Ep. 726: Inside Out 2, Disneyland news, author Alan Dean Foster
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You're listening to Mousetalgia for the week of June 17, 2024. ♪♪♪ Hang on to them hats and glasses, cause this here is the wildest podcast in the wilderness. This is Mousetalgia. Carpe Kingdom, seize the magic. ♪♪♪

Welcome to Nostalgia, your podcast about Disneyland, Disney history, and living the Disney life. My name is Jeff, and I'll be your host for this week with a special guest, a couple special guests later on. But I want to start by wishing you a happy Father's Day. If you're listening on Father's Day, which I hope to release it on, I will be spending Father's Day with my daughters. Hopefully we're going to go catch Inside Out 2 later.

And we're going to have a great time here. Hopefully Father's Day can mean something for you, whether it's kind of a bittersweet memory of a father that you've had and lost. I mean, I know some of us also have difficult memories with fathers. Sometimes fathers can leave you with not so great memories. And, you know, I hope I...

I'm successful as a father. I have a couple of teenage daughters, and so we are in the thick of things, you know, and inside out, too. I expect to be especially relatable. But, you know, wherever you're at in your life and with your relation with your father, whether it's good, whether it's bad, whether it's memory or whether it's an ongoing situation, just pray that you can make the best of it and best of the Father's Day to you and yours.

So, today we're going to talk about a few different things. It's a great, actually a great combination of things, just such a wide spectrum today. We're going to talk about Disneyland, of course, can't not talk about Disneyland when we have a chance. We're also going to talk about Inside Out 2, of course, movie just came out this weekend, so we want to speak to it. And Kristen Carr is going to join me on the show to talk about that.

And I'm also going to talk about a special author signing I was able to go to with Alan Dean Foster. So some of you might recognize that name. Maybe you're thinking like, boy, I recognize that name. Where from? Well, if you're a sci-fi nerd, you probably are well acquainted with who Alan Dean Foster is because he's written well over 100 sci-fi and fantasy type novels. Like he's prolific in the in that community.

But he also is very well known for writing the very first Star Wars Extended Universe book, which was called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. He wrote it in 1978 as a sequel to the first Star Wars book he wrote, which he did later.

under a pen name of George Lucas. Well, actually he ghost wrote the book for George Lucas, but the book, that book of course was star Wars, which came out in 1976 before the movie as a book club edition and a paperback. He, you know, that book sold millions and millions of copies and went into, you know, all sorts of printings. I think it's actually still in print, right? We had a Ellen Dean Foster has been in the Disney news over the past few years. I think they wrapped this up last year, uh,

Um, but he was, um, when Disney bought star Wars, they did not have to pay back some of the contractual things that were ongoing, like the book contracts for star Wars. Um,

or at least they didn't think they did. And he was still in print with the Star Wars book, but there was, I guess Disney had no legal obligation to honor that contract. So he did not find that to be very fair, which who would feel like it was fair that their work was still being sold, but they were not being compensated. So I don't know if you all remember this. It came out a while ago and it was kind of big news in the nerd community for a while. Like Disney's not paying Alan Dean Foster. Like why won't they pay the guy who wrote Star Wars for,

But anyway, that worked out. And so he'll be actually I went to the book signing and taped some of his remarks. So Alentine Foster actually is very friendly to podcasts and maybe we'll have him on the show someday. But I just wanted to play you some of the remarks he made at his book signing because they were really interesting in the context of the moment. And he tells some Disney stories and it's pretty cool. So we'll talk about that later.

at the end of the show. But for now, before we get started, I do want to remind you that we are sponsored, as always, by MEI Mouse Fan Travel. So Mouse Fan Travel is your fee-free destination for anything Disney. So if you want to take a Disney cruise, book a Disney vacation, go to Walt Disney World, go to Disneyland, go to Disneyland Paris, go to Disneyland Tokyo Sea, or anywhere in the world. You want a Disney vacation, go to mousefantravel.com and...

Get yourself a no obligation quote and see what they can do for you. All right. So this week, I think I will start with a, even though we've got a lot of stuff to jump into, I think we will start with a charcuterie. All right. So, you know, we're going to talk about some of the stuff going on at Disneyland right now with Kristen Carr in a little bit.

But I am going to first just talk about I was just down at Disneyland Resort just this last weekend, and my wife and I decided we need to try the new Mexican restaurant at Downtown Disney called Paseo. You might remember a show or two ago, Kristen Carr was on the show talking to us about her experience.

preview of Paseo where Disney invited her to come check it out and, um, you know, enjoy some of the, some of the flavors. And so she had that and we had that preview on the shows. Well, now I've been able to eat there. So I'm going to give you my first review. Um, of course we only tried two dishes being the two of us there. So, um,

I kind of feel like reviews have a lot of value in different ways. Sometimes first impressions are valuable for review, and that's what I'm going to give you today. But also, I would really like to try a number of things on this menu. It's a really interesting menu. And so, you know, having said that, I don't have a good wide range of perspective on the menu yet. So this is just our first visit. So we're going to talk about that a little bit. I'm going to talk about that a little bit right now. So as you will recall, I think...

From on the show, Chef Carlos Guiton, who is the chef for Paseo, is Michelin starred, right? So I think, I mean, I'm not certain about this, but I believe this is Downtown Disney or the Disneyland Resort's first kind of...

with Michelin-starred chefs or celebrities or, you know, that kind of influence on the dining experience there. I do not believe Napa Rose has kind of an input into that realm yet. So that makes it interesting, right? There's so many ways to enjoy food in the world. So the Michelin star is a designation that people kind of

at as, well, this is going to mean something like it's going to mean something about the experience I'm going to have or the food I'm going to eat. So it's not a Michelin starred restaurant, brand new restaurant, but the chef is Michelin starred. So we made a reservation, went over there,

We're seated. So the restaurant itself is nice and airy, significantly different than Catawba. And, you know, if I say it was an interesting, it's kind of a fusion. I guess you could call it restaurant. It's Mexican. And the decor is simple and elegant.

Lots of straw. I don't know that it screamed out Mexican decor, but there were Mexican elements on display. And it was mostly it felt very simple and clean and open. Right. So that was nice. We sat out on the balcony overlooking downtown Disney for our meal. There were heat lamps that we could see that weren't necessary while we were there. But it was going to be I think they might have turned them on that evening yet. It wasn't yet the full evening.

You know, it wasn't a super warm weekend. So the experience as far as, you know, the surroundings is fine. It's neutral to comfortable, I would say. So it's interesting. Like, we started by them not having two things that we saw on the menu that we wanted. So we just wanted something refreshing to drink. So we ordered...

