12. Star Tours/RX-24 with Chris Runco

Cartoons to Castles: The History Behind the Mouse and Magic

"Welcome aboard! This is Captain Rex from the cockpit. I know this is probably your first flight, and it's...mine, too! Haha!"
On their first episode of 2021, Jessica and Melanie are joined by retired Imagineer Chris Runco, who created Captain RX-24, the rookie pilot droid that took guests on a wild ride aboard the Star Speeder 3000 in the original version of Star Tours at Disney Parks. In addition to his work on Star Tours, Chris was a key player in the development of attractions for Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland during his time with Walt Disney Imagineering, where he worked as a principal concept designer. But the star subject of this episode is RX-24, a.k.a. Rex. Chris shares behind-the-scenes stories about the development of Star Tours, designing RX-24, and his reaction when he found out Rex was changing careers and being transformed into DJ R3X for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!
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Theme music: “Taste of the French Quarter” by Rob Khurana via Storyblocks.com