Shining Time Station

Shining Time Station
The Shining Time Station title screen with UP 844
Created by	Britt Allcroft Rick Siggelkow
Directed by	Matthew Diamond Gregory Lehane Stan Swan Wayne Moss John Ferraro Steve Wright
Starring	Ringo Starr (1989–1990) George Carlin (1991–1995) Didi Conn (1989–1995) Leonard Jackson (1989–1995) Tom Jackson (1991–1995) Nicole Leach (1989–1991) Jason Woliner (1989–1991) Erica Luttrell (1991–1995) Ari Magder (1991–1995) Danielle Marcot (1991–1995) Brian O'Connor (1989–1995) Jonathan Freeman (1989–1995)
Theme music composer	Joe Raposo
Opening theme	"Shining Time Station Theme" sung by Kevin Roth
Composer(s)	Joe Raposo Paul Derrick Mason (season 1) Stacey Hersh (seasons 2–3)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	75
Production
Producer(s)	Britt Allcroft Rick Siggelkow Nancy Chapelle
Running time	27–28 minutes 60 minutes (1995 specials)
Production company(s)	The Britt Allcroft Company Quality Family Entertainment Fuji Television Network (Some Thomas Stories from Seasons 2 and 3)
Release
Original network	PBS
Original release	January 29, 1989 – June 11, 1993 (Regular series) February 28, 1995 (1995-02-28) – November 20, 1995 (1995-11-20) (1995 specials)
Chronology
Related shows	Thomas & Friends Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales Storytime with Thomas

Shining Time Station is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by The Britt Allcroft Company (now Gullane Entertainment, a subsidiary of HiT Entertainment) and Quality Family Entertainment in New York City 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 & Friends, which was in turn based on a series of books that had been written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The series aired on PBS from January 29, 1989 until June 11, 1993, and then continued on the network in reruns until June 11, 1998.^[1][2] It aired on Fox Family from 1998 to 1999. It also aired on Nick Jr. in 2000 and on Canadian television networks such as APTN and SCN. Elements from the show were incorporated into the Thomas and Friends film Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Background

After the success of Thomas & Friends in the United Kingdom, Britt Allcroft and her production company teamed up with PBS station WNET in New York City to produce and distribute the sitcom-esque Shining Time Station, every episode of which would include a couple of episodes of Thomas & Friends. The series starred Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Didi Conn, Brian O'Connor, and The Flexitoon Puppets.^[3] Ringo Starr, who had already been providing the voice of the storyteller for the British series, agreed to extend the role to include the on-screen character called Mr. Conductor in Shining Time Station. He later left the show and was replaced by George Carlin.

Shining Time Station received critical acclaim. In a review for Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker states that, compared to the faster paced Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, "'Shining Time Station' wants to slow things down. It's an old-fashioned show that creates a gentle, lulling atmosphere to convince children that life is fun and that trains are the way to travel."^[4] It was a ratings success as well. In its first season, the show averaged a 0.9 Nielsen rating, translating to about 1.2 million viewers on average.^[2] At the peak of its popularity, the show brought in up to 7.5 million viewers per week.^[2]

Overview

The Shining Time Station is a train station on the Indian Valley Railroad in an unknown part of the United States of America. It is managed by Stacy Jones. Its workshop is run in the first season by Harry Cupper, and thereafter by Billy Twofeathers. A local named Horace Schemer, simply referred to as Schemer, runs the station's arcade and serves as the series's comic relief. The narrative is driven by regular and incidental visitors to the station.

Mr. Conductor is a tiny man who lives in a signal house inside the station's mural and tells the stories taken from Thomas & Friends to the kids. He also introduces songs to the kids in The Anything Tunnel. Sometimes, he may present a magic bubble to the kids that has the song inside as a way of introducing it. On occasion, the kids may look through a film viewer to see the song or film.

Cast

Segments

• Flexitoons Puppets & Marionettes - The Jukebox Band - the show's station band that performs a song inside the jukebox. They consist of pianist Tito Swing, drummer Didi, guitarists Tex and Rex (who control the guitar together), and bass guitarist Grace Bass. JJ Silvers is the manager of The Jukebox Band.
• Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends - Storytellers, Ringo Starr and George Carlin
• The Anything Tunnel- Inside the anything tunnel, which is the tunnel on the station mural, there is a song with a cartoon, a stop motion clip, or a live action clip. Sometimes instead of the anything tunnel, Mr. Conductor would show a magic bubble or one of the kids look through a film viewer.

Episodes

Merchandise

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Shining Time Station

• Shining Time Station on IMDb
• Shining Time Station at TV.com
• Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

See also

• Thomas & Friends
• Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales
• Storytime with Thomas
• Noddy, a similar series also created by Rick Siggelkow.