I swear to God I was going to do a “Why For” today.
Honestly. I had already selected my first question to answer. Which was Kelly C. of Thousand Oaks, CA. Who wrote in to ask:
Jim:
I know that Disneyland’s “Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” ride has some sort of tribute to the “Country Bears” stashed away inside of it. But I have yet to be able to spot what people have been talking about as I ride through this Critter Country attraction. So could you please tell where & when exactly I need to look in order to spot Max, Buff & Melvin?
Kelly
Dear Kelly —
You’ll find what you’re looking for toward the end of the attraction. Just before Winnie the Pooh wakes up from his dream and joins his friends at that birthday party.
Here. I’ve included a photo that Jeff Lange took during his most recent trip to Anaheim. Here you can plainly see that trio of “Country Bear Jamboree” hecklers in the room when Poor bear is dreaming that he found that endless supply of honey. In fact, you can see the edges of the yellow-painted flats that you’ll find in this area of the “Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” dark ride in this photograph.
Photo by Jeff Lange
As your ride vehicle rolls into this particular part of this Critter Country attraction, you just have to look up. It’s easy to spot Melvin, Buff & Max. Given that your heffalump-powered bee hive drives right under them. Though — if you want to get a decent photo of these old AA figures — Jeff suggests that you wait until you get a little deeper into the Honey room, then be sure to use your flash …
This is far as I got … When I heard the UPS truck rumbling up the driveway. Then the man in brown dropped off the latest pile of DVDs that the folks at Buena Vista Home Entertainment were nice enough to send me. And there — right at the top of the pile — was the “Scrubs: The Complete First Season” DVD set.
And — with that — my plan for yesterday afternoon went entirely off-track.
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with this NBC sitcom. Given that “Scrubs” regularly gets its butt kicked (ratings-wise, that is) by another Touchstone Television series, ABC’s “According to Jim” … I have to assume that a lot of folks haven’t yet discovered this great little series.
But here now is your chance to discover what you’ve been missing. BVHE has put together a really killer three-disc set. You get all 24 episodes of the first season of the series. Plus great extras like “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence and series star Zach Braff doing commentary on a couple of episodes, a documentary on the making of the show, outtakes & deleted scenes.
And even though I told myself I was only going to watch just one episode and then get right back to work on this week’s “Why For” … I soon found myself getting sucked into the world of “Scrubs.” I was surprised at how strong this show was right from the get-go. Most sitcoms fumble around for at least the first few episodes while they try and find a consistant style & tone (*KOFF* “Seinfeld” *KOFF*). But “Scrubs” had a distinctive look & POV right out of the box.
And some of the choices that Lawrence made (EX: Hiring Braff — an actor who had little or no experience on camera up until that point. Figuring that the terror that Zach had to be feeling — being an unknown who had to carry an entire network sitcom on his back — would have to be similar to what J.D. was going through in the first year of his residency at Sacred Heart. Which would obviously effect the young actor’s performance in this role) were truly inspired.
Loaded with just shy of 10 full hours of material, “Scrubs: The Complete First Season” is a must-buy. Even if you’ve never seen this Touchstone Television production to date. Just so you can then see what you were missing.
For me, the three-plus hours that I’ve invested in watch this three disc set were worth it for the revelation that — during the first season of “Scrubs” — the show’s creator actually toyed with the idea of making Neal Flynn this sitcom’s Snuffleupagas. As in: Given that Bill Lawrence was convinced that NBC was never actually going to renew this sitcom, he wanted to reveal in the final episode of the first season that only J.D. could see Sacred Heart’s sinister janitor. That this character that had continually bedeviled this young physician was actually just a figment of Dr. Dorian’s imagination.
But then — when “Scrubs” got renewed for Season Two — Neal supposed went to Bill and asked: “Would it be okay now if I started doing scenes with other actors on this show?”
Funny, funny stuff.
And — speaking of funny stuff … As in funny “strange,” rather than “Ha ha, ho hee” … Check out this website for Oceanic Air.
Now — for those of you who don’t know — Oceanic Air is the fictious airline featured in the hit ABC series, “Lost.” And — according to this web page — it was actually the disappearance of Flight 815 that actually put Oceanic out of business.
“So this is just some cute little website that ABC put up to help promote ‘Lost,’ right?” you ask. Well, no. Just like seemingly everything associated with this ABC show, things are not what they initially appear to be.
Poke around the edges of the Oceanic website, explore all its nooks & crannies, even dig down into its code … And you’ll rewarded with a wealth of “Lost”-related info. Everything from messages that some of the crash’s survivors have been trying to get to family members to script pages to even a description of the monstrous “security system” that stalks the island.
If you’re a “Lost” fan who’s wondering how you’re going to fill up the hours ’til the first season DVD set becomes available on September 6th and/or until new episodes start airing in the fall … Well, it might just be worth your while to spend some time poking around the Oceanic Air website. Just to see what sort of secrets will be revealed.
Speaking of things being revealed … I’ve been intrigued to see the reaction to Disney’s new “Chicken Little” trailer. In that people seem to be really put off by that little bit of dancing that the film’s title character does toward the end of the ad.
Trust me, folks, when you finally get to see the finished version of this Mark Dindal film … It’ll all make sense. That dancing bit actually comes out of a very funny sequence in “Chicken Little” where Runt of the Litter and Fish Out of Water are over at Abby Mallard’s house having a karaoke party. Based on the footage that I saw last year at SIGGRAPH, it’ll be worth the price of admission just to see that 900-pound pig attempt to dance & lip sync to that Spice Girls hit, “Wannabe.”
Again, I’m sorry that today’s “Why For” went so far off-track. But — next week — I promise that I’ll get back to answering your Disney-related questions … Just as soon as I get through those last two “Scrubs” DVDs.
That’s it for now, folks. Have a great weekend, okay?
jrh\