The Mouse Castle Lounge 02-13-2016 - The Cast of 'Gravity Falls'

By Tim Callaway

(l. to r.) Soos, Wendy, Mabel and Dipper face
Weirdmageddon in the Gravity Falls finale.

After 3 ½ years, two full seasons and 40 episodes, Disney XD’s Gravity Falls is about to air its final show—and I’m a little bummed by this. Gravity Falls is my favorite thing on Disney television right now, ranking right up there with Phineas and Ferb, another great Disney animated series that came to an end.

The summer adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines at their great uncle Stan’s Mystery Shack in the Oregon backwoods has been consistently funny, irreverent, exciting and even a little sweet. There have been mysteries solved, monsters defeated and life lessons learned in a show that is as entertaining for kids as it is for adults.

The show’s final episode, “Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls,” will air on Disney XD Monday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m. In it, we'll find out the fate of the Gravity Falls townsfolk at the hands of Bill Cipher, the one-eyed, triangle-shaped being from another dimension hell-bent on ruling—and possibly destroying—the entire known universe. It’s going to be fun, really.

This week, I attended a press event in Burbank with some of the cast and creative people of Gravity Falls. On hand was the show’s creator and voice of Grunkle Stan, as well as the lovable handyman Soos, Alex Hirsch. Joining him were the actors who voice Dipper and Mabel Pines, Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal. And finally, we heard from the composer of Gravity Falls' catchy, mysterious and whimsical music, Brad Breeck.

Drew Taylor with the Disney Insider moderated the panel discussion, which was followed by questions from the press (including me). Alex, Jason, Kristen and Brad shared their favorite moments from the show, how the Gravity Falls characters developed and grew, and why it made sense to end the series when they did.

(l. to r.) Drew Taylor, Alex Hirsch, Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal.

Adventure Thru Liquid Space

In a move inspired by Garry Apgar, my guest in the Lounge last week, I challenged our resident mixologist Carolyn to devise a cocktail worthy of Mickey Mouse's arch-nemesis Black Pete. I'm happy to report she came through with flying colors (or maybe she was just Plane Crazy).

Black Pete

1 1/2 oz. Scotch

1/2 oz. Cherry Heering

1/2 oz. Ramazzotti Amaro

1 1/2 oz. Coca Cola

In a shaker, combine the Scotch, Cherry Heering, and Ramazzotti, fill with ice, and shake to chill. Strain into an ice filled rocks glass. Top with Coke. Garnish.

Enjoy!

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Inside The Mouse Castle 01-04-2016 - George Lucas, 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' and 'Zootopia'

By Tim Callaway

George Lucas at the world premiere of
Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Happy New Year!

Anthony and I are back from our holiday hiatus and we're really concerned about George Lucas' happiness; as in his less than enthusiastic comments about Star Wars: The Force Awakens and, oh yeah, likening the Walt Disney Company to "white slavers."

Bad form, George.

To his credit, the Jedi master did retract the "white slaver" comment, calling it "very inappropriate." He then went on to praise Disney for their 40 year-long working relationship.

Still, do you get the feeling George is just a little bitter over selling Lucasfilm to Disney despite pocketing $4 billion in the deal?

We're concerned, George. We want to help. Let's talk about it in this week's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle.

And while we're at it, let's talk about a few other things too.

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens is barreling through box office record after box office record. It's at $1.5 billion worldwide and climbing steadily. Will it break Avatar's all-time record? We think so.
• Bob Iger has confirmed what we pretty much already knew. There will be a fifth Indiana Jones movie. What? You thought they were going to keep Indy locked up like the Ark of the Covenant? We hear top men are already working on the project. Top. Men.
• Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn saw an early cut of Captain America: Civil War and thinks it's one of the all-time best Marvel movies. Like you needed another reason to see the flick when it opens May 6.

Mabel and Dipper from Gravity Falls.

• Gravity Falls will air its final episode on February 15. We are sad.
• Disney park guests will be able to see previews of Zootopia at Disney California Adventure and Disney's Hollywood Studios beginning January 21. You can also find Zootopia porn pretty much anywhere on the Internet if you just Google it. This has Anthony and I concerned...and awkwardly giggling. 

Enjoy!

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Inside The Mouse Castle 11-23-2015 - 'Star Wars,' 'Gravity Falls' and 'Captain EO'

By Tim Callaway

The Star Wars Launch Bay at Disneyland's
Season of the Force.

After an unexpected week away from the show, Anthony and I are back with our take on Season of the Force at Disneyland. Is the Star Wars overlay of Tomorrowland worth your attention? Spoiler Alert: Hyperspace Mountain is about as good as you could hope for. And because we're easily distracted, we also talk about Adele, Pirates of the Caribbean overlays, Strange Magic, Mouse Castle charities and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. We're pretty much all over the place. Again.

