Disney launches Star Tours Facebook page, announces sneak peek mall tour, and gives first look at ride destinations Hoth, Naboo and Kashyyyk - Inside the Magic

Comments for Disney launches Star Tours Facebook page, announces sneak peek mall tour, and gives first look at ride destinations Hoth, Naboo and Kashyyyk

6 Comments

  1. Tryg

    Do you think it means anything that the Facebook page lists the ride as just Star Tours 3D?

    Thanks for the update!

  2. James

    The Hoth scene had better not be the battle from Empire Strikes Back, as that is episode 5, not between 3 and 4 where Star Tours 2 is set to take place. I’m not sure what’s on Hoth during that period, but if AT-ATs are already there, one has to wonder why the rebels would choose it later on — pretty lousy hiding spot.

  3. Merrick

    Hoth?!? So much for continuity. One of my big annoyances with the original STAR TOURS was that it did not seem to take place within the true timeline. I had hoped the new ride would try to be a canon story. I know, I know. People have always wanted to experience the Hoth battle — but couldn’t ILM have created a whole new experience with different, retro vehicles on a world we’d never seen before?

  4. James

    Perhaps they’ll “retcon” it in. Maybe Hoth was once controlled by the empire and then abandoned sometime before episode 5, allowing the rebels to take advantage of all that existing infrastructure and move right in, rather than starting from scratch. Perhaps the rebels thought it would be the last place the empire would look for them, hiding right under their noses. “Surely the rebel scum wouldn’t dare parasitize one of our own facilities. They haven’t the gall,” says the emperor.

    Hoth is supposed to be “devoid of human form” and one of “many uncharted systems” according to Piett and Ozzel in episode 5, but maybe that’s not entirely true — perhaps the imperial operations Star Tours stumbles upon between episodes 3 and 4 are so top secret that captains and admirals aren’t even in the know. Perhaps Star Tours’ incidental reconnaissance is in fact what later leads the rebels to consider it as a suitable hidden base. Perhaps whatever drew the empire there in the first place (vast, untapped stores of natural energy? Some rare advantageous mineral? Or just an out-of-the-way place to develop a certain secret ultimate weapon?) is another part of what draws the rebels to Hoth later on. And Vader, when he sees the feed from the probe droid in episode 5, remembers the secret ops that perhaps he himself took part in years ago, flashes back to the fleeting encounter with the wayward Star Tours star speeder 1000, and finally puts it all together. He thinks to himself, “I thought we destroyed that ship at the time, but it must have gotten away. They must have seen what we were doing there and reported back to their rebel friends. And now, all these years later, they dare to try to use Hoth against us.” And so he says, “That’s it. The rebels are there.”

    That would be a pretty neat way to tie it all together, and actually augment the importance of Star Tours’ role in the overall saga. I’d be happy with that.

    I guess that’s how I’ll rationalize it to myself if it turns out that way. Such lengths we must go to to restore balance. We wouldn’t be very faithful Star Wars geeks if we didn’t nitpick, though.

    Thanks for the info and the shots, Ricky!

    1. Ricky Brigante

      Wow! That’s quite the plausible explanation. As much as I appreciate story continuity, in this case I really don’t care as long as the new Star Tours leans more toward the original trilogy (Hoth battle) and less toward the prequels (Naboo). With promises of Leia, Darth Vader, and Ackbar, I think we’re in good hands.

      1. James

        I’m totally with you on that, Ricky. I’m pretty sure I’ll be so over the moon (of Endor?) with the new attraction I won’t be thinking about any plot holes too hard, but rather just feeling the adrenaline. With the original Star Tours I was eventually able to get over the fact that it appeared for all intents and purposes that the torpedos “didn’t go in … just impacted on the surface” yet caused the death star to blow up in our rearview. 😉

        Now that you mention it, I’m really curious to see how they’ll pull off the Princess Leia encounter — footage from the original movies? Digital effects for Carrie Fisher similar to those used on Jeff Bridges as CLU in Tron: Legacy? Or perhaps the timing is such that we meet Princess Leia when she is much younger, portrayed by a new actress.

        Anyway, keep up the good work!

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