The Rocketeer

**The Rocketeer** is a 1991 superhero film retroactively connected to the *Tower of Terror* franchise. The film was based on the character, "The Rocketeer" from *Pacific Comics*.

## Summary

The film took place in Los Angeles in the year 1938 and followed Cliff Secord, an aviator for *Bigelow's Air Circus*. Secord and his mechanic friend Peevy happen upon a rocket-pack designed by Howard Hughes and stolen by Nazis before being lost in Los Angeles. Secord dons the pack to become the vigilante superhero, "The Rocketeer" only to be targeted by the nazis, lead by Hollywood actor and nazi sleeper-agent Neville Sinclair. The Rocketeer defeats Sinclair by blowing up his zeppelin with the rocket-pack and being rewarded by Howard Hughes before he and Peevy start to design a new rocket-pack.

## Tower of Terror connections

### Buena Vista Street

#### Atwater Ink and Paint Art Supply

On a bulletin-board outside of this shop is an advertisement for Bigelow's Air Circus.

#### Elias & Co.

The mannequins are sometimes dressed as characters from the Rocketeer.

#### Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe

One of the posters in the Silver Lake Sisters' history advertises them performing in the South Seas Club, a Hollywood location from the Rocketeer. A flier for Bigelow's Air Circus is pinned to a bulletin-board in this cafe.

### Other connections

#### Disney's Hollywood Studios

In the 1990s, the Rocketeer would be seen in shows on Hollywood Boulevard, flying. The dining-service Echo Lake, "Peevy's Polar Pipeline" in Echo Lake is themed to being run by Rocketeer character A. "Peevy" Peabody and contains the Rocketeer's gear, a newspaper with the title, "Who is the Rocketeer", and blueprints for the rocketeer's jetpack. The hand-prints of, "The Rocketeer" are in the pavement outside of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

#### Tower of Terror

The Rocketeer is not directly connected to Tower of Terror though many of its characters are. Billamongawonga's grandson, "Trader Sam" has a menu and luggage-tag from the *South Seas Club* in his Polynesian bars. Hightower's *Society of Explorers and Adventurers* member, Jock Lindsey performed in *Bigelow's Air Circus* alongside Cliff Secord, had Howard Hughes attend his bar in Florida, and visited the South Seas Club. Rocketeer's helmet can also be found in the marketplace of Disney Springs, the town where Jock Lindsey lives.

## Trivia

* The Rocketeer shared a similar setting to the *Hollywood Tower Hotel* in its hay-day, that being of 1930s Hollywood.
* Peevy's Polar Pipeline is adorned with a billboard for *Maroon Cartoons*, the fictional animation studio from the film *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (1989). *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* was another Disney produced *Touchstone* film which featured an alternate-history depiction of Hollywood and influenced Disney's Hollywood Studios.
* The Rocketeer and *One Hundred and One Dalmatians* (1961) are both Disney films referenced as in-universe at the Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe. They are amongst the few films referenced as existing in-continuity in the land rather than as fictional works with others including *Dumbo* (1941), *The Apple Dumpling Gang* (1975) and *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* (1989).
* The Rocketeer and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) are both superhero films owned by Disney which are connected to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

## References

1. ↑ https://duchessofdisneyland.com/california-adventure/atwater-ink-and-paint-art-supply-bulletin-board/
2. ↑ http://findingmickey.squarespace.com/other-hidden-dca/buena-vista-street/15444704
3. ↑ http://www.tipsfromthedisneydiva.com/a-look-at-the-fiddler-fifer-and-practical-cafe-at-disney-california-adventure/
4. ↑ https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/07/today-in-disney-history-the-rocketeer-flies-at-the-walt-disney-world-resort/
5. ↑ https://allears.net/dining/photos/peevys-polar-pipeline/exterior/
6. ↑ http://www.mainstgazette.com/2009/06/hoax-or-reality.html
7. ↑ http://www.mainstgazette.com/2011/07/who-is-rocketeer.html
8. ↑ https://thehobbitholeplusme.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/jet-packing-around-disney-world-looking-for-the-rocketeer/
9. ↑ https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/11/twenty-eight-main-boutique-now-open-in-marketplace-co-op-at-disney-springs-marketplace/