We do manage to stay on topic, sort of, for this stuff:

• J.J. Abrams made it official: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is done. Completed. Finito. No more tinkering. Nada. Can we see it now?
• The Force Awakens has blown past $50 million in advance ticket sales before its December 18 release. This begs the question, will we ever again be as excited about a new Star Wars movie as we are right now?
• One person who doesn't seem to be as thrilled about Episode VII as the rest of us is...surprise!...George Lucas. He's made some curious comments recently about the latest installment of the film franchise he started. Butt-hurt, table for one.
• Want to go to the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in L.A. or London? It could happen. Just pry open your wallet and be generous about it. www.omaze.com/experiences/starwarspremiere

Gravity Falls.

• We are sad to learn that Alex Hirsch, creator of Gravity Falls, is pulling the plug on the animated series when its second season comes to a close. We are seriously going to miss Dipper, Mabel, Grunkle Stan and all the other denizens of the Mystery Shack.
• To make up for the loss of revenue from the Fantasmic! dining packages at Disneyland when the show goes on hiatus in January, the park will begin offering dining packages for the Paint the Night parade. More details coming soon.

Rivers of Light at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

• In an effort to make Disney's Animal Kingdom more than a half-day park, a new Rivers of Light nighttime show will debut at the park next spring. It will incorporate many of the lighting, water and projection effects we've come to know and (mostly) love in Fantasmic! and World of Color to create a distinctly mystical, nature-themed show.
• Captain EO will end its run at Epcot on December 6. And while no official announcement has been made at Disneyland, we think it's unlikely to return there as well.

Enjoy!

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Inside The Mouse Castle 06-15-2015 - 'Inside Out' Premieres, 'Tomorrowland' Flops, 'Phineas and Ferb' Ends

By Tim Callaway

Inside Out had its Hollywood premiere last week, gearing up for its U.S. wide release this Friday. On this week's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle, we hear from the film's director, Pete Docter, and the some of the voice cast including Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Lewis Black.

I expect Pixar's journey into the mind of an 11-year old girl to be a sure-fire hit while Anthony thinks the film, as good as the early reviews are, is going to under-perform at the box office. It won't do as bad as Tomorrowland, though, not by a long shot. The Brad Bird film starring George Clooney is having a dismal run in theaters and could put Disney in the red $140 million or more. 

And, Disney or not, no movie conversation this week is complete with mentioning Jurassic World, so we'll touch on that too, plus these other mind-bending topics:

• In the story that won't die, is Asa Butterfield really out of the running to be the next Spider-Man? Are Tom Holland, Charlie Plummer and Matthew Lintz the new favorites?  Who knows? Because apparently Marvel and Sony can't agree on anything concerning the franchise.
• We now know the voice cast for Pixar's The Good Dinosaur. After a series of production delays, including a director change and a reworking of the story, the film will open in the U.S. on November 25th.
• Have you seen the new teaser trailer for Zootopia yet? I think it looks cute. Anthony, not so much.

Frozen Ever After concept art.

• Frozen Ever After is coming to Epcot's Norway pavilion next year, taking over the space once occupied by Maelstrom. Guests will be able to experience a "Winter in Summer Celebration" courtesy of Queen Elsa in the kingdom of Arendelle. That includes a trip to Elsa's ice palace (see above). 
• Two new restaurants are coming to the Disney Springs (aka the revamped Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World): The Edison and STK Orlando. It's the latest in a long list of new shopping and dining establishments added to the area. Is it starting to be too much of a good thing? Disney Springs is a far cry from the quaint Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village us old-timers remember from the 1970s and 80s.
• Star Wars will be in Hall H of this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Marvel will not. Next.

• Goodbye, Phineas and Ferb. We'll miss you. Well, we'll be missing new episodes. I'm sure you'll be rerunning on Disney Channel and Disney XD for a long time to come.
• J.K. Simmon is joining the voice cast of Gravity Falls. We hope he doesn't throw a chair at Grunkle Stan. 

Enjoy!

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Annie Awards: 'How to Train Your Dragon 2,' 'Disney Mickey Mouse' and the Walt Disney Family Museum Honored

By Tim Callaway

Dear ASIFA-Hollywood: Please allow Garfunkel and Oates to host the Annie Awards again, preferably the whole show and not just the first portion of it. The comedy-folk music duo of Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) and Kate Micucci (Oates) were quirky and funny and rescued a show that started 20 minutes late and experienced wonky teleprompters. Garfunkel: "I want to thank God and my parents for the teleprompter."

