Captain EO

He's working in that world, too, and he's got his portfolio as his calling card.

He does get to work on, [laughs] uh, he, well there's no credits on it because it's a theme park movie, but he did some writing on Captain EO.

He worked on-

Hmm

...

Captain EO.

[laughs]

Surprising.

Yes.

Okay, so Captain EO.

Uh-huh.

Tell us about your experience in helping to get Captain EO-

[laughs]

... up and going or what your role was with it, because that, like, such a cool show.

I love it.

Um, loved it when I was really, really little, and I remember every four years we'd come back to the States and it's like, "I gotta go get my Captain EO dosage." Um, there was something-

You walk through there and you see all these doors for, like, you know, Professor Brainard from the, from Flubber, or you see, um, you know, the stuff from the Computer Wore Tennis Shoes in there, and just all these wacky, uh, scientists, to your point, that have been throughout Disney, and Wayne Szalinski is one of them.

And so then they had that, but then you would go from that ride to then the Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, which before this was Captain EO with Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson around this time was a little problematic, and so they took this out-

Yeah

... and they put this, this movie in.

Before it was Captain EO, it was a thing that was called, um, Magic Journeys, which was a 3D movie they moved over to, um, uh, Kingdom.

Mushroom Trip.

So it was that.

So cool.

Couple notable items on display, Captain EO props.

You don't say.

Oh, I do.

I don't know who that is.

Well, I know.

It's 'cause you haven't seen Captain EO.

It's a shame.

So grab a chair and hang out with me in the studio for just a few minutes.

All right, so I don't know if you noticed, but I've got my Captain EO mug.

Captain EO turns 40, 40 years old.

Can you believe it? I've got to cheat and look at my notes here.

September 12th is when Captain EO, 1986 is when Captain EO opened at Epcot Center right here in Central Florida.

And almost a week later, September 18th, it opened at Disneyland in 1986.

That's where my wife Deb and I had our annual passes.

Even though I was working with Michael, I didn't get any special perks.

Exhibits, learning a lot of what, you know, Epcot center was.

And, you know, so I think, you know, Tomorrowland had a bit of an identity crisis after Epcot Center opened in the early 80s, because is it science fact or is it science fiction? And I think they leaned in on that science fiction with attractions like Captain EO in the 80s and, of course, Star Tours.

you know, just so much fun.

But, you know, if you go back even further, you know, you have things like, you know, the Monsanto house of the future and the Monsanto, uh, adventures through inner space that Claude coats art directed.

I think it opened a little bit later, uh, um but it was definitely there um and i loved journey to imagination i went on that attraction we were only at epcot for two days and i think i dragged my parents on that attraction seven or eight times

that whole pavilion was that whole pavilion was great the ride the image works yes and the magic eye theater that's just

wonderful Yeah, yeah, because I remember, you know, it was pre-Captain EO, so I remember seeing Magic Journeys there with that great Shermer Brothers song.

Magic Journeys.