Tuesday, July 28, 2009

An Incredible Treasure: Disneyland 1954-55 construction videos !



You will love these amazing Disneyland construction videos! Frankly, it's an amazing treasure, and as all treasures its find happened with a bit of luck with the discovery of a reel box with "Disneyland movie" written on it. Inside, all - or almost - the 1954-55 building of Disneyland, thanks to cameras that were placed up on towers at different places of the park. Using time-lapse and traditional eye-in-the-sky photography, this is a dazzling piece of history, presenting how the fearless construction crews had Disneyland up and running in just under a year.



It's totally fascinating, really. A pure miracle, as you would have never expect to see one day what you will see now. A Disneyland fan dream-come-true! What is the most surprising for me is that these Youtube videos were uploaded 8 months ago and nobody noticed them before! Anyway, better too late than never, especially when it's a treasure like this with - on the third video - a commentary by Tony Baxter and Ed Hobleman and Walter Magnuson.

So, get a drink and some good tapas, sit well and enjoy the movie, you won't believe your eyes.














Edited: In fact, some of you told me that all this wonderful footage is part of the special features of the Disney Trasures DVD: Disneyland - Secrets, Stories & Magic.
So, it is not as rare as i thought (!) but it's great anyway!


Pictures and videos: copyright Disney

Many many thanks to theeditor84 for this unbelievable treasure!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

A closer look to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland trailer



You know how are the trailers, they always go too fast, right?. I know, it's done on purpose, as they don't want us to see too much. Still, it's frustating, isn't it? And in the case of the awaited Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, it's VERY frustating!

So, i succeed to find a trailer in enough good resolution to have good screen captures - click on each to see them in big "wallpaper" size. And as you will see, it is very interesting to see clearly the details. A little warning, though, as there may be some spoilers ahead!

Soooo, the beginning of the trailer shows Alice running in the British countryside, until she's attract by this hole in the tree...





A little bit too close, and she falls...



We then have the scene where she drinks the bottle on the table and then shrinks...





In the next shot - by the way, may i remind you that in the trailer they are not necessarily in chronological order - we find Alice in the enchanted garden...



And then walking through a giant mushroom forest with the white rabbit and TweedleDee and TweedleDum.



In the next shot she's on the top of what appears obviously to be a castle, with the "white queen" played by Anne Hathaway, and water falls in the background.



The Cheschire Cat appears then, magically, in a forest...



And the next shot introduce...the King of heart?



For sure it's the Red Queen in the next one - played by Helena Bonham Carter



Then arrives the shot with a monstruous beast, apparently in fight with some of the "cards" guards...



We find back Alice with TweedleDee and TweedleDum, seconds before they being attacked by an eagle...



...leaving Alice alone in a typical Tim Burton forest.



Doors of a the Red Queen castle hall now open with the help of two frogs - and we can see the Mad Hatter prisoner of the cards...



It's at this point in the trailer that Johnny Depp - the mad hatter - appears in a close shot...



...and walk on his unbirthday party table to meet Alice.







Cut on the movie title, and we see again Johnny and the white rabbit...





And the last shot show the mad hatter, probably in his workshop...





I think it's fair to say that the atmosphere of each scene looks really "Tim Burtonesque" and we better await a different kind of Alice in Wonderland, much different than the Disney movie. But i have a good feeling with this new version.

By the way, here is again the trailer in better definition. It is now also available on Apple Trailers and the best is of course to watch it in full screen!





Let's end with this video of the surprise appearance of Johnny Depp two days ago at the Comiccon. As you will see girls became hysterical instantly!




Pictures and trailer: copyright Disney

Trailer thanks to Wired.com

Saturday, July 25, 2009

At last, Tron Legacy Trailer !



The new and highly awaited Tron movie has a title, and it's "Tron Legacy".



Directed by Joseph Kosinski, "Tron Legacy" follows Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy son of Kevin Flynn, as he investigates his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. After finding Kevin, Sam joins forces with him and Kevin's loyal confidant on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

Jeff Bridges who played Kevin Flynn in the first Tron is back...



...and it's interesting to note the "tribute" - voluntary or not - to the end sequence of Stanley Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey in what seems to be Jeff Bridges character's home decor...



The famous Tron cycles are also back, with a new design...



...and deadly races.







Okay, enough talk, here is the trailer you're waiting for, and yes, this new Tron Legacy looks great!




Now, if you want to know more about the story, or, as a D&M reader asked in the comments, if Tron will be back as Bruce Boxleitner, don't miss this video interview of director Joe Kosinski and producer Sean Bailey HERE.

Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this interview on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

Pictures and video: copyright Disney

DCA's World of Color Pictures, Artwork and Videos



The pictures were released last week-end, but i was doing my "Man on the Moon" celebration and couldn't post them before. Anyway, better too late than never and here is great artwork for the awaited "World of Color" show at DCA. As always, click on each picture to see them in big size.

First, some pictures of the Blue Sky Cellar preview center.





Here is the artwork for the Pocahontas scene...



...And two artworks for Alice in Wonderland scenes.





The artwork for the Wall-E scene...



and the one - if i'm not wrong - for the final scene.



Disneyland also released a picture of the model showing where will be all the fountains...



...as well as pictures of the construction inside Paradise Pier Lagoon.









