While thefirst season of Infinity Trainwas an absolute joyride , the recent intelligence that the creative team’salready hard at workplace on even more episodesmeans that there ’s much more to Tulip , One - One , and Attius ’ story than what ’s been uncover so far .
With that in mind , a crowd of us at io9 who ’ve been come Infinity Train since itfirst hit the cyberspace as a fascinating shortgot together to chat a chip about why we ’ve all gravitated towards the serial and what we hope to see in the future . Unsurprisingly , we all want to see more power train cars .
Beth Elderkin : I ’ve been hyped about Infinity Train ever since I sawthat mini - pilota couple of years ago . It promise such a with child assumption , and a humankind that was practically begging for geographic expedition — just like the world ’s most - adorable Welsh corgi tycoon beg to go outside ! Of of course , the moment you get hyped for something is the mo it will probably disappoint you . But I ’ve engender ta say : That did n’t happen this sentence . Infinity Train redeem .
Tulip fighting for her life.Image: (Cartoon Network)
https://gizmodo.com/infinity-train-creator-owen-dennis-discusses-why-cartoo-1837030950
James Whitbrook : Ever since that original original air , I ’ve loved the assumption of this uncanny - posterior gear being one equipage after another of alternating worlds and puzzles . It ’s been plaguing me since it came out , want to know what the deal was — holograms , puzzle boxes , alternate realities or timeline , just what was Infinity Train ’s mickle ? While the final serial did n’t perhaps get quite so exploratory of the concept as I ’d have care it to , it did render a character electric arc for Tulip that I really , really treasure beyond the mystery boxwood approach .
Beth : I gibe , James , Infinity Train was n’t really big on the metaphysical ( trainaphysical ? ) , but it plunge deeply into the interpersonal . It used a big and unbelievable scope to tell a surprisingly small history , one that I ’m certain a lot of kids and adult treasure for its thoughtfulness and respect .
James : Also , I would die for Atticus .
Charles Pulliam - Moore : The suspect thing is that , somehow , I ’d never actually take heed about Infinity Train until a couple of months back , which is weird given how much of a consecrated following the initial short ended up developing and how much buzz there was about it . We … all watch a bunch of television set for work , right ? So I initially adopt that the series would more or less fall in line with a fate of the other animate serial we ’ve seen pop up from this newer generation of vitalizer who distinctly grew up watching Cartoon connection shows likeOK K.O.!andSteven Universe . But then , Infinity Train was just like “ no , no , my devout child . We ’re doing something different here , ” and I ’m legitimately astound at how much I ’m into it ?
James : Yeah , this is what surprised me a pile coming in too — that steady dieting of Steven Universe taught me to bear that oh , this ’ll be a plenty of Seth up , there ’ll be some persona stuff but it ’ll be more about “ what is this Earth like , what mystery injury or closed book could these characters harbor to check in on down the line , what ’s the wider pitching beyond Tulip ? ” There is a bit of that by the end when the gang ’s reached the Engine Car and we get just like , an integral episode of infodumpery about the effect chasing her along the carriages . But really , this first season is just very much Tulip ’s tale : she ’s the child of divorcing parent , has a lot of touch sensation to process about that specific thing , and die a prospicient way in doing so by the time she ’s ready to get off the geartrain at the end of the season . The train itself … doesn’t really matter so much , yet ?
Beth : That said , the show still give you hint about a wider world that can be explored in the future . For case , when the Conductor shows how far her routine stretch on her body … the train clearly places a value on a mortal ’s actions . But who is determine those value ? Are masses make for to the gear for personal healing ? If so : What come about when someone can never figure out the object lesson they ’re supposed to read ?
Charles : I suppose they just get stuck , and to be honest … I feel like I ’d be perfectly hunky-dory getting stuck on more than a few of the power train ’s machine .
Beth : Spa railroad car please .
James : BOOK ME A ONE WAY TICKET TO CORGINIA . And actually , perhaps the crystallization car where you have to sing song from your heart . Maybe as like , a karaoke night staycation aside from the Corginia elevator car .
Also , blend in back to what you were saying Beth , I enjoy the idea of the train as this fomite — ha — for people all over the world to come and process an worked up crisis . Because it makes me think about what really ended up being the biggest surprisal for me by the series ’ close , even from the pulling back of the curtain on the wider traditional knowledge of the show : Tulip ’s not actually on the string any more . What would bring her back , if the train is like some sorting of hazardous , constantly chugging healer ’s office ?
Beth : What if … she has n’t really leave the power train ? No , that ’d be stupid — or brilliance . I ’m guessing she ’ll be institute back to help her protagonist through some sort of a crisis .
