http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2009/09/darth-vader-storm-troopers-invade-d23-expo-for-star-tours-announcement.html

From Midway Mania

Yes, I like Wii games, but I don’t go to theme parks to play them. When I go to a theme park I want to have that “Mission:Space” or “Soaring” experience, where I get to do experience something, I get to have a rush of emotion and experience I can’t possibly recreate at home. “Midway” just feels like an annoying way to play a video game — what with the spinning and long waiting in lines with sweaty tourists. If I wanted that, I’d wait an hour to play Wii Sports with my air conditioner turned off and a packet of liverwurst open in front of me. And then when I played I’d have my wife spin my recliner in random directions between levels.

Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for the folks who put together these rides. It’s hard and it’s expensive. There’s no question in my mind that it’s an incredible challenge if you’re trying to make something a game and interactive and entertaining and also make it a big enough experience that people walk out thinking, “I may never do that again in my life. That was incredible.” And maybe Midway isn’t meant to be that kind of experience. But it’s hard for me to accept that you would build anything nowadays in a theme park that wasn’t that for someone at some level of thrill.

My suggestions? For Midway — it needs a better story. The game is fun, but where’s the “Buzz has been stolen by the evil carnival owner and the only way for me to get him back is to score high on these games and win him!” And then where’s the total twist on that, where’s the point where I won Buzz, but the evil carnies realize what I’m up to and I have to throw baseballs and pies to escape the carnival before we’re all caught. Just a blue-sky, not perfect. But I really feel like there needs to be a more emotion-grabbing resonance somewhere. The story that comes first and engages me in the game.

Maybe they’ll give away some liverwurst free with the Wii version.

How much do we fans love the folks in the cast from the Adventurers Club? They were unique, incredible talented, and I can’t wait for when I get to see them all again in starring roles somewhere else.

(You’ll catch at the end of this that Sugar Snapp, the maid, was the next performer up onstage. With this incredible act to follow she was absolutely perfect, performing her fun “Grey Squirrel” song and reminding us how fun and happy a place the Adventurers Club was. I know I’ll miss it because I never, ever had a bad time there. Sugar reminded me of that by bringing me right back up and making me laugh!)

From 20080927AdventurersClub

While we were waiting, some of the servers and cast showed up and looked absolutely floored by the number of people in line. They took pictures, they chatted, and they pumped up the crowd. This was going to be, as Hathaway would put it, “AWESOME!” I really wanted to ask one of them what it felt like to be the cast of Star Trek.

From 20080927AdventurersClub

From 20080927AdventurersClub

Before the official opening, the characters came out, and we got he huge surprise that Sutter Bestwick, one of the adventurers who hadn’t been at the club in a while in the flesh, had actually showed up for the final show. It was awesome that the characters came out to get us all ready for a final Kungaloosh!

From 20080927AdventurersClub

I admit it, I welled up a bit during the first new member induction. Natasha and I were standing there on the center balcony, wrapped up in the rally as Pamelia and Fletcher led us through the handshake and creed, and I just had a moment, where I felt it all rushing up. It wasn’t sadness or depression, it really was this welling up of all the happy moments, this tidal wave of visions of how many times I’d been through the induction, or been in the Radio Show, or gotten to be a part of the show.

From 20080927AdventurersClub

A friend of mine and I have often discussed the idea of books or movies that we like being places we like to be. Those are the books that you go back to, you read over and over again, and you love getting lost and surrounded by the emotional and artistic landscape. That was the Adventurers Club for me — a place I loved to be. Natasha and I would fall into bed after a good night there, pass out, wake up the next morning creatively energized, having spent a night full of phantasmagoric dreams and visions. I remember how many nights I dreamed about giant mansions full of secret passages, and being on safari in strange places full of magic. How can you not love a place that gives you visions?

If it all sounds a little strange, just chalk it up to being a relatively safe form of absinthe.

From 20080927AdventurersClub

That night we went to the Balderdash Cup, which proved what a weird, experimental theatrical experience the club was. The show pits Otis T. Wren, Hathaway Browne, and visiting Junior Adventurer Emil Bleehal against each other in a battle of adventurous tales. The story structure is meant to lead the audience down the garden path of voting for Emil, the innocent and underdog, and not to vote for Otis, who was cheating to win. But this night, methinks there was some Internet collusion going on because Otis (played by an actor who is a fan favorite for his amazing ability to chew the scenery in an amazingly funny way) got a standing ovation and won the cup!

