DMC-12
It's HarmonioUS, NOT HarmoniYOU.
So they didnt add any new animatronics... they just re-purposed some old ones (?) it sounds like. Which is cool, I guess. I heard they all look great.
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SSE Reviews
- Thread starter epcotpalms
- Start date
So they didnt add any new animatronics... they just re-purposed some old ones (?) it sounds like. Which is cool, I guess. I heard they all look great.
MythBuster
Active Member
So they didnt add any new animatronics... they just re-purposed some old ones (?) it sounds like. Which is cool, I guess. I heard they all look great.
Yes. There are no new AA figures, they have been just been re-animated!! Actually, Eric S. is very talented, one of the best animators/programmers around. He always does a great job either with new installations like Stitch or the Yeti. Or re-animating (re-programming) old AA's like the Dinosaurs over at Dinosaur. And it looks like he did a fantastic job with the AA figures at SSE.
vickyvale
New Member
Yes, these AA's look fantastic. I actually thought the African American lady in the computer room might just come over to the ride vehicle to say hello...or maybe complete the programming on the touch screen. :lol:
I also thought the updated digital (I'm assuming) screen with the cavemen and mammoth was very impressive. I would have loved to have seen more digital backdrops throughout the attraction.
I also thought the updated digital (I'm assuming) screen with the cavemen and mammoth was very impressive. I would have loved to have seen more digital backdrops throughout the attraction.
t3techcom18
Well-Known Member
WOW.....simply WOW. Just saw the video here on WDWMagic, and just WOW...
You guys are definitely right. While it's not exactly to that level, it's marginally close to the Imagination rehab. They dumbed down EVERYTHING. The script is alright, but WOW...it needs a LOT of retooling.
The music, now listening to the whole thing, as Figment571 said before, is WAY too happy. It's very disfunctional, doesn't go well together, and WTH are there Jamaican sounding instruments in the Matrix scene?? GRR!!
In its current condition, SSE is a mockery of what it once was...and that's being nice.
My suggestions?:
1) WDI, please put more money into this. AND TIME. We won't care how long it takes, JUST GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME INSTEAD OF HAVING TO DO IT OVER AGAIN.
2) Somebody employ John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or James Newton Howard for the music please...And a note for the future composer: There should be no specific theme for all of SSE, and the Ascent should have a deep tone that sets up the rest of the ride.
3) And please replace Miss Dench with Patrick Stewart (my number 1 choice since the rehab began). Although she has a great voice, this proves she just isn't the right voice for SSE. If you want a great narrator that is a woman this time around, then get Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mulgrew, or possibly even Susan Sarandon. With the narration, in the new script, don't mention anything about how the future is being created in every scene. Leave the interacting ending to be a surprise.
WDI: You have won half the battle. The Ascent and the First Act of the ride til the 180top is perfect. The Descent, in my opinon, is THE most important part of the whole ride, not the First Act. It demonstrates how the future is and what it could be if we all work together. If it means doing what I thought up before, (which, I continue to say, is a money-saving, cost effective AND time-saving method) then do it. Or, if you REALLY want to put new scenes in there, right at the beginning of the Descent, then do so. That will be enough time to fix the 'dead space' issue you have. I've already mentioned what to do bout the video on the videoscreens themselves before, so I won't say it again. That, and lastly, the ending narration after the videoscreen segment is just atrocious. Here is what I think the ending narration could (or should) be:
"...And as we shape our future together, we will discover that the possibilities are endless and our future rests in our hands. We have the technology today to bring relief to illness, to have sadness turn to joy, and the unity and responsibility to become one. One family together across the world. We must embrace for ourselves the world that is in our grasp, for those around us and to leave a mark on history for genertions to come. To celebrate the future...hand in hand. Here, on Spaceship Earth."
....And yes, I put the Millienium Celebration tagline there on purpose, haha.
You guys are definitely right. While it's not exactly to that level, it's marginally close to the Imagination rehab. They dumbed down EVERYTHING. The script is alright, but WOW...it needs a LOT of retooling.
The music, now listening to the whole thing, as Figment571 said before, is WAY too happy. It's very disfunctional, doesn't go well together, and WTH are there Jamaican sounding instruments in the Matrix scene?? GRR!!
In its current condition, SSE is a mockery of what it once was...and that's being nice.
My suggestions?:
1) WDI, please put more money into this. AND TIME. We won't care how long it takes, JUST GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME INSTEAD OF HAVING TO DO IT OVER AGAIN.
2) Somebody employ John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or James Newton Howard for the music please...And a note for the future composer: There should be no specific theme for all of SSE, and the Ascent should have a deep tone that sets up the rest of the ride.
3) And please replace Miss Dench with Patrick Stewart (my number 1 choice since the rehab began). Although she has a great voice, this proves she just isn't the right voice for SSE. If you want a great narrator that is a woman this time around, then get Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mulgrew, or possibly even Susan Sarandon. With the narration, in the new script, don't mention anything about how the future is being created in every scene. Leave the interacting ending to be a surprise.
