Movie stars add backstory to Terminator coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain

Riders queuing up to board the new Terminator Salvation wooden roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain this summer will get survival instructions from two of the movie’s stars: rapper/actor Common and model/actress Moon Bloodgood.

Currently under construction, the $10-million coaster will feature an additional $1 million in theming to tie in with the ride’s “Terminator Salvation” movie storyline.

While waiting in the queue, riders will be encouraged via video clips featuring Common and Bloodgood to “join the resistance” and help fight the Terminator robots.

Common, who plays a soldier named Barnes in the movie, and Bloodgood, who portrays pilot Blair Williams, will explain the key points of the movie’s plot while laying out the ride’s back story.

During the “training session,” riders are warned that the “machines are coming” and to “go to the safe house” to await further instructions.

The “safe house” in this case will be the coaster loading station, which will be filled with movie props and memorabilia including Terminator robots. Once riders complete their training, they become “resistance fighters” and board the roller coaster.

Premiering in May, “Terminator Salvation” stars Christian Bale, Common and Bloodgood in the fourth installment of the science-fiction postapocalyptic film franchise, directed this time by McG.

A Grammy-winning hip-hop rapper, Common has starred in “Smokin’ Aces,” “American Gangster” and “Wanted.” A former Laker Girl and Maxim magazine Hot 100 model, Bloodgood appeared in the movie “Street Fighter” and on the TV shows “Day Break” and “Journeyman.”

Scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend, the Great Coasters International woodie will be built next to the Déjà Vu looping steel coaster and in the same location as Psyclone, a reviled wooden coaster mercifully removed from the Valencia amusement park in 2006.

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the
Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photos: Warner Bros.

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 11:12 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Celebrity, Family & Kids, Los Angeles, Magic Mountain, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.