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TUGS

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TUGS was a show made in 1989 by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton.

Tugs is all about two anthromorphized tug fleets (Star Fleet and Z Stacks) who are always competing against each other, around Bigg City Port, towing in ships like the ocean liners: Duchess, Princess Alice and Vienna along with freighters (Tramp Steamers) like Izzy Gomez, a ship who likes to get into port for free, from Mexico and Johnny Cuba, a notorious smuggler, possibly from Australia.

The Star Fleet is owned by Captain Star, a strong-willed and strict - but lovable boss. He has seven Star Tugs: three harbour tugs - O.J., who is the oldest and wisest of all the tugs, Warrior, who is strong but not too bright, and Big Mac, the strongest and roughest tug.

He has a Railway tug: Top Hat, who is very stuck up and hates doing dirty work. There are also two young, inexperienced switchers: Ten Cents the central character, and Sunshine, who is the newcomer to the fleet; they always work side-by-side.

The remaining tug is Hercules: a vain, and very rarely ever seen (in the series) Ocean Going tug - who fancies himself as a ladies' man! They are a good crew, the best in the port.

The Z Stacks are owned by Captain Zero. It contains: Zorran: who is the crucial antagonist of the series, Zebedee: who has hidden kind and helpful mannerisms - revealed in High Winds, Zak: a devious and revolting tug, and the two switchers: Zug, and Zip - who are often caught in farcical situations.

They tend to use devious, underhanded methods (Such as pushing them onto sand banks) to try and stop the Star Tugs from being successful. They are rather cunning, but not too bright as seen in several episodes - mainly Trapped, Bigg Freeze and High Tide.

There are also several other characters, such as Grampus, a midget navy submarine who later becomes a Star Tug, Bluenose the bossy naval tug, Lord Stinker the garbage barge, and Lillie Lightship who is responsible for guiding ships into port (and also Hercules' girlfriend).

Even though the Star Tugs and Z Stacks compete for jobs and contracts, they sometimes join together to save each other or help each other out, most notably in the episode Munitions when a naval transport, Krakatoa, goes up in flames causing a horrific dockyard inferno, and both fleets work together to stop the fire.

TUGS has thirteen episodes (4 were 20 minutes long, the remaining 9 were 15 minutes) and a rather large fanbase for such a relatively obscure children's show.

There is currently a campaign to get TUGS onto DVD.

Contents

A Brief History

After two successful series of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton decided they wanted to branch out in other directions and create a series that they could call their own.

They devised the outline of the series, and conveniently enough, the production of Thomas the Tank Engine was put on hold until 1991, so there were no obstructions to filming the series.

They filmed the series at Shepperton Studios in 1988, the animation process was not dissimilar to its railway-based sister series. The only notable difference was that the TUGS were pulled around by transparent strings. The vessels were literally trolleys, and no remote controls were used to move them around(however, they were used for the eyes and other mechanisms within the models).

When TUGS aired in 1989, on ITV, it became an instant hit. More success was created when it was aired on Australia's ABC network. However, even though there was once talk of a second series, nothing came of it. The rights to the series were sold, and it is not known who the current owners are.

The models and sets used in the series were sold to Britt Allcroft, whose new company used the models, (albeit heavily modified) for Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends from 1991 onwards. They are still used today.

David Mitton continued to work on Thomas until he retired after the seventh series in 2003, whilst Robert D. Cardona emigrated to Canada and devised a similar program about tugboats called Theodore Tugboat, and so TUGS has sunk deeper into the shadows of obscurity ever since.

Episodes

TUGS spanned for thirteen separate episodes, which dealt with a range of ideas and plots that involved the use of drama and special effects. Many typical 'rules' of the 'talking transport' genre (see Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends) were broken. Many believe that TUGS is by far much darker and mature in contrast to Thomas, especially in its current state.

Episode Guides

Individual guides to every episode in the series: A Note on Episode List: There is no set episode order for the series, though it mainly compiled around the Castle Vision video releases, which provided the episodes in sets of two and three. The main structure is centered around the 'death' of Big Mickey (see Character list below), who 'died' in Munitions. The latter had a minor role in High Tide, so it is safe to presume that the episode came before Munitions. Many believe that Bigg Freeze is in fact the final episode, due to its warmth and conclusion, which appeared to round the entire series to a finale and closure.

Major Recurring Characters

Many of the more prominent and better-known characters listed below have their own pages:

Star Tugs: Big Mac and Sunshine working Up River
Enlarge
Star Tugs: Big Mac and Sunshine working Up River

The Star Fleet

Ten Cents

Ten Cents is a lively and cheeky young cockney harbour switcher tug with a heart of gold. He is often thought to be the 'token character' of the series, having being featured prominently in every single episode. Ten Cents almost always works with Sunshine, and the two are inseparable; he is inexperienced in most tasks, but willing to learn... and make several jokes along the way!

Big Mac

Big Mac is the fleet's strongest and roughest tug. He is hard, and sometimes even embittered around the edges, but despite his blunt and abrupt exterior, he is a kind and loyal tug who never likes to hurt others' feelings. Despite speculation, he is not Warrior's brother - this was never confirmed in the program

O.J.

