James May to build life size lego house!

[Duke]

I've been watching the rest of the series and was quite looking forward to this one as it was about LEGO. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in some respects. Obviously the project was very interesting and it was nice to see, but in the other episodes he's looked at some of the history of the toys and talked to enthusiasts. I was hoping he'd go to the LEGO vault perhaps and definitely talk to some AFOLs.. but instead it was all simply the building process. Furthermore, he didn't consult lego experts, but real architects and interior designers instead

[paul_delahaye]

I found the random pink brick quite amusing.

I was very annoyed with the woman that said "If her boyfriend said he was into Lego she would not be seen dead with him" I just don't understand why she then went and helped build bricks for the project??? Kinda contradictory

Although I though this was a fantastic achievement, in terms of shear scale, I was annoyed he did not spend any time looking at the history of the product as such, also he did not get in touch with any of the enthusiast groups which he has done so in all the other programs in the series. Although this is by far my favorite toy, I don't know this was the best in the series, I think the scalectrix one was better.

Also if he has consulted some AFOL's, I don't think they would have had all the issues with structural integrity of some of the pieces of furniture! That designer woman, did not have a clue how to work with bricks!

my feelings, role on the hornby one next week, hopefully it will be good as well.

Paul

[CommanderFox]

I didn't see this until the front paging.

Looks like a really cool series, wish it would show in NZ.

From what you say paul_delahaye and Duke, it sounds like that lady shouldn't have been the designer for the Lego house.

She obviously was the wrong person to employ.

The Scalectrix one sounds very cool, and so does the Hornby one.

CommanderFox

Edited December 21, 2009 by CommanderFox

[Matn]

I guess it was alright. I've watched them all and there were clearly some things that could have been better this episode. Like said, why didn't James May talk to some AFOLs? It doesn't make sense because for the other episodes he visited collectors or fans of the product and now he didn't. And that designer woman, what was she doing there. I didn't like her from start, with her weird visions on things. When the builders had to remove that brown stroke in the wall, you could see the "hatred" on their face. The house was nice, I loved the all the household stuff made from normal LEGO bricks.

[Rick]

It was a pretty entertaining program. As others have said, they could have spent some more time on the history of Lego, etc. The fact that they removed one brick on one side of the door was simply unacceptable : must have been a badly leveled floor.

[allanp]

I pretty much agree with all that has been said. It's a shame they didn't realise the bricks full potential and, besides one or two people, he got all the wrong people to help him out. And I reaaly do hate to say it but that interior designer, bless her (she did try very hard) was useless. Shame, this may have been the only chance they'll get at it.

[drdavewatford]

I thought the programme was excellent.

It was clear how much affection James May has for Lego, and the house and Lego furniture were amazing.

And yes, I'm sure if he was making the programme just for AFOLs he could have done a better job. Problem is that the other 99% of viewers would have found it incredibly dull - remember that not everyone shares our hobby....! Given that he had to appeal to the general public, I think he did a great job, and it was an excellent advertisement for Lego.

The Scalextric episode was also great, as was the Airfix one.

For me, the major shame is that they just smashed the Lego house up afterwards. With sledgehammers. An art expert valued the house at 0.5 million pounds and said it belonged in the Tate Modern. So they destroyed it. Stupid.

Dr. D.

[allanp]

I thought the programme was excellent.

It was clear how much affection James May has for Lego, and the house and Lego furniture were amazing.

And yes, I'm sure if he was making the programme just for AFOLs he could have done a better job. Problem is that the other 99% of viewers would have found it incredibly dull - remember that not everyone shares our hobby....! Given that he had to appeal to the general public, I think he did a great job, and it was an excellent advertisement for Lego.

The Scalextric episode was also great, as was the Airfix one.

For me, the major shame is that they just smashed the Lego house up afterwards. With sledgehammers. An art expert valued the house at 0.5 million pounds and said it belonged in the Tate Modern. So they destroyed it. Stupid.

Dr. D.

Yeah that was kinda stupid.

But still I think it was aimed at the right audience, I don't think it should have been aimed soley at AFOL's. I just think that if he had chosen AFOL's to help out more in the design process and in the making of the funiture, the house and the funiture would have been much stronger.

[paul_delahaye]

I wonder why he did not just build the house within the grounds of Legoland Windsor in the first place?

Would have over come all issues of transporting the bricks to Legoland, especially as they were considering transporting it to Legoland?

Makes no sense, it could have stood forever then

Paul

[SlyOwl]

Just watched it on video... much better than I'd expected, and funny and revealing too!

Good to see that the floors were self-supporting after all, my bad

I'm assuming that they only wanted to use basic bricks of various sizes, but using technic bricks to make the beams would have been a load stronger and lighter, if they'd done it right, using 16l technic bricks to form long thin beams, which then had angled (either 90' or 45') 16l bars onto another long thin beam, with suitable 16x8 bricks on top, bottom and technic beams layered in between the sections, packed in with plates...

[RoryoCox]

It is terrible that they demolished it. So much hard work went into building it, with all the designers working on gurders and furniture. The volunteers were so happy at the end but then nobody bought it.

It is a real pity that they destroyed this brilliant piece of work.

Maybe this will inspire people to build more houses out of Lego but maybe make them waterproof

[simonjedi]

"There are simple spiritual experiences that unite all of humanity in unqualified communal joy. Sex. The Dance. Foot Massage. Pressing Lego bricks together."

I also found the showing all the different types of connectors they patented to keep the design unique and protected scene to be really interesting. Would have liked more of that instead of the designer.

[Peppermint_M]

They should have had a passing mention to Hilary Page but then so should the Lego book

Otherwise it was entertaining enough.

[ziljin]

all those destroyed bricks will surely drive up prices(maybe not now but in long run considering half a million pounds worth of bricks were destroyed). =(

[joeygunns]

Sorry if this is considered as "bumping" and old thread but i found the episode on youtube and i believe all lego fans should check this episode out.

part 1

[Zoidy]

I too went looking for it, the episode with the outdoor 10 mile Hornby set was on TV the other night, which was excellent. The Lego one was a good watch too.