Disney 2022: The Ears.

If there is one thing that most represents the global might of the Disney Empire, it is...The Ears.

The original Mickey Mouse ears were created as an accessory for Mickey Mouse Club cast members by Disney artist/writer and adult Mouseketeer Roy Williams in 1955, and quickly became a top-selling souvenir at Disney World in Florida following its 1971 opening.  

At the consumer level, the Mickey ears have been eclipsed by the Minnie headband. Originally just featuring Minnie’s iconic bow, the headband has since become an asexual branding platform, as likely to be worn by Disney Dad as Disney Mom.

The headband is a universal currency of franchise display, supporting every possible iconography: glamourized, astrocized, glitterized, robotized, Avengercized, Rebellionized, there is nothing that can't be attached to a headband in symbolic form.

Surprisingly, there's one place in Disneyland where you can't buy either the ears or the headband:  Galaxy's Edge - for the simple reason that Disney has decided to make Black Spire Outpost as close to an alien spaceport as possible, including restricting the kinds of merchandise that are up for sale.

The good news is, that means that we can hopefully avoid this scenario ever happening in Black Spire Outpost: 

It's one thing to have Kylo Ren stalking the streets, but I draw the line at Darth Goofy.

- Sid

Disneyland I: The Happiest Place on Earth.

The clear morning sky is the sort of pure cerulean blue that you only see in video games or in California.  In front of us, the bronze statue of a smiling man gestures to the azure horizon as if explaining his vision of the future to the attentive waist-high cartoon mouse who holds his other hand.  A laughing little girl with a bubble wand adds an unexpected touch of whimsy to the passing crowd, which is too intent on planning a day of fun and excitement to do more than just notice the partners on the pedestal. Nearby, an unscripted pigeon wanders across the immaculate pavement in a futile search for even a crumb of discarded food which has been missed by the grounds staff.

Welcome to Disneyland - the happiest place on earth.

And, to be honest, it is pretty happy.  I completely enjoyed our three-day visit to Disneyland and its sister location, California Adventure - it was a lot of fun, more fun than I had expected, to be honest.  My childhood didn't include anything even remotely similar to Walt Disney's sprawling 156 acre extravaganza, and I really didn't know what it would be like.

I found that it engaged me on two levels:  on one hand, I was simply entertained and amused. Disneyland offers all of the pleasures of any amusement park, plus its signature experience-oriented adventures, and I was unexpectedly charmed by the classic animated movie rides. On the other hand, I was fascinated by the park itself, by the degree of artifice and imagination that has gone into the creation of both the attractions and the framework in which the Disney imagineers have placed them.

Disneyland draws upon only a portion of the epic library of source material available to its parent company to create this experience. In addition to the traditional fairy-tale content such as Snow White or Pinnochio which characterized Disney's early years, and its more modern animated offerings such as Dumbo, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, Disneyland is able to find inspiration in acquired properties ranging from the Muppets to Marvel Comics, and from Pixar to Lucasfilm.

However, there's an unexpected sort of Darwinian struggle evident at the park, where only the fittest - or most popular - survive. Fame is fleeting at Disneyland:  Space Mountain morphs into Hyperspace Mountain, Muppet Vision 3-D is pushed out by Frozen Live, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience is replaced by Star Tours, a Star Wars based 3-D adventure, and Tower of Terror is currently being rebuilt with a Guardians of the Galaxy theme.

On the other hand, it's not all about the latest and greatest. In addition to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Karli and I visited a number of the older rides such as Snow White's Scary Adventures, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, and, of course, "It's a Small World", all of which more than demonstrate their popularity by the length of their lineups.*

 

To my surprise, many of these classic Disneyland rides aren't really what I would consider to be "rides" as such.  Whereas many of the attractions at Disneyland and the California Adventure draw upon the traditional amusement park catalogue of ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, roller coasters and so on, there is also a wide selection of what could be classified as primitive immersive environments, where the riders pass through the plot of a movie presented as a series of animated tableaux.

Although the older, simple rides remain popular (possibly because of their complete friendliness to all ages and physical capabilities) Disneyland has not rested on its laurels over time.  In fact, it would be possible to work your way through the rides chronologically and observe the increasingly more sophisticated techniques being used to enhance the experience.

The 1995 Indiana Jones adventure, Temple of the Forbidden Eye, is a good example of the results of this evolutionary process.  The entire ride is over 50,000 square feet in size and cost $100 million to construct, taking over seven years from conception to completion.

It takes place in the bowels of a massive temple complex - riders actually walk through close to half a mile of meticulously detailed passageways to reach the boarding point of the ride. Once there, they climb onto simulator motion platforms disguised as all-terrain transport vehicles to travel through the temple.

