James May: New Lego & Meccano Engineering Series

I think if anything this gives a bigger impression of James as a boss: pedantic, impatient, overbearing perfectionist, and a bit of a child, really. He gave Dave a hard time, he gave the kids a hard time ("it's a tank you idiot!"), but in the end James admitted Dave was right all along and the kids did a great job. Watching this, I never thought Dave was unreliable or unresponsive, I think he was just worried James would make more demands that would cause the project to fail. The whole project had James' childish vision and enthusiasm, but also the childish organization. Don't get me wrong, I like James and thought the show was great, but I wouldn't worry about Dave or any of the other people associated with the projects. It's mostly about James being an overgrown, fussy child.
 
something about that show......I used to love plastic model 'anythings' as a kid, and in adolencence and part of my adult life specialised in trucks.......so I quess I was like those 'anonymous' guys in the store, in any case plastic modelkits have been a substancial part of my life , needless to say this moved me.

Loved seeing kids get back into it, even if it only was for the duration of the program.

On a program/technical note.....
Hated the way they portrade dave as unproffesional while he obviously was not because he pulled it off.
Why the faking with the 'sprue' in the hangar? whe knew the parts where molded individualy, (not a molding machine in the world big enough to do em all at once offcourse, let alone by hand) whe even saw them arriving on one big pile on the lorry, then they put some fake plastic tubing between the parts , painted em blue and 'attached' em with (also painted I suppose) ducttape , then faking 'cutting' the parts loose.....

But you know what? when they pulled that thing out of the hangar? trembling on its wobbling landinggear..... I almost cryd......
 
watched it earlier today, loved it ad really looking forward when they get to the lego house, the logistics and time frame to build that is just astronomical.
 
skidd said:
I think if anything this gives a bigger impression of James as a boss: pedantic, impatient, overbearing perfectionist, and a bit of a child, really. He gave Dave a hard time, he gave the kids a hard time ("it's a tank you idiot!"), but in the end James admitted Dave was right all along and the kids did a great job. Watching this, I never thought Dave was unreliable or unresponsive, I think he was just worried James would make more demands that would cause the project to fail. The whole project had James' childish vision and enthusiasm, but also the childish organization. Don't get me wrong, I like James and thought the show was great, but I wouldn't worry about Dave or any of the other people associated with the projects. It's mostly about James being an overgrown, fussy child.
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Thing is, I didn't get that impression from James on the lego build. He was my boss for over a month, remember, and to be honest, we had precious little direction from anyone - a lot of the time I had to go demand work for people to do. My first encounter with James was my longest, and he was sorting bricks from buckets (something my family took over later on) and building bits himself. He seemed quite happy to continue doing that, but he was over-ruled by Plum, who wanted him up on site to film. This earned them an 'awwww, Daaaad! I just want to finish this bit!' so perhaps you're right about him being a bit of a big kid. Despite his protests that he has OCD, he was a LOT less pedantic than I was (remember the kid I upset, and his youtube video?) about things being done exactly to spec. Sorry, roof people, but I was proved right on the ONLY way to build the long ones...
OK I wasn't working on the house site for most of the time, so others will have a different perspective, but the only time I saw him demand a change to the house itself was towards the end - and it wasn't a change, as such, it was just that he wanted the ceiling to be done the way that had been originally planned, and the decision to not do it that way had been taken without him, and not by Plum.
Other people wanted plenty of changes - the windows went through several revisions for example - and things came down from site changed slightly so we could copy them, but other than that the only things James wasn't happy with as far as I'm aware were some of the more friday-afternoonish independent furniture/decor creations - and really, John and family were quite a hard act to follow there!
Perhaps James came across differently to Plum themselves, who obviously had a lot more dealing with him than I did, and that's why they chose to portray him that way, but it's not how he came across to me. But then, I was getting fed up with a number of people who were being paid to be there and who weren't putting in as much effort or care as the people who weren't, so if James was being rather grumpy with Plum, I can't help but think they deserved it. There were a number of people who, had they been working for me, would have been taken aside for a 'little chat'. When you're putting something on TV, you're putting your reputation on the line, so of course you're going to expect the people who're working for and with you to make their best effort. I expect that on everything I do, whether anyone's going to see it or not.
 
Seriously, I have got the feeling I have been watching an entirely different programme last night.

I watched the programme again today. Dave wasn't slagged off and he wasn't made look unprofessional. Instead he came across as someone who knew better than James what he was dealing with and he was shown to be right on several occasions.
 
Well I've just had an email from him, and he doesn't sound too pleased with the end result!
 
Not to belittle anyone's frustrations during the Lego build, but the most important thing is it was successful in the end; James didn't die in a pile of Lego, and a lot of people enjoyed themselves making a few bits and pieces. I'll bet that'll be the focus of that episode. A bit of drama here and there, because it truly was a tremendously difficult thing, but it's supposed to make people feel excited and happy, not like they're watching some crappy reality show.
 
I hope you're right, skidd. I'm just worried - especially considering some of the, er, shall we say 'clashes of personality' that went on, as they will in any project (I usually find a few beers can resolve most of them) - that 'crappy reality show' might be more Plum's forte!
 
The skill of putting together any film or TV programme is in the editing. I assume there was a script for each of the Toy Stories programmes, and I am assured by friends who work in the industry there is always a script no matter how realistic and natural the finished article should appear to be. As the first of the series I found Airfix scrappy, whether due to poor scripting or poor editing I do not know but I am inclinded to blame the editing, as to embark upon a project such as this with out a firm script would be like cooking a meal without the ingredients.
 
Hmmm, my housemate's just wandered in and handed me a saucer of milk... Still, I'm starting to think I should take the lego build off my CV!
 
brydiem said:
^They are called James May's Top Toys and My Sister's Top Toys. From memory, one of these two on the FTPs is a very bad quality dl and has a bit chopped out of it, which is sad. I can't find any other copies though (subtle plea for help :D)
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I downloaded Top Toys not too long ago to watch in preparation. The video quality was pretty mediocre, to me. Don't know about My Sister's Top Toys, though.

Anyway, the Airfix episode was pretty good, IMO. Very cool to see his father. :nod:
 
skidd said:
It's mostly about James being an overgrown, fussy child.
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Keep in mind, most of that could have been scripted. We don't know.
 
Just finished watching the programme, and I have to say halfway through, after looking at the canoe factory making the parts, and knowing how inaccurate working with fiberglass can be, I expected the plane to look like shit. But when it started taking shape, it looked FUCKING AMAZING. I mean at a glance it could pass for the real thing, and certainly from a distance not a lot of people would be able totell the difference.

Top work.
 
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After watching it, it made me feel all nostalgic inside. I remember seeing a few boxes of airfix models (not sure what they were but it was airfix) in the garage and it really is a middle age man thing. Whether or not those kids were inspired to do this sort of stuff in the future, I'm not quite sure about. Probably later down the track they will rekindle their love for these sorts of things. We don't think about it until we've matured, right up to the point that we want to be kids again, such as James.

Really can't wait to watch the Plasticine episode next week.
 
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