Right off the table card, it had a list of drinks you could order. So we ordered two horchata's and they did not have any horchata, which is OK, fine. I mean, I'm kind of used to that here where I live, where there's a bunch of, you know, Mexican people.

strip mall places everywhere you turn and they're all exceptional and they all make their horchata in the morning. And when it's gone, it's gone. Right. So kind of used to it not being available, but maybe not from a big restaurant like this. So then Julia ordered off her menu, short ribs, a short rib, short rib wrap she wanted. And it turned out the, the waitress came and said, Oh, we're that's, we gave you the wrong menu. And then I looked at my menu and we both had different menus. So they had given us two different menus and,

So, you know, a little bit of a hiccup to start off with, which is, you know, not necessarily the foot you want to put out there first, but that's what happened. So, but it still was good food. So we started with queso fondido, which is kind of a fondue. There were a number of dishes here that kind of had a slight French tinge, whether it was preparation style or...

you know, something about the way they created it. So I thought that was interesting. So the queso fundido chorizo and Gruyere cheese, it's supposed to have wild mushrooms, but Julia doesn't like mushrooms. So we had them hold the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, rosemary, and toasted masa madre bread. Let me just tell you the best thing by far about the queso fundido was the loaf of toasted masa madre bread.

Man, that was good. It comes out, you know, with a thick crust that's kind of blackened. And you feel like, oh, you know, how much did they toast this? But the bread inside is so...

soft and moist and delicious so it was the perfect pairing to a gruyere cheese fondue um i personally maybe could have used the texture of the mushrooms in there that might have been something that i recognized was important to the dish but we both liked it the chorizo is um

Not plentiful, but you don't want it to overwhelm the whole experience. So I think there was the right amount of that. So it was good. So then for our entrees, Julia ordered just chicken enchiladas. So the waitress told us, not that we were looking for safe, but she said, well, if you want the safe dishes, it's chicken enchiladas or the carne asada. But they also have lamb barbacoa. They have cochinita, quinoa.

Like, let's see, what is it? Like a pork shank, and they have chili relleno. So, Julia had the chicken enchiladas, and I actually had the octopus, which they call pulpo enamorado. So, it's roasted octopus, one tentacle, one roasted, thick roasted octopus tentacle, with tuna, aioli, salsa, matcha, and pickled vegetables. So, I thought this was...

really really good i like octopus um if we have to have a conversation about the intelligence of octopi no octopuses right if we have to have that conversation i will lose so i just don't need to have that conversation with you right now perhaps someday that will be something i think about but then again cows are pretty smart animals too so you know i just you know

I'm just saying I understand. I understand some of you don't like that I'm eating an octopus, but I do enjoy octopus. And it was very, very tender and very...

neutral in a good way. So you could really, really taste the way they spiced it and kind of put a rub on it before they roasted it. This was really an exceptional serving of octopus. I liked it a lot. Julia, on the other hand, for her chicken enchiladas,

She thought it was a little bit too, which we were told to be a neutral plate. She felt like it was a little hot, a little warm. And I tried it and it was pretty warm, right? So they describe on the menu, a pretty simple chicken enchilada, shredded chicken, salsa verde, pico de gallo, avocado, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and queso fresco. But that salsa verde is nice and warm. Like if that's, if that's what was heating up the plate, the, you know, in your, in your mouth,

Nothing else in the description looks like it would have really been something that was hot, but it was a nice hot bite. I found it to be tasty, and I enjoyed it. Julia thought it was a little too warm, and it was definitely... If you're used to chicken enchiladas that you would get at a typical Mexican restaurant, it's warmer than that, right? But they were good. So our food, our first experience at Paseo was...

I think, I mean, it was positive with a few little hiccups, right? But I enjoyed my food a lot. Julia could recognize the flavors that she enjoyed. She really wanted the short rib wrap. So part of it might've been like her disappointment that it was not like she looked at it and thought I'm going to order this and then they didn't have it. Um,

Weren't even offering it. I think she liked the restaurant. Like we both left feeling refreshed from resting and being able to sit on the balcony over downtown Disney. And we both really liked the cheese fondue and it was a nice experience.

What I'm mostly looking forward to is going back again to try some of this stuff, the other things on the menu, so I can get a better picture of what this chef's overall philosophy and flavors are. But from the start with the octopus, it was really, really good. And I can't wait to go back. Here you leave today to hear a podcast from the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Nostalgia. Carpe The Magic.

Up next, I have a very special guest. Returning to the show is Kristen Carr of lots of things. Well, of course, my style to fast pass fame, but also Kristen. Well, first of all, welcome to the show. Hello. How are you? Hello. It's good to have you on the show again. Always great to have you on the show. So the happiest place, the happiest. Wait a minute. Now, specifically, I always get this a little bit wrong. Tell me specifically your handle. The happiest club on earth.

on earth. Is it the happiest club or just happiest club on earth? The, the happiest club. Okay. See, I, those always, the, the, those are what get me the happiest club on earth. So you can find Kristen, um, online at the happiest club on earth on lots of social media places. Yeah.

I am very happy to have you here today because Disneyland is up and running for the summer. Like, lots going on. We're in the middle of Pixar Fest and all kinds of things happening, product releases. In fact, I was there just last week for the... They released a new Sleeping Beauty line of artwork and home goods, which is kind of amazing. It is? Yes. In fact, so before we start, I'll just tell you my story. So my wife and I...

Collect Sleeping Beauty. We're Sleeping Beauty people. So we saw that and we thought, oh, no.

Here goes a lot more money down the drain again. Or not down the drain, like for great stuff. But, you know, we are trying to be a little bit more budget conscious these days. So we looked at all this stuff. Which is rather difficult as a Disney fan, but continue. See, you understand. So what they don't often release the artwork in is tapestry form. But they have these beautiful little tapestries, like perfect for our wall collection. Like it's not overwhelming. So we grabbed it and we're like,

Like, okay, we can handle this. We'll just get the tapestry and then we're out of here. But they had the main artwork. You know how they have a limited edition of 95 prints on the table, right? So they had the main artwork there. And I happened to look at the back of it and it said the limited edition is 3 through 95. Oh, I didn't catch that. So 1 and 2 must be saved by...

the artist or someone, right? So we looked at the front and it was number three at Disneyland in the home, in Disney Home. So we could not turn down the chance to get the first public edition number. So we put back the tapestry and bought the limited edition. So it's beautiful. What I'm, I guess that was a total sidetrack to say, like things are happening at Disneyland. It's an exciting time. Summer is always exciting. Lots of things released. Kristen, what's,

What's going on at Disneyland? I mean, there's a lot. I feel like there's always a lot. There's new food. There's summer specials or summer food. And now they released their biggest ticket offer that they, I think, ever had for maybe the best deal that they've ever had at Disneyland, which is kind of crazy. Wow. We'll talk about that. Well, I feel like the reason they did it, obviously, is because...

I think that magic key sales have been down from what I've, what I'm hearing internally. And I think they're trying to get people to buy passes obviously. And I think the tickets are down to like $144 like for kids and like two 45 for adults. And that's for a three day one per ticket, which is, that's insane. Like $150 for a kid for three days at Disneyland. To me, that's,

That's very affordable and like crazy, but they haven't done that in forever. Ironically enough, they released this deal and then they said, Oh, all the magic keys are paused at the moment. Right. Because that makes sense because they wouldn't want you to put this insane deal towards a magic key. But also this deal is so good. They really just want to push people to buy this deal for the summer. And I'll be honest, I've been in the parks and it is busy, but it's not like,

You could say this to how you felt last week, but it's not crazy. Like it has been in the past in the summers. Like usually it's so insane that I can't even, I don't even want to walk in, but it hasn't been like that yet. I mean, we're still early in June, but for the most part, people are out of school and this is, you really start to feel like those summer crowds. And I mean, it's busy, but it's not crazy. So I kind of feel like this deal is one worth jumping on for sure.

