Bioicle As A Stage Production

[TheDarkSide]

Stage productions are big and take a lot of work (I know because that's my job).

 

How would you feel if Bionicle was turned into a stage production. I don't mean a musical. But then on the other hand, it would be awesome if the Toa and Makuta were in a fierce battle and then broke into a  minutes number ("We are the Tooooaaaa, and we are gonna kick your butt!" "Ouuuuch. That hurt. Nooooowwwww, fear my energy discs.") I mean a Straight Play, no musical numbers. What would you want the story to be about. Would it be a remake of some event or completely new, but counted as canon? What characters would it star? How long? Any special composer for the background music?The questions are endless.

 

Post whether it's a good or bad idea, what you'd like to see, and anything else that comes to your mind.

 

For me, I'd love to see a stage production of Bionicle. But it would have to be done carefully. The lines would have to be written to sound natural to each character. The costumes should look like the toys. It have wire-frames on the inside to keep its shape, but at the same time it should let the actors move freely around and not have to worry about the wire-frames getting in the way. The masks would be a challenge. Would they be like the toys and just stay in place? Would they be like the movies and move? I'd like the masks to be a combo of both. The mask stays in place, but the mouth is part of a device that attaches to the actor's mouth area. Kind of like what they did for the original Planet Of The Apes movies. The actor will move their mouth and the mouth on the mask will move with it.

 

 

[Sir Kohran]

I don't think such a thing would be possible, largely due to the inability to replicate mask and elemental powers without computer generated effects.

[Aanchir]

I think it could be an interesting experiment. You might want to play up the Polynesian angle in the costume design, the same way the costume and set design for The Lion King stage production took cues from African art. Then again, you might not, since the LEGO Group got in hot water over perceived cultural appropriation back when they were using lots of Polynesian names.

 

In any case, for an actual artistic production, stylizing the costume designs considerably could be seen as having much more artistic value than there would have been if the characters in The Lion King had all been wearing movie-inspired mascot costumes or the characters in a BIONICLE stage production were wearing toy-accurate or otherwise robotic-looking costumes.

 

For something more like the stage shows at LEGOLAND parks, a more toy-accurate or character-accurate look might be preferred. The people going to see those kinds of productions are generally already LEGO fans who want to see their favorite familiar LEGO characters, not theater buffs hoping to see something artsy and groundbreaking.

[emily]

I don't think such a thing would be possible, largely due to the inability to replicate mask and elemental powers without computer generated effects.

Actually, there have been two official BIONICLE stage productions, both showed at LEGOLAND California. The first, the BIONICLE Tribal Jam, is a bit of a mystery and nobody has ever documented much of it online. However, descriptions imply that it summarized the 2001 story in some form, including the final confrontation with the Makuta. I think this may have been a one-time performance, hence its obscurity. There's a picture here, it looks there were dance numbers involved.

 

It was succeeded by the BIONICLE Jam 2k2, which was a more mundane retelling of the 2002 story. I've seen it described as essentially a pep rally for BIONICLE, nothing particularly noteworthy. This one ran regularly in 2002.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Pereki

[Sir Kohran]

 

I don't think such a thing would be possible, largely due to the inability to replicate mask and elemental powers without computer generated effects.

Actually, there have been two official BIONICLE stage productions, both showed at LEGOLAND California. The first, the BIONICLE Tribal Jam, is a bit of a mystery and nobody has ever documented much of it online. However, descriptions imply that it summarized the 2001 story in some form, including the final confrontation with the Makuta. I think this may have been a one-time performance, hence its obscurity. There's a picture here, it looks there were dance numbers involved.

 

It was succeeded by the BIONICLE Jam 2k2, which was a more mundane retelling of the 2002 story. I've seen it described as essentially a pep rally for BIONICLE, nothing particularly noteworthy. This one ran regularly in 2002.

 

 

But did either actually tell a story in the standard theatrical manner, with introduced characters speaking lots of dialogue?

[bioniclepluslotr]

Actually, there have been two official BIONICLE stage productions, both showed at LEGOLAND California. The first, the BIONICLE Tribal Jam, is a bit of a mystery and nobody has ever documented much of it online. However, descriptions imply that it summarized the 2001 story in some form, including the final confrontation with the Makuta. I think this may have been a one-time performance, hence its obscurity. There's a picture here, it looks there were dance numbers involved.

"Bionicle"

[emily]

But did either actually tell a story in the standard theatrical manner, with introduced characters speaking lots of dialogue?

The 2k2 show definitely didn't, but what I was trying to get at is, although we don't know much about the original show, it seems entirely possible that it did. It's impossible to say for certain, though.

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

That would be so awesome. The amount of creativity needed to display this as a stage production would lead to some interesting decisions. But overall, I think anything goes in something like this and the end result good be beautiful.

 

Although yes, a musical would be wonderful.

 

-NotS

[TheDarkSide]

I have a new idea. Instead of people in costumes, Marionettes could be used. I went to New York last year and saw The Lion King. At first, the people holding the Marionettes were distracting, but after about 5-10 minutes you don't really pay attention to them anymore, you focus all your attention on the Marionettes.

[masterchirox580]

Ah no, simply put I would hate to see what the costumes would look like, what would I want? Ah something that wouldn't completely mock the original I guess.