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BIONICLE......THE MUSICAL!


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This idea came to me out of the blue today and now I wish very much to make it a reality!  Or at least to write the script and the songs and perform demos of the latter.  I have little hope of ever being able to actually put together a production, as I have no connections or resources or charisma and almost no friends.  But if someone writes a BIONICLE musical adaptation, perhaps someone else who likes it will find a way of performing it—that's what happened with the Death Note musical.

Anyway, I decided to run this idea by the residents of BZPower as a first step.  If there were a BIONICLE musical, what would you want it to be like?  Obviously, it would be impossible to cram the entire storyline into a single play, unless actors and audience were willing to remain in the theater for days on end.  Personally, my first thought is a Compressed Adaptation of the first three years of the theme, starting with the Toa's arrival on the island and culminating in the transformation of Takua into Takanuva, his defeat of Makuta, and the awakening of Mata Nui (which, in this version, really would happen immediately after Makuta's defeat—whether or not Mata Nui is a giant robot in this version, I am not yet certain).  I think it would be possible to fit that into 3 hours, with two intermissions.  (It might be easier to just adapt MoL, but then we wouldn't get the Toa's early adventures and character development, which would be a shame, I think.  Don't you want to see Kopaka's and Pohatu's first meeting played out on stage?  I sure do!)

What narrative moments would you most want to see as songs?  What parts of the narrative would you cut or expand upon?  Or would you prefer an entirely different way of adapting BIONICLE into a musical than the one I've outlined above?  What would you do about costuming (I don't think full body, set-realistic Toa suits would be a good idea, as they would greatly impede acting—something more symbolic, a little like the costumes in the Lion King musical, would surely work better and be easier to create besides)?

Once upon a time, my display name was Death of the Endless, but I can't get into that account anymore, so I made this new one.  Not that that really matters, since I mostly lurked and was known to hardly anyone.

If you like animated shorts and/or dramatic readings of bad fanfiction, check out my youtube channel!

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I think you're on to something.

I would suggest a way to adapt the entire storyline:

Part 1: Mata Nui

Part 2: Metru Nui

Part 3: Ignition

Part 4: Bara Magna

The actors would not need to remain in the theater the entire time, as they could be either rotated out, or place a few days of downtime between parts.

As for the songs? I can only think of one at the moment:

 

"I have slept for so long. My dreams have been dark ones. But now I am awakened. Now the scattered elements of my being are rejoined. Now I am whole. And the darkness cannot stand before me."

 

We need to find a way to adapt this into a song, and have all six Toa sing it at once.

RPG Characters: Explota Akkitu
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I am not fond of musicals because they scare me, but that sounds like a good idea. 
 

If there were a Bionicle musical, here’s what I would imagine: 
 

I would like to say the whole Bionicle G1 story, but in a compressed way, kind of like Bionicle: The Game in 2003. 

Part 1: 2001-2005 - It would start with a prologue where Makuta Teridax put Mata Nui to sleep before Mata Nui could complete his mission. He then would send Infected Rahi to attack the island of Mata Nui’s people (a song). But then, the Toa Mata would arrive to stop them (a song). The Makuta would then send the Bohrok, Bohrok-Kal, and Rahkshi to stop the Toa. During the fight, the Toa became the Toa Nuva, and then Takua would become Takanuva (a song). Takanuva would go to fight Teridax. The people of Mata Nui then discover Metru Nui, where the Turaga will talk about its history and themselves as the Toa Metru (a song). In this flashback part, Makuta sends Vahki, Dark Hunters, Sidorak, Roodaka, and the Visorak to fight the Toa and get the Vahi (a song). During the time, the Toa got mutated into the Toa Hordika, but they go to find the cure for their mutations (a song). 
 

The actors would take a break. 
 

