
Duck told me one about Gordon. I'll whisper it.
Don't tell Gordon I told you..."
U.S. Title: Diesel's Devious Deed
Air date: November 5th, 1986
Adapted from: Duck and the Diesel Engine, "Dirty Work"
The troublesome trucks continue singing at a sulking Diesel, refusing to let him forget the whole "trying to shunt derelicts" incident. Duck is horrified of the trucks' behavior and strongly orders them to stop. He then apologizes to Diesel for their rudeness. However, Diesel isn't interested in Duck's apology and furiosly blames him for making the trucks laugh at him. Henry, who is watching nearby with James and Gordon, objects, saying that Duck would never do such a thing and adds that he, Gordon, James and Duck all have their differences, but would never tell the trucks about them. Diesel isn't convinced, and his anger toward Duck has grown to such a point that he wants to find a way to get rid of him. Inspired by Henry's words about the trucks, he makes a plan to spread lies to get revenge on Duck.
Going into the yard the next day, Diesel tells the trucks that he laughed at their joke about him and tells them some about the bigger engines and claims that he heard them from Duck. Before leaving, he warns the not to say he told them. The trucks find these jokes hilarious and laugh at the bigger engines and tell them that they came from Duck to get even with him for forcing them to behave.
At the sheds, Gordon, Henry and James, believing that Duck is responsible for the trucks' ridicule hold an indignation meeting and agree that Duck needs to be taught a lesson. They decide that since Duck once prevented them from entering the sheds, they will do the same to him.
Later Duck is exhausted after a hard day's work no thanks to the trucks. He wants to rest in the shed, but the three engines block his way and furiously hiss steam at him. They tell him that after hearing what the trucks said from him, they hate him and want Diesel to replace him. Duck denies this and there's a huge argument.
The Fat Controller arrives to break the argument up and see what the riot is. He hears the bigger engines' accusations against Duck: Gordon goes first by saying Duck called him "a Galloping Sausage", "Rusty Red Scrap Iron" for James and Henry is "Old Square Wheels". While trying not to laugh, the Fat Controller gives Duck a chance to explain himself. Duck protests him that he wishes he thought of those names himself and no steam engine would be as mean as that. Diesel then comes forward and the Fat Controller asks him what he knows. Diesel feigns shock at Duck's "actions", but claims ignorance otherwise.
The Fat Controller apologises to Duck, saying that until he gets to the bottom of the incident, he must go to work at Wellsworth for a while and kindly reassures him that Edward will be happy to see him. Believing that the Fat Controller has turned against him too, Duck, with tears in his eyes, sadly obliges and Diesel gives a satisfied smirk as he watches Duck puff away.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Actually Pretty Funny:
- While the trucks' singing infuriated him, Diesel admits that it was a good joke. Of course, he was playing up to them in part of his plan to send Duck away.
- Also, the Fat Controller tried not to laugh at the names he assumes Duck had called the engines.
- Added Alliterative Appeal:
- Gordon, James, and Henry introduce the Share Phrase "Disgraceful! Disgusting! Despicable!"
- Similarly, the episode was renamed "Diesel's Devious Deed" in the US dub.
- All There in the Manual: Christopher Awdry wrote several stories for the Thomas Annuals, detailing how Diesel came up with the nicknames for Gordon, James and Henry, and how he got them on his side.
- Alliterative Title: This episode's US title is Diesel's Devious Deed.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Diesel manages to lie about Duck to basically everyone in the episode in order to smear Duck's name, cause everyone to turn against him and get rid of him, with the situation even reaching the Fat Controller. Duck is thus sent away to Wellsworth to work with Edward while Diesel smirks triumphantly over the success of his plan.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Duck says this to the trucks who were still singing rudely to Diesel.
- Blatant Lies: Diesel telling the trucks he liked their joke about him when they clearly saw that wasn't the case, though the delivery of the line suggests he was being sarcastic and the trucks didn't pick up on it.
- Break the Haughty: This happens to Duck, who was previously boastful about his Great Western heritage, when Diesel told lies about him to the big engines and the Fat Controller. He was sent to Edward's station with a sad look on his face. Though, to be fair on the Westerner, he did at least try to stand up for Diesel and apologize, but that didn't go down very well.
- Call-Back: Gordon, Henry, and James bar Duck from Tidmouth Sheds just how he and Percy had done to them in "Duck Takes Charge":Big Engines: Yes! He did it to us, we'll do it to him and see how he likes it.
- Compressed Adaptation: In the book's narration, Diesel had spread lies about Gordon, Henry and James in different sidings, but in this narration, he had spread the lies about Gordon in only one siding while Henry and James would eventually hear their insults as well.
- Consummate Liar: Diesel. This was done as part of his plan to send Duck packing.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The trucks easily believed in Diesel's lies and were eager to tell the engines the jokes in which they claim Duck made in order to get back at Duck for bumping him.
