Are TH13TEEN and Hex related?

[Jables]

Their stories seem similar with the trees and all that?

Maybe this is a noobish question.

I don't really care.

Any sort of information would be greatly appreciated

 

[DiogoJ42]

Officially, no.
During Th13teen's construction there was much speculation over this, with many fan fiction back stories written that were much better than what we ended up with.

It doesn't take much imagination to come up with something that links the two. The best simple one I heard was that the Th13teen girl grew up to be the Hex hag. But as far as the park is concerned, there is no relation.

 

[Harv]

I've always been confused as to why they couldn't just extend the Dark Forest to reach Hex, or at least blend the two better. Who thought of plonking two rides themed around creepy trees next to each other yet not intertwining them?*

*If it was John Wardley, better let this one slip under the radar, eh?

 

[Martin]

Because they want Hex to be 'real'.

It's easy to pretend a ride in an old mansion is real, not so easy to convince people a plywood building built in 2009-2010 on the site of an old ride has been there all along.

 

[Fredward]

I'm sure they resent it being called plywood, its cheap corrugated steel hidden behind scaffolding, gawd blaze.

 

[QTXAdsy]

When Th13teen was getting built, I always seemed to think that it was some kind of sequel to Hex and that Dark Forrest was mainly an extension of that as well.

Too bad that's not what we got... :/

 

[James]

The best simple one I heard was that the Th13teen girl grew up to be the Hex hag.

I quite like that idea. Could have been potential for a great story there!

---

I never understood why Th13teen never had a story. Not even a basic one. The whole thing never made sense. It just seemed to have ideas placed everywhere but nothing linking as one.

Th13teen is a decent family ride. Although the execution of 're-theming' the area was diabolical. 2010 was the perfect chance to make it as great as Ug Land once was, but nope, just some cheap theming and no narrative.

 

[Withnail]

The best simple one I heard was that the Th13teen girl grew up to be the Hex hag.

I quite like that idea. Could have been potential for a great story there!

---

I never understood why Th13teen never had a story. Not even a basic one. The whole thing never made sense. It just seemed to have ideas placed everywhere but nothing linking as one.

Th13teen is a decent family ride. Although the execution of 're-theming' the area was diabolical. 2010 was the perfect chance to make it as great as Ug Land once was, but nope, just some cheap theming and no narrative.

---

I'm totally OK with a ride like Th13teen not having a clearly defined backstory. Because the nature of rollercoasters is that any 'backstory' is going to have gigantic plotholes. Nemesis has a great backstory, but it's one that falls down as soon as you find yourself queuing towards a ride station 'inside' an alien monster, before strapping yourself into a coaster train, and doing a loop around a track. It makes no sense within the context of the backstory.

If you just give people some 'hints' at a theme: In the case of Th13teen, this is some abandoned old building (being restored?) and you're aboard some kind of 'vehicle' travelling around the building - then you can let guests' imagination do the rest, and cover over any 'plotholes' (exactly where you are, what you're doing there, why you're in the vehicle and where you might be going...) how ever they please in their own head. It sort of adds to the mystery and intrigue.

Same goes for rides like Oblivion and The Smiler - there are plenty of hints at 'backstory' but every rider can flesh this out in their head however they please.

 

[electricBlll]

I agree, but the problem with Thirteen is that it was so thinly spread that guests aren't given enough fuel for their imagination in the first place. It's still one of my favourite ride however and could be fantastically chilling if finished off properly.

Are Hex and Thirteen connected? Well yes, of course it was a conscious decision on te part of Candy Holland & Co to hint towards the park's historic setting, to capitalise on the close proximity to the Alton Towers itself. They don't do it very well but it's there - in the Gothic Revival architecture and similar murky feel to Hex. Casts were even taken of the real Towers to create the brickwork texture on Thirteen's station exterior.

Apart from those subtleties, there's no kind of deliberate narrative between Hex and Thirteen.

 

[Jables]

So I was looking at random YouTube videos and stumbled across this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx4WXnRvaSU#ws

At around 2:15 it shows one of Th13teens wraiths at the Chained Oak?

That sounds like some sort of connection..

 

[electricBlll]

That's not the Chained Oak nor an official Alton Towers video, but still it's clear that Thirteen and Hex share the same imagery.

I still think it would be fantastic to have a mock up of the Chained Oak in the centre of the Dark Forest... as a little nod to Hex. It would make a great centrepiece (although the area's layout would need to completely change).

 

[Jables]

Oh damn, I saw in the comments somewhere it was.. And I really like that idea!