The Past Car

**Overview**
Gallery
Transcript

## **Guide**

"**The Past Car**" is the 9th episode of Season 1 of *Infinity Train* and the 9th episode overall. It aired on August 9, 2019.

## Plot

Traumatized by Atticus's transformation into a Gohm and the attack by the Steward and the Conductor, Tulip's number begins to go up which she ignores, claiming nothing matters anymore and she will be stuck on the Train forever. The Cat (who survived the Conductor and the Steward's attack) offers her help, revealing there is time to cure Atticus with the help of a tape that belongs to someone else (a tape which she previously saved from a shelf at the end of "The Cat's Car"). Tulip reluctantly agrees to the Cat's offer, and the two enter the tape.

Arriving inside, Tulip is surprised to find One-One somehow followed them in. She learns the memories on the tape focus on a young couple named Amelia and Alrick, from their childhood friendship to their graduation from engineering school, to Amelia proposing to Alrick. Alrick is revealed to have created the Conductor's voice, suggesting he is the Conductor. Tulip declares they are wasting time and One-One suggests they leave, which abruptly summons a hole that sends them to a different time where they see a figure in Alrick's hoodie mourning the loss of their partner. Tulip assumes Amelia died which led Alrick to become the Conductor, but can't follow him because the Conductor keeps the memory at a distance. One-One is able to get them closer to the Conductor, who they discover is actually Amelia. Distraught after losing Alrick, Amelia encountered the Infinity Train on the roof of the university and took over as the Conductor.

The Cat points out the front of the train has a set of cannons, the same one Amelia used to transform Atticus, which they can use to change him back. Tulip insists that the Cat wasted her time by not just telling her this, claiming she didn't need to feel bad for the Conductor who she now realizes was running away from the changes in her life, just like Tulip. This realization sends her number straight to zero, which summons a door leading home. Tulip decides she cannot leave the Train without saving Atticus, and with the help of the Cat and her shuttle, they hack the train car using a broken tentacle from the Steward to send it straight to the Engine.

## Features

### Characters

* Tulip
* One-One
* The Cat
* Monster Atticus
* Amelia (as a human/flashback)
* Alrick (debut/flashback)
* Steward (drawing)
* Aloysius (drawing)

### Locations

* Wasteland
* Infinity Train
	+ Ball Pit Car
* Megan's Residence (through the Exit Door)

## Trivia

* **End tag:** Tulip's hand, against a backdrop of the Wasteland, with her number rapidly changing.
* This is the first episode not named after a car on the train: there is no literal "Past Car", as Tulip's adventure into Amelia's past was actually via her tape.
* The scheme Amelia and Alrick use to control the phone network is an actual activity known as "phone phreaking": before the creation of computerized phone systems, it was possible to play specific tones into a phone to route long distance calls for free.
* The book report that Alrick wrote during his school days was on the themes found in Lewis Carroll's famous *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*, here commonly simplified as *Alice in Wonderland*. His book report mentions two of the book's themes: growing up and identity, as well as bringing up the Cheshire Cat character. Incidentally, Tulip's time on the train mirrors the themes in Carroll's classic story and also has her coming across a talking cat and a talking turtle.
* Although not outright stated, it is strongly implied based on how the scene is framed and a comment in "The Engine" about how she does not want to live in a world without Alrick that Amelia was planning to commit suicide by jumping from the roof of the university when she encountered the Infinity Train.
* Among the memories Amelia has of Alrick that can be seen while Tulip, One-One, and the Cat are jumping between times:
	+ Taking dance classes as children
	+ Working on Amelia's radio
	+ Putting decorations on a Christmas tree
	+ Alrick and Amelia on a duck boat ride
	+ Sharing some blackcurrant jam as children
	+ Getting ice cream together as teenagers
	+ Drinking coffee
	+ Playing Alrick's video game together
	+ Disembarking from a plane
	+ Riding bicycles along a beach
	+ Cooking pancakes, with Alrick wearing an apron that reads "Kiss The" (probably "Kiss the Chef")
	+ Taking a nap on a couch
	+ Amelia getting a phone call (presumably learning of Alrick's death)

