Stop-motion was occasionally employed for instances in which a human or animal character would move. Hand-drawn animation was used in Series 3 to create bees (as seen in the episode "Buzz Buzz"). The first series (1984) used stories from the first eight books, along with one specially written by the Rev. W. Awdry, "Thomas's Christmas Party". The second series (1986) used stories from Book No.9 ("Edward the Blue Engine") to Book No.30 ("More About Thomas the Tank Engine"). The latter book was unusual, as it was written specifically by Christopher Awdry to be adapted by the show. At that time, it was a contractual obligation that the series could only adapt stories that appeared in print. The series also used a story from a Thomas Annual, "Thomas and Trevor", and a specially written stand-alone story, "Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree". The second series was actually a 27-episode series, as a single (unaired) episode ("The Missing Coach") was in the process of being filmed, but despite being filmed it was never shown because Allcroft decided it was too confusing for young viewers. The production team went on to use "Thomas, Percy and the Coal" instead. In between production of the second and third series, the production team were focused in producing two other television series: "Tugs", which ran for one series in 1989 for Television South (TVS); and the American television series "Shining Time Station", which repackaged "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends" for the American television market from 1989 to 1996. Just before production of series three, Clearwater closed on 31 December 1990, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer. Series three was broadcast in 1992 for Thames Television. It was made at a cost of £1.3 million (approximately $9.3.million in U.S. dollars at the time). The series was a combination of episodes derived from "The Railway Series", stories in the "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends" magazine (written by Andrew Brenner, who would later become the show's head writer starting in Series 16), and a couple of original stories by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas, the nominal main character. Awdry complained that the new stories would be unrealistic (see Henry the Green Engine for more details).