Lots of talk of course on what the new SSE will be like...but lets look back to see how we got where we are today.
Spaceship Earth as we all know is the symbolic structure and flagship attracion of Epcot (formerly EPCOT Center :lookaroun ).
It opened with the park in 1982 and its theme was human communication. The human communication theme was put at the park's entrance and showed that without human communication, it's pretty impossible to have a better tomorrow i.e. how can we then do the future of transporation, energy, etc w/o human communcation....
In 1982, the ride was narrated by Vic Perrin. The ride was heavily scientific and overly dramatic. It was meant to be thee serious ride of EPCOT Center, possibly even more serious than the original Universe of Energy show or Symbiosis.
As far as musical score....there was a 70s/80s sci fi wavey syth music is the queue and load area. Heading up into the ride was just a few musical instruments making various noises and pitches. The rest of the ride relied heavily on the sound effects of the AA dialouge and set sound effects. That was it! Nothing else. The ending of the ride also had the crazy few instruments making weird tonal beep sounds and other spaceshipy things circa 1982 with television screens, projected images...and light up peg boards.
Then the unload and entrance into the earth station used the zany music heard in the queue and load area. The earth station was a nice wide open space, but it only used the large rear projection screens, worldkey information, and epcot center guest relations. That's it....and the earth station music loop that played in sync to the overhead projection screens which played over and over again. :zipit:
In 1986 the ride went through it's second version. Walter Cronkite came as a familiar voice and grandaddy of human communcation. He presented a revised script with a much more straight forward "how it happened" look. The crazy 1982 area music was eliminated from the queue, load, unload, and entrance to the earth station. Instead the musical score of tomorrow's child played.
The ride itself continued to realy heavily on the AA dialogue and set sound effects. The only thing added was a chiming and echoing like sound. Sort of like rubbing the tips of crystal glasses filled with water.....if that makes any sense to anyone.
The ending itself was exceptional to the 1982 version. Now SSE had a true theme and identity. The tomorrow's child musical score played in 180top and the ending of the ride was now filled with prism-like screens and lights and other whirly doo dads about children with purple outlines. The last half of the ending kept the same informational projection screens and peg board lighted walls. Then guests entered the EarthStation.
In 1994 Spaceship Earth went through a much needed facelift. EPCOT Center was over and Walt Disney World was soon turning 25.
Inspiration was taken from the 1982 version. Jeremy Irons presented a much more clean look at how the 1982 version should have been presented. He gives us an eerie, mysterious approach to the ride, like Vic Perrin was supposed to do, while presenting us with clean and straightforward facts, like Walter Cronkite did. For the first time in SSE history a complex musical score was added throughout the ride. From the queue, load, ride, unload, and into the Global Neighborhood...music was the mood of the ride.
All the AA dialouge and set sound effects were preserved, but played a much more dramatic role with the addition of mood music and sound.
The 1994 version eliminated the evolution of the computer scenes and replaced them with a boy and girl talking with instant video communication. The space station in 180top was elimated...and instead abstract depictions of communication reaching the vastness of outerspace was done. As we head down backwards to the present day past the stars and lights we see people using videoscreen communication...the fibre optic city of tomorrow...and SSE itself floating through time and space. In 1994 we exit into the global neighborhood....and later on into the 2000 "new" global neighborhood.
Then in 2004 AT&T leaves SSE. The new global neighborhood is shuttered....and the ride really begins to show its age with lack of upkeep.
Siemens signs on in 2005 and by 2007 a new post show....using the wide open space of the earthstation......project tomorrow...opens with exciting new exhibits.
Judy Dench will be the new narrator...and I bet she will present an even more elebarote way than how Jemery Irons presented SSE....in the sense of blending drama with straightforward facts.
Instead of the ride focusing strictly on human communication....it is how human communcation serves as a basis for creating a better tomorrow with new technology and a new future as seen throughout the years. Spaceship Earth also allows guests to choose their own ending.
Though as I write this before we have any video or images of the new SSE...now in it's 4th version...it seems to me SSE has truly gone through a Renaissance that has made the ride everything it was meant to be...and somehow still playing a nod to the past with a new dramatic musical score....retro color swoosh schemes, etc...while still moving forward. A great blend of nostalgia...and something new....very EPCOT...very true Disney! :wave:
Spaceship Earth as we all know is the symbolic structure and flagship attracion of Epcot (formerly EPCOT Center :lookaroun ).
