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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Magic Kingdom

ABC Developing Show Based on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Roller Coaster

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Magic Kingdom

Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion are two attractions that have already been made into movies and there are other ideas in various stages of conception for the Walt Disney Studios including a movie based on the Magic Kingdom park concept itself. We can now add a TV show to that list as ABC has ordered a script for a show based on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster attraction.

Set in a mining town in the American southwest, the backstory for the ride involves gold mining and a curse by Native Americans that brings disaster on those who try to remove it from the ground, usually in the form of an earthquake. Guests on the roller coaster just barely escape. Whether that idea makes it into the script remains to be scene.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland was also the scene of one of the park’s biggest tragedies with an accident that resulted in the death of a guest and the serious injury of others.

The adventure based drama could air as soon as next fall if the pilot gets made and if it gets picked up.

Below the jump, my onride POV video of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster:
Read More »ABC Developing Show Based on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Roller Coaster

Castle 5-7: Swan Song

I do not like the mockumentary/found footage style of story telling. It’s a reason I don’t like The Office. So you can imagine my reaction to last night’s Castle. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the actors did a great job of playing their characters as over actors. But the results made me cringe more than laugh. Plus there’s the shaky camera work, a style I hate. Fortunately, the murder was interesting.

And how did we get this set up? Well, the murder victim was the lead guitarist in a band that was just about to make it big, and a documentary crew had been following them for the last few months. Since our vic was the band in many ways, the director feels no one will be interested in this film, but maybe he can savage something by filming the investigation. (And of everyone on the crew, the director is the only one we see, although a few people do talk to the camera people.)

Castle is the first one to start hamming it up for the cameras while everyone else is more interested in shutting them down. Unfortunately, the PR person for the NYPD feels this will be a boost to the department, so they are given permission to film the investigation. As things continue, the rest of the department begins to get into the act. We’ve got Esposito and Ryan fighting to see who can show off more for the camera. Lanie calls Castle and Beckett down for an only slight revelation while wearing a very low cut top and mugging for the camera. Castle begins to tire of everyone’s antics, and only Beckett never really gives in to them. In fact, she is back to her reserved, annoyed self we saw most in season one.

Oh, you want to hear about the murder?Read More »Castle 5-7: Swan Song

Once Upon a Time 2-7: Child of the Moon

As much as I am enjoying this season, I will admit I miss having all the characters in every episode. I fee like we are only getting advancements on some of our stories each week, and I’m greedy. I want more!!!!!

Having said that, this week was enjoyable. I felt like I was often half a step ahead of the characters, but even so, I liked seeing how things turned out.

We spent the majority of our time in Storybrooke this week, so let’s start there. As the episode opens, the dwarfs are about to quit their mining for the day, only Grumpy isn’t ready to go. He takes one more swing at the wall of the mine, and tumbles down into a room. They quickly call Charming, who brings Henry and the Blue Fairy. She confirms they’ve found the diamonds from which fairy dust can be made. She tells Charming to keep the hat safe because they will be using it to bring Snow and Emma home again soon. (Was that the Blue Fairy or a different fairy? I can’t remember right at the moment, but I fairly certain it was. Not that it really matters.)

Sadly, we’re only 3 minutes into the episode. You should never make those kinds of promises so early in an episode.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-7: Child of the Moon

Once Upon a Time 2-6: Tallahassee

As per usual on Once Upon a Time, we had two stories, one in the present and one in the past. The twist for this episode was that the present story took place in Enchanted Forest and the past story was Emma’s story from 11 years ago in our world. And if you are doing the math – that’s right. We just met Henry’s father and proved one theory correct.

We’re going to start in our world past this week. Our first look at Emma 11 years ago is as she is stealing what we think of as her yellow VW Bug in Oregon. Just as she is taking off with it, she finds someone in the backseat. Since he has the keys, she assumes he is the owner, but when a cop pulls them over, she learns the truth. This man, Neal Cassidy, doesn’t own the car either.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-6: Tallahassee

Castle 5-5: Probably Cause

I first fell in love with Castle because of the humorous approach they took to mysteries. I’m not saying they don’t take mystery and murder seriously, but they have fun along the way with the quips and flirting they’ve always had between Castle and Beckett. But along the way, they’ve also developed such real characters that when they do a case that is more serious or personal, I love those just as much. That was certainly the case last night.

The episode started out like any other one. Castle’s at home, he thinks alone, and then hears Alexis in the house. She’s come home to do laundry and grab some snacks before taking off again to meet some friends to study. Castle’s a little perturbed by that, but the murder scene puts all that from his mind.Read More »Castle 5-5: Probably Cause

Once Upon a Time 2-5: The Doctor

logoThey really went there.

After spending all week being prepared to hate this revelation and twist to the story, I must say I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. It was one little explanation that made it completely work for me.

Of course, if they hadn’t spoiled it last week, the shocks might have been much better tonight. It’s obvious we weren’t supposed to know who or what Dr. Whale is.

We have three stories to look at tonight, so enough with the preamble. Let’s get to it.

Let’s start back in the Enchanted Forest of old.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-5: The Doctor

Once Upon a Time 2-4: The Crocodile

Another episode, another fractured fairy tale. As I believe I had mentioned last week, I love Peter Pan as a whole, so I was interested to see what they were going to do with Captain Hook. It’s added another layer to the story, and I think it is going to make things very interesting.

Let’s start back in the day of the Enchanted Forest.Read More »Once Upon a Time 2-4: The Crocodile

Castle 5-4: Murder, He Wrote

A nice romantic getaway to the Hamptons. What could be better than that? Well, if you are Castle and Beckett, maybe a romantic getaway without a murder. But then where would the fun be for us?

I’ve got to admit, I wonder a bit about the setting. Yes, they’ve talked about Castle’s place in the Hamptons before. But since ABC’s hit show Revenge is set there, I’m wondering if there is a connection. I also wonder if last season’s fairy tale themed episode was inspired by Once Upon a Time. But those are minor points since both episodes were good in their own right.

And I have to give them early credit for the shout outs to the fans. First, there is the title of the episode and the mention of the classic show Murder, She Wrote. People were making comparisons to that show early on because of the writer solves murders premise. Plus, there’s the scene where Castle is trying to come up with a trendy couple name for them. After several bad attempts to combined their names, he comes up with – Caskett, the long used name in the fan community. Just fun little nods I really enjoyed.

This is also the season with the best used story arc so far. Usually, a story arc plays out over just a few episode over the course of a season. Here, they’ve been doing something with Castle and Beckett being together in every episode so far. They are really playing it for laughs, too, and I’m enjoying it. Of course, something this big really does need to play a part in so many episodes, at least at the beginning of the season. Still, I’m a bit surprised that another domino fell tonight. Just how long are they going to keep this secret relationship a secret?

But enough preamble; we’ve got a murder to solve.Read More »Castle 5-4: Murder, He Wrote