Yeah, no, that is super cool. Like $50 a day. Like now you're getting down to county fairs.

day long ride pass prices, right? So that's kind of amazing. Granted, you add on Genie Plus, right? And that's another $25 a day. So okay, but for $75 a day, and I always tell people, if you are not a frequent visitor to Disney, you have to buy Genie Plus. You really do. Like if you're going to try to navigate a park during a busy time at all, you're really going to have a hard time in those waits.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Wow. Okay. Well, so why don't you just give us in terms of the things you've experienced lately, what is the most exciting thing that you either tried or bought or eaten? Like you can choose anything. Like what's the most exciting thing that you've tried or bought or eaten?

what makes you excited about Disneyland right now? There are some great Pixar snacks for sure. I think we kind of talked about those a little bit last time I was on that were coming, but I hadn't tried yet. There's like a really fun popcorn over at Troubadour Tavern during the Pixar show. Over in DCA, there's all sorts of stuff, but I think that some of the desserts are really good. There's a new flatbread. It's like a chicharron croissant.

flatbread over at the Cozy Cones. It's kind of a strange placement for it, but it was very good. Clarabelle has this amazing, if you like alcoholic beverages, they have an amazing watermelon seltzer that has a watermelon sorbet in it. So good for the time of year and for how hot it is in the parks.

Um, one update is that the show that they had going on over and DCA has been cut. So the Pixar nighttime show, um, that was over at, um, like that backlot area kind of where the Mad Hatter tea party stuff was, um, that has gotten cut. So that's no longer happening over there. And I think, I don't know if I voiced this a little bit during the show last time we talked, but, um,

I just feel like that section of DCA is really suited for like adult beverages and like nighttime entertainment. And we've been so trained to expect that stuff, right? Like the Tron and the Tron, what's the Tron night called? Electronica, right? Electronica. Yeah. Yeah. So Electronica was there. And then you had like the, was it the Mab team? What was that called? You know, cause I know you used to go. Yeah.

Yeah, the mad tea party. The tea party, yeah. Mad tea party. So you had like live music on stage and it was pretty boisterous and you had people drinking. And so for them to put family friendly and like interpretive dance, as much as I appreciated what they were trying to do, I don't think people that were expecting things over there and then you see like black backdrops and neon lighting, you're thinking it's going to be more of a club style. So I think it kind of just failed probably based on expectations people had. Yeah.

Um, and I always hate when anything gets cut for entertainment because I love all the entertainment and stuff, but it is hard because I feel like now all you really have is the Pixar fuss, you know, the parade, which is amazing by the way. So another thing I would say is if you're going to visit the parks and you want to do something kind of different, the dessert party is kind of fun. And then you don't have to worry about a parade, you know, parade seating or anything like that. Um, I think it's like,

Let me check on the price for you. But I think it's anywhere like, I think it's around $80. But it's a full plate of dessert and drinks. And it's really fun. You get a table. You can sit down and watch the parade. And that parade's really beautiful. And they did a really, really good job. So if you're a Pixar fan, that's a great parade. I wouldn't miss that.

uh julia and i used to do the world of color dessert i mean we're proponents of the sit find a way to sit down you even have to pay a little bit for some food like it's a kind of a you pay a little bit for that a little bit for the other and it's worth it yeah i mean we're we're not big like sit down restaurant people in the parks but for those types of things i will totally pay like i'll eat all my other food on the go i'll do mobile order but

When it comes to that stuff, I feel like those are worth it because they're experiences and they're, you know, they're fun and they build memories. So the other update to the parks is the Dr. Strange show is actually coming to an end. So June 30th.

June 30th, that's going to stop. It'll be interesting to see what they do there because I feel like that Sanctum area in Avengers Campus was literally built for that. So I'm not sure what the plan is there. Again, I hate when anything entertainment-based is canceled because I feel like it brings in crowd and, you know, it funnels people into a place. That show, to me, I still, I think I watched it even a couple of weeks ago. And the Avengers Campus opened and I still loved it.

So I think it had some really cool effects. It was really fun. It had a good vibe. So that's coming to an end on the 30th. There's no news yet as to what's going to happen with that area or what they're going to do. I'm hoping that they will discuss some reimagining for it. I think D23 Expo this year is going to give us a lot of information. So I'm super excited to go and talk about that and be able to report back. I think that there are so many moving parts right now at the Disneyland Resort between Disneyland Forward and Approvals of the City and all the new stuff happening downtown.

It's like you can't keep up with all of it. Yeah. Wondergrounds moved again. Speaking of downtown Disney, if you know where California Soul was, it was sort of that like they had stance socks and shoes. And to me, it was already sort of

misplaced a little bit, but it was a great place of like you wanted flip flops or you, you know, something happened with your shoes or you wanted some cool like stance socks. That was a good place. It's kind of tucked to the side of Naples, which I feel like it's hard to navigate. Nobody really walks by that. There's not a lot of foot traffic. So putting Wonderground gallery there once again, this is like the third time we've moved Wonderground. Like why are we moving it again? Is it going to have a spot here? Okay. So that moved Donald Duck's birthday.

Yeah. His 90th, which was adorable. They did some stuff in the parks. Like they did like a cake pop and a birthday cookie and stuff. I think there's still some lingering items from it. So if you go into the parks, you might find a couple of things. Yeah. You might find some things.

My favorite treat is back. I am a huge dark chocolate girl and there's rarely a dark chocolate treat at Disneyland. And when there is, I jump on it and I love chocolate and fruit and the dark chocolate pineapple sphere is back.

I'd love getting it because as soon as it comes out, it's like gone, but they have a tray. And if you walk up to candy palace, it's all the treats they've been making them so far. I've noticed like twice a day. So once in the morning and again in the afternoon, but they're so good and they're so refreshing. So don't miss those. That's definitely a summer thing. Yeah. Yeah.

That's awesome. And good to hear they had some celebration of Donald Duck. You would expect the Fab Five every time they have a major anniversary. Something's got to happen, right? So that's kind of good news. We did go into the Wonderground. You know, it's small now, tiny. They took out all the clothes and everything except for artwork. So now it is strictly artwork again. I think there are a couple little sculptural things missing.

but mostly prints and those little postcard prints. I do like the kind of, the kind of apparel they sold in there. You can now find over in the dress shop across the way. And of course everything in the dress shop, except for dresses. So don't look for a dress in the dress shop, but they do have kind of some of the artsy or stuff that you, I think you might've found it in the wonder ground. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but there's no more, no more apparel for now. They did tell me that they're going to move again. Sometimes.

For real? Yeah. Yeah. When it becomes, I mean, I think they're settled here for the time being, but until, until, um, I think they're going to move again when it becomes, there's a bigger, bigger, better place for them.

