thrilling

Legoland is growing up.

The Carlsbad theme park will on Friday open Lego Galaxy, a new 2.4-acre themed land that will feature its most adult-focused attraction yet in the Galacticoaster. An indoor, space-themed thrill ride, Galacticoaster is brief but impressionable, a spinning race through a darkened landscape to save a Lego-infused galaxy from an “asteroid of probable destruction.”

At 40 mph, it’s the park’s fastest ride, but coming in at about 60 seconds and focusing on banking and turning means it still has full family appeal. Expect it to serve as an introductory, big kid coaster for many. It’s infused with lighthearted humor — floating farmers and barnyard animals cruise among the stars — lending it a rather relaxed atmosphere for a save-the-world, fast-paced attraction. In other words, it’s sleek, it’s hurried and it’s cutesy.

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“My favorite is the surfing alien,” says Tom Storer, North American project director for Merlin Magic Making, the creative team behind Lego experiences. “She’s my favorite thing to see in there. It’s right after the blast. It will sneak up on you.”

The Galacticoaster is the centerpiece of Lego Galaxy, which also includes two smaller outdoor attractions, a vintage-style shoot-’em-up video game and a play area for little ones. Its part of a $90-million investment in Legoland’s California and Florida parks on behalf of parent Merlin Entertainment (an identical Galacticoaster can be found in Lego’s Florida park). Lego Galaxy hopes to draw visitors — and perhaps new audiences — by focusing on slicker, more modern technology and injecting in the park the sort of excitable ride more commonly found at Legoland’s Southern California competitors.

Storer, for instance, isn’t shy about the Galacticoaster’s inspiration.

A view of the stars and scenery that surrounds the Galacticoaster track.

(Legoland / Merlin Entertainment)

“What is the space roller coaster of 2026? Space Mountain is a classic from back in the day,” he says, referring to the Disneyland Resort staple launched in 1977. “But this is kind of the new way.”

It is faster and brighter than Space Mountain, as the Galacticoaster is heavily populated with twinkling stars, planetary projections and many a Lego brick creation. But while Space Mountain tops off at about 32 mph, it likely still has Galacticoaster beat in the intensity factor due to its lift hill, sudden dips, jolting turns and near pitch-black darkness. No matter, says Storer, as here the objective was to place guests in a welcoming adventure with plenty to look at.

“When you think of outer space, you instantly think of stars and planets,” Storer says. “We have a really cool digital planet and we have stars everywhere.”

The Galacticoaster sits four per car, loading attendees parallel in a row via a moving platform. Once seated and locked in, it nearly immediately takes off, jetting riders into a darkened hallway with white lights before injecting them into a Lego galaxy. Lego aficionados or those who grew up with the sets will likely spy many an allusion to past toys. In the ride’s queue, for instance, guests in line will walk past a wall that features a timeline of many a Lego space set. Action comes fast, but surrounds guests, as the coaster cars rotate around a hurtling asteroid.

Legoland’s new Galacticoaster is an indoor space-themed roller coaster with twinkling stars and many Lego brick projections.

(Legoland / Merlin Entertainment)

While it twists from side to side, which has drawn light comparisons to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Walt Disney World’s Epcot, with some referring to this as sort of a starter version of that more powerful coaster, it’s a smooth and relatively unobtrusive twisting. Those prone to motion sickness — and I am one of them — likely need not be too concerned here.

While Legoland has other coasters, many are known as what Storer refers to as “pink knuckle” coasters, slang for safe for kids and families. Galacticoaster, with a minimum height requirement of 36 inches, certainly is as well, but the creative executive hopes it falls somewhere between the pink and white knuckle level of force, the latter term reserved for the most thrilling of coasters.

“We’re known for having ‘pink knuckle’ coaster, where it’s not too scary,” he says. “It’s kind of, ‘My first coaster.’ This is family-friendly. We’d never do anything that’s not family-friendly. We want to make sure our guests from 5 to 12 have lots to do, but it’s a little more punchy and has that cool launch with a space blast-off feel.”

Theme park aficionados will be keen to know that this is the first attraction in the park to feature an animatronic figure. The character of Biff Dipper, an engineer, will be found in the ride’s preshow, familiarizing guests with the story of the asteroid that spells impending doom. Stout and slightly gruff, Dipper has a digital face that can approximate more than 40 expressions. The animatronic, says Storer, was an important investment for the park, as Legoland in Lego Galaxy was cognizant of guests becoming bored in what will surely be one of the park’s longest lines this upcoming spring and summer season.

