The Wolf Pack 5

The Wolf Pack 5 is an animatronic stage show produced by Creative Engineering in 1978. It, along with The Hard Luck Bears, was a predecessor show to The Rock-afire Explosion.

History
The Wolf Pack 5 was inspired by a live performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show that Aaron Fechter watched in London. The first show was installed at the 1978 International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

The show was installed at A Man and His World (Currently Six Flags La Ronde) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia; a show in Japan; Italpark in Buenos Aires; Beto Carrero World in Santa Catarina, Brazil; Fame City in Houston, Texas; and a traveling show in Europe. The first ShowBiz Pizza Place in Kansas City, Missouri also utilized this show as the Rock-afire Explosion was not completed yet. It was later replaced by the ladder show shortly after it was released.

Characters

 * The Wolfman: a wolf parody of announcer Wolfman Jack voiced by Aaron Fechter
 * Fats Gorilla: a piano-playing bassitone gorilla loosely based on Fats Domino voiced by Burt Wilson
 * Dingo Starr: a dog parody of Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr voiced by Duke Chauppetta
 * Beach Bear: a guitar-playing surfer bear voiced by Aaron Fechter
 * Queenie the Fox/Mini Mozzarella: a female vocalist fox (later mouse) voiced by Aaron Fechter

Stage
The Wolf Pack 5 had two stages. The Wolfman with his microphone was on stage right, while the remaining four members of the band were on stage left. Both stages could be combined as one depending on circumstances.

Variations
When the Wolf Pack 5 was installed at the first ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri in 1980, by the request of Showbiz, Queenie the Fox was changed into a mouse and was renamed Mini Mozzarella.

How It Influenced The Rock-aFire
The Wolf Pack 5 was the genesis of what would later become center stage and stage right of The Rock-afire Explosion. The Wolfman became Rolfe DeWolfe, Fats Gorilla became Fatz Geronimo, Dingo Starr became Dook LaRue, Beach Bear would remain unchanged name-wise, and Mini Mozzarella became Mitzi Mozzarella.

Restoration & Current Fate
The Wolfpack 5 is currently being restored by Aaron Fechter and was originally supposed to go to Funtown Mountain in 2015. New masks were made for most of the characters (except for Fats and Dingo) as the original 1980 cosmetics were deteriorating. Due to some complications with the owner (Will Russell), Aaron is keeping them until a customer wants them. They currently sit in Creative Engineering, where they can be viewed by any visitor.

Trivia

 * Queenie's voice has a more fancy and professional tone in different varieties of keys compared to Mini's high pitched-sounding voice. This was revealed when the 1978 and 1979 IAAPA Showtapes for the Wolf Pack 5 were discovered in February 2020.
 * Aaron Fechter was hesitant about changing Queenie to a mouse, as he claimed that the Showbiz executives were debating with him to have a mouse character to promote pizza because mice are stereotyped to like cheese. Aaron explained that Chuck E. Cheese was already using a mouse (or rat in this case) as a mascot for pizza and he wanted to do his own unique variety of animals different to Pizza Time's. Eventually, he did change Queenie out for Mini (albeit reluctantly).
 * In 1979, the instrumentation and intro of the Wolf Pack 5 was changed and updated with new music by a group named "Clutch", which was a band that helped inceptionize the Rock-afire with Aaron Fechter.
 * With this update, most of the dialogue between all songs was cut.
 * The announcer in the Entertainment 1980 Intro is voiced by Aaron Fechter, as he uses his Rolfe DeWolfe voice.
 * A hybrid Wolf Pack 5 show, known as The Gaslight Jamboree, has recently been uncovered and is currently undergoing restoration as of June 2020.