Riders then experience a combination of forward motion, which takes them through an environment featuring smoke, flames, and (of course) giant stone globes, and extreme motion platform effects, which exaggerates the rider experience without having to make the track physically match the range of convolutions and twists programmed into the platform.

The cumulative effect is a complete success - Karli and I went through the Temple three times, and would undoubtedly have done more return visits if time had allowed.  

The 2012 debut of Radiator Springs Racers raised the ante, with six acres of vivid desert scenery recreated from Cars at a cost of more than $200 million, making it the most expensive attraction constructed by Disney. The incredible backdrop of Ornament Valley rears hundreds of feet into the sky, and also features underground caverns filled with animatronic characters from the movie.

 

But where does Disney go from there?  What's the next step in this process?

Personally, I was surprised to see the number of other adult couples that were visiting the park without children, which indicates that the phenomenon of the Magic Kingdom has an appeal which extends beyond the stroller demographic. One has to wonder if Disney has ever considered widening their scope to include more mature themes. Imagine if the imagineers focused their skill with epic landscapes and believable animatronic characters on a park that featured more adult content - perhaps making the leap to elements of violence, or possibly even sex.

Maybe something with a western theme...

- Sid

* Lineups are the price of doing business when you visit Disneyland, a necessary evil caused by thousands of people wanting to visit a limited number of venues.  Disney recognizes that this is a negative aspect of the park experience, and does everything they can to minimize the effect.  The lineup environment is referred to as "Scene Zero" of a ride, and as such the waiting areas feature animatronic characters, videos, and set dressing, all intended to entertain (and distract) guests standing patiently in queue.

 

Newer attractions are also constructed to stage out the lineup process so that it takes place at different locations - a twenty minute wait will involve five minutes at the entrance, ten in the middle, and five at the ride itself.  In addition, there's a Fastpass system that allows ticket holders to reserve seats on popular rides during a set range of times.

Ultimately, though, there are times when you just have to stand and wait. Karli and I visited during one of the slowest times at the park, and as such rarely had to wait longer than ten or twenty minutes to board a ride. Peak times can involve lineups of 90 minutes  - or longer.

"As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

It's been a pretty good twelve months for Star Wars fans. 2015 ended with the release of The Force Awakens, which has largely redeemed the franchise from the excesses and errors of the prequel trilogy, and this year will end in a similar fashion, with the next Star Wars prequel*,  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, hitting theatres on December 16th.

Hopes are high for Rogue One. Based on the trailers, everyone expects that it will match if not exceed the standard set by The Force Awakens.  However, Rogue One is also the continuation of a process started in Episode VII:  rewriting both the past and the future of Star Wars.

Almost everyone is at least aware of the Star Wars movies, even that small minority who have never seen any of them - like Star Trek, it's become embedded in the Western pop culture matrix.  More dedicated fans (or attentive parents) are familiar with the various computer animated TV incarnations such as The Clone Wars or Rebels. However, the general population is completely unaware of the full epic sweep of the universe in which these stories exist, a universe documented in comic books, video games, cartoons, and hundreds of novels.

Or rather, in which they used to exist. The Force Awakens marked the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

The Expanded Universe is exactly what it sounds like: an extended view of the milieu in which the  Star Wars movies take place. The SWEU chronicles a broad span of time, dealing with everything from the beginnings of the Star Wars universe (literally the beginnings, starting with the formation of the galaxy at 13,000,000,000 BBY**) to hundreds of years after the events of A New Hope. Continuity and canonicity for the SWEU are documented through the aptly named Wookiepedia, Lucasfilms' wiki for all things Star Wars.

The Force Awakens indicated a clear point of divergence from the post-trilogy future established by the Expanded Universe.  In the SWEU continuity, Han and Leia have three children, all of whom become Jedi Knights. One of them, Jacen Solo, helps to defeat the alien Yuuzhan Vong when they invade the New Republic in 25 ABY, although sadly both his brother Anakin Solo and his father's friend Chewbacca perish in the struggle against the invaders.

Jacen later turns to the Dark Side, becoming Darth Caedus and eventually killing Luke Skywalker's wife, ex-Empire assassin and fan favourite Mara Jade.  In 41 ABY Caedus is killed by his twin sister Jaina, who later becomes a Jedi Master and marries Jagged Fel, who is the son of Baron Soontir Fel, Wedge Antilles' brother-in-law.***  Jaina Solo appears in over 20 different SWEU novels - but unless Han and Leia were holding out on us when they talked about their son in The Force Awakens, she's no longer part of the continuity. (Not to mention Chewbacca's conspicuous lack of deadness in the same scene.)

