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Rocket Racers


Olivus Prime
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Just to add - the person who I've been directed to is someone who I've attempted to contact before about the ride, without response, but I'll give them another shot.

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Messaged him today so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some behind-the-scenes articles and images that I gathered during my absence:

 

  • Cubic Design and Construction page on the construction of the iconic City helicopter atop the ride building (http://www.cubicdesign.biz/gallery/legoland/)
    Quote

    We were asked to produce a large Lego helicopter with rotating blades to sit on the roof of the Racers building at Legoland Windsor. Starting with the tiny model, which was just 140mm long, each part was scaled up in order to produce the much bigger version at over 5m long! The entire model was formed in GRP, which involved making moulds and colour matching each individual part.

    lego110.jpglego210.jpglego310.jpg

     

  • Mural by John West (artist and designer, including theme park work) (http://www.johnwestartist.co.uk/portfolio/themeparks.html accessible via Wayback)
    Quote

    For many years I spent the winter months painting for theme parks, usually Alton Towers, the oldest and reputedly, the best. Other parks include Legoland, Windsor, Chessington World of Adventures and the former American Adventure in Derbyshire.

    mural10.jpg

     

  • Eye Design International pages on the scenic design of the ride (http://www.eyedream.co.uk/pages/themepages/legoland.html accessible via Wayback though two images have been permanently lost)
    Quote

    Page 1:

    Part of Legoland Windsor Expansion program, Racers was conceived to leverage the symbiosis of the various Lego intellectual properties.

     

    As guests enter the Racers attraction through a stack of massive lego tyres, they are taken from the familiar world of lego to the more futuristic feel of the Lego Media game of the same name. Over size lego racing props give way to a space portal through which the eerie glow of a rock cavern can be seen. Once at the head of the queue, guests are briefed before assembling their own lego cars on a computer screen, and then moving through to the race room in which their car awaits. Linked screens enable eight people to race over a rocky planet dodging meteors and each other before finishing the race.

    lego1210.jpglego1310.jpg

    Page 2:

     Project brief - to develop the concept for the ride through to sets & scenics and art direction during installation. Working directly for the client, Eye Design International had input on all aspects of the project. Eye Design International worked closely with Technovations - specialists in lighting & show design to achieve the desired result. The Creations Centre adjacent to Racers, developed in comjunction with AOD offers stunning views over the Park and is designed to showcase the best of Lego modelling. Guests are even able to view the model workshop in action. Eye Design International was also commissioned to develop merchandise for the Racers shop.

    legot10.jpgracer10.gifstopwa10.jpg

     

  • Panasonic case study on the reworking of Rocket Racers for the 2009 season. This is a longer page and thus I won't quote it here (http://panasonic.net/prodisplays/casestudies/casino_03.html)

 

  • A staff member's personal website which gives a brief insight into staff use of the ride, as well as a rare photo of the ride exterior as it appeared from 2003-2004 (http://www.hannahcollins.co.uk/beginning.htm accessible via Wayback)
    Quote

    The Beginning - an area for the late-night toil of retail staff in Big Shop, not really my thing! My memories are of balloon selling at the end of the day, not being tempted by the sweet shop, getting my photo taken to make it in LEGO, gorgeous views of Windsor Castle, the Marquee (though technically, that's the car park), winning LEGO Racers on a staff social (in the first round only, granted), the amazing creation centre and its models, and the lovely hill train (the only remnant of Windsor Safari Park).

    full_r10.jpg

     

Several years ago, I also managed to get hold of a backpack that features the logo design shown here:

kgrhqf10.jpg

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While my contact is unfortunately unable to provide the original ride files (again, due to them being archived and LEGO's property), I have managed to secure James Dobbs, one of the major figures behind the ride, for some questions! So if there's anything you've ever wanted to ask about it, sound off ASAP!

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MinifigRenderer

Just thought I'd mention the fact I'm constructing a mini version of Rocket Racers hopefully should be finished by Christmas. Pictures coming soon in my LEGOLAND Ride Gallery

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13 hours ago, Olivus Prime said:

While my contact is unfortunately unable to provide the original ride files (again, due to them being archived and LEGO's property), I have managed to secure James Dobbs, one of the major figures behind the ride, for some questions! So if there's anything you've ever wanted to ask about it, sound off ASAP!

 

I was talking a while ago with one of the animators who made the 3D intro to the game, the ride video contained 25fps high quality renders of segments of the intro but the only video foles to ever surface online have either been missing parts or are really low quality. I really wish there was a way to get all of those files. When you say archived, what do you mean? Does Lego themselves have the only remaining masters of the files?

I have copies of the low res ones but they are way too low quality to get any detail out of the models. I was originally looking for HD version of these videos because I spent many months building the boss cars as they are seen in the opening animation. In one particular scene I was trying to see how the Beta version of Baron Von Barrons car was built as the only video I have to go by is the one that came with the PC game, but again this is still too low quality to see the pieces properly. When I contacted one of the original animators he said there were no animation files left of the sequence and if there still was it could have been simply rerendered in higher quality in the same program they made the original one with, which was Lightwave.

