Concept Unification

Concept Unification was the process Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc. underwent to replace the Rock-afire Explosion characters with Chuck E. Cheese's characters as a result of discourse between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz Pizza Place.

History

Early Modification Attempts

During the early stage of ShowBiz Pizza Place's beginning, Creative Engineering, Inc. proposed that SPP would be required to purchase a certain amount of Rock-afire Explosion shows to maintain an exclusive license to the characters. By 1984, ShowBiz Pizza and Aaron Fetcher, president of Creative Engineering, were no longer on good speaking terms.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9438Sw6fjo Around the same time ShowBiz began laying off hundreds of employees as an effect of the Video game crash of 1983 and demanded CEI to cease production of shows immediately. Without ShowBiz Pizza buying shows, Creative Engineering would also have to lay off a mass of employees.⁽¹⁾ These strains would eventually lead both companies creating an agreement to allow the purchase of Rock-afire Explosion shows to other customers. Most likely in an attempt to differentiate themselves from possible competitors, ShowBiz would attempt to rebrand one of The Rock-afire Explosion shows in November 1985 to 'Magic', a retrofit of the Classic Stage that gave the show room a variety show feel. This 'retrofit' was notable for its lack of mentioning 'The Rock-afire Explosion,' as well as every character being nameless (except in some reused songs) with the exception of Billy Bob.⁽⁰⁾ It has been speculated the supporting characters have been left nameless so they would've been renamed at a later time.

Creative Presentations, Cry Wolf Music, & Sally Industries

The CEI 1986 Liberty Tape Party would only harm the relationship between Creative Engineering and ShowBiz even further. An intoxicated CEI employee allegedly erased the programming during a celebration, causing the distribution deadline to be missed. ShowBiz consequently suspended CEI from the entertainment division for a short amount of time, going as far to provide their own programming and soundtracks throughout 1987. Creative Presentations, a defunct animatronic manufacturer based in Schaumburg, Illinois, assisted in the production of these soundtracks with their own voice talents and songs. Cry Wolf Music also produced soundtracks for this brief era of the Rock-afire in ShowBiz, with segments written by Stephen White (who also wrote segments for the Chuck E. Cheese characters simultaneously, and would later become the head writer for Barney & Friends). Cry Wolf retained the same voice cast that had been implemented by Showbiz Pizza Time and Creative Presentations.

The Rock-afire Explosion (1986-87) Voice Actors

• Earl Schmerle - Unknown
• Rolfe DeWolfe - Joe Conti (Animation Producer for SPT)
• Dook LaRue - Unknown
• Fatz Geronimo - Mark Brink (CPI Voice Actor)
• Beach Bear - Unknown
• Mitzi Mozzerella - Lorraine Denham (CPI Voice Actor)
• Karlisa Burleson (née McKinney) - History Of Rock & Roll (DEMO ONLY)https://youtu.be/g3mdUPLe5Uc?si=drRvgzawH4Wio47Q
• Billy Bob Brockali - Unknown
• Bob West - History Of Rock & Roll (DEMO ONLY)⁽¹⁾
• Looney Bird - Frank Gaughan (Character Designer and Voice Actor for CPI)

For the Movie Magic segment of the Rock-afire, as well as the Pizza Time Players, the original song selection pitch was provided by Sally Industries of Jacksonville, Florida. Although co-founder and chairman John Wood denied Sally's involvement with ShowBiz Pizza, an audio-cassette of song selections was recorded by Janet Sherman, Sally's head of soundtrack and script production. Interestingly, the song Let's Hear It For The Boy from the film Footloose was left unused in the final version, though was later recorded for the Introducing: Yogi Bear! showtape. Beyond this song selection pitch, it is currently unknown the extent of Sally's involvement with the Rock-afire and Showbiz Pizza Time in general. Sally voice actress, Debbie Bailey Rider, claimed she voiced 'Mitzi Mouse for Chuck E. Cheese's,' during a short period of time before Sally allegedly lost the soundtrack rights to a Texas-based company (presumably Cry Wolf Music), resulting in the production of only one show (possibly Movie Magic).

'Also, there was another show at Chuck E. Cheese's for a time, but then Sally lost the audio production to a Texas company, so we did only that one show. Most of the same voices, different characters and songs.'

