EndorExpress

Back in September, my pal John was working with some neat horror model kit customizing expansion sets. I loved the little snakes, skulls, rats, and bats. It all looked very Indiana Jones, but they were just too big for the 3-3/4″ Hasbro action figures.

A day later, I remembered my 7″ Disney-exclusive Indy, and gave John a quick call. He and another modeler (also named John) coughed up an extra couple of the kit-customizing sets, free of charge. Great guys. A couple of days later, having finally cut the Indy off the card, this is what I had turned it all into.

Some of the extra Indy props were pack-in relics from the Hasbro figures. The scale’s a bit off in places, but it’s still fun. The tree is a real root from my front yard, while the expanded floor and wall are made from foamcore, ‘foamies’, spackle, and paint.

I was asked about the simple pose, and this is what I wrote in a customizing forum last year:

“Well, much the same way that the ‘wand chooses the wizard’, in this case the toys chose the pose. As I moved things around and tried different combinations, a specific moment in time began to flesh itself out.

He’s eluded the dangers (all the various creepy crawlies); he’s cast aside his weapons (sword and Webley on the ground, whip not depicted because it won’t coil or lay flat); he’s completed his research (Grail diary and Grail tablet at his feet); he’s placed the Cross of Coronado higher on the stones behind him than the Fertility Idol, so he’s begun to appreciate personal accomplishments more than financial ones; and lastly, he has ‘chosen wisely’ as indicated by the true Grail in his hand while the false Grail is dropped behind him.

And as for the pose, that’s specifically chosen because he is about to drink a toast “to your very good health.” [Pity we can't say the same for that one rat that's sniffing around the false Grail...]”

AN

On a recent trip, longtime friend to EndorExpress.net, Gary X from Wattographs.com picked up from Disney’s Hollywood Studios (nee’ Disney/MGM Studios) the Future StarSpeeder Passenger certificate, sort of a consolation prize for the kiddies who haven’t yet reached the requisite 42″ in height to ride Star Tours. This is an older concept revisited, as the Tokyo ride had something similar as far back as the late 80′s. Also, I recently aquired from Disneyland a sticker for the day that the “Jedi Height” restriction is no longer applicable… proudly proclaiming, “I took my first spaceflight today!”

For the tenth anniversary of our honeymoon trip to Washington DC to see the Magic of Myth exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum, I constructed a scale model using Star Wars toys from various companies over the years, as well as images found online and from my extensive personal library.

Read the rest of this entry »

We had a special oppurtunity to do an interview with the one and only Tom Fitzgerald. The man, no, the legend behind attractions like Star Tours, Tower Of Terror, Horizons, the revamping of Pirates Of The Caribbean and many, many more!

You can read the complete interview in our special feature section.

StarWars.com takes you on a special Behind the Scenes look at the Jedi Training Academy. Check it out!

Today is January 9th, 2008… Star Tours is 21 years old! And to celebrate we’ve got a very special message which came in just under the wire as our last Celebrity Greeting for the 20th, or our very first for the 21st, you be the judge!

Read on for a very personal memory from Lucasfilm’s Mary Franklin…

Soon after Star Tours opened, I traveled to Disneyland from the remote Montana ranch, where I was a cowgirl. I loved Star Wars, but didn’t have a chance on the ranch to see or do anything with the GFFA (galaxy far, far away) beyond the very few books and comics that were out then. I didn’t even have a television set or VCR.

Compared to my isolated life on the prairie with the cattle, Disneyland was sensory overload. I couldn’t believe all those people and rides and other attractions were all in one place. I recall I was even impressed with Mission to Mars.

Until I got on Star Tours that is. I remember standing in line and being wowed simply by what was going on around me. Listening to Artoo and Threepio, and reading the travel posters was magical. It already seemed I was in another world, so traveling in the Star Wars world wasn’t such a big stretch.

I might have gone on Star Tours half a dozen times that day. I purchased one of each of the Star Wars travel posters, ©1986, and brought them home and framed them. Several times over the years when friends came to visit someone pointed to the Tatooine poster of Jabba’s palace and said, “Where is that? I want to go there.”

