Secret World of LEGO

[grum64]

For UK viewers The Secret World of LEGO is on Channel 4 on Sunday 14th June at 8pm.

[Nacho]

Thanks for the heads up. Here is some info about it:

Last year LEGO became the most profitable toy maker in the world. Now this notoriously secretive, privately-owned superbrand has opened its doors. We discover what makes it tick, meet some of its key people and reveal more about the company DNA than ever before.

In The Secret World of Lego, we follow Justin, a 23 year old design student, as he travels to LEGO headquarters in Denmark in pursuit of one of the most hotly contested jobs in the world – a LEGO set designer. We meet Liverpudlian Matthew, who undertook the same process and has now risen to become a Vice President of Design. We follow Mark and Tom, two adult fans of LEGO, as they try two different money-making schemes they hope will transform their love of the brick into hard cash. And there’s Roar, the LEGO “reputation manager”, who guides us through this secret world - until we get a little too close for comfort.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/programme-information/the-secret-world-of-lego

[grum64]

Thanks for the heads up. Here is some info about it:

Last year LEGO became the most profitable toy maker in the world. Now this notoriously secretive, privately-owned superbrand has opened its doors. We discover what makes it tick, meet some of its key people and reveal more about the company DNA than ever before.

In The Secret World of Lego, we follow Justin, a 23 year old design student, as he travels to LEGO headquarters in Denmark in pursuit of one of the most hotly contested jobs in the world – a LEGO set designer. We meet Liverpudlian Matthew, who undertook the same process and has now risen to become a Vice President of Design. We follow Mark and Tom, two adult fans of LEGO, as they try two different money-making schemes they hope will transform their love of the brick into hard cash. And there’s Roar, the LEGO “reputation manager”, who guides us through this secret world - until we get a little too close for comfort.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/programme-information/the-secret-world-of-lego

Thank you Nacho for providing details of the programme. I would have but when I wrote the post the battery on my phone was about to die. After that it slipped my mind.

Thanks again

grum64

[wendyw]

Sounds interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

[Peppermint_M]

Channel 4 doesn't do bad documentaries anyway....

I'll probably have a watch.

[AmperZand]

Thanks for letting us know. I would have missed it, but will definitely catch it.

One good thing about Channel 4 is that they keep programmes on 4OD for ages, so anybody not seeing this thread in time may still be able to catch the documentary on demand.

Edited June 10, 2015 by AmperZand

[PaddyBricksplitter]

I'll be sure to watch it. I hope it mentions the AFOL community and does not concentrate too much on designers with clear frame plastic glasses and Apple macs :P

[mediumsnowman]

Sounds interesting. I don't have cable TV so hopefully it'll show up online somewhere

[Nacho]

There is now a trailer up for it on YouTube:

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Secret world? They make it sound like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Now I'm intrigued.

[Boettner Builds]

Does anyone know how someone living in America can watch this?

[Peppermint_M]

There may be a service that can make it appear as if you are accessing the 4 on demand site from the UK. Not that I am suggesting something so not entirely legal as that.

[Nacho]

Did anyone watch it last night then? What did you think?

Personally I didn't think it was as good as it could be, touched on some subjects that I would have liked to hear more about but didn't really go in depth about it. But as a little opener into the world of Lego it wasn't bad.

[TinkerBrick]

The Secret World of LEGO - can be viewed on youtube:

Edited June 15, 2015 by TinkerBrick

[Bornin1980something]

Are the AFOLs in it on this forum, by any chance?

[Johnnyeebaby]

I watched it and enjoyed it

Have it recorded might watch again soon

[paul_delahaye]

Secret world? They make it sound like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Now I'm intrigued.

They even mentioned a chocolate factory and a golden ticket.

I thought it was good, would have liked to see more of the factory, but still very interesting. Worth a watch

[Nacho]

I think it could be a full series there is that much to show and talk about!

[Peppermint_M]

Are the AFOLs in it on this forum, by any chance?

There were a few faces I had encountered in the past and I know of, but I believe that they are not as active on the forum as they are elsewhere.

[Deathleech]

I thought it was good, would have liked to see more of the factory, but still very interesting. Worth a watch

Me too, but with how secretive they are I am not surprised. Still, it would have been nice to see more of the non-specific stuff like generic moldings and how the factories are run and such. It was nice getting a glimpse of the hiring process and some other aspects of the Lego company.

[henrysunset]

While there were some enjoyable parts, I felt like this wasn't as good as it could have been. We get some great small segments about the LEGO Birds set, the interview process for a coveted LEGO designer job, and Mark Guest's experiences making Bricks Culture magazine a reality. The real missed opportunity is that the show lacked a cohesive story. I think they should have stuck with a single theme, possibly about the LEGO group's obsession with secrecy, and produed a more focused story.

I have shared my highlights from the show, some photos, and a more detailed review at http://thebrickarchitect.com/2015/the-secret-world-of-lego/

Cheers,

---tom

[Thomas_w]

I watched it and it was quite good, but overall I thought that the people making the documentary were trying too hard to make the company and AFOLs seem "weird". There were loaded questions they asked employees such as "do you think this is like a cult?" that obviously 100% no employee would ever say yes to, but the response "its like a family" then sounds odd, like the employee is afraid to say "yes it is like a cult" when in reality it is probably that they do not want to risk their career. Another part was when they tried to make the company seem overly secretive by showing the grates coming over the design shop windows... Like any company would risk displaying products 3 years from release to a documentary team. My impression was the people who made this were trying to spin what was essentially normal corporate stuff into something sinister. There were plenty of interesting harder hitting stuff they could have asked about, for example, why are almost all of the designer candidates white young males and if they think this knocks onto why there are so few deviations from the standard set of white male dominated action hero themes (not unique to Lego as a company, endemic to the world). The most / least surprising thing of all that underneath all the fun google like exterior, Lego is just like any other huge corporate entity... not really the most shocking thing in my opinion.

[Bornin1980something]

I have shared my highlights from the show, some photos, and a more detailed review at http://thebrickarchi...-world-of-lego/

Good review, but one mistake: you stated that the programme was on bbc4. It was in fact on Channel 4, which is unrelated to the bbc.

[henrysunset]

...you stated that the programme was on bbc4. It was in fact on Channel 4, which is unrelated to the bbc.

I had no idea that they were unrelated. Thanks for the clarification!

[Tariq j]

Like others have said, I felt it scratched the surface and it could have dug deeper for more things.