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19 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

 I was originally looking for HD version of these videos because I spent many months building the boss cars as they are seen in the opening animation.

They were running from DVDs, right? If so, the highest resolution you're going to get is 720x576.

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Just now, mumboking said:

They were running from DVDs, right? If so, the highest resolution you're going get is 720x576.

 

Yea but the versions I have are 352x198 so really anything is better than that. 

 

I'm not too sure about them running from DVDs though, the video file must have originated somewhere as I said before it contains rerendered versions of the intro at a higher frame rate so they could have simply put a video file on a PC on a loop. If they did use DVDs then there must have been a video file they needed to burn onto it in the first place, but again, even DVD resolution would be much better than what is around at the moment, that is even better than the intro that came with the PC game which is 640x480.

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35 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

When you say archived, what do you mean? Does Lego themselves have the only remaining masters of the files?

 All I've been told is that the drives that they are on are in storage.

 

Any questions for James Dobbs? Kind of want to get back to him soon whilst I have the chance to get his insight.

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5 minutes ago, Olivus Prime said:

 All I've been told is that the drives that they are on are in storage.

 

Any questions for James Dobbs? Kind of want to get back to him soon whilst I have the chance to get his insight.

 

I don't have any questions no, The main thing I'm interested in are the queue line videos. It's a shame there are no high quality copies around, I bet they are on those drives too.

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20 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

 

Yea but the versions I have are 352x198 so really anything is better than that. 

 

I'm not too sure about them running from DVDs though, the video file must have originated somewhere as I said before it contains rerendered versions of the intro at a higher frame rate so they could have simply put a video file on a PC on a loop. If they did use DVDs then there must have been a video file they needed to burn onto it in the first place, but again, even DVD resolution would be much better than what is around at the moment, that is even better than the intro that came with the PC game which is 640x480.

The briefing videos are, according to this http://www.cllw.co.uk/attractions/beginning/rocketracers.php (Bottom of the page, 4th row, 3rd from the left.)
"The three briefing room DVD players"

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How much was ATD given from LEGO Racers to create Rocket Racers? It definitely used minifigure textures from LEGO Racers (which even ended up in LEGO Racers 2 as well), but I'm curious if they were also perhaps given models and/or other things. Especially since the first track was a very direct recreation of Magma Moon Marathon.

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2 minutes ago, mumboking said:

The briefing videos are, according to this http://www.cllw.co.uk/attractions/beginning/rocketracers.php (Bottom of the page, 4th row, 3rd from the left.)
"The three briefing room DVD players"

 

Right I see, but you do realize that DVDs are not bound by 576p. I have burned many DVDs that have 1080p video on it, so really they could be higher resolution.

 

As far as I know DVDs are only 576p because they need to fit a fairly decent bit rate movie on them, these videos were only 21 and 36 minutes long.

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9 minutes ago, ZANTHERA said:

Right I see, but you do realize that DVDs are not bound by 576p. I have burned many DVDs that have 1080p video on it, so really they could be higher resolution.

You may have used a 1080p source, but it would have been downscaled when burnt to DVD unless you burnt it as data, in which case a regular DVD player won't be able to play it.
Anyway... We're getting off topic. Let's stop talking about DVD specs.

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Just now, mumboking said:

You may have used a 1080p source, but it would have been downscaled when burnt to DVD.
Anyway... We're getting off topic. Let's stop talking about DVD specs.

 

Yea lets, either way DVD quality or not the originals would be epic to have :D

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MinifigRenderer

I'd like to know if they'll bring it back for a limited time Olivus Prime. I know what the answer will more than likely be but could you still ask him anyway?

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26 minutes ago, legoman99 said:

Also would he be able to release the lego racers 4d music?

 

Nope, because Rocket Racers and LEGO Racers 4D are two completely different rides and don't have anything to do with each-other (apart from the fact that they both have "Racers" in the title). Maybe if you asked the person who did the music for LR4D you'd get somewhere, but asking this guy... not a chance, sorry. 

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1 hour ago, legoman99 said:

Well since he's the international head of entertainment

He's an Entertainment and Innovations Manager at LEGOLAND Windsor only, so while he's got a big role within the park, he isn't related to the creation of Racers 4D, and there would be no way that he'd have access to its source files.

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  • 2 weeks later...
38 minutes ago, legoman99 said:

Hi really not trying to sound pushy but did you get a reply off of James Dobbs?
 Thanks legoman99

 

No worries, I was thinking of providing a heads-up anyway.

 

No response yet, but I expect this is because the park had closed for the season once I replied. It'll be reopening for a week on the 17th December, during which time I'll shoot a reminder to see if he's available during that time, otherwise expect a response during the new year. 

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James Dobbs has replied to my email, but has requested that his answers to my questions not be posted online. As such, for those who asked their own questions, I'll send the answers privately. Sorry if this seemed like hype for nothing, but I'm simply being respectful to James and his privacy.

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  • 5 months later...
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