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02x14 - Stop the Press

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "Shining Time Station". Aired: January 29, 1989 – November 20, 1995.*
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A local named Horace Schemer, simply referred to as Schemer, runs the station's arcade and serves as the series' comic relief.

02x14 - Stop the Press

Post by bunniefuu »

funding for this program was provided in

part by the corporation for public

broadcasting and by the financial

support of viewers like you

reach for the

go speed the rail may run

reach for the words

reach for the story

follow the rainbow sun

to his shining time

[Music]

simply shocking

dreadful behavior

scandalous

sometimes i think i should give up

reading the comics all together

[Music]

and then you fold it again like this

there

i'm a pilot ahoy shipmate

oh hello

where are you going today

moose

see

lucy sleep

no smoking

please no smoking have a good trip

bye

okay where were we

doodle haven

350. three no 315. 315. doodle haven't

315. here

good thing we checked yeah and our

passengers expect these information to

be accurate right okay

maybe we should double check everything

what do you have a clogging of 11

o'clock 11 o'clock clogged check

mr scoop

uh now is that carol with a ceo with a k

for the k

hey

i remember you you're a newspaper writer

not just a writer sonny a reporter with

the indian valley gazette wait a minute

that's my byline hey yeah my name on a

piece i wrote just last week mayor of

east shemp seeks re-election

believe you me that was not an easy

story to get

so you wrote it and they printed it and

everybody read it

wow

yeah it's a rough job but someone's got

to do it

ms smoot great to see you let's just

scoop hello what are you doing here are

you covering a story oh i hope there's

nothing wrong like trains arriving later

missing tickets oh no of course not man

all news is not bad news you know

but uh speaking of news

what's new

well mr scoop you know how i hate gossip

uh yes ma'am i surely do but i have to

tell someone oh of course of course it's

about jenny you know from farmer's dell

[Music]

must be so neat working for a newspaper

hey

why don't we start our own newspaper

like the becky carradan news no no

better the shining time times and right

on stationery

or

the shining times that's it yeah

awesome

excuse me would you mind lending me a

bounce

sure mr conductor what do you need i've

been trying to repair this signal arm

it's broken it's all bent

trains depend on signals and they have

to be absolutely correct at all times so

i was wondering

here let me try

yeah

okay um everybody okay

okay one two three

oh

thanks a lot i'm glad you fixed it

percy's been having enough trouble with

signals as it is

really what happened oh it's quite a

story why don't i tell you about it

percy works in the yard at the big

station

he loves playing jokes but they can get

him into trouble

one morning he was very cheeky indeed

hurry up gordon the train's ready gordon

thought he was late

laughed percy and showed him a train of

dirty coal cars

gordon thought how to get back at percy

for teasing him

next it was james's turn

stay in the shed today james sir topham

hatt will come and see you ah thought

james sir topham hatt knows i'm a fine

engine he wants me to pull a special

train

james's driver and fireman could not

make him move

the other engines grumbled dreadfully

they had to do james's work as well as

their own

[Music]

at last the inspector arrived show a

wheel james you can't stay here all day

sir topham hatt told me to stay here he

sent a message this morning

he did not how could he he's away for a

week

oh

said james

oh

where's percy

percy had wisely disappeared

when sir topham hatt came back he was

crossed with james and percy for causing

so much trouble

[Music]

but the very next day percy was still

being cheeky

i say you engines i'm to take some

freight cars to thomas's junction sir

topham hatt chose me especially he must

know i'm a really useful engine

more likely he wants you out of the way

grunted james gordon looked across to

james they were going to play a trick on

percy james and i were just speaking

about signals at the junction we can't

be too careful about signals but then i

needn't say that to a really useful

engine like you percy

percy felt flattered we had spoken of

backing signals put in james they need

extra special care you know would you

like me to explain

no thank you james said percy i know all

about signals

percy was a little worried

i wonder what backing signals are he

thought

never mind i'll manage

he puffed crossly to his freight cars

and felt better

[Music]

he came to a signal bother it's a danger

the signal moved to show line clear

its arm moved up instead of down percy

had never seen that sort of signal

before

down means go and up means stop

so upper still must mean go back

i know it's one of those backing signals

come on percy said his driver off we go

stop you're going the wrong way

but it's a backing signal percy

protested and told him about gordon and

james

the driver laughed and explained

oh dear said percy

let's start quickly before they see us

he was too late gordon saw everything

[Music]

that night the big engines talked about

signals

[Music]

