Currently listening to Judi Dench's Spaceship Earth

netslave · Post by **netslave** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 12:39 pm

All I can say is... BOOO!!!!

I am not happy with this at all. Jeremy Irons' narration was so much better. This makes me very sad

agingerbugg · Post by **agingerbugg** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 1:14 pm

As much as I love Judi Dench, I am very disappointed in the script. It sounds as though Disney thinks we are all five year olds and wouldn't understand the attraction without dumbing it down. Of the three narrators that I have heard, Walter Cronkite is the best.

DisBeamer · Post by **DisBeamer** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 1:59 pm

I agree with gingerbugg. I think Judi would have been excellent if they hadn't made the script so terrible. She seems to do an okay job with making what she was given sound exciting but I was pretty surprised when I heard the new narrative the first time. It's like they've tried so hard to shed the 'Boring Educational Park' thing they were afraid to use any three syllable words.

SWHorn · Post by **SWHorn** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 3:06 pm

agingerbugg wrote:Walter Cronkite is the best.

We're Texas.

Now, on topic...I, too, am very disappointed in the Judi Dench narration...from what I have heard online. Maybe it will be better in person, but I doubt it.

kcarts · Post by **kcarts** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 3:23 pm

I think Jeremy Irons was quite good. For some reason I'm thinking James Earl Jones might be the ultimate voice for the ride.

netslave · Post by **netslave** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 3:35 pm

kcarts wrote:I think Jeremy Irons was quite good. For some reason I'm thinking James Earl Jones might be the ultimate voice for the ride.

Nothing like having Darth Vader teach you about the history of communication!

kcarts · Post by **kcarts** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 3:39 pm

[quote="netslave"][quote="kcarts"]I think Jeremy Irons was quite good. For some reason I'm thinking James Earl Jones might be the ultimate voice for the ride.[/quote]

Nothing like having Darth Vader teach you about the history of communication![/quote]

Either him or Bob Sheppard.

netslave · Post by **netslave** » Jul Tue 22, 2008 3:43 pm

You know, I wouldn't mind Judi Dench (although I'd still be secretly upset) if she sounded more 'grand.' I mean, she sounds like she did this script in one take and as agingerbugg said, she sounds like she's speaking to 5 year olds.

Bleh, I don't know. I guess it'll grow on me but right now, I'm just not happy.

Admiral01 · Post by **Admiral01** » Jul Sat 26, 2008 12:21 am

My only worry with James Earl Jones is that the kids would think it was Mustafa, and Disney would re-theme SSE as a Lion King ride...

Seriously, though, Mr. Jones would be great for the voiceover, as would Morgan Freeman and Leonard Nimoy, I think. Though I don't think either could pull off the hauntingly beautiful narration that Jeremy Irons performed. The recording was great. The timing was perfect. The musical score went perfect.

I think netslave is right, though. If Dame Judi did a few more takes it may have sounded better. She may need to be reminded that she is talking to adults too, and that SSE is supposed to be a grand sounding performance.

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Jul Sat 26, 2008 11:34 am

I hate how the script has all sorts of rhetorical questions thrown in for the riders.

"...sailed through the universe of time, but where are we going?"
"Remember how easy it was to learn the ABCs?"

Isn't that a teaching method to keep elementary school students engaged in an activity?

I don't know... I found a 12 minute crystal clear recording floating around the internet of the irons' narration, score and sound effects for each scene. I put it on my mp3 player when I went down this time and have never had to listen to Judi since. The 12 minutes fit the ride perfectly from entrance tunnel to the exit windows looking into Global Neighborhood. The only problem came if the ride stopped or slowed down, it was a little difficult getting it matched up with the ride again.

PS...check Mousebits..."SSE 94 source with FX".
It had to be an imagineer that put it together to preserve it. It sounds like no other available recordings of the attraction.

FYI for those who haven't figured it out... On the decent, if you keep your eyes off the screen and let them adjust to the darkness, you'll see that the Imagineers simply covered over the old scenes with black curtains. You can see that "rocky" structure where the holograms used to be and a bit of the model city. The part where SSE used to be is now filled with a bunch of triangles all pointing inward.

HakuOni · Post by **HakuOni** » Jul Sat 26, 2008 12:16 pm

i think james earl jones would be the ultimate voice because he has a really strong voice. then again the only reason most people would pick him is because he is the voice of darth vader.

Admiral01 · Post by **Admiral01** » Jul Sat 26, 2008 8:20 pm

I do think I remember back in '94 when the Cronkite-Irons switch occured, there was stuff in the descent that was either covered or not present, that ended up being there the next time I visited EPCOT. I remember thinking how empty it seemed, and then a year later it was all filled in.

Anyone else remember that? Do I remember correctly or is my memory playing tricks on me?

spodie · Post by **spodie** » Jul Sat 26, 2008 10:15 pm

Admiral01 wrote:I do think I remember back in '94 when the Cronkite-Irons switch occured, there was stuff in the descent that was either covered or not present, that ended up being there the next time I visited EPCOT. I remember thinking how empty it seemed, and then a year later it was all filled in.

I don't actually remember that because I was too young at the time, but all I know is that this past June when we went to WDW and we went on SE for the first time since the refurb, the whole descent when you are supposed to be planning your future and whatnot we just saw stars on our screen. We were like wow, this ride stinks. But now I know that we just had a bad screen and the next time we rode was much more interesting.

epcotgirl · Post by **epcotgirl** » Jul Sun 27, 2008 3:23 am

This isn't great to hear - Spaceship Earth used to be my favourite WDW ride (the first Disney ride I ever went on), so I'm a bit worried I'm going to hate it now!

I'm trying to reserve judgement until I get there though. ALso trying to avoid audio and footage from the new version.

skull · Post by **skull** » Jul Sun 27, 2008 8:37 am

I was watching some old "In Search of..." shows with leonard nimoy a few weeks ago, and thought that he would have made a great narrator for SSE.

Anything would be better then the current narration... it's not even just the script I don't like, but the voice itself drives me nuts!