Poseidon's Fury Designer Speaks on Changes
Evil One
post for him to the news group, involving the new show, and addressing the
changes, compliments and complaints as well as enlightening reasons behind the
goal. If anyone has any comments, feel free to reply to this post. All
responses will be forwarded to Gary immediately. --
POSEIDONS FURY
Regarding this Show --
I make no apologies. The goal was simple: Universal wanted to revise the
Posedon show. The #1 goal was to "make the story understandable" and #2 was to
"make the show more entertaining.." At the same time, they wanted the show to
have more for kids and families. Okay all would-be attraction designers - what
would YOU do? And realize Universal had already done two revisions to the
attraction - but they were what I would call band-aid changes. They did what
many of you seem to perfer - they tired to keep everything the same and change
some lines here and there, add a few more lights. But that doesn't really do
anything on a canvas as large as this. You have to think out of the box and
really get into something new. Add to the equation that you have to use the
existing format, the rooms, the screens, the basic set-up of chamber and
effects. You have to tell the story in the walk-through format.
Okay - now lets talk about "the Keeper" that many of you are so fond of. Am I
missing something? Since when do you like going to professional theme park and
seeing 20 and 30 year olds playing a 70 year old looking man, who it turns out
is hundreds or thousands of years old, and who ultimately turns out not be a
man, but a God? So if he was Zeus all along, why was he taking us into a known
trap? And why does he wear a bad beard and wig? And then - for all of you
people so sensitive to the reality of the show - did it bother anyone that his
LIVE performer transforms into CGI animated character? And as to the content of
the show - nothing happened in the first two scenes. Nothing.
So - Take the goals above and mix with a very small budget, and 12 weeks to do
it all, and have at it. I am very proud of the show that we accomplished. That
is to say, I and my team, and the Universal technical support team, that did
the impossible. The show now has better ratings, and as pointed out by one of
you here, the ratings improve as they continue to get the finale effects on
line on a more consistent basis.
As to the choices I made - and yes, I wrote, directed, produced and designed
the show -- here are there reasons. It's not some random thing -- it was very
purposeful.
Taylor - I wanted a character audiences could indentify with and they they
would LIKE.
Darkennon - I wanted a VILLAIN - someone that could be EVIL and that could
attack Poseidon.
Why Poseidon as a HERO? Well for all of you purists - its just not correct that
Poseidon was a villain. And Zeus and Poseidon battling for Earth isn't correct
either. So - lets get off this notion that the previous show was somehow "true"
to mythology. It wasn't --
It was called Poseidon's Fury - and they decided to keep that name, though I
had proposed a change - The Haunted Temple of Poseidon. I thought, since the
"fun houses" at Halloween use walk-through effectively, that there was good
parallel in calling this a Haunted Temple. (That would have slightly changed
the writing as well...)
As to the concept and design -- Pre-Show sets up Taylor as your host who TRIES
his best to deal with the "strnage things" going on --
ACT I - establishes the backstory of what has gone before, it then sets up a
RIDDLE that holds the key to what lays ahead, and then cleanly sets up the
Villain - and all in a way that allows Taylor to react and discover things as
he goes. (Compare that to the previous show in there - honestly people, there
is no comparison because nothing dramatic happened previously ecxcept that they
shined lights on cieling paintings.)
ACT II - CHamber of Death -- People are TRAPPED. No escape unless they can find
something -- find it or die. No way out - until Taylor by chance finds the
object of magic -- and in doing so, brings to life the Guardian --- who then
casts the spell that opens the doorway to Poseidon's Chamber.
ACT III - Poseidon's Chamber -- for all of you jaded people who KNOW the secret
of the room - next time WATCH the faces of the guests who don't know whats
coming. You will see that they are quite awestruck -- as a magic trick, it
works well. As to the rest of it - the focus, the staging, the storytelling is
CLEAR now. We realize what is up.
And, as pointed out by others -- if you saw the show early in the SUmmer - the
finale effects were not firing as consistently as we had liked. Now the show is
building up its reliabilty - and mjore and more of the effects are in.
I agree with several people here -- its easy to be jaded and cynical about
things. Espeically when you don't go on line to achieve things. But here, I end
where I started - I make no apologies. THe show is clearer. Kids love the show
(although Tiny ones have to leave as it gets a little scary for them) - Adults
love the show too though. The ratings have gone up. People applaud at the end
of this show - something that never happened previously. I'm proud of this on
all counts - but when you add that we did it on a small, tight budget, and in
12 weeks, it is only that much more incredible.
