| “ |
Midway through the flight, I awoke over the Pacific Ocean where it was very calm and dark. I looked around and all I could see were people’s faces staring into the TV screens in their seats. I thought, “If I had no idea what this was, this would be pretty terrifying,” and sort of went from there. I like starting in an unsettling or disquieting place and seeing where the story can go from that. |
” |
| —Owen Dennis, [1] | ||
The Bliss Car is the unused original premise for the first episode of the first season of Infinity Train. Finished on November 27, 2015, it was heavily revised almost beyond recognition for the next two years before eventually becoming "The Grid Car." Several elements from this premise were reused in the show proper. It is unknown if an entire script exists, but the first draft written by Owen Dennis outlines the entire plot of the episode.
Plot[]
After arguing with her parents, a young girl named Tulip grabs her backpack and runs away from home. Finding an abandoned platform in the woods, she is surprised by the arrival by a train that seems to stretch on forever in either direction. She decides to board the train, only to find herself in a train car filled with people staring at screens and a glowing number (180) on her hand. She tries to leave her seat, but when the woman next to her won't move out of the way she turns off the woman's television. This leads the woman to freak out and attack her, forcing Tulip to turn the TV back on.
Tulip climbs over the woman and enters a snow-filled car, finding a cave with a snowman in it. The snowman talks, revealing its head is actually a little robot called One-One with a dual personality. One-One is unable to tell her what her number means. The train comes to a stop and Tulip sees someone walking towards a beam of light outside the train, followed closely by "gomes" who keep their distance. Tulip decides to get off the train and follow this person, only to watch them get sucked into the beam of light and into the sky.
The gomes see Tulip and immediately turn on her as the train starts to move. Tulip immediately runs back onto the train, but is cornered by one of the gomes which starts to suck her skin off with its mouth. One-One knocks the gome away by splitting in half, while Tulip uses the distraction to run into the Bliss Car again while hitting all the stop buttons on the TV. The people watching the TVs get out of their seats and start grabbing at things, including the Gome, while Tulip escapes.
Tulip decides that trains have Conductors, so she needs to find the Conductor of the train so she can disembark.
Reused Elements[]
- "The Grid Car"
- The overall premise of Tulip running away from home.
- One-One being part of a snowman.
- Tulip reboarding the train while running from the "gomes" (renamed Ghoms in the actual show) by using one of the wheels.
- "The Corgi Car"/Pilot
- The context of the Steward's first line of dialogue "Return to your seat!": Tulip originally arrived on the train seated.
- "The Cat's Car"
- The television screens that suck passengers' conscience into it, reused with the Memory Tapes.
- The synopsis implies the conversation depicted in this episode where Tulip's parents tell her of their impending separation would have been the impetus for Tulip running away, rather than their failure to take her to game design camp.
- "The Ball Pit Car"
- The Conductor describes the events of "The Cat's Car" as trapping Tulip in her happiest memories: this possibly refers to their purpose in the original first episode.
Trivia[]
- The central image of this premise (Tulip waking up to a car full of passengers whose faces were illuminated by TV screens) is inspired by a real experience Owen Dennis had in 2010 while on a flight back from China to America.[1]