{"id":12277,"date":"2017-05-12T10:45:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T14:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/downton-abbeys-hugh-bonneville-on-board-thomas-friends-journey-beyond-sodor\/"},"modified":"2017-05-12T12:54:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T16:54:15","slug":"downton-abbeys-hugh-bonneville-on-board-thomas-friends-journey-beyond-sodor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/downton-abbeys-hugh-bonneville-on-board-thomas-friends-journey-beyond-sodor\/","title":{"rendered":"Downton Abbey\u2019s Hugh Bonneville On Board Journey Beyond Sodor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>British actor Hugh Bonneville (<em>Downton Abbey<\/em>) is voicing a new engine in the upcoming special <em>Thomas &amp; Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor<\/em>, which will launch on TV screens worldwide and in U.K. theaters this summer.<\/p>\n<p>A film trailer was released today, marking the 72nd anniversary of the first <em>Thomas the Tank Engine<\/em> book, which was published in 1945. The 70-minute movie will air in more than 70 countries around the world, in addition to premiering in theaters in the U.K. on Friday, August 25. Bonneville is voicing Merlin, a new engine that Thomas befriends when he leaves the Island of Sodor for the first time to travel to the mainland. <em>Journey Beyond Sodor<\/em> is the 12th feature-length special to be released as part of the <em>Thomas<\/em> franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Bonneville commented, \u201cI am\u00a0delighted to be involved in the latest <em>Thomas &amp; Friends<\/em> movie. Like so many\u00a0others I enjoyed the books when I was\u00a0young, so it\u2019s a real honor to be voicing\u00a0a new character, Merlin. To play an engine in one of Thomas\u2019s adventures\u00a0is a big thrill for a little boy in a\u00a0grown-up body! One of the\u00a0keys to Thomas&#8217;s endurance is that young children, who are just beginning to\u00a0explore their imaginations through storytelling, are drawn into a world they\u00a0feel they can inhabit and understand. At their heart these are tales of\u00a0friendship, adventure and lessons learned\u00a0from mistakes made, all while trying\u00a0to keep on the railway tracks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ian McCue, the senior producer of <em>Thomas &amp; Friends<\/em>, said, &#8220;When we design engines\u2019 faces it\u2019s really important to us that their character\u00a0comes across. Merlin is so full of life, energy and enthusiasm and despite\u00a0being older than Thomas, he also has an innocence to him and he\u2019s a really\u00a0caring character. Our director worked on a few different sketches, from\u00a0which we chose the face we felt best fit the character\u2014we chose\u00a0one which had big, sparkling eyes, and defined cheeks as he\u2019s always laughing.\u00a0As Merlin tries to make himself invisible, we also wanted to get across a\u00a0slightly mystical feeling, which we feel his face does well!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Keenan, the senior VP of global content and executive producer at Mattel Creations, remarked, \u201c<em>Thomas &amp; Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor<\/em> is a shining example of why <em>Thomas<\/em> continues to enjoy such global success. With its colorful, entertaining new characters and exciting story that takes Thomas off the Island of Sodor for the first time, the new movie stays true to the powerful themes that matter most to children and their parents, especially today: celebrating friendship, embracing differences and working together to achieve common goals. These themes have been the foundation for <em>Thomas &amp; Friends<\/em> for over 70 years, but this film brings them to life on an epic scale and promises to be a memorable theatrical event for <em>Thomas<\/em> fans of every age.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Products that will support the <em>Thomas &amp; Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor<\/em> release include brand-new Fisher-Price toy lines featuring four new engines, Hurricane, Merlin,\u00a0Lexi and a special Steelwork\u2019s edition of Thomas, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British actor Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) is voicing a new engine in the upcoming special Thomas &#038; Friends: Journey Beyond Sodor, which will launch on TV screens worldwide and in U.K. theaters this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":477,"featured_media":12278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2622,1008,2623],"class_list":["post-12277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-hugh-bonneville","tag-mattel-creations","tag-thomas-friends-journey-beyond-sodor","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Downton Abbey\u2019s Hugh Bonneville On Board Journey Beyond Sodor - TVKIDS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvkids\/downton-abbeys-hugh-bonneville-on-board-thomas-friends-journey-beyond-sodor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Downton Abbey\u2019s Hugh Bonneville On Board Journey Beyond Sodor - TVKIDS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"British actor Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey) is voicing a new engine in the upcoming special Thomas &amp; 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