It opened with the park in 1982 and its theme was human communication. The human communication theme was put at the park's entrance and showed that without human communication, it's pretty impossible to have a better tomorrow i.e. how can we then do the future of transporation, energy, etc w/o human communcation....
In 1982, the ride was narrated by Vic Perrin. The ride was heavily scientific and overly dramatic. It was meant to be thee serious ride of EPCOT Center, possibly even more serious than the original Universe of Energy show or Symbiosis.
As far as musical score....there was a 70s/80s sci fi wavey syth music is the queue and load area. Heading up into the ride was just a few musical instruments making various noises and pitches. The rest of the ride relied heavily on the sound effects of the AA dialouge and set sound effects. That was it! Nothing else. The ending of the ride also had the crazy few instruments making weird tonal beep sounds and other spaceshipy things circa 1982 with television screens, projected images...and light up peg boards.
Then the unload and entrance into the earth station used the zany music heard in the queue and load area. The earth station was a nice wide open space, but it only used the large rear projection screens, worldkey information, and epcot center guest relations. That's it....and the earth station music loop that played in sync to the overhead projection screens which played over and over again. :zipit:
In 1986 the ride went through it's second version. Walter Cronkite came as a familiar voice and grandaddy of human communcation. He presented a revised script with a much more straight forward "how it happened" look. The crazy 1982 area music was eliminated from the queue, load, unload, and entrance to the earth station. Instead the musical score of tomorrow's child played.
The ride itself continued to realy heavily on the AA dialogue and set sound effects. The only thing added was a chiming and echoing like sound. Sort of like rubbing the tips of crystal glasses filled with water.....if that makes any sense to anyone.
The ending itself was exceptional to the 1982 version. Now SSE had a true theme and identity. The tomorrow's child musical score played in 180top and the ending of the ride was now filled with prism-like screens and lights and other whirly doo dads about children with purple outlines. The last half of the ending kept the same informational projection screens and peg board lighted walls. Then guests entered the EarthStation.
In 1994 Spaceship Earth went through a much needed facelift. EPCOT Center was over and Walt Disney World was soon turning 25.
Inspiration was taken from the 1982 version. Jeremy Irons presented a much more clean look at how the 1982 version should have been presented. He gives us an eerie, mysterious approach to the ride, like Vic Perrin was supposed to do, while presenting us with clean and straightforward facts, like Walter Cronkite did. For the first time in SSE history a complex musical score was added throughout the ride. From the queue, load, ride, unload, and into the Global Neighborhood...music was the mood of the ride.
All the AA dialouge and set sound effects were preserved, but played a much more dramatic role with the addition of mood music and sound.
The 1994 version eliminated the evolution of the computer scenes and replaced them with a boy and girl talking with instant video communication. The space station in 180top was elimated...and instead abstract depictions of communication reaching the vastness of outerspace was done. As we head down backwards to the present day past the stars and lights we see people using videoscreen communication...the fibre optic city of tomorrow...and SSE itself floating through time and space. In 1994 we exit into the global neighborhood....and later on into the 2000 "new" global neighborhood.
Then in 2004 AT&T leaves SSE. The new global neighborhood is shuttered....and the ride really begins to show its age with lack of upkeep.
Siemens signs on in 2005 and by 2007 a new post show....using the wide open space of the earthstation......project tomorrow...opens with exciting new exhibits.
Judy Dench will be the new narrator...and I bet she will present an even more elebarote way than how Jemery Irons presented SSE....in the sense of blending drama with straightforward facts.
Instead of the ride focusing strictly on human communication....it is how human communcation serves as a basis for creating a better tomorrow with new technology and a new future as seen throughout the years. Spaceship Earth also allows guests to choose their own ending.
Though as I write this before we have any video or images of the new SSE...now in it's 4th version...it seems to me SSE has truly gone through a Renaissance that has made the ride everything it was meant to be...and somehow still playing a nod to the past with a new dramatic musical score....retro color swoosh schemes, etc...while still moving forward. A great blend of nostalgia...and something new....very EPCOT...very true Disney! :wave:
