TUGS Liner Characters

The Liners from the 1988 children's series TUGS were always played a critical role of getting the bustling port-like atmosphere in the show.

The Duchess

The Duchess is the first Ocean Liner we encounter in the series - in the very first episode Sunshine. She only appeared in two separate scenes in the whole of that episode: when the Star's were towing her in - and in the nighttime firework celebrations following a successful journey. In appearance she looked a lot like Princess Alice - and it is possible she was the same model - only with modified funnels and ventilators. She is the TUGS Liner Character to make the most cameos,in "Salty's Lighthouse" she was callad Queen Victoria.

The Duchess seems to be based on the Hamburg America Line ship SS Imperator, which was given to the Cunard Line after World War I, and renamed Berengaria after the 12 Century English Queen Of The Same Name. Like the "Imperator/Berengaria," she has three funnels, an open promenade, and is about 919ft long. When Captain Star is saying "One of The Biggest Liners Around," it implies that she's not The Largest Ocean Liner in The World, seemingly also a reference to how Imperator was surpassed by her younger sisters SS Vaterland and SS Bismarck.

Her profile card in the TUGS board game gave her nationality as British.

Princess Alice

"Princess Alice" was the most prominent of the three Liners - she appeared in three episodes ("High Winds", "High Tide", and "4th of July"), in High Winds she was in need of repair and the Stars (and Zebedee) all fought against the heavy winds to bring her safely into port. When she appeared in the 12th episode 4th of July, she was fully repaired - and was celebrating Independence Day heartily with the other vessels whilst being loaded by Big Mickey,She makes a brief cameo in High Tide,in "Salty's Lighthouse" she was callad Princess Anne.

Stylistically, with her Edwardian lines and twin funnels, Princess Alice resembles the Canadian vessels Empress of Britain, and her sister RMS "Empress of Ireland" which sunk in the St. Lawrence River in 1914 - her name also seems to reference another doomed vessel - the SS|Princess Alice|1865|2.

Her profile card in the TUGS board game gives her nationality as American. Her name and nationality is a reference to a ship owned by United States Lines actually in existise in the 1920s also called S.S. Princess Alice now called SS Princess Matoika. The resemblece is uncany.

.S.Vienna

"S.S.Vienna" was the most vague, but at the same time most beautiful Ocean Liner ever to come into Bigg City Port. She appeared in the episode Bigg Freeze where the Star Tugs and Z-Stacks alike were eagerly awaiting her return. She performed a hearty rendition of a segment of the TUGS theme tune (with added dialogue of course). In some videos she appears in the opening credits,and she makes a cameo in Sunshine,in "Salty's Lighthouse" she was callad R.M.S. Martania(name mix-up with the RMS Mauretania (1906) by the produser's). She is the only ship with the RMS lettering of most European four stackers in the 1920s.

The Vienna is based on the RMS Aquitania and RMS Mauretania (1906) but with German style funnels. Because of this the Vienna has been said to have build by Germans or most lighty Austians due to the name in the 1920s or earlier to compete with the Ship Beautiful which is said to have also visited Bigg City Port under the orders of the Cunard Line for profit.

The Vienna has a similar Cruise Ship livery to what the RMS Mauretania (1906) carried from the Great Depression to her 1942 fate of scrapping in Scotland. She has a top-heavy appearance much like the Aquitania and her staggered pairs of funnels look similar to the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, and her name suggests European ownership.

She appears only 2 times in the series, and only one time is she named (although she appears in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends).