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Is there a Disneytown in San Antonio? Fiesta Texas opened up there around this time OTL.
Yes, in fact Disneytown San Antonio is built where Fiesta Texas was iOTL.

With the cash flow that Henson has been making lately, he probably has enough to try and pull off Walt's original plans for Epcot. The Whole ''City of Tomorrow'' thing. May need updating for the Y2K era and accounting for Jim's environmental views.


TBH, Henson would be intrigued by the idea at first, but once he started to see the bylaws for residents and the lack of any voting power or say in their own homes and rules by the citizens and the general "Company Town" and "Human Zoo" atmosphere he'd chuck it in the bin. Personally, I'm certain that E.P.C.O.T. probably would have been a legal and financial nightmare to maintain once it was built at incredible expense. Sooner or later someone's going to want some control over what they do with their own house and the Industry Partners may be more hesitant about opening up factories on another corporation's terms.

After taking one close look at Paperinik...
Seems a possibility.

Since we're talking about Times Square, I actually wonder whether Disney will help renovate that area or not. It would be wild if the ITTL Times Square was less of the commercialized shopping/tourist area it was now and more of a seedy underbelly, but perhaps it could happen under Henson, who has ties to New York thanks to the Muppet Workshop.
They did help renovate a theater on Broadway. Whether they spearhead a refurb is another story. TBH there was a lot of push to restore Times Square from a den of drugs and porn and return it to a tourism hub.

Potential unfortunate implications for featuring civil war reenactments aside, how would this even work?
Is it just an empty field most of the time?
Turner at this point is still rather into Lost Cause mythology, so the UI don't really bother him, though times will change. The rest of the time, yea, empty fields and a few battlefield like areas (trenches, medieval walls, etc.) that can be toured or used for films or TV (there's a good business in renting them for TV productions or the flat fields for sports training or pee wee soccer tournaments and the like). Best use of space? Maybe not, but it's a cheap early use of expansion area.

It's probably an empty field with some props for reenactments. I'm thinking professional actors are probably hired since there's no way hobbyists could do it unless these historical reenactments happen infrequently.
Mostly film extras and employees. Most daily shows are rather small and limited with a few big "events" every year. A few reenactors have been hired full time or subcontract for certain Events.

Stay tuned on what happens next for Columbia.
 
A Thanksgiving Turkey
🦃Happy American Thanksgiving, all! To celebrate, there's a Turkey, courtesy of @GrahamB:


Thunderbirding (1992)
From “Eight Mockbusters of the last 25 years Actually Worth Seeing,” CulturePolice.co.uk Netsite, June 26th, 2012

Guest Post by @GrahamB


569px-Dayton_Air_Show_2009.jpg


What it cashes in on: Top Gun, Iron Eagle 1-3, The Starfighters

Notable actors: Davis Jones, Valerie Pringle

Whom to blame: Davis Jones, Walter Edgar[1]

Why it’s worth your bloody time:

Affectionate parodies are a rare breed, on the one hand you have to make fun of something you love, on the other you have to genuinely love what you're making fun of. Thunderbirding is a low budget love letter to the barely-disguised military aviation recruitment films like Top Gun, Iron Eagle, and The Starfighters accomplished by filming a load of airshow footage and wrapping a story around it. Said story involves a pair of star-crossed lovers whose luck in love seems directly tied to wannabe pilot Steve's (Jones) chances to join the US Air Force's illustrious Thunderbirds aerobatic team (that is, none whatsoever).

Amazingly for a movie with a shoestring budget and a would-be auteur actor/director/producer like Davis Jones, Thunderbirding manages to have romantic chemistry better than a lot of actual romantic comedies. Hollywood could learn a thing or two about how actual people fall in love watching this film, assuming you're not distracted by playing the game “Stock Footage or Model” whenever an actual plane appears on screen. Even so, most actual military aviators or aircraft maintainers will tell you that it’s hardly less ridiculous than the films it apes, with the flight physics hardly much more ludicrous than, say, Top Gun.

Like in the movies that it mocks, Jones managed to get some good Cockpit footage using a real jet cockpit. Unfortunately, the cockpit that he got was a Cessna Citation.

Come for some genuinely good cinematography courtesy of Walter Edgar in his first job as DP, stay for the genuinely good if ultimately doomed romantic comedy.



[1] All fictional.
 
This movie sounds like a full on cult internet classic ready made for memes.

Thunderbirding will live on well past its sell by date imho!
 
Yes, in fact Disneytown San Antonio is built where Fiesta Texas was iOTL.
One musical act I can see performing there: Selena Quintanilla-Perez and her band (BTW, I hope Selena's murder is butterflied away, and not just because I'm from the town where she lived and was murdered)...
 
