How “Star Tours” became a reality

Jim Hill

19 years ago

The following press release was actually released to the media back in January of 1987.

Bringing the “Star Wars” mythology to Disneyland is no small venture, as the two-year collaborative effort of Walt Disney Imagineering and George Lucas will attest.

The Tomorrowland attraction that would evolve into “Star Tours” was initiated in early 1985, when George Lucas and key Disney management met to discuss the possibility of Lucas’ involvement for a new attraction at Disneyland. Soon, ideas were flying between the Lucas headquarters in Marin County and Walt Disney Imagineering, the Glendale-based master-planning, design, engineering, production and project management subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. All agreed that a union of the “Star Wars” mythology with Disney refinement of flight simulator technology used to train aircraft pilots was an exciting new way to go.

Walt Disney Imagineering has been exploring the use of flight simulators since the 1970’s, according to Randy Bright, Vice President of Concept Development. “We became aware of industrial flight simulators and their possible entertainment applications within the Disney theme parks when we were researching various technologies for EPCOT Center,” says Bright.

Walt Disney Imagineering concept designer Tony Baxter participated in the early discussions with Lucas, and functioned as his co-director on “Star Tours,” creating concepts for the attraction within the framework of the Lucas “Star Wars” mythology. “We were fortunate to have such an imaginative mythology to work with,” says Baxter. “It made the challenge of expanding it to three dimensions a very exciting and rewarding experience. In some ways we actually had more creative freedom than you would with a feature film.”

Walt Disney Imagineering show producer Tom Fitzgerald is a self-described “Star Wars” buff, “one of those fanatics who lined up at 5 a.m. at the Egyptian Theater to see the first Los Angeles screening of “The Empire Strikes Back.” A member of the original Imagineering team on the simulator concept, Fitzgerald contributed to four concepts (including a concept of the attraction as a Jedi training device) for Lucas’ review.

In 1985, Baxter and Fitzgerald joined Lucas and a small group of ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) designers at a story session at their Northern California headquarters. “George had an interesting idea,” says Baxter. “There’s a public preconception that a Disney attraction is completely safe — because it’s true. But George thought it might be a nice twist to interject an element of ‘danger.’ He came up with the idea of the opening fiasco — the hitches are contrary to what one expects from a Disney attraction. You think you’re going to Endor, but the ‘real’ tour turns out to be something quite different!”

“Tony and I spent the following night holed up in our Sausalito hotel room,” says Fitzgerald, “pinning file crads indicating story elements, special effects, and simulator motions in a grid sequence on the wall. We were envisioning ‘Star Tours’ not just as a film experience, but as a fantasy-adventure synchronizing film, with simulated motion and terrific special effects.” By the next morning, they had the first draft of a concept for “Star Tours.”

“We were determined to combine a strong story line with a thrill ride, a hard thing to pull off,” continues Fitzgerald. “We also wanted to introduce at least one new character. George came up with the idea of a pilot, who turned out to be Rex, our rookie. Rex began as a ‘cosmic bus driver,’ a counterpart to the wisecracking Jungle Cruise guides at Disneyland.”

“We had to be selective when deciding what fast curves to throw people,” says Baxter. “The attraction’s speed makes it a showcase of impressions rather than details. You don’t go around the ice crystal in ‘Star Tours,’ you go through it … You don’t have a nice, smooth landing, you crash. As it turns out, you enjoy a story and a thrill ride, all contrary to the ‘usual’ Disney experience.”

“George had a catalytic effect on the project all along the way,” continues Baxter. “He was perceptive about our creative strengths, and helped us to reverse the tried and true by giving people what they don’t expect — and it works.”

By the end of the summer, all had agreed on the concept to be storyboarded for the Tomorrowland attraction: “Star Tours” would feature scenic tours of the universe aboard the StarSpeeder 3000, operated by the first intergalactic tour bus company. R2-D2 and C-3PO would be part of the package, having resigned from ilitary service to find new lives as “Star Tours” recruiter/guides.

Industrial Light and Magic, under the direction of Dave Carson, went to work on the film storyboards and production, while Walt Disney Imaginerrinh designers took over the design and production of the “Star Tours” company headquarters, robotics factory, the StarSpeeder 3000, and the high-tech “Audio-Animatronics” androids who populate the enterprise. Baxter and Fitzgerald went to Industrial Light and Magic to uncover actual props used in the “Star Wars” trilogy. R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca, even pieces of the Death Star were sent to Walt Disney Imagineering to be refurbished and incorporated into “Star Tours.”

One of the StarSpeeders was mocked up for testing, full-sized and operational, inside a metal building in the Imagineering parking lot. After ILM delivered a film animatic, showing the proposed action of each scene in a simple computer graphic format, Walt Disney Imagineering programmers went to work. Watching the film on a video monitor, they used a “joystick” to synchronize the movements of the simulator motion base with the point of view actions on screen.

By June of 1986, a rough version of “Star Tours” was previewd by 2,000 Disney employees and their families. “The response was phenominal,” says Fitzgerald. “It gave everyone involved the necessary blast-off toward opening day.”

Working with Lucas was a memorable experience for both Baxter and Fitzgerald. “At one story session at Walt Disney Imagineering, we were grappling with the use of cliches in our story line,” says baxter. “George said, ‘Don’t be afraid to use cliches — They’re cliches because they work.’ His sense of story, of what appeals to people and is remembered by them, is truly amazing.”

“Star Tours” brings Tomorrowland well into the 21st century. “When Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt Disney set Tomorrowland in the near future — in 1986, to be exact,” says Baxter. “The ‘futuristic’ technology portrayed in the original Tomorrowland was really current technology, available at the time. In ‘Star Tours,’ we’re looking at a techno-fantasy, a vision of technology that isn’t available today, and won’t be for perhaps another century.”

That’s a pretty fun read, don’t you think? Mind you, this was the OFFICIAL version of how “Star Tours” supposedly came together. If you want the UNOFFICIAL version of how this legendary Disney theme park attraction actually came into being, drop by JHM next week. When we’ll fill you in on what really happened “A long time ago …”