WDI: You have won half the battle. The Ascent and the First Act of the ride til the 180top is perfect. The Descent, in my opinon, is THE most important part of the whole ride, not the First Act. It demonstrates how the future is and what it could be if we all work together. If it means doing what I thought up before, (which, I continue to say, is a money-saving, cost effective AND time-saving method) then do it. Or, if you REALLY want to put new scenes in there, right at the beginning of the Descent, then do so. That will be enough time to fix the 'dead space' issue you have. I've already mentioned what to do bout the video on the videoscreens themselves before, so I won't say it again. That, and lastly, the ending narration after the videoscreen segment is just atrocious. Here is what I think the ending narration could (or should) be:
"...And as we shape our future together, we will discover that the possibilities are endless and our future rests in our hands. We have the technology today to bring relief to illness, to have sadness turn to joy, and the unity and responsibility to become one. One family together across the world. We must embrace for ourselves the world that is in our grasp, for those around us and to leave a mark on history for genertions to come. To celebrate the future...hand in hand. Here, on Spaceship Earth."
....And yes, I put the Millienium Celebration tagline there on purpose, haha.
EPCOT_1138
New Member
From what I've seen from the videos (haven't actually seen it in person yet)...
Positive:
- New animatronics have life-like movements, I think even better than some of the new POTC ones.
- The new computer scenes are nice, I like them WAY better than the previous scenes that were there.
- The ascent is a lot better than the previous one with the old tacky TVs and effects gone, and new LCDs and the "time portal" thing that replace it, which looks a lot better in my opinion.
- I like the soundtrack a lot, which I didn't think I was going to after I heard the small clips of it playing around the SSE area. It kind of reminds me of Horizons in a way.
- The new narrations are great, I actually like it better than the first. The sound seems that it has improved as well.
Negative:
- The entire descent is missing, although I'm sure SOMETHING is in the works. Like I said before this would be cool as you were going down the descent.
- There's only one video screen per car? But there's usually two people in a car... do the math.
- The cars are noisier than ever. I could even hear the clanking on the videos loud and clear. Something needs to be done about that.
- I don't like the Jetsons animation on the video screens. Yes retro, but it really doesn't make sense having it on the ride... I don't want my future to be 1950's futuristic.
Positive:
- New animatronics have life-like movements, I think even better than some of the new POTC ones.
- The new computer scenes are nice, I like them WAY better than the previous scenes that were there.
- The ascent is a lot better than the previous one with the old tacky TVs and effects gone, and new LCDs and the "time portal" thing that replace it, which looks a lot better in my opinion.
- I like the soundtrack a lot, which I didn't think I was going to after I heard the small clips of it playing around the SSE area. It kind of reminds me of Horizons in a way.
- The new narrations are great, I actually like it better than the first. The sound seems that it has improved as well.
Negative:
- The entire descent is missing, although I'm sure SOMETHING is in the works. Like I said before this would be cool as you were going down the descent.
- There's only one video screen per car? But there's usually two people in a car... do the math.
- The cars are noisier than ever. I could even hear the clanking on the videos loud and clear. Something needs to be done about that.
- I don't like the Jetsons animation on the video screens. Yes retro, but it really doesn't make sense having it on the ride... I don't want my future to be 1950's futuristic.
TOTGuy
Member
What I'm hoping is that WDI opened it up to eat up the Holiday crowds since WOL isn't opening. With the two of them down X-mas and New Year's sound like they would be insane!!! I heard Soarin' hit 4 hours on Thanksgiving! The point its SSE has a great capacity and is only open in this state to test minor things then it will be shut down and be worked on through february. If not, why would they be having soft openings two months before? IDK, hopefully I can get on it when I go back to work...
kcnole
Well-Known Member
Here's my optimistic idea of what's going on. The touchscreen ending was put in and imagineers realize it doesn't work. That said, they probably know they're going to need to redo the ending but to convince upper management to give them the money they need to make this work right they need guest input. If the majority of guests say, hey its great then upper management wasn't going to release the funds. Now with all the complaints they still have a good 3 months to fix the ending. Why else would we do a soft opening a full 3 months before the ride is supposed to open?
Here's hoping that is true!
RWilliams
Premium Member
I was hoping that it was something along those lines myself. But according to str8fan in another thread, guests love the new ending. I'm a very positive, balanced person and am a much bigger Disney cheerleader than naysayer. So I'm very surprised to hear that people actually like the new ending. I've just lost a lot of faith in the future of humankind. :lol:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=255437
"Newsflash: Guests like the new ending. All around EPCOT, you can hear guests talking about how great the new ending is."
EpcotServo
Well-Known Member
Wow. I've never been so shocked by what you guys think! First off, watched the video, and anyone's opinons based off that video are hereby null. It's way to dark to catch nearly all of the great details they put into this rehab. Heck, you miss the ENTIRE first projection at the top of the first hill! You loose SO much in the video, plus you loose the feel of what it's like to be in the ride. To see and hear it in person, makes it MUCH better.
