Creative Engineering Inc. (partially lost audio of animatronic character's showtapes; 1970s-2000's)

The Rockafire Explosion.

Status: Partially Lost

Creative Engineering Inc. is an animatronic company founded in 1975. They are most recognized for producing the Rock-afire Explosion band that operated in Showbiz Pizza Place food chains in the 1980s. Other than the Rock-afire, Creative Engineering manufactured several other animatronic bands/retrofits for their own shows. Many showtapes/segments of showtapes have never surfaced online or have since disappeared.

The Rock-afire Explosion

Debuting on August 14th, 1980, The Rock-afire Explosion animatronic show was ShowBiz Pizza's primary distinction from other arcades at the time. In 1990, however, ShowBiz Pizza made the decision to remove the Rock-afire from their restaurants after Creative Engineering, Inc. refused to give them the copyrights and trademarks. This led to a process known as "Concept Unification" in which not only most ShowBiz Pizza were converted to Chuck E. Cheese locations as ShowBiz brought all the assets to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in 1984, but also included all of the Rock-afire characters (except Billy Bob, Antioch, Birthday Bird, and Earl) being retrofitted intro Chuck E. Cheese characters with the show being renamed to Munch's Make Believe Band. However starting in 1987, after ShowBiz and CEI cancelled the original "Manufacturing, Sales and Licensing Agreement" and created a new "Settlement and License Agreement" which was much looser than the original agreement, and gave CEI full rights to the destiny and future of the Rock-afire Explosion, CEI started to sell The Rock-afire Explosion to other venues such as Pistol Pete's Pizza, Circus Pizza, Fun Time Pizza, Fun Zone, Fun Station USA, Flamingo Land, and Billy Bob's Wonderland. While most Rock-afire showtapes have been found, a few are still missing.

