During the Star Wars: Season of the Force media event this past Friday at Disneyland, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Walt Disney Imagineers Tom Fitzgerald and Michael Serna, plus Lucasfilm’s Matt Martin all about the 2024 iteration of this seasonal celebration at the Happiest Place On Earth.
But before the interviews began, Tom Fitzgerald was part of an introductory speech about this year’s Season of the Force and the updates that have been made to Disney Parks’ Star Tours: The Adventures Continue attraction.
Watch Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald Discusses Latest Star Tours: The Adventures Continue Updates – Disneyland:
During my one-on-one chat with Mr. Fitzgerald (which you can watch in the embedded YouTube video below) we discussed how Walt Disney Imagineering worked with Lucasfilm to decide when the time is right to add new segments to Star Tours, plus how WDI recaptured the magic of the Purrgil space whales from Star Wars: Ahsoka, and how the celebrities reprising their roles for Star Tours reacted to the idea of appearing in a Disney Parks attraction.
Watch Interview: Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald on Star Tours: The Adventures Continue Updates and More:
Mike Celestino, Laughing Place: How does Imagineering, working in tandem with Lucasfilm, decide ‘this is the right moment’ to add new destinations and holographic messages to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue?
Tom Fitzgerald: We basically say, ‘This is the way.’ [laughs] It actually comes from the audience. It comes from fans. Characters get added, and they bubble up as favorites. Back a couple years, pre-[The Mandalorian and] Grogu, who knew that Grogu would become this phenomenon? So some of it is, these characters are emerging and becoming fan favorites, and Star Tours is a ‘greatest hits’ show. It is a show that should have your favorite characters [and] your favorite places from Star Wars in this mash-up world that we’ve created. That part was easy, in a way– just saying these [characters are going to be included]. The sequence thing is hard: what sequence do we do? We wanted to add a sequence in addition to the transmissions, and it’s like, ‘Well, from which series, and what do we look at?’ When I read the script for episode three [of Ahsoka] and saw this Purrgil, I was like, ‘Purrgils! Space whales. Wow.’
‘Flying up in the atmosphere!’ That’s really unique, and that will give us a sequence up in the air. It’ll give us a sequence that will be a wonder moment where we come out of lightspeed, instead of immediately being in battle. Just having this scene where you think it’s scary– we’re in the dark clouds and we see this thing like, ‘Uh oh, uh oh!’ And then you come [through the clouds] and go, ‘No! It’s a wonderful thing. It’s not a scary thing.’ And [C-3PO] getting to suddenly turn into a tour guide: ‘Oh! These are the Purrgil. They’re the legendary space whales.’ We get to let him play tour guide for a moment, which is what Star Tours is supposed to be. Threepio is like, ‘And they’re so serene,’ and then in comes the battle. So it let us mix up the tone, get some comedy in there, get some new moves, and so we ultimately said, ‘That’s gonna be great! Let’s do that.’
LP: What techniques are you using in Star Tours to replicate that same feeling of wonder we got when watching the Purrgil sequences in Ahsoka on the small screen?
Fitzgerald: Well, obviously we’re not recreating exactly what you see in the series. We’re making it work for Star Tours. One thing that was really interesting is we do it in 3D, and the moment we went from 2D to 3D watching the footage up at [Industrial Light & Magic], suddenly the scale of the Purrgil increased dramatically. It was such a ‘Wow!’ [moment]. We all went, ‘Whoa! Now you really feel how big they are.’ And then it’s also like, ‘What can we do with them, once we figure out our moves? Okay, we’ve got a barrel [roll]; what can we do with the Purrgil that’s different than what they did in the show, that’s really just for us?’ And one was what I call the ‘ski slalom’ through the tentacles. We haven’t done that move before– that’s really fun. It’s a fun move in there, and then the other one of feeling like you’re getting sucked into the mouth of one [of the Purrgil]. So it’s looking for what things will give you cool moves, give you humor, and give you action that will make people laugh and smile. Again, we’re not doing exactly what you got in [Ahsoka]– we’re doing the Star Tours version of that: ‘When you’re in Disney Parks, what’s the fun that you want to have going to those worlds, in the short time we have?’