Where they can sell more. And there's lots of changes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they just redid that entrance to Downtown Disney now. It looks very, very throwback to like Palm Springs. That's exactly what it feels like. I was thinking Palm Springs. It feels like Palm Springs. Yeah. It even has that look, like the mid-century modern look. It's kind of like what you would think, you know, Walt Fairfax.

in Palm Springs probably when he went there. I like it. It's a little congested so far. The multiple times we visited since it's been open, that entrance is fairly congested. So I would say stick to that other side still with the ESPN zone. But I think maybe that will let up a little bit once they sort of open that other entrance again that they used to have from the hotel. So I think you'll have some multiple entries there. Okay.

I was going to say, is that the main hotel entry now over the Palm Springs section?

Right. So I think temporarily it will be because I think they're, they're working on Din Tai Fung getting finished and they're doing kind of a different workaround of how they're going to have people enter over there. Yeah. I noticed this because we went to Trader Sam's to get the 65th anniversary Matterhorn Dole Whip. Very, very tasty. Very cool. I love the cup. I love the cup. So we figured that out. We went over there and we kind of were like, why do I have to walk this whole roundabout way to get in there?

And if you're a Matterhorn fan and you happen to have a friend or someone who is nice enough to take you to Club 33, they have the coolest merch right now. And I got the Tiki mug, which was kind of insane. It's not really a mug, but it's pretty cool. The footprint thing, right? Yeah.

The foot. Yeah. I have a friend that picked me up one of those too. It's so cool. I mean, it was kind of strange because they gave you the drink and then they gave you the footprint, but it just had crushed ice. So you could like spoon your crushed ice into your drink. So I was like, Oh, that's interesting. But it is neat because on the back it has a design as well. And then it has the whole cutout in it. So you could actually like mount it on your wall, which I thought was kind of neat. Yeah. Something different.

Yeah. So, but they have a whole collection of Matterhorn, you know, celebrating the 65th anniversary and Club 33 is all decorated and it's all art by my friend Jeff Granito. So that's really fun.

That is awesome. Wow, that's a great and prompt rundown you gave. It is exciting, though, all the anniversaries that Disneyland has celebrated. I kind of even, I forgot to even bring that up with you. So I'm glad you mentioned Donald Duck and the Matterhorn, lots of things. Matterhorn. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to, I mean, to be fair,

almost every year, something of significance and the Disney company has an anniversary of some sort. but it still is, um, it's always a little bit more exciting when the park celebrates itself, like with the Matterhorn. Um, you know, I, I did, yeah, I have a friend that picked me up one of those, um,

footprint from Club 33 too. And it's so unusually... It's cool. I mean, it's interesting. It's unusual. Yeah, it's unusual. And there have been people that don't really love it. It's kind of had an interesting feedback. See, okay, so I wonder if that's sort of like the purist, right, of the tiki community because I'm not a tiki person. Like, I don't collect tiki mugs. But if I see them and they look really unique and different to me, that's when I want them. So maybe if you're a tiki collector, you're like, that doesn't fit into, like...

you know, my box of tiki collecting. But for someone like me, I'm like, that is really cool and unique. Like I, I would totally dig that.

because I'm not necessarily collecting TP mugs. But yeah, I've seen that it's kind of hit or miss. I feel like there's people that love it and people that aren't for it, but something, can I share something that was very unique and I feel bad because it's club 33, but I have wanted, because I have four children, as you know, I have wanted something to call my children in like for it's time to come in, right? Like it's time to eat dinner. It's time to do this.

One of the merch items that they debuted for the Matterhorn 65th at Club 33 was a cowbell. And it's amazing. And it was only $38. So I bought it. It's incredible. I have it. I could not.

happier. I used it the other day and the kids were like, are we for real with this cowbell? I'm like, yes, we are more cowbell. I was like, this is the best thing I've ever bought. And it has a leather in embossed like club 33 strap. So you can unbuckle it and put it on your belt loop. Like,

Maybe the best merch I've ever bought. So random. So functional. No, that's awesome. And you know, it is nice when Club 33, it's really interesting. They're so set apart from the park over there. Like you never know, are we just going to get another set of mouse ears and a fancy polo shirt? Or is there going to be some amazing, like the Emerald anniversary had some really cool stuff. Like they, you just never really know because it's different. Like it's its own thing.

I don't know how it works, but it's not super associated with the park. You know what I mean? It's just its own. Well, and I feel like sometimes you either get like park merch, like where it's just primarily park designed to merch, or you get things like this, which is like Jeff got to design this whole entire vibe and all this look for it. And it's Jeff, but it's, but it's also like classic Disney. So it has that feel to it, but I absolutely loved this whole collection. I'm not even like a huge Matterhorn person, but I just, it enticed me for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Well, that's awesome. Well, I did want to ask you one more thing kind of to tie us into the next section of our conversation here. So Pixar Fest. So I understand that you have seen Inside Out 2 and we're going to talk about that. It did.

Having seen it, does Pixar Fest have any Inside Out 2 elements to it? Some. Can you meet the characters anywhere? Yeah, you can meet Joy and Sadness. And now they just debuted Anger. So you'll be able to meet Anger. And that's all over at Pixar Fest.

Pixar Pier. So like when you go over there to Pixar Pier where that like big half moon sort of thing is between Toy Story and Inside Out, Emotional Whirlwind, ironically enough. Joy is there, sadness is there, and now anger is there also. None of the new... But also, no, none of the new emotions that have been introduced. So far, so far. I mean, sometimes we get that debuted like the week of the movie coming out. So maybe we'll get something like that. Yeah.

but you can go to Pixar place hotel. Fun fact, you do not need to have a Disneyland, uh, resort or any sort of tickets. You could just go to the hotel. You can park in downtown Disney parking and you can meet bing bong. It's like one of the only times you can meet an actual Disney character outside of the parks because he's meeting and greeting people in the lobby and on the pool deck. Um, you can take pictures, you can meet, I mean, I feel like

I feel like that's kind of unique. I don't know that they've ever done that, that you could meet a Disney character outside the parks without having to have a park ticket. And Big Bang is huge. Like, huge. Yeah.

Yeah, it's really fun. That's really cool. That is a good tip. So, okay, well, we're talking about Inside Out. So let's move our conversation. So we are going to talk about Inside Out 2 today. We're going to keep it spoiler free. Yes. Because this has been the opening weekend just last this past weekend or this weekend, depending on when I get the show out.

So I will tell you, I have not seen it. I did promise my daughters that we could wait till Father's Day to see the movie together. So I have did not run out Thursday night to go check out Inside Out 2. So I cannot speak towards the review. I will let you do most of the feedback to the show. But I will say this one thing. I did get the Art of Inside Out review.

from Chronicle Books, partly because the Walt Disney Family Museum next month, here's a little ad, I guess, for the museum. They're going to have Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera, producer and director, or I guess Pete Docter is the head of Pixar right now, but they're going to be speaking about Inside Out 2 and making it

So I bought the book to take with me over to the museum next month. So I do want to say a couple of things. One is the book is really, it's emotional in itself. It's really an interesting book because it starts with a few pages of artwork without even no credits, no copyright information, no title. And the first thing in the book is a tribute to Ralph Eggleston. And it's been almost two years since Ralph Eggleston died. He's a Pixar, for those of you that don't know, he was a Pixar director.

uh production designer artist um he did a lot of things wear a lot of hats over at pixar i remember meeting him actually at the expo and he signed a pixar ball for me um but he oh that's special yeah but he passed away a couple years cup in almost two years i think in august that he passed away but they start the whole book with just because he was instrumental in his production nine for inside out which of course that carried into inside out too as far as you know the overall

production feel. So they did have a nice tribute to him. I want to read just a little bit of it. So this is Jason Deamer, who is the production designer for Inside Out 2.