Showtape title	Release Dates	Status	Notes
ShowBiz Pizza Place Tape #1 (ShowBiz Pizza Place Tape 1)	August 14th, 1980 (Completed in January of 1980)	Found	The first ever RAE showtape. It consists of 5 segments: 3 center stage segments, 1 stage right segment, and 1 stage left segment. Interestingly, this tape was recorded before the first ShowBiz Pizza Place (which opened 2 months later) was completed, meaning CEI was already working on the Rock-afire when ShowBiz opened. This showtape also marked Duke Chauppetta's debut as Dook LaRue. Additionally, the stage right and stage left characters don't interact with center stage characters in this tape, implying that Billy Bob skits and Rolfe & Earl skits were originally meant to be separate from the Rock-afire.
3 Birthday Reels	1981-1988 (Beatles Birthday and Happy Birthday Medley) and 1982-1988 (Sal's Birthday)	Found
ShowBiz Pizza '82 Tape	January or February 1982	Found
Spring Shows '82	Spring 1982	Found
Best Of The Rock-afire Explosion '82 (Best of Rock-afire Explosion '82)	July 1982	Found	An early compilation tape featuring some of the Rock-afire's best hits of the time. This showtape was also used for a consumer study on how CEI can improve the show.
Tribute to Abbey Road	October 1982	Found	Often considered one of the best Rock-afire showtapes of all time and a monumental turning point for the RAE. It's also known for being Shalisa Sloan's first show as Mitzi and Aaron Fechter's final full show as Beach Bear. Also Rick Bailey's first show (but not as Beach Bear).
Christmas '82 (RAE Christmas '82)	November 1982	Found	Rick Bailey's first show as Beach Bear.
New Years '82 (RAE New Years Eve '82)	December 1982	Found
SPP Show Selector Tape #1	1982	Found	A showtape made for CEI's first try at the Show Selector concept for ShowBiz Pizza (and the only documented time the Show Selector concept was ever used at ShowBiz). The concept was only tested at two locations in Flordia.
SPP Show Selector Tape #2	Late 1982	Found	Another showtape made for the tested ShowBiz verison of the Show Selector concept.
Crazy Colander Head Night	February 1983	Found	Produced as part of ShowBiz Pizza's "Crazy Colander Head Night" event, which encouraged guests to wear colanders adorned with various decorations.
Best of the Rock-afire Explosion 1983 Part 2	March 1983	Found	Another compilation tape with most segments recycled from Tribute to Abbey Road.
Country Night	June 1983	Found
Fatz Showtape aka 'Klunk Installation'	July 1983-1985	Found	This showtape was used at locations that got Uncle Klunk. It was for the other 2 stages while Klunk and the rest of his setup were being installed on Rolfe and Earl's Stage.
Uncle Klunk (Jeff Howell version)	1983	Found	A demo tape CEI made for the executives at ShowBiz to get a good idea of Uncle Klunk (and sent to some of the stores that installed Klunk first) with Jeff Howell performing the voice of Klunk and Burt Wilson (Fatz's voice actor) performing the voice of Klunk's pet bird Click and everybody calling in on his talk show. Sadly for some reason, the executives at ShowBiz were disappointed with the demo and asked CEI to hire a professional company to make the audio for the show.
The Uncle Klunk Show (Uncle Klunk Showtape)	July 1983-1984	Found	Released to accompany the then-new Uncle Klunk animatronic, who replaced the Rolfe and Earl animatronic briefly. While the audio for the Uncle Klunk segments were not made by Creative Engineering, they still did the programming for this showtape.
Beatles White Album	September 1983	Found	Considered one of Rock-afire's greatest showtapes.
Christmas '83 (Christmas 1983)	November 1983	Found	This showtape was used for many years during the holiday season.
Uncle Santa Showtape	November - December 1983 & November - December 1984	Found	Accompanied a retrofit of Uncle Klunk as Santa Clause.
Dr. Juke Test Tape	1983 (unreleased)	Partially Lost	An unreleased showtape meant to test the prototype Dr. Juke show selector concept created by CEI in 1983. The tape was the only one of its kind using the CEI LaserDisc format, where the video used for the showtape segments contained PCM adapter audio and the LaserDisc audio tracks contained show control data. Programs outside the segments were placed on the disc, allowing software to control animated segments while a show was waiting to be selected. The concept would implement 2 major changes to RAE stages: a video touchscreen device would be installed in front of the stage and would replace the 4-Track Reel format and tape deck with a LaserDisc player. No Dr. Juke units were produced for any ShowBiz locations and CEI never used the LaserDisc format for any future projects. CEI alludes to ShowBiz's merger with Pizza Time Theater being the reason for the cancelation of this concept.
Mini-stage Skits	1983	Partially Lost?	This showtape was made for ShowBiz Pizza locations that used the Mini Stage, a smaller RAE stage that featured four characters: Mitzi, Fatz, Billy Bob, and Looney Bird.
Magic Night	February 1984	Found	Often considered the best Rock-afire Explosion showtape ever made and another fan favorite.
Senior Citizens	March 1984	Found	Contains the theme for the 1984 World's Fair written by Burt "Sal" Wilson, the voice actor for Fatz, Sun, Moon, and Antioch The Birthday Spider.
Trivia Night	July 1984	Found	This showtape was released alongside a promotion at ShowBiz, where you could purchase Professor Hoyle Trivia cards for $1.00 with a large pizza. This is also the show where Choo-Choo (the baby bear in front of Dook's drum) gets his name. This show is also considered a fan favorite just like both the Beatles' White Album showtape and Magic Night.
After Hours Showtape (Afterhours Tape)	August 1984-1985	Found	ShowBiz began to notice that a lot of teens were coming in and partying. Since Showbiz wanted to be seen as a family restaurant, and not a teen hangout, they started Teen's Night. Every Friday between 9:00 pm to 12:00 am ShowBiz would allow teens between the ages of 13 and 18 to come in and dance. This show was made for Teen's Night and featured songs from the '80s that were hits with kids at the time like Jump by Van Halen, No More Words by Berlin, and Beat It by Michael Jackson. However, Teen's Night was discontinued in 1985 around the same time ShowBiz merged with Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater as the newly formed ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc and now wanted to keep the image of a restaurant for kids.
Country II	October 1984	Found	AKA The No Theme showtape.
Birthday Intros / Junk Skits	Per 1985	Partially lost
Country Klunk	January 1985	Found	A special showtape of country-themed songs for the Uncle Klunk animatronic.
Top Ten Hits of 1985 (Top Ten Hits)	February 1985	Found	The only normal Rock-afire Explosion showtape released in 1985. This would also be the last showtape to be programmed by CEI (with Showbiz's permission), when ShowBiz would both record the audio and program most of the shows between 1986 and late 1987. CEI would come back to fully making shows again with Rock-N-Roll Classics in September 1987, however, CEI was only writing the scripts and recording the audio with ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc still doing the programming until their business partnership with Creative Engineering ended in September of 1990.
"Magic" Test Rebranding/"Magic" Stage Showtape	November 1985	Found
Time Machine / Hits 1 (SPP Time Machine / Hits 1)	March 1986	Found	First showtape made by ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc. instead of CEI. Often called not only the worst showtape made for The Rock-afire Explosion, but one of the worst showtapes ever recorded for any animatronic show.
Happy B-day Liberty (SPP Happy B-Day Liberty)	June 1986	Found	Made for the 100th anniversary of The Statue of Liberty. It not only includes Rolfe's animatronic replaced by a figure of the Statue of Liberty but also includes two separate versions of the Statue of Liberty show. One was made by CEI and another was made by Creative Presentations for ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc.
Circus / Monkees (SPP Circus - Monkees)	July 1986	Found	Contines two new shows (Tribute to the Circus and The Curly Shuffle) made by CEI (A rarity during the time this show was released) and a reused show (Monkees Medley from the Beatles White Album showtape).
