A TRIBUTE TO TOM SCHERMAN - Part Two - The Discovery Bay artwork

Hello, everyone. As promise, here's the second of my articles in tribute to Tom Scherman, this time about his rare Discovery Bay drawings. As we will see, these drawings were a great help in the design of Tokyo Disney Sea Mysterious Island.

First, we have to thank Rowland Scherman, his brother who owns some of Tom's original drawings and provided his artwork for this article. Here is what Rowland told me on why Tom was so interested in the Tokyo DisneySea project:

"Ten years before Tokyo, Tom and Harper Goff had an idea for a TV show and a Theme Park/Ride called Discovery Bay. It was Nemo's home base and there were to be lessons of travel, nature and physics involved.

Harper died before they could collaborate on the project, but Tom kept at it and drew different versions of it over and over again. He also made, at his own expense, a pilot film preview of the idea. It is a cult classic--but no one at Disney ever got to see it.

The drawings Tom made were on napkins--his favorite medium--not only because he could do them while dining at a restaurant, but also he liked the shading effects he could produce on the napkin's absorbent surface. The sketches simply took form in Tom's head. He could visualize the project from any angle, and then simply create it on a napkin!

That Tokyo's Mysterious Island looks like Tom's ten year old drawings is a source of speculation as to which came first. Alas, now that Tom is no longer with us, that answer will probably remain a mystery."

Well, today, i have more explanations about it, as recently i receive an email from somebody, who, very gently, gave me more informations about the collaboration between Tom Scherman and Harper Goff. As you will see, it seems that legendary imagineer Tony Baxter was also involved in the project:
"Yes, Harper worked on it, but, the project was primarily Tony Baxter and Tom Scherman. In fact, most of the design work that TDS show-producer Steve Kirk and his team used in the final placement of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND was directly inspired and/or lifted from the work that Tom and Tony did on the Port Disney project (Long Beach, CA) for the 'Mysterious Island' installation there. Tom passed on far too early to work upon the DisneySea version of Mysterious Island, and, Tony was not a member of the design team that was assigned to Tokyo DisneySea. But, the work that created that installation rests fully upon the previous foundations laid by Tony Baxter and Tom...dating back to the mid-1970's"

So, quite a while ago, Tom did what he always did to jog his memory: he began to draw Vulcania Island, with what he remembered about the 1954 movie and the WDI imagineer's ideas for the TDS park.

Here are some of those black and white very rare drawings, beginning with this one of the overall view of the volcano and the Nautilus floating in its lagoon.



Here's another one, a closer view of the Nautilus, including one of TDS boats.



This other one shows the fantastic machines built by Captain Nemo as seen around the Vulcania lagoon.



Tom's drawings also depicted the decor in the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride, like this setpiece that everybody walking around the lagoon would see.



Not to mention this concept for the boarding area, as seen after riders took the elevator to arrive in the center of the earth...



As we can see on the pictures below, Mysterious Island is not that far in concept from Tom's work.









Now, the good news is that his brother Rowland owns the rights to his drawings and is going to produce a set of limited edition lithographs. It will be a very limited release, probably between 100 and 150 numbered sets, large-sized, all with a certificate of authenticity.

If you're a Nautilus fan - and who isn't? - this is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to own some of Tom Scherman's artwork. If you want to know more, feel free to send Rowland Scherman an email at: photomota@comcast.net

Artwork: copyright Tom Scherman

Photos: copyright Oriental Land co