The Timekeeper, once known as the Transportaurium, opened to Magic Kingdom guests with New Tomorrowland in 1994..
It features Timekeeper (Robin Williams), a nutty robot professor who invites us to test out the latest invention at the Metropolis Science Center! "He'd love to take the time to take you through time!"
We enter the 360 theater after viewing a short preshow about Timekeeper and his assistant, 9-Eye (Rhea Perlman). She's a droid who will show us what she sees (9 circle vision screens; one for each eye). As 9 Eye says, "Whatever I see, you see. See?"
Following the short preshow, which comically involves information on Timekeeper's idols, HG Wells and Jules Verne, we are lead to the experimental room. Timekeeper is up front with his giant contraptions and controls. As we load, we can hear a few of these jokes:
"For your safety, I've invented rails for you to lean on. I call them...lean rails. Please do not sit on the lean rails. Because...they're there to LEAN on."
*Horn Nosise*: Arroooga!
Timekeeper: I don't know why that's there except to go "Arrooooga!"
"Now, please form double rows and move to the center of the theater. DO IT! YOU'VE BEEN WAITING OUTSIDE, YOU'VE BEEN IN LINE FOR A WHILE...JUST DO IT! (Calmly) Thank you!"
This is an introduction to the cooky professor...who's at the controls! Things do not look good.
Timekeeper introduces himself and his assistant.
9-Eye: We're ready to go!
Timekeeper: I'LL decide when we're ready to go! We're ready to go.
The first portion of the show involves a trip BACK in time. We lose track of 9-Eye for a moment, "Miserable piece of metal!", but she is quickly recovered. We first go all the way back to the time of the dinosaurs. Next, we go to forward to the Ice Age, "Fabulous!", as 9-Eye must either get out or have a hot cup of anti-freeze. We are then taken to 1453, the time of the Printing Press, but Timekeeper accidentally throws 9-Eye into a Scottish war. "No one's wearing underwear!"
Next, we make a quick stop at the Renaissance period to see Leonardo Da Vinci, one of Timekeeper's personal heroes. "La Macchina di tempo...to go." We don't stay long, but we learn quick enough that "gravity works" when we see one of Da Vinci's attempts to fly fail.
Next, we go to Mozart's 5th Birthday Recital. The young chap is playing away with Louis the XVI (with his head still on) in the background. The group spots 9-Eye - but Timekeeper must work fast, before he changes history! He quickly takes 9-Eye to the Paris Exposition, where we see the Eifell Tower being built in "fast forward". "Isn't that a great effect?" says Timekeeper. "I planned it that way, I really did."
Then, as Timekeeper has always dreamed, he makes a stop at the Universal Exposition of Paris 1900. Why did he stop? Because two of his heroes, HG Wells (Jeremy Irons) and Jules Verne (Michel Piccoli) are about to discuss their then-seeming impossible scientific achievements!
The music starts to fade into Bruce Broughton's famous Time to Time theme in a dramatic sense as Timekeeper drools over his heroes. HG Wells has brought a Time Machine model to the 1900 Convention...which Jules Verne finds utterly impossible! HG reples, "Impossible? Why, this may be imPROBABLE, but believe me, it's NOT impossible!" (The message of the theme will carry on to inspire).
When Jules spots 9-Eye, things REALLY start to get out of control! Timekeeper accidentally takes Jules Verne with him...to the future! Will Jules get to see the future? Timekeeper debates: "No I can't, Yes I can, No I Can't, Yes I can, No I can't, Yes I can, No I Can't!" But that won't stop Verne.
One of the most dramatic and inspirational scenes in Disney history is about to occur as a visionary is about to see tomorrow.
Jules, more excited than imaginable, is taken on a train (but not inside, "picky picky"), in a racecar ("Pop a wheelie!"), on a bobsled, on a helicopter ("If Ya Had Wings, I'd Let Ya Go!"), and more. "I'm flying!" Jules yells. It's up to the parkgoer to see how he feels. We go undersea and back over the countryside and into New York, New York! You can spot the World Trade Center in the background.
But what REALLY touches Jules is when he is sent to the moon. ("We have an indentified Frenchman, Houston!") - for Jules wrote "From the Earth to the Moon." His dream HAS come true. And, what seemed impossible, or improbable, is now our REALITY. This is the promise of tomorrow. The score has picked up to a point that could bring tears to the analyzer.
However, Jules MUST get back - there are 30 seconds until his speech at the Exposition! Eventually, Jules gets back, and HG "can't believe what [he's] seeing when he sees Nine Eye." HG yells, "It's IMPOSSIBLE!" And Jules replies.."Improbible...Impossible no!"
We leave Jules and HG...and then it's OUR tour to see OUR future! But there's a twist at the end!
Timekeeper is one of the most comical, educational, and emotional shows created by Walt Disney Imagineering. It is a must-see!