Christmas Live	November 1986	Found	A showtape that was quickly made and sent out to all ShowBiz Pizza Place locations by CEI without ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc.'s permission as a way of rebelling against ShowBiz's decision to start making showtapes on their own. It also was made as a gift to everyone who worked at the stores and the fans.
Westerns / Movies / R&R (SPP Westerns - Movies - R&R)	February 1987	Found	Made by ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc. and Creative Presentations
Summertime / Westerns (SPP Summertime - Westerns)	April 1987	Found	Made by ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc., Cry Wolf Studios, and Creative Presentations ( Westerns only)
Liberty '87 Edited (SPP Liberty '87)	June 1987	Found	An edited rerelease of Happy B-day Liberty that only includes the CEI version of the show.
Working / Summertime (SPP Working - Summertime)	June 1987	Found	Made by ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc. and Cry Wolf Studios
Yogi Bear Showtape	June 1987	Found	This show saw the Rolfe DeWolfe (his puppet, Earl, was removed) and Looney Bird animatronics retrofitted cosmetically to become Yogi Bear and Boo Boo respectively. This showtape was made and produced by both ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc and Cry Wolf Studios and had nothing to do with Creative Engineering, and featured the same unidentified voice actors for the Center Stage characters, while Daws Butler and Don Messick reprised their respective roles as Yogi and Boo Boo. On August 15th, 2020, the full audio was posted to YouTube by fan website ShowbizPizza.com as a part of their "Rock-a-Palooza 2020" event for the Rock-afire Explosion's 40th anniversary. The audio was preserved on a cassette by co-producer and scriptwriter Steve White and is complete with only a few seconds missing from the song "Every Breath You Take". The tape was created as a test which was installed at three stores (Augusta, GA, Omaha, NE, and Colorado Springs, CO) to replace the Rock-afire Explosion characters with other licensed characters after Aaron Fechter, founder of Creative Engineering, refused to hand over the rights for the characters after ShowBiz corporate tried forcing him to do so for free.
Rock-N-Roll Classics (SPP Rock-N-Roll Classics)	September 1987	Found
Homely For Christmas (SPP Homely For Christmas '87)/SPP Christmas 89	November 1987 - 1992	Found	The last Christmas showtape made for ShowBiz. This show would be rereleased in 1989 as a Cyberstar showtape and renamed SPP Christmas 89.
Country III / Classics (SPP Country III - Classics)	December 1987	Found
New Years '88 (SPP New Years '88)	December 1987	Found	The longest Rock-afire show tape, recorded in one continuous take. This showtape was created to emulate the feeling of a true "live concert" from the Rock-afire Explosion.
CyberVision Segments	Early 1988	Found	The earliest prototype of what would become Cyberstar, which was tested at a few ShowBiz Pizza locations in Texas in early 1988. Those shows included Oldies Medley, Beatles Tribute (Both from Rock-N-Roll Classics) and both segments of The Tune Machine showtape.
Tune Machine (SPP Tune Machine)	March 1988	Found	First show to be released on the new Cyberstar format. Also released on Reel to Reel tape.
Summertime (SPP May 1988 Show)	May 1988	Found	Released on both Cyberstar (SVHS) and Reel to Reel tape.
Grammy / Summertime (SPP Grammy - Summertime)	August 1988	Found	Released on Reel to Reel tape only.
Dance / Grammy (SPP Dance - Grammy)	October 1988	Found	Released on Reel to Reel tape only.
Bach to Rock / Dance Contest (SPP Bach to Rock - Dance Contest)	December 1988	Found	Released on both Cyberstar (SVHS) and Reel to Reel tape.
Kids / Tune Machine (SPP Kids - Tune Machine)	March 1989	Found	Released on both Cyberstar (SVHS) and Reel to Reel tape.
Best of 1988 (SPP Best of 1988)	May 1989	Found	This is the final showtape that was released on reel to reel tape during the ShowBiz era, as by the end of it's run almost all ShowBiz stores (with a few exceptions like the Parkersburg, WV location) had updated their computers to Cyberstar and were using SVHS tapes to run their shows.
Cyberstar Segments	1988-1990 (Last showtape reusing older segments released in late 1992)	Found	The first Rock-a-Fire shows to feature video (SVHS tapes) playing alongside the animatronics. Programming was done by ShowBiz Pizza Time and had several programming errors (mainly characters singing with the wrong voices), while audio was done by Creative Engineering. All of the per August 1989 segments were also released on Reel to Reel tape for stores that couldn't afford to convert to Cyberstar. Here's sub list of all post August 1989 releases of showtapes that uses these Cyberstar Segments. Faith/ Dreams / Kids (SPP Faith/Dreams/Kids Wave Bday) Faith Show, Dreams Show, Kids 1, Kids 2, and Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular: August 1989 Neighbors/ Faith/ Dreams (SPP Neighbors - Faith - Dreams) Neighbors 1, Neighbors 2, Faith Show, Dreams Show, and Hidden Birthday - Birthday Spectacular: September 1989 April 1990 Show / SPP April 1990 Show (Tribute to Moms, TV Themes, Neighbors 1, Neighbors 2, and Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular): April 1990 (rereleased in April of 1991 SPP Emergency Backup Tape (Kids 1, Kids 2, Beatles Medley, and Oldies Medley): July 20th, 1990 (NOTE: This was a tape that was issued to stores as a backup, in case the main VCR (SVHS VCR player) broke down or if the main showtape was damaged. This tape could be played in a standard HIFI VCR) SPP Best Of 1 Kids / Friends: August 1990 September 1990 Show / SPP September 1990 Show (Rock-N-Roll Show, Friends, Tribute to Moms, TV Themes, and Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular): September 1990 SPP Best of #2: January 1991-1992 (NOTE: This and rest of the Best of series of showtapes (bedsides SPP Best Of 1 Kids / Friends) were made for stores that didn't get Concept Unification yet. All 5 of these tapes are just compilations of previous Cyberstar Segments) SPP Best of #3 (Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular, Tune Machine 1, Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular, Tune Machine 2, Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular, Bach to Rock, Hidden Bday - Birthday Spectacular, and Olympics): February 14, 1991 - 1992 SPP Best of #4: May 1991 - 1992 SPP Best of #5: July 1991-1992
The Rolfe & Earle Show	1990 - 1992	Found	A four-segment showtape consisting of just Rolfe and Earl. Made By ShowBiz so that they could covert the other 2 stages into Munch's Make Believe Band while still having a show that could play in the stores. Rolfe and Earl would be the last to be converted overnight after installing and retrofitting the other Rock-afire characters into Munch's Make Believe Band.
Showbiz Pizza Fiesta Showtapes	1980s-1990s	Partially Found	These were showtapes made for the Mexican franchise of ShowBiz Pizza Place known as ShowBiz Pizza Fiesta. Various advertisements have also surfaced on YouTube. A record album that had a few songs and skits from the showtapes that was sold at the restaurants has resurfaced and has been made public online in recent years. There's also a clip of them singing the Spanish song Bazar on a children's TV show called Los Vip´s.
Talking Billy Bob Walk-Around Shows	Early 1990's	Partially Found	These showtapes were created to work with Creative Engineering's new talking walk-around (costumed characters) technology. Only a Billy Bob walkaround was produced, with two other ones (suspected to be Mitzi and Fatz) having been in the works, but scrapped during its construction. There exists a small sample of the show in action in which a performer in a talking Billy Bob costume acts out a humorous skit with a standard Fatz animatronic.
Show Selector Showtapes	1990s	Found	These were used with the "Show Selector" to allow customers to pick from different segments on any of the showtapes.
Show Selector Karaoke Showtapes	1990s	Found	Showtapes made for the Karaoke version of the Show Selector system.
Golden Showtape Collection	Mid to Late 1990s	Partially Lost	Many shows have resurfaced and many other shows made for the Show Selector showtapes were reused.
TiVo Shows	Late 1990's	Partially Lost
The Hannah Banana Shows	2008	Found	This was a retrofit animatronic produced in 2008 for the "Hannah Banana" chain of restaurants in the UK.