I'm re-posting here the video - filmed by the always excellent MintCrocodile - that visitors of Blue Sky Cellar can see and learn more about the upcoming show.



Disneyland also posted on Youtube a behind the scenes video of the construction in DCA's lagoon!



But the not-to-be-missed video is the presentation that Steven Davison, creator of the show, did last week. Not only you will learn a lot about the show itself, but if you want to see somebody who have a real VISION, then look closely at Steven Davison.
Thanks God, "Lightsofwinter" had the genius idea to film Steven's presentation, and here it is in three parts.










Pictures and artwork: copyright Disney

Videos: copyright Disney, MintCrocodile and Lightsofwinter

Marty Sklar's Main Street "window" ceremony video



Last friday, Marty Sklar received his "window" on Main Street during a ceremony in tribute to his WDI career. You saw images of it and the WDI party in my exclusive report last week-end, but Disneyland just released a video of the DL ceremony, and here it is below.




Photo and video: copyright Disney

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

From " Mission to Mars " to " Mission : Space "



We will have a look today to Disney's attractions in relation with travel in outer space. "Mission to Mars" now a Disneyland and Walt Disney World extinct attraction was located in Tomorrowland. The show was originally named Flight to the Moon and as we know it opened in 1955. In 1975, the destination was changed to Mars because man had already been to the moon. During that time, the attraction was considerably updated.



The show was initially sponsored by McDonnell-Douglas. After sponsorship ended, logos referring to the company were removed from the attraction, but the outline of the stylized tail fin in the McDonnell-Douglas logo still remains part of the former building's facade as you can see on this short Youtube video showing Mission to Mars entrance at night.




The show was designed in cooperation with NASA and was basically a revised and updated version of the previous attraction Flight to the Moon. Guests would now be launched on a spacecraft into space and then approach the surface of the red planet Mars.



Guests would first enter a viewing area known as Mission Control, which was modeled after a typical mission control center with chairs and control panels for about ten seated Audio-Animatronic "technicians" whose backs were to the audience as they moved their heads and arms. Facing the audience was the Audio-Animatronic flight director Mr. Johnson. He would then talk and show film clips to explain how man had made numerous advances in space travel and manufacturing in microgravity, and also learned how to deal with the effects of space. The lecture was interrupted once per show by an intruder alarm caused by a large bird crash-landing near the spacecraft launch pad.



After the pre-show, guests would move on and finally board their spacecraft. Inside was a circular theater with stadium-like seating with circular flat screens on the ceiling and floor. During the mission, guests could look at the views from outside the spacecraft from either of these screens. There were also side screens that showed film clips or graphics.



"Third Officer Collins" was the tour guide, and discussed the mission as the spacecraft explored space and Mars. Eventually, the ship was damaged, possibly by a volcanic eruption, and the ship had to quickly head back to Earth. The seats in the attraction would simulate the vibrations and G-forces from "Hyper-space" during take-offs and landings by filling up with compressed air. Finally, the spacecraft landed safely back on Earth and Officer Collins would then urge guests to return and visit again. As he explained, "there's a lot more to see on Mars".

The attraction closed at Disneyland on November 2, 1992, and at the Magic Kingdom on October 4, 1993. It re-opened as the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter as part of the Magic Kingdom's New Tomorrowland on June 20, 1995 but that's another story...

Below two videos of Mission to Mars, the first one shows the pre-show with Mission Control room and the second one the show itself. Please note that the show was quite dark, so...










Ten years later, another "mission" will take WDW guests on Mars, and it was at Epcot when "Mission: Space" opened on October 9, 2003. Well, as a matter of fact, what opened was the first part of a much better "Mission: Space" attraction concept.

In its first concept part one of the attraction was the same one that Epcot guests can ride every day, i.e the shuttle centrifuge-simulator of a blast-off to outer space.





But instead to go on Mars, the original concept would have sent Mission: Space guests to a Space Station built on the Moon - or, according to Jim Hill in his excellent 2001 article, on a huge asteroid.



Always according to Jim "After they've arrived at the station, Epcot visitors will be free to disembark and discover the many wonders that are hidden deep inside that asteroid". And how, you ask? Well, that was the third genius part of the ride as Guests would have been able to move inside the Space Station thanks to a simulation of "MMU" - Manned Maneuvering Unit - the famous propulsion backpack which was used by NASA astronauts on three space shuttle missions in 1984 and which allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. Of course, as you can see on the rendering below, every one was supposed to follow the track, but the ride would have been great anyway, don't you think so?



Of course the cost of the whole attraction was extremely high, and too high probably for Michael Eisner, Disney's CEO at that time. Only the first part of the ride was saved and Mission: Space was built on the former site of the beloved Horizons attraction.



Grand Opening happened on October 2003 and here is the video of the ceremony attended by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, HP CEO Carly Fiorina and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, as well as several NASA astronauts from its many phases of human space exploration- Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the space shuttle program and two crew members aboard the International Space Station!




The two next videos shows the attraction itself. The first one shows part of the pre-show as well as Mission Space Imagineers, and the second one was filmed during the ride itself, showing the whole movie one can see during the centrifuge ride.







This article ends my "Man on the Moon" celebration and tomorrow we'll be back to Earth!

Although...



Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this interview on D&M english forum on Mice Chat


All pictures: copyright Disney

Many thanks to the different people for the Youtube videos!

Thanks to Wikipedia for part of the text