And he is just talking about Ralph. He says, put it simply, Pixar would not be the same incredible studio that it is without Ralph Eggleston's creative influence. He says many, many people around the studio speak about how blessed they feel to have learned from his knowledge, been influenced by his subtle way of teaching, and most of all had their confidence, but just by his belief in us speaking as an artist. I can honestly say that I wouldn't be as good of an artist or filmmaker if not for Ralph's mentorship. I count myself one of those lucky people.

And blessed people. So then he goes on to talk about how Ralph couldn't take a compliment and he always thought his painting sucked. But he was instrumental in Toy Story and a lot of I mean, he's an animator for Disney before that. A lot of the second golden age. I don't know. I can't remember what we call the 90s version of Disney animation. Renaissance. Yeah, the Renaissance. He's part of that.

So anyway, I thought it was cool, like partly because, of course, you want to pay tribute to your artists, but they're kind of setting this book up itself as an emotional experience. So Inside Out 2, all about, of course, Inside Out, all about emotions and feelings. Let's talk about it. So, Kristen, your initial thoughts about Inside Out 2.

So just full disclosure, Disney invited me to see this early. So I got to take the kids to see it. It was great. I loved it. Like them inviting me has no bearing on how I feel about it. And I would have given you my honest opinion regardless. But I'm always hesitant when they do a sequel because I feel like Pixar can...

Toy Story is its own thing, right? Like you can, I mean, they've really like got their pattern down with Toy Story and they're really good with that. Even though like, I don't know that I need a Toy Story five and six and whatever else they're going to do, but I'll probably still like it and watch it. But my point is I feel like I'm a little hesitant when they make sequel because even monsters Inc, it wasn't necessarily a sequel as a prequel, right? Monsters University. So you kind of got that before, um,

this inside out for me and for my kids was those, it just, it brought up so many things and it got you in all the fields. And it just, you know, you, you really felt like you were inside Riley's head and you just, you felt so connected to her and like these emotions and what she was going through as a kid and how she was feeling. So I was sort of curious how they were going to do this without it just all being funny, because obviously she's going into preteen years. So, you know,

There's a lot of punchlines that are possible and a lot of things you could talk about. And it would be funny. I also was wondering how that was going to be relatable to my six year olds. Right. Because I have six year old twins that are probably really not at that stage. I do have a nine and 10 year old boy. So this was sort of perfectly suited probably for them and where they're at in their lives. So sort of wondering how this all was going to get navigated.

Without any spoilers, I would say that, of course, I have battled with anxiety my whole life. Like I didn't know what it was as a child. I didn't know what it was as a teenager. I had intense panic attacks in my like later years into my 20s until I figured out what that was and kind of got that figured out and like got a hold of my mental health and stuff. I mean, I still battle with anxiety incredibly. And I tried to just be really honest and open about that.

There were parts of this movie that were uncomfortable because there was a big emphasis on anxiety and there was funny parts about it. And I love that. I love how Pixar can just really tug at your heart. And then the next second you're rolling, laughing about something silly, you know, and the whole theater's uproaring and laughter. And, you know, one second before that, they were, you know, like wanting to cry. I do. I have a son who has anxiety really badly, too. I don't know that he knows this.

Yeah.

There was a moment that if you have a kid that's maybe a little anxious or, you know, a kid that sort of struggles with that or you struggle with that, there is a moment that you're kind of like, like your heart is sort of like pounding with Riley. But I think I have to give it to Pixar. They have so beautifully done.

encapsulated sort of what that is without giving any word or description to it. I've never seen something so eloquently portrayed in a cartoon. Like I left there, I was telling my mom this, we got in the car and I was like, I've never felt so under, like, I feel like anyone who watched that that doesn't have anxiety, like,

we'll watch that and now understand what I'm talking about. When I tell you I'm having like intense anxiety, like that's what was happening in that scene. Now I feel like people will understand that. And I feel like that, that alone for that film, I think is going to be a major, you know, point of conversation. And one of the things that I think is really beautifully put in inside out, which I think we had in the first one also was this sort of,

symmetry, right? Like this coexistence between sadness and joy, because they are friends and they are close, right? And they have this relationship. And they kind of define each other, right? Like you can't, if you don't know what is sad, you don't know what is happy, right? Exactly. And one of the lines in Inside Out 2 was joy. And she said, wherever I go, you go, right? Like where I go, you go. So it was a perfect description of like,

you know, we can't be without each other. I'm you, you're me, like we're, we're equals. And so they kind of take you on this ride of that,

And they're sort of explaining to you how someone sets up like who they are. Because I think when you see the first inside out, she's still a little girl and she's sort of soaking up things from her parents and she's sort of figuring out who she is and, you know, they move. So there's sort of those struggles of those emotions, right? Because she's moving and she's a little girl. Now you're sort of getting into this conversation of like all of these life experiences that you have.

and how they build your core belief system of who you are, like who you believe you are, your actions that you take, what you're responsible for as a person. So in that way, I don't know that this was my top Pixar movie. It was great. It's just a solid Pixar film. I didn't find anything wrong with it. I feel like it was really well, really well done. The audience loved it. There was lots of laughing, lots of things. I didn't full blown cry. So it was maybe one of the full Pixar films that didn't get me there, but there was all emotions, right? And the,

these new emotions that they bring up are so appropriate. I mean, you have embarrassment and, you know, anxiety. Embarrassment is hilarious. Well, you know, so I was going to say it. I think the film does revolve around anxiety. And so I, I talked about the book. I'm going to talk about the book again. So it starts of course, with that tribute to Ralph, but then the very first words of this book, the four word it's by Pete doctor. And it says life is full of uncertainty and plenty to worry about.

Did I order the wrong size pants? Wait, am I gaining weight? Did someone steal my nearly completed Order 9 and your 10th pizza is free card? These are amateur worries. Why settle for the mere problems of today when you could add in the tribulations of tomorrow? Will all my socks develop holes in the toes? Are my pointy toes causing this due to that pointy toe disorder? What if it's fatal? What if I never find my pizza card and never get that free 10th pizza? This, my friends, is the work of a professional warrior. Meet Anxiety. So...

I think that going back to Inside Out, when Inside Out, the first movie came out, all of these psychiatrists and psychologists came out and said, holy cow.

This is what we've been trying to say. This is how you can process your feelings when you can see them and understand how they work together and how they influence each other. This is a useful tool, this movie. It's very insightful. And I got to tell you, I'm an anxiety person too. I've been to the ER for anxiety. I thought it was my heart. This happens to a lot of people, right? And then

go through the whole ER work, you know, hours on machines and things in you. And then the doctor comes in and says, so tell me what's going on in your life. Right. So, and I think, I think, I think every human is affected by their anxiety to some degree, even if you're not a quote unquote anxious person, like some disorder you have is likely anxiety driven. Right. And you may never know it because anxiety is not high on your list of priorities to worry about. Um,

So this movie might be another one of those things where people come out, you know, in the next few weeks saying like, holy cow, this is going to help help America deal with their anxiety. Right. To some degree or another.