I urge those of you who thought it wasn't all that great, to see it again with
an open mind. I cannot agree with anyone who thinks the previous show was a gem
-- sorry. It was really not good on most any level - dramatically and from an
entertainment point of view - it lacked any heart, it had no humor, and it
certainly was not engaging.
I welcome your comments - its always good to get feedback. All I am saying is -
instead of being caustic and smug in your replies people -- THINK about things
and find positive solutions. If there was ONE idea in here that was a great
suggestion, I'd probably use it. As it is - these endless remarks that are
"cute" do nothing to really help, nor are they valid criticisms.
I look forward to additional comments.
Gary Goddard
Jiromi
>For those interested, the show's designer, Gary Goddard, asked me to make
>this
>post for him to the news group, involving the new show, and addressing the
>changes, compliments and complaints as well as enlightening reasons behind
>the
>goal. If anyone has any comments, feel free to reply to this post.
My first comment is that Gary sounds awfully defensive and overly sensitive.
He starts off with an obvious chip on his shoulder. ("I make no apologies.")
Did someone *ask* him to apologize? There's nothing wrong with being proud of
one's work, but I'm surprised he doesn't have a thicker skin, since you
obviously can't please everyone, especially in show business. I'm also
surprised that he would have this posted. Do his superiors know about this and
approve of it?
Onto the show, since he says he welcomes our comments.
Since the show deals with a character from Greek mythology (Poseidon), I think
it would have been better to make the villain a recognizable figure from the
same realm. Just as an example, Proteus sounds like a promising possibility.
Here's a description from Edith Hamilton's
_Mythology_: "Proteus was sometimes said to be Poseidon's son, sometimes his
attendant. He had the power both of foretelling the future and of changing his
shape at will." Lots of potential there.
And that painting of Darkennon just does *not* fit with the temple. It belongs
in Marvel Super Hero Island. It's cheesy. It's not done in the same style as
the queue or the rest of the temple. The costume doesn't really seem to fit
with the Greek mythology theme either. Too late to do anything about the
costume, but I do think that the painting could be redone to blend in more
realistically.
What's with the English words painted around the walls? Somehow, I could
accept the hero and villain speaking English, but the writing stuck out like a
sore thumb. You know, the building exterior and the queue do a great job of
making us believe that this place is a genuine archaeological find, but then
the effect is ruined by the jarring painting of Darkennon, and that writing.
It looks slapped together. I'd rather have Taylor translate the ancient
language. This is something that could also be redone without huge expense.
Speaking of Taylor, wow, the show relies very heavily on this character. I
guess if the actor / actress is extremely talented, this could be a good thing.
But I didn't like being trapped with the rather screechy, hyper Taylor that we
saw. It's like taking a cruise with a bad Jungle Cruise skipper. I'm not
sure if the problem lies more with the script or the actor.
I've seen both versions of the show, and frankly I wasn't really thrilled with
either of them. It's certainly not terrible, but it didn't leave me feeling
that I had to go back. The reason I saw it the second time was because I
wanted to check out the changes. The water tunnel still stands out as the
coolest thing in the show, and certainly makes it worth at least one visit.
The only reason I might go back again is to see a particular actor as Taylor,
and I don't know how to guarantee that ahead of time, so I may not be able to
convince my husband and daughter to take the chance. If I do go back, I'll be
using Express Pass, because, although the queue is well decorated, it's hellish
to be stuck in there for more than a few minutes.
--
Ronnie (TDC Iago, Parrot Royal and Screamer in the Czarina's Ear)
Iago & Zazu's Attraction of the Week http://www.emuck.com:3000/aotw
Iago's Disney Page http://members.aol.com/tdciago/index.html
mailto:jir...@MailandNews.com
Evil One
Actually, yes. The post was written first for a Disney/Universal discussion
forum where people were totally ripping at him, and actually expected an
apology for what was done to the attraction.
He asked me to post his commentary to the other groups that I've been
mentioning the show on for him. It wasn't written for, nor directed at RADP. It
was just long and detailed, and made much more sense than doing all that again.
C
Evil One
approve of it?>>
Forgot to say on this --
Gary *is* his superior :o) It's his company!
Jiromi
>Actually, yes. The post was written first for a Disney/Universal discussion
>forum where people were totally ripping at him, and actually expected an
>apology for what was done to the attraction.
