While perusing the gorgeous “HAL Project” web site, full of simulations, screensavers, animated desktops, and audio samples from the seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey—for my money, Orson Welles’ finest film*—I had a flash of duh: Are the original LEGO Space minifigs in red, blue, and yellow because of 2001? (I’ve asked LEGO, but that might be a hard one for them to track down.) [via ★]
* It’s a tie between 2001 and Porky’s.
Update: So I’m an idiot. Apparently red and blue Space minifigs didn’t come out until far after the original ones in ’79. LEGO told me:
I have asked several product developers to find an explanation. It had of course no connection to the Hal project 2001, the yellow and white space minifigures are developed in 1979 and the red and blue ones are developed in 1987.
I think the only explanation may be it is our primary colours.
I know that the Welles reference makes no sense, but really, how could ANYONE say that any film but Transformers was Welles’ best effort?
I will out-nerd you all.
Red & white spacesuits were introduced in 1978 (Europe) and 1979 (USA). Yellow came out in 1982 (remember the 8-wheeled Mobile Rocket Launcher?). Then in 1984 we got blue and black suits. Everything went along swimmingly until right around 1987 when “Classic Space” got surreptitiously usurped by Futuron and Blacktron stuff.
I used to collect Space Lego, and had every single space-themed set (including Star Wars), boxed, from the ’60s (you should see this weird “Space Rocket” thing they had in a blister pack back then for 99 cents!) through about 2004 when a guy drove 1,000 miles with a motorcycle trailer to haul it all away.
And now, believe it or not, I actually have a life. Sort of.
Weren’t the first ones sepia-toned?
What are you doing Joel?
Surprisingly, the colors red, yellow and blue existed _before_ Stanly Kubrick used them in 2001, even though he often took credit for inventing them.
I am more of the idea that the whole Lego Space Classic line was inspired by Space 1999 serie!
Keep in mind, that in those times Lego color palette was very limited. We had white, old gray, black, red, blue, yellow and clear. Green appeared for the first time in 1997, tan and old dark gray in 1998, brown in 1999. Here is color table for brick 3001 (“classic” 2×4 brick): http://www.peeron.com/inv/colortable/3001?ip=0&header=1
So the answer is “no” – that was simply their only choice.
Ah yes! Blue came later, too. Now I remember.
Orson Welles?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH1PJTY9AVA
IIRC, the original Space minifigs came in red, blue, and white. I think yellow was introduced later. I do like your theory better, though.
Hmmm, as I recall, it was a Stanley Kubrick film, adapted from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel.
Uh, the first anything green can’t have been in 1997, because I had LEGO in my childhood (late ’70′s-80′s) with some green, albeit not much. My first LEGO set was a fire station whose baseplate was green, and I think there might have been a couple of trees. No green bricks, sure, but something green.
Devophill, I think You are correct. I only remember the white ones.
You two did see the asterisk in which Joel also mentioned that Porky’s was also one of his favorite Orson Welles’ films?
i think red and white were the original colours perhaps influenced by the actual colours of astronaut and cosmonaut suits.
iirc yellow came next followed by blue and black.
Red and white came with the original space lego, LL 924. Yellow followed pretty soon thereafter, IIRC
calling drunkpost
Exactly. Red and white were the first. Blue and yellow came later.
The blue 2001 spacesuits also show up in the various time-travel-related episodes of Babylon 5 as special time-travel suits.
They remind me quite strongly of the ‘Futuron’ minifigs.
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=6953_1&v=z
Though it may be nothing more than the tinted visors that do it.