You know, you were talking about the new emotions. So on on we you're clearly not a Gilmore Girls fan on the ultimate Gilmore Girl Disney crossover for me on we Yeah. And so but what they say in the book is it's another form of privilege. Like does that come across in the movie?

A little bit like it's, it's her to me on, we is portrayed in like a overdramatic, like, this is so boring, like sort of like nothing is that important sort of attitude. And it is kind of, it is kind of,

for a preteen or a teen, right? Like, oh, like nothing is that great, right? That sort of attitude of like, this isn't that cool. Like, I don't care. Like that sort of whatever attitude. I feel like that's ennui for sure. But yeah,

Um, yes, on we you have embarrassment, which there's so many funny points for embarrassment and who can't relate to that. Like there's so many, you know, you say something wrong, you do something silly, you know, embarrassment is so great. The fact that we didn't already have embarrassment is kind of funny to me, but he fits in perfectly into this whole storyline, anxiety. And I will say,

It's interesting because you're always looking for, in a story, you're always looking for like a villain, right? Like who's the bad guy in the story and how does that turn around? It's ironic because anxiety is bad, right? Quote unquote, anxiety is bad. It doesn't help you in any way. And, you know, it makes you crazy. It makes you go to the ER. It makes you think that, you know, you're having a heart attack. I mean, you can't function, you can't breathe. But anxiety also thinks that it's helping you.

The whole theory behind anxiety is like, we're going to worry about 25 things that could happen tomorrow to try to protect you today. Like that's really what anxiety is. And so it's sort of, it's interesting. It's an interesting juxtaposition of those emotions and how feeling all of that at one time as a preteen or a teenager, that's sort of getting all of this at once.

you know, how overwhelming that is. And it is, I mean, so I'm 42 years old. It's overwhelming for me as an adult, but finding that as a child and then watching my kids watch it. I mean, it was interesting. And definitely we drove home from the screening and my son was like, all my kids were asking the questions, but my son who definitely has some anxiety stuff was like, okay, like this,

spoke to me, mom, like I get this part, like that part. I was very, and he even said, I was very uncomfortable. I didn't want to watch that part. I didn't want to watch it. Well, cause you don't want to watch it because you already know what that feels like. You're like, Oh, I don't want to be in this. I I've been in this before, right? It's familiar and it's uncomfortable. So I feel like they did a really good job with that. And I wouldn't, I'm sure they had all sorts of consultants and things and, but for mental health,

It's amazing. You know, it's, it really is amazing to be able to give people that perspective because I can't tell you how many people in my life are so fortunate and don't have anxiety like I do. And I think it's difficult to explain what that feels like because it's easy to tell someone, you know, why are you worried about that? That's, you know, it's not even happening or that's not even a possibility or, you know, we're not even to that point yet. My head's 17 steps ahead of you. And it's easy to say, don't worry about it. But at the same time,

the way it's portrayed in this sequel is it's just done really beautifully. Yeah. Yeah. Kristen, I am so glad you got to see this movie in advance. I'm glad we got to give, um, massage listeners a little bit of a prompt here. Um, if you're on the fence, I mean, I know there's a lot of,

Of course, the summertime and we're finally to the full on first summer, I think, of just full summer movie scheduling and a lot of things to compete with your time and attention. And I am really looking forward to Inside Out. I feel like this whole franchise with Pixar, these characters, they're so helpful to kids and adults and world and just super entertaining.

To hear the characters and they're all so unique, right? And the way that they talk is so unique as actors too. So I feel like they chose really good people for those roles.

And all these new emotions are hilarious. I mean, it's just funny and it works perfectly because they're all appropriate. There is one emotion that makes a little cameo and it's kind of a little thing, but I won't spoil it for you, but it's pretty funny. So if we get in depth to it later, it's really funny. But there is like a little cameo for like a short 30 second thing. That's a that's an emotion that everyone I think will get a kick out of, especially adults. That's super cool.

All right, Kristen. So people can find you at the happiest club on earth and various places. Thank you so much for coming back on Mousetalgia. Of course, we will be calling on you regularly and hopefully you are regularly coming back. I'm happy to. Yeah. Good to see you. Thanks. You're listening to Mousetalgia. Carpe Kingdom. Seize the magic.

All right. So before we go, I do want to mention, I do want to talk about a book signing I was able to attend last week at the Grove down in Los Angeles. So Barnes and Noble at the Grove often will have book signings and some of them are really

Sometimes it's, you know, book authors on their national book tours. And sometimes I think they are fairly unique signings. I am not sure that these authors are going to be traveling around much. So I was and Alan Dean Foster, I don't know how often he gets out there to do book signings, public book signings. It may be more common than I think, but I haven't been aware of them lately. And I've been kind of waiting for this. So when it came when I came across my book,

you know, feed that Alan Dean Foster is doing a book signing. I thought I have to go there, um, you know, for sure. And so I bought tickets right away and that was last week. So Alan Dean Foster, as I mentioned earlier in the show, of course, is famous for being a science, science fiction and fantasy writer. He has written lots of star Trek novelizations. He's written actually quite a few movie novelizations. He's well known for that. Um,

As far as Disney's concerned, The Black Hole he novelized, and of course, Star Wars, writing as George Lucas. George Lucas is not a writer and did not write Star Wars, even though it was a best-selling book for years. When the first Star Wars novel came out, Alan Dean Foster wrote it.

And then he wrote the follow-up sequel to Star Wars before even the Empire Strikes Back, before they even had the story for Empire Strikes Back written. He wrote a book called Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which is the first kind of extended universe sequel to Star Wars. So Alan Dean Foster is known by Star Wars and fantasy fans. But he was here at the Grove to talk about his latest book,

Which, as far as I can tell, is self-published. It doesn't look like it's attached to a publisher. So I think this is part of a bigger project that they're trying to get off the ground. But Alan Dean Foster, along with his co-authors, but the authors of the screenplay that he novelized, and their names are Sammy O'Ready and Nina Navarro. So along with those two, Alan Dean Foster appeared at Barnes & Noble to talk about Stuart. So the book is called Stuart.

And, um, if I'm going to, I haven't read it yet, just actually got home late last week and I haven't yet had a chance to settle down and read things. But from the talk, it sounds kind of like if we're going to put a Disney spin on this, um, it sounded, sounds kind of like an inversion of the Shaggy DA perhaps. So basically, um, Stuart is the story of a dog who, um,

is girl's best friend in, in the book. And he is, um,

the girl has her dog and he's her, you know, companion and she is just not having luck and love, right? She is not lucky with love. And one day she just looks at her dog and says, Oh, why can't I just, why can't a man be as faithful as you? Something like that. And, um, somehow she stumbles into some kind of means of making a wish that as often happens in these kinds of fantasies comes true and Stuart becomes a man. And so the, the book is of course then, um,

Well, I haven't read it, like I said, but from the discussion, kind of a story of what happens when this guy is trying to convince his best friend that he is actually who...

