Future Forward
This scientist has a head full of dreams
I won’t lie, I’ve been in a slump the past month or so. It hasn’t helped that the weather has gotten colder and the landscape greyer. Rather than retreat, I wanted to work on something with positive vibes in song and screen and, in truth, a minor indulgence in a nostalgic film that looks to the future.
What is Known
For over twenty years, Coldplay have proven themselves to be chart-toppers ever since their debut album “Parachutes” in 2000. Thanks to a blend of emotional lyrics, experimentation with their sound as the band rose to fame, and a consistent call for activism throughout their career, it’s no wonder they’re a popular act in the 21st century. Starting with their “Prospekt’s March” EP, they would collaborate with a number of popular artists including but not limited to Jay-Z, Rihanna, Beyonce, Selena Gomez, BTS, and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Add to their success on stage and streaming (the first band ever to hit 1 billion streams), the band is proven their success. The end is in sight, however, as comments from frontman Chris Martin indicate that the group might have one or two albums left before retiring.
Meet the Robinsons was Disney’s second film to be animated fully in CGI as well as their second original film to be released in Disney Digital 3D. After hitting a rough patch with 2005’s Chicken Little, Disney turned their creative energies back to artist William Joyce, using his 1990 book A Day With Wilbur Robinson as a loose basis for the movie. Disney worked with Joyce previously as an American producer for the children’s series Rolie Polie Olie, a show for preschoolers that aired on the Playhouse Disney block in the late 90’s that was one of the earliest series to be fully CGI. Within these two works alone, you can see Joyce’s sensibilities that blend 50’s aesthetics and a celebration of families of all kinds.
The book’s actual plot only covers a few minutes of the film wherein there’s a search for dentures, something that would also be featured in an episode of Rolie Polie Olie with the grandfather character. The rest of the film’s elements are original material: the time machine, the Bowler Hat Guy, the orphanage, etc. Sure, there are elements from the book that are replicated 1:1 like most of the family members and their outfits but the visual style is more of a compromise of Disney and Joyce as Joyce was tapped as a producer and production designer for 2005’s Robots. Because of this as well as a late-stage rework months before the release, the finished film is a mixed bag. Even with the burgeoning technology of polarized 3D glasses, the film did make back its budget but wasn’t the smashing success Disney wanted. At the very least, it didn’t end up looking like the motion-capture uncanny valley that The Polar Express had as a demo reel for facial mapping technology from SIGGRAPH 2001 featured a prototype of Lewis. Years later, it’s a minor cult classic from the period and is looked at fondly for the upbeat message of “Keep Moving Forward” along with aspects of the Fruitiger Aero aesthetic within the film.
Authorial Intent
As the band has grown, some of their more radio-friendly hits have an emphasis on positive vibes: “My Universe”, “Higher Power”, “Adventure of a Lifetime”, “Hymn for the Weekend”, “Something Just Like This”, just to name a few. Conversely, they’ve also had some downers: “Magic”, “In My Place”, “Viva La Vida”, among others. On top of that, the band does have a few syncs for films like Up, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and Beauty and the Beast. Years ago, I tried “A Head Full of Dreams” with Meet the Robinsons to no avail but the band felt like a good fit for the film.
The Setlist
Sessions November 7 to November 19, 2024. Completed November 19, 2024
Instructions
Start the playlist for two seconds, pause, and resume when the star appears at the beginning of the Walt Disney Pictures logo.
The Setlist Commentary
MOON MUSiC. The title track from their latest album kicks off the movie with a somber note as we see Lewis placed at the doorsteps of the orphanage. We also get a little foreshadowing with Goob as Chris asks for a friend at the end of the song.
The Scientist. We get our first proper single in the setlist with a track from their sophomore effort “A Rush of Blood to the Head”. This melancholy number highlight’s Lewis’ main conflict: finding some loving parents/family to adopt him. However, each failed interview makes it harder. “Come up to meet you, tell ya I’m sorry/you don’t know how lovely you are.” After all, “nobody said it was easy”.
Moses - Live in Sydney. This one-off song performed during the tour for “A Rush of Blood to the Head” has Lewis go off to the science fair, “a refuge, somewhere I can go”. But when Wilbur alerts Lewis of the plot he’s unknowingly a part of, the science fair becomes an all-or-nothing affair. “If the sky’s gonna fall down, let it fall on me”.
Up in Flames - Live. From the “Mylo Xyloto” tour, it’s nothing but disaster as Lewis’ brain scanner is sabotaged and causes destruction in the gym. Oddly enough, it’s the second Disney animated film in a row where the misfit character causes chaos and the fire sprinklers go off in the gym (the other being Chicken Little from 2005).
Help is Round the Corner. It all seems hopeless for Lewis with this B-side from the “Yellow” single. “Nothing was going quite right here and I’m tired, I can’t play my part.” However, alleged timecop Wilbur wants Lewis to go back and try again but won’t explain why. It’s an odd form of help from round the corner.
A Head Full of Dreams - Live in Buenos Aires. Finally, some upbeat Coldplay. When planning for this setlist, the tonal shift was always going to happen and what better way to do it than with the title track for their seventh studio album but with a live audience? On top of that, it starts off with the ending speech from Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator in an abridged form. It’s a beautiful speech asking for each and every person to do good and that we have the power to create happiness, a noble sentiment that ol’ Walt probably had in mind when creating something like Tomorrrowland (cheekily referenced here as “Todayland”). Obviously, there’s a difference between doing/creating for the good of people versus a motive for profit, people versus corporation, etc., but that discussion is better argued by people wiser than I. Regardless, Wilbur shows off the future to Lewis “in a world I haven’t seen”.
