out in the following episode to help Edward pull the Express after Gordon breaks down, this doesn't stop the other engines from teasing Henry about the incident in later episodes. This gets lampshaded in "Percy Takes the Plunge", when Percy teases Henry.Henry: No one ever lets me forget the time I wouldn't come out of the tunnel in case the rain spoit my paint.
- Overly Long Gag: "Green paint and red stripes" is said five times (three times by Henry and twice by the narrator).
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Although Henry tried to resist moving with his brake applied, Thomas was able to move him ONLY a few inches!
- Rain, Rain, Go Away: This episode takes place in the rain and Henry goes to stay in the tunnel to prevent it from spoiling his paint. Subverted in that it stopped raining, but Henry thinks that it will begin again soon.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: The US version mends the story's Downer Ending by having the narrator ask, "How long do you think Henry will stay in the tunnel before he overcomes his fear of the rain and then decides to journey out again?"
- Rule of Three: It took three attempts for The Fat Controller to get Henry out of the tunnel (pulling him out with a rope, pushing him from behind, and having Thomas push him), but none of them worked.
- Second Episode Introduction: The Fat Controller makes his first appearance here, in the third episode of the series.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Refusing to come out of the tunnel for fear of the rain ruining his paintwork resulted in Henry being bricked up and his paintwork being ruined by soot and dirt from the tunnel.
- Stubborn Mule: Henry acts stubborn as a mule in refusing to leave the tunnel.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Henry's fear of the rain.
- You Are Grounded!: The last shot is seen as a sad and lonely Henry wondering if he would ever pull trains again.