She does not know him to be like, he doesn't know that this man is actually her dog, her missing dog. Right. So, you know, it's an interesting story. You could see where a fantasy kind of author might take an interest in this, especially one that an author that's used to novelizing stories.

um, screenplays and Sammy and Nina had written this and they were in full, um, even, even at the event here, they were in full, like, let's make this into a project kind of mode. Like they're looking for, you know, producers to check it out. And you could tell, um,

Sammy was very excited that there were a few industry people in the crowd and he kept calling them out and saying, why won't you return my phone calls? And like, it was kind of funny and kind of awkward and a little bit Hollywood, like a very quintessential Los Angeles afternoon, right? So the other thing was that

One of Alan's friends is a man named Dan Curry, who some of you might recognize that name. He's a visual effects kind of a legend. He's done all kinds of visual effects production for Star Trek movies. Like he's been the director of visual effects for Star Trek.

I think quite a few of the television series Voyager for sure. Maybe deep space nine. I don't remember how much all, but he's been nominated for multiple Emmy awards. I'm not sure if he's won any. I think he has, um, just a very popular visual effects artist. Um,

And so he was there and we saw him talking to Alan Dean Foster. And then I thought, I got to go run over and see if there's a book here that he – because I know there's a book of his artwork, a Star Trek book of his artwork, but they didn't have that at Barnes & Noble. You know how bookstores are these days. They have like three copies of books and just the latest things. They are not as –

Um, you know, bookstores are more about selling the accoutrement as much as books. Um, they are not as well stocked as they were at once, but there were a couple of copies of the Voyager kind of the, the overall hard, hard back, like reminiscing about Voyager, the series. Right. So I thought, great. So I bought that and ran over and I said, Oh, excuse me. You know, it was five minutes before the books, the book conversation was supposed to start with Alan. I said, would you mind signing my book? And he was very happy to sign my book. So,

Bonus book signing there by Dan Curry, official of X artists. But we were there to hear Alan Dean Foster. So they divided the conversation into two halves. The first half was a conversation with Alan about his fantasy and science fiction work. And then the second half of the conversation was about Stuart. I'm going to leave Stuart alone. It's not really Disney related. It was a

fun, um, conversation. And like, if you want to look up Stuart online and check it out, get a copy, if it sounds like your kind of thing, um, I can recommend that it sounds really intriguing. Right. So, but, um, really what I'm going to talk about is the Disney related stuff that he brought up in his conversation. So, um, yeah,

As I mentioned earlier at the beginning of the show, he was involved with legal dispute with Disney about writing Star Wars. And I think Splinter of the Mind's Eye, I think, was just part of that. I don't know for sure, but I think like both of those, I don't know Splinter of the Mind's Eye is in print anymore, but Star Wars is.

And also, actually, Alien got caught up in this, too, because then Disney went and bought Fox and didn't and stopped paying him for writing Alien. And he had written the novelizations for the Alien movies, too. So Disney just was not paying these authors that they had bought the contracts out for. And I suspect this might be.

And it probably is just by routine. They're just not going to pay something. They don't have to pay what corporation would pay something. They don't have to pay. Right. Even if, but it does seem a little bit like usually in that case, it's,

And I don't know how many copies of Star Wars are still selling. So it was a little bit heated. Alan Dean Foster did go to the Science Fiction Writers Guild and kind of make a public stink about this and kind of shame Disney into doing the right thing and making a deal. So everyone's happy now, apparently. They made a deal. They're not talking about it. I'm sure there's NDAs around the whole thing, but that's over.

But he did still have a little bit of conversation about Star Wars related things and Disney related stuff. So I thought I would just actually play you some of what Alan Dean Foster had to say. So first, I will talk about The Black Hole. So Alan Dean Foster wrote the novelization for Disney of The Black Hole. And it's really an interesting story because his job is to write –

Right.

screenplay in order to come up with a novel length book. Right. So he can kind of pace it that way. And he does kind of pace it that way. And sometimes maybe something needs to be carried a little further and he'll write more about that, but then other things, you know, he can tighten up and write less about that. But basically it has to come out to that.

But he realized when he was going through the black hole as a science fiction writer, he realized this isn't really good science fiction because there's a lot of scientific nonsense. Like science fiction, he explained in his opinion, doesn't have to be based on like things that we can actually do, but it has to at least attempt to.

make the world believable or make you believe that they worked out these things and these things are real. So he doesn't really consider Star Wars to be true science fiction because there are things that are nonsensical like lightsabers. He talks about, I don't know if he talks about this in his conversation that I'm about to

Then I'm going to play for you. But he mentions that lightsabers would kill the user almost for sure. Like the way that they're designed, like you can't just carry around that thing. You would cut off your own arms and legs all the time. Right. So he said, but it just is. So he considers Star Wars kind of science fiction fantasy. But Star Trek, he considers much more science fiction because they try to be grounded a little bit more in a reality. Even if it's not possible reality, it's their reality. Personally, I prefer Star Trek. I like them all.

Star Wars is what you would call science fantasy. In other words, it has all the tropes of science fiction. But when George got to a point where there was something he wanted to do, as James Cameron told me when I asked him a question about aliens, why'd you do that? He said, I wanted that shot. At that point, the director forgets about the science and just wants the shot.

And George wanted certain things in Star Wars, for example. The lightsaber is a very elegant weapon, but it's totally impractical because you're more likely to cut your own leg off before you hurt your opponent. And you have little starships that are crossing parsecs of space and have no room for fuel, for example. Very interesting concepts from a scientific standpoint. You just have to blank your mind of any science whatsoever and enjoy the Star Wars films.

So we call it science fantasy because the science is fantasy. But I liked it. Everybody likes it. Everybody enjoyed it. It's very Buck Rogers stuff, which is what George wanted to do in the first place. But he couldn't get the rights to Buck Rogers. Star Trek is much more science oriented. It may not be real science in a lot of cases, but at least they tried to justify it.

the science of Star Trek. Alien is a haunted house film in space. There's stuff in there that doesn't make any sense. The thing that bothers me most, and it's a question you get asked a lot, what is the thing about science, the big science fiction films that bothers you more than anything else? It's not faster than light travel, which you can fiddle around with and make sound at least sensible. It's artificial gravity.

Have you noticed that everybody in these films is walking around on starships as if it has Earth normal gravity? Nobody's floating off anywhere except for 2001: A Space Odyssey. And that's because it was co-written by Arthur C. Clarke, whose work is very science-based. So you had people with Velcro shoes

Walking on carpets so they wouldn't float off. But everybody in all these other films, Starship Troopers and the Alien films, they're just trundling around on the starships as if the gravity is normal and they're not out in space at all. And there's another problem I could go on and on about this, which is another reason I don't work on all of these films. People in Hollywood don't really realize that space is a big place.

It's a really big place. There was a groundbreaking film called The Last Starfighter, which they're in the process of trying to remake. One of the very first films to use primitive CGI graphics. And there's a protective wall of like space mines around Earth. And it's in a band like the Rings of Saturn. And you can't get through them because your ship will blow up. But nobody seems to think that, well, why don't we just go over it?

