"The Most Unstable Craft in the Fleet" - Star Wars and Epcot's Cranium Command Attraction

© Disney, All Rights Reserved

 Tommy writes:

 In 1989, the Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World opened the "Wonders of Life" pavilion. This would be the area of the park which focused on health and the human body. Located just north of the Horizons show building (the current location of "Mission: Space"), the pavilion was a huge indoor space consisting of several different but related attractions.  Guests could race through the human body on Body Wars, which used the same ride system as Star Tours to simulate the experience of rescuing a miniaturized Elisabeth Shue from someone's blood stream. They could learn about sex from Martin Short (not a joke) in The Making of Me, a film which was so controversial to Disney's largely family audience that it required a warning sign to be posted in front of the theater. For our purposes though, we will be concerned with an often overlooked show inside the Wonders of Life: Cranium Command.

"Buzzy" (© Disney, All Rights Reserved)

Cranium Command followed "Buzzy," the pilot of an adolescent boy's brain (called "the most unstable craft in the fleet"). Guests met Buzzy in an animated pre-show, then were ushered into a theater with different screens forming the shape of a human head.

Cranium Command theater (© Disney, All Rights Reserved)

It was Buzzy's job to listen to the various organs of the body (mostly played by SNL comedians of the era) being projected onto those screens, and make command decisions.

The goal was to teach guests how complicated the human body was and how hard your brain has to work in order to function. In other words: this was the attraction you sat through while your older brother or sister was having fun riding Body Wars.

While the attraction is largely forgotten by most people today, there was one aspect to it which should interest Star Wars fans. When Buzzy was boarding his human head in the animated pre-show, his commanding officer dumped all of the things young boys liked inside it. Among them: Coca-Cola, Ariel the Little Mermaid, swimsuit magazines, dinosaurs, candy, the space shuttle, and little images of an X-Wing, R2-D2, Stormtrooper, an AT-AT, and C-3PO.

Stormtrooper and X-Wing

C-3PO

The head of an AT-AT

It's important to remember that this ride opened in 1989, during one of the darkest periods of the Dark Times between the Original Trilogy and the release of the Special Editions. Adding Star Wars imagery to things was by no means a regular occurrence. This was the first time Star Wars had appeared inside a Disney ride since Star Tours opened 3 years before at Disneyland, and was the franchise's first appearance inside a Walt Disney World attraction (WDW's version of Star Tours wouldn't open for a few months more. (Although, technically 3PO and R2 appeared on the hieroglyphics wall inside the Indiana Jones scene in the Great Movie Ride, which opened a couple months before Cranium Command, but that was in the actual Indy movie, so it's debatable if it was Disney adding it on its own or merely presenting the scene as LFL filmed it.)

So, you can find Star Wars references in the oddest of places.

After years of only operating seasonally, Cranium Command closed its doors forever in 2007, along with the rest of the Wonder of Life pavilion. These days, the building usually sits entirely empty except for a couple months a year when it's used for Disney's Flower and Garden Festival. The Cranium Command theater is still there though, empty and silent. But it spent 18 years filling young boys heads with images of Star Wars.

If you'd like to join Buzzy and his friends, you can watch footage of the ride here.

Old Shots of an Empty Store: A Look at the Star Tours Giftshop During the Dark Times

Disneyland's Star Trader gift shop, where it all began.

Tommy writes:

 When one considers the tens of thousands of Star Wars related photographs out there, some of the hardest to find are shots of old merchandise on store shelves. Especially in the age before digital cameras and phone selfies, it just wasn't a regular thing. Someone might inadvertently capture some toys in the background of a family picture, but very few people deliberately take photographs inside a store. In this case though, someone was paid to do that very thing.

When Star Tours opened in 1986, it featured something that few had ever seen before. No, not just the groundbreaking technology or a Disney attraction using (at that time) non-Disney characters, it featured a theme park attraction which exited directly into a gift shop. Disney had toyed with the notion over the years, recognizing that routing guests past merchandising areas increased sales, but it was almost always a passive thing. A cart selling Haunted Mansion-themed "invisible dog leashes" in front of the entrance to the ride, or a counter which sold pirate themed jewelry near the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean, for example. With Star Tours though, Disney had the space and the willingness to turn passive subliminal marketing into a full-fledged SUPERliminal push. If you wanted to ride the newest attraction in the park, you'd have to literally walk through Disney's store to get back out. Star Tours is really the first ride where we see this idea put into action, and it was so successful that it's since become fairly commonplace in the entire theme park industry.  So common, in fact, that Disney duplicated the "exit through/near the gift shop" layout when the Star Tours ride was cloned in Tokyo Disneyland in 1989.  Or as close as they could anyway, even if it involved putting in a glass 2nd story walkway to get guests from the exit of the ride to the area of the gift shop.

