Shining Time Station Mysteries
Here we'll detail a few unanswered questions we have about Shining Time Station episodes and production. Sadly, the chances for answers diminishes with each passing year, especially since behind-the-scenes production records were not retained or made available by the copyright holders.
Season 2+ Opening Credits Mystery Artist:
The opening credits from Season 2 onwards features the main sign for the town of Shining Time with the listed population 5,006 give or take...
The artist is not credited, though it is obviously inspired by Tom Newsom's Shining Time Station artwork that fans have seen and appreciated on various merchandising for the brand. When contacted, Tom recognized the style similarities, but confirmed that the Shining Time opening credit artwork was not his creation.
A clue is provided on the cover of the Outreach Program's Episode Teachers Guide, where an uncropped version of the same artwork is featured on the cover (note big population jump!)
As seen above, the artist's signature can be seen on the bottom-right of the sign, but is written in glyphs (see exploded view). The only decipherable text is the copyright 1991. It's been a real challenge trying to decipher the signature, and online searches of other artists' work offer elusive results. It's worth noting that A.I. has to date only provided us with misleading results for the artist's identity!
Season 2, Episode 6 - Achoo!: Who voiced the talking balloon?
The actress whose voice is heard and lips are seen on Schemer's talking balloon is uncredited in the episode. Whoever it was would've filmed their scenes in the green screen studio. Our attempts to identify and properly credit the actress has been unsuccessful so far.
