Topic: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Hello, and welcome to another project of mine that I probably won't finish but really hope to!
http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110824215049/legoknightskingdom/images/thumb/e/ef/Knight%27s_Kingdom_II-Logo.png/300px-Knight%27s_Kingdom_II-Logo.png
So, I'll start by saying that I was like 9 when the Knights' Kingdom II stuff came out so it has the most 'sentimental' (not that I'm sentimental about things) value of any LEGO theme for me (well, and Johnny Thunder).  So many of you might have thought or still think that it was a really dumb theme, I thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Knights that are pretty much Super Heroes with castles and nice colours like green, red, blue, and purple?  Best theme ever! 

At that time, my friend and I were pretty much obsessed with it.  We made actual life size shields and swords with wood, made their armor, had adventures, built so many LEGO castles for them, we even wrote up a history of the knights and drew countless maps.  The comics in the back of every instruction book helped.  Speaking of the comics, I downloaded all the instruction booklets so I have all the comics to reference.  The main story is the same in every one, but if you get some of the smaller sets (or those weird Bionicle-like-fig things) then the instructions have a slightly different story, focusing more on a particular event or character.  Really helpful. 

So with all that said, I'd like to make a Knights' Kingdom movie based off the story seen in the comics.

http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120717000853/lego/images/8/83/JaykoBeatsVladek.JPG

I'll do the exact same story as in the comic books, leaving nothing out (but adding dialog and expanding the story).
The main characters would be:
Jayko (the rookie/the quick)
Santis (the strong)
Rascus (the joker)
Danju (the wise/the clever)

I'll start from the very beginning of the theme, the time of the Castle of Morcia and The Citadel of Orlan.  If I made a second film it would be of Vladek's Fortress and all that. 
I've got every set (except for the weird ones that were released at a separate time that weren't in the story) and all the minifies.  I won't use the actual sets entirely, I'd expand a lot on the sets and build separate interiors for everything.  I'm missing Rascus's breastplate for the first one, but that's fine because I have the printed torso of him for that.

I guess this is just an announcement of what I''m working on and will hopefully be an update thread soon. 
If you consider yourself an expert of Knights' Kingdom or are just terribly bored and need something to do, I may consider you for a script consultant, I know I could use the feedback (but that's also what this thread is for). 

So yeah, update thread and all that...if you have any suggestions regarding anything Knights' Kindom-ish I'd love to hear them!

Last edited by JonnDthunDer (November 25, 2013 (07:27pm))

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

I was in first grade when this theme was launched, and I remember reading the books/comics fairly well. Of all the LEGO castle themes this one seemed to have the most heart put into it (every once in a while one of those themes with a deeper story comes around and this is one of them).

The story was just great. If this was re-created and put on the screen by a brickfilmer of your magnitude, it would be a dream come true. I think this would be really, really awesome.

no more brickfilming *sad face*.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

This was the first lego theme I got into (age 7, finaly I can have nostalgia on this site mini/smile ) My favorite character was Danju. Look forward to the film

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Oh, haha, I still have those weird Bionicle-like-fig things buried deep inside my IKEA boxes. I also have some of those CPW figures here, somewhere.

Anyway, this sounds wonderful! I've never read the comics, but by the sound of it, this could turn into a lovely story. Your Perpetual Twilight film had some wonderful set design and cinematography, so if this project turned out similar, it could be amazing. I am very excited.

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Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

I can't wait to see whatever comes of this.  I too was a huge fan of this and the adventurers!  If you need any help, I would love to be a script consultant, voice actor, or whatever.

(The only part of the story I don't remember much about was that pathetic third wave of them where the four original knights got replaced.)

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Sounds cool, I love your brickfilms and the Knights' Kingdom sets, so this should be very cool.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Looking forward to this. And even if you don't finish you should still upload the stuff that you did film.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

If you want any help bouncing ideas around or anything like that, just ask. I loved this theme and would love just as much to see even one brickfilm based on it.

I'd suggest adding more characters, though. That was always something that bothered me, that aside from the Guardian and the Shadow Knights, the only people who appeared at all were the action figure characters. No bandits, no queens or rpinces or other knights, no explorers, no vamps, no oracles…just sayin'.