And that's just the tip of the SWEU iceberg. We haven't even started on Mara Jade's story, not to mention the hundreds of other supporting characters involved in the events of the Expanded Universe.

Those characters aren't gone - Disney isn't foolish enough to abandon the income stream being generated by the existing material - but they're no longer canon, which in a lot of ways is the same as a death sentence as far as hard core geek fans are concerned.  The SWEU has been rebranded as Star Wars Legends, and Wookiepedia entries now distinguish between Canon and Legends as necessary. 

However, as Disney follows through on its plan to release more films like Rogue One that are set in the Star Wars universe, along with the next two films in the new trilogy, the two will diverge more and more. I expect that the Legends material will be quietly eliminated by Disney in the fullness of time.

Unlike most children, I was raised to think of Disney as a sort of evil empire. My mother, who was quite a hard core science fiction and fantasy fan herself, felt that Disney was a perverter of truth, whose adaptations of classic children's fantasies had very little to do with the original stories, and everything to do with making a quick buck at the expense of the source material.

However, the end of the Expanded Universe puts the House of Mouse into a whole different league of villainy.  In this case, Disney has achieved a massacre beyond anything the Galactic Empire, the Sith, or the New Order could ever dream of accomplishing, wiping out thousands of planets, countless alien species, and generation after generation of sentient beings with a simple corporate memo.

Welcome to the Dark Side, Mickey.

- Sid

* Something about the phrase "next prequel" sounds wrong to me, like military intelligence or government assistance.

** BBY - Before the Battle of Yavin.  For non-fans, the Rebellion base that is being threatened at the end of A New Hope is on the fourth moon of Yavin, so the encounter in which the Death Star is destroyed is commonly known as the Battle of Yavin.  Events following this landmark event are After the Battle of Yavin: ABY.

*** There's a scene in the Star Wars takeoff Spaceballs where Dark Helmet says, " I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate."  In the context of the Expanded Universe, that's no longer a joke.

For readers who may not remember Mr. Antilles, he's the only Red Squadron pilot other than Luke Skywalker who survives the Death Star attack. In a coincidence of names, Wedge becomes a member of Rogue Flight, Luke's squad from the Battle of Hoth. (Which is Canon.)  Rogue Flight goes on to have an extended life in novels, games and comics as Rogue Squadron. (Which is Legends rather than Canon.)  I can only guess as to any possible connection between Rogue Flight and Rogue One - I'll have a better idea once I've seen the movie.

Under the Moons of Mars.

I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars

As I was making my way home through Gastown on Friday night, I passed a poster promoting the new Walt Disney film John Carter, which will apparently descend upon an unwitting public on March 9th. Early previews have not given me huge confidence in this swashbuckling adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books, but they do make me wonder if the general populace has the least idea of what it's all about.

In other words, who is John Carter?

Old school fans like myself recognize the name immediately, although I suspect that we all append "Of Mars" at the end. John Carter - Virginian gentleman, Civil War veteran, Indian fighter, apparently immortal warrior, and eventual Warlord of Mars* - was the creation of Edgar Rice Burroughs, who is far better known for his ape-man hero Tarzan of the Apes. John Carter's core story is laid out in the three-book series A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, and The Warlord of Mars, but his Martian adventures ended up spanning 11 books (the last of which was finished by Burroughs' son and published posthumously) dealing with every possible form of derring-do on the surface of Mars, or Barsoom as its inhabitants call it.

Although John Carter is initially introduced as an immortal who has no knowledge of his long-forgotten origins, the first book places him in post-Civil War Virginia, from whence a penniless ex-Captain Carter of the Confederate Army heads West to make his fortune. After his mining partner has a fatal encounter with Apaches, Carter takes a wrong turn while trying to escape the same fate, and ends up in a mysterious cave at the top of a mountain. From there, he is transported to Mars by a means which is never fully explained, and which, frankly, is completely irrelevant once Burroughs has gotten his character to where he really wants him to be: the arid sands of Barsoom, a dying planet where every man - or Martian - is in a perpetual state of warfare for the dwindling resources that remain.

Burroughs' Barsoom is an astonishingly rich creation, if not necessarily a plausible one. Starting with the six-limbed tusked green Martians who initially discover Carter upon his arrival, Burroughs fills Barsoom with multi-legged riding thoats, the lion-like banthas, savage fanged calots that serve as watchdogs, giant white apes, flying warships, ruined cities, vast wastelands, deadly swamps, and a veritable rainbow of Martian races:  green, red, white, black and yellow. However, all of this is merely background for the romance between John Carter and the incomparable Dejah Thoris, the titular princess of the first book, daughter of the Jed (or king) of the city-state of Helium.**

There's no claim of novelistic brilliance to be made for the Mars books in terms of plot and depth. The stories are unambiguous to the point of cliché: the heroes are uniformly brave, noble, and honourable, and the villains are unreservedly evil and cowardly. That being said, Burroughs wasn't trying to write War and Peace, he wanted to write tales of thrilling adventure, and his success is complete.

