Late for the Soccer Match is an animated LEGO film created for bricksinmotion.com's Kitchen Sink contest in 2012. It tells the story of Peter Whitman, captain of the fictitious soccer team Hot Shots, and his adventures on the way to the soccer stadium. The film used to be entirely interactive, so the audience decides how Peter Whitman gets there.
Plot Summary[]
The film opens with Wendy Simmons, the happy-go-lucky reporter from A Very Patrick Christmas, reporting from the soccer stadium that Hot Shots team captain Peter Whitman is missing. Some speculate that he defected to the other team, but Wendy believes that he just slept in. Above her head, the camera boom swings around, looking for the lost team captain.
Across town, at the LEGOLAND Hotel, Peter is rudely awakened by an alarm clock. Smashing the clock, he realizes that he's late and rushes out the front door of the hotel. Catching his breath, he heads over to the transportation center, where a trolley and bus have both arrived at the same time.
At this point, the audience decides what happens next. If Peter boards the bus, he will be taken away to the winter village in the forest, where he must decide to either take a pair of skis, a police 4x4, or a mining truck as alternative transportation. Taking the police 4x4 gets Peter arrested, while the other two send Peter flying, landing next to a ruined pump car next to some railroad tracks. Peter rebuilds the pump car, and uses it to get to the stadium.
If the audience chooses the trolley, Peter gets on the trolley, which then stops at a switch. Going straight takes Peter to the marina, where he must either take a speed boat, a coast guard helicopter, or a train. On the train, Peter rides on the side until falling off next to the ruined pump car mentioned above. In the case of the speed boat, Peter destroys the boat, but manages to find a ruined jet ski. He rebuilds the jet ski and gets to the soccer stadium. The coast guard helicopter also gets him there.
Going on the other track takes Peter to the space port, where he can either ride the test rocket or centrifuge. On the centrifuge, Peter gets on and starts it up, much to the chagrin of the maintenance technician. The bolts loosen, causing the centrifuge to act as a propeller, sending Peter Whitman into the air. He, along with the rest of the unit, land at the soccer stadium. In the test shuttle, Peter rockets into the air, but is caught in a time portal that sends him back to 80 million B.C. Landing in the jungle, Peter wonders where he is. Just then, a T-Rex stomps down, catching his attention. However, before the T-Rex can catch Peter, Ulysses S. Powell, the hero from When Barrels Fly, springs out and rigs the test shuttle with dynamite. They both jump in, and the dynamite blows the test shuttle back through the portal, with the T-Rex following. Back at the present-day soccer stadium, Peter and Ulysses get out as the T-Rex terrorizes the stadium (this is the canonical ending for this film, and the only ending available in the re-release).
Production History[]
This film was conceived around the start time of the Kitchen Sink contest, with the help of a series of story starters from the old LEGO Studios site. However, unlike other interactive adventures, it was decided early on that there would be no "bad" or "good" endings. Essentially, any ending is equally valid.
The film was announced on June 1, 2012 under the production name Late for the Soccer Game right after the release of Gone Ice Fishin'. Filming for the film started soon after, which extended into late August. To help promote the film, the Olympics Schmolympics entry, Seth Masterson vs. Shark Hoops, was created, which depicts a crazy incident that takes place in the marina set from the film.
As part of Digital Decade, it was announced on September 24, 2018 that Late for the Soccer Match would be re-edited and re-released, in order to correct the formatting issues that the original film experienced upon its export. It was re-released on October 16, 2018, but with its interactivity removed due to YouTube discontinuing annotations.
On April 18, 2023, it was officially announced that, as part of the Twenty Years Young celebration, the interactive version of this film would finally return as a fully-functioning adventure game. While some of the visuals were updated to match current effects standards, the interactive version of this film was otherwise left the same. It is scheduled to return on October 19, 2024.
Audience Reception[]
The film was officially released on October 19, 2012, though select others had previewed the film first. It quickly garnered views and positive reviews, giving this film the second-best opening weekend for a Mustache Maniacs Film Co. film (only Johnny Thunder and the Gift of the Nile had a bigger opening weekend). Ironically though, Seth Masterson vs. Shark Hoops out-performed the film it was endorsing. Nevertheless, Late for the Soccer Match won second place in Kitchen Sink's 13+ category.
On Bricks in Motion, Late for the Soccer Match has a rating of 2/5 (out of 1 rating) as of January 2024.
Characters[]
- Peter Whitman (Andrew Bermudez)
- Wendy Simmons (Teresa Bermudez)
- Ulysses S. Powell (Andrew Bermudez)
- Ben Mosley (Al Bermudez)
- Lifeguard (Teresa Bermudez)
Locations[]
- LEGO City
- LEGO City Soccer Stadium
- Bluebell National Park
- Apollo Island
- LEGO City Harbor
Credits[]
- Andrew Bermudez - Creator, Director, Writer, Animator, Editor, Voice Actor
- Teresa Bermudez - Advisor, Voice Actor
- Al Bermudez - Voice Actor
Tropes[]
Late for the Soccer Match contains examples of the following tropes.
