SSE descent set pieces

[marni1971]

The sound system is still being balanced. Listen to PotC now and compare it to just after it reopened to what will be done.

You guys and the Irons score.... 'twas nothing compared to the 1986 version

 

[SirGoofy]

and you didnt get pictures :fork:

:lol:It's not really part of the costume to be carrying around a camera.

 

[aladdin2007]

Yeah the 86 version really didnt have a score at all, it was just sounds and this version sort of resembles that in a way. I downloaded both from mousebits and after comparing, the Cronkite version with the one now is in some ways quite similair. The irons one just always seemed perfectly balanced and amazing sound even though the narration did go in and out all the time. Dench's narration sound is phenomenal though I mean the audio quality of the narration has never sounded better.

 

[marni1971]

SSE `86 did have a subtle score - that didn`t record well on camcorders of the day (trust me, I tried, and you have my video from MouseBits)

The current narration system was changed during the 2007 rehab. As in most original Omnis, the narration was sent via infra red to groups of cars via trackside senders. Interference or dirty lenses would mask the signal and the audio would drop out (remember how bad the HM was) - I`m informed the system was swapped to local flash cards for the Dench spiel.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

How funny that I get back from EPCOT and want to talk about this issue EXACTLY.:lol:

Indeed. Siemens are aware of a large normal of complaints from regular guests of the big black void - either people not interested in the touch screens, screens not working, or people waiting for their future to begin. Time and money prevented anything being done before the ride reopened. The triangles that were added bit by bit are the start of a more elaborate finale to give the attraction itself a conclusion. 3rd shift plussing will continue for a while until the presentation is complete.

Interesting news...It's obvious that SSE isn't done.The curtains used to cover up the sets look very temporary and cheap.Even if you are watching the vid you can still see the odd combo of triangles and curtains...It makes you wonder why the "Endless Starfield" ended.

I personally believe the "your future" cartoon is placed in the wrong spot. Specifically, there is too much build-up to it. Lets be honest, the thing that gets everybody so excited about the videos isn't the fact that you answer six or seven question to "personalize" it; its the fact that you can see your face in the video (some of the time anyway). For the average guest, they could care less about what the video is about, just as long as their face is in it.

As it stands now, the touch screens make it difficult to put anything outside the ride vehicles. You're focus is suppossed to be on the video, not outside the vehicle, so, in theory, there doesn't need to be anything there because you're not suppossed to be looking there. If you are looking outside the vehicle, then you're defeating the purpose of the video.

Here's my idea of nice compromise: eliminate all the questions, but keep the video. Where you would normally be answering the questions, have one screen of options, ala Horizons, where you pick a category of the future (ex: healthcare, energy, transportation, etc.). Your video then plays as you proceed through the blue lights, showing future technologies and innovations for what you chose, and of course incorporating you face. The video would end where the old glitter city was.

From that point on, a new larger, more elaborate future vision would take you to the unload area. In this area, you combine all the options you had for the video. In other words, show that flying car you saw in the video. Show that new health scanner you saw in the video. Show that new energy harnessing power from the video. This way, it reinforces the idea that we all have a choice in our future, but at the same time, all of our futures are interconnected, and when brought together, can create a hopeful and spectacular vision of tomorrow.

This way, the video is still prominent, we still personalize the journey by choosing which video we wnat to see, and there is now something outside the vehicle to see that complements the video and ties everything together. That would be a SSE I would like to see (and it is very possible to do that, I might add).

EDIT: Sorry about my imagineering ramblings, but I had to get that out there.

I agree here...The vid is very anti clamatic.You go into the 180 top to be greated with new music and one of the best part of the new narr. to see a video?It's odd...The decent needs something to WOW you...Be it a sone like in 1986 or a fantastic model of the future.

Yeah, booking table service restaraunts via a screen should never be anywhere near the ending of Spaceship Earth, EVER!



:lookaroun

HA!:lol:

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

The sound system is still being balanced. Listen to PotC now and compare it to just after it reopened to what will be done.

You guys and the Irons score.... 'twas nothing compared to the 1986 version

It is?When I went on I could barely here the new music...The parts I heard WERE nice though...I LOVE the matrix tunnel music.

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

I do not have a copy or link to the photo merf took of the triangles meeting together where glitter city was.

I truly hope this isn't a ramble but let us take this all in if we can

*breathe*:lol:

We enter Epcot with these giant granite stones coming out of the ground, around us are a mixture of plants, flowers, and many large and overgrown trees, surrounding these are mustard yellow painted ceilings with purple accents, and grey and brown paint.