That complete success in defining a Mars of excitement, adventure and romance influenced an entire generation of writers, including Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury, and gave birth to a genre of interplanetary adventure fiction that was best represented by the pulp magazine Planet Stories, published from 1939 to 1955. Burroughs' work has continued to be an inspiration to innumerable authors and filmmakers over the years. George Lucas acknowledges his debt to Burroughs for Star Wars, as does James Cameron in the creation of Avatar, and the list of science fiction authors who pay tribute to Barsoom in one form or another is endless.

However, the task of visual adaptation has always evaded complete success in spite of frequent attempts. The six-limbed green Martians are described as ranging from ten to fifteen feet in height, and as such there are practical issues involved in having a six foot tall human interact with characters almost three times his height, and interpretations of the characters, architecture, weaponry and clothing have met with mixed responses.

A Princess of Mars first saw publication in 1912 as a six-part series in All Story Magazine, starting in the February issue, so in a way you could consider the current Disney attempt to be a celebration of the character's centennial - a point which has gone completely unremarked upon in promo for the movie. In fact, I'm a bit worried about the manner in which this historic landmark in the genre of science fiction is being marketed. Why has the Walt Disney company removed the movie so far from its iconic origins? Logic would suggest that if you've got the rights to a series with a massive historical geek following, you'd want to chase that leverage as much as possible.

Instead, it's as if Walt Disney has made a deliberate effort to divorce the movie from its origins by choosing to just use John Carter as the title, and I have to wonder if it indicates lack of confidence in their treatment of the source material.  Would you rush out to see Heathcliff Earnshaw?  Perhaps not - but if I told you that Wuthering Heights was coming to the big screen, I'd probably have a better chance of getting your attention, purely and simply due to the reputation attached to that title. It has to be a bad sign if Disney isn't willing to use the same approach with John Carter and A Princess of Mars.

- Sid

* Well, not all of Mars, to be really honest about it, mostly the city-state of Helium and its allies, plus the Thark tribe of the green Martians - for example, I'm pretty sure that the guys in Dusar never get on board - but let's not pick nits.  After all, a hero is a bit lost without some villains to fight.

** One feels a bit for Dejah Thoris after a while - she seems to spend the entire series being kidnapped, held captive, menaced, threatened, imprisoned, chained, and otherwise abused.  It's surprising that she and John Carter find the time to raise a family.

In business news: Disney buys Marvel Comics.

I have to admit that I don't follow current events very closely. I get the New York Times headlines via e-mail every morning, and watch The Daily Show when opportunity allows, but for the most part I'm more concerned about the day's weather than the price of crude oil or the latest death toll in Afghanistan.

But every now and then something of particular interest will sneak by, and I'll regret that I'm not paying more attention. As an example, I just found out that the Disney Corporation has recently purchased Marvel Comics for a price of four billion dollars, an event which certainly doesn't compare with the importance of updates on the economic crisis, but which has been the topic of much amused and/or horrified discussion in the fan community.

Personally, I no longer follow the comics scene closely, because about fifteen years ago I began to realize that both Marvel and DC were starting to run in circles in their attempts to maintain the various shopworn titles responsible for their success. There have been alternate realities, crossovers, character reboots, deaths and revivals, future versions of the characters, and a hundred and one other tricks designed to conceal the fact that they'd gone to the well once too often. Most people aren't aware that Marvel went bankrupt in 1996, but I have to wonder if part of that financial failure was based on too many other fans coming to the same realization that I had.

However, Marvel Comics hasn't really been a comic book company for some time. Ike Perlmutter, who took over after the 1996 crisis, owns the action figure company that had the licenses for the Marvel character line - note that Mr. Perlmutter isn't connected with publishing. What Marvel Comics represents in the 21st century is a huge storehouse of characters and plots that can be moved into other areas: action figures, Lego kits, t-shirts, video games, television shows, movies - I'm not even sure that it matters if they keep producing stories that involve ink and paper. (I suspect that the combined profits from the Marvel-based movie lineup since Spiderman 1 was released in 2002 makes the income from actual comic sales look like a joke.)

And that's what Disney is buying, the opportunity to add the Marvel lineup to its already monolithic array of merchandisable assets. All jokes about the Amazing Spider-Mouse aside, I don't think that Disney is going to do anything to alter the Marvel universe so that it matches the traditional view of Walt's approach to family entertainment. Why would they? All that really matters is that they get five cents every time some soccer mom buys a pair of Spiderman™ Underoos for junior.

