That said, any ideas for other Liverpuldians who could narrate the show's first seasons?
Laughin' Place: Redefining Disney
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Rex Harrison of My Fair Lady fame is the only one I've heard of that could do it. Maybe they don't need to be from Liverpool?
The Living Infinite
Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, CA
October 21, 1979
Claude Coats took a sip of his coffee, cradling the styrofoam cup in his hands and looking over his work. The shiny new overview of Marc Davis' planned theme park for Florida was finally complete after two months of work. At first, Claude had had to split his time between EuroDisney and this, but the Italian park had gone into full construction mode a month ago, with all designs and drawings for the park finished.
Claude didn't really mesh well with Marc. Sure, it wasn't as though he hated, or even disliked, the guy, but the two were polar opposites. Claude was cool, calm, and collected, preferring to focus on landscapes and backgrounds for the Disney Parks. Marc, on the other hand, was a ball of hot fire, injecting humor and character into his art like no one else. Walt was the only person that somehow could get their two styles to not only work together, but compliment each other. The Haunted Mansion, the Western River Expedition, New Horizons, and both versions of Pirates of the Caribbean were very much both Imagineers' baby, in that regard.
Tony Baxter, Claude Coats' former protégé and now Imagineer in his own right, stuck his head in. "Hey, Claude. Do you have any--whoa, what's that?"
"This?" asked Claude. "It's top secret. I can't tell you."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Oh, c'mon, just tell me. For old times' sake. I promise I won't spill the beans."
"You promise?"
Tony nodded his head vigorously.
"Alright, get your ass over here," sighed Claude, and his fellow Imagineer bounded over. "This is Marc Davis' proposal for a new theme park in Disney World. It's very hush-hush, 'cause Walt wants all main efforts focused on following through on EuroDisney."
Tony nodded. "Makes sense. What's its theming?"
"Well, the park is named Oceania, and the idea is that its lands are tied together by their shared relationship with the sea."
Tony Baxter surveyed the map. The center of the park was a large pool of water, and the lands surrounded the lagoon in a ring around its edge. There were about a half-dozen themed areas, each of which were so captivatingly beautiful and unique it was hard to tear one's eyes from the paper.
"I really like that land," he said, pointing to what appeared to be a turn-of-the-century waterfront amusement park. "And... is that Discovery Bay?"
Claude grinned. "Indeed it is. I figured it fit the bill perfectly, and since most guests at Disney World won't ever go to EuroDisney, it'll be unique for them, too."
The rest of the lands leapt off the page. The snowy slopes of a mountain overlooked a bay ridden with icecaps. A volcano rumbled menacingly. A quiet little New England fishing village sat at the entrance, the icon of the park just a ways out: a massive candy cane-striped lighthouse, beckoning to guests to come right in and make themselves at home.
"I love it," said Tony. "If I'm being honest, I may like it better than my own EuroDisney."
Claude shrugged. "Well, you're limited by the fact that yours has strict rules to follow as a 'castle park'. Marc was free to let his imagination run wild."
"I suppose so. Hey, have you heard any word on when the new expansions are going to go up at Disney World? Stuff like Pirates and the Imagination Pavilion."
"I think... I want to say they're all coming in 1982 at the latest. So, that's about... two years? More than enough time for the guys who built all of Disneyland in a year."
October 30, 1979
"Hello, Walt Disney speaking. ...Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Mister Nakamura, you have nothing to worry about with Asteroids. Galaxian is much better and I promise we'll have it out before Atari does. ...No, I--sorry, I have another call. Can you hold, please?"
Walt Disney spun his wheelie chair around and pressed a button on the phone, putting on whoever was on the next line.
"Walt, hi, it's Martin Scorsese, producer on Hood."
"I know who's producing my movie, Martin. What's up? How's post-production going?"
"Well, it's pretty much okay, but I had a few ideas for reshoots and I was wondering... how much do you think we could get away with before the MPAA rates the movie 'R'?"
Walt hesitated. "Well, I don't want the film to go overboard... try to find that Jaws sweetspot. Hell, call up Steven if you have to. I'm sure he'll be wanting a break from shooting Close Encounters."