James : There IS that one shot mightily near the end where she goes past a mirror to get to her pa ’s railcar on the way to scheduling camp , and very clearly no longer has her mirror reflection — after losing it on the power train . So either the Train can affect the real humanity , or perchance she really did n’t get off and this is still a feigning of what the world could be like for her .
Charles : As easy as it would be for the serial to pull a whole “ it was in your judgment the entire prison term ” situation , I ’m deeply invested in the estimate of the gear actually being able to affect the world in some capacity because the kind of aroused healing the show ’s going for loses some of its oompf , I consider , if everything ends up just being a psychological conception of Tulip ’s .
James : Oh , totally . I retrieve they ultimately find , even in the constraint of it as 10 episodes of TV that are 10 - ish moment long , find a residue between the train as set fertilisation and as the mystifying draw poker of the whole matter — like , how basically every episode after the first open with Tulip , Atticus , and One - One walking out of a posture we just never see again … and that ’s fine , because that ’s not the focus , the mystery of it all is antecedent to the journey of this ternion .
Beth : I was amazed at how every undivided auto Tulip spent an episode in was indicative of a part of her emotional journeying . The mirror reflection was about her recognizing a part of herself that she was eat up indoors . The playground car was about childhood fantasy literally crumbling before her eyes , as she could no longer live in the “ pretend world ” of purposeful closing off she had created for herself . The uncompleted automobile , much like Entrapta ’s speech inShe - Ra ’s third season , was about how thing do n’t always have to be “ unsex ” to be okay . Sometimes , our flaw are what make us work .
And the Cat ’s car , well , I could expend 60 minutes speak about everything beautiful about the Cat ’s car . Being surrounded by possessions and thing , distraction and fuddle . Tulip ’s head was cluttered and overrun . It was clear her Memories Tape was designed to twine , give her a fantasy she could lose herself in . But it felt like the mag tape was n’t forcing that action upon her , or anyone else who gazed upon their own memories . We all have a desire to soften the tougher blows in our own life story , and it took a lot of courage for Tulip to confront her painful memory and see them for what they really were .
James : Oh man , the Cat . Can we talk about the Cat ? I know formally she ’s the Cat , but I just occupy to calling her Janeway because oh my god they got Kate Mulgrew and she was incredible . The voice cast of this intact show was a unvarying surprise and delight . Ben Mendelsohn ! Lena Headey ! Ashley Johnson ! Ernie Hudson ! Like , each episode had another name attached that surprise me so much . I hope this is something an Infinity Train season two will continue , and they just did n’t get all this gift thinking it might be a one and done matter .
Charles : Far be it for me to utter to anyone ’s influences , but I ’ve been calling The Cat the Get Out Cat in my head since we first figure her car and what the video tapes could do to a individual once they bulge out view them . The intact chronological sequence where Tulip ascertain herself trapped in the clean room with the still screen zooming in on her before it basically “ infects ” her made me put down my telephone set and decently pay attention to the show , because it ’s just this unexpected moment of staring panic - inducing repugnance that felt a peck like a very relatable tension dream .
James : “ A very relatable tenseness dream ” is basically the subhead of this entire show , honestly . But yes , the tape recording clobber and how it portrayed the idea of memory was so well done — so many shows that do that sorting of “ these are my memories but they ’re slightly different ” kind of figure that it can be a minuscule boring , but how that instalment in particular married not just Tulip ’s plot - system of logic approach to her problem solving , but incorporate the real mechanically skillful ideas of VHS static and rewinding and all that into the aesthetic of those dream sequences was really ingenious . Outside of the high dramatic play of the net few instalment , I recollect that installment was the high spot of the show for me .
Beth : Also Corginia , because it ’s a place of perfection and knockout . With corgis .
Charles : It ’s kind of a cop - out , but I ’m in erotic love with the Mediterranean Republic Car that we only get a brief glance of as Tulip and One - One are parting ways with Nancy , the woman with a blush wine for a head . It give you just enough entropy to understand that as abbreviated as Tulip ’s time in any special car might be , there are just as many ( if not more ) instances where she terminate up spend a pregnant amount of sentence baffle to know the great unwashed in a elbow room that the show ’s time restraint make it impossible to fit into an episode .
