Studio C is a system of animatronics found at Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, which were installed between 1997 and 2012.
History[]
Studio C (1997)[]
After the failure of the The Awesome Adventure Machine due to it being too expensive and technical nightmare, Chuck E. Cheese went back to the drawing board. With help from Corman & Associates', the Studio C concept would debut at the Brookfield, Wisconsin location in December 1997.
The original Studio C stage, known as Studio C (1997), was a single-character animatronic stage made up of three sections. To the left was the bluescreen, an interactive feature that allowed kids to take photos of themselves and display it on a TV above. In the middle was the main TV along with an interactive console, which allowed kids to mess around with different features like being able to view different parts of the restaurant through cameras. To the right was Chuck E. Cheese behind a desk with Bird, the pizza phone, the pizza time clock, and the Apple TV which acted as a smaller TV. Two medium size TVs were also present on the left and right sides of the stage. The original theme of this stage was that Chuck E. Cheese was the host of his own late night talk show alongside Bird as his co-host. The Studio C (1997) would prove to be a success and the stage would continue to be produced until 2001, when the stage was discontinued due to the stage becoming too costly.
Studio C 2000[]
While the Studio C (1997) was a success, the stage proved to be too large for some potential locations. Chuck E. Cheese attempted to fix this issue by creating the Studio C 2000 Prototype, which was a smaller and cheaper version of the Studio C (1997). The Studio C 2000 Prototype removed the center part of the Studio C (1997) along with the late night theme but kept the bluescreen along with Bird. The stage also only featured the two side TVs and the bluescreen TV, removing the large TV in the middle and the Apple TV. Overall, the Studio C 2000 Prototype wasn't a success and wouldn't be installed outside of its five test locations.
After some reworking, the finalized Studio C 2000 would debut on September 10, 2000 at the Birmingham, Alabama location. Unlike its prototype, the Studio C 2000 was a larger version of the Studio C (1997) that removed most of the interactive features along with the late night talk show theme for a more simple design. Like the Studio C (1997), the Studio C 2000 was made up of three sections. To the left was the bluescreen which remained mostly unchanged from the 1997 design. In the middle was three TVs placed on a large TV stand. To the right was Chuck E. Cheese now standing in front of a large light-up swirl with the pizza time clock. Two medium size TVs were also present on the left and right sides of the stage. The Studio C 2000 was a success as it worked perfectly with the new, more band focused showtape format that replaced the late night talk show concept. The Studio C 2000 was also able to work in more smaller stores with the Single-Screen Studio C 2000 variant, which removed the three TVs in the middle for one.
The Studio C 2000 would replace the Studio C (1997) as the default Studio C stage until 2012 when the stage was discontinued for the Circles of Light.
Small-Town Studio C[]
In 2002 Chuck E. Cheese tested out bot less Studio C stages with the Small-Town Studio C Prototype. This Studio C stage was drastically different from previous designs as it was only the bluescreen with three small TVs above it. The theme behind the stage was that instead of an animatronic, the Chuck E. Cheese walkaround would come out and perform in front of the stage. This concept was heavily disliked by customers and all three of the Small-Town Studio C Prototypes installed would be removed by 2005.
The concept behind the Small-Town Studio C Prototype would be revived with the debut of the Small-Town Studio C Gamma on July 22, 2003 at the Joplin, Missouri location. This Studio C stage combined the smaller TV section of the Small-Town Studio C Prototype with the Chuck E. Cheese section of the Studio C 2000 into a small, compact stage perfect for small locations.
The only flaw with this design was it lacked the Studio C's bluescreen, so starting in November 2003 the bluescreen would be included below the TVs on the Small-Town Studio C. Along with this, the design of the stage was altered to be more inline with the design of the Studio C 2000, creating the finalized Small-Town Studio C.
The Small-Town Studio C would become the default Studio C stage for locations that were too small to install a Studio C 2000. In 2012, just like the Studio C 2000, the Small-Town Studio C was discontinued for the Circles of Light.
Later Years and Discontinuation[]
In 2010 the bluescreen part of Studio C stages would be removed and replaced with the Ticket Blaster. Along with this, in 2012 Studio C 2000s would be installed with Ticket Blasters instead of bluescreens, and the stage would receive a design update that made it appear more similar to the Small-Town Studio C.
In 2012 both the Studio C 2000 and the Small-Town Studio C stages would be discontinued in favor of the new Studio C HD stage, namely the Circles of Light stage.
In October 2022, due to problems with using the Navori system on the animatronic, Studio C programming officially ended, meaning animatronics and lights that would play with the showtape no longer work.
Stages[]
- Studio C Alpha (5 remaining)
- Studio C Alpha 3-Stage (0 remaining)
- Studio C Alpha/Prototype Mix (0 remaining)
- Studio C Beta Prototype (0 remaining)
- Studio C Beta (30 remaining)
- Single-Screen Studio C 2000 (0 remaining)
- Studio C Beta/Cappa Mix (5 remaining)
- Studio C Beta 3-Stage (0 remaining)
- Studio C Beta Live Stage (1; exclusive to Legacy Stores)
- Small-Town Studio C Prototype (0 remaining)
- Small-Town Studio C Gamma (1 remaining)
- Small-Town Studio C (16 remaining)
Animatronics Used[]
- Chuck E. Cheese (32M): Studio C Alpha, Studio C Prototype, and Studio C Beta (32M)
- Chuck E. Cheese (16M): Studio C Beta (16M), Studio C Cappa
- Bird: Studio C Alpha, Studio C Prototype
- Pizza Phone: Studio C Alpha
- Pizza Time Clock: Studio C Alpha, Studio C Prototype, Studio C Beta (32M) and (16M)