Don't know for sure where to post this but I just had to share our experience today.  We had the awesome privilege of seeing Walking with Dinosaurs the Live Experience today and since we know one of the puppeteers we had the opportunity to see the control room and the "voodoo" operator controls.  It is an amazing show the lights, sounds, animatronics etc all TOP NOTCH!!  If any of you have the chance to see it go!! It was fun to see all the children enjoying themselves although there were a few little ones that did get scared.  Anyway - it was an amazing experience!!!!! I just had to share!

Oh so jealous! Australian puppet maker, Philip Millar, was showing some of the behind the scenes pics at UNIMA 2008... I missed out on seeing the performance when it was here. How big do they all end up being?

The tallest ones reached way up there!! Not sure exactly how many feet tall but WAY tall!!  Our friend is the only American on the tour at the moment - he is filling in for a couple of the puppeteers who needed a medical leave.  Bad for them good for him! He is having a splendid time with all his Aussie mates!

Sounds fantastic - wish I was there!

Has anyone seen this production yet? This live show is based on the BBC TV series of the same name. These are life size recreations of including a Brachiosaurus which is 36 feet tall and 56 fee long! It is an area show that cost twenty million to create. Their web site can be found HERE. It is a Flash site. I am also attaching one of their Press releases in PDF format.

Here is a YouTube video to give you and idea of the immensity of the show.  There appears to be quite a few more clips on YouTube if your interested.
" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>
https://youtu.be/m_9GnP-lhaY

I saw a promotion this morning on GMA and they showed some of the techniques of how they where made. They are metal frames that are covered in blow up muscles that are covered in lycra that has been detailed.  Ok that is a simplification of the process but I thought it was kind of neat that they are much like any puppet.  Most the dinosaurs appear to have a small "car" that supports the weight of the puppet that has a driver in it to maneuver them around the arena but there is the one little guy that actually has a puppeteer inside. The features are controlled by puppeteers at the back of the area via robotics.

Sounds pretty cool!  Are they touring the U.S.?

I worked on a theme park ride build at Knott's Berry Farm in the late '80s.  The ride was called Kingdom of the Dinosaurs.  It involved a scientist that built a time machine and went back into pre-historic times.  The animation was huge and included a couple of pterasaurs.  I worked for the scenic contractor and it was a pretty cool experience!

Marty

Like I mentioned in my post on Sunday, we saw it on Sunday and one of our friends is one of the puppeteers and he showed us the control room and the controls for his puppets. PRETTY FREAKIN AWESOME!!! I would highly recommend it!!

Now how did I miss your post! Sorry about that LJ. I guess I am just trying to do too many things at one time.   I merged both threads together so my initial post may not make a lot of sense but at least now all the info is in one place.