You can go there from here. With a little help from Star Tours.

Mary Franklin
Events Manager
Lucasfilm Ltd.

Darth Goofy, Emperor Stitch, Mickey Skywalker, Princess Minnie and Duck Solo from Wave 1 of Disney/Star Wars Action Figure Line are now available at both Disneyland Resort in California (1-800-760-3566) and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

Our Friends at Rebelscum.com also have a report up.

Star Tours 2 RUMORS heating up around the Web.

• Jim Hill reports on several things involving Disney and Lucasfilm:
• Al Lutz latest miceage.com article has some news on a “Great big beautiful Tomorrow“:
• “Bill” over at micechat.com has everyone worked up with his report “Star Tours will soon close for a one year rehab”, both for Disneyland as Walt Disney World Resort.
• BlueSkyDisney.com has a list of what is gonna change at the Disneyland Resort over the next several years.

So, is this true? Only some people know, but we will bring you the latest news as we’ve always done!

This week, several websites have reported variations of an unsubstantiated rumor that Anthony Daniels confided to fans at a comic book convention that he’d just completed filming digital footage for Star Tours 2, and the revised ride should open by next year.

But according to Lucasfilm’s Steve Sansweet, the report should NOT be believed…

While we here at www.swstartours.net would LOVE to see Star Tours get upgraded with new destinations– thus fulfilling George Lucas’ original intent of a reprogrammable software-based thrill ride– we’ve seen the persistent ‘Star Tours 2′ rumor too many times to be anything but cautious.

Our own Brian Curran spoke to Anthony Daniels in person at Star Wars Celebration IV, on the subject of Star Tours. It seemed very curious that no such Star Tours 2 announcement was made, formal or informal, at the biggest gathering of Star Wars fans in the universe, which occurred just days before the alleged comic convention revelation.

We sought some corroboration of the rumor from a reliable source, and this is the response we received:

There is absolutely no truth to a made-up posting that Anthony Daniels said anything about a new Star Tours movie, because there is no new Star Tours movie in the works. Why anyone would believe anonymous claptrap like this is beyond my comprehension. Lucasfilm and Disney have said before that they hope someday to revise the Star Tours experience, but that day has not yet arrived. We’ll let you know when it does.

Steve Sansweet
Director of Content Management & Head of Fan Relations
Lucasfilm Ltd.

The most realistic time estimates of a Star Tours 2 revision that we’ve heard yet come from a recent Al Lutz report at MiceAge.com. Although the article was filled with maybe’s and possibly’s, the new timeline estimates the addition of Star Wars Weekends in Anaheim ‘around’ 2009, followed by drastic updates to Star Tours Tokyo. Then Bob Iger will oversee updates to the Anaheim Star Tours (as well as all of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, and Disney’s California Adventure, too) … but this plan is tentatively scheduled to occur over the next FOUR YEARS. Which means it could be 2011 before a Star Tours 2 debuts.

Stay tuned to swstartours.net for the most reliable Star Tours information in the galaxy!

On the thirtieth anniversary of Star Wars, May 25th 2007, Disney Merchandising’s Brad Schoeneberg and Cody Reynolds hosted a panel on the history and future of Disney/Star Wars products at Celebration IV in Los Angeles.

Slides were shown of several past offerings, including the Hasbro line of theme park exclusive Star Tours figures, the Mickey/Yoda two-pack, the Disney Star Wars Racers toy cars, the Star Tours Collector Packs, and the latex Yoda doll.

But the real items of interest were the slides of toys soon to be released!

For the preschool set, there will be several new additions to the Star Wars/Mr. Potato Head line, including Spuda Fett, Yam Solo, Luke Frywalker, Darth Mash, and Princess Tater. This slide got a VERY positive response from those attending.

