How to Train Your Dragon Live !

[delsdad]

I spent the past couple of days setting this show up. It is unbelievable how well the dragon animatronics are done! Even from a couple of feet away, the animatronics are breathtaking! They are done by the same folks who did Walking With Dinosaurs.
[video=youtube_share;u9wZB9A2-Zk][/video]

[delsdad]

How they do it:
[video=youtube_share;PQMBA4896pU][/video]

[DisneyMom]

Incredible!!!!!

[Main Streeter]

Saw something very similar done re; War Horse on stage a few weeks ago. Absolutely blown away.

[Big Wallaby]

I watched the video before reading what you said, and it was apparent that it was the same technology, though apparently updated, as Walking With Dinosaurs... which in itself was (is?) an amazing show. Little Wallaby and I loved it. Now, to see when HTTYD is coming to Orlando or Tampa...

[drcorey]

Well, it's no Lucky or anything.

[delsdad]

Saw something very similar done re; War Horse on stage a few weeks ago. Absolutely blown away.

The puppets in WarHorse are very old sschool. an d you can see both the operators and all the mechanics of the puppet. The operators and mechanics dinds of the audience, because the horses are operated with such incredible skill and artistry. That said, the one performance I worked of War Horse, I was struggling to stay awake, and I was doin a job requiring 100% attention for the entire show. It just didnt hold my interest at all, after 20 minutes of being amazed at the puppets, I could not wait for it to end. so beautiful, yet so boring!

I watched the video before reading what you said, and it was apparent that it was the same technology, though apparently updated, as Walking With Dinosaurs... which in itself was (is?) an amazing show. Little Wallaby and I loved it. Now, to see when HTTYD is coming to Orlando or Tampa...

Walking With Dinosaurs is now touring Europe. I wish that I had seen it when it came here. the creators of both shows, Global Creatures, appear to have a winning concept on their hands with these large animatronics, integrrated with puppetry and live actors. It will be interesting if they can eventually turn a profit on it however. HttYd is touring in either 30 or 39 trucks (i heard both, and we lost count unloading them) with a road crew of 85. Plus cast. Load in takes almost 30 hours. this puts the cost of moving the show way up there, because the 2 or 3 days of load in are days with no show, but they have to rent the venue, and employ an extra 100 or so local hands to assist with the set up. To make money, generally a show needs to be able to load in in 12 hours, and have a performance that night. this allows them to do a full week of shows, load out in 3-6 hours, travel on the day off, then load in and start their performance week. It is brutal on the crew, no days off unless you play 2 weeks in the same city. The tour I was on did 13 weeks without a day off at one point. But it sure made money for the producers!

The roadies on HTTYD said that there are early discussions afoot about finding the show a permanent home. I would suggest that either Orlando or Las Vegas are the 2 most likely places for that to take place. Both make a ton of sense for an attraction like this. But they need an arena capable of bearing the weight of the show. The dragon track alone weighs in at 26 tons, and there are a total of 170 motor points, mostly for 2 ton motors. I heard the show weighs more than 130,000 pounds, but the riggers love to throw big numbers around. This is why they are tending to northern cities apparently. The arena roofs are built with a snow load capacity which makes them able to take heavier shows than in the south, where the bigger danger to a roof is from it blowing away !

[drcorey]

A lot of puppets are based on old princples.
like the coke cola polar bear or bear in the big blue house, or the gorgs from fraggle rock. they are old school full body puppets with hi-tech mods.

and other stuff, look at this clip of Rock-it the robot and see if you can guess what type he is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAfdTSqnhGU
p.s. Rockit is about 9 feet tall.

[TiggerHappy]

I saw Walking With Dinosaurs LIVE when it came to Anaheim, CA and that was pretty awesome. I can't wait until HTTYD comes here! :)

[Big Wallaby]

I WONDERED WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO HIM!

At the Portland International Auto Show where he worked one year, I had brought a jib arm for some video I was creating for my brother's class that had an exhibit there. He approached me and asked me to record him for an ad they needed to make. At that time he was working on a robot that had special gyros in it so that he could place his CG about a foot away from anything that was on the ground, sort of like a raptor's feet.

That robot is completely hand-made, and is extremely complex on the inside and out, so much attention to detail. How does it work? I'm not telling. The creator is more secretive about it than Disney!