DBA Productions© was
founded by a certain Darcy Ireland. At Thomas the Tank Engine® online forums, he is
known as simply FlyingS. This one alias is simply "Flying Scotsman" shortened and is pronounced
"Flying S." Anyways, Darcy had been building, mending and getting parts for old computers
and did this for a few years before DBA© began. He was also experienced at building websites and already
had one up which doesn't exist today sadly. He heard of Sodor Island Forums and TVTome.com,
where he could chat to other Thomas & Friends fans (Darcy is a fan
of Thomas & Friends and trains) about whatever Thomas-related they want. He heard of his new friends
on these fan forums making their own production companies to simply make Thomas episode redubs, which he
thought were well-done. He wished he could do that one day. His made several "practice redubs" and finally made a redub of
Season 9 episode "Mighty Mac," which was introduced in November of 2005. (Is now on page "Other Videos.").
But the history of the company goes further
back than 2005; to 2003. Darcy had two friends named Luke
and John Cyr, who were brothers. The three friends together decided to make a music video, where Darcy
would do basketball stunts, since Darcy was excellent at basketball. After filming, Darcy
coined the phrase "DBA©" (Darcy Basketball Association©). He thought it "cheesy", but satisfying
for the video. It was soon finished and came out splendid with the term John stuck into the video. This video
became the start of DBA Productions©. (To see this video, go to the new page "Other Videos").
After the DBA©
video's release, Darcy decided to go further with his new company (John and Luke, however,
aren't involved with much in the company). He started the first series, "Train Sim Crazy Crashes®," after
he got Train Simulator® v.1.1 for his birthday and John told him of a game-recording program to use for the
game.
"Train Sim Crazy Crashes®" already had
three episodes within a week! Darcy soon had a company hiatus, since he had to focus on school. but
DBA Productions© came back into his brain again. In March 2005, he released 3
more episodes. The following summer, he rolled out 2 more episodes, bringing the total to 8.
The ninth episode debuted 10 January 2006. The total episodes is now 12.
When Episode 6 of Train Sim Crazy
Crashes® was released near the end of Summer 2005, Darcy came up with a new series for the company,
"Thomas & Friends 2.0®." It had Train Sim® versions of Thomas and his friends reenacting
episodes from the show. After Episode 1: Thomas & Gordon®, the show left DBA©'s
hands but the episode still exists for those who are still curious to see it. (See new page "Other Videos"
to watch this video).
Not long after Episode 8 of Train Sim Crazy
Crashes® was released in Fall 2005, Darcy came up with a new idea. Using some of
Christopher Awdry's additions to the Railway Series® (Books 27-40), he scanned the pictures
from the inside of each book that he had at the time. He combined this with Ted Robbins reading each story
out loud and made "The Railway Series®." Each episode was released daily until 22 December 2005
when DBA© had a short hiatus for the Holidays. This brought the episode count to 17.
The series was quickly picked up again and brought the total to 28. The series is now discontinued and is no longer
available.
During the 2005 Holidays, Darcy
had another idea. He rounded his friends, Luke and John up, with their camcorder to start
another series. He used the new battery-powered Thomas & Friends© models he had received for Christmas
and filmed segments of them running in according to a script he had written himself. This script was for "Shunting
Difficulties", the first episode of "Thomas the Battery-Powered Engine®." The series uses the Thomas
Wooden Railway®'s battery-powered models and one of TOMY©'s models and they are run in accordance
to scripts. The first episode debuted 5 March 2006 and the total episode count today is 2.
To replace the discontinued series in May
2006, Darcy released a new series called The Skarloey Railway Chronicles®. This series follows the
adventures of the Skarloey Railway characters featured in the Railway Series. The fabulous
stories are retold using the popular Microsoft© Train Simulator® software. The series debuted on
24 April 2006, with Episode 1.
As Darcy Ireland comes up with
more ideas for his company and it has already run for three years (established March 2004), this company should last for quite
some time. With three series and many friends online to see his creations, he is very confident about keeping his company
open for at least another few years.
