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"The tugboat, for its size, is the most powerful craft afloat. And the Starr Tugs are the power behind the docks and waterways that make up the Bigg City Port." |
From the makers of Thomas the Tank Engine comes a short-lived sister series. Set in Bigg City Port in The Roaring Twenties, it chronicles the adventures of the Star Tugs, a fleet of Thomas-esque boats with faces as they compete for contracts with their biggest rivals, the Z-Stacks.
What really sets this show apart from Thomas is the maturity of the stories. There are dangerous perils that the Tugs have to deal with, such as being crushed by a wayward ocean liner, or the risk of being scrapped.
Tropes used in TUGS include:
- Affably Evil: Zebedee, especially in "High Winds".
- Alliterative Name: Names to be exact, with the Z-Stacks being named Zorran, Zebedee, Zak, Zip and Zug, working for Captain Zero.
- Australia Gangster: Johnny Cuba.
- British Accents: Ten Cents has a Cockney accent, while Sunshine is a Geordie. Big Mac is Glaswegian, Top Hat has an upper-class accent, while Hercules has a sort of Cary Grant thing going on. And yet it's set in America...
- British Brevity: The show ran for 13 episodes.
- Cool Boat
- Cut and Paste Translation: Aired as part of Saltys Lighthouse on TLC with American accents re-dubbed over the characters, name changes, and other edits.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to Thomas the Tank Engine, and done well. Some Tugs risk their lives to protect their friends.
- It is meant for a slightly older crowd, after all.
- Dumb Muscle: Warrior.
- Everything Is Better With Explosions: Billy Shoepack thinks so. Also, many episodes have some sort of explosion or another.
- High-Class Glass: Top Hat.
- Honor Before Reason: Bluenose likes to put orders before common sense.
- Killed Off for Real: Big Mickey the Crane, though this depends on whether you're watching it on TV or video.
- At least Big Mickey would have a quiet happier future in Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, along with various other models.
- The Klutz: Warrior.
- Last of His Kind: O.J., the last paddleboat tug in Bigg City.
- Meaningful Name: The tramp steamer "Krakatoa" from the episode "Munitions".
- Mighty Glacier: What else would you expect from boats?
- New Transfer Student: Sunshine from "Up River". Not a school per se, but has a different paint job until he's accepted at the end of the first episode.
- Noodle Incident: It's not entirely clear what happened between Captain Zero and Johnny Cuba, but Zero is still pretty sore about it.
- Ominous Fog: "Ghosts".
- Quintessential British Gentleman: Top Hat, again.
- Scenery Gorn: "Munitions" features a ten-minute sequence of the docks blowing up.
- Scenery Porn: The harbor, the docks, the boats....
- Sixth Ranger: Near the end of the series, Grampus the submarine joins the Star Tugs.
- Shout-Out: The Line "Goodnight Vienna" is a direct reference to Ringo Starr's album of the same name.
- Spiritual Successor: Co-producer Robert Cardona would go on to produce the Canadian series Theodore Tugboat.
- The Faceless: Captain Starr and Captain Zero. The closest we see of any human is a megaphone.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Not exactly the theme music, but there is a dramatic piece of music played whenever a Tug is acting heroically.
- Upperclass Twit: Bluenose and Top Hat.
- Violent Glaswegian: Big Mac.