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Saturday night's awards, presented at UCLA's Royce Hall, honored the best in animation and were dominated by How to Train Your Dragon 2. Dreamworks Animation's successful sequel took home six Annie Awards including Best Animated Feature and Outstanding Directing for Dean DeBlois. DeBlois, noting the recent layoff of 500 employees at Dreamworks Animation, said in his acceptance speech, "We've had kind of a tough week at Dreamworks, but I think it's moments like this where we get to celebrate the incredible work that goes into these projects and makes a lot of us look really good."

On the television side, Disney Mickey Mouse also landed six awards including nods for director Aaron Springer and veteran voice actor Bill Farmer. Disney claimed additional awards for their films Feast (Best Animated Short Subject) and Big Hero 6 (Animated Effects) and for the TV series Wander Over Yonder (Character Animation and Character Design) and Gravity Falls (Best Children's Production). Gravity Falls series creator Alex Hirsch was surprised and admittedly inebriated when he accepted his Annie. Brandishing an alcohol flask, he said, "Nothing sobers you up like looking at hundreds of people at once."

Former Disney animator, 101-year old Don Lusk, was a recipient of the Winsor McCay Award. This lifetime achievement award is presented to noteworthy artists for their "career contributions to the art of animation." Lusk spent nearly 30 years at Disney, working on such notable animated films as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. In the 1960s, he left Disney to work for other studios including Hanna-Barbera.

Ron Miller accepts a special Annie Award
for the Walt Disney Family Museum.

Among the highlights of the evening was a Special Achievement Award presented to the Walt Disney Family Museum in recognition of their "unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation." Disney Legend Richard Sherman and filmmaker Leslie Iwerks presented the award to Ron Miller, husband of the museum's late founder, Diane Disney Miller, and himself the former president and CEO of Walt Disney Productions. Of Diane, Ron Miller said, "She was on a mission: to tell the fascinating and inspiring story of her father, Walt Disney. Through this, she hoped the museum would be a center for inspiration and creativity for present and future generations of animators, artists and innovators. Receiving this special achievement accolade here at the Annie Awards pays testament to the determination, hard work and talent of Diane and our team at the Walt Disney Family Museum."

For the complete list of this year's Annie Award winners and nominees, visit http://annieawards.org/nominees.

Inside The Mouse Castle 10-07-2014 - 'Alexander' Premiere, FastPass Plus and Bailing Out Disneyland Paris

(l. to r.) Ed Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey, Dylan Minnette,
Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner and Miguel Arteta.

Disney's latest family comedy is the lengthily-titled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Based on the children's book by Judith Viorst, it's the story of an otherwise normal, well-adjusted family that has, well, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Comedic complications ensue.

The movie had its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Monday night leading up to its opening in U.S. theaters this Friday. In the latest episode of Inside The Mouse Castle, we'll be on the red carpet hearing from cast members including Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner.

Anthony and I will also be taking on these excellent, wonderful, awesome, very good topics:

• The Avengers 3 rumor train keeps barreling forward--and that was even before Robert Downey, Jr. confirmed to Ellen DeGeneres that he's coming back for Iron Man 4 (we knew it all along; we were just waiting for an official word). 

• Toy Story Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World is going all FastPass + this week to test guest traffic and ride capacity. Fanboys are in an uproar, but we're not quite sure why. We're hearing that Disney is installing a third TSM track next year--a FastPass+ only track--and needs to do a little R&D in the field. 
• The new Memento Mori shop at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is open for business with all manner of Haunted Mansion merch. Can't get there in person? The HM page at DisneyStore.com will have you dying to join them.

• If owning a Mansion memento isn't enough, how about having a party with the grim grinning ghosts, then spending the night in a spooky Cinderella Castle? Walt Disney World is having a photo contest and is giving away just that. All you have to do is show your haunted Disney side here. Contest ends on November 4, 2014.
• Disney is pumping over a billion dollars into Disneyland Paris to help refinance the struggling resort. This is the second time in three years Disney has upped the cash flow. Is this a sign that Disney will increase their 40% stake in the French property and buy it outright or are they just applying a Band-Aid to buy time?
• Does your child need a Frozen makeover? Anna & Elsa's Boutique at Disneyland's Downtown Disney is now open for business. Future proceeds will probably bail out Disneyland Paris.
• If you're a fan of Disney video games, twenty retro console games have launched on Steam that you can download to your PC for 10% off through Sunday. I'm kind of partial to LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, and--if you can get past the wonky game play and just enjoy the amazing graphics--Epic Mickey: The Power of 2.

