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Th13teen Concept Art

These images are fantastic.

I, too, saw these a few months back, however seeing them again reminds me of just what Th13teen could have been, if the creative input had been pushed further.

The current Forest section of the ride just isn't 'close' enough for me at the moment. It's had two years to grow into itself, and it just.... well, it hasn't! There aren't any near misses, close branches, or indeed any real threat / meaning. Just a moderately entertaining coaster section.

Oh, what could have been...
 
T said:
These images are fantastic.

I, too, saw these a few months back, however seeing them again reminds me of just what Th13teen could have been, if the creative input had been pushed further.

The current Forest section of the ride just isn't 'close' enough for me at the moment. It's had two years to grow into itself, and it just.... well, it hasn't! There aren't any near misses, close branches, or indeed any real threat / meaning. Just a moderately entertaining coaster section.

Oh, what could have been...

I'd imagine they regularly cut back the branches for H&S reasons - the only near misses would have been fake branches placed there for just that purpose. And there are none of those :(
 
That concept art is stunning!

I always thought that the Dark Forest would suit some kind of Sleepy Hollow theme, but with warped, rotting buildings and vines everywhere (that don't fade in the sun either).

Tim-Burton-Weather.jpg


0657.jpg


una-scena-de-il-mistero-di-sleepy-hollow-28280.jpg



But seeing this art makes me realise just how much of a waste Th13teen really is. The inside of the station, the drop and the backwards section are really the only positive points I can think of for it.

The outside of the station looks as if the ride has been themed on scaffolding, the coaster section is short and dull, there's no where near enough theming and there's no interaction with guests off the ride.

It was a fantastic opportunity to do something really great with the area where Corkscrew stood. It's still better than Corkscrew but I think the chances of people remembering Th13teen in the same way as Corkscrew in 20 odd years is slim to none.

Perhaps Alton Towers will add to the Dark Forest if they add a new flat ride in the future? Then again, the chances of that happening are pretty small.

:/
 
Tom said:
I get the impression his site has been online for some time and I was trying to find out if he was/does work for Merlin as I thought the concepts were originally by Candy Holland? These seem to be that good they come across almost as an improvement from what the Dark Forest/Thirteen actually is, but with Merlin's track record at implementation and cutting they could just as easily be the originals that were poorly implemented!

I don't know if he works for Merlin but these are definitely the originals that Merlin had commissioned. I know because A) At the Thirteen Event they had them on display and B) The one which shows what would become the finished train design is overlaying a picture of the trains during manufacturing. This picture was never released publicly and was clearly made so they had something to model the trains design on.

As for your Candy question she will simply be the lead designer, it's not like back in John's Nemesis days when he was pretty much running everything himself. Given how many rides Merlin are currently developing for all their different attractions around the globe she'd have to be some kind of superhuman if she was responsible for everything.
 
Maybe this is the original concept art when the Coaster was orginally planned to be a Thrill coaster but was toned down when it was decided to have a Family Thrill coaster with a less scary theme. I'm sure we will never know the real reason these concepts didn't come to fruition.
 
Best guess will be BUDGET though... Like it is with every new ride not getting certain parts of concept art...

That, and it's a concept, not everything makes the jump from paper to real life, lots of different concepts get bandied about when originally designing any project, let alone rides, and as such not everything can be created...
 
Benzin said:
Best guess will be BUDGET though... Like it is with every new ride not getting certain parts of concept art...

That, and it's a concept, not everything makes the jump from paper to real life, lots of different concepts get bandied about when originally designing any project, let alone rides, and as such not everything can be created...
its just such a shame that there was SO much of Th13teen that didn't make it to the end product... There was already stuff known about before any of this artwork was discovered... In fact, what is more worrying about the ride is that the outdoor section still doesn't feel overgrown or dark at all, and the station building has already had theming removed from the outside!
 
Could we not get the root underpass as part of the new tunnel going under Rita's launch? It would look amazing there!
 
Natalie said:
Could we not get the root underpass as part of the new tunnel going under Rita's launch? It would look amazing there!

If I'm honest I can't see much happening to the Dark Forest area in the next year or two.

I think once they have finally installed the flat ride they so desperately need they'll (fingers crossed) give the whole area some TLC.

As someone has mentioned before, just take a look at the continued adding of themeing elements to Swarm, its massively helped the area!
 
BigAl said:
That concept art is stunning!

I always thought that the Dark Forest would suit some kind of Sleepy Hollow theme, but with warped, rotting buildings and vines everywhere (that don't fade in the sun either).

Tim-Burton-Weather.jpg


0657.jpg


una-scena-de-il-mistero-di-sleepy-hollow-28280.jpg



But seeing this art makes me realise just how much of a waste Th13teen really is. The inside of the station, the drop and the backwards section are really the only positive points I can think of for it.

The outside of the station looks as if the ride has been themed on scaffolding, the coaster section is short and dull, there's no where near enough theming and there's no interaction with guests off the ride.

It was a fantastic opportunity to do something really great with the area where Corkscrew stood. It's still better than Corkscrew but I think the chances of people remembering Th13teen in the same way as Corkscrew in 20 odd years is slim to none.

Perhaps Alton Towers will add to the Dark Forest if they add a new flat ride in the future? Then again, the chances of that happening are pretty small.

:/

Not sure if anyone has picked up on it, but the planned Paramount Park in Murcia is expected to have a whole area themed to Sleepy Hollow, looks immense. That level of theming could work very well with The Dark Forest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py5E-I608sM

Have a look at this video, exactly 6 minutes in
 
I would think the main reason for not making those large parts in the out door section would be planning permission, budget and due to the small size of the outdoor section, make it more lost city then dark forest. If the ride was a lot bigger more widespread and genuinely longer, I would love these pieces to exist.


Anyway, concept art! <3 I love this work!

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk, please excuse any ridiculous mistakes!
 
Equally, they were very limited in the footprint the ride could have because of the rootbeds of some of the older trees if I recall correctly? That's why the outdoor section has some unusual support structures that bridge over these areas. I would imagine that would have made adding any substantial scenery difficult.
 
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