Shout out to the 2024 Disney squad: sister-in-law Stefanie, myself, Karli the Birthday Girl, and Karli's best friend John, who had never been before and made the experience new again for the rest of us! (And, of course, BB-8, who is just a joiner.)
- Sid
My previous posting told a slight lie. I did in fact purchase another souvenir item during our time at Disneyland - I finally succumbed to temptation and invested in the Black Spire outpost version of a Coke. Hmmm...I wonder how much it costs Disney to have the Coca-Cola Company manufacture a custom product which is presumably only for sale at two refreshment carts on opposite sides of the United States?
- Sid
No light sabers this trip, no helmets (although I noticed that there was now an alternate version of the X-Wing pilot's helmet that I purchased on our last Disneyland visit for sale) - my only souvenir shopping was the impulse buy of an Ahsoka t-shirt from a vendor located in one of the underpass tunnels that lead to Galaxy's Edge.
I hate to say it, but after watching the Ahsoka series on Disney+ that provided the graphics for the t-shirt, I found myself siding with Team Ashley regarding the casting for the titular character.
No offense to Rosario Dawson's performance, but after you've painted someone orange, stencilled marks on their face, and covered their hair with montrals and striped lekku*, their voice suddenly becomes a strong point in the character's presentation. In this case, Ashley Eckstein's extended run as Ahsoka's voice in the Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels series would have cemented the connection in the character's transition to live action, much as with Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy's move from the animated Batman series to video games.
And who knows, she might not have been so grim all the time - I know that Ahsoka's history weighs her down, but I also think of the adult version of the character in Rebels as having achieved some emotional balance, although perhaps through the Force rather than weekly counselling sessions.
- Sid
* In case you'd been wondering what the horns and fleshy head-tails were called. (Never forget, in the Star Wars Universe, EVERYTHING has a name.)
The first time that we visited Avengers CAMPUS at Disney's California Adventure in 2022, I found that it didn't quite meet with the expectations that had been established by Galaxy's Edge - or even its next door neighbour, Radiator Springs. Whereas both of those attractions had created consistently evocative environments that immersed the visitor in that world, Avengers CAMPUS somehow fell flat - it just didn't pull me in the same way.
However, this time I was fortunate enough to see more of the MCU Avengers-related character performances, which very much redeemed my opinion of the CAMPUS.
Disneyland has done some very effective casting, particularly in the case of characters like Loki, Thor, Doctor Strange and the Black Widow, who can't rely on masks to define their look. I was particularly impressed by the Peter Quill stand-in, who delivered a deadly accurate imitation of Chris Pratt in the Guardians of the Galaxy dance-off show, and also did an excellent job of interacting with the audience.
The Doctor Strange Mysteries of the Mystic Arts performance was equally impressive. The magic was simple but effective, there were some clever ad-libs by the Stephen Strange cast member during his conversations with the crowd, and the brief Captain Marvel cameo was a nice touch.
The dramatic Wakandan Dora Milaje Warrior Workout also captured the attention of the crowd, as did the Avengers Assemble encounter, which features members of the Avengers fighting off an array of thugs, including the Taskmaster.
In addition to the scripted performances, Marvel-costumed cast members roam the CAMPUS, chat with guests, and pose for photos, much as Mickey Mouse et al. in the Disneyland park.
In spite of the high quality of the tribute performances done by these Disney cast members, I'd like to encourage the original actors to step up and make some unscheduled personal appearances. After all, Johnny Depp used to show up at Pirates of the Caribbean in his full Jack Sparrow regalia - imagine how excited my wife would have been to have her picture taken with Tom Hiddleston's Loki?
- Sid
As you get older, it's harder to really play, or at least play
publicly in the way that children do. A lot of that desire gets sublimated into activities with a sort
of grown-up veneer of acceptability: cosplay, paintball, tabletop and video gaming, D&D,
LARPing, and all the other loopholes that allow us to say "let's pretend"
as adults.
For a lot of people, Disneyland is that urge to play writ large, and for me, Galaxy's Edge is the perfect venue to fully experience that. It's a testament to the detail and consistency that Disney's creative people have put into this little alien outpost so that, when I'm there, I feel like I'm actually on another planet, even when surrounded by people in mouse ears and sweat pants.
Part of me wants to explore Galaxy's Edge all on my own, because it would leave me free to enjoy it as if I were part of that world, to quote Ariel. As it is, Karli sometimes worries that I’m not having fun when I'm there, whereas the joke is that I couldn't be enjoying myself more. However, being a dangerous rebel who could be in a life-or-death confrontation with storm troopers at any moment tends to make me look a bit grim - after all, we're not playing around here, this is serious stuff.