• Debbie Bailey Rider, Singer & Voice Actress for Sally Industries

Creative Engineering officially returned to provide new, exclusive soundtracks for ShowBiz locations (albeit, SPT retained control of programming duties) starting with Homely for Christmas in November 1987. This era, referred to as 'Cyberstar,' now featured the Rock-afire paired with newly-installed television monitors (broadcasting footage of various graphics, walkarounds, and even the animatronics themselves) that were synchronized with the characters on stage. It was during this period of time when ShowBiz attempted to acquire all copyrights related to The Rock-afire Explosion, much to the dismay of Aaron Fechter. With no other options left, SPT developed plans to completely eliminate the Rock-afire from ShowBiz Pizza stores, immediately.

TRIAD + Cancelled Retrofit Plans

As early as September 1986, Creative Presentations proposed replacing the Rock-afire Explosion with four retrofit options to the management of Showbiz Pizza Time. Some of these options included characters that were previously used in CPI's own Ape-Ology's and Sgt. Singer / Sgt. Striper shows. By this point in their relationship, CPI provided SPT with replacement cosmetics for the Rock-afire, as well as new mechanisms and costumes for Chuck E. Cheese's Cyberamics.⁽²⁾

'We would recommend that instead of just replacing articles of clothing, as you have outlined above is that we design entirely new costumes. For instance the Billy Bob Figure may have both jacket and pants, so it is a complete change.'

• Gene Bullard, President of Creative Presentations, Inc.

Creative Presentations was also (partially) responsible for the Cyberstar upgrades to both the Cyberamic Control System and Rock-afire Explosion Control System, as they previously had an established relationship with TRIAD Productions. TRIAD, a recording studio and technology group based in Des Moines, was introduced to the animatronic industry through CPI. In their vast portfolio, which includes CPI's Celebration Station's W.O.O.F. Radio and the first original five attractions at Universal Studios Orlando, TRIAD's services for Showbiz Pizza Time lasted 24 years between 1988 up to 2012.⁽³⁾

Chuck E. Cheese's

Due to the recent acquisition of Pizza Time Theatre, ShowBiz presented the possibility of retrofitting the Rock-afire Explosion to the Chuck E. Cheese characters. They allegedly requested Creative Engineering to build and maintain Cyberamic shows. As Chuck E. Cheese has been making his appearances in SPP locations and has been proven to be more popular with guests, they'd also begin to rebrand the White Settlement, TX; Citrus Heights, CA; and Milwaukee, WI ShowBiz Pizza locations with Chuck E. Cheese characters, utilizing the Chuck E.'s House stage outside of the Arlington, TX store.

'Early signs of the test are quite positive,' said Dick Frank, chairman, and chief executive officer. 'if this proves to go well, we do see the day when the entire system will be Chuck E. Cheese. 'We're analyzing the markets and we will continue to follow it, and if we have any indication that will have a problem, we will stop it immediately. But at this point the results are favorable.' ⁽⁴⁾

