Has anyone seen Turtle Talk with Crush??

[kimwim8]

Where is Turtle Talk?? I can't seem to place it??

Turtle Talk with Crush is in the Living Seas at EPCOT.


Thanks everyone! - who knew a simple question could turn into a (mild) debate!

 

[fdecker]

Wow, well I guess the negative reviews would not make it to this board because you might not normally post under a subject that doesn't interest you. But I submit to your tastes and the fact that a majority love the show. You are probably the same people who think that Bob Saget is a brilliant host and that America's Funniest Home Videos is the most intelligent, well-written show on TV. <big wink, but go ahead and blast me. >

Maybe the day I went the audience was not as enthused, many of the adults moved to the back so they could talk while the kids interacted with Crush. About half the show was pretty funny, but it severely lagged though the rest, and Crush was having to explain to the assistant which person he was pointing to, getting the kids to have to repeat things, etc.

I don't like the character greetings either and use that time while people are waiting in line to take advantage of the things they are not doing, but I realize that a LOT of people go through a lot of trouble to greet the characters and that is their thing, which is the great thing about variety and Disney, something for everybody. When my 2 year old turns 3, I will be sitting there in the character greeting line with the rest of you.

Robo, me too. I worked in Hollywood for a number of years, and actually did some work with Disney. So I do have an appreciation for theater, make-believe and special effects. We were pioneers in digital photography and worked with Panasonic and Sony in the design of their newer cameras that will mostly replace 35mm film cameras. George Lucas is one of my heros for his work to advance the technology in the face of everyone telling him "film is superior! Film will never die!", including a guy I hired who was the Director of Photography for a major TV show! He is probably out of work now.

The reason I even mentioned the effects was not to downplay them, I made mention of how cool the technology was, though like all technology it loses it's cool factor quickly as we want bigger and better thrills. I was just mentioning that it seems to be a phenomenon that people really wonder how this is done. Most things I have seen or read about the show always has questions about how the trick was done. "How can a computer generated image move in real-time?" "How can his lips sync up to what he is saying?", "How does the turtle know what color shirt the kid has on?". You can even hear people saying this stuff out loud during the show. I expected a lot of people to ask that in this thread, so I mentioned you could lookup Disney patents. Maybe this group is different and wasn't going to ask that.

All I was saying is that if you are more the ride/thrill type and less the character greeting type, then this might not be as exciting as some make it sound. I still don't understand how after seeing it once, you would ever want to see it again (unless, as I mentioned you have small kids and are doing it for them to watch their wonder), but I respect that a decent percentage of you do. Depending on the interaction with the audience, there can be new laughs, but to our family it was like a puppet show. If there were no children in the audience, especially your own children, how much fun would it be? I guess the Muppets might be funnier and more entertaining than Punch and Judy, but given the choice of that or watching a live show like the Ariel show, or riding Rock'n RollerCoaster, I would pick the latter two, especially when considering the wait times for Crush.

 

[oogie boogie]

I didn't want to quote you fdecker cause your post was pretty long. I'm not saying turtle talk is flawless. I have seen it when not everyone in the room enjoyed it as much. But the people attending really make the show. It's kind of like a mix of improv comedy in a sense. I've seen it lots of times and most of the time it was cause my daughter wants to go see it. The early run at DLR the theatre wasn't as packed and the interaction was just so-so. It is alot better now though. Bu u have to admit it is kool looking!

U have to remember kids will watch movies over and over till u go nuts! Oh and since Lucas is your hero I'm guessing u have seen at least 1 of the Star Wars films more than once since u do have an appreciation for technology? And since u have worked for disney and in hollywood u have done the behind the scenes thing and have a background in it. There are alot of people who haven't done either.

But as u get older with your child you either learn to appreciate what they are into or u will just have a boring time. Different strokes for different folks. And I have seen negative reviews on these threads. If u don't believe me go do a search under stitch's great escape.WOW! Ha! This is not meant to fire back at you in any way just my personal observation. No disrepect intended.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

This attraction was new when we saw it and we did not know any better than to wait in a ridiculous line. It is a great thing for very young children, but I think that people should be warned exactly what this is so they aren't disappointed like we were. It is a very cool special effect where a computer generated "Crush" on a large projection screen interacts with the audience.

If it weren't for the "wow" factor of a computer animated character with lip sync and clever programmed moves like "surprise" and "run and hide" able to react in "real-time", it would be no different than a guy in a turtle costume answering questions from kids sitting in the front of the very small theater. Once you know the secret, it's a pretty easy trick, though it took a lot of computing smarts and today's fast machines with advanced graphics rendering to accomplish. Some of the secrets are published in Disney's patents over the last 10 years, so anyone can figure out the "magic" of the control system if they so choose.

Imagine a classroom with small stadium benches and a large screen up front. A cast member with a microphone introduces Crush and then he takes questions from the audience. Obviously there is another cast member with acting and improv skill and a decent SoCal surfer accent listening and watching from a hidden location. He has control over the characters movements such as lifting a flipper, spinning around, talking, etc. He will say things like "yeah Dude, the boy with the red shell (baseball cap), do you have a question?" Then if a child asks something like "how old are you", the actor can give an accurate fact about how old turles of his type can grow to be. So it is part science lesson, part child character greeting.

We hade a 1 y/o a 16 y/o and a 12 y/o. We left about halfway through as once we saw the effect to say we did, it just was not our cup of tea. I would imagine that anyone over the age of about 8 or 9 would be terribly bored and very disappointed after waiting in such a long line when they could have seen something more fun. Then again, if you have little ones and revel in their sense of wonder and can be entertained by watching their reaction, you may find it worthwhile.

Way to kill it...Dude!

 

[safetymom]

My 23 year old daughter and 19 year old friend had a blast asking Crush a question. They had been asking people outside for their answers and were thrilled when they could ask it inside of Crush.

They knew how it works but can't wait to go back again. The thing with Crush is that each time it is different depending on the audience.

 

[Kelly5538]

I just have to add to this discussion. My dd (5 at the time that we went) was thrilled with Crush and made me take her back again and again. It was the highlite of our trip when he called to her in the audience.... she still talks about it almost a year later!!! It is just one of the many magical wonderful things at Disney... and as far as I'm concerned, the last thing that you should do at Disney is try to "figure out" how things are done or over analyse anything. Just be a kid and enjoy the magic of Disney!!!!!

 

[fdecker]

Thanks Oogie, great observations. And you are right, the first movie I ever saw more than once was Star Wars. I saw it seven times in the theater in 1977 and have never done that again with any movie I didn't work on, though now I watch a few more than once on DVD. But not seven times!