"Okay" we say...

We keep walking toward SSE... this large remarkable structure, and beneath it is this sleek mirror column, and yet as one looks closer there are scars on it....what is it? scars from the old logos that adorned it, and then below these scars are fingerprints people have put on the mirror and with no plants or fence to protect the mirror its a wonder that the mirror itself isn't presented by windex.

Anyhow...alas the line is short for SSE.....sleek new and bold signs becon us to enter with landscaped rows of plants flowers and palm trees, the CM's wear new and modern uniforms, we can hear elegant orchestral music as we head toward the colorful mural showing where we have gone and where we may go

Inside we enter a space station, though somewhat tired looking, the flashing lights on the walls appear interesting, and we board or vehicle and select a language.

We enter a dark corridor and head up inside SSE...a space portal if you will filled with stars behind these black columns that lead to a bend where we have our picture taken and embark on our journey

the stars get less and less.......we see clouds...nebula...and lightning

it is generally agreed by both fanboys merfs and brazilian tourists that the ascent is quite spectacular.

the time machine vehicles have been refurbed and touched up, the screens themselves fit in well atleast cosmetically and its great to select a language

the sound system is supurb and they have indeed toyed with how loud you hear dame judi

it seems that the biggest problem is after the garage scene

the matrix tunnel does indeed have problems in how it is presented and then you enter 180top and it has the nice clean image of the stars and we wind down that awesome worm tunnel of endless stars, but after all this grandiose details and effects the ride dramatically shifts to comedy

many guests could care less what the narrator is even talking about in their future....they just care about seeing themselves on a cartoon;...and thats why this should also be available as little booths in project tomorrow, because yes it is funny and cute and cool, but for me atleast I should have the choice of doing this after I ride SSE.

They have a computer and a touch screen, just give guests the option of using their screens in the descent. :wave:

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

Well, I think "half finished" is a somewhat subjective term, made popular on the internet, but doesn't always hold up to reality.

More like 3/4 finished and the reality is people are going to like the ending simply because it is funny and not about a better and grand conclusion to an amazing and grandiose ascent.

The entire first half of Spaceship Earth has never looked or sounded better. The improvements to the Animatronics, lighting, sound, and special effects are very well done and breathed new life into scenes that hadn't seen any major changes in 25 years.

Completely agree! :sohappy:

It really frustrates me when people completely (and conveniently) ignore the huge leap forward of the entire ascent in favor of using the descent as an excuse to dismiss the entire rehab as a disappointment or a cop out.

This is the ENDING of the ride, the conclusion and lasting impression guests will have before they leave.

That would be like the haunted mansion concluding with a graveyard of one singing bust and one ghost and the room is completely dark with drapes and some blinking stars.

And for what, the removal of some cheap fiber-optics and some crude static Pepper's Ghost displays of yesterday's technology?

I would have loved to have seen an entirely new and amazing descent, but please....to replace it with something that has even less than what was there in the 1994 rehab..good grief

Now, I'll be honest and admit that I have a strong nostalgic connection to those very same scenes and effects, and I DO wish the attraction could have opened with a more engaging descent, but I'm not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater and call the entire thing a failure just because we're only given one cheesy game to look at on the way down, instead of several cheesy blacklight gags and a bunch of blinking tubes attached to chicken wire.

Chicken wire!!!! :lol: :lookaroun

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

Here are two pics from my evac in January 08


This is heading down the pepper's ghost area

The actual sets would be above us and to our right

What you the viewer saw with the people talking to eachother would have been on the left side of the picture where the stretched curtains are.

Here is where the glitter city would have been....on the left hand side of the photo at where the track curves and begins to head down at a further angle

 

[HMF]

Here are two pics from my evac in January 08


This is heading down the pepper's ghost area

The actual sets would be above us and to our right

What you the viewer saw with the people talking to eachother would have been on the left side of the picture where the stretched curtains are.

Here is where the glitter city would have been....on the left hand side of the photo at where the track curves and begins to head down at a further angle

It definiteley looks like the Peppers Ghost is still there behind those curtains and I have a suspicion that some of the old city set might be in the outdoor scene right before the Computer Room.

 

[EpcotServo]

I hope my sarcasm was evident...if not, let me look around some more... :lookaroun or add some :hurl: to the idea. (By the way, love your frequent visits you share with us to the World) :wave:

"I hope my sarcasm was evident..." That'd be great on a T-Shirt!
:lol:

:wave:

One thing leftover from the old one is if you look on the other side of where the Pepper's Ghost people were, you can see the black outline of trees and hills that framed the reflections...

