Last year, a new series of postcards appeared in the Star Tours merchandise shop in Disneyland's Tomorrowland, depicting three current (albeit never arrived at) destinations for this intergalactic travel agency, plus one new vacation destination -- the first ever from the Prequel era of the STAR WARS universe, Naboo.

Are new postcards and merchandise, based on Episode II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, due in the future after the film's release?

On their own merits, the new Star Tours merchandise debuted in 2001 is fairly well done: good design if a bit comic-bookish, and the tourism angle written up for each planet melds nicely with the overall Star Tours concept -- perhaps they could have been a little more clever in the slogans and tag lines, but it's a step in the right direction.

Thumbnails of the three Classic Trilogy destinations are below, click on the small card to see the larger scan in detail.

 

Obviously no new Star Tours attraction based on THE PHANTOM MENACE blasted into Tomorrowland after that film's release – and I suspect, with good reason: Disney's financial struggles not withstanding, Episode I made an unlikely choice for new Star Tours destinations because it's the only Prequel movie of its time frame in the Saga.

Episode II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES picks up the Skywalker story line ten years after THE PHANTOM MENACE, and Episode III will probably take place closely after Episode II's timeframe. Thus, Episode I is rather "lost in time" on its own, an era not to be revisited again in the Prequel films.

If indeed ATTACK OF THE CLONES and Episode III co-exist in a more unified timeframe, might this turbulent era in the Republic spawn a new Star Tours show?

Does this news story confirm that a prequel-era show for Star Tours is definitely in the works? Possibly, but not certainly, since such rumors have surfaced time and again in the past, never to be realized. Indeed, as the article points out, the price tag for a new show sounds promising: simply creating a new simulator film costs a fraction of producing an entirely new attraction from scratch, and this should appeal to Disney's budget. Better still, Lucasfilm's enormous advances in digital effects would prove as beneficial to producing a new Star Tours show as they did for Lucas producing the first two Prequel films.

But what about the new show theme and design itself? Now that ATTACK OF THE CLONES has arrived in theaters, have audiences seen a new, iconic STAR WARS scene or adventure in this latest episode which could easily be exploited in a four-minute simulator film?

Episodes II and III certainly promise more intergalactic action on screen, and as the emerging threat of the Empire expands across star systems, many more potential destinations open up for Star Tours:

Coruscant will offers more high-speed thrills this time around, with Anakin and Obi Wan chasing a mysterious assassin through the city-planet's treacherous corridors of flying traffic. Far from the tranquil scenes of metropolitan commuting in Episode I, ATTACK OF THE CLONES delivers a twisting, diving race of pursuit into the lower, darker depths of Coruscant.

A new location to the STAR WARS films, the water planet Kamino provides powerful vistas of a storm-torn oceanic world alive with strange flying "whales", and inhabited by a new race of beings which figure into the secret of the clone army.

Another new system in the film, the reddish rocky planet Geonosis, hosts a climactic Episode II battle, and this blood-hued world ignites the Clone Wars in epic panoramas of explosive conflict.

Returning in ATTACK OF THE CLONES, both Tatooine and Naboo host locations for the story, but they still don't offer much new material enticing to a Star Tours attraction beyond their various sights, creatures and events already explored in – and not exploited after – THE PHANTOM MENACE.

Yet even with Episode II under our belts, I don't see a clear 'winning' candidate in any one planetary environment which plays as clear as did the Death Star attack for the original, current Star Tours show. The spectacular land and air skirmish on Geonosis certainly dazzles our eyes and ears, but as-is in the movie, it lacks a decisive resolution, unlike the trench run which contains a specific target and goal audiences expect to be fulfilled within the ride's narrow time parameters.

With its dizzying aerial acrobatics, a Star Tours sprint through the shimmering Coruscant canyons could provide a natural free-flying environment for a new ride, but again some new resolution to the experience must be invented to complete the ride in that scenario.

It's quite possible that Disney and Lucas could choose to break away from the existing Star Tours formula, and create a true tourism-based adventure for the attraction. What if the new Tour offered a quick, planet-hopping romp through the galaxy, briefly visiting a few of the newest worlds? Guests might endure a wild 'taxi ride' through the bustling sky traffic of Coruscant before leaving orbit and blasting off to Geonosis, navigating the treacherous asteroid field in the area only to discover themselves amid the furious Clone War battle erupting on the planet. Forced to leave Geonosis' dangers behind, our pilot RX might jump to lightspeed for a final jaunt to Tatooine for a bird's eye view of the Boonta Eve podraces and, of course, "accidentally" enter our Star Speeder into the death-defying derby. Our Speeder unexpectedly wins the contest, but RX must return us to the Tomorrowland base before we can collect the trophy.

Several choices are possible given the Prequel films' new outer space destinations, or perhaps Lucas and Imagineers might create an entirely new 'sidebar' adventure for Star Tours, less reliant on material derived strictly from the two newest Episodes? That might be the best possible option of all. For now, we can only continue speculating on what will and won't provide resources and inspiration for a new Star Tours adventure, yet to debut in a Disney theme park near you.

For some more of Episode II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, read my article on 25 Years of STAR WARS which explores a quarter-century of moviegoing fun from a fan of George Lucas's continuing saga.

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