[1] All fictional.
Yeah, that was a bit of controversial decision of Graham's making, and we actually tried talk him out of it.

Let's just say I imagine the rest of Davis Jones' and Walter Edgar's careers are probably for TV shows and a few other low budget indie films.

Oh, and let's just say there will be more where this came from. You'll be rolling in the deep and going ape for what's next on this Whatculture-esque site!
 
Yeah, that was a bit of controversial decision of Graham's making, and we actually tried talk him out of it.

Let's just say I imagine the rest of Davis Jones' and Walter Edgar's careers are probably for TV shows and a few other low budget indie films.
I means it's entirely possible to have a decades-spanning film and television career without being well known.
Or do you Americans remember Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer?

Exactly!

Also when I read the title "Thunderbirding" I through we would be talking about Gerry Anderson 😅

Happy Thanksgiving to @Geekhis Khan and all our other american friends!
Don't forget to take some breaks to breath between all the delicacies and don't get into quarries with your extended family over politics or sport or both😂
 
I actually do, but primarily from their spaghetti westerns like They Call Me Trinity and Trinity Is Still My Name but also Terence Hill's Don Matteo. I kinda miss that show.

Someone that actually likes Don Matteo? Now that's a rare find. :p

(It's a bit of a meme over here, that Italian TV series are all milquetoast affairs starring cops, doctors and priests, made by and for old people - there's a few exceptions but, sadly, not too many; RAI's been going downhill since the 1990s at least, and Mediaset is exactly how you'd imagine a TV empire owned by Berlusconi to be)
 
Someone that actually likes Don Matteo? Now that's a rare find. :p

(It's a bit of a meme over here, that Italian TV series are all milquetoast affairs starring cops, doctors and priests, made by and for old people - there's a few exceptions but, sadly, not too many; RAI's been going downhill since the 1990s at least, and Mediaset is exactly how you'd imagine a TV empire owned by Berlusconi to be)
I also love Inspector Montalbano, especially Agatino Catarella.
 
This movie sounds like a full on cult internet classic ready made for memes.

Thunderbirding will live on well past its sell by date imho!
Yes, a certain trio of a man and two robots will have it on their short list for sure.

Yeah, that was a bit of controversial decision of Graham's making, and we actually tried talk him out of it.

Let's just say I imagine the rest of Davis Jones' and Walter Edgar's careers are probably for TV shows and a few other low budget indie films.

Oh, and let's just say there will be more where this came from. You'll be rolling in the deep and going ape for what's next on this Whatculture-esque site!
I means it's entirely possible to have a decades-spanning film and television career without being well known.
Or do you Americans remember Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer?

Exactly!

Also when I read the title "Thunderbirding" I through we would be talking about Gerry Anderson 😅
I actually forgot about writing that, here's hoping to see other peoples' Terrible Movies Worth Watching' pitches!
Certainly more to come! I'll see if we can get to the full 8 before the TL ends.

I'm perfectly fine with the Fictional folks. They work as good stand-ins for all of those would-be movie folks who never were iOTL.

Happy Thanksgiving to @Geekhis Khan and all our other american friends!
Don't forget to take some breaks to breath between all the delicacies and don't get into quarries with your extended family over politics or sport or both😂
Thanks. Just my mom visiting us. No sports and we agree politically, so the biggest issue is the cats freaking out.

It's a bit of a meme over here, that Italian TV series are all milquetoast affairs starring cops, doctors and priests, made by and for old people - there's a few exceptions but, sadly, not too many
You just described CBS iOTL and TTL, though Brandon Tartikoff is trying his best iTTL. More on this later.

Another possible show picked up by Ted Turner and CBS even if only for a partial season:
Case in point (perfect timing, nick!).

I forget who made DMD in my TL. I'll need to look that up.

One musical act I can see performing there: Selena Quintanilla-Perez and her band (BTW, I hope Selena's murder is butterflied away, and not just because I'm from the town where she lived and was murdered)...
Oh yes, it is Selena time, isn't it? And I'd say that there's a near certain chance of her playing DTSA at some point soon. What happens with a certain wacky head of the fan club we'll have to see. More on her later.
 
Certainly more to come! I'll see if we can get to the full 8 before the TL ends.

I'm perfectly fine with the Fictional folks. They work as good stand-ins for all of those would-be movie folks who never were iOTL.
Oh by the way, Geekhis and everyone: I actually intended the list to be named Mockbusters of the 90's. May want to retcon that
 
They did help renovate a theater on Broadway. Whether they spearhead a refurb is another story. TBH there was a lot of push to restore Times Square from a den of drugs and porn and return it to a tourism hub.
I think it would be very beneficial for Disney to renovate Times Square, given its potential as a major tourist hub, starting with the New Amsterdam Theatre and the Disney Store. Heck, it's probably even easier for ITTL Disney to get other companies to invest in the renovations considering their current connections with Madame Tussauds and Marriott, IIRC.