However groundbreaking (or annoying) the hard-sell opportunity was, Disney wasn't alone in this deal. Because the ride was a partnership, Disney needed to keep Lucasfilm informed about the status of the ride and ensure that certain maintenance and upkeep standards were met. Given that LFL was dealing with Disney (as well as Disney's partner in Tokyo Disneyland, The Oriental Land Company), this was merely a formality. Still, periodically, someone would need to go to Disney and take pictures of how things looked. What was Disney doing with LFL's intellectual property? Were the retail spaces well maintained? Were the products displayed in a way which would inspire someone to purchase them (thus ensuing that LFL got its cut of the profits)? That's where these photos come in.

What you're looking at are internal Lucasfilm Licensing shots, taken inside the Cosmic Encounters store at Tokyo Disneyland.  They are LFL's way of keeping track of their partner in the Star Tours ride and ensuring that the retail space is being used correctly. Although the shots are undated (well, technically they are dated, but the 1989 date is clearly incorrect and was probably the result of a camera glitch), we can do a fairly good job of dating them just by looking at what's actually for sale in the store. I think we're looking at a time-frame of late 1994 / early 1995, which would only be about 5 years after Tokyo Disneyland's Star Tours opened. While that wouldn't classify them as "vintage," they still provide us an interesting view of Star Wars products available in the Dark Times before Hasbro's POTF2 toys were released. And for the Disney fans out there, these are some of the only shots of the shop you'll ever see without any guests.

In this shot, we can see Kenner's then fairly new Action Masters line and an assortment of model kits.  

Here's a shot of the main cash register area of the store, showcasing a lot of Star Tours branded items: T-shirts, puzzles, keychains, and a plush Ewok. In the background on the right, you can see some unlicensed lightsaber-style role play toys. LFL apparently wasn't too concerned about their partner selling knock-off items like this, since there were no real licensed alternatives at the time. Although, Disney never really stopped selling this kind of thing in their parks, even after they purchased the Star Wars franchise. You can also spot an umbrella, which I assume was somehow Star Tours branded, and a child's shirt which appears to have an image and slogan related to Endor. I've never seen that shirt though, so I couldn't tell you what it says. 

Since Star Wars merchandise was few and far between at the time, Disney had to fill its shelves anyway it could. In this case, they have a whole display of expanded universe Star Wars novels and books on tape, issues of the Dark Horse Comics Dark Empire series, and some RPG source books from West End Games. As more Star Wars merchandise became available, Disney scaled back this kind of thing and replaced it with more impulse purchase items. It's odd to envision a time when you could go on the Jungle Cruise and then immediately walk over and purchase audio cassettes of the Heir to the Empire series. But at one time, you could.

Of the photos, this one is probably my favorite. While it might be hard to make out if you're not familiar with Star Tours items, those little bins contain the ubiquitous Star Tours PVC figures: Chewbacca, R2, Wicket (from the Ewoks cartoon), Yoda, Vader, 3PO and Stormtrooper. Disney sold those little figures for YEARS. In the late 90s, when they finally stopping offering them, I remember seeing literal barrels of them for sale at Disney overstock dealers. They're still a really neat set to see complete though and they always make me smile.

Below the PVC figures, we can see some Out of Character statues. They're essentially the same as the Applause figures released a few years later, which collectors might be more familiar with. We can also see some Star Tours branded mugs on the left, and some Return of the Jedi posters to the right. In the background, we can spot the then brand-new Star Wars Micro Machine sets from Galoob. 

Here's a wider angle shot of the store, showcasing plush Ewoks, more models, a bunch of t-shirt designs, and some masks. On the right of the display, we can spot what appears to be the familiar shape of Kenner's vintage Darth Vader carrying case. The Star Trader shop sold a lot of vintage merchandise in the early years, from Micro Collection overstock figures to Star Wars 10th Anniversary items. If I had to guess though, I'd say that this particular case might be from the Bendems release of the case, rather than the original Kenner version. But I'm not sure, since we can't see the front of the case in this pic. 

Our last image is of this display of 3PO and Vader banks, sitting below a reprint Empire Strikes Back Advance poster. To the left, we again get a little glimpse of some Micro Machines toys. You can see how new the line was when this photo was taken, because every one of their packages is in absolute mint condition. When you think about the sheer number of people walking through the Star Trader gift shop on a daily basis, you can imagine how quickly they ceased to be in such beautiful shape.

So, there you have it. A half dozen photographs taken inside a theme park gift shop 23 years ago. But if you're a fan of Star Wars toy shop pictures or old photos of Disney stores, they're an invaluable glimpse of times gone by.

If you have any vintage shots taken inside the Star Trader shop or the Cosmic Encounters shop, feel free to post them!

Star Wars Treasures in Upcoming Prop Store London Auction

Steve writes:

 Whether or not you're an active prop collector, Prop Store's auctions are always a feast for the eyes of any pop culture enthusiast. The catalog for their upcoming Live Auction "Treasures from Film and Television" which is set to take place in London on September 26th was published a few weeks back. From a box of Joker Grenades from the 60s Batman television series to Jeff Goldblum's receding-gums teeth appliances from The Fly (1986) and even Globey, the catalog offers something for everyone.

More appropriate for and of particular interest to readers of this blog, there is a wide range of Star Wars material available. Below are a handful of the more significant pieces, along with some that I personally considered to be pretty neat.

