A Star Tours retraction and apology...
Could I have been so wrong?
It's amazing what a few more rides can do to drastically change such a strong viewpoint, but you know what, it has.
As such, I would like to formally retract my previous blog post reviewing Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, and present a polar opposite perspective.
Note: There are more spoilers below, so if you want to be fully surprised by the ride experience, then read on at your own risk :)
Those of you who read my previous post will remember that my feelings upon coming out of this newly redone ride at Disneyland were tepid at best. While I felt some changes were good, I also thought others diminished the experience. I found the "polished" look of the new pre-show queue took something away from the worn, aged feeling of the original. I thought the ride itself lacked the "Luke Skywalker" hero feel of the original.
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| A newer, more polished Starspeeder 1000. |
Cut to two weeks later, a return visit to Disneyland, and two more rides on Star Tours making for a total of 3 adventures I experienced, and boy was I wrong.
What sums up the biggest change in my opinion? Put simply, the tone.
The tone has changed from the original version of Star Tours to the new one. This new experience is much more tongue-in-cheek, has many, many more inside gags, has a lot more detail to notice, is fresh every time you go on it, and best of all, surprisingly, it has heart.
Take the pre-show queue, for example. The animatronic worker droids you meet along the way, who used to be quirky in an aged, short-circuity kind of way, are now more alive, and feel more charming in their naivety and innocence.
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| Newer droids, yet similar charm. |
In a great new effect, one of the droids is assigned the task of baggage scanning to make sure no harmful items are hidden in the luggage that gets stowed on the Starspeeders. In this particular moment I witnessed, the droid suddenly notices a dangerous item: An old photo camera from earth, which the droid, who has never seen a camera before, thinks is a weapon.
He says something to the effect of, "Oh no! We're under attack! Danger! Danger! I'll save us!" And he ZAPS the camera inside the luggage, which we see via X-ray, and literally destroys a poor traveler's camera. Won't that traveler be confused and disappointed when he opens his bags later and can't find his prized possession!
See what just happened there...I found myself laughing at the absurdity of what I just saw, and felt bad for that traveler whose bag just got zapped - in short, for a brief moment, I truly suspended disbelief and BELIEVED I was in an actual spaceport.
After he blasts the bag, the droid looks up at us, and as if overhearing someone's conversation, he says, "Camera? What's a camera?"
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| ZAP!!! Whoops! |
Hilarious. Inventive. Innocent. Charming.
In the line, I had more time to notice one of the other new little additions: Hidden in the darkness in a corner, sprouting out of a box, the pilot from the original Star Tours, Captain Rex, with a little sign on the box labeled "Defective."
What I didn't notice the first time - Captain Rex still has a little life left in him. Occasionally, a little spark turns him on, just ever so slightly, just enough for him to struggle to get a few words out. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but you get the sense that Rex wants to be alive...wants to help.
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| Poor Captain Rex. |
I actually felt sad for Rex, sitting there, no longer getting any attention, and this was the droid who helped us save the galaxy in the original. Just an inspired brilliant move on the part of the Imagineers to give us this throwback - to honor the memory of Rex forever, and to touch our hearts at the same time.
So already, before getting on the ride, I've already gone on a surprisingly emotional little journey that has already left me with a warmer, fuzzier feeling in my heart.
Could I have been so wrong that first time?
The second and third times around, the ride experience itself also shifted dramatically in my mind. I had more time to process everything that was going on - to notice more details - to get the tone, and the point, of the ride, and you know what, I loved it.
On my 3rd ride, we traveled to the planet Hoth, which, for those of you who may or not remember, was the ice planet in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, where Vader and the Empire dispatch massive Snow Walkers in an epic battle to defeat the rebel alliance.
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| Going back to the dangers of Hoth. |
Part of what I think was missing from my first experience on the new ride was that I only traveled to "prequel" planets, that is, the worlds we saw from the "new" trilogy - Episodes I, II, and III. I felt myself longing for the "feel" of the original Star Tours, because that was set in the time period from the movies I personally enjoy the most - Episodes IV, V, and VI.