Sadly, that also means that they won't do anything to change it for the better, either.

- Sid

P.S. the photocomp picture of Wolverine is just something I threw together for this posting, but for a comprehensive view of the horrifying hybrids made possible by the merger, have a look at the contest on Worth1000.com.

Disney 2022: TANSTAAFL.

There are times during our Disneyland visit when I'm depressed by the high cost of doing business with Disney. The assault on your wallet is relentless: very little is free at Disneyland - and all the souvenir pricing is at the low end of wincing.

I mention this to Karli and she agrees wholeheartedly.

"They could give away something simple and cheap, it would be easy.  One of the characters could just walk up to you and say, 'Here, have a balloon.'  Or popcorn, popcorn is really cheap to make, they could easily give away free popcorn."

I appreciate that Disney is a business and needs to make money, but part of me feels that Disney must have all the money in the world at this point - isn't some room in there for free popcorn?

- Sid

Oh ye of little faith.

I was flipping through a movie magazine while doing cardio at the gym recently, and I discovered that Disney had abandoned the Narnia franchise after only two movies due to disappointing box office numbers for Prince Caspian.  The next film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is being released under the aegis of Fox instead - the curious among you may examine the first trailer on the Apple web site.

Narnia is one of the foundations of my childhood.  As I’ve mentioned before, my mother read the Narnia books to my siblings and myself long before we could really understand them as stories, so I learned about Narnia at the more or less the same time I was learning to talk. 

However, that's not the only thing that I (literally) learned at my mother's knee.  I was raised to believe that Walt Disney is an evil empire, a perverter of truths in the interests of marketing, so it was with some degree of trepidation that I originally discovered that Disney was going to be producing the screen version of Narnia.

Whatever your opinion of the House of Mouse, you can't argue that they know their business when it comes to capturing the hearts and minds of children. (And the wallets of their parents.) That being said, it's impressive that they were able to take C. S. Lewis' classic children's fantasy series, a series whose popularity has continued for over 60 years, and fail with it to the point that they dropped it like a hot potato.  It's even more impressive when you consider that the Lord of the Rings films had already taken the risks necessary to prove the existence of a movie marketplace for classic fantasy.

It’s not common knowledge, but Lewis and Tolkien were not only contemporaries but friends, and were in fact writing their respective fantasy masterpieces at about the same time.  C. S. Lewis’ fantasy world has always had a less prominent profile than The Lord of the Rings, perhaps due to its less aggressive content - Narnia has its share of wars and battles, but it lacks the epic sweep of Tolkien’s world.  Lewis was also writing for a younger audience than Tolkien, and it’s undeniable that the Narnia books virtually defined the genre of juvenile fantasy for a long time.

But there’s a much more fundamental difference between the material, and it’s that difference which so strongly affects the respective motion picture adaptations.  The Lord of the Rings portrays an epic struggle between Good and Evil, with the Ring itself acting as an ongoing test, a constant temptation for all the characters who are presented with the opportunity to possess it.  Some pass this test, some fail it – in fact, Frodo himself fails at the final moment in his quest.

On the other hand, it's generally accepted that the story of Narnia is an extended Christian metaphor, but what does that mean in practical terms?  The various journeys to Narnia by people from our world are journeys of belief, explorations of spirituality, of faith. The characters are constantly being required to take - or not take - action based on their belief in Aslan, and the spiritual nature of those decisions help to make them better people, both in Narnia and when they return here.

The temptations faced by the characters in the Narnia books are more subtle than the One Ring, but they are just as constant.  Those who succumb are punished, and those who resist are rewarded - but even those who succumb may achieve redemption.

It’s this aspect of Narnia which is least well realized in the movies, and that may well be the reason that they haven’t done better at the box office.  In the process of trying to turn them into conventional fantasy action adventures, Disney lost touch with the essence of the Narnia books, and in losing touch they cheapened the stories to the point where they lost their attraction.

Movies like The Chronicles of Narnia clearly demonstrate that special effects have advanced to the point where virtually any world of the imagination can be recreated for public consumption. But in that process, I think that filmmakers have to remain true to the underlying foundations of those worlds - you might even say that they need to have faith in them.

- Sid

Disney 2022: Once Upon A Time.

It's our first day of our 2022 return to Disneyland, and we're off to a good start. A change in hotels from our previous trips has put us a quick 13 minute walk from the park entrance, and we join the usual entry lineup at 7:00 AM, well in advance of the 8:00 AM opening. Following the standard entry procedures (sad that it's necessary for the Happiest Place on Earth to have airport-grade security) we line up on Main Street USA and wait for the park itself to open.