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"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

I had forgotten about this theme, back from when the story based themes weren't NINJAGO or CHIMA, man, those were the days. It would be cool to see a lot of the themes from back before brickfilming was big to be brought to life via animation. Good luck on this project, I hope to see it move forward. mini/smile

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

I was thinking about doing this the other day. you have my support bro.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Thanks everyone, for the positive reception! 
I'm working on the screenplay now so I'm doing as much research as possible on the Knights.  Its rather odd that not even one person ever made a Knights' Kingdom LEGO animation, I couldn't find any.

@jampot
I'm not sure about having any other characters.  A part of me wants to try and keep the story as close as possible to it's original source material, but a part of me also wants to redo it in a way that may make it more suited to film, with adding characters and perhaps a side story or something, I'm not sure which path to take yet.  When I'm done with the screenplay I'll reevaluate what I've done and see if I want to keep it original or change things up a bit.  I'll just have to see.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

So I'm almost done with the screenplay and working on the history of the knights, I'd say it's going well.  Pretty soon I'm going to ask a few people to critique the screenplay, hopefully by sometime this weekend. 

I'm mostly basing it off the comics that LEGO had on their website when the theme was around.  They vary slightly from the comics in the back of the instructions and go way further into details so the screenplay is kind of a combination of the two.  I wish I could work in as much of the real dialog as they had in the online comics but the words aren't available on the Internet Archive WayBackMachine.  Does anyone know, or have access to, the words in them?  The fifth comic had it but the other 10 are missing them.  Here's the link http://web.archive.org/web/200706091627 … .asp?eps=1 to the web archive of the comics.

Also, does anyone happen to have the old DK readers for Knights' Kingdom?  I'd love to be able to try and work that dialog (it may be simplified, but that can be changed) in to the characters but I'm not about to buy the books just for something I might not even do.  My local library in the town I last lived in had like all of them (the children's section, that is) they were awesome.  My library now has nothing, it's awful.  If someone has access to those it'd be awesome if I could have a copy of the dialog from them. 

Thanks for any help or suggestions you may have!

I'm trying to get hairpieces for the main knights because they're sure to be seen with their helmets off at some point. 
Any ideas for Danju (the purple knight) or suggestions for the others?  I think Santis (red) looks pretty cool with the topknot thingy, I don't know though.  What do you think?
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7324/11747291674_7657f07e4c.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/11747291004_0a148634b4.jpg

The Shadow Knights I have (without legs, obviously)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3674/11747632836_5c183762c8.jpg

I need suggestions for the 'generic' knights in the kingdom.  I have a ton of different torsos and helmets, so that's not really an issue.  Any suggestions for the ordinary knights? 
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3789/11747289174_ec6a93ed97.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5527/11747631046_6dce3bc666.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2870/11747630426_1053b7b40a.jpg

I'm not even sure if any of the homelands will show up, but just in case I'd like to have some ideas for villagers and local knights. Rascus is from the province of Banteras and I thought that its villagers could be a forest-men like people.  It would explain part of why Rascus is the agile knight, foresters and trees and stuff, 'ya know.  Anyway, in the artwork for the villages of the four knights Banteras is shown to be buildings built in the trees so it's perfect.  Something like this for the villagers:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7398/11746868325_fb70429755.jpg

I'd love to know what you think of the hair choices for the knights and any suggestions you may have for any of the character designs, especially the generic knights in Knights' Kingdom.  Thanks for the help!

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

I prefer the basic knights in the first of the two pictures. Also the red knights home is a farm type place (you see him throwing hay bails into a cart in one of the comics)

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Thanks for your input, END films!
The red knight you speak of is Santis, and his homeland is Orkosan.  I seem to recall something with Santis being a farmer and doing intense manual labor or something of that sort...but I can't for the life of me remember exactly where that was. 
I know it's not in any of the online comics like in the link I provided in my previous post; I just went through all those.  I also know it's not in the comics in the back of the instructions, those were short and to the point and again, I just went through them.

Can you possibly remember where that was shown?  That would be a great help.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Ah, these really bring back memories. After doing some poking around, I ran across one of the cards - card 57 (Santis), which is the one that shows Santis carrying hay bales. Also, Orkosan was full of rich farming land, and where Santis came from (reference). I really like your minifigures, and your choice of hair works well, except I think that Santis would look better with longer hair, similar to Rascus', but that makes him look tougher. mini/tongue

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Vladek's hair is perfect, as is Rascus'.

Santis should have this hair in black (I just tried it with my own pieces, and it actually works). Jayko should have this hair in black. Danju should have generic, smooth, round grey hair.

