Bob Iger "I don't think Figment is going anywhere any time soon, I promise"

[Fairybuzz]

This statement combined with rumors of a refurb is actually promising to me at least. It puts faith in my theory of an attempt to take the feel back to the original ride. I remember reading somewhere that someone said the upstairs would be reused again someday too. It's possible that they finally figured out that taking it back to 82-83's style would actually satisfy both the loads of people watching old youtube videos and saying I wish I was alive back then and the nostalgic fans missing the old one.

Ironic thing Is I had a nightmare last night again of this place (happens a lot). They converted it into a Phineas and Ferb pavilion with a massive gift shop that looked like a supermarket and the spiral stairs were left in a dark back room filled with scraps of garbage and animatronic parts. To be fair the dream also contained maelstrom being turned into mickey's clubhouse boat fun, and something about flying cars so maybe its a sign that thats just as plausible. rofl

Anywho, It'd be great to see this ride go back to fancy and creation rather than hershey's chocolate tour for imagination. (without that tastey chocolate stuff) (lol not putting that ride down hersheypark fans, just saying it looks like a factory in imagination now).

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

You want to know a freaky thing...In the Movie Quest for Camelot that was done in 1997 Eric Idle did a voice for the 2 headed dragon Devon. Was it creepy enough that during the song he sings and splits from his other half Cornwall that he has a similarity to Figment? This movie was done 2 years prior to the horrid 1999 Reimagining of the pavilion..

Also listening to a song he sang from a bad sequel (Secret of Nimh 2). the way it's done you can actually make Nigel Channing a villain as he takes Figment away from Dreamfinder...And even though mentions Thorn valley & Nimh (But, really pay no attention to that) The lyrics itself would be interesting to see him go from good to really evil Villain.

 

[pmaljr]

IMO, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Dr. Nigel Channing (Eric Idle) in that ride. It has plenty of issues on its own that have been mentioned hundreds of times. But, Eric Idle does a great job in that role and unlike Ellen's role in the Universe of Energy, it has aged well.

 

[Fairybuzz]

You want to know a freaky thing...In the Movie Quest for Camelot that was done in 1997 Eric Idle did a voice for the 2 headed dragon Devon. Was it creepy enough that during the song he sings and splits from his other half Cornwall that he has a similarity to Figment? This movie was done 2 years prior to the horrid 1999 Reimagining of the pavilion..

Also listening to a song he sang from a bad sequel (Secret of Nimh 2). the way it's done you can actually make Nigel Channing a villain as he takes Figment away from Dreamfinder...And even though mentions Thorn valley & Nimh (But, really pay no attention to that) The lyrics itself would be interesting to see him go from good to really evil Villain.

OMG!

I could totally see that. I was actually thinking (as a kid seeing the new ride) that he had like kidnapped the dreamfinder or something. An excellent alternate character interpretation of Nigel could be quite horrifying in retrospect. If you think of the ride as literally paving over industrializing the fantasy world that once was.

I could see him draining the colorful lake and cutting down the white trees, boarding up the glass pyramids and shutting you off from seeing the sky in some evil attempt to harness the power imagination into his sensory machines for profit. For a second listening to that song was almost scary talking about controlling the weather and things like that could be "taking over" the thunderstorm from the begining of the old ride etc. It doesn't help that the background of that video made me think of a distorted version of the "upsidown waterfall" fountains or when you put your hand on the jumping fountains to interrupt its flow. hmmm...

I should write a story about this.... Figment saves Imagination

 

[Fairybuzz]

IMO, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Dr. Nigel Channing (Eric Idle) in that ride. It has plenty of issues on its own that have been mentioned hundreds of times. But, Eric Idle does a great job in that role and unlike Ellen's role in the Universe of Energy, it has aged well.

I don't think anyone's really saying they hate Eric Idol. I'm a big fan of his personally. Its more of the writers and the *ahem* plot that get in the way. Heck I could even see him as a young dreamfinder role in some kind of prequel.

I just don't like the char in that ride. I thought he was funnier in the HISTA preshow with his "we don't know anything.......that cannot be imagined!" stuff.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I don't think anyone's really saying they hate Eric Idol. I'm a big fan of his personally. Its more of the writers and the *ahem* plot that get in the way. Heck I could even see him as a young dreamfinder role in some kind of prequel

Could be even stranger.....

 

[Fairybuzz]

Could be even stranger.....

OMG kung fu panda all over again.....

 

[FigmentJedi]

I don't like Channing, but I don't feel like entirely demonizing him either. If anything, he's basically a Mr. Banks/Mr Darling figure that has to deal with Figment after whatever circumstances brought him out of the Dreamport dimension into the world of Disney's mad scientist comedies and eventually learns not to be so stuck up and joyless.



By the way, that sentence is basically how I'd handle the character in a hypothetical Imagination movie if one were to take an Epic Mickey-style perspective and turn the ride's history into a story.