### Continuity

* The Cat addresses Tulip as her favorite person named after "a particular kind of flower," to which Glad-One chimes in, "One that bounces back." This calls back to Tulip's story of how she got her name, which she told in "The Beach Car."
* The video tape the Cat plays for Tulip is the same one she could be seen grabbing before her encounter with the Steward and the Conductor in "The Cat's Car."
* The handkerchief Amelia wipes Alrick's tears with is the same one she used on Tulip in the previous episode.
* Amelia is shown controlling a phone network using specific tones on her flute. She was previously shown giving the Steward orders using a similar method in "The Cat's Car" and the previous episode.
* The portal Tulip is given to potentially go home is the same one she saw "disintegrate" a passenger in the first episode.
* Glad-One declares that Tulip will be gone forever now that she has her door, with Sad-One adding, "To be clear, that's a *good* thing": Sad-One is clarifying One-One's previous explanation of the number reaching zero that Tulip mistook for death in "The Beach Car."
* Tulip figures out how to control the train by seeking out an input socket that fits the Steward's claws, which she previously noticed in "The Unfinished Car."
* Inspirations for elements of the Unfinished Car can be spotted throughout this episode's flashbacks:
	+ The college campus setting
	+ Blackcurrant Jam (which Alrick is seen consuming as a child)
	+ Turtles (Amelia's handkerchief)
	+ A store called "Hu-Mon" (Amelia's joking pronunciation of the word "human")
	+ Kevin's phone (used by Alrick and Amelia while hiding from the rain)
	+ Aloysius's voice (Matthew Rhys voices both Aloysius and Alrick)
* The winter depiction of Tulip's house in Minnesota illustrates how much time has passed since Tulip boarded the train in "The Grid Car." According to Owen Dennis, it is around March by this point in time.
* Tulip has been using her notebook to take notes on the train and its different aspects: this is how she is able to "hack" the Ball Pit Car to take them to the engine.

### Storyline analysis

* A major part of trauma and therapy for it is understanding that recovery is not a straight line. This applies to both where Tulip is in her journey, and what Amelia is going through.

### Behind the scenes

* This episode was one of the longest scripts written for the series due to the complexity of the story. Quite a lot of material was removed for time reasons.
	+ There was an entire sequence where the Queen of England can be heard talking over the radio. This was cut due to laws in the United Kingdom over how to use the Queen's voice.
	+ Tulip, One-One and the Cat visit a memory of a toddler-aged Amelia (who was wrapped in clothes so they could not tell who she was) running through her childhood home as her father tried to catch her. This was where the jam in her memories originally came from, but when the scene was cut for time it was change so that Alrick was eating it in school. Dennis admitted that it seemed somewhat implausible that an English elementary school teacher in the mid-1960s would allow a student to eat jarfuls of jam in the middle of class.
	+ One bit that *wasn't* cut, to Justin Michael's surprise, was One-One's extended laugh at the Cat's expense, due to how much the team liked it and Jeremy Crutchley's delivery of the line.
* Tulip's number going down is showing the birthdays for members of Justin Michael's family.
* One of the designers (supposedly Allison Kim) wrote Alrick's essay.
* Justin Michael refers to the whoopie cushion scene as the closest the show will ever get to featuring the Fart Car from the pilot.
* The phone phreaking scene was almost deleted from the episode because it showed two people engaging in illegal activity on a kids show, but because phone phreaking is no longer possible due to the phasing out of analog telephones in the 1980s, the scene was kept.
	+ Owen Dennis also pointed out that phone phreaking was not possible in the United Kingdom because they used a different system, which was one of the reasons why the writers had Amelia and Alrick move to the United States for college.
* Lena Headey briefly voices Alrick when he speaks into the sound processor that Amelia will eventually use as the Conductor.
* The team made around 12 or 13 memories for Amelia's tape, most of which are only seen very briefly.
* Lindsay Katai assisted Justin Michael on Tulip's final monologue where she empathizes with Amelia, before her door opens.

## Gallery

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

## References

1. ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "Again, it is now winter back in Minnesota. I think this should be roughly March now? The snowiest month. This was again done to reiterate that she has been GONE this whole time!"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Book 1 DVD Commentary: "The Past Car"
3. ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "So a big part of trauma and therapy for it in general is understanding that recovery is not a straight line. Sometimes it feels like you're getting better and better, then it can suddenly all change and make you feel like you haven't progressed at all."
4. ↑ Owen Dennis tweet: "There used to be an entire extra memory that Tulip, One-One, and The Cat go through. It was a toddler-aged Amelia (so wrapped up in clothes we couldn’t tell who it was) running through her childhood home as her dad tried to catch her. This was originally where the jam in her memories comes from, but we had to cut the scene for time, so jam was added to Alrick eating it in school. I somehow doubt that English elementary school in the mid 60's would allow someone to just eat jarfuls of jam in the middle of class, but we had to get it in there so there it is!"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Owen Dennis tweet: "We almost weren't able to show Amelia doing this because it's for kids and it shows two people doing an illegal activity and the steps to do it. However, because phone lines are no longer analog and are all VOIP, it technically can't be done anymore, so we were able to show it! Fun fact, the phone lines in the UK used a different system and weren't able to be hacked this way, so that's one of the reasons we had Amelia and Alrick move to the US for college."
6. ↑ Book 1 DVD Commentary: "The Ball Pit Car

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