Around this period they would also begin to experiment with retrofitting the Rock-afire Explosion characters with Chuck E. Cheese characters. As a result, a prototype of this show would be designed by Jul Kamen in conjunction with Creative Presentations. However, this faced criticism from SPT executives. This stage was installed at the Dallas, TX (13125 Montfort Dr) store up through at least May 1990. Around that time, the entertainment department reevaluated their plan and gave the CEC characters new personalities, most notably making the Helen Henny character much like Mitzi Mozzarella. This in combination with new set design, would create Munch's Make Believe Band. Dave Thomas, former artist and character designer for Creative Engineering, was commissioned to provide new character cosmetics and props for the show. Thomas' company, Diversified Designs, would become involved with the Concept Unification 3-Stage, as well as future Cyberamic setups that would reflect this new arrangement. At some point, Burt 'Sal' Wilson (the original voice of Fatz Geronimo) was asked by SPT to audition as the voice of Mr. Munch with a 'southern accent.' Burt was initially unaware this voice was for a Chuck E. Cheese's character, immediately refusing to provide the same mannerisms as Fatz upon being informed. Despite offering a different voice for the character, SPT continuously pestered Burt to use his Fatz voice through means of compensation and even a visit to a basketball game. When SPT gave up on this plan, Munch's current voice actor at the time, Scott Wilson, altered his voice to reflect that of Fatz's. In June 1990, the first Munch's Make Believe Band conversion would debut at the same Dallas, TX (13125 Montfort Dr) location, though informal sources incorrectly state this as 1989.⁽⁵⁾ June 1990 also saw the official release of The Rolfe & Earle Show and Concept Unification Premiere showtapes (which were to be used in the conversion process). Trademarks for the newly created Munch's Make Believe Band and 'In Pizza We Trust' slogan were filed two months later on August 6th 1990 with their first use dated June 23, 1990.⁽⁶⁾⁽⁷⁾ The success of Montfort's installation led to further test locations in Texas, Arizona, and Florida later that year. From there, an official mandate to convert all Rock-afire shows to the Make Believe Band at every Showbiz Pizza Place was issued in 1991, with the last of these conversions occurring in 1993. The design philosophy of Munch's Make Believe Band was also carried over to the existing Cyberamics range of animatronics, resulting in the discontinuation of the previous Chuck E.'s House and Chuck E.'s House Facade in favor of a massive push by SPT to install the more MMBB-oriented Road Stage, 2-Stage, and 1-Stage configurations. Several stores that chose to keep the two aforementioned stages were eventually given updated cosmetics (and sometimes props) for the characters. However, not all of the previous Cyberamic stages were updated, since there was no store-wide mandate then, leaving most Chuck E.'s Houses and House Facades to retain attributes from the Pizza Time Theatre era.

Aftermath

In August 1996, Showbiz Pizza Time announced the Awesome Adventure Machine, a futuristic attempt to update the previous animatronic shows in anticipation for the ' new millennium.' Although the AAM was too ambitious and too costly for wide installation, the unique stage served as the foundation for the succeeding Studio C concept, which would be installed across new stores and existing stores (replacing 3-Stages and Cyberamics). Dallas, TX (13125 Montfort Dr), the original testing ground for the Concept Unification Prototype and Concept Unification 3-Stage, once again served as the pilot store for the Awesome Adventure Machine and Studio C Alpha stages before its eventual closure and relocation just two minutes away in 2001. In modern times, Chuck E. Cheese and Munch's Make Believe Band have been redesigned several times after Concept Unification, and are still considered to be valuable assets of CEC Entertainment. As the CEC 2018 2.0 Remodel Program became a corporate mandated remodel store-wide, animatronics have been removed from almost every CEC location. However, due to massive backlash from fans and the general public, a last-minute decision was made by CEC Entertainment to preserve animatronics in five selected stores through the CEC Legacy Location Program. These five stores are to be the last in preserving animatronics between the '1980's, 1990's, and 2000's,' all five representing Munch's Make Believe Band and Studio C. Of the four preserved MMBB stages, Northridge, CA (8425 Reseda Blvd) and Hicksville, NY (Delco Plaza 11-15 Hanover Place) will be preserving the Cyberamics through their 2-Stage and 1-Stage respectively, with the converted Rock-afire animatronics preserved at Springfield, IL (2369 McArthur Ave) through their Concept Unification 1-Stage (the last of its kind to exist). The final Legacy Store announced by the company to keep a MMBB show, Charlotte, NC (7701 Pineville-Matthews Rd), will also preserve converted Rock-afire animatronics through the last in-store Concept Unification 3-Stage. With Charlotte-Pineville's 3-Stage in particular, it is officially recognized by CEC Entertainment to be a special preservation for the fans, serving as an indirect reminder of past events that have been vital to the company's legacy, beloved characters, and evolution of entertainment offerings at CEC.⁽⁸⁾

References

1. https://youtu.be/gTmhS6hcY-A?t=2386
2. https://www.showbizpizza.com/info/documents/spt/spt_adp-binder.pdf
3. https://www.triadav.com/about-us
4. https://www.showbizpizza.com/info/articles/joint/joint_cuarticle.pdf
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmBc8G65Cqw
6. https://trademarks.justia.com/740/85/munch-s-make-believe-band-74085153.html
7. https://trademarks.justia.com/740/85/in-pizza-we-trust-74085150.html
8. https://dnyuz.com/2024/05/24/after-outcry-chuck-e-cheese-says-it-will-keep-more-animatronic-bands/