You really don't understand how big space is. So he didn't think the black hole was either. He thought the black hole... So he had some suggestions about the black hole. So let me just play you what Alan Dean Foster had to say at this book reading about his involvement with Disney and the black hole. People have asked me...

Why do you think your novelizations have been so successful? And I think it's because there are two aspects of my personality that go into writing them. One is that of a professional writer. The other one is that of the 14-year-old boy sitting in the back of the theater with his friends, criticizing the lousy special effects. And if you put those two things together, you get a writer who is enthusiastic about what he's writing, even if it's a bad movie.

I can always do something with it that I think makes a decent book. The Black Hole. Have you seen the Disney The Black Hole? That was a bad movie. It was very pretty because some very important artistic people were involved with it. But Disney had no idea what they were doing. That was back when Disney's son-in-law was running the studio. Nobody knew anything about science fiction except Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw, who were mad artists who really got that film made.

And afterwards, because I can't keep my mouth shut, which is why I live in Arizona and don't work in the business very much, I made a list of 75 things that I thought could be fixed and improve the movie in what's called post-production.

In other words, after all of them, which they were shooting the movie while I was writing the book, afterwards I thought these are little things that you can do that I think will improve the picture. For example, cut the scene where you see the floating robots being held up by wires. Pretty basic. There's a scene where a guy's walking around in space without a spacesuit on. I mean, you know, and if you don't believe me, go over to Burbank High School and talk to the 12th grade physics class.

These are not the sort of comments designed to endear you to the heads of a motion picture studio. But as a fan, I felt it was incumbent on me to point these things out. Never heard a word about it. Figured, well, they threw it away. Time goes by, and I was meeting a... I met the guy who was my contact at Disney while I was doing this.

About six months later, I said, "You remember that couple of pages of suggestions I made? I guess nobody ever saw that." He said, "Oh no, we had a big meeting about it and people were yelling and screaming and this and that, but they didn't adopt a single one of the suggestions and they were all cheap." Because even though I'm not on that end of the filmmaking business, I'm very conscious of what films cost. So I found out it's more important if you're working in the motion picture business to have your name on a bad picture

than to listen to somebody else who might get credit for something and make a good picture. So if you wonder why some of the films you see are not very good sometimes, that's a major reason why. And that's why I live in Central Arizona. I like how he was dismissive of Ron Miller, right? He was talking about Ron Miller, who was Walt's son-in-law that ran the company about that time. You know, but that's his perspective, right? He was...

He was chosen to write this novelization and this was, you know, he had some ideas for them and at least it came up in conversation. Right. So that's his story about the black hole. But also interesting to me was his conversation about splinter of the mind's eyes. So this book actually was the first, like I said, extended universe novel.

Um, star Wars book, which means it wasn't based on any film. It was based on the characters and their external activities outside of the films. Right. So, um, that's the extended part.

So he is writing about Luke Lee and Han and the triangle that they formed, basing it basically on his understanding of the characters as they acted and were presented in Star Wars, the story. But it's an interesting purpose behind Splinter of the Mind's Eye. So I'm going to let you hear this from Alan's own words. So here's Alan Dean Foster on Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

Your original sequel to your novel Star Wars, which takes the Luke-Leia relationship famously in a different direction than the eventual film Empire Strikes Back did, that that was born out of a concern that if Star Wars failed, they would need a cheap sequel, a lower budget sequel. Is it true that that was the origin point of that novel?

It was a two-book contract. I was engaged to write the book version of Star Wars and an original sequel novel. And the only stretcher that George Lucas put on me was that the sequel novel had to be something that could be filmed on a low budget.

The idea being that if this film nobody knew anything about called Star Wars was neither a huge success nor a colossal flop, he would be able to reuse a lot of the same props and costumes and maybe sets that he used in the first film and make a sequel film. It was an interesting way to approach writing what was essentially an original novel. I said, "Was there anything you want me to include or not include?" He said, "No, go write something." He was busy.

So I went off and wrote my own Star Wars sequel called Splinter of the Mind's Eye. It was the first book in what is now called the Expanded Universe. And at the time, there was kind of this three-way relationship between Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia and Han Solo.

Nobody had decided, certainly not George, that Luke and Leia would be brother and sister. That showed up in the middle of the production of Empire Strikes Back. In fact, there's a cutscene from Empire Strikes Back where Luke and Leia engage in what is obviously a sibling kiss.

And that had to be thrown away at that point. So there's some odd frisson between Luke and Leah in Splinter the Mind's Eye. But the rest of it I just got to make up as I went along, and I had a lot of fun with that. And the cover painting for that book was done by Ralph McQuarrie.

He was not a cover artist, per se. He did a lot of the pre-production drawings. He was responsible for a lot of the look of Star Wars. I think it's the best thing he ever painted, Star Wars related anyway. And I really wanted that painting, but George has it and didn't give it up.

So we could have had a totally different Star Wars world if Star Wars hadn't been such a raging success. But of course, if it hadn't been such a raging success, that would have meant it wasn't as entertaining as it is. So why would we want to have all that Star Wars, right? Now we live in a world that Star Wars is a whole genre of popular culture. I love it. I love living now and being a part of the Star Wars fandom.

And so it was just a pleasure to get to hear Alan Dean Foster talk. He signed, so I brought two hardcover books. I brought two hardcover books, copies of Star Wars, the book club version, which you can get for 30 or 40 bucks sometimes on eBay. And it was actually gifted to me by a listener. And I can't thank you enough. You know who you are. But I have a copy of the trade, the first hardcover trade edition, which came out, I think right after the movie sometime in 1977. And,

It's got a gold cover. The very few copies, I don't even know if they went into a second printing. I think they just made a printing of hardcovers, but the paperback was already out there. And I think the paperback is what took over the world. But they made a printing of at least one print run of hardcover versions. And I have one of those. And even Aldean Foster looked at it and said, wow, I really love this book. It's his favorite version. It's beautiful, you know, beautiful gold cover. And so he signed that too. So I have, and then also I brought,

my copy of Splinter of the Mind's Eye and he signed that too. So a great time getting some of my collectibles signed, getting to meet Alan Dean Foster and,

and just enjoying an afternoon with the Hoy Ploy in Los Angeles. All right. And I think that's all the time we have for this week's Mousetalgia. Hope something in there was of interest to you. If you want to get ahold of me, write me at comments at mousetalgia.com. I'd love to hear from you. Um, if you want to support the show, please go to mousetalgiaplus.com where you can learn about how you can support Mousetalgia with, um, by becoming a member of our Patreon account. Um,

Every little bit helps. I love all of you that support me on Patreon. It's very useful and helpful. Every dime I make on Patreon goes to the podcast. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. I hope you all have a great week. We'll be back soon with more stuff. We have a great first-timers review of the Walt Disney Family Museum coming up. I think we even are going to have a report from Tokyo DisneySea and all of the new stuff that has just opened over there.

Really good things coming up for you this summer. So stay tuned. I will talk to you all soon. Let's go Carpe Kingdom. Seize the magic. Bye, everybody. Bye.

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