Today on October 19, 1989...
...the Body Wars attraction opens at the Wonder's of Life Pavilion at Epcot.
Greetings, Intrepid Explorers
Recruits, you have completed both your level one and level two dermatopic purification screenings. The reduction sequence has begun, and you are now approaching the Miniaturization Room where the technicians will focus a particle beam on your ship. Hold on everybody, as we climb aboard the ultra-comfortable LGS 250 body probe.
Please join Captain Braddock, Dr. Lair and Dr. Fletcher with Mission Control, as we embark on a journey through inner space and boldly go where no guest has gone since 2007…on a high speed thrill ride to the heart of adventure! Body Wars…
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Another Journey Through Inner Space…
Today in Disney history, Body Wars, at the Wonders of Life pavilion, began taking guests on a wild ride through the human heart, lungs and brain. Featuring the park’s first ever thrill ride, the Wonders of Life pavilion featuring Body Wars opened seven years after Epcot Center (1982-1993) first opened.
While Body Wars still has a strong fan following, most fans of the ride don’t realize the attraction featured a number of surprising references to Star Trek. One of the key contributors to the production of Body Wars is none other than Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy.
Inner space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the LGS 250. Its seven minute mission to explore the far corners of the human body in the name of discovery; to seek out invasive foreign bodies and white blood cells. To boldly go where no Disney guest has gone before…
ATLAS
Body Wars and her sister attraction Star Tours — which opened at Disneyland on January 9, 1987 and then later at Disney-MGM Studios on December 15, 1989— were the first Disney attractions to utilize ATLAS simulator technology.
ATLAS — Advanced Technology Leisure Application Simulator— was derived from military flight simulation technology, and used six hydraulic actuators to provide a broad range of simulated movement.
In the 1980’s Walt Disney Imagineering purchased rights to utilize the technology and set themselves to work refining the technology so it could be used in theme park attractions.
The efforts of the Imagineers resulted in the iconic heart pounding, synapse firing, stomach lurching attraction, which inspired a generation of 1990’s Disney kids to want to go to medical school.
Beam Me Up
On January 22, 1988, Epcot Center announced that they would be building a new pavilion in Epcot’s Future World East region of the park. The pavilion would be called Wonders of Life and it would be themed around health care.
From its early beginnings, The Walt Disney Company has an extensive history partnering with talented artists and big corporations to build epic attractions.
The bench of the creative team behind Body Wars was made up of an impressive list of talented writers, Imagineers, actors and a surprising choice of director, Leonard Nimoy.
In the starring role of Dr. Cynthia Lair, was the Oscar-nominated Elisabeth Shue. Shue was then known for her breakout role in The Adventures in Babysitting (1987). A month later in November of 1989, Elisabeth Shue would go on to star in the summer blockbuster Back to the Future II, making her one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood.
Captain Braddock was played by Tim Matheson, who, in his youth, was a voice over performer for Hanna Barbera cartoons. Tim Matheson would go on to enjoy a prolific career in television, starring in several popular shows, including The West Wing, Hart of Dixie, The Good Fight and Virgin River.
The Mission Control officer in Body Wars was played by veteran actor Dakin Matthews, who would later play Admiral Patterson on Star Trek: Voyager.
Live Long and Prosper
At the time of filming Body Wars, Leonard Nimoy was well established in his career. Nimoy had just wrapped production on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier which was directed by William Shatner, and was prepping to star in Star Trek VI: The undiscovered Country.
Leonard Nimoy was already a seasoned director, having previously directed two full length feature films, Star Trek III : The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Nimoy used some influences from Star Trek in Body Wars, which can be seen in the camera style, the sets, the costumes, the design of the LGS 250 vehicle and the references to ‘beaming technology” in the film.
Star for a Day
On April 30th, 1989 Nimoy took time off from directing Body Wars to attend the pre-opening day celebration of Disney-MGM Studios. The event was an all day affair at the park and well-attended by media, as well as countless stars of television, music and the movies.
Niomy made several appearances during the pre-opening day events. He received an honorary award for his contributions to television, and left a permanent impression with his hand prints and autograph in the cement outside of The Chinese Theatre. Later that evening, he appeared in a star studded parade and attended the filming of the grand opening ceremonies for Disney-MGM Studios, which would later be televised on ABC.