And as for the ending, was the last two much better?
The last one was a cardboard city, fiber optics, and a pepper's ghost effect. I don't know about you guys, but towards the end of it's life I was more focused on the dark areas AROUND what was there. I do miss the Spaceship Earth model though.
And please note: The ride isn't exactly done yet. Mostly, the create your future thing. It's very clear that there will be more to this, both on and off ride I think.
I think that everyone should really be proud of what WDI did here. Or did you want "Time Racers"? This is a postive change, that keeps in the EPCOT spirit, and finally puts the future in Future World. It will keep Spaceship Earth with us for years to come, and entertain and educate as well.
And as for the ending, was the last two much better?
The last one was a cardboard city, fiber optics, and a pepper's ghost effect. I don't know about you guys, but towards the end of it's life I was more focused on the dark areas AROUND what was there. I do miss the Spaceship Earth model though.
And please note: The ride isn't exactly done yet. Mostly, the create your future thing. It's very clear that there will be more to this, both on and off ride I think.
I think that everyone should really be proud of what WDI did here. Or did you want "Time Racers"? This is a postive change, that keeps in the EPCOT spirit, and finally puts the future in Future World. It will keep Spaceship Earth with us for years to come, and entertain and educate as well.
dxwwf3
Well-Known Member
Yes
Music and great narration were the keys to the previous endings. This one has neither right now.
Why settle for "at least this isn't Time Racers"? That seems like a pretty bad way to look at Disney attractions. And I think that just about everyone who has been on the attraction is raving about MOST of what was done. Sure not everyone loves the new score or narration, but most do not dislike it.
Testtrack321
Well-Known Member
See, that's what people HERE think, people who have been hyping this redo to the point of the great second coming of Epcot. You guys looked at the last ending as this amazing piece of work that others just saw as a total snooze fest. Should more be done, hell yes. But to suggest that somehow Disney is killing kittens and your childhood by putting touch screens in and turning off some lights is crazy.
RWilliams
Premium Member
That may be the case, but I don't have those things in my living room. I go to WDW to be entertained in a unique way that I can't get at home. I expect more from them than what I can get on my laptop, tv, or nintendo ds. I guess I'm in the minority these days. If this refurb of Spaceship Earth is what most people want then I guess its a success but to me its a cop out. :shrug:
CaptainMichael
Well-Known Member
Wow. I've never been so shocked by what you guys think! First off, watched the video, and anyone's opinons based off that video are hereby null. It's way to dark to catch nearly all of the great details they put into this rehab. Heck, you miss the ENTIRE first projection at the top of the first hill! You loose SO much in the video, plus you loose the feel of what it's like to be in the ride. To see and hear it in person, makes it MUCH better.
And as for the ending, was the last two much better?
The last one was a cardboard city, fiber optics, and a pepper's ghost effect. I don't know about you guys, but towards the end of it's life I was more focused on the dark areas AROUND what was there. I do miss the Spaceship Earth model though.
And please note: The ride isn't exactly done yet. Mostly, the create your future thing. It's very clear that there will be more to this, both on and off ride I think.
I think that everyone should really be proud of what WDI did here. Or did you want "Time Racers"? This is a postive change, that keeps in the EPCOT spirit, and finally puts the future in Future World. It will keep Spaceship Earth with us for years to come, and entertain and educate as well.
Well, there are two of us.
dxwwf3
Well-Known Member
That's great that others didn't like the old ending. Just like the score and narration, it doesn't have to be as good as 1994 to be successful.
The last two in my opinion were in a whole different league and were considerably better than the new version.
While simple, the old versions had inspiring narration and music - along with 3 dimensional scenes that you could only see at Epcot. It was uplifting, thought provoking, and meaningful. The new version has an ending that just leaves you empty, and consists of content that I can see in a web browser on a PC.
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
Well, make that three, I guess. I think there are some weak points to the refurb, such as the reveal of the Earth projection at 180 top and the lack of extra lighting effects during most of the descent. However, I don't think that this refurb is a travesty and blasphamey to all things Imagineering like most seem to. I thought that the last part of the Irons descent, while nice, screamed of "we ran out of ideas, let's put some sparkly lights up and call it a day." Prior to that section, we had some three-dimensional sets, which were great. But, they were all static, which felt very strange after the well-animated ascent.
Now, however, guests are actively engaged in the ride for the entrire time, except for the akward "loading" period, though I understand why it's there. I think once the rumored face-insertion system for the descent video comes online, people will be much more impressed with it. It sounds like the kind of thing that guests will be talking about all over the park for the rest of the day.
CaptainMichael
Well-Known Member
They already are, and it's not even done yet!
TOTGuy
Member
Captain Hank! Nice to hear from you again! I agree with you. The last part of the Irons descent was kind of "look shiny things!" I liked the Irons script better but I like Judi Dench's voice better. I love that they kept "Like a grand, miraculous spaceship". This obviously is no Nemo, thank heavens for that! But they are ironing some kinks out. I'll be interested to see what happens.