CASTELGARD, FRANCE, 1357 A.D:
Lego "Castle" Meets Michael Crichton's "Timeline"
There are three sets here: Medieval Marketplace (retired product), the "Kingdoms" Jousting set, and the newer Castle (2013) set. Each one is a marvelous set to build and to look at. The medieval buildings are great just on their own, and the Jousting set has tons of elements for its reasonable price (I didn't even use them all!) And all that's not even counting the Castle itself, plus all the mini-figs and accessories.
I planned to use these to build the story of Michael Crichton's Timeline novel, set in Castelgard, France, in the year 1357 AD. The Lego elements worked out beautifully for this purpose.
My plan was to arrange the pieces up the wall on a sort of map, with the Castle at the top and the village at the bottom, with the "monastery" in between. This would have matched the map in the Timeline novel, one of my all-time favorite SciFi stories. The Castle would represent castle LaRoque in the story. (There are actually two castles in the book, but that would have been too confusing here.)
The medieval village set represents the town of Castelgard, France, into which the players, a group of young archaeologists, are pitched by a sort of time machine. Professor Johnston went back first, to the year 1357 AD, then got stuck there.
Marek, dressed in brown medieval garb with a beard, was played by Gerard Butler in the movie, and was more or less the hero in the book (the plot was altered somewhat between the novel and the movie).
The female archaeologist is Kate, and Chris, her love interest (in the movie), was played by the late Paul Walker.
I planned to use these to build the story of Michael Crichton's Timeline novel, set in Castelgard, France, in the year 1357 AD. The Lego elements worked out beautifully for this purpose.
My plan was to arrange the pieces up the wall on a sort of map, with the Castle at the top and the village at the bottom, with the "monastery" in between. This would have matched the map in the Timeline novel, one of my all-time favorite SciFi stories. The Castle would represent castle LaRoque in the story. (There are actually two castles in the book, but that would have been too confusing here.)
The medieval village set represents the town of Castelgard, France, into which the players, a group of young archaeologists, are pitched by a sort of time machine. Professor Johnston went back first, to the year 1357 AD, then got stuck there.
Marek, dressed in brown medieval garb with a beard, was played by Gerard Butler in the movie, and was more or less the hero in the book (the plot was altered somewhat between the novel and the movie).
The female archaeologist is Kate, and Chris, her love interest (in the movie), was played by the late Paul Walker.
MEDIEVAL MARKETPLACE
Pictured below is the Inn, which opens out on a hinge, and the two half-timbered buildings in the square. One of these is a blacksmith shop with a water powered hammer for its anvil. I loved this detail because the same scenario is found in the novel, on a bridge over the river which runs through the town. Below: Marek, Kate, and Chris -- from the Timeline novel -- are pursued by one of DeKere's men through the town square.
Eventually, this group gets separated. Marek ends up at the monastery with the Professor.
Then they are taken up to Castle LaRoque when the village is burned to the ground. Chris and Kate, by another route, rejoin them at the Castle. I had hoped to find room for at least one trebuchet (Castle set has a catapult on wheels plus one on the castle), but there was no display room on the board for Crichton's great trebuchet battle. |
KINGDOMS JOUSTING SET
The Jousting set is shown below on two levels, with the royalty at the top and the people's viewing stands at the bottom. (This is really a BIG set when you build it - lots of pieces!) Two colorful tents display the jousting prizes. The combatants are in full battle gear, as are their horses. Below is the full wall display with two sets only so far.
The "castle" seen here comes with the Jousting set, and will be altered into a bridge and a monastery to match my story. (Lego does not do monasteries or churches.) Below, I have rearranged the display to make room for Castle on a 10 x 10 shelf in the upper right corner. It's HUGE.
|
CASTLE SET (2013)
The big castle is finally here! Will it fit? Well, sort of. Rearrangements ensued: The Castle DID fit in the space reserved for it, but it was so high on the wall you could not see all the great details. I rearranged the pieces to get it down lower. To really see everything, it's best to just lift it down to a table top to work with it.
This is the point where I split the old castle structure from Jousting into two pieces. Now I have my "monastery" at upper right, made of its upper floors, somewhat altered.
Its lower floor makes the bridge I wanted over the river. (I have not yet painted the river in, because of all the rearrangements.) This bridge now connects to the black-smith's water wheel and anvil, just as it did in the book. (The kitbashed structure still needs some work, but you get the general idea.) |