With the budget reduction also came a new take on the concept along with its final name. Now titled "Cranium Command", the show featured a military theme wherein "brain pilots" take control of a mechanized human head. The main audio-animatronic character was dubbed "Captain Cortex" and ran the body, now that of a young boy, much like one would a military craft. He reports under his commanding officer "General Knowledge", who lectured the audience during the pre-show and then to Cortex in the main show. With time and resources running low, Imagineering outsourced production of the animated and live-action film portions to
Colossal Pictures. However, halfway into production Disney executives scrapped this version of the project to have it retooled by their own Feature Animation department. Animator Steve Moore, who worked on both versions, recalled, "They were doing more of a Fred Crippen, Roger Ramjet style, which was fun, but not winning points with the clients. Storytelling was Colossal's Achilles heel ...they took the story given to them by Imagineering and followed it, thinking they were giving their client what they wanted. Unfortunately, it was written like an educational film from the '40s - very dry and condescending. No amount of style could make up for the lack of substance. And even though Colossal was executing Imagineering's story, their inability to interpret the story into something workable sunk them." In May 1989, director Jerry Rees was approached by
Peter Schneider, then-president of
Walt Disney Feature Animation, to speak with several Disney brass members including Eisner,
Jeffrey Katzenberg,
Marty Sklar and Tom Fitzgerald. They all unanimously loathed Colossal Pictures' take on "Cranium Command" and sought him out to fix it. After a brief review, Rees cited the various issues and recommended that the project be rewritten from scratch. The executives gave Rees full creative freedom aside from needing to keep General Knowledge and the overall stress-management theme, per the sponsor's request. They had five months to complete the project, as they had to reach the October deadline.
Animation Rees rounded up as many animators from Feature Animation as he could, including
Gary Trousdale,
Kirk Wise and
Tom Sito. The latter three along with Rees crafted an entirely new storyline in under a week with Jenny Tripp penning the script. One of the largest changes was the personality of General Knowledge, now based on
R. Lee Ermey's character from
Full Metal Jacket. Per Wise, "We thought it would be funny if the character who was supposed to teach you how to manage your stress screamed at you incessantly like a psychotic drill sergeant." They also changed the pilot's name from Captain Cortex to Buzzy, a bumbling young recruit.
Rob Minkoff was slated to direct the animated preshow as Rees needed to focus on the live-action heavy main show, but dropped out to take over the
Roger Rabbit short "
Roller Coaster Rabbit". Schneider asked Trousdale and Wise duo to step in as directors. Wise said, "Saying 'yes' turned out to be the smartest thing Gary and I ever did." In addition, the pre-show of "Cranium Command" was the very last project at Disney Feature Animation to be traditionally inked and painted on cels.
Music Composer David Newman, who had previously worked with Rees on
The Brave Little Toaster and "Back to Neverland" (a short about animation at
Disney-MGM Studios) wrote the show's music score. The pre-show's score evokes the tone of military marching music, but becomes more orchestral in the main show. Unlike most music created for theme park attractions, there are multiple
leitmotifs more in common with a fuller film score. In an interview, Newman briefly cited that it was a lot of fun, much like his other projects with Rees. ==Reception and legacy==