- The Artifact: The time travel sequence in the "Test Shuttle" ending is modeled after the original time travel sequence in When Barrels Fly, a sequence that was completely re-designed for that film's re-release. While this has been fixed with this film's re-release, the revival of this film did create another artifact: the credits list the miner and lifeguard as characters, even though the interactivity of this film was removed, making them no longer appear.
- Canon Character All Along: While the news broadcast from A Very Patrick Christmas is (obviously) non-canon, this film confirmed that said news broadcast's reporter Wendy Simmons is actually an in-universe character.
- Choose Your Own Adventure: Basically, the premise of this film is that you decide how Peter Whitman reaches the Soccer Stadium.
- Cutting Off the Branches: In the official canon, only the events of the "Test Shuttle" version of this film are said to have actually happened, as shown in the first Out of His Time comic. The re-release drives this point home, as it removes the interactivity.
- Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: The "Test Shuttle" ending includes a triceratops in the background and the T-Rex from When Barrels Fly.
- Everything's Better with Spinning: The "Centrifuge" ending has Peter Whitman spun into the air with the centrifuge, which flies him to the soccer stadium.
- Explosion Propulsion: In the "Mining 4x4" ending, Ben Mosley uses dynamite to propel Peter Whitman towards the soccer stadium. Also, in the "Test Shuttle" ending, Ulysses S. Powell uses some of his dynamite to propel the test shuttle back into the time travel wormhole.
- Fake Interactivity: At certain points in the film (mainly the "Cargo Train," "Mining 4x4," "Speedboat," and "Skis" endings), Peter Whitman is shown building broken vehicles, except that the parts magically come together. Originally, the audience was going to build the vehicles, but director Andrew Bermudez wanted to streamline the interactivity. These segments had already been filmed when the decision was made, so they technically qualify as this trope.
- George Lucas Altered Version: On October 16, 2018, a re-edited version of this film was released, mainly to repair formatting issues that arose when the film was originally released. The changes that this film experienced are:
- Most notably, since YouTube no longer supports annotations, and therefore interactivity, the film lost its "choose your own path" scenario and instead follows the canonical version of this film (which is Intro-Trolley-South Switch-Test Shuttle).
- The front end logo was updated to reflect the current Digital Decade branding, and the Drawn to Life Animation logo was added (even though this film was initially released before Drawn to Life Animation was founded).
- The time travel shot in the "Test Shuttle" ending was changed to reflect the look of the time travel shot in the re-release of When Barrels Fly.
- The entire film was given a purple-ish filter to unify the film's color scheme.
- Get Back to the Future: In the "Test Shuttle" ending, Peter Whitman and Ulysses S. Powell get out of the Cretaceous and end up at the soccer stadium, 2012.
- Gone to the Future: Not for Peter Whitman, but Ulysses S. Powell travels to 140 years after the events of When Barrels Fly in the "Test Shuttle" ending.
- Just For The Heli Of It: In the "Coast Guard" ending of this film, Peter Whitman is flown to the soccer stadium via helicopter.
- Just in Time: With the exception of the "Police Cruiser" ending, Peter Whitman always arrives just in time.
- Multiple Endings: With eight in total.
- No Canon for the Wicked: The only "bad ending," the "Police Cruiser" version, is not considered canon. See the Cutting Off the Branches entry above for more info.
- Obstacle Ski Course: In the "Skis" ending, Peter Whitman goes down a brief one before his skis get stuck, catapulting him into the air.
- Our Time Machine is Different: In the "Test Shuttle" ending, the namesake test shuttle ends up taking Peter Whitman through time, even if it wasn't built for time travel.
- Our Time Travel Is Different: This film uses the same style of time travel from When Barrels Fly, which is a psychedelic, lightning-filled void.
- Rule of Funny: The entire film runs on this. Even Peter Whitman was animated to behave as silly as possible.
- Save Our Team: Or rather, our game. The game can't start without Peter Whitman at the stadium.
- Schrodinger's Gun: With the exception of the "Police Cruiser" ending, every ending results in Peter Whitman reaching the soccer stadium.
Trivia[]
- Although over ten years old at the time of the film's release, the LEGO Studios micro-site was still accessible via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This is how the story starters were found.
- Both this film and Seth Masterson vs. Shark Hoops won in the respective contests which they were submitted into. This is the first time that a Mustache Maniacs Film Co. film has won a contest prize.
- The entire production process for this film, from concept to premiere, only lasted a meager 5 months.
- Originally, the time travel and train endings would result in Peter losing; he would not get to the soccer stadium. During a re-write, this was changed.
- In the original film, the audience, not Peter, would build the pump car and jet ski. However, director Andrew Bermudez felt that it would take away from the experience, and the shots were re-edited.
- While the film has 8 possible variations in total, the official canon states that the only version of this film that is actually canonical to the cinematic universe is Intro > Trolley > South Switch > Test Shuttle, as this film explains how Ulysses S. Powell came to the present day. The re-release specifically follows this path, as it removes the interactivity.
- This is the first Mustache Maniacs Film Co. production to solidify the existence of the cinematic universe.
Gallery[]
