MKadmin
08-25-2007, 20:36
9
As crowds gathered around the little puppet-show-on-wheels roaming Epcot on Tuesday, realization dawned on some: No strings. No hands inside the puppets. No one hidden inside the tiny vehicle. No one in sight with microphones or remote controls.
All the crowd saw were two robotic Muppet characters -- Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his able assistant, Beaker -- riding their two-wheeled rocket-ship/laboratory vehicle along Epcot's sidewalks, teasing or talking with visitors, gesturing and moving, and putting on their best Muppet shtick. The characters interacted with the crowd, turning to people and carrying on conversations.
Emily Evans, 23, a human-resources recruiter from Chicago, and her brother Nathan Evans, 29, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, found themselves swept up in the Walt Disney World show.
"Um, it isn't raining," Bunsen said, picking out Emily Evans from among the curious onlookers because she was using an open umbrella as a parasol. "Do you know something we don't know?"
The Muppet Mobile Lab, as the rig is called, is the star of a test that Walt Disney Imagineering is conducting at Epcot during the next few weeks. The lab gives the research-and-development staff a chance to try more-advanced robotic, interactive and transportation technologies -- mixed with some human comedy talent. With remote-control and two-way communication, Disney operators are sending the show out and about Epcot's Future World periodically to interact with the crowds.
There's no guarantee the Muppet Mobile Lab will become a permanent feature. Disney Imagineering officials are as interested in testing the various components as they are the entire package, for possible transfer to other characters or locations, said Christopher Holm, director of the principal technical staff.
"It's really interaction in a whole new way for Disney characters, and our guests, because it's up close, it's personal, it's in real time," Holm said. "That's a very, very different show presence than any of our previous 'living' characters. Stitch, for example, or Turtle Talk with Crush -- those are really theater experiences. There is a barrier."
As it made its way about 400 yards through the park Tuesday on wheels that Holm described as "inspired by" Segway scooters, the Muppet Mobile Lab collected its own parade of curious park visitors before stopping for a 12-minute show -- partially scripted, partially improvisational -- near Mission: Space.
"It's a real Pied Piper," Holm said.
The Evans siblings, fans of both Disney and the Muppets, approached the lab with delight and followed it across the park, carrying on a conversation with the Bunsen character much of the way.
"I wish they would do more of it with various characters," Emily Evans said. "I would say keep going with the technology. It's amazing, and obviously it's a crowd-pleaser as well."
[Source: Orlando Sentinel (http://www.orlandosentinel.com)]
As crowds gathered around the little puppet-show-on-wheels roaming Epcot on Tuesday, realization dawned on some: No strings. No hands inside the puppets. No one hidden inside the tiny vehicle. No one in sight with microphones or remote controls.
All the crowd saw were two robotic Muppet characters -- Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his able assistant, Beaker -- riding their two-wheeled rocket-ship/laboratory vehicle along Epcot's sidewalks, teasing or talking with visitors, gesturing and moving, and putting on their best Muppet shtick. The characters interacted with the crowd, turning to people and carrying on conversations.
Emily Evans, 23, a human-resources recruiter from Chicago, and her brother Nathan Evans, 29, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, found themselves swept up in the Walt Disney World show.
"Um, it isn't raining," Bunsen said, picking out Emily Evans from among the curious onlookers because she was using an open umbrella as a parasol. "Do you know something we don't know?"
The Muppet Mobile Lab, as the rig is called, is the star of a test that Walt Disney Imagineering is conducting at Epcot during the next few weeks. The lab gives the research-and-development staff a chance to try more-advanced robotic, interactive and transportation technologies -- mixed with some human comedy talent. With remote-control and two-way communication, Disney operators are sending the show out and about Epcot's Future World periodically to interact with the crowds.
There's no guarantee the Muppet Mobile Lab will become a permanent feature. Disney Imagineering officials are as interested in testing the various components as they are the entire package, for possible transfer to other characters or locations, said Christopher Holm, director of the principal technical staff.
"It's really interaction in a whole new way for Disney characters, and our guests, because it's up close, it's personal, it's in real time," Holm said. "That's a very, very different show presence than any of our previous 'living' characters. Stitch, for example, or Turtle Talk with Crush -- those are really theater experiences. There is a barrier."
As it made its way about 400 yards through the park Tuesday on wheels that Holm described as "inspired by" Segway scooters, the Muppet Mobile Lab collected its own parade of curious park visitors before stopping for a 12-minute show -- partially scripted, partially improvisational -- near Mission: Space.
"It's a real Pied Piper," Holm said.
The Evans siblings, fans of both Disney and the Muppets, approached the lab with delight and followed it across the park, carrying on a conversation with the Bunsen character much of the way.
"I wish they would do more of it with various characters," Emily Evans said. "I would say keep going with the technology. It's amazing, and obviously it's a crowd-pleaser as well."
[Source: Orlando Sentinel (http://www.orlandosentinel.com)]