Monday, October 11, 2010

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH A STORY:  Thanks to everyone who offered advice for my trip to Universal Studios Orlando.  I did, indeed, make a beeline to Hogsmeade as fast as I could and queued up for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey as quickly as I could.  The sign predicted 75 minutes, and some of my colleagues bailed, but hoo boy the wait was worth it.  (Actual time, start to finish: 55 minutes.)

The first half-hour was a slog, in long winding queues with nothing but some electrical fans to break up the monotony.  Even the walk through the Hogwarts greenhouse was just ... walking through a place with plants.  None of them were animatronic, and there were no staffers providing mid-queue entertainment. 

But then you enter Hogwarts, and from there on it's pretty damn spectacular.  The pictures talk to each other, and Salazar Slytherin's complains about all the muggles infesting Hogwarts.  You visit Dumbledore's office, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and see the Sorting Hat.  And then, The Ride. 

This spoiler-filled review provides the details, as well as what I think is the right critical take.  As ride simulators go, it's incredible.  You really feel like you're flying through Hogwarts, being attacked by Dementors (though I didn't notice the Dementor's Kiss moment described at the link), racing across a Quidditch game and the like.  But what you don't feel is any sense of narrative -- it's unclear what you're doing in Hogwarts in the first place, or why you're chasing Harry around, or what you've accomplished other than a really neat flight.

The same problem, of course, pervades all of Universal -- there's no narrative whatsoever which ties the various "lands" to each other -- Seuss, Jurassic, "the Lost Continent," Marvel Island -- and there's no real effort to layer everything with all the interstitial stuff that Disney does so well,  It's just a collection of rides and places to buy stuff.

And buy stuff, in Hogsmeade, I did.  No, I didn't wait in line for Ollivander's Wand Shop, but Honeydukes and Zonko's Joke Shop did receive a fair share of my business.  (Pygmy Puffs!)  As I noted on Twitter, alumni of Hufflepuff and Ravensclaw will be severely disappointed in the amount of school swag available compared to the Big Two (esp. Gryffindor), but it is pretty damn awesome to have all that merchandise available.

And it's all because the thirteenth publisher who Jo Rowling's agent approached had an eight-year-old daughter who, when showed the first chapter of the first book, demanded to read more. You know the rest.

6 comments:

  1. Eric J.3:41 PM

    Is it time, yet, for Rowling to open up the Potterverse a bit? I'm not envisioning a monthly series of non-canonical novels by a combination of hacks, young writers and smooth old pros (Yes, I'm looking at you Star Trek) but short stories by notable authors-Neil Gaiman, Steven Brust, Clive Barker, etc. focusing on minor characters and obscure corners of the Wizarding World. What were the American schools like? Did Voldemort have agents and sympathizers in other countries? I'd probably read a trilogy about Neville's parents.

    While I'm on the subject, here's something that's bothered me recently - while Dumbledore's willingness to say Voldemort's name was admirable considering how much fear and power it had over even the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, why didn't he take it a step further, and consistently call him Tom Riddle? It seems to me that reminding everyone of his humble origins and essential humanity and fallibility would have done even more to puncture the Voldemort mystique.

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  2. Speaking of opening up the Potterverse, everyone must must must start reading http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality

    And I'm not some who recommends fan fiction.  This is Harry Potter for serious Harry Potter fans who are also fans of Richard Feynman and/or xkcd.  It deserves a post.

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  3. I think a large part of that is because so much of Universal's content is licensed, so they can't ingrain it into the parks the way they'd love to be able to.  Disney has much less of a problem on that front, since 95% of the content in their parks is Disney-based (only licenses i can think of are Star Tours and Idol, and maybe a few characters at the Studios like the Power Rangers).  Universal has to be able to retheme stuff if it loses the rights (the Marvel stuff will have to be rethemed, since I assume Marvel World will come to the Studios once the Universal license is up).

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  4. Ooo, thanks for the fanfic rec :) I'm always looking for good ones.

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  5. Genevieve5:57 PM

    Second the recommendation.  I've been reading this for a while - it's a little mindblowing and very very cool.  Though one bit with Draco early one gave me pause in its ugliness, nothing else has bothered me and much has been fun and enlightening.

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