ANDY'S RECOLLECTIONS OF OH WELL

When "Oh Well" was written (which took about 20 minutes), the two main characters did not have any names.  I think they were just #1 and #2.  Dave created the voices on the spot, and in later works, their voices inspired their personalities.  It wasn't until the coda that Biff and Mario are named (they deliberately state each other's full names) and the lines were written for the voices.  I invented the names a long long time ago for a Dungeons and Dragons character, and they stuck in my head.

The movie was written, filmed, and voiced over a weekend at Dave's house in Chicago in 1989.  I had come home with Dave from Bradley to visit over Fall break, and we decided to try making a Lego movie after viewing some even older Legomation Dave had made when he was in high school.

Originally, when Mario is woken by Biff's knocking on his door, he mumbles something about "3 o'clock in the morning. . ." and then exclaims "Jesus Christ!"  Dave thought the blasphemy might offend his parents, and deleted that snippet of dialogue.  I don't think I have ever forgiven him for that.  Obviously, Dave's puritanical zealotry was not an issue in later movies. 

The map was pulled from a National Geographic that happened to be lying around, thus the movie was set in Mongolia and Asia Pacific by default. 

When the police station "explodes," the idea was to fill the space with lighter fluid and when it was lit there would be actual combustion.  That, of course, didn't happen, and the result is underwhelming. 

The visual F/X for the cave scene (ala 2001: A Space Odyssey) were made by pointing the camera at the TV screen and zooming in.  With the right lighting, that cool tunnel effect is achieved.  I'm sure with all the fancy computers nowadays, people don't need to point their camera at the TV. 

Dave’s sister, Lisa, who was 16 or 17 at the time, provided the voice for the Fabulous Babe.  Apparently I was trying to impress her by giving her the part (she was cute).  She delivered her line in a pedestrian manner, and we were done.  I don't think she ever spoke to me again. 

The music was added later, after we returned to our dorm.  I don't know all the details about how it was added and don't really care ("I do the thinking. . . you do the. . . doing!")  I think I picked out most of the music, although Myke and Dave probably added suggestions.