From slashfilm [excerpt], In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Daniels has a whole bunch to say about the new ride and he should. C-3Po is actually the one flying the ship everyone is riding in: (We’ll ignore the fact that C-3PO never flew a ship in the Star Wars movies and even explicitly said that he hates flying. Deep breath.)
"Threepio is the pilot, and it’s huge for me. [Senior Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering] Tom Fitzgerald, who sold me the concept [of the first Star Tours attraction] 20-some years ago, sat across a desk and acted out the whole ride for me — he’s that kind of guy and just one of my favorite people. He came to England about two years ago, and we were sitting there having drinks when he said, ‘I want to tell you about the new Star Tours. The bit you’re going to really like is that C-3PO gets to be the pilot.’ I kept it a secret for a while, but we had to admit it. As soon as the build started and C-3PO was put in the flight simulator, the news was going to get out."
It is beyond inventive. You’re going to much love it, and you’re going to much love it 54 times. You may never see all of it. It’s completely random. So you may see the same thing three times or you may have three different [ride sequences]. So there’s this extraordinary sort of slot machine effect, isn’t there? You don’t know what’s going to come up in the rows in those windows. It could be triple cherry. Each ride is gorgeous within in its own light. You will go back more than once.
He continues:
I just recorded [the voices for the ride.] I will tell you I got very confused in the recording; how they kept track of which storyline we were on, I have no idea. The inventiveness of the way they segue is remarkable. You wouldn’t know that you’re about to go into a different storyline and then come out of that and go back to the old one. You can bounce around and, really, the internal makings of this are extraordinary. It’s like nobody’s business. It branches, and you don’t know which branch you’re following. And I had to try to understand it all because I’m flying this stuff. It took way longer to record [than comparable types of jobs]; it was two solid days recording, and by the end of it I was just exhausted. A lot of it is ‘peril acting,’ and that’s pretty hard on your vocal cords.
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