Smuggler's Run is another good example. I tolerate the lines and waiting and so on in order to get to where I want to be, but when I sit down at the controls of the Millennium Falcon, I'm not having a simulated experience, I'm flying a starship. As such, when the controls prompt me to perform an action such as take off, go to hyperspace, or steer the ship through an asteroid field, I do it with a certitude, confidence, and gravitas that's appropriate to what I'm doing.
And, hopefully, with a certain degree of style - after all, even if you're just playing at being the Falcon's pilot, you're still playing in the big leagues.
- Sid
P.S. Welcome to the future - the boots and background alien heads in the above photo were created by the Photoshop AI. However, the AI won't accept certain prompts, so I had to do the gun belt and weapon the old-fashioned way.
For Karli's 50th birthday this year, she decided that there was no place she would rather go than Disneyland. Planning was simple - Karli has become a seasoned veteran in terms of Disney visits - and we invited Karli's best friend John and her sister Stefanie to join us. John had never been to Disneyland, so he was eager to take advantage of our collective experience to introduce him to the park.
We had all been checking the forecasts for the weather during our upcoming visit, but it was only when I took a look at CNN the day before we left that I discovered that California was currently in the midst of the most serious storm that it had experienced for quite a long time. Record-breaking rains closed airports and caused flooding and mudslides, there had been four fatalities, and a state of emergency had been declared in Los Angeles and seven of the surrounded counties. Even more ominously, Disneyland had experienced closures due to the emergency. Obviously not an ideal time for travel, but it was too late to cancel, so we decided to carry on and hope for the best.
Surprisingly, we experienced no delays as a result of the chaotic weather conditions. Our flight left on time and landed without any problems, our Uber seamlessly delivered us to our Disney-adjacent hotel, and Disneyland was scheduled to be open over the course of our three-day passes (although rain was on the forecast for the first day and part of the second day).
Fortunately, Karli had the foresight to purchase rain ponchos for the group just in case, which turned out to be the ideal garment for the weather.
As forecast, rain was definitely the theme for our first day at the park - not quite torrential, but certainly a steady solid downpour.
The result? Limited attendance at the park, and far shorter lines than the norm.
We all got a bit wet - even the best rain gear will only keep you so dry over the course of a full day - and we obviously couldn't go on any outdoor rides, but we were generally comfortable, and the lack of crowds allowed us to visit favourite rides like Smuggler's Run and Indian Jones multiple times.
It was one of those rare occasions when clouds actually had a silver lining.
- Sid
"I first read science fiction in the old British Chum annual when I was about 12 years old."
A. E. Van Vogt, The Weinberg Interview
From a scholarly perspective, the Golden Age of Science Fiction is considered to run from 1938 to 1946, at least in the United States, and at least according to Wikipedia.
However, there's an alternate position. Reactor Mag (née tor.com) recently reminded us that many years ago, SF fan Peter Scott Graham commented that "The golden age of science fiction is 12." (Alternate versions cite 13, but still.)* It feels like one of those facile statements that would look good on a t-shirt, but it's easy to see the point that Mr. Graham was making.
Glibness aside, let's for a moment take it as a definitive measurement, in terms of what novels came out in 1973, when I was 12? To be fair to all parties, we'll let the clock run to the end of 1974, since my birthday is in September.
A little research reveals a surprisingly prestigious lineup.
1973 saw the publication of the following classic novels, featuring some of the most famous science fiction authors, almost all of which have a place in my little library at home:
1974 does just as well in terms of classics and well-known names:
It's a bit surprising to see that each of these lists covers a single year, it's such a wide-ranging selection of authors and styles. Some of my favourite books are represented here, which certainly feels like proof of concept for the whole "golden-age-is-12" hypothesis - and, a bit sadly, it all makes me aware of the fact that it's been 50 years since I was 12, which puts me squarely in the silver age, at least in terms of hair colour.
- Sid
* There's a surprising amount of debate regarding this simple statement, which has been attributed to several people and several dates over the years. Short answer, very probably Peter Scott Graham, and somewhat probably around 1960.
** Not well known, but definitely one of my top ten favourite books, along with his 1971 novel, The Pastel City.
*** And, AND, she also won best short story for The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas in 1973, another classic entry for the Golden Age score card.
**** If anyone is surprised to see six of these novels over a two year period, you probably haven't read any of them. They're enthusiastic pastiches of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars series that have an entertaining creative life of their own - they're probably not for everyone, but I have fond memories of discovering the series. Honestly, I suspect that Kenneth Bulmer could knock one of them off in two or three months without breaking a sweat.