Good grief.
>Forgot to say on this --
>
>Gary *is* his superior :o) It's his company!
So this is Gary Goddard of Landmark Entertainment Group? (I just looked him up
on a search engine.) Frankly, I'm even *more* amazed at his defensiveness now
that I know this. I really don't think his words come across as a professional
response from the Chairman of a major company. Is it really appropriate for
him to discuss Universal's project budget, or to insult the original show?
(Er, I take it that he was not involved in the design and script of the
original version?) His reaction seems unprofessional to me.
Pulpscrypt
We saw Posiedons Fury on opening day and numerous times afterward.
As a bizarre magician myself (label us storytelling magicians if you must), I
was always amazed by the shows spectacles ~ the exterior, the door to Atlantis
itself, the tunnel of water and the surprise ending (when they were running
properly) and loved the original storyline...
However, I was even more consistently
amazed that people did not applaud at the end, or seemed not to have a clue as
to what had "supposedly" occured.
Manys the time my wife and I walked out saying to other guests, "don't you
realise that THIS is what happened?" LOL
Now, I can't wait to see the revised storyline.
Next visit May of 2002.
Best Wishes and thanks for one of our favorite experiences.
Dave T
Catherine
saved by the water tunnel, and the operative part of SinBAD is BAD.
The bird that sat on the set for the whole show was more entertaining
than anything else.
Oh well, they've got the rides, what do they need shows for anyway?
Catherine
TDC Nala
Lurker in Tropical Foliage and Fierce Protector of Castaway Creek
joelk
wasn't. He was just annoying -- even embarrassing. Maybe it's just harder for
the average inexperienced actor to play comedy than to play solemn.
As for the final scene, I enjoyed both versions.
joelk,
"Evil One" <thril...@aol.comFEARME> wrote in message
news:20010910023412...@mb-de.aol.com...
Vulcaniya
>I saw two shows at IOA and thought both were awful.
>The bird that sat on the set for the whole show was more entertaining
>than anything else.
IAGO! Get back to the MAgic Kingdom, would you?!!?
TDC Vully
"Whatever one man is capable of conceiving, other men will be able to achieve."
- Jules Verne -
Jiromi
>>From: cat...@msn.com
>
>>I saw two shows at IOA and thought both were awful.
>
>>The bird that sat on the set for the whole show was more entertaining
>>than anything else.
>
>IAGO! Get back to the MAgic Kingdom, would you?!!?
But they *appreciate* me at Islands of Adventure!
Lori E Wagner
"Jiromi" <tdc...@aol.comFeathers> wrote in message
news:20010910085035...@ng-bd1.aol.com...
> What's with the English words painted around the walls? Somehow, I could
> accept the hero and villain speaking English, but the writing stuck out
like a
> sore thumb. You know, the building exterior and the queue do a great job
of
> making us believe that this place is a genuine archaeological find, but
then
> the effect is ruined by the jarring painting of Darkennon, and that
writing.
> It looks slapped together. I'd rather have Taylor translate the ancient
> language. This is something that could also be redone without huge
expense.
Speaking of the building itself, I thought the look of it was amazing when I
saw the original show last year. I haven't seen the changes, but I do
remember that the only saving grace really was that water tunnel.
Why was I so disappointed? I think one major reason is that wonderful
exterior. With a building that huge, I thought I'd be going into a
ride-through attraction of some sort. The whole walking tour of long lines
seemed to be just One Giant Queue the entire time. I kept thinking each
room was a preshow! I saw one preshow after another.
Sure, Alien Encounter has two preshows, but the original Poseidon I saw was
hilarious with all the show rooms. At least I figured out the last room
with all the effects was the end of the line. <G> I did not see any other
"shows" that trip.
--
Lori
TDC Briar Rose, Princess of Picking Berries
Defender of Trip Report Addicts
email BriarRos...@aol.com remove "no spam"
Jason
He did a bad job, half the people don't seem to like it.. The other half
think it's so so.. Can we start comparing this to the Journey Into YOUR
Imagantion redo now???
Someone please advise gary, to get a PR dept and spin doctor QUICK! I can't
belive he would want to post what he did pubicly. It shows VERY poor taste
and restrant. I'd expect that kinda post from me, a guy who makes a lowly
9.48$ a hour.. not someone running a million dollor company.
Jay
"Evil One" <thril...@aol.comFEARME> wrote in message
news:20010910023412...@mb-de.aol.com...