 

[Fairybuzz]

I don't like Channing, but I don't feel like entirely demonizing him either. If anything, he's basically a Mr. Banks/Mr Darling figure that has to deal with Figment after whatever circumstances brought him out of the Dreamport dimension into the world of Disney's mad scientist comedies and eventually learns not to be so stuck up and joyless.



By the way, that sentence is basically how I'd handle the character in a hypothetical Imagination movie if one were to take an Epic Mickey-style perspective and turn the ride's history into a story.

Oh sure thats just as fun as a dark dystopian epic....

 

[FigmentJedi]

Oh sure thats just as fun as a dark dystopian epic....

To add onto this "Good idea for a movie", the Dreamport was beseiged by some of the nightmarish creatures from various Tales of Terror managing to break loose. A lot of stuff got wrecked and Figment basically started drifting through imaginary space (set to a rendition of Magic Journeys going for that full eerie quality of the actual attraction instead of the CD version with the elevator music backing) until emerging on the other side through the Imagination Scanner, part of the Institute's century-long research into finding out if there was any truth to all those stories in the late 1800s-early 1900s of children traveling with fairies and a boy in green, riding a tornado into a strange land, British nannies taking children into chalk drawings, chasing white rabbits into holes or traveling beyond the looking glass.

It is being dismissed as a "creation" of the Institute, being treated like another experiment, and seeing how cold, clinical and bland the Institute is that leads Figment to get on with his immature pranks. His fighting with Eric Idle creates another dimensional rift letting the monsters through and that's when the full power of creativity has to be unleashed and that's when the Dreamcatcher comes through to finish the job.

So that, along with maybe reworking Tapestry of Dreams's Dreamseekers as supporting characters during the "original ride" act that in the fashion of Oz movies become interns at the Institute when Figment crosses over, and making the visual separation between the two worlds be a 2D Dreamport and a CG animated Institute and maybe making the monsters stop-motion, is how I'd do it.

 

[Fairybuzz]

To add onto this "Good idea for a movie", the Dreamport was beseiged by some of the nightmarish creatures from various Tales of Terror managing to break loose. A lot of stuff got wrecked and Figment basically started drifting through imaginary space (set to a rendition of Magic Journeys going for that full eerie quality of the actual attraction instead of the CD version with the elevator music backing) until emerging on the other side through the Imagination Scanner, part of the Institute's century-long research into finding out if there was any truth to all those stories in the late 1800s-early 1900s of children traveling with fairies and a boy in green, riding a tornado into a strange land, British nannies taking children into chalk drawings, chasing white rabbits into holes or traveling beyond the looking glass.

It is being dismissed as a "creation" of the Institute, being treated like another experiment, and seeing how cold, clinical and bland the Institute is that leads Figment to get on with his immature pranks. His fighting with Eric Idle creates another dimensional rift letting the monsters through and that's when the full power of creativity has to be unleashed and that's when the Dreamcatcher comes through to finish the job.

So that, along with maybe reworking Tapestry of Dreams's Dreamseekers as supporting characters during the "original ride" act that in the fashion of Oz movies become interns at the Institute when Figment crosses over, and making the visual separation between the two worlds be a 2D Dreamport and a CG animated Institute and maybe making the monsters stop-motion, is how I'd do it.

haha! Oh you mean the magic journeys version with the full twanging trippy 60s sounds and the creepy carousel? That may work lol and the end of it could blend into the Your imagination versions background (with its distorted guitar) as he arrived!

They should just make something like this the next version of the ride lmao! in the end the dream finder says that you the riders must "use your own imagination" to choose (via horizons style buttons) how to defeat the monsters and save both worlds! (since you are the outside observers to the story as the author/readers are to chars in literature)

 

[Seabasealpha1]

So, I dunno...why wouldn't they just bring back Ron Schneider to do it? And for that matter...Chuck McCann is still alive...anyone know anything about these two? I think Ron gets my vote...I mean...come on! Hasn't anyone else seen this?



I do know that Billy Barty died some time ago...and Dave Goelz provided the current voice...which, seems okay... So yeah...thoughts?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Bob Iger: "I don't think Figment is going anywhere any time soon. I promise."

I'm amazed that Iger has any idea who an obscure character in a nearly forgotten pavilion at Epcot is.

.
.
.

Unless there are plans in the works.

I'm not convinced he knows who/what Figment is, nor do I think he understands that the appeal is based on the previous character, not the current character. He presumably knows Figment as a line item on a merchandise report.

 

[RSoxNo1]

If what I'm hearing is accurate, the ride's closure is not in anticipation that work will begin anytime soon.
Supposedly they are taking it offline way early in order to simply not have to worry about keeping it open until work does start...eventually.

Six Flags called, they want their business model back.

 

[ChrisFL]

I don't think anyone's really saying they hate Eric Idol. I'm a big fan of his personally. Its more of the writers and the *ahem* plot that get in the way. Heck I could even see him as a young dreamfinder role in some kind of prequel.

