January 2, 2018

Colorful Alien Encounter Art

Let's start off the New Year with this very colorful version of the proposed Alien Encounter attraction for Disneyland. Lord knows, this dismal land needs some help! Tomorrowland is a shadow of its former glory, hitting its peak in the 1967 incarnation.

Imagine this version of Tomorrowland coming to Disneyland.

The Imagineers had plans to scrap at all in the late 80's and bring guests a version that immersed them into another world, an interplanetary version of the future that wasn't at all reliant on keeping up with trends in science and technology. This move toward science fiction fantasy would have been a good one in place of the cartoon version we now have.

I took this photo of the proposed
Plectu's Intergalactic Revue- 
and it's been all over the world.

The Carousel of Progress would have been transformed once again. This time America Sings, the Marc Davis musical classic, would have given way to Plectu's Intergalactic Revue. In reality, it was probably wise to scrap this idea as Audio-Animatronic musical attractions were losing popularity among the crowds. (More about that in this article. Will they ever make a resurgence? Possibly.)


The original black and white version.

Nonetheless, each area of Tomorrowland would have been rethought, reimagined to provide a better guest experience- and less need for constant updating. It was not a good plan. The next version of the Land of the Future would fall flat.

Copper Space Mountain and all.

The suits held off. Opting for the version of Tomorrowland 1998, a much cheaper and far less successful Discoveryland take on the future, it was a major misstep. Even the great Imagineer Tony Baxter couldn't pull it off with a reduced budget and incredibly short sighted engineering cuts on projects such as the Rocket Rods

What will they do next? It better be good with Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge coming soon, Tomorrowland will look even more out of touch than it does now. What would you suggest if you were in charge?

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Color Alien Encounter art from the Dan Alexander collection.)

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