britain
Well-Known Member
lol, but be reasonable. It ended by 1996.
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The Walt Disney Company brands, franchises, and offerings survey, including The Simpsons
- Thread starter Drew the Disney Dude
- Start date
Ayla
Well-Known Member
They started in the late 80's (1989 to be exact, when I was in Junior High) and for some unfathomable reason, shows are still being made today. They have zero relevancy in today's world.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Unlike distressed IP that need to take over well-regarded attractions to activate their relevancy.
You might not find it “relevant,” but it’s still a very popular IP.
britain
Well-Known Member
The weird thing about the Simpsons is that unlike The Muppets or Star Wars, they have limped along with the same creative executives (though, obviously, not the same writers) over the past 35+ years.
While they have been declared "irrelevant," the show hasn't ended. They were never hard nor soft rebooted. While some of the voice talent has either passed away or left the show, the core voice actors are still there. There is no obvious "jumped the shark" moment (despite them doing an episode on that very subject) or bad creative decision for them to retcon or clean up. There's no clear eras, other than SD or widescreen HD. You could look at the feature film or the Disney+ shorts, but I see those as ancillary.
Its fans are still fans. Slinging classic Simpsons quotes back and forth. But we do so with a shrug toward the IP in general. It's the INVERSE of the saying that "Nobody hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans." We have supreme reverence for The Simpsons in the Comedy Hall of Fame, but we don't much care about what happens next.
Maybe it's something inherent with comedy? Is the "If you don't care for that joke, it doesn't matter, try the next one" ethos as opposed to Star Wars' implicit promise to tell a "grand, unified morality tale"? Is it the cynicism in its DNA? Notwithstanding every episode ending with some sort of affirmation that the family cares for each other, The Simpsons is essentially about skewering hypocrisy and vices of society, as opposed to the "We're all nutty misfits, but putting on a great show can bring out the best in anyone" message from the Muppets.
I don't know. Somethings die with a whimper. Somethings don't die, they just become part of the background. Not great fodder for a theme park, but I don't know.
While they have been declared "irrelevant," the show hasn't ended. They were never hard nor soft rebooted. While some of the voice talent has either passed away or left the show, the core voice actors are still there. There is no obvious "jumped the shark" moment (despite them doing an episode on that very subject) or bad creative decision for them to retcon or clean up. There's no clear eras, other than SD or widescreen HD. You could look at the feature film or the Disney+ shorts, but I see those as ancillary.
Its fans are still fans. Slinging classic Simpsons quotes back and forth. But we do so with a shrug toward the IP in general. It's the INVERSE of the saying that "Nobody hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans." We have supreme reverence for The Simpsons in the Comedy Hall of Fame, but we don't much care about what happens next.
Maybe it's something inherent with comedy? Is the "If you don't care for that joke, it doesn't matter, try the next one" ethos as opposed to Star Wars' implicit promise to tell a "grand, unified morality tale"? Is it the cynicism in its DNA? Notwithstanding every episode ending with some sort of affirmation that the family cares for each other, The Simpsons is essentially about skewering hypocrisy and vices of society, as opposed to the "We're all nutty misfits, but putting on a great show can bring out the best in anyone" message from the Muppets.
I don't know. Somethings die with a whimper. Somethings don't die, they just become part of the background. Not great fodder for a theme park, but I don't know.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Think of it as a lifetime achievement award and a monument of sorts. Unlike Universal, Disney will build whatever they're going to for this and then if it's anything that required real construction, likely leave it there just as it is for 30 or more years well past the life expectancy of most of the cast.
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Gringrinngghost
Well-Known Member
Just to throw into the topic here, contracts are fast approaching their conclusion for the Simpsons.
To just reiterate as I stated on this site in May:
To add; as I also stated in April, for The Simpsons with their two theaters, they only have enough equipment that has kept in the entire building, only half the ride system operational.
Why MIB now? And would they replace MIB with? Pokémon? Or something else?
Gringrinngghost
Well-Known Member
While this going to 100% venture off topic from the main nature of the post, The understanding I have for that area would be that it would allow them to finally remove the fear factor arena (something that's been off and on that they want to do that has gone as far as having permits filed.) So taking out that entire corner of the park would be more akin to a two birds, one stone situation. That being said, as of the last that I have heard, Pokémon is the front runner for Simpson's area, and Ghostbusters for MIB, but as always and 100% in the case of Fear Factor, plans can and likely will change.
Gringrinngghost
Well-Known Member
There is a chance that Ghostbusters can be in that project scope with one of the new buildings they have planned at the dead-end of New York at the public library mural, beyond that however, if they are to use the entire footprint, the leading contender appears to be a Intimin Vertical Launch coaster. https://www.intamin.com/product/vertical-launch-coaster/
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
It's almost a year younger than the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, if you can believe it.
God, MIB is 25 years old and Spiderman / IOA is 26? Time is a doozy
Also, isn’t 25 years old pretty old for a USF ride?
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
Not for a good one
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
It's a double-edged sword.
Disney has traditionally gone the more timeless route while Universal's attractions have always lived more so in the "now".
In the case of Universal, that has often meant attractions with less detail and theme which often also feel a little more hip than genuine although their approach with Wizzarding World and some of their other efforts since suggest a change to that strategy.
In the case of Disney, it's why we still have POTC and Haunted Mansion... but it's also why the flying carpets and Chester and Hester's parking lot fun spot* have lasted as long as they have, too.
*Which was fine as a short-term placeholder to add capacity ahead of a more ambitious Dinoland expansion but of course, we all know how that ended up.
Except for DHS, which every opening day attraction has been demoed/rethemed(Star Tours) or chaged from.its opening year(s)
Uni rapidly and drastically changing things really began in 2002. Before that, minor redesigns and actual additions were more common.
