Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift (1990)

Directed by

Gregory Lehane, Frank Vitale

Genre

Christmas film

Country

United States

Runtime

57 min

Rating

4.5 of 10 from 4 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A Christmas special of a children's series that takes place at a magical train station. The episode mixes live-action characters with segments from Thomas the Tank Engine stories.

gentlewhimsicalwarmcozynostalgicplayfulslow-pacedsweet

What happens

Shining Time Station is a children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the American branch of The Britt Allcroft Company), in association with Catalyst Entertainment in seasons 2 and 3, for New York City's PBS station WNET, and was originally taped in New York City during its first season and in Toronto during the rest of its run. It incorporated sequences from the British television show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, which was in turn based on the books of The Railway Series written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The series aired on PBS from January 29, 1989, until June 11, 1993, with four hour-long "Family Specials" premiering in primetime throughout 1995. Reruns continued to air on PBS until June 11, 1998. Shining Time Station reruns aired on Fox Family from 1998 to 1999, and on Nick Jr. from June to August 2000 to promote the theatrical release of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The series also aired on Canadian television networks such as APTN and SCN. Elements from the show were incorporated into the 2000 film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The initial 1989 season featured a cast that included Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor, Didi Conn as Stacy Jones, Brian O'Connor as Horace Schemer, Leonard Jackson as Harry Cupper, Jason Woliner as Matt Jones and Nicole Leach as Tanya Cupper. Following a Christmas special with the original cast, the show was retooled for the second (1991) and third (1993) seasons, with only Conn and O'Connor reprising their prior roles. George Carlin replaced Starr as Mr. Conductor, while Erica Luttrell, Ari Magder, Danielle Marcot, and Tom Jackson joined the primary cast in newly created roles. The series concluded with four "Family Specials", aired in 1995. Providing the musical numbers for the show was The Jukebox Band, a group of puppets. In 1996, Carlin appeared in a spin-off series called Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, which featured only six episodes with five Thomas stories and one music video each. The station interior was kept for the spin-off. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Shining Time Station (1989)
• Home Alone (1990)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990)
• The Night the Animals Talked (1970)
• Waiting for Santa (1990)
• Angel Square (1990)
• A Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987)
• From All of Us to All of You (1958)