Daily Pixie Dust: Throwback Thursday - ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter

The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (sometimes just called Alien Encounter) was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction. While it was short-lived, it developed a cult following among Disney fans. Some fans even praised it for its sophisticated tone, in contrast to the other Tomorrowland attractions such as Space Mountain and Astro Orbiter.

It officially opened on June 20, 1995 as part of Magic Kingdom's New Tomorrowland. The attraction closed permanently on October 12, 2003 and was replaced by Stitch's Great Escape!

The cast featured:

Tim Curry as S.I.R. (Simulate Intelligence Robotics)

Phil Hartman voiced T.O.M. 2000, the original version of S.I.R.

Danny Mann as Skippy

Kathy Najimy as Dr. Femus

Jeffrey Jones as Chairman L.C. Clench

Kevin Pollas as Dr. Femus' partner

Tyra Banks as the Female alien greeter

SUMMARY (from Disney Wiki):

First pre-show area

Guests are ushered into the "Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center" (mentioned as such in the Tomorrowland Transit Authority narration) for a demonstration of new technology from an alien corporation known as X-S Tech. The company's chairman, L.C. Clench (Jeffrey Jones), sets the attraction's subtly sinister tone with a pre-show welcome that includes his corporate philosophy — If something can't be done with X-S [excess], then it shouldn't be done at all.

Before the start of the pre-show, the television monitors describe other events taking place at the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center, including "Mission to Mars: History or Hoax" (a tribute to the attraction that previously occupied the Alien Encounter's space), "Championship Pet Show" ("because when it comes to your space pet, what goes down must not come up"), and "The Walt Disney Company's Pan Galactic Stock Holders Meeting" (featuring a holographic transmission from "Lunar Disneyland—The Happiest Place Off Earth").

Second pre-show area

Guests proceed into a second area where they are introduced to an X-S robot known as Simulated Intelligence Robotics, orS.I.R. for short, voiced by Tim Curry (originally called T.O.M. 2000, short for Technobotic Oratorical Mechanism series 2000, and voiced by Phil Hartman). He proceeds to demonstrate the company's "practically painless" teleportation technology using a cute little animatronic alien named Skippy. The creature's charred and disoriented appearance after being teleported a short distance across the room suggests the technology is flawed. While teleporting Skippy back across the room, S.I.R. pauses the process, demonstrating how the technology can be used to suspend subjects in teleportation indefinitely.

Main show

Finally, guests are seated in harnesses within a circular chamber surrounding an enormous plastic cylinder, the "teleportation tube". Clench and two bumbling X-S Tech employees, Spinlok (Kevin Pollak) and Dr. Femus (Kathy Najimy), communicate "live" from across the galaxy via video screens. Initially, a single guest is to be teleported out of the chamber for a meeting with Clench. Instead, Clench is "seized" by inspiration and decides to have himself teleported into the chamber to meet the entire group.

Clench's impatience and the change of plans cause the teleportation signal to be diverted through an unknown planet. As a result; a towering, winged and carnivorous alien is beamed into the tube by mistake, as chaos and confusion ensue and the technicians panic. The creature quickly escapes, however, as intermittent darkness and flashes of light reveal the shattered and empty teleportation tube. A power outage then plunges the chamber into total darkness as guests sit helplessly restrained in their seats. A maintenance worker is mauled and as the Alien's shrieks resound throughout the room, a spray of fluid flies out into the audience hitting the guests' faces.

The fluid (which was actually water) was presumably saliva of the escaped Alien creature, but since it is never officially specified, it is left open to the audience's individual interpretations and imaginations. Other common interpretations include blood from the mauled staff member, or snot from the Alien creature. After the spray of fluid, the guests feel their seats rumble and shake as the Alien makes it's way swiftly through the crowd; during which time the guests also feel the "breath" of the Alien on the back of their necks.

With assistance from the two X-S Tech technicians, the ravenous alien is ultimately driven back into the broken teleportation device and destroyed. Guests are then released from their seats while the two technicians resume their search for the misplaced Clench.