This article is about the television series. Did you mean the pilot or the vehicle and setting?
Infinity Train is a series created by Owen Dennis about a young girl named Tulip and her robotic sidekick One-One, traversing through a seemingly infinite train with unlimited possibilities in order to find their way home.
The pilot episode was first shown on November 2, 2016, on Cartoon Network's YouTube channel.
On February 11, 2017, Cartoon Network aired the pilot on television.[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]
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."[3]
He later changed the setting to a train.[3] According to Dennis, not much else about Infinity Train's origin can be revealed due to it containing heavy spoilers for the series itself.[3]
Upon the initial pitch of the series, Cartoon Network executives feared that the series was too similar to Over the Garden Wall, then referred to as Tome of the Unknown.[4]
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.[4]
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."[4]
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."[4]
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.
- Tulip's entire story arc and all of the train cars have already been planned out.
- Corginia was inspired by Owen's pet corgi he had when growing up.
- The first number that was on Tulip's hand was 115.
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/
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "5-Pizza Party Podcast – FT: Owen Dennis INFINITY TRAIN Creator" (at times 2m18s, 2m33s, 2m55s)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 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