they thought the subject was funny percy

thought they were being very silly

so you see percy's problem wasn't that

he made up stories that's fine what he

did wrong was to make people believe

that his made-up stories were true

i think percy should be more careful

yes i'm sure he will be

thank you again for repairing the signal

arm

well what are we waiting for we've got a

newspaper to put out yeah

well yes i suppose you could say that

mine is a typical modern success story

uh i attributed to hard work

dashing good looks

and an exceptionally keen business mind

which i inherited from my mommy

from his mommy anything else about my

mommy well

she's smart

she's honest and she has an

exceptionally talented son getting all

this down that's lakota spelled

l-a-k-o-t-a

lakota soup

are they a very big tribe nation dan

we're called nations and we're a very

great people

as a matter of fact sitting bull was a

chief of the standing rock suit

really

it's interesting

so what do you want to ask me

um

how's the mayor

mayor

well

he's fine

i suppose

do you like him

well i voted for him

yes

i like him thanks

you know i think your readers might be

interested in the history of shining

time station cara did you know that my

grandmother gracie jones was the first

station manager here and boy did she

have stories to tell oh let's see my

favorite story

i'm sorry to interrupt miss jones uh

cara i thought that uh perhaps you could

use a picture of me for the big story

that you're doing about me for your

newspaper here's my front it's my back

yeah oh okay

listen maybe i should uh autograph this

for you as well

now uh my name is spelled s-c-h-e-m-e-r

emphasis on the scheme

yeah

okay where was i

your grandmother in the winter oh right

oh this story i love this toy oh the

press huh well i have a train to catch

so you'll have to make it snap snap

snappy yes sir

um

do you like miss moo

miss who miss smooth

oh oh miss moot certainly oh a lovely

lady i like everyone who voted for me

thanks

wait a minute don't you want to hear

about my new garbage dump

[Music]

so here they are all our stories and you

know what what they're kind of well

boring no one's gonna want to read them

i've got

mayor likes midge smooth and she likes

him so what

how about

mare and midge schmoot

in love

no no better

mid small will marry mayor

but they didn't say that

okay okay

mitch might marry bear but he doesn't

want to that's better

what about schemer he said he likes his

mommy

trying to change a word or two schemer's

mad at his mommy

yeah

[Music]

my man stacy's grandmother wouldn't like

schema yeah maybe stacy doesn't like

schemer

yeah

maybe she wants to kick him out yeah she

says schemer must get out or else

[Music]

did billy say he was related to she's

sitting bull

well

he said they were both sue

billy two feathers grandson of chief

sitting bow

you think they'll like it

sure they will

i feel like shouting newspaper let's

play something on the jukebox to

celebrate our new paper good idea it's

on me

they're telling stories why don't we

tell one ourselves well the only stories

we know are saw you tell them tex i just

did rex i knew i heard it someplace

how about a song about a railroad i got

it i got it how about

tennessee central number nine

one and two

[Music]

[Music]

big

[Music]

the tennessee

[Music]

gonna hit that mountain just

[Music]

[Music]

oh

[Music]

he said

[Music]