Our three-day Parkhopper pass restricts us to the Disneyland Park until 1:00 PM, but that's not too much of a trial, there are lots of things to do: old favourites like Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White and Peter Pan's Flight, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, and of course Black Spire Outpost's immersive Star Wars experience, with the Rise of the Resistance and Smuggler's Run.

There are some minor disappointments: Toon Town* is closed for "reimagining", as the Disney web site euphemistically describes it, and there are reports that the Indiana Jones ride is suffering from serious reliability issues, with refurbishment down time scheduled for November. However, there have also been some major changes since our last pre-COVID visit, and I'm eager to take a look at the new Avengers Campus, which replaced A Bug's Land in the California Adventure area of the park. 

We use the dwell time on Main Street to our advantage: using the Disneyland app, we pay the $25 USD Genie+ fee, which gives us full access to the Lightning Lane ride reservation system, and includes downloads of any photos taken of us by the Disney photographers scattered around the park.  The app is a necessity for navigating the park: it displays your schedule for the day, lets you purchase Genie+ and Lightning Lane passes along with food and merch, shows you an interactive map of all the park attractions along with wait times, and alerts you to upcoming Lightning Lane reservations and food order readiness - as well as storing your tickets for access to the parks.

Karli has a nostalgic affection for the Haunted Mansion, which has a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay for the course of the extended holiday season, and we're able to get an 8:05 time slot for entry, an excellent start to the day. We also reluctantly pay an additional $25 each for Lightning Lane access to the superb Rise of the Resistance experience in the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge section of the park at 9:25 - normally you can't double up for Lightning Lane reservations, but due to the additional fee, Rise of the Resistance is an exception to the rule.

Regardless of the cost, Genie+ proves its worth instantly: we're in and out of the Haunted Mansion almost immediately after the rope drops, and when our time slot opens up we literally walk into the start of Rise of the Resistance without ever stopping to admire the movie-set environment of Black Spire Outpost. 

Rise of the Resistance is just as much fun as we remember, although I discover that I've been ruined a bit by the interactive Doctor Who Time Fracture experience in London, I have a terrible desire to defiantly confront the Disney cast members who are playing the First Order troops.

We almost immediately roll over into Smuggler's Run, where we crew the Millennium Falcon for a supply hijacking mission for the Resistance - and a bit of plunder for Hondo Ohnaka, the cheerfully corrupt owner of Ohnaka Transport. A quick snack, and we’re on to the first of three visits to Star Tours, where C-3PO and R2-D2 offer 54 different mishap-ridden 3-D tour adventures in the Star Wars universe, followed by some hazardous temple exploration with Indiana Jones.

By the end of the day, our feet are sore and we’ve walked over 18 kilometers, but we’ve done 11 different rides and experiences, enjoyed Dole Whip Floats and Mexican food, and generally gotten a great start on our trip. It’s good to be back.

- Sid

* As with the replacement of A Bug's Life with Avengers Campus, it's easy to look at Toon Town, which finds its origins in the 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit movie, and think that it may well be time for a different theme.

"Let the final battle...begin."

"Taking one last look, sir, at my friends."  

C-3PO, The Rise of Skywalker 

"This will be the final word in the story of Skywalker."  

Emperor Palpatine, The Rise of Skywalker

When Karli and I invited her sister Stefanie to join us on Boxing Day to see The Rise of Skywalker, she initially wasn't sure if she wanted to attend or not, but finally decided to come, commenting that, "...the upside of the movie is participating in a cultural phenomenon".

And she's completely correct in her description, not only in the case of this movie, but for Star Wars in general.  Fond though I am of Star Trek, it doesn't have anything close to the extreme depth of cultural penetration that Star Wars has achieved.  One of the characters in the movie talks about finishing the fight that their parents started, and it's pretty much the same for the audience - Star Wars has become a multi-generational tradition that parents share with their children.

 

On our way to the movie, Karli asked me if I thought that she would enjoy the movie more than I would because she had no expectations about the ending.  When I thought about it, I realized that, surprisingly, neither did I.

Because, really, how do you end a story which spans over 40 years, a story that has ended each chapter with a monumental struggle between good and evil, between the dark and light sides of the Force? How do you pull all of the strands of the Skywalker family's story together to create an ending worthy of a saga like this?