Disney theme parks have had a very successful partnership with Hasbro and the Build Your Own Potato Head shops. Hasbro’s crossover with the Star Wars brand– namely Darth Tater, Spudtrooper, and Artoo Potatoo– has been popular with all age groups. So these next five characters will doubtless become hot sellers. (Hot + potato, get it?)

For girls, there will be a new line of dress-up dolls for Princess Leia and Queen Amidala.

(We’re not sure where that cloak at lower left for Leia is supposed to be from. Perhaps a hand-me-down from her mother’s travel cloak, seen at upper right of the pic for Amidala?)

Note that Leia will come with a Wicket W. Warrick companion, and Amidala will come with an Artoo-Detoo. I also like the little framed sweetheart photo accessories of Han Solo and Anakin Skywalker.

For toddlers, there will be this squeeze set of iconic masked characters from the Star Wars Saga.

But perhaps the most exciting news are the Disney Characters AS Star Wars Characters action figures! We got a glimpse of this in the Jedi Mickey two-pack with Yoda, but now they’re taking it to a whole new level with individually carded crossover figures. Series 1 will consist of Stitch as the Emperor, Goofy as Darth Vader (looking very similar to a custom made by our own Alex Newborn), Minnie Mouse as Leia, Mickey as Luke Skywalker, and the irrepressible Donald Duck as Han Solo. The figures were shown as packaged prototypes.

Some of the figures were also shown loose.

In Series 2, the Disney characters will pull double duty as other Star Wars personalities, often switching sides from heroes to villains, or vice versa. The ever-versatile Mickey Mouse will portray his own father when he becomes action figures of both Luke AND Anakin Skywalker. (But then, if he can costar in a movie with himself as the Prince AND the Pauper, he can do anything.)

[We're not sure how Mickey-as-Anakin turns to the Dark Side and becomes Goofy-as-Darth-Vader, but why drive yourself crazy with logic?]

Speaking of Goofy, the audience in attendance went nuts at the perfect casting of Goofy as… who else? Jar Jar Binks!

And Stitch will become Yoda in addition to the Emperor. Is it the ears, do you think?

But why stop at Disney characters? How about some MUPPET crossover figures? This next sketch has our entire staff drooling.

From left to right, that’s Beaker as See-Threepio, Fozzie Bear as Chewbacca (Chew-wokka?), Miss Piggy as Princess Leia (Princess Loina?), Kermit the Frog as Luke Skywalker (Skyhopper?), Gonzo the Great as evil fiend Dearth Nadir– from the Mark Hamill episode of the Muppet Show– and Rizzo the Rat as Yoda.

You’ve got to love the Spaceballs-esque touch of Princess Piggy having a hair dryer for a raygun.

(Our staff contributor Alex Newborn had this to say about the Dearth Nadir figure: “A couple of years back, I exchanged emails with the president of Palisades Toys, the company producing a line of wonderful Muppet Show action figures at the time. I specifically asked if we’d ever see a Dearth Nadir or Piggy-as-Leia action figure, and he said they had pursued it, but there were too many licenseholders involved for them to cut a deal. He recommended that if I really wanted a Dearth Nadir figure, I should customize one for myself. Which I did.” So perhaps it is not surprising that it took the Disney corporation to get everyone in agreement to produce a toy of this character.)

Following the slide presentation, there was a Q&A session. I asked if they will do more Star Tours figures, and they replied, “We have not ruled that out.”

Someone else asked if Star Wars Weekends would ever come to Anaheim. “It’s being worked on,” they said, and the California audience broke into thunderous applause.

They also said that the upcoming Cantina Band Figures are exclusive to Star Wars Weekends at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando Florida. They will not be sold at Disneyland in Anaheim CA.

Other upcoming items include a Mickey lightsaber toy, complete with a Hidden Mickey activation stud as well as Disney/Star Wars-themed “Dueling” Decks of playing cards.

Other than new products, they said we’ll also be seeing some older items reintroduced in new packaging. In particular, they said the Starspeeder 3000 toy would be changing box designs “soon”, but in fact I had already seen both versions on the shelves at Star Trader at Disneyland and The World of Disney Store in Downtown Disney!