TJ Thibodeaux
imagineer on the Na'vi animatronics at Disney World
Highlight Bits & Quotes
7The Hall of Presidents Feels Pain
Jeffrey Funk explains his software that allows animatronics to feel pain, revealing that the Abraham Lincoln robot in Disneyland experiences an explosive headache at all times to simulate his death.
"Every single one of the presidents in Disneyland feels pain"
"He's feeling an explosive pain in the back of his head at all times"
"George W. Bush the real person doesn't feel pain but the animatronic does"
The Accidental Genius of the Jaws Shark
Buster Reverend admits she has no idea how she built the shark from Jaws, describing a fugue state of building at 4 AM that resulted in a fluke success she can never replicate.
"People ask you how did you make the shark from Jaws and you say I don't know."
"I don't remember if it was the blue cord or the red cord."
Gears, Pistons, and Pain: The Jurassic Park Incident
Jeffrey Funk recounts his origin story as a PA on Jurassic Park who was trapped inside a Triceratops for three days, learning animatronics by matchlight while acting as the creature's lungs.
"I was inside the Triceratops on my back with my feet pressing out and in."
"If I had designed this, trust me, its asshole would have been able to expand."
Inter-Species Romance with the Na'vi
TJ Thibodeaux confesses to hooking up with all 57 Na'vi animatronics at Disneyland, utilizing both the 'people version' and the 'hair-linking version' of intimacy.
"I have hooked up with the Na'vi, all of them."
"They used a lot of my asshole blueprints on those Na'vi."
Harry Potter's Cigarette Habit
Jeffrey Funk describes working with Richard Harris on Harry Potter, claiming the young wizard was a chain-smoker who refused to look at CGI and eventually portrayed an offensive 'robot face' animatronic.
"When I was your age I was smoking cigarettes."
"It was robot face, it was offensive."
The Shark's Sexual Awakening
TJ Thibodeaux reveals the secret to fixing the broken shark animatronic: he had sexual relations with it, which successfully 'turned it on' for the production.
"I know what happened with that shark. I fucked it."
"I fucked it and it turned on."
Roundtable Introduction: The Masters of Mechanical Puppetry
The panel of animatronics designers introduces themselves, ranging from a creator of 'hot' Avatar aliens to a woman who builds wriggling mechanical babies with her feet to avoid maternal attachment.
"I make it so that the blanket wriggles around a little bit so my animatronics are little itty bitty babies"
"I built the one and only shark in Jaws haven't been hired since"
"When you see an owl it might not be an owl it might actually be an animal"