Jim Hill
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So ... What is known is that these senior Imagineers discreetly approached Lucas and voiced their concerns about "Alien Encounter" being too intense for small children. George allegedly listened politely, then agreed that 20th Century Fox’s movie monster probably didn’t belong in a Disney theme park. Lucas promised to talk to Eisner about the proposed attraction, and then ...

A few days later, Eisner called a meeting with the "Alien Encounter" production team. He announced that he’d had a change of heart and no longer believed the show should be built around 20th Century Fox’s movie monster. Eisner went on to say that he felt that the Alien monster was just too scary to serve as the central character of a Disney theme park attraction. He then said -- while he appreciated all the hard work the Imagineers had put into the Fox monster version of the show -- he was certain that WDI could come up with a monster of its own that would be just as good. One not quite as frightening as the first monster was, mind you, but something that would still work within the confines of the show.

Oh …One other thing Eisner mentioned: George Lucas would now be acting as the executive producer on the "Alien Encounter" project.

While the senior Imagineers were secretly thrilled with this news, the "Alien Encounter" team was aghast. Rework the show so that it no longer featured the movie monster? Was that possible? Would "Alien Encounter" still work under these conditions? And why was Lucas suddenly riding herd on the project?

It was at this precise moment that many folks at WDI believe that "Alien Encounter" went off track. By not making use of 20th Century Fox’s well known monster, the show suddenly lost its hook. Without having the easily recognizable "Alien" creature driving the action of the show, the attraction’s storyline became harder for the average theme park guest to follow. The Imagineers would now have to make sure that the audience understood exactly what their new monster was capable of doing before they turned off the lights. Otherwise, the guests would just sit there in the dark, having no idea what was going on around them.

Since the initial concept for the "Alien Encounter" show had now been creatively compromised, many at WDI felt that Imagineering should have pulled the plug on the project. But Eisner was still so enthusiastic about the idea of Disney doing a "monster-in-the-dark" show. He seemed downright eager to give the Imagineers all the money they needed to develop all those special in-theater effects. And WDI did want to keep the boss happy.

So the Imagineers reluctantly began to revamp "Alien Encounter." But -- before they started on a new version for the show -- one of the first things they did was called Disney's publicity department. The Imagineers then asked the PR people to return all "Alien Encounter" pre-production art they had been given to help promote the proposed attraction. The reason the Imagineers did this? All that artwork was from the original version of "Alien Encounter," which prominently featured 20th Century Fox’s movie monster.

Disney’s PR department ignored WDI’s request. In fact, they continued to use that "Alien Encounter" pre-production artwork -- which clearly showed 20th Century Fox’s monster bursting out of the tube at the center of the proposed attraction -- to promote the show for the next two years.

The Imagineers then turned their attention to producing a new script for "Alien Encounter." For months they labored -- trying to come up a new plot line that audiences could grasp quickly. Finally, they settled on the ‘XS Tech’ scenario -- where a sinister alien corporation tries to sell teleportation equipment to the people of Earth … when something goes horribly wrong! Admittedly, this version wasn't nearly as much fun as the original 20th Century Fox's Alien based story. But the Imagineers hoped that the show’s innovative use of in-theater effects would still put "Alien Encounter" across to the Disney theme park audience.

Eisner -- who reportedly really enjoyed the jabs at greedy corporations the Imagineers slipped into this version of the script -- okayed the 'XS Tech' scenario. Lucas also gave his approval of the new storyline. So WDI threw together a production team and gave the project a preliminary budget in September 1992. With that, work on 'Alien Encounter' officially got underway.

As script work continued on the revised version of "Alien Encounter," Imagineers assigned to the project kept wondering when George Lucas was going to get actively involved with the show. During the development of "Star Tours" and the "Indiana Jones Adventure," Lucas had played a very active part in the creative process on these attractions. But -- on "Alien Encounter" -- Lucas offered very little input. After attending a few initial story meetings, he pretty much left the Imagineers working on the show alone. For all intents and purposes, George was the absentee landlord of this attraction, its producer in name only.

But -- as it would turn out -- having an AWOL executive producer would be the least of the worries the "Alien Encounter" production team would deal with.