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Tonight on Dream Machines:
Marc and I are in Los Angeles today
to meet with Peter Berg.
I want you guys to build a Shredder.
SHANON: This is a Parker Brothers kind of build.
That looks good.
My first thought was,
put all the blades and scales on it and go scare
the hell out of somebody.
(laughing): Don't lose your grip, Dean. Don't lose your grip.
SHANON: The Shredder in the movie doesn't have a door.
No holes.
SHANON: Marc and I realized, on the Shredder,
that there's a huge blind spot.
This is a weapons cam.
You're seeing a crosshair
in the middle of the screen.
Shredder Vision.
We're screwed. That's... There's no way we can do that.
My name's Marc.
I'm Shanon.
We are...
BOTH: ...the Parker Brothers.
MARC: I told you this was a great idea.
SHANON: We design and build the craziest,
most outrageous vehicles.
MARC: We don't believe in rules.
SHANON: And we never say it can't be done.
MARC: The only thing that can stop us is our own imagination.
It's Parker Brothers,
but we keep as much family around as possible.
SHANON: We go from design...
MARC: ...to finished product.
Because we believe in two things:
Dream big and build bigger.
KAREN: Marc, Shanon,
Peter Berg is calling.
Hello.
Hi, this is Peter Berg.
I'm looking for the Parker Brothers.
You got 'em.
We got a really strange call from Peter Berg,
director of Friday Night Lights
and big action movies like Hancock.
All right, well, I'll tell you what. You want a job?
You want a big job? I need you out in L.A. now.
Can you do that?
Yeah,
I guess.
What kind of job?
This is classified.
For now we keep this between ourselves obviously.
Get your butts out here.
(phone beeps)
Hello?
Hello?
He hung up.
It feels kind of weird getting phone calls
from people like Peter Berg.
We're small-town, you know.
We're in this little town of Melbourne--
population: like, six people.
All of a sudden we get a phone call from Hollywood saying,
"Hey, we heard about you guys. Come see us."
Okay, I guess we're going to L.A.
MARC: Ever since Shanon and I started Parker Brothers,
we knew we wanted to be involved
in the movie or the television industry.
building the vehicles for the movies or for the TV shows.
That's the kind of stuff we're into,
and being here in L.A.--
it just feels like it's all starting to come around.
Sitting here in Peter Berg's office-- this is our shot.
If I said that I wasn't scared
to death right now, I'd be lying.
We're finally getting to sit in the big chair
and get an opportunity to show
what we can really do.
Uh, welcome to California.
You guys get in all right?
Yes, we did.
I'll bet you're wondering why the hell I called you
and I'll bet you're wondering why the hell you're here.
Very much so.
I need something big.
Parker Brothers caught my attention
as being these two young guys,
up-and-comers who are looking to make a name for themselves
building dreams.
Name of the movie is Battleship,
based on the Hasbro game Battleship.
We're a big movie no one's seen.
It's critical that you guys go into lockdown with this,
and I'm trusting that you guys
are gonna keep this stuff quiet.
Oh, absolutely.
SHANON: We appreciate
Absolutely, yeah.
We don't know what he wants us to do,
but it's Peter Berg, so I don't care
what he asks for, he's going to get it.
I want you guys to build a shredder.
And, uh, I'll show you a little bit of that right now.
Okay.
BERG: In Battleship we've got shredders.
They're like Tasmanian devils.
You know, they can
just demolish
anything that...
SHANON: My God, there's
tons of parts on it.
Thing is bad.
BERG: Shredder'll be ripping
right up through the hull of the ship, and then...
SHANON: That's insane.
That's big! Come on!
That looks good. It's big.
BERG: They're very powerful,
about 20 foot in diameter,
multiple moving parts, very sharp, very vicious,
very aggressive.
Basically, balls of chaos.
All right, there you go.
That's awesome.
MARC: The Shredder
is just intimidating; it's big; it's mean.
It's badass.
So we can make something for you based on that?
Is that what you're saying?
I want a car
that is the Shredder.
Now that shredder only exists in computers.
You guys, for me, are an opportunity to say,
"You know what? We-We're real."
The shredders came out of,
you know, my mind and the mind of the designers at ILM
and, until this point, has only existed
in the world of computers, so the thought
that these guys could actually help take it out
of the world of the computers and put it
on the street-- very appealing to me.