There are interactive elements throughout Lego Galaxy. In the Galacticoaster, for instance, riders will build a virtual approximation of a spaceship from a touchscreen, selecting options for wings, cannons and more. Some are militant. Others look like burgers or rainbows. There are 625 variations, and the creation will then appear at the start and finish of the attraction, injected into the ride’s projectors via a guest wristband. Legoland officials like to refer to Galacticoaster as a 10-minute experience, a time that takes in the preshow with the Dippper figure as well as the construction of the spacecraft.

The character of Biff Dipper is Legoland’s first animatronic figure. Dipper is in the preshow of the Galacticoaster.

(Legoland / Merlin Entertainment )

Elsewhere in Lego Galaxy, there’s a full video game-like experience called the Rocket Assembly Bay. Here, guests will first build their own spaceship, and then have it scanned into the game for a cooperative shoot-’em-up. Rocket Assembly Bay is good fun, and rewarding even, to see a virtual scan of a hand-built ship injected into the game, this despite that fact that the play experience is largely a modern update of old coin-op “Asteroids.”

“There’s something about the simplicity of some of the things that have been done,” Storer says.

Two other core attractions dot the land. The G-Force Test Facility is a spinner that’s pitched as an astronaut training experience. Guests with a minimum height of 40” will be elevated off the ground via vehicles situated on rotating arms. There’s plenty of swinging and rotating action in this more standard amusement park-like creation, although Storer notes that riders won’t experience any actual G-forces. Still, here’s one that those with a propensity to motion sickness may want to take a pass on.

Lego Galaxy is rounded out with a play area and the preschool-focused ride Launch & Land. For those with a minimum height of 34 inches, this is a casual, patient experience, one in which seated guests will gently lift off into the air for a slightly elevated view of the land. Nominally designed as a spaceport, Lego aliens and spaceships populate the area. Press a button near one of the ships, and initiate, for instance, an engine test.

But don’t expect anything too serious. The Galacticoaster, after all, has a farting space cow.

One of the most critically acclaimed science fiction dramas of the past decade is expanding with a new spin-off series on Apple TV

Apple TV has just released the exciting first-look at the cast of Star City, the first spin-off to the streamer’s hit sci-fi drama For All Mankind.

Widely considered one of the best sci-fi series in recent years, the original drama takes place in an alternative history in which the Soviet Union beat the USA to the Moon in 1969 and the space race never ended.

While subsequent outings have jumped forward in time up to the 2000s in season four, Star City will look to the past once more, exploring the pivotal events that led up to the first man on the Moon.

Featuring a stellar cast, including some exceptional British talent from the likes of House of the Dragon and Motherland, the upcoming offshoot is a must-watch for both sci-fi and history buffs.

The creative trio behind For All Mankind, Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi are back to helm the new eight-part series, so quality can be assured.

A synopsis for the upcoming series calls Star City “a propulsive paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race – when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon.

“But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers, and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they all took to propel humankind forward.”

House of the Dragon’s Rhys Ifans leads the exceptional cast, which also includes Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O’Casey (Black Doves) and Alice Englert (Bad Behaviour).

Rounding out the supporting cast is another House of the Dragon star, Solly McLeod, along with Adam Nagaitis (Chernobyl), Ruby Ashbourne Serkis (I, Jack Wright), Josef Davies (Andor) and Priya Kansara (Bridgerton).

Apple has just released the first look at the cast today (Thursday, 26th February), and it’s shaping up to be another visually stunning and compulsive drama that streamers have come to expect from the platform.

The spin-off certainly has big shoes to fill, as audiences have continued to rave about For All Mankind since its first season premiere back in 2019.

An article on Wired has called it the “one of the greatest science fiction shows of the modern TV era”, adding: “The Apple TV+ alternate history series is simply more ambitious and thought-provoking than its contemporaries.”

Comic Book Resources called it the “Best Alternate History Show Ever Made” in their rave write-up.

And IMDb users have also given For All Mankind stunning reviews, with one writing: “I’m now binging all 3 seasons and can’t stop. If you’re a sci-fi fan and have been putting it off like me…stop! Go watch this as soon as possible because I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

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“For All Mankind is one of my favorite sci-fi shows that I’ve ever seen and that’s not hyperbole. I really can’t get over how much I loved this show,” someone else agreed.

While a final fan made a bold claim: “Best damn show currently airing.

“Season one was good, it was a good setup. But then from season two onwards, show exploded in quality. I just want more. We all need more of this. Everyone needs to watch this!”

Apple subscribers, make sure For All Mankind is at the very top of your watchlist if it’s not already on your radar before the new spin-off starts in just a few months’ time.

Star City premieres Friday, 29th May on Apple TV.

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