The Crystal Car

**Overview**
Gallery
Transcript

## **Guide**

"**The Crystal Car**" is the 4th episode of Season 1 of *Infinity Train* and the 4th episode overall. It aired on August 6, 2019.

## Synopsis

Tulip, Atticus and One-One enter a crystal forest car and have to take part in a musical ritual.

## Plot

After helping a woman with a rose for a head named Nancy open a restaurant in the "Straight-Up Italy Car" (or as Atticus calls it, "The Mediterranean Republic Car"), Tulip notices her number has not changed since the Corgi Car, despite helping Nancy in much the same way she helped Atticus. They make their way to the next car, which consists of flora and fauna entirely made out of crystals. Atticus suggests Tulip take a break from figuring out the logic of her number so they can enjoy the car, to which she reluctantly agrees.

They learn the door out is located high up on a cliff-face, inaccessible through normal means. A crystal man named Greige explains through mime that the Steward stole the steps leading to the door, and they can only get a new one if they put their hands on a nearby crystal and sing an emotional song. Atticus sings a song called "The Ballad of Mustard and Stink-Tail" from his kingdom, but the crystal cannot translate his howls. One-One does a modem dial-up tone ("Connection failed," he reports). Tulip tries singing several songs she considers "emotional," but the crystal does not respond to any of them. She gives up and decides to build a ladder instead, but has to do it on her own since no one else has thumbs. Atticus relates "The Ballad of Mustard and Stink-Tail" to One-One and Greige, which takes up the entirety of the time Tulip spends building the ladder. Tulip sets the ladder up but is frustrated to find the door is locked.

Greige clarifies to Tulip that the song has to be one that is emotional to her specifically, not just emotional in general. Tulip probes her mind for happy memories and songs she associates with them, eventually recalling family road trips. This prompts a backing track for the 1986 song "Word Up!" by Cameo to start playing, which she sang with her family on road trips. An embarrassed Tulip is forced to sing the song in front of everyone, but gradually opens up with Atticus and One-One's encouragement. A crystal giant appears, gives the song his sign of approval, and places a new set of stairs in front of the door and unlocks it for them. Tulip's number goes down to 89.

## Features

### Characters

* Tulip
* One-One
* Atticus
* Nancy (debut)
* Greige (debut)
* Giant (debut)

### Locations

* Wasteland
* Infinity Train
	+ Straight-Up Italy Car
	+ Crystal Car

## Trivia

* The song that unlocks the door in the Crystal Car is "Word Up!" by Cameo.
* Tulip's first song is a zeppelin-themed parody of "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, apparently in this context being from a movie about the *Hindenburg* rather than a movie about the *Titanic*.
* One-One's "song" is a dial-up modem tone, a nod to his status as a computer.
* **End tag:** Tulip's hand, against a backdrop of the Wasteland, with her number rapidly changing.

### Continuity

* The group has gone through at least two cars by the start of this episode: the "Kombucha Car" and the "Bats Instead of Bees Car."
* The Steward removed the stairs leading out of the Crystal Car.
* This episode features the second instance of the "No thumbs" running gag. In this episode, it is the reason why no one else can help Tulip build a ladder.

### Behind the scenes

* Episode writer Lindsay Katai voices Nancy, the woman with a rose for her head.
* The team wrote an entire backstory for the Straight-Up Italy Car but only reference bits and pieces of it in the finished episode, preferring to let the car exist in people's minds. One extra-textual aspect that Lindsay Katai revealed is that Nancy moved to the car for an "*Under the Tuscan Sun* experience": she's finding herself after a divorce.
* Although this episode is technically a "bottle episode" for the season, it was a difficult episode to write: Lindsay Katai recalls going through seven drafts because she could not decide Tulip's attitude towards the singing.
	+ An early draft included a backstory that Greige's race of people were hibernating in a cave, only for Tulip to mistake it for him murdering people. This cut aspect was inspired by Owen Dennis' own experience of culture shock when he lived in China.
* "He can't speak! Just like Atticus" was a joke added by Alex Horab. It is one of Owen Dennis' favorites.
* The melodies of Tulip's various songs were improvised by Ashley Johnson. Lindsay Katai wrote the lyrics for the songs.
	+ Johnson can, in fact, sing (as shown in her performances in *The Last Of Us* video game series), and had to exaggerate Tulip's overall lack of singing talent.
* Lindsay Katai wrote an entire 2-page version of "The Ballad of Mustard and Stink-Tail" that went unused. She also wrote a song version in one draft.
* The idea to have Tulip sing "Word Up!" dates back to the initial premise of the episode: the initial pitch was to have Tulip sing multiple faux-emotional songs before singing something heartfelt at the end. The writers thought it would be funny to have her sing fake songs with the last one being real, and it would be even funnier if the real song was something silly like "Word Up!" The more they thought about it, however, the more they realized it made sense for the scenario. It took Owen Dennis nearly a year to get comfortable with the idea of actually using the song.
	+ According to Owen Dennis, the team had to actually write a letter to Larry Blackmon (the lead singer of Cameo) explaining how they were going to use the song. The official Cameo Facebook page later posted a clip from the episode featuring the song, praising its usage.
	+ Rather than use a pre-existing karaoke track or the original stems, Chrome Canyon created the backing track for "Word Up!" completely from scratch.
	+ Ashley Johnson listened to "Word Up!" for the first time a mere 20 minutes before recording.
* The giant went through a couple of different iterations: at one point it essentially pooped out the stairs while looking at Tulip, the way dogs do. At another point it walked onto the scene in overalls singing "I'm gonna build a ladder." Alex Horab fought against the line, as he thought it was too much.

