Posted in: HBO, streaming, Trailer, TV | Tagged: hbo max, Infinity Train, owen dennis, streaming

Infinity Train Creator Updates "Straight Up Slimy" WBD/HBO Max Move

As Warner Bros. Discovery works towards next year's streaming merger of Discovery+ and HBO Max, the latter has seen dozens of titles being pulled- especially in the area of kids/family animation & some live-action. This past week saw titles such as Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Close Enough, Infinity Train, OK K.O.! – Let's Be Heroes, Tig n' Seek, Uncle Grandpa, Victor and Valentino, Summer Camp Island, and many others, either disappear or counting down the days until they're gone. And just this weekend, we learned that approximately 200 early episodes of Sesame Street have also been removed. Shortly after the news broke, Summer Camp Island creator Julia Pott, voice actor Cole Sanchez, and storyboard artist Ryan Pequin took to Twitter to voice their frustration at the decision, at how the news was communicated, and at the fate of the final season will be for the animated series. Now, Infinity Train creator Owen Dennis is sharing an update via Substack (the full post is definitely worth checking out) on what they know so far, where the series is still currently airing/streaming, and their personal feelings on the decision and how it all went down. Here's a look at some of the highlights:

At the time of the writing of the post, Dennis listed the show still being on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Vudu, Google Play, and YouTube (for now). In addition, Dennis said they were "assured late yesterday evening that the show is not being used for that tax write-off loophole that is now so overwhelmingly associated with 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,'" but that they'll have a better idea by the beginning of September (end date for filing the tax write-off)

News of Shows Being Pulled Wasn't Supposed to Happen Until "Next Week": "I'm told from various sources that this wasn't supposed to happen until next week sometime so that Cartoon Network/HBOMax/etc. could have time to tell all the show creators and artists what's going on. That's obviously not what happened, and now this is where that disorganization has gotten us. Cartoon Network warned them not to do this as it would hurt relationships with creators and talent, but they clearly do not care what any of this looks like publicly, much less about how we feel about it."

Does This Mean the Show's Gone for Good: "I don't believe so. As I said, it's apparently still available on those sources listed above, though I do not know for how long. The problem is that I can't be entirely sure if the information I'm getting is truthful or if it's just to placate us, so we'll stop pestering them with so many questions. They certainly haven't earned anyone's trust with the way they've handled all this, so obviously, take all of this with a grain or two or a million of salt (though I'm sure you're feeling plenty salty already). In the meantime, I'll be working with my management team on figuring out some other kind of fate for the show."

How's Dennis Feeling About All of This? "Shitty. I was just going about my life driving home from a work meeting, listening to the Bad Animals album by Heart, when all of the sudden, my phone started blowing up. It interrupted my song!

I think the way that Discovery went about this is incredibly unprofessional, rude, and just straight-up slimy. I think most everyone who makes anything feels this way. Across the industry, talent is mad, agents are mad, lawyers and managers are mad, even execs at these companies are mad. I can't think of a single person who works in animation and entertainment that, when you bring this all up, doesn't say, "What the fuck are they doing? How do they plan to have anyone ever want to work with them again?"

Because why would we? What is the point of making something, spending years working on it, putting in nights and weekends doing their terrible notes, losing sleep, and not seeing our families if it's just going to be taken away and shot in the backyard? It's so incredibly discouraging, and they're definitely not going to be getting their best work out of whoever decides to stay. We're working at the intersection of art and commerce, but the people in charge have clearly forgotten that they'll have no commerce without the art."

On What Fans Can Still Do: "On a more positive note, people talking about the show increases the value of it. So the fact that Infinity Train trended on Twitter for 3 days after all this? That adds value. The fact that Infinity Train is now topping the charts on iTunes? That adds value. If it has more value, that means the people in charge will want to keep it or license it.

So honestly, just keep doing what you're doing. With my current contract at my current job (which I can't disclose right now), I have a carve out for Infinity Train. If Infinity Train is picked up again somewhere, I can work on that at the same time that I'm working for the company I'm currently working for. I think I get less money or something, I don't remember, but whatever.

If the show ends up licensed on some other streaming platform, the best thing you can do is watch it there. Again, as of now, you can still buy it on those services mentioned above and maybe step aboard a ship sailing the high seas to keep an extra copy for yourself. This might, ironically, have become the best advertising the show has ever gotten."

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