Archive for June, 2008

Mystery hidden Mickey

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Here’s a “hidden Mickey” that even many Disney fans overlook…

Golden Horseshoe hidden Mickey

If you think you know where in the park it is, leave your answer in this entry’s “comments” section.

And while we’re at it, those who say that Disneyland doesn’t have a rodent problem can be quickly quieted by with this photo. The vermin seem pretty well settled in here!

More WALL*E inspirations

Friday, June 27th, 2008

In an interview with Underwire magazine, filmmaker Andrew “Mr. Stanton” Stanton revealed that not only was his new feature Wall*E a sequel to the classic Silent Running (as we discussed yesterday), it was also inspired by other classic Sci Fi films. For example:

Alien: This inspired the scene of WALL*E being chased through air ducts by overweight people armed with flamethrowers. The movie also inspired Stanton to cast Sigourney Weaver as a voice that “bursts from the chest” of a computer system.

Blade Runner: Referenced in WALL*E’s bizarre unicorn-dream sequence (which, at press time, it appears has been cut from the final print of the film — look for it to appear in a DVD “director’s cut” release).

2001: A Space Odyssey: The first half of WALL*E has no dialog because there is so much poetic silence in 2001.

Outland: Wall*E was clearly modeled after Sean Connery (though he’s armed with a fire extinguisher instead of a shotgun).

Planet of the Apes: WALL*E is cleaning up after the “damned, dirty humans.” Also referenced in the scene at the beginning of the film where WALL*E is dismantling the fallen Statue of Liberty.

Star Wars: WALL*E is actually Eve’s brother, but they don’t discover this until after they “kiss.” Also, WALL*E’s movements are based on those of actor Kenny Baker.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Stanton claims that “a close encounter of the fourth kind involves robots cleaning up after encounters one through three.”

Tron: As a nod to this film, Stanton suggested that Disney purchase Pixar.

So now that you know all about the film, go out and see it!

WALL*E trivia

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

You may be interested to know that Pixar’s new film Wall*E isn’t a standalone feature. Although it is not widely known, this feature is actually a sequel of sorts to 1972’s Silent Running, which starred Bruce Dern as a space-faring gardener armed with nuclear weapons.

Silent Running is largely about three robots who are taking care of what is left of Earth’s plant life while certain other robots — not mentioned in the film — are trying to clean up the planet so that the plants can be reintroduced. The Disney connection is made clear by the robots’ names — Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

There are parallels in the films’ dialog as well. Silent Running: “Take good care of the forest, Dewey.” WALL*E: “Take good care of the planet, WALL*E.”

Tomorrow, we’ll look at a few more classic films that served as inspiration for WALL*E.

Correction correction

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

Correcting our earlier correction, mathematics historians now inform us that four is not “a couple.”

Sorry again!

WALL*E, corrections

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

We have a couple of corrections to yesterday’s post on the new Pixar movie, WALL*E. Namely:

  1. The movie’s title is supposed to be in all caps — WALL*E, not Wall*E. (Apparently, Wall*E — with the lower-case letters — is street slang for wall paper infused with ecstasy.)
  2. We were less than accurate when we quoted some moron who said that Carol Channing is the voice for Wall*E’s ship’s computer. The ship’s computer is actually voiced by Sigourney Weaver. (Carol Channing played the title character in Alien.)
  3. The scene where characters vomit to the tune of songs from Yentl is in Shrek IV, not Shrek III, and in fact the song they vomit is not from Yentl, but is a medley from Funny Lady.
  4. We should have had a “spoiler alert” tag before the paragraph about Eve accidentally crippling WALL*E with the surplus rocket launcher, and should probably never have mentioned her subsequent suicide at all.

Sorry ’bout that!

Wall*E product placement

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Reviews are starting to appear for the new Pixar film Wall*E, and although some are less than five-star (such as Roper and Phillips’ review, which includes words like “tiresome,” “forbidding,” and “the”), most are lauding the production (such as “Movie Reviews for Sale,” which says, “This is absolutely, positively, the best film I have ever or will ever see if I live to be a million.”)

But what people aren’t talking about is the copious product placement in the film. “It’s the first time that Pixar has really sold out,” says self-aggrandizing film historian and delusional semi-psychopath Fred Friedskul. “You’ll see products from A1 Fire Extinguishers, the BnL corporation, and Thinkway Toys. But even more blatant is that blatant blatancy of the product placement for the new remastered DVD release of Hello, Dolly! Seriously, has Barbra Streisand sunk so low that she has to to advertise her movies in kids features? As if the Yentl references during that Shrek III vomit scene weren’t bad enough. You wouldn’t catch Carol Channing doing this kind of garbage, which is why the fact that she’s the voice for Wall*E’s ship’s computer all the more ironic.”

