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March 28, 2024, 02:23:39 PM

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Infinity Train

Started by Alberon, April 15, 2021, 10:46:24 PM

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Alberon

Infinity Train is one of the latest in a long line of kids TV that is really too good for them.

The fourth and, probably, final series was just released today on HBO Max. Set on an infinitely long train this animated show follows a different set of characters each season as they traverse through the surreal carriages, though many characters do pop up again and again. Each series is ten episodes, each just ten minutes long. So a whole season is only an hour and forty minutes start to finish.

The first season follows a girl called Tulip, struggling to deal with her parents' divorce, who finds herself on the train and teams up with a small spherical robot with a split personality called One-One, and Atticus, the ruler of a kingdom of Corgis.



I've just finished the second season which follows a girl called MT, a boy called Jesse and the greatest dear in the world - Alan Dracula.



The show's creator, Owen Dennis, has suggested that perhaps HBO Max felt the series was too dark and unappealing to children, but the series has won critical acclaim. It certainly avoids the usual traps of easy answers to life's problems that many kids shows, especially animation, usually trot out.

It's certainly worth giving it a try.

Blumf

I've only seen S01, but it is really good. Like you say, avoids easy answers, which gives it real substance. The overarching concept is great, and the individual settings are very nice, especially as they have to fit in such short run time. Quiet liked the mirror episode (The Chrome Car), a nice unnerving, without going too scary, feel to it.

Don't know how they're doing it, but US kids animation has been turning out some amazingly good stuff for quiet a while now. Some of it funny/daft, but also a lot of pretty heavy stories, with dark undertones that'd give Grimms a run for their money.

MojoJojo

Didn't really click for me. Just felt a bit slow paced and straight forward. Characters weren't entertaining enough. Bit of an 80s vibe to it.

My opinion is influenced by watching it with 2 girls who really hated it for some reason. I might give it another go sometime.

In a similar vein, I enjoyed Hilda on netflix recently. Although there a couple of duff episodes, and you have to get over how insufferably post Hilda's voice actress is.


Solid Jim

I've been enjoying these. Sort of a sci-fi Over The Garden Wall. (Not as good, but is there really any shame in that?)

The abovementioned Chrome Car episode in series 1 struck me as almost PFFR-esque with its rapid-fire iterations on its own premise. In a way it's a microcosm of the strengths of Infinity Train as a whole, as series 2 and 3 spend a lot of time deconstructing the very concept of the show, examining the consequences of what could otherwise be throwaway plot contrivances.

It's unfortunate if series 4 turns out to be the last one, as it's comparatively rather straightforward - not sure whether this was intended as a breather before going meta again, or they were leaned on to tone it down a bit?

Alberon

Owen Dennis has said they have ideas for eight or so seasons and he does want to continue the show if he can someday, but I think they did know going into the fourth that it was the last. For now anyway.