Chamber I
"Poseidon's Fury" is now almost a completely different show. Gone is our wonderful host, the Keeper, who has now been replaced by a junior explorer wearing what seems to be leftover cast member costumes from Jurassic Park. She starts the journey by spinning a new story about Poseidon (now the HERO!) and a villian named Darkanon, while standing in the first rethemed chamber. Poseidon now looks like what Zeus did as the explorer points to Zeus's old painting on the wall. Poseidon's orginial painting on the other wall has now been replaced with a painting of Darkanon, who resembles David Warner from the film "Time Bandits". I kid you not. With alot of dialogue and some flashy lights, the doors to the second chamber open...
Chamber II
This area has been completely rethemed, now featuring large skeleton warriors, old pottery, and lots of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. It is now impossible to recreate this same room as they did at the end of the first show, which left me to wonder what they had in store. The doors close and the explorer continues to ramble on while a disembodied voice instructs her to find Poseidon's Trident or else. She does eventually find what appears to be a very large flashlight, at which point someone who looks like actress Christina Pickles appears on an obvious circular video (yes video) screen above the door. Why they would replace that nifty talking jewel that used to be there I'll never know. Christina informs us that while she can't return us to the surface, she can allow us safe passage deeper into the temple. The magic Indy Jones door does its' thing and we are led through the wonderful water vortex, which thankfully has been left untouched.
Chamber III
Now we enter what was originally the final room from the first show, or the duplicate chamber II. More talking ensues, and with the largest blinding camera flash I've ever seen, away flies the room and we find ourselves in the main showroom.
Chamber IV
Now let me state that up until this point the show is actually acceptable. I bought the explorer and the setup, and even some of the new effects (sans the video screen). But once the main film starts, everything gets flushed right down Poseidon's toilet. Nothing can adequately prepare you for the villian's entrance. When this David Warner look alike shows up I dare anyone NOT to burst out laughing. Then, to make matters even funnier, Poseidon shows up with his white hair blowing in the wind, and what ensues is a cross between a Power Rangers episode and the final battle between He-man and Skeletor from the film "Masters of the Universe". All of the fire and water effects are then overused to the point of boredom before Poseidon kicks Darkanon's ass back to wherever, and then transports you back to the duplicate chamber II.
Needless to say my jaw was hanging from my chin as I watched these cheesy live actors against a computer generated screen. No more Jeremy Irons as the computer generated Poseidon. Instead we get the finest people from Actors Equity. Leave it to Universal to take one of its best attractions and turn it into something that you would find at a local Six Flags amusement park. What happened to being the theme park of the 21st century? They just set themselves back about ten years with this sad excuse of a production.
What did you think?
The second area seems to take a lot longer now, and the guide is a bit too relentlessly stupid throughout this section. The vortex is the same, but will never be as exciting as the first time you see it.
The final room has improvements as well. The ceiling "appearing" and "disappearing" was quite cool. I hear they did that originally, but they didn't do it when I saw the original show in the second year of operation. The fight is also much easier to follow than it used to be. Plus, the best thing about it is the switching of Poseidon to the good guy role, which is a little more believable than the supposed blood war that they forced down our throats before. I'm no historian but I know enough to know what a load that whole storyline was. On the bad side, the new villain is seriously lame. Darth Maul Wannabe is so right. They could have bothered to read a little and found a REAL mythological villain for Poseidon to fight. Even bringing in something like Medusa, while untrue mythologically, would have been more accepted.
Overall, they didn't destroy the attraction. I rate both about the same. But if I had to choose, I would choose this one for being easier to follow and for the story being easier to swallow.
Personally, I think the second major effect in the show (the walls appearing and disappearing in the finale) was overused. It was better when you were mysteriously transported back to the second chamber.
The battle is easier to follow, sure, but it's also incredibly cheesy. While the original CG character battle was quiet intense, a lot of generous effects were used and I think the battle was more mysterious.
I still applaud the amazing water vortex effect, but otherwise, this ride, one I came to enjoy during its first run, simply doesn't seem the same any more. Such is life...
"Poseidon III" sounds like it will be the best of all three. The finale does need a few more effects. And lifting the room at the beginning makes you look around for where they went, instead of paying attention to the show. Adding the room at the end is the best way to do that little trick. I take it this is the way it originally worked, so I have no clue why they stopped it, then went to the here-gone-here method, and are just now going back. Whatever, as long as they do it right this time.
With these changes, I'm sure I can live with the show, but I'm sorry, the final battle is cheeseier than a slice of pepperoni from the Pizza Predattoria...
I had to go through twice to catch some things. But most folks wouldn't do that. They'd say "Huh? What the heck?" and get back in line for Dragons. Or worse, just call it day.
It hacks me off that someone at Universal would assume, "Oh, people can't follow it. Let's dumb it down," rather than take a closer look to find what the real problem was, then work to clean up the audio.
This coulda been a classic. But it needed care and attention from production professionals, not quick fixes from who knows whom.
I am still irritated about the whole lack of mythology here. I mean, if they could bother to do the research into the correct spelling of Sindbad's name, couldn't they have found ONE battle that Poseidon could fight that some of us would remember. I hate to even mention this but I thought it up while rereading the thread: What if Poseidon was the bad guy (which he often was, just not to Zeus) and he was trying to keep an intruder from saving us and in the final chamber we discover the intruder is XENA!!! (Can you tell I miss the Hercules/Xena show at USF?) It wouldn't be any cheesier than what they have going now. They could find a way to fling her Frisbee-thing around the room too! Okay, it wouldn't work at IOA, but it could over at USF. A boy can dream, can't he?
