There's been quite a lot of talk of regarding "Infinity Train", one of the two latest pilots that aired on Cartoon Network this week, alongside another pilot, "Victor and Valentino". Both are now available to watch at Cartoon Network's official Youtube channel.
Unlike the previous pilots we've seen from the network, Infinity Train places the viewer right in the middle of the action. A girl named Tulip is trapped in a train that has a virtually infinite number of carriages, hence the title. Each carriage is a world or a puzzle, or a series of puzzles, in which Tulip must navigate to get to the other side, bringing her one step closer to the locomotive, and possibly take her back to the real world.
The pilot is created by Regular Show storyboarder Owen Dennis and features the voices of Ben 10's Ashley Johnson as Tulip, Ernie Hudson at Atticus the Talking Corgi King, and Game of Thrones's Jeremy Crutchley and Owen Dennis himself as the robots Glad One and Sad One.
Considering Dennis worked on Regular Show, one can notice elements of that series in Infinity Train. But it also features elements from Over The Garden Wall as well, with the mystery of how and why Tulip is in the Infinity Train, and the true nature of the train itself. Not to mention dark and dangerous paths Tulip has to go through.
The pitch of this pilot is quite convincing, with the concept of each episode where Tulip enters another train cart and exploring its contents before moving to the next one. At the same time, it can also provides an overarching story that explains much of the pilot's universe.
Aside from the great pitch and clever writing, there is also praise with its animation and character design, as well as the performance of the voice actors. Already, there are fanarts of Tulip and Owen Dennis himself is very much blessed with the level of appreciation for the pilot by the audience, me included.
By looking at it, I would call Infinity Train as a spiritual successor to Regular Show that has a slightly darker tone that is quite good. If this gets picked up as a full series, I'd be very very happy and would welcome it as one of the new CN Originals after the current generation.
-----
Victor & Valentino are two half-brothers spending their summer with their grandmother in the nearly deserted town of Monte Macabre. After being sucked into the Realm of The Dead, Victor & Valentino must set their differences aside as they try to find their way out, or be trapped in the realm forever.
Audiences have labeled the pilot as the "Mexican Gravity Falls" and it shows from the concept - two siblings taking a summer vacation with a distant relative away from the modern world, in a place that has plenty of supernatural elements.
Aside from being set somewhere in Mexico, there are some notable differences that set apart this pilot from Gravity Falls. Victor likes to explore the supernatural, but is quite reckless and isn't afraid to push into danger. Kind of like Scrappy Doo, in a sense. Valentino, while more timid despite being the larger of the two, is also the voice of reason.
The pilot is created by Diego Molano, who has worked on several shows on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, including Black Dynamite; China, IL; and the recently airing Powerpuff Girls Reboot. Molano also plays Victor while Modern Family's Rico Rodriguez plays Valentino.
While not entirely original in concept, Victor and Valentino has potential to be quite good and can cater to the younger crowd. So I would not mind if Cartoon Network picks this up as a full series.
-----
So that leaves a total of 4 animated pilots from Cartoon Network this year, with Bottom's Butte and Apple & Onion from several months ago. Only time will if any of them gets picked up for a full series by Cartoon Network. Last year was a disappointment as none of them got picked up, including Twelve Forever.
With much of the current generation of CN Originals ending, from Adventure Time to The Amazing World of Gumball, Cartoon Network is gonna need some new blood coming in. So that increases the likelihood of any of these pilots to be greenlit as a full series. Given the standards Cartoon Network has with their shows as of late, I would guess that if they had to pick one, it would be Apple & Onion, as it fits the bill with what we see on Teen Titans Go, and the Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10 Reboots.
Personally, if I were to choose one, it would have to be Infinity Train. The mystery of the show, the voice cast, and the charm of its characters just wants me to come back for more, even if it's episodic. And I would say many would choose that as well. Here's hoping that Cartoon Network somehow listens and adds Infinity Train to their list of shows for the next generation of CN Originals.
Infinity Train gets a 4 out of 5, while Victor and Valentino gets a 3 out of 5.
infinity train 5 out of 5
ReplyDelete