LP: Lastly, can you talk about bringing some of the Star Wars cast members back from the movies and television shows? How enthusiastic are they to be a part of a Disney Parks attraction like this?
Fitzgerald: They love it. Rosario [Dawson is a] huge, huge, huge Disney fan. So they love it– it’s a chance for them to become a part of something that lives and lives and lives. We obviously do it in a pretty quick amount of time, because they’re short sequences, but they love it. They love the characters they create, and they do love how they get translated into this other medium. Rosario was so fun. She loved the fact that Ahsoka says, ‘Star Tours. I’ve been looking for you.’ In this world of Star Tours, it’s very natural for them to acknowledge that. Now if you really stop and go back and go, ‘Wait a minute… she knows about this tour coming?’ But in the context of Disney Parks, it’s totally natural, and it makes it really fun. She’s talking to us– that’s different than a movie: they’re not talking to us; they’re talking to each other. In Star Tours, she’s aware that we’re here, and Threepio’s aware that there’s a spy. It’s all connected, and so you’re part of the story, which is the fun of it– you’re in the world, you’re part of an adventure, and you’re not a passive [spectator] just watching something happen. You’re being called on to be part of the adventure, which amps it up.
Watch Matt Martin (Lucasfilm) and Michael Serna (Disney Live Entertainment) Discuss "Season of the Force":
In addition to Tom Fitzgerald, Lucasfilm’s Matt Martin (member of the fabled Story Group) and Walt Disney Imagineering’s Michael Serna (from the Disney Live Entertainment department) also spoke briefly about Season of the Force at the media event, and you can watch their appearance in the embedded video above. I then recorded an audio interview with them paired together, the transcript of which you can read below.
Mike Celestino, Laughing Place: Can you each tell me what excites you the most about Season of the Force this time around?
Matt Martin: I mean I’m personally excited about so many things. As a big Star Tours fan– I have a Star Tours tattoo– seeing new updates to that and being able to continually expand on that is huge for me. Bringing Sabine [Wren] into the park… I got to meet her yesterday, and that was a huge thing for me, because Sabine’s one of my favorites. And of course, “Fire of the Rising Moons” is an incredible show that recontextualizes the [Disneyland] fireworks in such a fun way. I actually come for the fireworks in Galaxy’s Edge anyway, so now having it tailored to the rest of the Star Wars environment is great.
Michael Serna: We did that just for you, Matt. [laughs]
Martin: Great! I appreciate it. [laughs]
Serna: Yeah, I agree. I think for me, it is giving the guests the chance to meet characters like [Sabine] and the BDX droids, which were here for a very short time last year. Having more guests get a chance to encounter them is going to be super exciting, but absolutely the key to all of this for me is “Fire of the Rising Moons,” which is not a limited offering. That is something we’re doing long-term, so it is not just for Season of the Force, but it launches right now. To be able to hear this [John Williams] music in the land with the fireworks going off, I don’t think anybody is prepared for how cool it is. It’s gonna be so exciting for everybody to get a chance to see it.
LP: I’m personally always interested in learning more about the lore of Batuu. How do these new additions to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge fit into that lore and reflect the history of Batuu as a planet?
Martin: Batuu is, obviously, a planet in Star Wars. It’s been here for a long time. We’ve now seen storytelling as early as The High Republic that features Batuu, so we’ll always be able to bring in new characters through a variety of different content to come and have their moment here while living in their story and in their era.
Serna: And I think what you’ll see with “Fire of the Rising Moons” [is] we do have a bit of narration at the beginning, which will start to key into some of [those] story beats about how long Batuu has been around [and] how many stories have gone through this land and this planet. That’s going to help bridge that idea that you might experience many different things when you visit Batuu.
Star Wars: Season of the Force runs from now through Sunday, June 2nd at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. For additional information, be sure to visit the official Disneyland Resort website, and as always we recommend booking your Disney Parks trips through our friends at Mouse Fan Travel.