Beth : Amelia did say Tulip had been there for months . I want to know how that T - Rex was able to play baseball , specially see how the man of Infinity Train cares a great bargain that many of its residents do n’t have opposable thumbs . It ’s , like , a bounteous hatful for them . I think my biggest question coming out of this time of year is : Who was making the cars before Amelia , and for what ends ? Was it One - One ? Also , we want to get wind more about One - One . I have a smell there ’s a lot more to their story , and that some of it may not be good . I loved them with all of my nerve , but there ’s something about them that raised eyebrows for me .
James : That ’s a affair I wanted to ask you both — if we ’re seeing the gearing as this sort of conductor for navigate a personal psychic trauma , processing it , going through some healing around it , and then moving on ( well , off the train ) , do you need a succeeding story to be about Tulip herself , or about one of the other characters ? Or an entirely new character who board the gear ?
Charles : I feel like the series might terminate up run with the train as a vehicle for processing brokenheartedness and trauma , but it ’d be much more fascinating , I think , if the power train was exactly what it ’s been presented as so far : this weird ass thing that exists and is weird and … that ’s just it . Because that makes the larger world Infinity Train exists within that much more off - kilter , and opens up potential for other quality to interact with the train in slipway that Tulip would n’t . Out of all the actors who ’ve pop up in the show so far , I was most hyped when I heard Reagan Gomez - Preston ’s voice — partially because we stanthe Pizza familyin this sign of the zodiac — but also because , I … want [ Tulip ’s best ally ] Mikayla to get on the train .
Beth : To resolve your doubt , James , I ’d care to see Tulip counter to the caravan to help her reflection self — which would not only give us a chance to be with Tulip again , but to also get this interesting Mirror World “ for want of a nail ” berth of who Tulip would ’ve become under dissimilar destiny . I do n’t want another season of “ somebody discovers a weird train and learns its unearthly rule , ” we ’ve already done that . I ’d like Tulip to occur back , but for the dominion to have changed on her . Plus , regarding Mirror Tulip , how do you assist someone bring around who is n’t technically a person ? How do we define her human beings , and deal with the harm of her life and move forward ? Plus , we ’d get more meter with those unearthly Mirrorverse in effect cop / bad cop robots , and they were fantastic .
Side bill : If we are leaning into this “ Infinity Train is a therapy geartrain ” thing , I ’ve got ta say that being plucked from my normal life to wander through a dangerous train that I can not escape from until I float through a thermionic valve and rick into cloud ash is just as traumatic as my normal life diddlysquat , if not just a tiny bit more .
James : I ’d definitely be interested in seeing Mikayla get on the train , and that being an avenue for Tulip to return — not just because yes , Reagan Gomez - Preston is capital and the Pizza Kid on SU rule , but because I really appreciated that a lot of the way Tulip approaches the railroad train and unlike pushchair is influenced by her love of programming and video games . It was a neat angle on “ hey the protagonist likes television games , just like you ! ” character figure of speech that often just … does n’t really in reality impact them as a fibre — speaking of Steven Universe , I love Steven , but the way the show uses his interest in games is that it ’s an ancillary , at best infantile by-line , which is fine .
But have Tulip ’s character be driven by that sort of ability to recognise gamification and logical system puzzler in a way that feel very driven by her interest in games and programming was fun . Mikayla explicitly acknowledging that she does n’t really care about that kind of thing other than her friend ’s bass sake in it , and then having her fling onto the train , make me interested in go steady what her approach the train would be like instead .
Beth : — or what cars she would get , as I recollect she would get cars that address to her abilities and how she resolves conflicts and other situations . Tulip ’s were more about programming - style logic puzzles , leftover - learning ability thinking , perchance Mikayla ’s would focalise on something like interpersonal communication , or creativity . Hard to say , we do n’t roll in the hay her … yet . I would wholly be down with a Mikayla - focalise time of year , so long as they figure out a way to brusk - bridge player the information we got in the first season .
Charles : James , yes ! Exactly that . I kind of think of it like theMetroidrule , almost , where you finish up have to make over ground you ’ve already covered but with new perceptiveness and ability . come back to the train from Mikayla ’s perspective would be interesting if only because it ’d give us a chance to see how someone else deals with the puzzle of it all . Tulip ’s analytical mind and world eyeshot give Infinity Train this overarching common sense of being an larger-than-life math problem that Tulip ’s working her way through . But , if Mikayla were to skip on the string and start to breeze through cars in a different way , it ’d end up making everyone have to reconsider just what kind of place the geartrain ( as a whole ) is .
Beth : Interesting idea ! There ’s so many places the railroad train could go . I ’m excited to see what happens next .
James : Also , while we waitress for season 2 , now I really want to play a Metroidvania style Infinity Train plot to pass the time .
Beth : James , kindly refund to your behind .
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