Looney Bird's and New Rock-afire Explosion Showtapes

Looney Bird's was a different restaurant compared to ShowBiz Pizza Place. However, they largely featured the same entertainment, and are therefore included on this page. The New Rock-afire Explosion was an updated version of The Rock-afire Explosion (then known as The Classic Rock-afire Explosion) now with the animatronics in the "Mijjins" style. The New Rock-afire Explosion was not as successful as the original as not that many shows were made or sold.

Title	Released	Status	Notes
Misc. New Rock-afire Explosion Showtapes	Mid-Late 1990's	Partially Lost	While there were new songs and skits made for the New Rock-afire, there were still some songs from older showtapes (especially from the Cyberstar era) from the ShowBiz days and a lot of the newer songs from the Show Selector showtapes used for the Classic Rock-afire Explosion were reused for the New Rock-afire Explosion. Quite a few shows have resurfaced in recent years. There are a few of them that are still missing.
New Rock-afire Explosion Show Selector Karaoke Showtapes	Mid-Late 1990's	Partially Found
Golden Collection Showtapes (New Rae versions)	Late 1990s	Partially Lost	Like with the Classic Rae, the New RAE also had a few Golden Collection Showtape sets. A lot of the shows on the Classic Rock-afire Explosion Golden Collection Showtapes were reused on the New Rock-afire Explosion Golden Collection Showtapes.
Looney Bird's Showtapes	1997-2000	Partially Lost	These were produced specifically for the Looney Bird chain of restaurants.
International 1990's Rock-afire Explosion Showtapes	Mid to Late 1990s	Partially Found	Many of the 1990s showtapes were programmed in different languages for international audiences. "The Twist" and "Para Madura" have resurfaced in full. A clip from "Que Pasa" has also resurfaced in the 1994 Rock-a-Fire promo video. Many other shows are still missing.

Wolf Pack 5:

Created in 1978, the Wolf Pack 5 was one of Creative Engineering's first animatronic bands. In December of 1979, Bob Brock approached Creative Engineering about installing their entertainment into the then-unnamed Showbiz Pizza Place. On March 3rd, 1980, the Wolf Pack 5 was installed in the first ShowBiz Pizza location at the Antioch Shopping Center in Kansas City, MO. Later, in 1981, the Wolf Pack 5 was removed from that ShowBiz Pizza Place location, as the Rock-afire Explosion had debuted earlier on August 14th, 1980 at the second location in Jacksonville, Fl, and became their primary show. A couple of years later for some yet to be known reason, the Wolf Pack 5 that was used at the Kansas City, MO store would be installed in the Dublin, CA location, facing against the RAE in the same showroom. It's also yet to be known how long they were installed at the Dublin, CA store, but it's known that they still used the same showtape that was used at the Kansas City, MO location.