Gravity Falls: Little Gift Shop of Horrors

• Gravity Falls is my favorite show on any of the Disney channels right now and their newest Little Gift Shop of Horrors episode may be the best one of the series. It pays clever tribute to special effects master Ray Harryhausen and even has Neil deGrasse Tyson voicing Mabel Pines' suddenly erudite pig, Waddles. If you've never seen the show, it's a great introduction to the strange goings-on in the mysterious Oregon town.

Enjoy!

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'Gravity Falls' Returns to Disney Channel August 1st

Dipper and Mabel Pines will be back in the Mystery Shack and I couldn't be happier.

The gleefully offbeat Gravity Falls finally returns for its second season on Disney Channel August 1st at 9 p.m., ET/PT, followed by its debut on Disney XD August 4th.

In season two, insecure, neurotic Dipper (Jason Ritter) and fearless, free-spirited Mabel (Kristen Schaal) delve deeper into the mystery of Journal #3 while their shifty Great Uncle Stan (Alex Hirsch) cooks up some secrets of his own in the basement of the Mystery Shack.

Gravity Falls is promising more more monsters, more magic and some pretty cool guest stars in season two. Both Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) will make voice appearances.

To get you primed for the new episodes, Disney XD is holding a Gravity Falls marathon July 26-27 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., ET/PT, featuring every first season show and short. Yes, I will be tuning in.

I'd call Gravity Falls a guilty pleasure, but that suggests there's something wrong with it. It's Disney Channel/XD's best animated series (sorry, Phineas and Ferb) and it'll be great to welcome it back.

Related:
'Gravity Falls' Onto DVD
May the Ferb Be With You; 'Phineas and Ferb' to Take On 'Star Wars'

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'Gravity Falls' Onto DVD

I won't lie. As much as I liked Gravity Falls when it debuted on the Disney Channel in 2012, I began to love it immensely when I met Kristen Schaal (voice of GF's Mabel Pines) at the D23 Expo and she gave me drink recipes.

Hey, my loyalties can be bought for the price of a cocktail. I am not ashamed.

But seriously, this is really fun show.

Gravity Falls finally comes to DVD on Tuesday with Six Strange Tales (the first six episodes of the series actually) and it's a great introduction to the odd folk and creatures of Gravity Falls, the mysterious backwoods Oregon town where 12-year old twins Dipper (Jason Ritter) and Mabel Pines spend the summer with their grumpy charlatan of a great uncle, "Grunkle" Stan (series creator Alex Hirsch).

There are bizarre things to investigate at every turn as ever-curious Dipper and ever-optimistic Mabel unlock the secrets of angry gnomes, giant lake monsters and wax figures come-to-life with the aid of a mysterious journal that may hold the key to even bigger secrets. It's all in good fun with irreverent humor and oddball characters that make Gravity Falls one of the most original animated shows on TV.

The following episodes are included on the DVD:

1 - “Tourist Trapped”
2 - “The Legend of the Gobblewonker”
3 - “Headhunters”
4 - “The Hand That Rocks the Mabel”
5 - “The Inconveniencing”
6 - “Dipper vs. Manliness”

The package also includes a "Mystery Journal 3" booklet containing sketches and clues to the secrets of Gravity Falls, but mostly it's just a lot of illegible scribbles. Hey, they can't give everything away--it's only season one. Just, remember...TRUST NO ONE!

And....COCKTAILS FOREVER! (Thanks, Kristen).

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Conversations From the D23 Expo in 'The Mouse Castle Lounge'

Tens of thousands of crazed Disney fans converged on the D23 Expo in Anaheim last weekend and I was one of them. And oh, the people I talked to: the voice cast of Phineas and Ferb and Gravity Falls, singer/actress Susan Egan, Disney Animation Research Library creative director Lella Smith, video game developers for both Disney Infinity and Fantasia: Music Evolved and more. It's a random and thoroughly entertaining hour-long romp through the D23 Expo. Cocktails forever!

It's been a busy week of travel for me, so I haven't been able to pour over the tons of pictures I took last weekend. Rest assured, I'll get through them and post the best ones this weekend. Also, I'm super excited about the next episode of the MCL. On Tuesday, I was able to meet the extraordinary Tyrus Wong, the 102-year old Disney legend best known to fans for his evocative artistic design of Bambi. A retrospective of his work, "Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: The Art of Tyrus Wong" opens today at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Very soon, I'll share with you my conversation with Tyrus as well as other Disney notables like Pete Docter, Tony Anselmo and J.B. Kaufman as we celebrate the life of a master artist.

For now, however, it's all about the Expo. Crowded, crazy and oh so fun. Enjoy your visit today to The Mouse Castle Lounge.

The Mouse Castle Lounge can also be heard on iTunes and Stitcher.

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