From 20080927AdventurersClub

This is not supposed to happen, right? Wrong! That was the whole point of the club. You never knew what was going to happen. The audience was involved in almost everything, and that means you never know what’s going to happen because the script is advisory. It’s the critical path through the story, but that’s not what we’re there for anyway. We’re there for the twists and turns. We’re there for the adventure of not knowing what’s going to happen next.

From 20080927AdventurersClub

I voted for Emil, I admit it. Not very creative, but Emil performed the entire show in an amazing, amazing duet with Emil Sr., his dad, who was portrayed by one of the actors who opened the club 19 years ago. Both of them are amazingly funny people. But the real trick is, Emil Jr. has this way of digging straight to the emotional core of a scene. Otis runs out with the cup, hooting and hollering, and the crowd sits there in smug satisfaction, and Emil looks at the crowd and says something like, “How could you? I wanted to win it for my pappy!” And I think just a few of those smug people had a big moment of regret, thinking, “I was just fooling around. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” as they squirm in their seats.

From 20080927AdventurersClub

And he took it to the Hoopla, too. I thought I had it all under control, and he sang this beautiful Jonathan Coulton song, When You Go…

Only a moment ago we had nothing but time
Everything lasted forever and you were all mine
Only a dream I know
Thinking you’d never go
Tearing off pieces of myself
Just for the time it buys me

Fold my heart up small
Or break it into pieces
Find somewhere and keep it there
Take it when you go

And he sings it to the Adventurers Club. To the place. To the place I want to be. To the place, which as he said, was the bookshelves and the masks and the walls. But unsaid was the true thing that it was also the people, the actors, the audience, the crew, the bartenders, the Imagineers that built the place and decorated it, and the writers and directors who imbued it with characters and show. And I loved it.

From 20080926AdventurersClub

Kungaloosh Forever!

How many times are you going to hear that said?! Bravissimo to Emil, and thanks to Jonathan Coulton for writing the song. Enjoy, but keep a hankie handy.

Great site! Has the lyrics for many of the songs! A great history of the club through pictures. I recommend a visit if you’re a fan!

Graves:
Adventurer’s roll call!
Tell us your tale!

Maid:
We were chased by angry dingoes
Took a bath with pink flamingoes

Hathaway:
Eaten passion fruit in East Beirut,
We shot down with our guns,

Fletcher:
In the Grenadines we rested,
In the Philippines were bested

Pamelia:
By a flummox in our stomachs,
Which soon had us one the run!

All:
[Bleh!]

Hathaway:
I went hunting in Tijuana,
Where I bagged a wild iguana,

Otis:
I hopped a train to old Bahrain,
Purely for the fun,

Hathaway:
Then I got into hot water,
Had to wed the chieftan’s daughter,

Otis and Hathaway:
But we traded her for beaver fur,

Fletcher:
And a poison blowdart gun!

All:
[Pwoof!]

Maid:
We hunted tigers in Tunisia,
Counted Geigers in Magnesia,

Hathaway:
Got shot in spots
By Hottentots,
Drank dandelion gin,

Otis:
Got nibbled in Botswana,
Turned to kibble by piranha,

Pamelia:
Caught malaria
In Bulgaria
By Jove! What a week it’s been!

Otis:
Adventurer’s Sing!

All:
Marching along we’re adventurers,
Singing the song of adventurers,
Up or down,
North, South, East, or West,
An Adventurer’s life is best!
An Adventurer’s
Life
Is
Best!

Kungaloosh!

Here’s a video, featuring all of the above (Sugar Snap was the domestic engineer (aka Maid) that evening):

Natasha and I went on Sunday night and had an absolute blast. It helped that SOMEONE told Sugar Snap the maid about my birthday. Sugar made me a limited edition pin (complete with hidden Mickey — can you find it, below?), and a coffee filter hat. Along with my very own sealed-for-my-protection spoon (in Mickey Mouse black) and several Disney pens. And during the Rhythm Ritual at the end of the night I got my very own maid’s panties salute. Yep, nothing better on your birthday. Thanks, Sugar!

Oh, and I must mention…Hathaway Browne is my hero. Someday, I want to be the handsome club aviator that gets all the chicks just like him.