### Errors

* Tulip's number is missing on her palm in many instances:
	+ Before she does an air kiss to Nancy.
	+ When she, One-One, and Atticus all left the Straight-Up Italy Car.
	+ When she said, "I can crack this!", to Atticus.
	+ During the scene when she said, "I'll find one [song] that works".
	+ When she faints after singing several songs.
	+ In one frame when she complained that she tried out every possible emotional song to get the crystal to glow.
	+ When she said, "How would I know which song I really connect to most?".
* In some scenes, the page where Tulip took notes in her notebook is blank.
* The Crystal Giant doesn't have a key necklace until after he places the stairs in front of the door.

## Gallery

*Click here to view this page's gallery.*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Book 1 DVD Commentary.
2. ↑ "The original version of this story was very different. It involved Tulip stumbling upon a cave filled with hibernating crystal people, leading her to think that Greige is a murderer."Archived link.
3. ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "In this, @TheVulcanSalute just made up all melodies of these songs. We were just like "this one is like an alt-rock 90's song" and "this one is like an R&B song" and she just did it. She's great!" Archived from the original (dead link).
4. ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "My dream is to make a Little Golden Book of the entire story of Mustard and Stinktail, which @lindsaykatai already wrote a MUCH longer version of. It was like 2 pages of Atticus reciting the entire legend." Archived from the original (dead link).
5. ↑ Reddit AMA. "This was a joke we came up with a million years ago while writing the premise. We all thought it would be really funny if we heard a bunch of fake songs, and then, the VERY LAST SONG was real. It kept making us crack up, and then we'd be like, "hahaha, but we can't do that for real, right?" But then, the more we thought about it, the more it just made sense. Thank you, Cameo. -MQ
6. ↑ Owen Dennis's Tumblr.
7. ↑ Cameo Facebook clip
8. ↑  Owen Dennis: "Ashley had only heard this song like 20 minutes before we had to start recording and she nailed it." [1] (dead link)
9. ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "This giant changed so many times. At one point he pooped out the stairs and while staring at Tulip directly in the eyes like how dogs poop. At another point he walked up singing "I'm gonna build a ladder" and then threw down a ladder and left."

Infinity Train (pilot)

**Book One**
The Grid Car • The Beach Car • The Corgi Car • **The Crystal Car** • The Cat's Car • The Unfinished Car • The Chrome Car • The Ball Pit Car • The Past Car • The Engine

**Minisodes**
The Green Car • The Tiny Wizard Car • The Kaiju Car • The Tech Support Car • The Snow Car • The Hill Car • The Movie Theater Car • The Cross-Eyed Ducks Car • The Minecart Car • The Wedding Cake Car

**Book Two**
The Black Market Car • The Family Tree Car • The Map Car • The Toad Car • The Parasite Car • The Lucky Cat Car • The Mall Car • The Wasteland • The Tape Car • The Number Car

**Book Three**
The Musical Car • The Jungle Car • The Debutante Ball Car • Le Chat Chalet Car • The Color Clock Car • The Campfire Car • The Canyon of the Golden Winged Snakes Car • The Hey Ho Whoa Car • The Origami Car • The New Apex

**Book Four**
The Twin Tapes • The Iceberg Car • The Old West Car • The Pig Baby Car • The Astro Queue Car • The Party Car • The Art Gallery Car • The Mega Maze Car • The Castle Car • The Train to Nowhere