i want you to know mayor flopdinger that

i wouldn't marry you if you were the

last mayor on earth but dear woman i can

assure you i was misquoted

oh my word mrs flopdinger will never

speak to me again sure blame it on the

press isn't that what you politicians

always do

oh my dear matter oh my dear miss moot

my my dear my dear voter

schemer i never ever said that i wanted

to kick you out of the station oh no no

then how come it says it

right here in black and white if it's

imprintimus jones it must be true

really okay then it must be true

that you are very mad at your mommy

i love my mommy well it says it right

here

if my mommy weaves that shield

mommy i need right now

damn you better talk to stacy

carol let's go see billy he's gonna be

really angry at all of us

this is some creative writing you've got

here dan

hmm

let's see romance in bloom family

quarrels famous indian chiefs

we just didn't want our stories to be

well boring oh well i guess she was

successful then

i suppose

stacey what's wrong with creative

writing i thought creative was good well

there's a big difference to them between

making a story up which is creative

writing and reporting a story

i'll show you what i mean

remember when we all went to the movies

the other night yeah okay

i'm going to report on that night all

right i'm going to write a report you

help me

let's see

all right it all began

on a dark and stormy night

it wasn't stormy it wasn't even dark

when it began oh all right

the sun was setting that's better

okay

uh we drove to the theater

okay and suddenly we were surrounded by

big machines

roaring and snarling in the darkness

other people's cars

true

okay cars now the gates

were swung wide

all right and we were admitted

by

a cruel and sinister servant to the

castle

uh that was the ticket taker okay

they are cowering in the darkness we

were offered strange and exotic foods

and beverages by unseen

voices so i'm starting to get scared

oh

sorry dad

okay let's go home

that was a real story

yes but it wasn't the real story was it

it wasn't the real report huh

okay i see what you mean

good

grand son of sitting bull huh

now who told you that i never said a

thing like that well you said you were

related to him

didn't you what i said was my ancestors

are soup and i'm very proud of that fact

but you don't have to be related to

somebody famous in order to be proud of

your heritage billy does this mean you

don't like me anymore does this mean i

can't grow up to be an engineer like you

cara becky

it's okay it's just a mistake and we all

make them

but let's get one thing clear i am not

the grandson of sitting bull even if i

did read it in this paper

but you'll have to excuse me kids

and mr conductor i have to go and check

the signal light

hi becky hi kara hi dan oh hi mr

conductor boy are we in a lot of trouble

what are we gonna do don't be worried

dan i'm sure things will be all right

i'm sorry you weren't here to listen to

what my friend billy two-feathers just

told becky and caro how about what about

mistakes and how they're all right as

long as you learn something from them

back on the island of sodor thomas just

found that out for himself

how

well

i'll tell you

thomas the tank engine was grumbling to

the other engines i spend my time

pulling coaches about ready for you to

take out on journeys

the other engines laughed

why can't i pull passenger trains too

you're too impatient they said you'd be

sure to leave something behind

rubbish said thomas i'll show you

one night he and henry were alone

henry was ill the men worked hard but he

didn't get better

he felt just as bad next morning henry

usually pulled the first train and

thomas had to get his coaches ready

if henry is ill he thought

perhaps i shall pull his train

thomas ran to find the coaches

come along come along he fussed

there's plenty of time there's plenty of

time they grumbled thomas took them to

the platform and wanted to run round in

front at once

but his driver wouldn't let him don't be

impatient thomas

thomas waited and waited

the people got in the conductor and

station master walked up and down the

porter banged the doors and still henry

didn't come thomas got more and more

excited sir topham hatt came to see what

was the matter and the conductor and

station master told him about henry

find another engine he ordered there's

only thomas they said you'll have to do

it then thomas

be quick now

so thomas ran round to the front and

back down on the coaches ready to start

let's not be impatient said his driver

we'll wait till everything is ready but

thomas was too excited to listen

what happened then no one knows

perhaps they forgot to couple thomas to

the train or perhaps the driver pulled

the lever by mistake

anyhow thomas started without his

coaches as he passed the first signal

tower men waved and shouted but he

didn't stop

they're waving because i'm such a

splendid engine he thought importantly

henry says it's hard to pull trains but

i think it's easy

hurry hurry hurry he puffed pretending

to be like gordon

people have never seen me pulling a

train before it's nice of them to wave

and he whistled

thank you

then he came to a signal at danger

bother he thought i must stop and i was

going so nicely too what a nuisance

signals are he blew an angry beep

on his whistle the signalman ran up

hello thomas he said what are you doing

here i'm pulling a train said thomas

can't you see

where are your coaches then

thomas looked back why bless me he said

if we haven't left them behind

yes said the signalman you'd better go

back quickly and fetch them

poor thomas was so sad he nearly cried

cheer up said his driver let's go back

quickly and try again

[Music]

at the station all the passengers were

talking at once they were telling sir

topham hatt what a bad railway it was

but when thomas came back they saw how

sad he was and couldn't be crossed

he was coupled to the train and this

time he really pulled it

[Music]

afterwards the other engines laughed at

thomas and said

look there's thomas who wanted to pull a

train but forgot about the coaches but

thomas had already learned not to make

the same mistake again

people will understand if you make a

mistake the idea is not to make a

mistake and then make the same mistake

all over again biggest mistake of all is

not to learn from your mistakes

otherwise you'll find yourselves

quite mistaken

so anyway there i am running home right

i just about get to the front door when

i realized hey my mommy is a doodle

haven visiting one of her friends she's

even gonna see the newspaper so what am

i worried about

yeah i think so

oh gotta go kids

hi schemer sorry about what we wrote

about your mother

yeah i was uh just talking to her right

now on the phone and

she took it pretty hard poor woman

but uh

well there is a way you could make it up

to her how help

by being extra nice to me anybody got a

nickel who wrote this this this shining

times this disgrace to journalism who's

responsible for this that's what i want

to know they are the three of them right

there

all right well listen up kids and listen

good

this is not reporting now if you want to

be in the newspaper game you got to

learn to get your fat straight and you

got to double check your facts before

you go to press we know that now mr

scoop we know there's a big difference

between telling a real story and telling

a made-up story

yeah and we know it's okay to make

mistakes if you learn from your mistakes

well maybe uh i wouldn't know you know i

never get my stories wrong

never

in my reporting never

stoop

where's this scoop i'm looking for this

nincompoop scoop mr mayor here i am your

honor

are you the author of this journalistic

gobbledygook or the story on your

campaign speech yes sir i wrote that

well go ahead read it no read it right

now right there ah

his honor said that he was here tonight

to talk garbage

well

this is what i said i said i was there

to talk about garbage trash collections

clean streets recycling oh

sorry sorry well what are you going to

do about it

we'll print a retraction in tomorrow's

paper no problem

what's a retraction

well it's uh when a newspaper makes a

mistake uh yes yes it happens sometimes

we print a piece as soon as possible

saying that we were wrong and we

apologize

you know your honor it's okay to make

mistakes if you learn from your mistakes

did didn't you say that once in a speech

no

but i will now

come on let's get busy with what with

our special retraction issue of the

shining time good idea

this time let's put a lot of

comics

reach for the speed

reach for the whistle go where the rail

may run

reach for the words reach for the story

follow the rainbow sun

to a shining tide station

where dreams can come true

waiting there for you

so much to see

so far to travel

so much to learn to know

friends by your side

hopes to hold on to who knows how far

you'll go

to a shining time station

[Music]

funding for this program was provided in

part by the corporation for public

broadcasting and by the financial

support of viewers like you

this is pbs