I just don't like the char in that ride. I thought he was funnier in the HISTA preshow with his "we don't know anything.......that cannot be imagined!" stuff.

Its impossible to hate Eric Idle, he's an original Python member, though John Cleese would have been incredibly more entertaining...if given the ability to write his own script.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Its impossible to hate Eric Idle, he's an original Python member, though John Cleese would have been incredibly more entertaining...if given the ability to write his own script.

I don't dislike Eric Idle (I actually quite like him, especially in Monty Python). I do however dislike his role in the ride, and the character he's playing.

Kind of like how I actually like Judi Dench in other roles but don't like her as the narrator for SSE.

 

[SirLink]

I don't dislike Eric Idle (I actually quite like him, especially in Monty Python). I do however dislike his role in the ride, and the character he's playing.

Kind of like how I actually like Judi Dench in other roles but don't like her as the narrator for SSE.

As I say the right voices for both those attractions but entirely the wrong scripts for both attractions.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

As I say the right voices for both those attractions but entirely the wrong scripts for both attractions.

I don't agree. While the scripts are certainly bad and that doesn't help anything, I still don't think they're the right voices for these attractions.

I feel Imagination worked best in its original form, or some variation of that anyways. I can't even begin to think of a new concept different from the original ride that could come anywhere close to properly capturing the essence of imagination itself like the original did. And I think the original ride would have still been a fantastic ride even today (just with a few minor plusses and tech upgrades here and there). Dreamfinder was a fantastic character, similar to Merlin in a lot of ways (including the voice). I don't think Eric Idle would make a good new version of Dreamfinder, nor can I think of any worthy replacement ideas for the pavilion that he would fit properly in.

Even if the current concept of Imagination had been given a better script and taken to its full potential, it's still a bad core concept and wouldn't have come close to capturing the true spirit of Imagination like the original ride did.

Spaceship Earth works best when it's a sweeping and epic experience. Intellectual, philosophical and almost trance like. Jeremy Irons got it perfect. His was a really soothing and otherworldly, yet epic and sophisticated voice and performance in addition to an incredible script. While the new script is certainly terrible and intellectually vapid, Judi Dench's sharp sounding voice doesn't help matters and further removes me from the experience. It's a bad script and a bad choice for the role. And while my favorite narration is the Jeremy Irons version, i'd still take Walter Cronkite's voice over Judi Dench's. Though again I think Irons was the best narrator out of them all. He absolutely nailed the tone.

I do want to mention that i'm not at all against a female voice as the SSE narrator. I just don't think Judi Dench works. Kate Mulgrew I think would make a really good choice, or perhaps even Gillian Anderson.

 

[Figments Friend]

So, I dunno...why wouldn't they just bring back Ron Schneider to do it? And for that matter...Chuck McCann is still alive...anyone know anything about these two? I think Ron gets my vote...I mean...come on! Hasn't anyone else seen this?



I do know that Billy Barty died some time ago...and Dave Goelz provided the current voice...which, seems okay... So yeah...thoughts?

Ron is a swell guy and i can openly say that he would absolutely LOVE to be Dreamfinder again.

Dave however does an okay job with Figment's voice, but i think a lot of fans associate his vocals with the disliked 'annoyed Figment' character from the attraction re-do.
I would like to see a new voice talent...someone who is a good mix of the two. Playful and optimistic, not pesky and overly cute.


As far as the attraction goes, it needs to be a healthy balance of the past and the present as far as creative approach goes.
Harken back to the charm and whimsy of the original masterpiece, but introduce elements today's Guests will find as equally delightful as us original JII fans loved back in the day.

There is no way to recapture the original....and doing so would be futile.
As much as i admire and adore the original, it was unique and can never be duplicated.
Creating a NEW attraction that is rooted in that rich past would help the project tremendously.
Not a re-tread....no...a refresh.

The original had a wonderful premise and it was indeed timeless.
There is plenty of wiggle room to re-introduce that, but to make it a refreshed version that both fans and Guests of today can savor and enjoy.

 

[Figments Friend]

Spaceship Earth works best when it's a sweeping and epic experience. Intellectual, philosophical and almost trance like. Jeremy Irons got it perfect. His was a really soothing and otherworldly, yet epic and sophisticated voice and performance in addition to an incredible script. While the new script is certainly terrible and intellectual vapid, Judi Dench's sharp sounding voice doesn't help matters and further removes me from the experience. It's a bad script and a bad choice for the role. And while my favorite narration is the Jeremy Irons version, i'd still take Walter Cronkite's voice over Judi Dench's. Though again I think Irons was the best narrator out of them all. He absolutely nailed the tone.

Completely agree with your comments regarding SSE.

It SHOULD be 'grand and miraculous' and inspire you.
It should not be 'humorous banter' and watching tv in the dark.

Contrast and compare.
It says a lot about today's society , or perhaps more about the creatives in charge now.