Title	Released	Status	Notes
The 1978 IAAPA Showtape	November 1978	Found	This was the demonstration tape for the Wolf Pack 5 used at the IAAPA convention in Atlanta, Georgia. The tape is also noted for also using the song Clap For The Wolfman by the Canadian rock band the Guess Who as an opening intro for this showtape.
The 1979 IAAPA Showtape	November 1979	Found	This was another demonstration tape for the Wolf Pack 5 used at the IAAPA convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. Unlike the 1978 demonstration showtape, this show features a narrator who has the same voice that would later be used for Rolfe DeWolfe, a character in the Wolf Pack 5's successor, the Rock-afire Explosion. This would also be the same show along with The Hard Luck Bears that Bob Brock and his associates at Topeka Inn Management would see at the convention that impresses them to the point of seeking out a contact for CEI to make animatronics for their new restaurant concept ShowBiz Pizza Place.
Japanese Wolfpack 5 Showtape (or Showtapes?)	1979-Unknown	Lost	The first Wolf Pack 5 Show ever sold. This show was the same show that was used at the 1978 IAAPA convention in Atlanta, Georgia, but most likely had a new Japanese showtape made for this show since it was set up and performed in Japan. It's unknown what happened to this show and all that exists is are four pictures of the show. On October 27, 2023 Animatronics Historians and Instagram Users pasqnotrook and renstercec found an auction listing of the Japanese Wolfpack 5 Show which had just been sold. In one of the pictures for that auction showed not just one, but two reels, Meaning that there were two showtapes made for this show.
Misc Wolfpack 5 Showtapes	1979 - Early 1980's	Partially Found	The Wolf Pack 5 is known to have been sold to amusement parks and theme parks (Examples include Kings Dominion, Pyramid Place, Italpark, Fame City, and Man and his World). Little information exists about the contents of these shows. All that exists of Kings Dominion's show is a clip in a TV commercial for the park from 1979 and a clip from the children's tv show Romper Room. Only 3 videos of the Italpark show exists. Only a small clip in a commercial is all that exists of Fame City's show. Only a couple of videos and a few pictures exist of Man and his World's show. And only pictures exist of Pyramid Place show.
ShowBiz Pizza Showtape	Mar 3rd, 1980 - 1981 and 1982-????	Found	This was an edited version of the IAAPA Showtapes made for the first ShowBiz Pizza Place in Kansas City, Missouri. It was split into six parts with new songs added, along with an intro and outro jingles, as well as a different announcer and Queenie the Fox being edited out and her songs and lines being either redone or dubbed over for Mini Mozzarella. The show would be later sent to the ShowBiz in Dublin, CA when the store opened in 1982 with the same showtape.
Showbiz Pizza's Disco Room Showtape	Mar 3rd, 1980-1981	Lost
Beto Carrero World Introductions	Unknown	Partially Found	The Wolf Pack 5 show from Italpark is known to have been present at the Beto Carrero World theme park in Brazil. They are known to have sung a sped-up version of "Sing A Simple Song" and talked about the stores inside the tent at the park. All that exists of this show is a video found by a fan who re-uploaded it to Youtube. However YouTube and Instagram user Animatronics Clay Guy found more footage of Beto Carrero World's Wolf Pack 5 on Instagram that was filmed by Raizdearoeira and post by Memorias BCW and uploaded it to YouTube on May 21, 2023.

Hard Luck Bears:

These characters were installed in a wide variety of venues, primarily theme parks, but also have permanent residence in other venues.

Showtape title	Release Dates	Status	Notes
Original Creative Engineering Showtape	November 1979 - Early to Mid 1980s	Found	This was the most widely heard showtape. The tape contains their most well-remembered personalities. This would also be the same show along with the 1979 version of The Wolf Pack 5 that Bob Brock and his associates at Topeka Inn Management would see at the convention that impress them to the point of seeking out a contact for CEI to make animatronics for their new restaurant concept Showbiz Pizza.
Honey's Bear Bunch	1980-1990s	Lost	This was a retrofit of the Hard Luck Bears into a fully female band with lipstick, new outfits, and almost all of the characters having different names. This was the first Hard Luck Bears show ever sold and was the same show used at the 1979 IAAPA convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was sold to Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina and was sponsored by General Mills. The contents of the showtape, however, remain largely unknown and have been lost since the show was removed in the 1990s.
Blackpool Beach Park/Frontierland Tape	1980-1999	Partially Lost	The Hard Luck Bears were installed at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. A single showtape was produced. This show would later be removed and sent or sold to Frontierland in Morecambe, Lancashire, England where it ran until 1999 when Frontierland closed. The characters used different names. On Feb 25th, 2017, A worker at the Blackpool theme park has been stated to have the show in its original quality. He said it included a quick and rushed character introduction, but with deeper voices than the CEI original promo tape. They sang a song called "Feet Nailed to the Floor" and included the same Pete/Repete gag from the promo tape, many other songs from the CEI show were featured in this tape as well. It is known they would sing "Mama don't allow no guitar playing in here" and another song called "The Blackpool Belle". Thanks to Lukas for this new information! Around 2023 Aaron Fechter found a 1 hour video tape containing footage of the Calaway Park (This was the programing show used by CEI) show running on Blackpool Beach Park/Frontierland showtape. He digitized the tape and with help from Matt at Fat Planet Studios edited it with having the audio dubbed over with a master tape of the Beach Park/Frontierland show. While the full video/showtape can only be accessed on Aaron's Premium Channel, a sample of the video was upload July 30, 2023.
Show Dos Ursos	1981-1998	Found	A custom remake of the original Creative Engineering Showtape that was rerecorded in the Portuguese language and made for Playcenter in brazil.
Hard Luck Bears (Bear Country Jubilee) Showtape with Mortimer and Buford	March 23rd 1981	Found	This is a modified and updated showtape that was made for the Bear Country Jubilee that was sent to Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ (It's unknown if LeSourdsville Lake Americana Amusement Park in Monroe, OH used this showtape). Gooney Bird was edited out of this showtape (except for one line) and had 2 new characters, Mortimer and Buford, added to it. Mortimer and Buford were modeled after Melvin and Buff from Disney's Country Bear Jamboree.
Gorilla and Mama Grandbags in Piano Showtape	Early 1980's?	style="color:orange">Partially Lost
Orsi Show	1983?-1993 (or 1994?)	Partially Lost	This was a showtape made for and by Italia in Miniatura in Viserba, Italy. Ivo Rambaldi founder of Italia in Miniatura was very impressed by The Country Bear Jamboree in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World and thought a s smaller-scale version of it could be very interesting for the people visiting the park. The park brought a Hard Luck Bears set from Creative Engineering and installed it around 1982. During the first year the show was in the park they used the Original Creative Engineering Showtape as there was no time to adapt it. The following year a custom Italian showtape was made (However there is footage of park using the Original Creative Engineering Showtape in 1991). Not only all of the characters were renamed with more Italian-sounding names (examples included Gooney Bird being renamed Francesco, Mama Granbags being renamed Mamma Italia, and Billy Willbur being renamed Gennariello), but all the characters spoke in different Italian dialects. Also, the only custom stuff recorded for the show was the character's dialogue as all of the songs used for the show were original artists' recordings (example: Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi). The show was removed by the end of either the 1993 or 1994 season of the park. Some pieces, such as the pistons that managed the movement of the characters, were recycled to create some other animations of the park, but everything else was destroyed.
Country Bear Picnic at Knobels Groves	Mid 1980's	Found	A custom showtape produced by The Clutch (the band that made soundtracks for early CEI shows) for Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. In this showtape the bears are given an invitation to play at the annual "Country Bear Picnic" in the Knoebles Groves before they have to prove to Mama that they can perform first and do their chores afterwards. Pete and Repete eventually join in on the shenanigans by performing When the Saints Go Marching In with the others before the show eventually ends.
Hard Luck Bears: Hootenanny Hoedown WingDing Show	Late 1980's???-Early 1990s???	Partially Found	Another custom showtape by The Clutch. Similar to the previous tapes, this show reuses existing gags and jokes but with the plot of famous country singer Buck Owens making a possible guest appearance in the theater. This showtape was completly lost until user Alan Delimon upload partial footage from year 1991.The footage revealed the Intro, Mama Grandbags' "Little Poetry" and Repete's song "Chainsaw Man". For unknown reason Choo-Choo is called here "Punkinhead"
A Musical Visit to the Rockin' 50s (Rockin' Billy Wilbur and the Bearcats)	Early 1990s-1995	Found	Final custom showtape by The Clutch that was produced for the Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. In this tape the bears have decided to pull off a radio station-esque, variety-styled show themed around the "golden years" of rock n' roll from the 1950's. Most of the show is reusing segments from other CEI's shows like Wolf Pack 5 or Rock a-fire Explosion

