Does this bug anybody else about Carousel of Progress

jpeterson

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 22, 2017
I've only seen Carousel of Progress once but one thing about it bugged me (aside from the comically outdated version of the near future). The spacing of the years between the scenes! We have, roughly, 1900, 1920, 1940, 2020-ish. So 20 years, 20 years, then BAM! 80 years.

I understand that this is an artifact of it's history, being developed in the 60s it had a much smoother progression of years. But it still bothers me! Especially since if you continued and could magically add more scenes you would get the 60s, the 80s, 2000s; so many possibilities for neat new scenes!

Oh well, I'll live :) .

And I'll still hum that catchy song.
 


Well, part of the reason is that, in comparison to turn of the century, 1920s, and 1940s, home life didn't really change that much in the 60s, 80s, and start of 21th century. Look at reruns of Happy Days, for instance. Give them a microwave and color TV, and you have the 80s. Biggest distinction would be styles of dress and décor, and not nearly as interesting as looking into windows of the early scenes we have.

I'm glad they left those first three scenes as is.
 


YES! Always bothered by that. Just seems like a dumb update. They should shift the scenes like you said, 1900, 1940, 1980, 2020. They'd just need to add one.
 
i love COP. It doesn't BUG me but i do wish they would update it. I wish there were 60s, 80s, 00s.. that would be awesome... I think the could combine the 1900, 20s, 40s.. then do a 1960s, 80s, 2000s, then a finale of 2020s and beyond...
 
There are so many things that bother me more haha. The daughter that disappears. The dog that never ages. The gap is just a product of the fact they keep wanting to update the end instead of just keeping the ride as is. Heck they could keep the song and ride and just shift the periods in the next update. Shove an extra scene or two in there if they can manage but then it isn't the original CoP so then what's the point of even keeping it.
 
There are so many things that bother me more haha. The daughter that disappears. The dog that never ages. The gap is just a product of the fact they keep wanting to update the end instead of just keeping the ride as is. Heck they could keep the song and ride and just shift the periods in the next update. Shove an extra scene or two in there if they can manage but then it isn't the original CoP so then what's the point of even keeping it.

What daughter disappears?
 
I agree that they should just use the 1960s scene as the finale. It could still work. Maybe work it into a "retro-future" version where they mention space-age technology like on the Jetsons. Or they could end with the family wondering, "what wonders might the future bring?" and then just transition out. The current scene is indeed too far of a gap from the previous, and also sorely dated as it stands. It may as well just be the 60's.
 
What daughter disappears?

The first scene has 2 daughters and 1 son then we never hear of the 2nd daughter ever again. Of course some have said the 3rd child isn't a daughter but rather a neighborhood child the mother paid to help with laundry or was baby sitting for someone else since they never directly call the child out as being a child of the family. She is just helping the mom with the laundry and is then never seen again.
 
I've only seen Carousel of Progress once but one thing about it bugged me...The spacing of the years between the scenes! We have, roughly, 1900, 1920, 1940, 2020-ish. So 20 years, 20 years, then BAM! 80 years...I understand that this is an artifact of it's history...it still bothers me! Especially since if you continued and could magically add more scenes you would get the 60s, the 80s, 2000s; so many possibilities for neat new scenes!
Well, they could add the scenes to keep it to twenty year intervals through 2020 and therefore make the show twice as long...

I like Carousel of Progress, but not that much.
 

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