A marquee item (and the one understandably shown on the cover of the catalog) is an ILM Y-Wing visual effects model miniature from Return of the Jedi. Not much to say beyond that!

For those into authentic Galactic Civil War apparel, there is a Rebel Fleet Trooper vest from Star Wars as well as a Snowtrooper helmet and backpack from The Empire Strikes Back, among other pieces.    

The auction also includes a handful of vintage theatrical posters, the most glorious of which being a U.K. quad poster featuring the Hildebrandt artwork that would be replaced by Tom Chantrell's Style C campaign.

In addition to some familiar cast and crew items and a selection of storyboards, the auction features several unique pieces that caught my attention. While I'm not an autograph collector, the above copy of the original Empire Strikes Back novelization signed by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams, David Prowse, and Anthony Daniels during a promotional tour event at Selfridges in May, 1980 is a nice little artifact of the period where all hands were on deck to generate buzz for the sequel.

Seeing how the vision of the original Star Wars actually materialized has always fascinated me. There are so many costumes and props that we all take for granted now, but their tangible existence had to begin somewhere. One of the coolest lots in the auction that documents just that is a set of 35mm negatives shot during production that depict early castings of a number of iconic helmets from the film. While some seem to closely resemble the final product, others are considerably different; namely the Rebel Pilot helmet with its mouthpiece that was present in concept art. From an archival perspective, their intrinsic value is substantial. 

As someone who grew up in Southern California and embarked on many an adventure on the "Endor Express" (well, many of the exact same adventure with a maintained level of enthusiasm), this batch of hand-drawn artwork and model photographs for the original incarnation of the Star Tours attraction sheds light on my favorite sequence of the ride wherein our robotic Paul Reubens captain semi-successfully navigates the Starspeeder through a gigantic comet -- or as noted on one of the drawings, an "iceteroid." Comets? Comets!!

Finally, my personal favorite item in the entire auction: one of a small number of Sprocket Systems KEM flatbed editing tables that was used to cut the likes of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, to name a few. Some historic celluloid passed through and was ultimately transformed by this relic of bygone technology that Lucasfilm fittingly had a hand in developing.

These are merely but a few of the awesome items (Star Wars-related or otherwise) that will be on the block in the auction, so be sure to set aside some time to browse through the entire catalog linked at the head of this post.

Furthermore, for anyone living or visiting across the pond, a free preview exhibition of over 250 lots is running at the BFI IMAX Waterloo where the Live Auction will be held on September 26th. As the BFI puts it: "You can watch other people spend huge amounts of cash, whilst you soak up the atmosphere and marvel at the decades of cinematic history in front of your very eyes."

It Came from the Dark Times

Amy writes:

The "Dark Times" era of Star Wars collecting from 1985-1995 has always fascinated me. For many, this was a decade of depravation, as there was next to no product available. Why make products if there aren't any movies to support it?  Star Wars was just a trilogy of films that spanned from 1977-1983 and for the next ten years following Jedi, that is all anyone thought it would be even though we dreamed differently.

On the surface, it would be easy to discount these ten years and say that there aren't any collectibles from this time period. But that would be completely wrong. Countless Star Wars items were released. There were several projects over this decade that helped keep the collecting pulse alive. "Ewoks on Ice," the George Lucas Lucas Superlive Adventure show, Star Tours, Ewoks and Droids cartoons, and the Ewok live action movies all did their part. The products that came out of these events were not just offered in the U.S., but all over the world.

Here is a year-by-year sampling that provides just a glimpse of some of the fantastic product available all over the world that helped collectors get through the "Dark Times."

1985 - With new Ewok movies came new collectibles. While the films were TV specials in the U.S., elsewhere they were released theatrically. Posters, books (like the above example from Germany), and even food promotional tie-ins can be found.

1986 - Star Tours had a soft opening in Disneyland before its grand opening in 1987. Promotional items like mugs, posters, postcards, figures, and plush toys would soon follow.

1987 - "Fanzines" were made for fans by fans and distributed through the mail. This particular fanzine helps to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Star Wars. Also in 1987, the first Star Wars convention was held in Los Angeles with its own batch of collectibles.

1988 - In the UK, Dairylea cheese had an Ewoks and Droids sticker offer to run in conjunction with the cartoons' release on VHS.

1989 - West End Games releases adventure sets like the one above to play with their Star Wars roll playing game system.

1990 - The Ewok Adventure is released on Laser Disc.

1991 - Topps Trading Cards returns to Star Wars for the first time in nearly a decade. New trading cards depicted characters from Star Wars as painted by various artists.

1992 - Takara releases 5 plush Star Wars characters in claw vending machines in Japan.

1993 - JusToys releases Star Wars Bend-Ems, giving Star Wars figure collectors a reason to return to the toy store.

1994 - Star Wars novels continue to be published in the EU or Expanded Universe after the success of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy.

1995 - Star Wars action figures return to the toy store shelves not quite the way we remember them, but we buy the Power Of the Force 2 toy line all the same and the "Modern" era is ushered in.

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For anyone interested in this era of collecting, be sure to check out and join the "Dark Times" Collecting Facebook Group where items and topics are featured weekly.