Even Uni still has a few opening day Venues.
MIB still performs well for guests. Sony is good to Uni. Other than Will Smith bad taste the ride is always appreciated.
No better theme park interactive shooter to date.
There are other priotities.
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MrPromey
Well-Known Member
I'd have called GMR timeless and I'd argue it was designed and constructed to be the POC or HM of that park. Can't help it that under Iger's watch, the company decided they didn't want to pay to maintain it.
Remember Ghostbusters Spooktacular or Murder She Wrote or Hercules and Xena: Wizards of the Screen or The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera or Kongfrontation or An American Tail Theatre or Animal Actors Stage or Animal Planet Live or The Production Studios Tour all of which were gone before 2003?
That's not even a complete list.
Some of those were in spaces majorly reworked, closed or replaced twice before 2003 and that's keeping in mind that the park had only been open since 1990.
I never said that Disney never closes anything or that Universal always closes everything. I'm just pointing out that while Disney is often incredibly slow to change/replace (for better and for worse), Universal doesn't seem to have that same mindset. They seem to both react more quickly to add things that could be considered popular in the moment* as well as removing and/or seriously altering without a huge concern for nostalgia, ET withstanding, of course.
They just haven't historically seemed to plan attractions around longevity.
Never said MIB should go and I'm in no way trying to make the case that it should.
I'd argue they've got much bigger fish to fry in that park over the next half decade than this one unless, as someone mentioned, such a change has to do with the use of space around that area of the park which seems like it would be a valid issue since this park simply doesn't have a lot of land to work with and they've already had to get creative and use more expensive options (Transformers) to fit full-sized attractions into limited spaces.
*Disney's relatively recent IP mandate suggests a move to that popular-in-the-moment mindest for adding, to some degree although if anything, I'd maybe argue that they've moved too slow with some of this to actually cash in on the highest points. We'll see what kind of an appetie they have for reworking, closing and replacing the way Universal does when/if the moment passes for those things.
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My point was just that Iger obliterated DHS' remaining opening g day successes more than Uni did theirs and theirs was drastic. I stated and it mentioned it started, as you echoed in 2002.
It should also be noted that was when Uni parks under some of their worst leadership from 200 to 2006.
The tweaks and reworks in first decade are common theme park changes because after opening itnisnlearned what does not work. Mgm had a ton of reworks as did Disneyland almost being completely different from 1955 to 1965 save a few.
Also note Animal Planet Live was not the original, Animal Actors was and that is an opening day venue.
Animal Actors, Horror Make Up and ET are the three opening days that remain.
Mainly, just to note that no major Uni or Disney park has chaged drastically as DHS.
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MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Okay?
Seemed like the point of your last post was that MIB shouldn't close.
I was also never talking about anyone's "successes" - just that in general, Universal has been a lot more wiling to change and replace.
For example, the Animal theater was two different shows in the 90's. I know Animal Planet wasn't first which is why I didn't list it first but that show which has always in some way been about animals has been redone and replaced multiple times.
Similarly, the Horror Makeup Show is nothing at all like the original. The pre-show with Phantom of the Opera has been removed and the entire theater show has been replaced which makes sense because CG wasn't a thing when the original was conceived so a lot of the actal effects stuff they went over is no longer relevent.
Basically, this is like what I assume Little Mermaid will be like when it reopens - new show, same or simlar name and same general theme.
The only major opening day attraction still intact in that park is ET with the only real changes being the Speilberg pre-show video.
If you want to complain about how Hollywood Studios has faired (or the FL parks, in general) under Iger, fine, you're preaching to the choir but I'm not debating that, just point out how Universal has reinvented many areas multiple times:
Ghost Busters> Twister> Tonight Show
Murder She Wrote> Hercules and Xena> Transformers
Western Stunt Show> Fear Factor> Nothing
Hitchcock> Shrek> Villancon
Hanna-Barbera> Jimmy Neutron> Minnion Mayhem
Feivel> Beatlejuice> FATF queue...
And that's not even all of it.
I'm not suggesting any of that is bad (well, maybe that empty theater in the back). I don't think Murder She Wrote should still be there but I understand it made sense at the time the park opened.
Universal's approach to changing and updating areas has just been different to Disney's historical approach, it would seem. They gutted the Hello Kitty store and repainted the building to turn it into a popup Wicked store. They do pop-up stores with more theme and thought and effort that are only there for a year or less than Disney these days, puts into their permanent stuff.
But Universal was always 100% IP driven and as those IPs have gone up and down in popularity, they've been responsive to getting rid of most of the old to replace with newer more popular stuff and I expect that to continue except in places they've made huge investments like HP.
That's ALL I was saying.
I doubt, for instance, The Borne stunt show will be the last thing that goes in that theater after it replaced T2 3D.
At this point, yeah, a lot has changed over the years at the former Disney MGM studios and more is slated to.
You don't like it?
Me neither, to a lot of the way it's changed.
Doesn't change the fact that we still have a mostly intact Haunted Mansion, mostly intact Spaceship Earth and that we continued to have an attraction based around an Ellen character on a show that had been off the air for 20 years before closing - just as more examples of what I meant.
GOTG feels like a very Universal move. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens there - if that ride continues as-is for another 20-30 years like they did with Ellen while people's familiarity with the trilogy fades and younger generations don't have the same attachment or if they'll slap a new IP on the pre-show and call it something else.
Full disclosure - I haven't been on the ride so I don't know how easy a re-theme would be but from what people say, it doesn't sound like the ride itself has all that much that would be difficult to update.
Again, Disney's always just been a lot slower to change which can be good or bad depending on the attraction and the circumstances.
That's it. That's all I was saying.
Maybe you were just piggy-backing off my comments and not really intending to debate and I misunderstood?
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