Even so, we’re betting it’ll be the best Disney movie with a main character who’s a cockroach since Mickey’s Metamorphosis!

The Pin Vault

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Disney pin traders will be pleased with the latest addition to Disneyland Resort’s Downtown Disney — the Disney Pin Vault (captured just before opening by our Official DisneyLies Photo Correspondent).

The Pin Vault

This gigantic store has the largest collection of rare, vintage, hard-to-find, one-of-a-kind, signed, dangled, pin-on-pin, flocked, lenticular, light-up, animated, jumbo, micro, 3D, audio, holographic, precious-metal, scented, hallucinogenic, holy grail, POH, and self-aware collectible Disney pins on the planet. Says store manager Cloisinné Baubél, “Pin aficionados have been known to become excited to the point that they need medical attention when they see our collection. Our hand-selected pins cost from as little as $25 for a simple retired cast-member lanyard pin to as much as $12,000 for a pin encasing a relic such as a fragment of Walt Disney’s true desk. Many people ask if we trade pins and we answer that we do happily trade — for cold, hard cash.”

The store’s gigantic vault-like front door is in fact the real thing. It operates on a time lock, so guests must enter the store promptly when it opens at 10 a.m., and cannot leave until the door again opens at 5 p.m. Serious pin collectors only. No food, drinks, scrappers, or strollers.

Of animatronics and Wall*E

Friday, June 20th, 2008

It has been announced that after the release of Pixar’s newest feature Wall*E, a full-size animatronic Wall*E will be introduced into Disney’s California Adventure! This specially programmed, completely autonomous automaton will drive, make expressive noises, and pick up trash, just like its movie counterpart. Disney management says that it may even be allowed to interact with guests after it has completely cleaned its area of the park.

Unfortunately, just a few days after this news was released, Disney announced that it would be firing a significant number of its animatronics-department staff. This marks an end to Disney’s tradition of developing lifelike figures in-house or (in recent years) of outsourcing much of its animatronics work but not telling anyone. The released staffers will be replaced by specially programmed, completely autonomous Wall*E-style robots.

Where’d DCA’s $$$ go????

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

A little over a week ago, the Blue Sky Disney blog had an article responding to the question that is on many Disney fan’s mouse-puckered lips, “I’ve heard that because of the economy all projects for DCA are on hold or canceled.” Well, we have been diligently researching this topic and have come to the conclusion that, despite what some may have you believe, this is not a question at all. All it is is a statement about a rumor. According to several experts in the English language that we consulted, if it had been a question the sentence would have had a significantly different form, and there probably would have been a question mark at the end.

Now that this is cleared up, we would like to address rumors that DCA’s improvements have been delayed/canceled due to a downturn in the economy. Fortunately, few things could be further from the truth! It is true that construction at DCA has been delayed a few months, but this has nothing to do with a lack of funds — at least not in a traditional sense. As Peter Exchequer, former head of Disneyland Resort accounting, told us on condition of anonymity, “To make a long story short, I lost the checkbook. We were all ready to go with moving the park’s entrance and recreating 1920 Hollywood or whatever it was that they were going to do first, and I had purchase orders read for all the construction crews, but when I got to the head of the line at Home Depot to buy all the wood and nails and stuff, I couldn’t find the checkbook. It was really embarrassing. Fortunately I found it just yesterday. It was in the pocket of a suit that was at the cleaners. So now as soon as my successor can get back to Home Depot and pick out all that stuff again, we’re back in business!”

Sad but true! This is easily the most embarrassing delay experienced at the resort since a cast member lost the key to the front gate of Disneyland and the park had to stay closed for a week and a half.

Midway Mania’s future

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

One of the benefits of the new Toy Story Midway Mania attraction being largely computer animated is that it can be easily modified to suit current events. For example, beginning later this month, a certain little futuristic robot will be visible in the distance in one of the scenes, cleaning up darts that miss the background and hit targets. And when the new Tinker Bell movie is released directly to video, a certain pixie will appear in one game (and explode when hit with a burst of pixie dust that will make other objects on the screen fly — if they are thinking happy thoughts).

Holidays will also be commemorated as the season demands. Around Christmas time, players will be able to throw fruitcakes instead of pies, and Buzz Lightyear will sport a new red spacesuit and whiskers. You’ll be hurling colored eggs at chocolate farm animals on Easter. On Arbor Day, throwing a dart at a balloon in a tree will earn you double points, as will hitting any target in the Green Army Men scene on Memorial Day.

The attraction is also programmed to react to real-world events. Earthquakes will knock down all targets for a big score, and all on-screen characters are programmed to move calmly toward exits in case of a fire.