The possibility of a Disney hotel (especially for the DVC) in the heart of New York is incredibly tantalizing to me, and I think it could work once the Vacation Club gets off the ground and people flock in droves to experience the transformation of Times Square by the late 90s/early 00s.

TBH, Henson would be intrigued by the idea at first, but once he started to see the bylaws for residents and the lack of any voting power or say in their own homes and rules by the citizens and the general "Company Town" and "Human Zoo" atmosphere he'd chuck it in the bin. Personally, I'm certain that E.P.C.O.T. probably would have been a legal and financial nightmare to maintain once it was built at incredible expense. Sooner or later someone's going to want some control over what they do with their own house and the Industry Partners may be more hesitant about opening up factories on another corporation's terms.
The whole concept of EPCOT itself became rapidly outdated once people started to seriously distrust companies like Monsanto by the 60s and 70s. It's a product of 50s optimism and corporatism that would never work in the 90s, much less now, so there's basically no reason for Disney to revive that idea.

I generally think Walt would've liked EPCOT Center anyways like Jim Henson, especially in this timeline where the essence of the whole theme park will be preserved long after opening day.

Thunderbirding is an interesting mockbuster film, and it's certainly not something I expected from the TL, but welcome nonetheless.

I wonder if they kept the homoerotic tones of Top Gun and other films there, because those would've been really fun to make fun of in the parody, especially since it's apparently a rom com! 🤣

Thunderbirding will live on well past its sell by date imho!
Perhaps, but I think it's going to end up being memes/jokes referenced by older people like Gen X or Y instead of Z (where I am a part of) in shows like SNL, but the net is a wild place, so maybe it could happen?

One musical act I can see performing there: Selena Quintanilla-Perez and her band (BTW, I hope Selena's murder is butterflied away, and not just because I'm from the town where she lived and was murdered)...
That's a great idea, to be honest. I can totally see her perform in DTSA at some point. As for her murder...yeah I'd like to see that butterflied away as well.
 
Perhaps, but I think it's going to end up being memes/jokes referenced by older people like Gen X or Y instead of Z (where I am a part of) in shows like SNL, but the net is a wild place, so maybe it could happen?
I'd say @Geekhis Khan has it right, if Thunderbirding ever gets an internet revival it'll be because it'll get riffed by MST3K. Otherwise it'll fade into the obscurity it was destined for, only remembered on the IMBD pages of the people who worked on it.
 
🦃Happy American Thanksgiving, all! To celebrate, there's a Turkey, courtesy of @GrahamB:


Thunderbirding (1992)
From “Eight Mockbusters of the last 25 years Actually Worth Seeing,” CulturePolice.co.uk Netsite, June 26th, 2012

Guest Post by @GrahamB


569px-Dayton_Air_Show_2009.jpg


What it cashes in on: Top Gun, Iron Eagle 1-3, The Starfighters

Notable actors: Davis Jones, Valerie Pringle

Whom to blame: Davis Jones, Walter Edgar[1]

Why it’s worth your bloody time:

Affectionate parodies are a rare breed, on the one hand you have to make fun of something you love, on the other you have to genuinely love what you're making fun of. Thunderbirding is a low budget love letter to the barely-disguised military aviation recruitment films like Top Gun, Iron Eagle, and The Starfighters accomplished by filming a load of airshow footage and wrapping a story around it. Said story involves a pair of star-crossed lovers whose luck in love seems directly tied to wannabe pilot Steve's (Jones) chances to join the US Air Force's illustrious Thunderbirds aerobatic team (that is, none whatsoever).

Amazingly for a movie with a shoestring budget and a would-be auteur actor/director/producer like Davis Jones, Thunderbirding manages to have romantic chemistry better than a lot of actual romantic comedies. Hollywood could learn a thing or two about how actual people fall in love watching this film, assuming you're not distracted by playing the game “Stock Footage or Model” whenever an actual plane appears on screen. Even so, most actual military aviators or aircraft maintainers will tell you that it’s hardly less ridiculous than the films it apes, with the flight physics hardly much more ludicrous than, say, Top Gun.

Like in the movies that it mocks, Jones managed to get some good Cockpit footage using a real jet cockpit. Unfortunately, the cockpit that he got was a Cessna Citation.

Come for some genuinely good cinematography courtesy of Walter Edgar in his first job as DP, stay for the genuinely good if ultimately doomed romantic comedy.



[1] All fictional.
I just realized something, does this mean that Hot Shots was butterflied away?
 
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