"Disney Double-Cross"

Chapter 4

Two weeks later...

"There's a whole lot more to making a movie than they tell you", Ralph thought to himself. He'd just shot the scene where he breaks a jawbreaker in half for the third time and his hands were beginning to hurt. The second unit director saw this and said "Cut! I believe that we got it this time. Ralph, thanks for your patience." Ralph was this close to hauling off and wrecking the set, but those words made him smile and he headed to the snack table for some nice cool water.

There were the usual moviemaking glitches...Sgt. Calhoun had serious issues with the writers over some of her dialogue, especially when her cadre of soldiers were unable to prevent themselves from laughing, requiring several retakes of what should have been simple scenes. "Pee-pee in your big-boy slacks?! Kitten whispers and tickle fights?! Really? Guys, have ANY of you EVER heard me say things like that?" They looked at one another and just shook their heads. It wasn't all humorless, because the first time Ralph said "No cuts, no butts, no coconuts?" she couldn't keep a straight face and dissolved into laughter. That particular take took five times before she didn't laugh.

The highlight came when Turbo, as King Candy, was asked to tell Ralph why Vanellope couldn't be allowed to race. After the first two takes, the director told everyone to take five while he took Turbo aside and explained what he needed him to do. "Think of Vanellope as your child, your daughter", he said. "This is the pivotal scene in the story, and unless you're able to get Ralph to completely buy into your tale the viewers won't buy into it either, and everything that happens from this point on won't be believable. You and Ralph did a great job inprovising the 'hit a guy with glasses' scene, do you think you can carry the mail in this scene?"

When Turbo read the "hit a guy with glasses" scene, the scene called for Ralph to actually punch Turbo. Turbo had been photobombing others' scenes, showing up out of nowhere and injecting "Turbo-Tastic" into them, with humorous results. Ralph was equally uncomfortable, because if he punched Turbo too hard he would hurt him and he really didn't want to hurt his old friend. Turbo had played with the scene, and had come up with the concept of Ralph taking the glasses off and hitting him with them. The were scheduled to shoot that scene tonight, and on the first take they sprung it. The set dissolved into laughter, and the director yelled "Cut!" He got up from his chair, told everyone to compose themselves, looked at Ralph and Turbo and said "That was a great idea. Ready to do it again?" Turbo looked at Ralph and said "Do you have another pair of glasses?" Someone from Props handed him new glasses, and they reshot the scene.

Turbo nodded his head, and he and Ralph took their places for the scene. When they finished and the director said "Cut!", everyone in the room knew that Turbo had nailed it. Viewers would believe that King Candy was only looking out for Vanellope's best interest.

Most of the scenes with the Cy-Bugs that were filmed in Sugar Rush were done by the second unit with the help of digital "wranglers". Their job was to control the Cy-Bugs and prevent them from destroying the game and escaping into the arcade. Finally, there was only one scene remaining to be shot: the scene where King Candy, digitally merged with the Cy-Bug that "ate" him as he exited the tunnel, would appear to be drawn into the Diet Cola/Mentos "beacon" and be destroyed. Everyone watched as the Disney wizards merged Turbo/King Candy's code with the Cy-Bug as they'd done a few nights before to film the scenes where he and Ralph fought one another. The beacon was activated, the wranglers released their Cy-Bugs, and "Action" was shouted...

Turbo flew up and faced away from the light, just as the director had instructed him to do. But when the beacon's light reflected off the eyes of an oncoming Cy-Bug, something happened. King Candy's eyes began to glitch as the Cy-Bug's programming began to override both Turbo and the wrangler's influence.

"Hey, where're you going? Oh no! No!"

Turbo was in terror now, unable to stop the bug and unable to separate his code from the bug's code. The Disney wranglers were in panic too, shouting "Get him out of there!" and "I'm trying but nothing's happening!" The director was powerless to do anything but watch, thinking of the tragic accident that took the life of Vic Morrow and two child actors during the filming of "The Twilight Zone" and thought "Oh no, we're going to lose Turbo and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"Gotta get away from the...oooh, pretty light."

Turbo began to glitch himself as he again desperately tried to free himself to no avail. He could feel the heat from the beacon, as hot as molten steel, getting hotter and hotter to the point of unbearability. "How could they do this to me?" he thought. It's amazing how many things flash through your mind before death, it's said.

"No no no! Don't go...don't...go towards the light.."

The last shot the camera got of Turbo was the sheer horror on his face as he, along with the Cy-Bug, were swept into the beacon and destroyed.

Tamora clung to Felix, Vanellope clung to Ralph, and Mary clung to Gene in horror...Turbo was gone. This wasn't supposed to happen like this! Everyone sat or stood in mute horror, unable to comprehend the loss of their long-time friend, especially after all of the reassurances they'd been given.

"Movies suck", Ralph thought to himself.

They had all planned to go to Tapper's for the "wrap party"; now they would be going to mourn their friend Turbo.

(end of chapter)