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"The Chrome Car" is the 7th episode of Season 1 of Infinity Train and the 7th episode overall. It aired on August 8, 2019.
Synopsis[]
The gang meets a familiar face in a mirrored car.
Plot[]
After a messy adventure in the Jelly Bean Car, the group arrives in a car that is entirely Chrome. The group has some fun skating around the car and playing with their reflections, but soon find the next door is locked. While trying to figure out what they need to do, Tulip realizes her reflection is not moving with her and is scowling at her, making Tulip uncomfortable. The Reflection, who is revealed to have a mind of her own, explains in order to open the door they need to switch places and open it at the same time. Tulip switches with the Reflection despite the objections of Atticus and opens the door, but is very quickly betrayed by her reflection, who declares her freedom and independence from Tulip's life. Tulip asks Atticus and One-One's reflections for help, who summon "Reflection Enforcement" to deal with the Mirror Tulip. Mirror Atticus and One-One are escorted away while Mirror cops Agent Sieve and Agent Mace arrive to deal with the "Sliver," who they plan to destroy before she runs around in the Prime World. Tulip protests this, insisting she doesn't want to kill her reflection, but is locked in the police car by the agents.
Tulip uses her pocket knife to escape from the car, prompting the police to grab the tools to destroy Mirror Tulip and attempt to cross the barrier to the real world. Mirror Tulip tries to exit the car but finds that there are no reflective surfaces for her to walk on, leaving her trapped in the Chrome Car. Tulip reaches out to her reflection in a gesture of help, but her reflection scoffs at her for being hypocritical, as she constantly sees her isolating herself from the rest of the world, never asking for help when she needed it most, especially her friends. Tulip suddenly remembers all the times she pretended to be busy with stuff so she could wallow in her room, refusing to talk to her parents after the divorce, and the reflection taunts her with Mikayla's calls for hangouts. Tulip realizes what she had done, and offers to give her her own mirror if Mirror Tulip switches back. Mirror Tulip agrees, and they narrowly escape the Reflection Police and the Chrome Car with the help of the mirror in Tulip's pocket knife. Arriving in the Pencil Bank Car, Mirror Tulip expresses joy at her newfound independence, and decides she would rather explore the Train by herself while figuring out who she is now. She tells Prime Tulip she does not need the glove anymore, and that she should no longer care what the Train thinks of her.
Tulip exits the car and decides to take off the glove. She discovers that her number has gone down to 3.
Features[]
Characters[]
- Tulip
- One-One
- Atticus
- Mirror Tulip (debut)
- Mirror One (debut)
- Mirror Atticus (debut)
- The Flecks (debut)
- Agent Mace (debut)
- Agent Sieve (debut)
- Mirror Medics (debut)
- Pencil People (debut)
Locations[]
Trivia[]
- The number 3 on Tulips hand is a reference to the fact there are only 3 episodes left in the season.
- End tag: Tulip's hand, against a backdrop of the Wasteland, with her number rapidly changing.
Continuity[]
- This episode introduces the concept of the Reflection Police and the character of Mirror Tulip (or M.T.), setting up the plot of Book Two - Cracked Reflection.
- One-One's reflection speaks in a singular voice and is credited as "Mirror One." This hints at his past as a single entity: his reflection was "born" when he was just One.
- One-One alludes to his memory being terrible ever since "the change". This is a reference to a significant event from his past.[1]
- M.T. alludes to Tulip having trouble in her friendship with Mikayla over her parents' divorce, which is alluded to in "The Grid Car".
Storyline analysis[]
- Tulip's ability to reach out to her reflection is indicative of her development throughout the season: she has grown enough from her lessons on the train that she can directly confront her own actions.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Madeline Queripel's sketches based on the idea of featuring reflections of all three main characters
Early Flecs concept art.
- There were many different versions of how this episode would turn out. There was a version with M.T. as the antagonist and a version without any mirror police.[2] One variation saw mirror versions of all three main characters try to escape the mirror world. All were depicted as "punk" variants.[3][1]
- Mace and Sieve were created at the request of Cartoon Network. The original script featured nameless comic-relief cops. The executives came back with the note that the episode needed higher stakes and more action, which led to the creation of the two characters.[4]
- Ashley Johnson recorded all of Tulip's lines first, then adjusted her voice slightly to perform M.T.[5][1]
- The team briefly considered giving the reflections different voice actors.[1]
- Lindsay Katai's original script for this episode included a 2-page discussion between M.T. and Mirror One about the nature of the car and being a reflection, shortly before the Reflection Police arrive. The scene was cut because it made the episode too long, but Katai reused the same ideas for a scene in "The Wasteland" in Book 2.[1][6]
- Owen Dennis is a fan of the Spanish dub version of Mace.[1]
- This was the first episode boarded by Jacob Winkler. Some of his contributions included the elevator music in the Reflection Police car cab, the "Buddy System" gag, and M.T. grabbing the jelly bean after failing to exit the car.[1]
- Madeline Queripel described watching Bradley Whitford record Sieve's panicked reaction to having to venture into the Prime World while literally falling apart as particularly hilarious.[1]
- The Pencil Bank Car was designed to be "the most boring possible car that you could go into."[1]
- M.T. was not originally created with the intention of becoming the main character for the second season: it was in the process of writing this episode that the writers realized how well she worked as a character and how much more could be explored.[7]
Videos[]
Transcript[]
View the episode's transcript here.
Gallery[]
Click here to view this page's gallery.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Book 1 DVD Commentary: "The Chrome Car"
- ↑ The concept of Mirror Police and the Chrome Car.
- ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "EPISODE 7: Originally, it wasn’t just Tulip’s reflection, but all three of the gang’s that came out of the mirror world! And they were all exaggeratedly “bad” versions of our main characters. Maddie has some drawings I think. Check her twitter! @HamShears"
- ↑ "Mace/Sieve: These characters only exist bc CN wanted more action in Chrome Car. Originally there were nameless comic relief cops. Then we got this note for higher stakes and I came back with Mace and Sieve. So thank CN for that!" - Lindsay Katai
- ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "We recorded all of @TheVulcanSalute doing Tulip, then all of MT, and she changed her voice juuuust slightly so they feel the same, but different. So cool. She is very talented!"
- ↑ "Lake (MT) Pt. 2: I wrote 2 pgs in Chrome Car where she and Mirror One discuss the nature of being a reflection. It was too long to be used (common problem of mine), but I used the same ideas for her talk with Mace in The Wasteland. I love the dichotomy of punk and vulnerability." - Lindsay Katai
- ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "We didn't yet know that MT would be a main character in our 2nd season at this point. It was actually how well she worked in this episode that convinced us there was a lot more to her than we could cover in this, so we wanted to explore more with her."