The Rise of Skywalker certainly does its best to answer that question by providing an epic conclusion to an epic story, a conclusion which is monumental in scope and presentation, while offering appropriate codas for the character arcs of Rey, Po, Finn and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo - as with C-3PO's quote, this movie takes a last look at the characters in order to say goodbye to them.  It also ties the story's past into its present, as symbolized by brilliantly using the wreckage of the Death Star on the ocean moon of Kef Bir as a setting, and by placing the final scene of the movie on Tatooine, where it all began.

However, there are some odd turns on the path that the movie takes to reach that final scene.  The Rise of Skywalker is full of plot points that we should have found out about sooner - in fact, there were times when it felt a bit like I was learning things that really should have been in the second film:* the power of the Force to heal (which could have easily been introduced at the end of The Force Awakens when Finn is wounded); Leia's Jedi training; Po Dameron's background as a spice smuggler - odd that he managed to make it to the third film without any sort of back story;   Finn's unexpected connection to the Force;  the true nature of the power behind Snoke and the First Order; and, in spite of her experience in the caverns of Ahch-To in The Last Jedi, the critical - and unexpected - importance of Rey's parentage.*

 

There are also some less than perfect decisions in the script.  The character of Rose Tico, who is so beautifully introduced in The Last Jedi, is completely pushed aside,* C-3PO's "sacrifice" really isn't, it's just a mechanism for some jokes, the presence of a spy in the First Order is used once to allow for an easy escape and then tossed away without any further development, and the focus of the final battle seems to jump around for no reason  - not to mention the ongoing convenience of easily destroyed critical failure points for the bad guys.  Oh, and in traditional Disney style, a supporting character is apparently killed but then miraculously turns out to be alive, thereby allowing them to have their emotional cake and eat it too.

I also would have liked to see some kind of interaction between Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren, who finally make an appearance in this movie, rather than just have them be silent, faceless opponents.**

After the movie, as we were walking to the car, Stefanie asked if that was really the end of Star Wars.  Karli laughed and said, "It's made a lot of money, and Disney owns it - of course it's not the end."  And she's completely correct too - it's impossible to imagine Disney turning their back on a cash cow of this magnitude, as evidenced by The Mandalorian and the planned Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney +.

Really, though, this isn't about the end of Star Wars - as the Emperor points out, it's about the end of the Skywalker saga, and ultimately, the movie does signify that ending, while still leaving the door open for a new beginning.

Now that the saga is over, I'd like to be able to change one thing in the final trilogy:  the end of Luke's story.  It would have made me very happy to see him make his last stand in the final conflict with the Dark Side, thereby allowing a Skywalker to finally bring balance to the Force as was foretold all those years gone by.

 

But at least Chewbacca finally gets a medal - that only took 42 years.

- Sid

* Logically, this is what happens when you alternate writers in the creation of a trilogy:  it would be interesting to contrast a Rian Johnson script for the third movie with the J. J. Abrams/Chris Terrio version that's on screen.

**For that matter, why does Ben Solo change his name to Kylo Ren in the first place?  Did I miss something in a movie where that was explained?  I understand why he changes his name, obviously he wants to turn his back on his original life as Ben Solo, but why Kylo Ren?  If you're a Sith, you take the title of "Darth", which apparently means Dark Lord in whatever ancient tongue is native to the Sith, but everyone treats Kylo Ren as a name rather than a title.

Disneyland 2020: Black Spire Outpost.

"It’s a millennium falcon!"

Stefanie T. (Karli’s sister) upon seeing a hunting bird overhead.

Although it's only been a couple of years since Karli and I visited Disneyland for her birthday, I was solidly on board when she suggested another birthday visit.  It's not just because Disneyland is the happiest place in the world - although it's certainly a factor - but rather because of Galaxy's Edge,  the new 14-acre Star Wars themed area which opened in August of 2019, and The Rise of the Resistance, a new ride which had only been live since January of this year.

This time we're accompanied by her two sisters, Lisa and Stefanie, but logistics are still simple and straightforward - in fact, we all stay at the same hotel from our last visit, full points to Westjet for consistency on their three-day Disneyland packages.*  We fly down on the Monday afternoon, settle into our rooms, and then we're off to the park bright and early on Tuesday morning.

Once into Disneyland, the consensus is to head for Galaxy's Edge, see what the lineup is like for Smuggler's Run, in which you and five other guests fly the Millennium Falcon on a supply raid for the Resistance (and a little bit extra for the local smuggling cartel), and generally take a look at the new area.

As you leave Fantasyland, there's a transitional treed area, then you enter Black Spire Outpost, a small trading port on the planet Batuu, located in the Outer Rim Territories.  The space port is surrounded by towering rocky spires, although the actual black spire that it takes its name from is located within the port itself.

Each of the Disneyland areas have their own decor, but in the development of Galaxy's Edge, it was Disney's intention to create the illusion that visitors had just walked into one of the movies, and they've done a superb job.

