This article is about the television series. Did you mean the pilot or the vehicle and setting?
Infinity Train is a Cartoon Network animated series created by Owen Dennis about a young girl named Tulip and her friends, One-One and Atticus, traversing through a seemingly infinite train with unlimited possibilities in order to find her way home.
The pilot episode was first shown on November 2, 2016, on Cartoon Network's YouTube channel. The pilot's popularity ultimately lead to Cartoon Network airing the pilot on television on February 11, 2017.[1]
On March 2, 2018, Cartoon Network launched a teaser on their official website confirming that Season 1 of the show will launch in 2019.[2]
In July 2019, the show was confirmed for an August 5, 2019 debut[3] and the first episode was released early on Cartoon Network's website. The week-long airing was promoted as a miniseries, only for the surprise reveal immediately following the final episode that the series would return.
On November 22, 2019, the official Infinity Train website was updated with a new claw machine puzzle. Completing the puzzle leads to a trailer for Season 2.[4]
On July 6, 2020, it was announced that Season 3 will be released exclusively on HBO Max.[5]
Conceptualization
Infinity Train was first imagined by Dennis in 2010 while riding a plane home to the United States from China. Initially, he wondered what would happen should a girl be trapped on a plane, but eventually discarded the idea, stating "there wasn't really a lot to explore if [the setting] is a plane."[6]
He later changed the setting to a train.[6] According to Dennis, not much else about Infinity Train's origin can be revealed due to it containing heavy spoilers for the series itself.[6]
Upon the initial pitch of the series, Cartoon Network executives feared that the series would be too similar to Over the Garden Wall, then referred to as Tome of the Unknown.[7]
The logo for the Infinity Train pilot.
Eventually, the two shows were deemed different enough, and Dennis received permission to create a pilot. The initial concept did receive edits and changes when Dennis viewed the completed version of Over the Garden Wall, however.[7]
Additionally, Dennis often held other fears about Infinity Train's similarities to other media when it was first created, citing films Snowpiercer and Galaxy Express 999 that came out later in the year.
Within the network itself, fellow Cartoon Network storyboard artist Cole Sanchez told Dennis that Adventure Time had created an episode featuring a train with infinity symbols on it, which caused Dennis's "stomach to turn."[7] He eventually overcame these fears, stating "There are certain ideas just... sitting there, plucked up by anyone who feels like they wanna do something with it. The most you can do is just keep making the thing you’re trying to make with the voice you want to make it in."[7]
Episodes
| Book | Name | Episodes | Originally aired | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| Pilot | February 11, 2017 | |||
| 1 | The Perennial Child | 10 | August 5, 2019 | August 9, 2019 |
| Shorts | The Train Documentaries | 10 | October 19, 2019 | November 16, 2019 |
| 2 | Cracked Reflection | 10 | January 6, 2020 | January 10, 2020 |
| 3 | TBA | 10 | TBA | TBA |
Videos
Trivia
- It was confirmed in a Cartoon Network official YouTube video by Owen Dennis that the pilot episode takes place in November.
- The initial idea of the show came from Owen's experiences while traveling on a plane.
- Owen Dennis has stated that Cartoon Network executives are "allowing us to do some things content-wise that other shows might not normally be able to do, simply because Infinity Train already has a fanbase."[8]
References
- ↑ My pilot for Cartoon Network was just released! It's about a girl, her robot, and a corgi on an Infinity Train! – Owen Dennis! on Twitter
- ↑ http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/infinity-train/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2019/07/infinity-train-premiere-date-cartoon-network-series-1202644536/
- ↑ http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/infinity-train/
- ↑ https://io9.gizmodo.com/exclusive-infinity-trains-third-season-is-bringing-ana-1844278217
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "5-Pizza Party Podcast – FT: Owen Dennis INFINITY TRAIN Creator" (at times 2m18s, 2m33s, 2m55s)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 They didn’t inspire each other. If I were to guess, The Adventure Time episode and Infinity Train were probably thought of around the same time period. – Owen Dennis' Tumblr
- ↑ "They’re also allowing us to do some things content-wise that other shows might not normally be able to do, simply because Infinity Train already has a fanbase." - Owen Dennis on Reddit