Hard Luck Bears (Rock-afire Retrofit):

This was one of the many Rock-afire retrofits to have been produced over the years and was installed in the 3 Gulliver's theme parks. The characters in this show have all been retrofitted to appear more country-esque which is apparent in the later showtapes, but very little of the show remains unchanged other than their masks and costumes.

Title	Released	Status	Notes
Gulliver's Bear Show 1992/1995/1999	1992/1995/1999	Found	This show was produced by Gulliver's Theme Parks in the early 90s and programmed by Kathy McCracken at Creative Engineering. The show was first released on a 4 track Ampex reel in 1992, and rereleased in 1995 with an edited outro. The show was also converted to work on the Electrosonic ESLINX format which was the original CEI data in a digital format on PCMCIA cards.
Bear Show Pre-Show	1999	Found	A cast member would knock on the character's dressing room doors and ask them if they were ready, in which the characters would respond. The guests would then have a seat in the main theatre and the show would begin.
2000/2001 Main Show	2000/2001	Found	Produced by Gulliver's Theme Parks and programmed in-house by the general manager at the time, this show was originally recorded in 2000 and delayed until March 2001. This show contains a range of songs from different genres, with the general theme being the characters, mostly Billy Bob and Mitzi, flirting with each other through different songs.
Birthday Bear Show	2000	Found	This was a custom birthday show for those having a birthday at the theme park on the day and would contain different skits and songs related to parties.
2001 Christmas Show	2001	Found	Once again, programmed at Warrington and produced in 2001, this show features all three stages singing Christmas songs with each other, and Billy Bob comments on how much he's missed Mitzi.
2002 Main Show	2002	Found	While this show is mostly identical to the previous show, it contains an intro by the park's mascot, Gully Mouse. He would remind you of the normal safety announcements and then ask the guests to clap their hands in time with the music, in which a comical instrumental would play and the guests can join in on. The show would play as normal from that point on, cutting out the song 'Everyday' by Buddy Holly to presumably save time.
2005 Main Show	2005	Found	This show is commonly misknown as the '2008 Show', in which it played in some footage from 2008 by OnTrackZach. Featuring songs like 9 to 5, Man I Feel Like A Woman, Rhinestone Cowboy and Dance The Night Away, it is the show most remembered with the 'better' programming compared to its later shows. The Mitzi theme also continues into this show and all the characters in all 3 locations got new costumes made to fit with the more country/western theme.
2005 Christmas Show	2005	Found	Present in some promotional footage, the 2005 Christmas Show was made and ran up to 2011, like the main show. They contain, once again, Christmas songs across all the stages and mostly have a duration within 0:30-1:00 of their song length.
2011 Main Show	2011	Found	This show is the most known as it was documented in full by a guest who visited the Milton Keynes location. It contained mostly country songs like Hillbilly Rock, Big Rock Candy Mountain and 5,6,7,8, but also contained some songs like Runaway Train, in which the guests would join in playing instruments such as horns and bells to the song. This show contained a lot of audience participation through dancing and with a cast member named "Billy Joe/Jo" depending on their gender.
2011 Christmas Show	2011	Found	This show contains more audience interaction with the show and Billy Joe and has multiple christmas songs. There is a line-dance near the last half of the show where the audience would follow Billy Joe as the band played a country version of a Sleigh Ride instrumental.