 

[wayneway]

I miss the old Irons version, especially at the top, it used to be very powerful when you first saw the earth after the tunnel, now it just seems so so. I think Judy Dench did a fine job, just like the old one better.

 

[Rob562]

...and a row of people's heads from an audience....

-Rob

 

[Mr.EPCOT]

Slightly off topic, but I was thinking who an awesome female narrator for Spaceship Earth would be. Judi Dench is okay, obviously would be a lot better with an intelligent script. Who would be perfect is the narrator from The Seas pre-show film at The Living Seas! I could listen to that chick read the phone book!

Yeah, booking table service restaraunts via a screen should never be anywhere near the ending of Spaceship Earth, EVER!

Can't make things too easy for the Guests. Wouldn't it be amazing if WorldKey were still around with updated technology? You could even have limited access from home!

 

[marni1971]

Who would be perfect is the narrator from The Seas pre-show film at The Living Seas!

"Try to imagine, just for a moment.."

Ooh! I like that

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

"We welcome you to Spaceship Earth....We welcome you to the Future"


*ooooohh*:lol:

 

[aladdin2007]

"We welcome you to Spaceship Earth....We welcome you to the Future"


*ooooohh*:lol:

oooo ahhhhh I agree, WOW. now it just makes me sad thinking what could have been/should have been. I like Judy Dench too but the dumb script doesnt suit her.
I agree, the one who had narrated the living seas movie I would listen to reciting the phonebook too lolol, very well said! I like that :wave: and yours too Martin, "Try to imagine, just for a moment.." gives me goosebumps.
I think it would be fun to write the script just for fun, ok clearly I have too much time on my hands lol but it would be a fun writing excercise.

 

[dxwwf3]

Indeed. Siemens are aware of a large normal of complaints from regular guests of the big black void - either people not interested in the touch screens, screens not working, or people waiting for their future to begin. Time and money prevented anything being done before the ride reopened. The triangles that were added bit by bit are the start of a more elaborate finale to give the attraction itself a conclusion. 3rd shift plussing will continue for a while until the presentation is complete.

What? You mean "regular" guests sometimes complain about a new addition at WDW? I thought the know nothing fans were the only ones :lol:

All kidding aside, that is certainly FANTASTIC news. I was really worried that we were going to be stuck with the current ending for a very long time. And for the record, the current version up to the descent is absolutely fantastic. The new score is growing on me more and more each time I listen to it and I don't mind Dench at all (the script in just a few minor segments is the problem there) as a narrator. Once they do something......anything with the finale, this version of SSE will be just as great as the ones before it and even better in many ways.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

"We welcome you to Spaceship Earth....We welcome you to the Future"


*ooooohh*:lol:

oooo ahhhhh I agree, WOW. now it just makes me sad thinking what could have been/should have been. I like Judy Dench too but the dumb script doesnt suit her.
I agree, the one who had narrated the living seas movie I would listen to reciting the phonebook too lolol, very well said! I like that :wave: and yours too Martin, "Try to imagine, just for a moment.." gives me goosebumps.
I think it would be fun to write the script just for fun, ok clearly I have too much time on my hands lol but it would be a fun writing excercise.

What? You mean "regular" guests sometimes complain about a new addition at WDW? I thought the know nothing fans were the only ones :lol:

All kidding aside, that is certainly FANTASTIC news. I was really worried that we were going to be stuck with the current ending for a very long time. And for the record, the current version up to the descent is absolutely fantastic. The new score is growing on me more and more each time I listen to it and I don't mind Dench at all (the script in just a few minor segments is the problem there) as a narrator. Once they do something......anything with the finale, this version of SSE will be just as great as the ones before it and even better in many ways.

I feel the EXACT same way...I LOVED new SSE.Some lines did not fit(ABC/taxes) but it was a very good refurb of a EPCOT classic.The decent needs help but it's on the way.

My only REAL gripe is the level of the BGM...It needs to be turned up.I couldn't here most of it but the Computer Room and the Matrix Tunnel were audable and were some of the best I have heard.

The future of SSE looks bright...!

 

[HMF]

Slightly off topic, but I was thinking who an awesome female narrator for Spaceship Earth would be. Judi Dench is okay, obviously would be a lot better with an intelligent script

Judi Dench is a really good narrator. She was just given an awful script by WDI.