Rascus needs armour like the other knights. The generic knights should be like the one on the left in the top picture, as they're good but not flashy enough to overshadow Mathias.

Hope this helps!

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"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Thank you Mighty Wanderer, I completely forgot about the cards, that's just what I needed!  I can look 'em up on bricklink to see them all, also that other link will help to, I hadn't seen that specific wiki before.

Okay, I've tried a few different combinations from suggestions here and in the minfigure critique thread.
That hair for Danju is probably the best option I have so far, I think I'll go with that. 

I like the plain hair for Jayko, I think that's what I'll use, my mind blanked and I didn't even think of that hair, thanks jampot.  I tried the hair with the sweep (that's on Santis in the first picture) on Jayko but it gives too much of a Ninjago vibe to it. 

For Santis I'll probably stick with the topknot, I think it looks cool.  Also, it gives me the option to have his hair down, like in the first or second photo.  The only reason why I don't use the same hair as in the second photo for him is because Rascus has the same hair and I don't really want to do that (plus I think I only have one of that hair piece).
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2821/11786964614_de61b2ac92.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5479/11786804303_ca8f8a8c7b.jpg

See, that's what an intense, strong farmer looks like mini/wink
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3670/11786803903_703be43d51.jpg

Then I've got the villagers or people in the individual provinces for each knight.  Here's what I'm thinking:
Rascus's people will be in the trees and stuff, so they're kind of like Robin Hoods men type-of-people, not outlaws, just that look.
Danju I'm not sure about...they could have the old wolfpack torso because their animal is the wolf, then I could mix in purple because that's his people's colour. 
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/11786962764_5f0dd1dbff.jpg

Santis's people are farmers and laborers, so they'll mostly have generic torsos but they could also have some of these torsos thrown in for soldiers.  Jayko, I'm not sure about.  Maybe a mixture of the two torsos I have in the picture?
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2880/11786548675_e0d799683b.jpg

I like the newer knights torsos for the Morcia knights, they fit well.  They also have the crown on their chest which resembles the crown above the lion on Mathias. 
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5504/11786800493_a3c96270c5.jpg

What do you think of these choices for the random knights in each smaller province?  Also, I think I've got their hair choices down but just in case anyone has any major breakthrough hairpieces...they're not final yet.
Thanks for the help!

Also, I'm probably going to put together a small bricklink order.  I thought I'd just get by with that printed torso for Rascus but this seems to be a better option, considering a few other things.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3732/11786958984_5978b4af81.jpg
I don't have a plain green helmet for Rascus, the armor isn't matching, and I forgot about Santis's shield.  It isn't his, I got the sticker for his shield from a friend (because Santis was my favorite) and at that point I didn't mind a little tape holding it together.  So yeah, bricklink.

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

I like the idea of having two variations for Santis' helmet - maybe use the one I suggested when his helmet isn't on, but you could have him only have it like that for a few moments before he ties it up. There could be some cool little animation with that. Nobody really experiments with hair movement… mini/sad

As for the wolfpack, the way you could get around the purple/brown thing is have it so that purple is actually the colour of those knighted in Morcia's capital, while brown is for peasants who also double-up as guards.

Be careful on Bricklink. I've never bought anything on it 'coz I'm not sure I trust the process. For instance, international shipping can be really hard to work out, and you just have to trust the seller sometimes (it seems, I may be wrong).

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"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

jampot wrote:

As for the wolfpack, the way you could get around the purple/brown thing is have it so that purple is actually the colour of those knighted in Morcia's capital, while brown is for peasants who also double-up as guards.

Something like that is what I'm thinking, I'm working on a bit of the backstory for each province and I think I've got it mostly worked out. 

jampot wrote:

Be careful on Bricklink. I've never bought anything on it 'coz I'm not sure I trust the process. For instance, international shipping can be really hard to work out, and you just have to trust the seller sometimes (it seems, I may be wrong).

Yeah, that's why I've never used bricklink before.  I found a seller in Massachusetts (I'm in Alaska) with good customer feedback and that has everything I'll really need for this.  I'm getting the entire Rascus minifigure, a new shield for Santis (and a spare for the other Knights) and a few other small things I might need.  I plan on ordering it later this week, I'll have to talk to my mom about it first.  I'll let you know how it turns out...

Re: Knights' Kingdom film in preproduction/update thread

Gotta say that this is looking like something that has a lot of potential to be awesome. I hope to see this come to fruition. Good luck. mini/smile

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