Misc. Creative Engineering Shows:

Title	Released	Status	Notes
Willy Wabbit	1976	Partially Found	Willy Wabbit was the first character produced by CEI. He was made while Aaron Fechter was still working for Main Street Designs. He is known to have stood in a booth at the Orlando airport singing songs and doing little skits for the visitors and advertising the "Mystery Fun House". Very little information exists on the contents of his showtape besides what was seen in the news clip from 1976. His current fate is unknown.
The Scab	1976	Lost	The second character produced by CEI. He was a talking head (that used a Tor Johnson mask) with 4 movements. He was believed to have been sold to DJ's Oyster Bar in Tampa, FL, until Aaron Fechter revealed in a post that it was not the Scab that he sold to DJ's, but an animatronic clam (used on Bar's road sign). It's unknown what happened to him or where he was actually sold.
Friendly Freddy's Test showtape	1977	Partially Lost	CEI's first fully animated character. He was made for and sold to Magic World in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the request of Jim Sidwell after seeing Aaron's 2nd character The Scab and being impressed with it. According to Aaron, Sidwell gave him thousands of hard earned dollars to make Friendly Freddy. A showtape of Freddy mostly lip syncing to Dang Me by Roger Miller and talking about how well built he is was made to test Freddy out before he was sent out to perform in Magic World. All that exists is film footage shot by Aaron on 8mm sound film. Two other Friendly Freddy animatronics were made; one for the Gaslight Jamboree show at Gaslight Village and another one with much more red-looking fur that turned up on eBay in the early 2000s.
Friendly Freddy's Magic World Showtape	1977-1978	Lost	This was the showtape used for a year at Magic World in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It's unknown what happened to this showtape as he was retrofitted into General Cornelius Bearpatch with two new characters being added and the show now being rethemed into The Confederate Critter Show.
Friendly Freddy, Dracula, and 3 Heads IAAPA Showtape (or Showtapes?)	November 1977	Existence Unconfirmed	After the 1977 season of Magic World was over Freddy was sent back to CEI so they could retrofit him into General Cornelius Bearpatch for the Confederate Critter Show. This gave CEI the chance to use Freddy at the 1977 IAAPA. Not only did they show off Friendly Freddy, but also Count Dracula which was going to be used in the Castle Dracula dark ride and the 3 talking heads that CEI had sold to another customer. It's unknown if they all used the same showtape together or if they used the same showtape that the places they would perform at (or had performed in Friendly Freddy's case). All that exist are photos taken at the conference.
The Confederate Critter Show	1978-1996	Partially Found	The Confederate Critter show was CEI's first show with more than one character. Produced in 1978, the show was made for Magic World in Magic World Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with Friendly Freddy being retrofitted into General Cornelius Bearpatch and two new characters added to the show Colonel Stonewall J. Fox and Major Mosby Greyhound III. The show also includes interaction with a live actor portraying a Union Officer who would often have conversations with General Bearpatch and would comment on the various shenanigans that would occur. The show was removed when Magic World closed down in 1996. It has been said and confirmed by a fan that a former park employee in Tennessee now owns them but wishes to remain anonymous. However, it has also been said that the show was sold to Celebrity Golf and later destroyed. However, that is yet to be confirmed as true. The only other things that exist for this show are behind-the-scenes photos at CEI before the show was shipped out, a photo of the show when it was at Magic World, and a home video of the show from 1989 on YouTube.
Castle Dracula Dark Ride Audio	1978-2002	Found	This was one of CEI's early animatronic shows, as well as their first and few Dark Rides. The audio was freely released online by CEI.
The Santa Claus Revue / The Jingle Bell Jamboree 1977 Showtape	1977-1979	Lost?
The Santa Claus Revue / The Jingle Bell Jamboree 1979 Showtape	1979-2006, 2010-2016	Found	A Christmas theme animatronic show made for Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire. The original CEI version ran until 2006. The show was remade with new animatronics made by Advanced Animation in 2010 using the same audio from the CEI version of the show and ran until 2016. While no full-on clean audio from the showtape existed to the public for a while there were videos of both versions of the show where the audio is pretty clear enough that you could hear everything the characters were saying. However, on June 15, 2022, Aaron Fechter uploaded full footage of The Santa Claus Revue that he captured on his video camera in 1979 with full-on clean audio to his YouTube channel.
Bear Country Jubilee	1978	Partially Found	The Bear Country Jubilee is CEI 3rd full show that was loosely based on Disney's Country Bear Jamboree. It was sold to both Americana Amusement Park (Originally known as LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park) in Monroe, Ohio and Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ. The characters were Pierre, Waldo, Fingers Dan, Chet Faddikins, Buddy Crash, Boom Boom Bosco, Beatrice, Mortimer, and Buford and had a forest and country theme. Around the early 1980's Morey’s Pier switched the showtape from the one made for Bear Country Jubilee to one that's a modified version of the Hard Luck Bears showtape with Gooney Bird edited out and new skits with Mortimer and Buford added in. It's unknown if Americana also got this modified showtape or if they continued using the original showtape. Morey’s Pier sold their show back to CEI around 1984 or 85 and is still owned by Aaron Fechter. It's been said that Americana sold their show when the park had their first closure in 1999 to Jungle Jim's International Market in Cincinnati, OH and sits in storage (however it's unknown if this is true). A brief clip of the first minute of the original Bear Country Jubilee showtape, which mostly contains dialogue from Pierre and Waldo, has surfaced. However, the full show has yet to surface.