Part 2: 2006-2010 - It would start with the news about Mata Nui dying, so the Toa Nuva go to find the Mask of Life and use it to save him (a song). However, Teridax returns and then unleashes the Piraka, Barraki, and the Brotherhood of Makuta to get it. Six Matoran become Toa Inika before they fight the Piraka and Vezon (a song). Then, they become the Toa Mahri before they fight the Barraki (a song) and Matoro does his well-known sacrifice to save Mata Nui (a sad song). The Toa Nuva get their adaptive armor and then fight the Brotherhood. The Toa have Toa Ignika and Takanuva in their sides (a song). Toa Ignika reawakens Mata Nui, but Teridax takes over Mata Nui’s giant robot body and then flings Mata Nui’s spirit and the Mask of Life into outer space (a sad and dark song). The Mask would land on Bara Magna, where Mata Nui goes to help its people fight against the Skrall and the Bone Hunters, who are united by Metus (a song). The people then rebuild Mata Nui’s giant prototype robot. When Mata Nui goes to the Valley of the Maze alone and learns about his mission that he had forgotten because of his coma, Mata Nui knows what he has to do (there would be a sad song about his discovery, but there will be another song where Tarduk encourages Mata Nui to use the prototype robot). He uses the prototype to try to restore Spherus Magna, but Teridax gets in the way. A giant battle happens, as Bara Magna’s people and Mata Nui’s good-hearted people fight against their enemies (a song). Tahu collects pieces of his golden armor and then uses the armor to destroy Rahkshi on Bara Magna. This distracts Teridax, so Mata Nui defeats him for good. Spherus Magna got restored, and then Mata Nui told people that there is peace before he goes into sleep in a healthy way (a victorious and song). 
 

The End. 
 

I’m not sure if Velika’s quest is involved, as my idea is about the Toa’s fight with Teridax, but if it included, finish the G1 story. 
 

There would be a lot of actors, and they would need lots of breaks, and some of them could be switched around to makes things easier, like Laval - Master of Energy said. 
 

Now for the costumes. They should be very accurate to the sets, but some things the Toa Mata’s/2008 Toa Nuva’s, Krekka’s, Sidorak’a, Roodaka’s Hewkii Mahri’s, and Makuta Icarax’s arms should be realistic, like human arms. The actors’ faces would be painted with stuff while they use Kanohi masks like normal masks, like in Bionicle: The Journey to One. For titan characters, their actors would use stilts. The creatures, like the Infected Rahi and Kardas, would be puppets that sure would look super-scary. Lol.

For the elemental powers and various kinds of energy, I would imagine there being a lot of props needed. For some monster faces for the actors, they would wear bulky masks to look like these characters.

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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I can't easily imagine a serious Bionicle musical; on the other hand, have you ever heard of the A Very Potter Musical series? It retells the Harry Potter stories as a musical comedy, taking liberties with the canon all over the place - it mixes and matches events from four different books into a single story year for just the first musical - and pulls it off quite hilariously without ever needing to go hugely over-the-top with props and budget. Something like that, that's what I'd want from a Bionicle musical.

Though we would at least need some kind of custom-sculpted masks for the actors, in Bionicle's case... which creates a major problem because all their dialogue would be muffled by said masks and would make it impossible for them to convey facial expression to the audience. I guess holes for mouths, like the MoL-style masks, would be the best workaround there?

Following AVPM's style of abbreviated plot... it would probably start with the Toa's arrival, but compress all of 01-03 into a much shorter time span. I almost don't think the Metru Nui arcs need be included at all; but maybe one of the Turaga tags along with the Toa team, constantly initiating musical flashback anecdotes of his or her previous life as a Toa, that give adequate backstory without going into huge detail? Then the Ignition Saga would be notably compressed, too... perhaps (to save on a couple of extra sets) the Piraka actually arrive on Mata Nui, Mask of Life already in hand, in a big song-and-dance number, dramatically kicking the Toa Nuva out of the way... only for Jaller and co. to thwart them while they're not looking and run off with the Ignika, which Matoro dons in a dramatic, heartfelt solo number.

A Very Potter Senior Year's opening song This is the End is absolutely perfect for 2008 - I actually considered briefly running a multi-animator project based on that, but don't think I'd get enough takers to make it worthwhile - which would be a montage scene alternating between the Toa vs. Makuta in Karda Nui on one side of the stage and the OoMN preparing for the final war on the other. Then, naturally, Makuta would get an epic villain song when his Plan succeeds, which ends with a lone verse from Mata Nui as the Ignika spirals away in to the darkness offstage, and...

I honestly don't know what I'd do with 2009. It feels too... it introduces too many new characters too near the end for it to work properly as part of a single show. Maybe just a single, short scene or two where Mata Nui meets Ackar, Kiina and Gresh, and ropes them in (in song, of course) to helping him to rebuild the giant robot to challenge Makuta. Then the second-to-last scene would be the giant robot clash... either clear the stage of all normal-sized characters and have the Makuta and Mata Nui actors don giant robot costumes; or else focus on the normal-sized characters and represent the battle with special effects instead of actually onstage. And the final scene, of course, an ultimate victory finale song where all the main characters link arms to sing about their new life on Bara Magna.

 

Dang. Now I really want to make this a reality now xDDD

Edited by That Matoran with a Vahi

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"New legends awake, but old lessons must be remembered.
For that is the way
of the BIONICLE."

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