Photo by KT

Tattered banners flutter in the wind as you enter through the main gate, where a First Order shuttle sits threateningly on a landing pad near the entrance, surrounded by a variety of shops and habitats.  As you go further into the outpost, you pass Oga's Cantina and enter the port itself, whose centrepiece is an impressively full-scale Millennium Falcon, currently refueling as it waits for its next mission.  Blast shutters protect the port's windows, and there's a constant thread of chatter from port operations audible over the loudspeakers.

To the left, stairs take you up to the bazaar, where food and goods are for sale.  There's also a landspeeder garage, a hidden lightsaber assembly workshop, and a droid construction facility.  To the north lies the concealed Resistance base, where new recruits are dispatched for training - hopefully without attracting the attention of the watchful First Order Star Destroyers.

 

Every inch of Galaxy's Edge has been constructed to match the look and feel of the movies and the Star Wars universe - the only exception being the EXIT signs, probably due to safety code.  The quantity and quality of the "greebly dressing", as the designers for the first Star Wars movie called the set ornamentation, is astonishing and thorough, creating an impressively immersive experience.

Even the souvenir shopping is part of the illusion: the credit card machines have been modified to match the decor, change is provided in credits and units rather than dollars and cents, and Karli's birthday button garners her several "Happy Origin Day" greetings from the staff.  It's a shame that Disney doesn't allow guests to wear full costumes, it would complete the experience for me if I were wearing Jedi robes or some similarly suitable outfit.

 

Later in the day, we have reservations at Oga's Cantina, where droid DJ R3X provides the entertainment, and a throng of villainous scum** scheme and plot over drinks served by wait staff whose hairdos owe a large debt to Queen Amidala - apparently she's an influencer.  For visitors seeking a less dangerous beverage experience, the classic blue milk*** is also available in the plaza.

But that's not the full extent of the Black Spire experience.  Unlike the other parts of the park, Galaxy's Edge has an actual ongoing storyline, based on the struggle between the First Order and the Resistance.  Armoured stormtroopers aggressively patrol the alleys and plazas, harassing and questioning passers-by, while Chewbacca the Wookiee is in constant movement to avoid being captured, and R2-D2 communicates with his fellow droids at the depot.

 

There's also an iPhone datapad app that allows you to hack into door panels, controls, and droids, and then assign the hacked hardware to either the First Order or the Resistance.  The app also scans cargo pods for possible acquisition by the local smugglers, and tracks your accomplishments, such as piloting the Millennium Falcon, assigning credits to your account that can be used to upgrade your profile with weapons and clothing.

At one point while we're exploring the outpost, an officer of the First Order demands our attention from the landing pad near the entrance, announcing that a female Resistance spy is somewhere on the outpost.  As he threatens us, Kylo Ren stalks down the landing ramp of the shuttle behind him, and Force chokes the officer to express his displeasure with the lack of results in the search for the spy, after which he enters the crowd to carry on the search himself, accompanied by a pair of stormtroopers.

At night, the experience is even better. Multi-coloured light sabers bloom in the darkness, and the visitors to the outpost achieve a kind of anonymity in the shadows, increasing the illusion.

 

My inner child, who is quite close to the surface in situations like this, was delighted by the entire experience.  I commented to my travelling companions that I could easily have spent the entire three days in Galaxy's Edge, and they were quite surprised.

"What would you do?"

"Well, everything!"

Disney is obviously aware of the desire for an even more immersive experience - a new luxury Star Wars hotel is under construction in the Epcot area of Walt Disney World in Florida, with an anticipated opening date in 2021.

"Hotel" is a bit of a misnomer, since the facility is intended to create the illusion that guests are spending two days on a galactic star cruiser, complete with Star Wars themed passenger cabins with viewports into space, an opportunity to operate bridge controls, interactive light saber games, and a new Star Wars storyline to provide a background for the experience.

Hmm, well, you know, Florida IS nice, and, come to think of it, the Kennedy Space Centre is only about 60 miles from Disneyworld, I'd love to go there again, and we have been discussing options for my next birthday...  On the other hand, part of me feels that I should go on my own.  As much as I love doing things with Karli, it seems a lot to ask for her to be an unpaid extra in my Star Wars movie for two days.

- Sid

* This is an unpaid endorsement, although I would be happy to be paid if someone at Westjet feels the urge.

** This seems a bit harsh - after all, they're just tourists like us.

*** I cautiously tried the chilled blue milk, and quite enjoyed it, although it's really more of a frosty than anything else. A friend of Karli's told her that lukewarm blue milk is available elsewhere in Black Spire - and that you do NOT want to drink it.