Monday Mouse Watch: Is Disney getting ready to send in the “Clones” ?

Jim Hill

17 years ago

Okay. Let’s start your Monday morning off with a funny little Disney-related story from the September issue of “Star Wars Insider” magazine. Which alludes to a particularly bizarre moment during the production of “Episode IV – A New Hope.”

It seems that — with the hope that they might be able to score an atmospheric establishing shot for his new movie — George Lucas made arrangements in March of 1977 to send a film crew down to Guatemala. Where they were to then shoot the Mayan ruins that tower over Tikal National Park.

However, when executives at 20th Century Fox learned of Lucas’ plan, they immediately tried to talk George out of it. Arguing that — if all Lucas wanted to do was establish that the rebel base on Yavin 4 was located on this remote jungle planet … Well, there was really no need to send an entire film crew down to Central America. Lucas could get the exact same sort of shot by sending a single cameraman out to Anaheim. Who could then get some footage of one of those fake temples that rises above the treetops in Disneyland‘s Jungle Cruise.

Lucas, of course, nixed this rather unique cost-savings idea. Over the objections of those Fox executives, George did send a team from ILM down to Guatemala. Where they got the exact sort of shot that Lucas was looking for.

I bring up this story because I think that it’s important to establish how far back “Star Wars” ties to the “Happiest Place on Earth” actually do go. More importantly, that these ties could be getting a whole lot stronger over the next few years.

To explain: George Lucas is currently scheduled to meet with senior officials at Walt Disney Imagineering in late September. Reportedly to review the work that’s been done to date on “Star Tours 2.0” as well as to talk about how Lucasfilm’s presence at Disneyland could be expanded.

Yep, much in the style of the “Lucas Land” project that’s now in the work for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Mickey allegedly wants to turn a large portion of Tomorrowland over to George Lucas. So that a set of new “Star Wars” -themed shops & restaurants (And — more importantly — at least one new major attraction) can be added to this side of the theme park.

Of course, over the past year or so, the “Star Wars” characters have been enjoying a much higher profile at “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Thanks — in large part — to the October opening of the park’s new “Jedi Training Academy” show. Which — truth be told — was actually a clone of a very popular portion of Disney-MGM‘s “Star Wars Weekends,” an annual event that debuted at the studio theme park back in May of 2000.

And speaking of clones … There’s a reason that the Mouse is suddenly so eager to get George’s input regarding how his “Star Wars” characters can best be used in their theme parks. As an executive on the ABC Studios side of the house recently explained this situation to me …

… Disney still wants to cut a deal for the broadcast rights to Lucas’s live-action “Star Wars” TV series with an eye toward airing this program on ABC and ABC Family. But that show is at least a year away from officially going into production. The last he heard, George’s people were still interviewing writers and looking for a showrunner.

Whereas that computer-animated “Clone Wars” series … That’s in production right now and could be available for airing as soon as the Fall of 2008. And that’s the sort of show that Mickey could easily cross-platform at ABC, ABC Family, the Disney Channel and Toon Disney.

And given that Lucas absolutely loves the Disney theme parks (He and his family actually visited Disneyland back on July 19, 1955. The second day that this theme park was open to the public) … What Mouse House management is hoping is — if they invite George to be much more hands-on about how his “Star Wars” characters are used in the parks from here on in … Well, that might be enough to give their company an edge when it comes to acquiring the broadcast rights to “Clone Wars” and/or that “Star Wars” live-action series.

Now please keep in mind that this is far from a done deal. The way I hear it, Disney has some very stiff competition when it comes to that “Clone Wars” TV series. With both Fox and HBO having allegedly already put in extremely competitive bids for the broadcast rights for this show.

And before all of you Disneyland purists start posting comments about how George Lucas is going to absolutely ruin Tomorrowland … Please keep in mind that that several popular attractions on this side of the park are supposedly going to be exempt from “Star Wars” retheming. These reportedly include Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and the Autopia.

But beyond that … Should this plan actually go forward, it could possibly undo a lot of the damage that was done during the “Tomorrowland 1998” redo. With one of the very first items to be moved / removed being the Astro Orbitor. Which — while it brought some much-needed kinetics to Disneyland’s Hub — has been disrupting guest flow patterns in this part of the park for almost a decade now.

So what do you folks think ? Would you welcome a “Star Wars” themed redo of much of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland ? Particularly if it would bring about the closure of “Innoventions” as well as the West Coast version of “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” ? Not to mention allowing the Mouse to send in the “Clones” to do battle with all of ABC, ABC Family, the Disney Channel and Toon Disney’s rivals?

Your thoughts?