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| The Magic test stage | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 4 2015, 07:27 PM (961 Views) | |
| PaulKTF | Feb 4 2015, 07:27 PM Post #1 |
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I always thought this was an interesting stage- the Magic stage! http://www.showbizpizza.com/photos/spp/unknown_rare/01.jpg I wonder how long they tested this, and if they went to the trouble of converting the stage back to the "standard" RAE stage after the test was over? I think that unifying the stages could have been a good idea, but not with this particular theme. |
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| RetroGirl | Feb 5 2015, 11:43 PM Post #2 |
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The problem with all of the attempts to unify the stages is that they were too plain. I know that corporate thought the original stage was too busy, but the visual "clutter" actually made you less aware that you were looking at robots. The whole idea was to combine the busy-ness of the set with flickering lights to make it look like there was even more movement on stage than there actually was. When you strip away the set dressing, you wind up with bland bots standing on a bare stage. Plus, some of the redressed sets looked more like bad prom decorations than professionally designed sets, to me. Also, I think the side stages are a nice reflection of the characters on them: Rolfe is set in a cheaply glitzy comedy club backdrop and Billy Bob/Looney hold forth in a hillbilly setting. I think extending the forest idea to Billy Bob's stage worked well, but what to do with Rolfe? In all, I think the original stage was the best executed. |
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| PaulKTF | Feb 6 2015, 01:38 AM Post #3 |
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Remember that the whole reason there were 3 stages is so you could run just Rolfe/Earl, or just Billy Bob or just the main stage if you wanted to. They kind of stopped doing that once Showbiz started programing the shows (around '85).
Edited by PaulKTF, Feb 6 2015, 01:38 AM.
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| toycollector | Feb 6 2015, 07:20 PM Post #4 |
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I prefer the original stage. I think unifying them takes away from the characters. For example the Magic Stage had Beach Bear in a tuxedo, which doesn't make much sense for his character. The original stage gave the characters different stages to suit them like Billy Bob's rural gas station theme and Rolfe's comedy club theme. I think the best way to unify the stages would be to extend the central forest theme to Billy Bob's and Rolfe's stage. It would still fit well enough for both those characters. |
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| Bluestarultor | Feb 6 2015, 10:02 PM Post #5 |
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This. My own show is mostly unified in that in theory all the characters are "live performers," but that didn't stop me from setting up a tree stage for a character I wanted to be cast in a park area. I just threw a rope light around the edge to act as a "portal." Major rule of writing, design, or anything else is do what makes sense for the character. Honestly, the RAE did that better for the side stages than they did for center stage. Fatz is easily the most out of place there, where Dook was originally in flannel and seemed to make sense, as did Beach Bear and Mitzi if one assumed they were all camping or something, which Fatz is just a tad overdressed for. XD Edited by Bluestarultor, Feb 6 2015, 10:03 PM.
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| RetroGirl | Feb 6 2015, 11:58 PM Post #6 |
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I think this is a major distinction between the ShowBiz approach to the animatronic show and the PTT approach. The PTT/CEC shows were more upfront about the fact that you were looking at a performing robot show while ShowBiz took more of a Disney approach of creating an alternate reality. That's why there was more attention to staging, with curtains, busy backgrounds and secondary characters like Choo-Choo, Antioch and Sun/Moon that mostly just added movement and visual interest. With PTT, you were watching robots. With ShowBiz, you were watching a stage show that just happened to be performed by robots. I tend to think of the RAE as the ShowBiz equivalent of a house band performing in a variety show at a night club. I don't think the backdrops are meant to be taken as literal locations, but are "sets" for the band's show. Rolfe isn't a band member, but an emcee and bad comedian, so his stage reflects his role. Billy Bob is the spokesperson of the restaurant, and is obviously a country bear, so his set reflects that, as do early skits like Goofy Gas. The band are dressed "in character" but are set in a more general, forest setting. And Fatz gets the glitz because he's the leader, the big dude at center stage. I don't think we were meant to believe that they are actually in a forest, or a comedy club, or a rural gas station. They're a band, performing a show, and this is the set for that show. That may be the theater director in me talking, but that's how I see it. |
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