Only Superstition. Here we have a very early Coldplay track that would pave the way for their debut album. Bowler Hat Guy fails to impress the board, despite worrying about “what if the cards don’t go my way”.
Square One. With a busted time machine and the other one stolen, Lewis is stuck in square one in trying to fix it.
Amor Argentina - Live in Buenos Aires. A track written specifically for Buenos Aires. We get a romp through the house with Lewis in his Carmen Miranda headgear as this tango plays. There’s a bonus performance that comes in the form of former president Barack Obama leading a rendition of “Amazing Grace” as Bowler Hat Guy sees Goob, the “wretch like me”. Originally, this sample came abridged at the end of “Kaleidoscope” on the studio version of “A Head Full of Dreams”.
Twisted Logic. Taken literally, you have Bowler Hat Guy talking to Goob and giving him bad advice, hoping it will eventually shape him into a bitter old man with a grudge. On the flipside, you have the chorus that says “you’ll go backwards, but then you’ll go forwards again”. It’s a roundabout way of the film’s main quote of “keep moving forward” while also saying that you will inevitably fail before succeeding.
Major Minus. Surveillance is the name of the game as Doris goes forth and tries to sabotage the Robinson family; “They got one eye watching you, one eye on what you do.”
Hymn for the Weekend - Live in Buenos Aires. Trouble brews as the PB&J machine is on the fritz right when they’re about to have the second course. It makes a mess, though a much stickier one than the color powder used in the music video.
Viva La Vida - Live in Paris, 2008. How do you take a now-iconic track from the band and give it a twist? Why, by making it about a dinosaur, obviously. Tell the story about this mighty ruler and make it not about a human but a Tyrannosaurus Rex dropped into a completely different timeline. After all, this one “used to rule the world”.
What If. The jig is up as Wilbur reveals Lewis’ true identity, right after being extended an invitation to stay. In order to keep things right, the invite is revoked: “that you don’t want me there by your side/that you don’t want me there in your life”. As Lewis storms off and chooses to help Bowler Hat Guy, it proves to be nothing but a trap; “every step that you take could be your biggest mistake"/it could bend or it could break, that’s the risk that you take”.
Sunrise. As the previous track ends with the sentiment that “darkness always turns into light”, here we have light shed on the truth. This was the only track from “Everyday Life” that I could fit into the setlist but it’s appropriate. The sad violins scoring the backstory into how Goob transformed into the sad man he is today. In truth, the piece is fitting as the album it comes from has track titles like “When I Need A Friend”, “BrokEn”, “Orphans”, all elements of his backstory.
Trouble. Despite Chris singing how “I never meant to do you harm”, those are Goob’s intentions, even as he’s in “a spider web, and I’m caught in the middle”. Lewis is transported to the Dark Timeline and now there’s nothing but trouble.
How You See the World - Live from Earls Court. A world based on revenge is no world worth living in and Goob sees the error of his ways very quickly. Lewis flies his way through an industrial hellscape not unlike the one from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis where the machine is the god. But, as featured in the Carousel of Progress and as a bonus track on the album, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” and it all depends on how you see the world.
Magic - Live at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney. The only track from the “Ghost Stories” album cycle to make an appearance, it’s more of a small separation of Lewis and his new family before he goes back to make things right. It’s not goodbye, it’s “see you soon”. Plus, Lewis sees all of the fantastic inventions in the lab space which bears in mind this quote from Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. And from what we’ve seen, it is magic how it all comes together.
Kaleidoscope. Wilbur fulfills his promise to Lewis and takes him back to that pivotal moment where he meets his mom. The narration is an excerpt from Jallaludin “Molana” Rumi’s poem “The Guesthouse”. While it excludes the sadder elements, the general message still remains: greet every emotion that comes your way for it is what makes you human. And through this journey, Lewis has experienced a wide range of emotions and that has made him a better person.
Alien Choir. A softer track that wouldn’t be out of place with some aspects of Pink Floyd’s “The Endless River”. It’s a simple piece that brings us back around as Lewis is found by Mildred.
Adventure of a Lifetime - Live in Buenos Aires. A storybook happy ending. It really took an adventure of a lifetime for Lewis to embrace his destiny and create the future he wanted that would not only benefit him but Goob as well; “Everything you want’s a dream away”. And having the crowd cheer as Lewis is shown his new home? Perfect.
M.M.I.X. A small interlude that sends off our young inventor to create new and fantastic things that ends with an uplifting quote from Walt Disney:
Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.
Now, whether or not the company has actually listened to that quote is anyone’s guess but as 2024 comes to a close, I'd say they haven’t.
The Cutting Floor
Speed of Sound. This was my introduction to the band back in middle school as our music teacher had us analyze the lyrics. I’m not sure where I would’ve put it but I’d want it as a small tribute.
Moon Music Tour Edition. In the lead up to the album’s basic release, Coldplay announced a limited run of a “Tour Edition”. This included highlights from the “Music of the Spheres” show, primarily at River Plate and two then-upcoming tracks for “Moon Music”. These two tracks would appear in the “Full Moon” edition but the rest are exclusive to this edition and are not on streaming.
Notebook Edition. This edition of “Moon Music” included voice memos for each track. Again, not streaming.
Life in Technicolor. I find this track to be tied for the best opener to a Coldplay album with “Moon Music”. With the original track, you have this beautiful instrumentation that pumps you up before “Cemeteries in London” brings down the energy for a little bit. The full vocal version on the “Prospekt’s March” EP was also a contender.
Fix You. This felt like an obvious choice, placing it where “Trouble” and “How You See the World” are currently. However, I just couldn’t get it to work well.