Cranium Command
| Cranium Command | |||||||||||
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| General statistics | |||||||||||
| Attraction type | Theater Presentation | ||||||||||
| Theme | The Human Brain | ||||||||||
| Music | Original score by David Newman[1] | ||||||||||
| Duration | 17:00 | ||||||||||
| Host | Buzzy (Scott Curtis) | ||||||||||
| Director |
Jerry Rees Opening Sequence Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise | ||||||||||
| Pre-show length | 5:00 | ||||||||||
Cranium Command was an attraction at the Wonders of Life pavilion at Walt Disney World Resort's Epcot theme park. The show was a humorous presentation on the importance of the human brain.
It premiered on October 19, 1989; as of January 4, 2004 it began to operate seasonally, closing permanently on January 1, 2007.
During the 2007 International Food & Wine Festival, the entrance was used as a wine presentation. Disney is still deciding whether to keep using it for the Food and Wine Festival, or to build a new attraction inside the building.
Preshow
The preshow consists of an animated segment featuring General Knowledge (voiced by Corey Burton) briefing his "Cranium Commando" troops on their mission: to pilot human brains and keep the people they're in out of trouble. A bumbling little soldier named Buzzy (Scott Curtis) has been given one of the most difficult missions of all: piloting a twelve-year-old boy.
When General Knowledge speaks in the pre-show and is explaining that they are different kinds of brains, he shows a picture of Albert Einstein, as the example of a person who uses his brain and Ernest P. Worrell (a popular fictional character played by Jim Varney, who was appearing in series of feature films produced by Disney at the time), as an example of the opposite. At the end of the preshow, General Knowledge asks the guests, "Where do you think you are, Disney World?!", and in the same preshow, calls the recruits "Minnie Mouse meatheads."
Show
The main show is presented in a theater which is designed to represent the inside of a human head; the outside world is seen on video displays where the eyes would be. Buzzy is an Audio-Animatronic on an articulated seat so that he can move around during the performance. Helping him pilot the twelve-year-old (also acted by Scott Curtis), via appearances on other video screens, are the logical Left Brain (Charles Grodin), the wacky Right Brain (Jon Lovitz), the hungry Stomach (George Wendt), the panicky Bladder (Jeff Doucette), the Adrenal Gland (Bobcat Goldthwait) who is prone to overreacting, and the heart's Right and Left Ventricles (Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon, reprising their Hans and Franz roles from Saturday Night Live). The Hypothalamus (voiced by Kirk Wise), which regulates autonomic bodily functions, is represented via Audio-Animatronics as a robot.
The show takes Buzzy's host through a typical day: getting up, skipping breakfast, running to school, meeting a cute girl (Annie, played by Natalie Gregory), getting involved in a food fight at lunch, getting sent to the principal (Kenneth Kimmins), and being thanked by the girl, then kissed. At each point in the day, the various organs of the body talk to Buzzy and explain the problems they're facing.
The script was written by Jenny Tripp, a staff writer in Disney Feature Animation.
Attraction facts
- Grand opening: October 19, 1989
- Pre-show length: 5:00
- Show length: 17:00
- New show every: 18:00
- Ride system: Audio-Animatronic theater presentation
See also
- Epcot
- Wonders of Life
- Epcot attraction and entertainment history
References
- "Wonders of Life Pavilion". All Ears Net. Retrieved August 2, 2006.
- "Cranium Command". WDWHistory.com. Retrieved August 2, 2006.
External links
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