- Downer Ending: Duck is sent to Edward's station as "punishment" while Diesel becomes delighted that his plan was a success.
- Easily Condemned: Diesel rather easily convinces James, Gordon and Henry that Duck is a bully spreading bad names about them to the trucks. Arguably played deliberately given the trio's trademark arrogance and earlier insisting that Duck would never spread names about Diesel.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Henry states that while many engines have their differences, they would never tell them about it to the trucks.
- In the previous episode, "Pop Goes the Diesel", what caused Diesel to blame Duck was because the latter sent the former on a fool's errand with some broken trucks after Diesel had boasted too much for Duck to bear. When the other trucks start relentlessly mocking Diesel, however, Duck is shocked and bumps the trucks while telling them to shut up before apologizing to Diesel. Duck thought that Diesel needed a good humbling, but not to be bullied himself.
- Foreshadowing: Unlike how the big engines seemed to buy up Diesel's lies and are angry at Duck, Sir Topham Hatt doesn't seem to be angry at Duck at all. In fact, he's trying to hold in his laughter when Duck says he wishes he thought of Gordon, James and Henry's insulting names himself. He also kindly tells Duck to go to Wellsworth for a while and says he knows Edward will be glad to see him. This is because he doesn't believe Diesel at all, and is setting things up to pay Diesel out. Come the next episode, and...
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Gordon, Henry, and James turn against Duck when they accuse him of calling them bad names, due to Diesel spreading those lies to the Troublesome Trucks. Duck's boasting about doing things the Great Western Way didn't exactly do him any favors.
- Hypocrite: Diesel is angry with Duck for making the trucks laugh at him, yet he has no problem with making a laughing stock out of Gordon, Henry and James.
- Henry as well because he insisted Duck would never joke about the big engines in front of the trucks but nevertheless was one of the first engines to believe Diesel's lies.
- Irony: In "Duck Takes Charge", Duck and Percy had obstructed the three big engines from going to the sheds. Now the three engines are doing the same to Duck.... except the turntable isn't exactly blocked until Duck gets on it.
- It All Ends in Tears: The episode ends with Duck starting to tear up as he's being sent away by Sir Topham Hatt until further notice.
- Jerkass Has a Point: It doesn't justify them barring Duck from the sheds but Gordon, Henry and James are right to be annoyed at Duck's preaching about the, "great western way vs the wrong way".
- Jerkass:
- The troublesome trucks were keen to get back at Duck just because he bumped them and Diesel was mad because he thought Duck had humiliated him on purpose - which was wrong.
- The Malicious Slander Diesel spreads about the big engines reveals what he really thought of them, and greatly contrasts with the false flattery he gave in the previous episode.
- Karma Houdini: Diesel's plan to send Duck packing by lying about him pays off handsomely with Duck being sent away to Wellsworth and Diesel happily smirking over his successful plan and facing absolutely no recompense for his devious actions, especially with no one finding out about his plan. However, Sir Topham Hatt seems to be biding his time...
- Malicious Slander: What Diesel pulls off.
- Manipulative Bastard: Diesel, who managed to lie to everyone about Duck.
- Never My Fault: Diesel thinks the trucks' laughing at him was Duck's fault, despite the fact that in the previous episode Diesel brought it on himself for thinking he was revolutionary, and didn't need any help.
- Not Helping Your Case: When the Fat Controller asks Duck if he really did call James, Gordon, and Henry names, Duck's response is that he wishes he'd thought of said names himself.
- Only Sane Man: Sir Topham Hatt.
- Out-Gambitted: Unknown to Diesel, Sir Topham Hatt is aware he's lying to the other engines, and is "sending off" Duck to fool him.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Duck being sent to Edward's station.
- Rejected Apology: Despite Duck telling off the trucks for their singing, Diesel blames him for making him do that in the first place and this led to him telling lies about him.
- Reverse Psychology: As part of Diesel's plan on getting back at Duck, he tells lies to the trucks about Gordon and that he heard them from Duck, and then tells the trucks not to tell Gordon. They, of course, tell Gordon to his face.
- Shamed by a Mob: Duck is met with hostile showers of steam blown by Gordon, James, and Henry.
- Single Tear: Duck lets one out on his left eye after the Fat Controller sends him to Edward's station, seemingly convinced that he made all of those nasty names.
- Smug Snake: Diesel's plan to turn the big engines against Duck only works because of everyone else's sudden gullibility rather than his own intelligence.
- Team Rocket Wins: Diesel manages to sully Duck's name, sending him away from the yard. One episode later however...
- This Is Unforgivable!: The big engines are furious when they believe Duck has spread Malicious Slander about them to the trucks. Not knowing it was Diesel's lies all along.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Diesel manages to get Gordon, Henry, and James on his side when he spreads lies about them to the Troublesome Trucks and pins the blame on Duck. He had made a good impression on them in the previous episode by complimenting them when he first visited Tidmouth Sheds.
