A column with two subjects today: We begin with a look at the new post-show
exhibits for Spaceship Earth at Epcot, and then we have an update for you on the
Give Kids the World fundraising campaign. - Kevin
Just A Day Away...
Project Tomorrow, the new post-show by sponsor Siemens, opened this week at
Epcot's Spaceship Earth. I wasn't expecting much; maybe a corporate nod or two.
Anything, I thought, would be better than the boarded up empty space which had
been here since AT&T moved out. But I was pleasantly surprised. This new
Siemens area is classy, futuristic, moderately fun, and done in a tasteful,
Epcot-kind of way.
The most noticeable feature is the giant globe (actually, only three-quarters of
a globe) in the center of the room. Across this giant project screen flits
images of the future, silhouettes of children, and brief messages.
It's also the only place where Siemens has a noticeable advertisement for their
company, and it's pretty discreet. I approve.
This globe is also home to a message that Spaceship Earth (the ride) will be
updated soon.
Flanking the globe are two long, plushy upholstered benches, ideal for resting
and awaiting party members who went on the ride (or, I suppose, for sleeping).
It's nicely air-conditioned in here, just in time for the blast of hot furnace
air we call Floridian summer, so it's sure to be a draw on this basis alone.
But there's more to do here. So far, there are two kinds of interactive
experiences (OK, I guess you could call them games), each with multiple stations
so various people can play. Off to the west side is the driving game "Super
Driver." In some ways, this is a typical driving simulator, only with graphics
less advanced than could have been found four years ago in arcades.
What's
different is that every so often, drivers are given a chance to "let the car
take over" by pushing the action button. The heads-up display, a nifty 3D
effect, lets you know when it's a possibility. Examples include sending a signal
to make all stoplights green, turning on x-ray vision to see through fog,
enabling snow tires to grip the road, turning on auto-steering to find a route
past obstacles, and triggering a super jump straight out of the 80s show Knight
Rider.
These features are what's "in it" for Siemens, with the obvious
implication that this futuristic company is going to be behind such changes to
our cars in the future. There's not much in the way of an advertisement for the
company, so subtle is it, but I liked the game. It was a good balance of
entertainment and actually having a point about futurism, without feeling like
work or "education." The General Motors display at Test Track could learn a
thing or two from this exhibit by Siemens.
Across the way, the other functional display is equally entertaining: it's a
video game where players pick up pieces of bones to form a skeleton (and,
disturbingly, major organs too) and drop them like a giant claw game onto the
operating table. When positioned just right, the pieces fall into place and
click together. If not, they drop through the table and you have to try again.
All the while, bones and organs rotate around in the background.
The point Siemens is making is that someday doctors will perform surgeries
remotely, but no player is really thinking about this; they are just playing the
engrossing game. What makes it even more immersive is the great vocal acting,
apparently supplied by Wallace Shawn (you know, the voice of the T. Rex in the
Toy Story movies and Vizzini in The Princess Bride... inconceivable!) As the voice
of the skeleton, he makes puns and jokes every time you pick up an article and
especially mocks you when you fail to position it correctly. Nearby, a placeholder
announces that the "check up of the future" will inhabit that spot soon.
Behind the globe, another large placeholder heralds the coming
of the city of the future.
I didn't mind these temporary signs at all – they are
done at great expense, fit right in, and their presence allows the rest of the
exhibit to open now, months before the entire thing is "completed."
I can only find one point of criticism: the skeleton game uses a 3D display,
which enables the carnival claw game to work in the first place, but
necessitates the use of the yellow 3D glasses. I saw more than one person simply
place his used glasses back in the trays for other people to pick up – yuck!
There is a deposit receptacle for the glasses on the opposite side, but it's
fairly hidden, so something needs to be done about that.
Also, the temptation to
just steal the glasses is too big; we saw a few people walking around outside
with them. Perhaps they could solve both problems by placing the trashcan-like
eyeglass return receptacles at the exit to the exhibit, just right there in the
walkway like when you leave Honey I Shrunk the Audience?
On the whole, this exhibit just "feels" like Epcot, and restores some futurism
to the almost mis-named Future World. Best of all, the exhibit is "on theme"
about Spaceship Earth. All around the circular building are screens, almost
Circle-Vision like, that show stars drifting through. It takes a moment for the
message to sink in: that huge globe in the middle of the room is the earth,
after all, and this is a representation of "spaceship earth" moving through the
cosmos.
It's a fitting tribute to the end of Spaceship Earth, the ride, and I
can only hope Epcot continues in this vein. That Epcot's chief executive, Brad
Rex, just moved on from Disney is possibly a portent of good things to come.
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