Scorsese agreed. "Okay, so Jaws is setting the bar? That sounds like a plan. Trust me, this film will be the one to prove Disney is stepping out of the 'kiddie entertainment' shadow."
"Exactly as I wanted."
"Exactly."
"Martin, I'm going to have to let you go. I've got Masaya Nakamura of Namco on the other line, and a bunch of other guys on hold, too."
"I understand," said Scorsese.
Walt said goodbye and hung up. "Katy, who do I have on hold?" he called to his secretary in the hall.
"You have Mister Masaya Nakamura of Namco, Mister Stan Lee of Marvel Comics, Mister George Lucas of LucasArts, Mister Osamu Tezuka of Tezuka Productions, and Mister Don Bluth from the animation department downstairs all on the line and waiting, Walt," she responded.
"That few today, huh? Wonder what happened. Anyways, put Nakamura back on the line. I'll work through them in that order."
October 21, 1979
Claude Coats took a sip of his coffee, cradling the styrofoam cup in his hands and looking over his work. The shiny new overview of Marc Davis' planned theme park for Florida was finally complete after two months of work. At first, Claude had had to split his time between EuroDisney and this, but the Italian park had gone into full construction mode a month ago, with all designs and drawings for the park finished.
Claude didn't really mesh well with Marc. Sure, it wasn't as though he hated, or even disliked, the guy, but the two were polar opposites. Claude was cool, calm, and collected, preferring to focus on landscapes and backgrounds for the Disney Parks. Marc, on the other hand, was a ball of hot fire, injecting humor and character into his art like no one else. Walt was the only person that somehow could get their two styles to not only work together, but compliment each other. The Haunted Mansion, the Western River Expedition, New Horizons, and both versions of Pirates of the Caribbean were very much both Imagineers' baby, in that regard.
Tony Baxter, Claude Coats' former protégé and now Imagineer in his own right, stuck his head in. "Hey, Claude. Do you have any--whoa, what's that?"
"This?" asked Claude. "It's top secret. I can't tell you."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Oh, c'mon, just tell me. For old times' sake. I promise I won't spill the beans."
"You promise?"
Tony nodded his head vigorously.
"Alright, get your ass over here," sighed Claude, and his fellow Imagineer bounded over. "This is Marc Davis' proposal for a new theme park in Disney World. It's very hush-hush, 'cause Walt wants all main efforts focused on following through on EuroDisney."
Tony nodded. "Makes sense. What's its theming?"
"Well, the park is named Oceania, and the idea is that its lands are tied together by their shared relationship with the sea."
Tony Baxter surveyed the map. The center of the park was a large pool of water, and the lands surrounded the lagoon in a ring around its edge. There were about a half-dozen themed areas, each of which were so captivatingly beautiful and unique it was hard to tear one's eyes from the paper.
"I really like that land," he said, pointing to what appeared to be a turn-of-the-century waterfront amusement park. "And... is that Discovery Bay?"
Claude grinned. "Indeed it is. I figured it fit the bill perfectly, and since most guests at Disney World won't ever go to EuroDisney, it'll be unique for them, too."
The rest of the lands leapt off the page. The snowy slopes of a mountain overlooked a bay ridden with icecaps. A volcano rumbled menacingly. A quiet little New England fishing village sat at the entrance, the icon of the park just a ways out: a massive candy cane-striped lighthouse, beckoning to guests to come right in and make themselves at home.
"I love it," said Tony. "If I'm being honest, I may like it better than my own EuroDisney."
Claude shrugged. "Well, you're limited by the fact that yours has strict rules to follow as a 'castle park'. Marc was free to let his imagination run wild."
"I suppose so. Hey, have you heard any word on when the new expansions are going to go up at Disney World? Stuff like Pirates and the Imagination Pavilion."
"I think... I want to say they're all coming in 1982 at the latest. So, that's about... two years? More than enough time for the guys who built all of Disneyland in a year."
