Tom Morrow is a Disney Parks character who has affiliations with multiple attractions, namely in EPCOT and Tomorrowland.
History[]
Background[]
Professor Tom Morrow was originally a spacecraft missions director who oversaw spacecraft travels from Earth to the moon, notably with the Moonliner space-ship. In later attractions, Tom Morrow would be revealed as the mayor of Tomorrowland and a promoter of the latest technological advancements.
Tom Morrow was originally shown to be a white, dark-haired scientist with glasses and a lab-coat. In later appearances, Morrow was shown to be a robotic being. It is unknown if Tom was originally a robot who was portrayed as a human, if he transferred his consciousness or brain into a robotic body, if the robotic Tom Morrow is a recreation of the original human, or if they are separate characters who incidentally share the same name.
In EPCOT, an apparent recreation of Morrow exists in the form of Tom Morrow 2.0. It is unknown what the nature of their relationship might be but they are often referred to colloquially by the same name in merchandise, advertisements and paraphernalia.
Development[]
The character of Tom Morrow was originally created for the Rocket to the Moon attraction in Disneyland (later renamed to Flight to the Moon). In this attraction, he was the (human) Spacecraft Missions Director for the guests' titular voyage to the moon with his name being an obvious play on the word Tomorrow.
In 1975, Flight to the Moon was changed into the attraction Mission to Mars as a result of the then recent moon-landing rendering the futurism of the original attraction out-dated. In this new attraction, the character of Tom Morrow was changed to a new character named Mr. Johnson who served effectively the same role.
In ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter which replaced Mission to Mars in the Magic Kingdom, the original incarnation of the X-S robot which would come to be known as S.I.R. would be named T.O.M. 2000. This could have been an allusion to Rocket to the Moon character as the attraction did reference its predecessors in the queue with monitors saying, "Mission to Mars: History or Hoax" and "Lunar Disneyland—The Happiest Place Off Earth".
In 1998, Innoventions would open in Disneyland and Tom Morrow would find his more lasting role. Unlike his previous appearances which appeared to be distinctly human, Tom Morrow was now reintroduced as a robot who was recycled from the design of the Timekeeper from the attraction of the same name, albeit stripped of its more steampunk elements and dressed in a transparent lab-coat to show off its machinery. Morrow served a new role of being the eccentric, somewhat goofy host of Innoventions, where he showed off technology for guests.
He was voiced in Innoventions by actor Nathan Lane. In 2012, the animatronics for Tom Morrow would be removed from the Innoventions attraction. In 2015, the attraction would shut down all-together in-order to be replaced by Star Wars Launch Bay and Super Hero HQ.
From 2000-2007, a smaller audio animatronic known as Tom Morrow 2.0 was introduced to Innoventions at EPCOT. The character served as the host of Disney Channel's "Imagineer That!" shorts. He was removed in the 2007-2008 renovation but would make an appearance at the Odyssey Building which also featured EPCOT characters like Figment from the original Journey into Imagination, and one of the characters from Kitchen Kabaret.
Over the years, allusions to this obscure classic character have appeared throughout Disney Parks attractions. These homages would typically be in reference to the Rocket to the Moon incarnation of the character, being affiliated with the moon or space travel rather than innovations in technology.
Appearances[]
Disneyland[]
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout[]
While not named or directly homaged in this attraction, the out of use mechanical head of Tom Morrow is on display in the Collector's office.
Innoventions[]
Tom Morrow served the role as host in this defunct attraction, giddily introducing guests to the most innovative technologies at his disposal. He would be explained to be the mayor of Tomorrowland in this attraction who wished to introduce the guests to the Innoventions Dream Home. He would occasionally sing There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow from the defunct Disneyland ride Carousel of Progress which is what the Innoventions building originally housed.
Main Street Cinema[]
There is a listing in the Disneyland Casting Agency requesting astronauts to apply for one T. Morrow at Moonliner Flight Systems.
Star Tours[]
In the original incarnation of Star Tours, Tom Morrow was referenced by name within the queue for the attraction. A Star Tours announcer would be heard in the space port saying, "Mister Morrow, Mister Tom Morrow... please check with the Star Tours agent at gate number four", referencing Morrow as being a customer of the travel agency. This reference was made before Tom Morrow was reimagined in his robot form at Innoventions.
In Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, this direct reference was removed in favour of them paging a character named "Mot Worrom" saying, "Paging Star Tours passenger Mot Worrom. Please pick up the nearest white courtesy comlink. Passenger Mot Worrom to the nearest white courtesy comlink". This was still an allusion to Morrow, though his name is spelled backwards as a means of making it sound like a name that a character in the Star Wars franchise might have.
Walt Disney World[]
ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter[]
In the queue for this attraction was a screen mentioning Prof. Tom Morrow being set to host a lecture titled, "MISSION TO MARS: HISTORY OR HOAX?"in the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Centre at some point after X-S Tech's demo.
Flight to the Moon[]
In the original Flight to the Moon attraction, Tom Morrow was the most predominately featured and most vocal character. He served the role of being the Spacecraft Missions Director for the guests as they travelled from Earth to the moon. He was mainly featured in the pre-show of the attraction.
Skipper Canteen[]
Tom Morrow is one of several Disney characters homaged in the library of the Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. In this canteen set circa 1938, a book written by Tom Morrow can be found which is titled Mission to the Stars. This is done to reference Morrow's history with the Rocket to the Moon/Flight to the Moon attraction while also possibly homaging Mission: Space in EPCOT. Another book in the Skipper Canteen written by Morrow is called, "Mission to the Red Planet" as a tribute to Mission to Mars.
Stitch's Supersonic Celebration[]
Tom Morrow's head appeared on Robo-Mart's website as a possible head option for Stitch to use on his robots. Tom Morrow 2.0 appeared being sold by Robo-Mart, and as a weather reporter for the Tomorrowland News Network.
Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover[]
Tom Morrow was referenced by name in this Walt Disney World attraction along with his original attraction and successor, Mr. Johnson. While passing though Space Mountain, a public-announcer says, "Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow. Please contact Mr. Johnson in the control-tower to confirm your flight to the moon". It is unknown if this announcer and Mr. Johnson are intended to be agents of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority or of Starport Seven-Five.