Imagine my surprise, then, when our Starspeeder ventures right into the middle of the epic battle from my favorite of the originals, Episode V. Not only does our speeder careen around massive walkers, firing lasers at us, but we crash atop snow-covered mountain peaks, fall into crevasses and burst through mounds of snow.
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| Look out!!! |
Epic. Thrilling. Exciting. And I was truly hanging on for dear life!
All the while, our new captain, C3PO, which on side note was another brilliant decision on the part of the Imagineers - the only possible replacement we would have accepted with this new Star Tours ride would have been to have C3PO as our pilot, and by golly, they figured out a way to make it happen!
C3PO could possibly be the biggest reason for the change in my opinion. For whatever reason, I noticed him more in these subsequent rides, and Anthony Daniels, who has voiced and played the character spanning all six Star Wars movies, brings an absolute inspired performance. You can tell Daniels is just having an absolute blast returning to the role. You almost feel as if this was the opportunity he was hoping to relive in the prequels.
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| C3PO adds new life, energy, and hilarity to the ride experience. |
As we're in the middle of the Hoth battle, one of the rebel pilots shouts out, "Star Tours! What in the world are you doing here???" And C3PO responds with a cry and a yell as only 3PO could deliver: "I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!"
Absolutely hilarious.
See, these subsequent ride experiences resonated more emotion in me than my first admittedly overwhelming experience. When our Speeder flies into the massive city-planet Coruscant, and we find ourselves dodging flying vehicles heading straight for us, this time I heard C3PO respond to Artoo's Bleeps, again, with his yell-cry: "They aren't going the wrong way! WE are, you nitwit!!!"
Hearing C3PO and Artoo bicker back and forth, something I wish we could have had more of with the prequels, absolutely and instantly takes us back to those moments from the Original Trilogy, such as when 3PO decides to walk the other way on Tatooine looking for help, and says to Artoo, "Go that way! You'll be malfunctioning within a day, you near-sighted scrap pile. And don't let me catch you following me begging for help, because you won't get it."
See what's happening here? A split-second moment in Star Tours: The Adventures Continue has taken me back to the trilogy I loved, and made me feel, in a funny way, like a kid again.
I came to realize that this new ride experience truly delivers a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between both trilogies, and as such, there's something for everyone. Fans of the original trilogy will have their moments in the new ride, while fans of the newer prequels will have plenty of thrills that will resonate for them.
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| Action-packed reminders of the original, and the new. |
Fans of the original Star Tours will experience enough nostalgia, despite the changes, to feel satisfied, and at the same time, the new ride moves everything forward, in terms of technology and feel, to deliver a fresh, breathtaking new set of adventures.
At the same time, Star Tours is also Disneyland through and through - delivering just the right innocence that brings out the kid in us.
Lastly, I was able to observe the other riders more than in my first go at it. I had gone on the original so many times, that I would remember experiencing a brief moment of joy when someone sitting next to me had never gone on the ride before. You would hear the occasional shout from a rider here and there, and I remember being surprised that they had never been on Star Tours before.
This time out, the entire cabin was filled with shrieks of exhilaration, gasps of excitement, and joyous laughter.
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| Vader in action one more time. |
Everyone shared in the common bliss of the experience, something I hadn't expected, and something that continues to resonate for me. It made a memory for me, and for that, I have to thank the Imagineers, who clearly brought with them a love and passion for this ride.
Boy, was I wrong. And I'm so glad I was wrong.
This ride is an absolute winner.
- Jeremy
Jeremy Howard is the Broker & President of Hpremiere Properties, (www.Hpremiere.com) a successful, prestigious modern real estate brokerage located in Southern California. He is also the Founder and CEO of Real Estate Dynamic (r.e.d.) (www.RealEstateDynamic.com), the most progressive and influential Social Club for entrepreneurial real estate professionals on the planet. With a separate background in the Film/Television industry, Jeremy has always had a passion for screenwriting, cinema, and the arts, and finds a particular enjoyment and love in the escapism of theme parks.
www.jerhow.com
www.Hpremiere.com