Beam Us Up
In the original 1977 Epcot Center concept designs for the "Life and Health Pavilion", the main attraction was to be an Omnimover attraction called The Incredible Journey Within. The attraction would take guests on a journey through the circulatory system aboard "Blood cell" vehicles. Featuring a 35 foot tall heart, the concept proved difficult in attracting a sponsor and there were maintenance cost concerns as well.
Body Wars was arguably influenced by the 1987 Joe Dante film InnerSpace, which was in turn influenced by the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage.
After the success of Star Tours in 1987 at Disneyland, plans changed to apply the new ATLAS technology to update the concept of the attraction to a thrill ride, soon to be called Body Wars.
Inner Space, the Final Frontier
Guests would arrive at a fictional facility hosted by the MET Corporation, the Miniaturized Exploration Technologies corporation (stylized as MET), to study the effects of the white blood cells on a splinter inside the left index finger of a volunteer. While the ride is no longer in operation, the attraction remains a cult favorite among Disney fans.
Welcome to MET
When the attraction opened in 1989, Body Wars offered an immersive experience to its guests. The story line for the attraction was as follows:
Guests were cast as an observation team recruited by MET. Different announcements were heard over the PA system as guests waited for the ride, and walked through the halls of MET. Different pre-boarding screenings were ‘processed’, before guests were allowed to enter the vehicle.
Female Controller: “Attention all observation team members. Before entering a body probe vehicle, you must pass through a level one and level two dermatopic purification screen. Thank you.
Female Controller #2: Body probe Zulu One Seven Four is ready for boarding in bay number one. Will the scheduled spinal dura mater observation team please report to the boarding area?
Male Controller: Body probe Sierra Six Five Seven is online for miniaturization in bay three. Condition: code green.
Female Controller: Will a molecular compression specialist please report to bay two? Repeat, will a molecular compression specialist please report to bay number two?
-Queue Script from Body Wars
The Mission
The doors would open to the loading bay, and guests would board the ship Bravo 229. The ship would then be moved from the loading bay to the miniaturization chamber, where technicians focused a particle reducer on the ship.
The ship is then miniaturized and sent under the patient's skin. When inside the patient, the ship followed white blood cells on their way to fight an infection caused by a splinter.
Mission Control: (continued) “Ten minutes ago, she (Dr. Lair) was miniaturized and beamed to the site of a splinter in the right index finger of a volunteer. Her objective is to conduct tests on the immune system’s response to that splinter. You will be onboard body probe Bravo Two Two Niner. Your mission will take you to the location of that splinter. Once there, your probe will rendezvous with Dr. Lair, and bring her out. I’m attempting to contact Dr. Lair right now; we’ll see if we can get a report on how her experiment is proceeding. Dr. Lair, this is Mission Control, your recovery team is with me. Can you tell us how your experiment has been going?”
When the guests arrived at the splinter, they would meet up with Dr. Lair as she began to take a cell count, when she was accidentally pulled into a capillary.
Braddock followed her into the vein, entering an unauthorized area. Braddock steered the ship past the heart and into the right ventricle. The guests entered the lungs where Dr. Lair was being attacked by a white blood cell.
Braddock used his lasers to free her and have her come aboard.
Dr. Lair: Turn! To the right! Oh! Okay, we’re in the cerebral artery. It’s taking us to the brain. We’re just above the brain, in the spinal fluid. [sound effect]
Mission Control: Your power is down to two percent. If you can get power, I can beam you out of there.
Captain Braddock: We’re gonna need some electricity, fast.
By now, the ship was very low on power. Dr. Lair suggested that they use the brain's energy to recharge it. Passing the heart's left atrium, the ship went through the artery to get to the brain. A neuron contacted the ship, allowing it to regain power and de-miniaturize outside of the patient's body. Everyone is congratulated for a successful rescue, and guests exited the ship.
Authors Note: We found a proposed Star Trek reference blogged by a fan. The author acknowledges this theory is speculative, but it is interesting none the less.
“I’m fairly certain that the ‘giant breathing’ sound effect (when the ship passes through the heart and lungs) was voiced by the super-talented Frank Welker, who coincidentally did the ‘Spock screams’ for 1984’s Nimoy-directed Star Trek III: the Search for Spock.”
Guests would then exit the attraction, and take a corridor which lead back into the Wonders of Life pavilion to enjoy another exhibit such as Cranium Command or The Making of Me.
Thank you for joining us today as we discussed the exciting backstory behind Body Wars.
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Live Long and Prosper,
Harper