Wha....
The whole reason why Oblivion is so great thematically is because of how 90s it is... it's 90s in the best way possible (I know that's not a particularly popular opinion here), no way you'd see media or theming like Oblivions be made nowadays. Not every ride needs to be turned into the latest trend in terms of ascetics. What you said could be applied to Reborn in 15-20 years for all I know, but hey, there are fans of Reborn, people could be having a very similar conversation by then.
From all the praise people give the Pearsons rides here, I'm honestly really surprised to see many of the same people are also very vocal about wanting either their removals or modernisations.
At this rate, we'll probably won't have anything left from Pearsons (Alton Towers Golden era by many) era by 2030. All I can think of is Oblivion, Runaway Mine Train, Hex, and that's really it. I know the Rapids name is technically from Pearsons, but the ride itself and landscaping is pretty much untouched since Broomes era.
There's a difference between enhancing and modernising.
Should Oblivion be enhanced? Absolutely personally! More detail and theming in the queue under the station would be really appreciated personally, and bringing back the 'don't look down' audio or at least having something else fitting play up there would be greatly appreciated. You'd be surprised how simple stuff like that can enhance an experience. I think it's great when Theme Parks keep attractions from multiple eras, really offers more variety too.
I’m absolutely not saying that nothing from the 90s has merit or that everything from that era needs modernisation. There is plenty of stuff from the 90s that has stayed timeless and lands as well as it ever did without feeling dated.
I’d argue that the
theming of Oblivion, however, is very much of its time and does not have the same impact it may once have done.
The videos, for example, may have landed in 1998, but now, I feel that they look
very clearly 90s with the disco track playing over them, the Windows Movie Maker style transitions and such. They’re also played over very dated TVs with quite poor audio quality. Each to their own, but I’d argue that the videos are now more cheesy than suspenseful as originally intended. Not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of cheese, and I think the scripts are still quite good, but those videos were originally intended to build suspense and I don’t think they do that as effectively anymore.
The soundtrack is also a generic 90s drum and bass track rather than something that adds to the suspense and builds up any kind of atmosphere. As a ride that tries to build up a suspenseful atmosphere, I don’t listen to Oblivion’s current track and think “suspenseful”.
You’re not wrong when you say that people may be saying this about Reborn in 20-30 years’ time. They may well be! But my point is that these parks are not museums or time capsules. They should move with the times and adjust the product with the times, and if what’s current now becomes dated in the decades to come, they should adjust it. I’m a big fan of Nemesis Reborn now, but if it feels dated come 2040 or 2050, they should definitely adjust it. Just because Oblivion is one of the few remaining vestiges of 90s Tussauds, I don’t think we should leave it untouched. That era was clearly very prosperous for the park, but it was not perfect and not everything from it would necessarily have stood the test of time or has stood the test of time.
The ride itself is definitely still awesome in my view, but I do think the theming could do with modernisation at this point. I’d argue that it’s more “of its time” than the original Nemesis was or than many other vestiges of the 90s Tussauds era are/were.