Gaslight Jamboree Showtape	1979-1989	Lost	This was a custom show that was custom made for the vaudeville-themed amusement park Gaslight Village in Lake George, New York. It performed at the park's Palace Theater and featured the Wolfman and Fats Gorilla from the Wolf Pack 5 and Friendly Freddy in a 3-character show. The show was removed and auctioned to a family that owned a junkyard in Tennessee. The show was found and later sold to superfans Jack Tuner and Connor L. No showtape was found. The only thing that's known about the showtape was that Aaron Fechter recalls that he programmed the show on-site in the theatre the show was presented in.
Reginald J. Flootsnoot	1981	Lost	This character was made for an unproduced show known as The Extravaganza of Electronimation Excellence Show (EEE). A programming test was made where Reginald sings Light My Fire (sung by Duke Chauppetta) and puffed out smoke while singing. He was shown at the 1981 IAAPA convention to promote The Extravaganza of Electronimation Excellence Show. A picture of him was featured on the 1991 Creative Engineering demo tape.
Bubba the Shakespearean Gorilla	1981	Partially Lost	This animatronic was praised for his variety of sophisticated movements, as well as a charming concept. A few pieces of footage have surfaced online. However, it's unknown whether a full showtape was produced.
Lazlo the Fortune Teller	Early-Mid 1980's	Partially Found
Clown Animatronic Showtape	1984	Lost	This obscure animatronic that was made to be used for information booths at malls and other venues that never went into mass production. The only picture of him in good condition can be seen for a fraction of a second in a 1991 Creative Engineering demo tape. Although many believed that the showtape was completely destroyed, Andrea Nieves (aka Cavitysam), who has worked with CEI, has confirmed that the tape is not corrupted. Due to this, the current status of this showtape is unknown; Although it has been found, further testing must be done by those at CEI to confirm that the tape can still be played.
Wizard of Oz Show	1984	Partially Found	This was Creative Engineering's attempt at a Wizard of Oz dark ride. Only The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, a Talking Crow, a Talking Tree, and a few Talking Flowers were produced and were shown at the 1983 IAAPA convention. It was featured in the 1992 Creative Engineering demo tape. The Scarecrow is known to sing part of the classic song "If I Only Had a Brain", and the Tin Man is known to sing part of "You Gotta Have Heart". CEI still has Scarecrow, Tin Man, and The Talking Trees, while The Talking Crow and Flowers were sold to a fan. The Tin Man was featured at the Orlando Looney Birds location.
Dook and Mitzi 2.0 Prototype Shows	1983	Existence Unconfirmed	Prototypes of these characters were produced and are recognized as being significant upgrades to their predecessors, with Dook being able to play a full drum kit, and Mitzi sporting new hip movements that drastically increased her range of motion. A 2.0 Beach Bear was planned but never built. Footage of these characters showing off rudimentary movement has surfaced, but it is unknown if these characters were ever put to practical use. These characters are still in the Creative Engineering building but have not been used for a long time.
The Jungle Juke Band	1983	Non-existent	Pictures of the Jungle Juke Band, which contained a monkey, tiger, and hippopotamus were featured in a 1983 CEI Promo brochure. It was confirmed by a Creative Engineering employee that it, along with the Cosmic Combo, never materialized. It should be noted, though, that a mask for the hippo character was prototyped. Judging by the body shapes of the characters, it seems this show would've been a retrofitted Rock-afire show that used figures of Fatz (hippo), Beach Bear (tiger), and Dook (monkey).
The Cosmic Combo	1983	Non-existent	This show was advertised as having five alien creatures. However, like the Jungle Juke Band, this show never got beyond a conceptual stage and would've been a retrofitted Rock-afire show that used figures of Fatz (keyboard alien), Dook (drummer alien), Beach Bear (guitarist alien), and Mitzi (female alien). It's possible that this band may have been reworked into The Moon Rockers.
The Moon Rockers	1985	Found	This was a retrofit of the Rock-afire Explosion. It has been said that the show aimed to promote world peace and was prompted by the rise of Cold-War tensions in the mid-late 1980s. The full showtape surfaced on January 21, 2024, and contains the theme song, another song called "Cyclops Boogie", background music for when a live actor would explain the show's purpose, and an ending reprise of the theme song.
Mini-Billy Bob Showtapes	1985	Existence Unconfirmed	This animatronic was advertised in the early 1980s as being a forerunner to a full-scale mini Rock-afire Explosion. There exist a few clips of the animatronic in action, but all of them were shows that were already produced for the Rock-afire Explosion. It is unknown if any shows were produced solely for the animatronic.
CEI Pirate Animatronic	1989	Found	In the late 1980's a CEI employee was looking for a new way to a produce cheaper and easier to build animatronics characters with a simpler design. Aaron Fechter was not fond of the idea and didn't like the outcome of it, so this idea never took off. For many years fans has assumed that this character was never finished until in January of 2024 when Jeff Howell (AKA Uncle Klunk) who voiced the character sent the audio to juju_b.magumbo (known as Creative EnJuneering on YouTube) and revealed that this character was used at the 1989 IAAPA convention. To this day the animatronic is still in Aaron Fechter's procession without any of his cosmetics and headless, mostly due to an employee reusing it for parts for other Animatronics without Fechter's permission.
The Mijjins IAAPA Tape	1991	Partially Found	The Mijjins were a line of animatronics rolled out by Creative Engineering that were featured in various locations. Creative Engineering's 1991 Promo/Demo features clips of the animatronics performing covers, but it is unknown how much of the show has been discovered.
Talking Head Shows	Unknown	Existence Unconfirmed	These were one of Creative Engineering's earliest projects, featuring talking heads. Virtually no information exists (except for one photo), and it is unknown whether any showtapes were produced.

References