--------------------------------
Walt Disney's Office, Burbank, CA
October 30, 1979
"Hello, Walt Disney speaking. ...Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Mister Nakamura, you have nothing to worry about with Asteroids. Galaxian is much better and I promise we'll have it out before Atari does. ...No, I--sorry, I have another call. Can you hold, please?"
Walt Disney spun his wheelie chair around and pressed a button on the phone, putting on whoever was on the next line.
"Walt, hi, it's Martin Scorsese, producer on Hood."
"I know who's producing my movie, Martin. What's up? How's post-production going?"
"Well, it's pretty much okay, but I had a few ideas for reshoots and I was wondering... how much do you think we could get away with before the MPAA rates the movie 'R'?"
Walt hesitated. "Well, I don't want the film to go overboard... try to find that Jaws sweetspot. Hell, call up Steven if you have to. I'm sure he'll be wanting a break from shooting Close Encounters."
Scorsese agreed. "Okay, so Jaws is setting the bar? That sounds like a plan. Trust me, this film will be the one to prove Disney is stepping out of the 'kiddie entertainment' shadow."
"Exactly as I wanted."
"Exactly."
"Martin, I'm going to have to let you go. I've got Masaya Nakamura of Namco on the other line, and a bunch of other guys on hold, too."
"I understand," said Scorsese.
Walt said goodbye and hung up. "Katy, who do I have on hold?" he called to his secretary in the hall.
"You have Mister Masaya Nakamura of Namco, Mister Stan Lee of Marvel Comics, Mister George Lucas of LucasArts, Mister Osamu Tezuka of Tezuka Productions, and Mister Don Bluth from the animation department downstairs all on the line and waiting, Walt," she responded.
"That few today, huh? Wonder what happened. Anyways, put Nakamura back on the line. I'll work through them in that order."
If anyone's wondering why so many Disney Imagineers that left during the 1970s IOTL (Marc Davis being chiefly among them) are still around, it's because I see Walt's continued presence at the company keeping them around. I truly don't believe that any of the Imagineers would have retired ever if Walt had still been at Disney; the golden age of Imagineering, the 1950s and 1960s, were just too much fun for them to want to leave, and if that era continues, artists like Marc Davis, Yale Gracey, and many more are unlikely to hoof it.
It's most similar to Tokyo DisneySea, but I also drew some inspiration from Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, the OTL Epcot's World Showcase, and Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando. But the park will be mostly brand-new.
From the moment the cooperation between Disney and Japanese videogame and culture in general proceeds well, I felt somehow appropriate to post something about the latest game project OTL of the Company in the land of the Rising Sun, just to see how you lot will react - if you didn't see it yet...
Ooh, that's... both cool and weird. Can't say I ever imagined Disney would sign off on an anime-styled university sim using their favorite villains, but it seems... interesting.
No one is white haired...a missed oportunity.
That is a cliche among otome games, still not bad.
Well, mostly while Walt's alive Disney will be open to bringing in Japanese culture to the US, but they won't really be 'easternizing' their own works. Mostly, it will be a greater Western (read: Disney) influence on Japanese culture instead, what with Disneytropolis being one of the biggest vacation destinations in the country and the Disney Channel a very popular TV network there as well.
They built their own broadcasting station outside of Disneytropolis and are sending out the signal from there. I'm not sure about the specifics, mostly because I can't find very much information on Japanese TV in the 1970s, but I might use a bit of handwaveium to justify it.
Or maybe they'll just negotiate with Nippon TV to have their shows distributed in Japan on their channel, under the moniker of something like "The Disney Channel Hour". Either way, their (animated) shows do very well in the Land of the Rising Sun, due to them being unique against most of the anime on Japanese TV at the time, like how DBZ and Sailor Moon were unique on TV in the 1990s (and the fact that Disney has always been rather popular there).
I wonder if we'll see shows like DBZ on the Disney channel.
Actually. Will we be checking in on Shonen Jump? And Gianax/Trigger are someone else that could show up
Actually. Will we be checking in on Shonen Jump? And Gianax/Trigger are someone else that could show up
We could start with DB even, Latam got it before anyone else and was almost on par japan till DBZ debuted. Still depends who is Disney japan partner.
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