To recap my earlier posts: I love the new Spaceship Earth descent with the video screen photo-capture animation. I encourage everyone to ride it first before forming an opinion (I was disappointed after watching web videos, but really really enjoyed it when I saw it firsthand. It's a much different experience when it is YOU on the screen).
But my biggest complaint is that the content of the descent video is not realistic. With a powerhouse innovator like Siemens on board, why did they go with a fantasy "Jetsons" future instead of a more scholarly look at the technologies that await us? Flying cars are just too far-fetched.
Well, it seems Siemens agrees with me, and they even mention it on the official Spaceship Earth website!
http://www.epcotspaceshipearth.com
If you click on "Siemens Pictures of the Future", you will find this quote:
You may not see flying cars tomorrow but you will see innovations that will change the world: cars that drive themselves, doctors performing surgery by computer and large cities that convert trash into energy.
Not even the sponsor of Spaceship Earth believes we'll be riding in flying cars!
As I wrote in an earlier post, perhaps the realistic vision of the future is not entertaining enough for a theme park environment. Hovercrafts and self-packing suitcases are much more fun to dream about than environmentally-friendly energy sources.
But I think the "entertainment" of the Spaceship Earth descent video comes from seeing your face plastered on the animation. Why not put my face inside a self-driving automobile, or lying on surgeon's table with my doctor using a computer, or of me loading my garbage cans into a fuel generator?
I think if they kept everything in Spaceship Earth the same--including the retro-cartoony animation--- and simply changed the content of the video to something that is much more realistic in the future, many would not feel as though the descent does not "fit in" with the rest of the attraction.
But my biggest complaint is that the content of the descent video is not realistic. With a powerhouse innovator like Siemens on board, why did they go with a fantasy "Jetsons" future instead of a more scholarly look at the technologies that await us? Flying cars are just too far-fetched.
Well, it seems Siemens agrees with me, and they even mention it on the official Spaceship Earth website!
http://www.epcotspaceshipearth.com
If you click on "Siemens Pictures of the Future", you will find this quote:
You may not see flying cars tomorrow but you will see innovations that will change the world: cars that drive themselves, doctors performing surgery by computer and large cities that convert trash into energy.
Not even the sponsor of Spaceship Earth believes we'll be riding in flying cars!
As I wrote in an earlier post, perhaps the realistic vision of the future is not entertaining enough for a theme park environment. Hovercrafts and self-packing suitcases are much more fun to dream about than environmentally-friendly energy sources.
But I think the "entertainment" of the Spaceship Earth descent video comes from seeing your face plastered on the animation. Why not put my face inside a self-driving automobile, or lying on surgeon's table with my doctor using a computer, or of me loading my garbage cans into a fuel generator?
I think if they kept everything in Spaceship Earth the same--including the retro-cartoony animation--- and simply changed the content of the video to something that is much more realistic in the future, many would not feel as though the descent does not "fit in" with the rest of the attraction.