The fleet's only paddle-steamer, the wisest and oldest tug of them all; OJ is genuinely respected by everyone in the port. He is good natured, and despite his increasing frailty, is the Star's quickest thinker. OJ is loyal to his comrades, and to Captain Star.

Top Hat

Top Hat is a stuck-up, snobbish railway tug. His trademark top hat (hence his name), and monocule are a true representatives of his personality. He finds criticising his colleagues most enjoyable, and loves stirring trouble. He is very cowardly, and the Star's pick on this as his weak point.

Warrior

Warrior is the Star's second strongest tug. He is rather dense and clumsy, and in one episode (named after him) he sets to rectify his notoriety as careless and wooly-minded. Warrior has good points to him, and is loved and cherished by his peers. 
Hercules


Hercules is the most mysterious of all the Star Tugs. He is vain, and vague, and thinks he is cleverer than he is in reality. He can always be found in the estuary with his sweetheart Lillie Lightship. Tugs fans consider him the most undeveloped of all the major characters, but maybe this suits his personality.



Sunshine


Sunshine is the star's newest recruit. He was originally from Up River, where he worked for the Salvage fleet (often heard about but never seen). Captain Star employed Sunshine for a short while, but after the events of the first episode decided to make him Star No. 7. Sunshine is shy and bashful but strong-willed despite his size. He mainly works with Ten Cents, his best friend.



Captain Star


The proud owner of the Star Tugs, Captain Star narrates the series in past tense. His distinctive voice was provided by Patrick Allen, a veteran voice actor. Captain Star appears in every single episode. The Star's respect their leader, and are proud to be a member of his fleet



The Z-Stacks

The devious, and scheming bad guys. They're always finding ways to infuriate the Star Tugs.



Zorran


The most devious Z-Stack of them all. Zorran is cunning and horrible. He is a scheming bully with no regrets. All the other Z-stacks are secretly afraid of him.



Zebedee

Zebedee is an easy-going tug who often winds up the Stars for one reason or another. He is a very complex character who debated on his future when in trouble with the notorious Johnny Cuba.



Zak


Zak is a devious and revolting tug, who, unlike any of the others is very mysterious. He has a penchant for monosyllabic phrases and very rarely appears in the series. He mainly works with Zebedee.

Zug


Zug is an ambitious young tug who usually falls into being the brains of the operation with his comrade Zip. He has been stuck into a variety of situations, most notably in Trapped where he was stuck with the Star Tugs and forced to co-operate with them



Zip


Zip the Harbour switcher is wooly minded and rather dense. Often has to leave Zorran or Zug to do the thinking for him, he is a sheep who follows orders bluntly, but loyally. Always works with Zug.



Captain Zero


The devious and scheming owner of the Z-Stack fleet, appears very mysterious due to his constant absence in the series. He is known to have gangster connections



Other Notable Characters


Lillie Lightship


Lillie is a vivacious bright young ship, with a long standing affinity for Hercules. All of the tugs appear smitten with Lillie, and she knows it! The charming lightship is always to be found at Dender Rocks



Izzy Gomez


Izzy is a scheming tramp steamer who is friends with both the Star Tugs and the Z-Stacks. He will often try and bribe Warrior or Zorran to tow him into port for free. He is known to be Mexican, which is obvious due to his sombrero. He is a passion for bananas and an eye for trouble. However, he does have a bit of a good streak that was revealed in Sunshine.



Grampus


Grampus is a naval midget submarine, who enjoys his free-time spent underwater. He is a valuable asset to the Stars as he warns them of oncoming trouble. He finally joined the fleet in the episode 4th of July.



Related Pages

All of the minor characters can be found on new destination pages: 


The Major Locations in Bigg City Port

For other minor locations see the article Bigg City Port


Cast

Unfortunately, the cast of TUGS was never credited. Some of their identities are still ambiguous. However, thanks to the diligent research of various members of the Clearwater and Sodor Island Forums, several have been uncovered;

Hopefully, more will be discovered over time.



Merchandise

TUGS Merchandise was rather common in the early 1990s. Some of that merchandise includes:

Sunshine/Pirate


Trapped/Ghosts/High Winds


Jinxed/Quarantine/Up River


Bigg Freeze/Warrior/High Tide


Munitions/4th of July

Note on the Videos: The versions of the episodes on the videos were significantly edited for unknown reasons. Many original scenes had been extended/deleted and the program now had two different alternate title sequences






TUGS On DVD Campaign

The members of the Clearwater Features Forum are campaigning for TUGS to get out onto DVD. They are doing exceedingly well. But they still need your vote.
The main basis of trying to get TUGS on DVD is so that, TUGS will capture the hearts of new children of younger generations, and a program that has long been forgotten would be back in the limelight once more, where it belongs.


However, due to a glitch, Clearwater Features Forum was lost, and so was the campaign. It has been re-started the campaign on the new Star Tugs Pier forum. 


Since the forum(s) have been created, a lot of new information has been discovered (i.e. Voice Talent, how the series was made, the elusive thoughts of a second series, etc.), however the forum have not yet discovered who owns the rights to the series.



Trivia



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