Season 21's "The Fastest Red Engine on Sodor" has James find out about Rosie's new red livery for the first time, and also has him crash into Tidmouth Sheds. And because of the damage he caused, in the following episode, "A Shed for Edward", Edward has to stay in other sheds, until he chooses to move to a shed at Wellsworth permanently. However, Journey Beyond Sodor has James meet Rosie in her new livery again, yet Edward is once again staying at Tidmouth Sheds without explanation. New characters Connor and Caitlin are generally seen as expies of the Railway Series characters Pip and Emma, as they're both high-speed engines that run a regular passenger service from Vicarstown to the mainland (the difference being that Pip and Emma are a modern Intercity 125, while Connor and Caitlin are American streamliners from the 1930s. Another one in Season 22, with repurposed “mobile classroom” coach Dexter being voiced by Mark Moraghan, who previously narrated for Seasons 17-21. I Want To Go Home" in Journey Beyond Sodor as Thomas is trapped at the Steelworks and wishes he were home on Sodor.

The show was initially not animation, but rather live-action puppeteering with occasional stop motion. Faces on vehicle characters were represented by static resin masks, while human and animal characters were small resin figures. The show's hybrid process in the twelfth season featured mobile CGI faces superimposed onto model engine props, but proved expensive. HiT Entertainment switched the show to full CGI visuals in 2009, with a full voice cast, and animated by various Canadian studios until its conclusion in 2021. Adaptation Drift: For the first two seasons, the creators were contractually obliged to only make episodes based on existing Railway Series stories and other material written by the Awdrys. Season 3, however, had many original episodes, and they stopped adapting the books entirely in season 5 after Wilbert Awdry died. This DVD is used as Disc 2 of The Complete Series 20 as a bonus disc distributed by Mattel Creations.

Adaptational Location Change: Zig-Zagged. Thomas & Friends and The Railway Series both take place on the fictional Island Of Sodor. However, while in the books Sodor is located off Britain near the Island of Man, the show does away with that, setting Sodor in some unspecified ocean (with Misty Island nearby). The last AUS DVD to be released in a Carry-Case cover as Carry Me cases were losing popularity, thus future DVDs get released in normal standard covers starting from Team Up With Thomas. By extension, this was implied to also be the case with the Shining Time Station series, meaning the movie took cues from this as an attempt to cement the relationship between Shining Time and Thomas And Friends. Henry is the only member of the Steam Team - currently or formerly - not to appear in this episode.

In the episode, "Emily Saves the World", after the giant globe Emily tries to deliver to the Sodor Animal Park falls off her flatbed and starts rolling around Sodor, it chases Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel. They manage to escape it by switching lines. The Fat Controller also blames Percy for going onto the coal tipper in "Middle Engine", even though 'Arry and Bert, as well as Henry, were the cause (though in Henry's defense, he didn't know Percy was right behind him when the former collected his coal cars which bumped into to the latter, causing Percy to be hoisted on the hopper). Again, this is a popular Fix Fic topic. Feud Episode: Many examples, especially in early seasons. To name but few, Thomas and Percy in "Thomas, Percy, & The Coal/Double Trouble", Bill and Ben in "One Good Turn", and Donald and Douglas in "Twin Trouble" and "Love Me Tender". The first episode written by Paul Larson and Laura Beaumont since the eighteenth series episode, Emily Saves the World. Achievements in Ignorance: In season 15, "Fiery Flynn". Thomas's firebox catches on fire. Let that sink in for the moment.When Thomas' driver lassos the runaway Sonny, it is very similar to the second series episode Old Iron, when the same act was done by an Inspector and Edward to rescue a runaway James. In "Thomas Comes to Breakfast", a careless cleaner meddles with Thomas' controls while he's under steam. He gets off scot-free while Thomas is yelled at by The Fat Controller. Musical World Hypothesis: The music videos have the feel of All In Their Head, describing what the engines are doing. Elsbridge Station has never been seen since Season 4, and Great Waterton hasn't been seen since Season 12.