I think a post about an official RATCON at EPCOT where people (i.e. the readers) can display their hacks for prizes could certainly be done. Not to mention that it'd be a good opportunity for Disney to display their own products like MICKEY 2.0 or promote their own technical developments like CGI, Animatronics, and etc. for their upcoming movies. Plus, I could totally see Disney be inspired to sell custom computer parts or peripherals from their major IPs to capitalize on the hacking craze.
As for the name itself, Disney execs might hate the name but it's good to know where your roots came from (nerds and geeks who tweaked computers for fun). In fact, this might be unrealistic, but maybe RATCON could evolve to become the D23 of the 90s with the anointed blessing of Jim Henson, serving not only as a technical convention but a pop culture one for Disney fans too.
en.wikipedia.org
Oh btw, why not add a robotics competition to the mix as well?
That's interesting. I'll kick around some ideas.
So will a show called Dragon Tales come up ITTL? IOTL, the show was a joint-venture of Sesame Workshop, Sony Pictures Television, and Nelvana. This has created a complicated rights situation, not helped by the fact that Sony sold the music rights to another corporation. Would it be possible for Jim Henson to pick up this footnote of animation history that was a large part of many people's childhoods born from about 1996-2003. I could see Jim wondering why there was very little Hispanic representation on TV for small children.
I'll have to see what the world looks like in 1999 in this timeline first!
I just had a brainstorm . What if, when building Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure, Universal adds in an April Fools Funny Nights, That way, if they do a Universal Monsters land, they can re-theme it to the likes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Chairman Mao, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Nicolae Ceaucescu, Mobutu Sese Seko, Ian Smith, the Duvalliers of Haiti, the Liberian Chuck Taylor, and many other bloody tyrants of the 20th and 21st Centuries as their rules come to an end?
After all, they may have been real people, but they were still universally monsters.
Of course, that might mean inviting Crossbow Productions into Universal Creative...
Universal may be edgier than Disney, but there's still no way in hell they'd do something in that poor taste
I'd find it funny, but I'm a sick bastard. I agree with PM here, rather in poor taste even for Mel Brooks. Something like this as a late night special by Parker and Stone could work.
These two facts are partially connected. I have absolutely no doubt about the sincerity of those involved in Tech Grrls and so on, but the branding is not helping them, if anything it is making things worse, it often comes across very "Hello fellow kids, how are you". I can't speak for tech, and definitely not for entertainment, but in engineering our female grads are coming in despite those sort of schemes and not because of them.
The
Grrl Power movement was a grassroots thing in the 1990s, beginning with Bikini Kill and the Riot Grrl music scene, not something that I'm making up. Strangely enough the Spice Girls kind of Astroturfed it in our timeline, turning it into more of a "we girls should stick together" thing than a "kick down the doors and take a hammer to the glass ceiling" thing like the Riot Grrls preferred, but it didn't seem to dampen the grassroots enthusiasm even today.
And yea, I'm an engineer myself. Not a very accepting field for women even today, but significantly better today than it was in the '80s-'00s. Biomedical Engineering, where I am now, is a lot more accepting on average, probably because of existing social acceptance for women in medicine ("caregiver" stereotypes and all that), and I can tell anyone who'll listen that, yea, women kick ass at engineering.
On the source there (Dr. Sparks' book), keep in mind that's a retrospective looking back at events in hindsight, not an on-the-ground reporting of "current events", so there's a lot of nostalgic navel gazing going on here. Note that Heather and Jeri would never refer to themselves by the label, and "Tech Grrls" is not a movement, but academia conflating a social movement with a concurrent rise in female interest in technology after the fact and coining a label that will catch the eyes on a bookshelf at the airport.
And as with all posts, not everything you read can be assumed to be Absolute Truth.
David Bowie wanted to make a movie of that character? Now there is a What If!
Wow. How bizarre. Who'd play Oktobria now?
I didn't think you'd actually use that idea, so it makes me especially happy to see her become the secondary mascot of Atari.
Although, I didn't expect a Namco home console or a Vampire Hunter D game. Those two from today's update managed to surprise me just as, if not more than the popularity of Colette Caracal beyond sex appeal.
I thought it was a great idea, so thank you. And yea, Colette will be a "furry icon", no question, though Sega is attempting to push the "action girl" thing with her and not trying to deliberately sexualize her like with certain other franchises (*cough* Lola Bunny *cough*).
Reading through the update reminded me of the little discussion had about the timing between Triad retaining Sega and Atari being scooped up by Virgin. Despite the decision reached, it still bounced in my head a bit, trying to think of the subtlest way it could occur without being too much, and I think I had managed it!
By 1985, as per "Big Shifts in the Entertainment Industry", CEO Charles Bluhdorn is still alive, rather that passing away in early 1983. The restructuring of the company OTL occurred under Martin S. Davis (who still becomes CEO by 1988, as per "Universal Goes Bananas"), who was the one to begin divesting secondary businesses, and diversifying and selling off non-entertainment and publishing assets. Though some developments seems inevitable (such as possibly Sega Electronics being sold to Bally Manufacturing due to the downturn in the arcade business, or stuff like Consolidated Cigar Corporation being sold off), it could be lessened/delayed enough that the OTL Sega buyout by Nakayama/Rosen/CSK (which may have even been a reaction to Sega Electronics being sold) could occur by the time Virgin's mid-1984 purchase of Atari is either rumored to happen or had just happened.
Rather than the buyout occurring, G+W instead offer Nakayama and Rosen a similar deal, but with G+W remaining majority shareholder, and not CSK taking that position. Jeffrey Rochlis, a consultant to Mattel Inc., takes the chairman position for G+W, while Nakayama becomes CEO (COO?) of Sega, and co-president with Rosen (who goes on to helm Sega of America). For appeasement's sake, due to sweeping Sega back under their noses, CSK led by Isao Okawa and the other investors involved likely get something out of the deal too, even if strictly monetary. All-around roughly preserving Sega as we may know them OTL, just with Triad behind them and not CSK, rather than having a vague continuity with pre-buyout Sega.
All awesome ideas! PM'ed you.
I was thinking about edutainment and I think Galactic Golf will probable be big in science labs, maybe later an added section where players can set their own gravity. Maybe it's a mini golf thing so players can insert obstacles.
I wonder if Professor von Drake and Dr. Honeydew could partner up for other educational stuff.
Once good video becomes a thing maybe Disney can draw on their library of educational shorts, design some edutainment games around them.
Those are great ideas. In fact, I'm just going to say that there's a Disney Channel Science Show hosted by the two of them (both Muppets). I just need a good name for it... Shocking Science with Disney?