Music Behind the Ride - Wonders of Life: Part 1

In this Music Behind the Ride, we're taking a trip back to the early days of EPCOT to the Wonders of Life pavilion. I'll dig into the history and music of these classic closed attractions.

Located in EPCOT's Future World, the Wonders of Life pavilion was sandwiched between the Universe of Energy and Horizons, opening in October 1989.  Sponsored by MetLife, the pavilion gave guests a look at heath and fitness through rides, films and fitness machines.  The pavilion was known for the golden dome and huge Tower of Life DNA strand at the entrance. 

Let's start with the main attraction - Body Wars. The attraction used the same new film and simulator technology used in Disneyland's Star Tours.  [In Walt Disney World, Body Wars opened a few months before the MGM Studios' Star Tours].  For the ride, you will be exploring the human body onboard the LGS-2050 Body Probe Vehicle. We hear from Dr. Cynthia Lair (Elisabeth Shue) who is inside a body studying how white blood cells attack a splinter. Mission Control introduces us to our Bravo 229 pilot, Captain Braddock (Tim Matheson), and tells us enter and buckle into our seats.

The ship launches and miniaturizes as you launch under the skin. We see the splinter, white blood cells and spot Dr. Lair. She gets pulled into a capillary, and we follow her to the heart and lungs. Braddock shoots a laser to stun the cells as Dr. Lair boards the ship. Now the ship doesn't have enough energy to beam out, so we fly through the heart to the brain. The neurons fire, giving enough power to beam us back to the MET lab, where Mission Control tells us we broke all the rules but "managed to pull off the most spectacular mission".

The 7 minute film was directed by Leonard Nimoy, and was one of the first thrill rides at EPCOT.  Speaking of thrill, the ride was notorious for being more intense than Star Tours.  The combination of pulsing movement in the lungs and heartbeat sections, rough vehicle movements and anatomy subject led to frequent guests suffering motion sickness. 

The music for the attraction was written by Leonard Rosenman.  Rosenman recently had written the music for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) directed by Nimoy and much earlier had written the score to Fantastic Voyage (1966) a similarly themed body exploration film.  The music was first released on the Film Score Society album Alexander the Great and Other Rare Rosenman in 2012.  

In the next part, I'll explore the other attractions in the pavilion, including the other standout, Cranium Command.