If it's something that people can see and touch
and feel and experience,
it's just a tremendous help for our movie franchise.
Perfect, 'cause that kind of gives us a little bit
of creative license to go way over the top with it.
Absolutely.
Okay.
I think "vicious" is a good word.
And so basically you want us to scare small children.
Absolutely.
Mothers screaming, cars peeling away.
I'll be surrounded by SWAT vehicles
and then I want to say, "Hey, dude, it's legal."
"It's legal."
Anything else?
We used turbines as inspiration.
It's not just one big spinning belt.
It's lots of different turbines that are all sort of spinning
at different speeds and even
different directions.
I like it. I like it.
Light is important, too, in that the light
not look like someone's turning on a lightbulb.
It feels like energy coming out of it.
Absolutely.
And colors-- I mean, is there
any, any specifics on colors or anything?
Um, I like silvers and pewter and
a little bit of darkness, but not, not too much.
Got it.
I'm more than excited.
There are so many cool design features
that we can take and use to give a vehicle
that's going to blow their mind.
When can we have it done?
Well, you get it
for me in one month and I'll put it in the middle
(laughing): Okay.
MARC: Peter Berg wants us to build the Shredder--
this big, gnarly creature from the movie Battleship.
They want to use this vehicle as a promotional tool,
but they also want to use it at the red carpet event,
and that's pretty cool.
MARC: Hey, how you doing?
How are you? I'm Sarah Aubrey. I'm one of the producers of Battleship.
I'm Shanon.
Well, I thought I would show you some of the early concept art
that we have for the Shredder and see if
that might help you guys with the design.
BOTH: Perfect.
Okay, great.
SHANON: The Shredder is massive,
and its movement and intense features are insane.
This is huge, man.
Yeah, it's a big thing, for sure.
We're gonna have to build something really big.
The Shredder is bigger than a human being.
Oh, yeah.
Uh, in every way.
SHANON: Peter Berg is expecting a lot out of us.
It's a big responsibility.
We don't want to screw this up.
We definitely want to hit the mark.
In the movie there's something called Shredder Vision,
where you're in the point of view of the Shredder,
and when the target basically turns red,
that's when you know the Shredder is going
to zero in and start the destruction.
There's some very, you know, scale-ish...
Yeah.
Like old-school dragon scales.
If I can get this exact shape, we can use this
in the design.
Yeah, I want to be able to integrate
a lot of these same shapes, and I love this capped-off thing
that looks like a, like a jet turbine engine
It does.
We're gonna be using a lot of... and a lot of pieces.
My first thought was, put all the blades and scales on it
and go scare the hell out of somebody.
This is actually the tire part.
SHANON: Nobody is going to believe this
when they finally see it.
So, guys,
you should take these as a road map
for what you're going to be building, and we expect
something vicious and awesome.
MARC: We've got to go jump on a plane now
to go back to Melbourne, and I'm honestly considering
just running back, because there's now way,
as excited as I am right now,
that I can sit on a plane for six hours.
(phone rings)
Parker Brothers Concepts.
This is Karen.
This project to us is huge.
I mean, this is Universal Studios,
the biggest studio in Hollywood.
So we've got to nail it.
I got it. I'm vicious.
Peter Berg said,
that this build should be vicious.
RON: What are we doing?
(hammering continues)
Good job, you nailed it.
All right, we went all the way to L.A., we come back here
just for you guys to hear this.
We're going to do a concept vehicle
for a new movie called Battleship.
What's with the sign?
The reason why we want that up there,
I want you guys to think vicious.
If it does not make small children cry,
we have not hit our goal.
MARC: This is what we've always dreamed of doing.
If we do this right, it could mean all the doors
that have been slammed in our faces will finally open up.
You guys ready?
Let's do it.
MARC: No one has ever built anything remotely like
the Shredder before.
My first thought was,
the cockpit will actually be inside the rear wheel.
And it give you the illusion that there is no driver,
so it looks like it's a big robot.
Let's build a wheel!
So, we decided to do a wooden mock-up
so we could gauge the size and the shape.
That's seven feet.
You can stand inside of that.
That's good.
It's ridiculous.
I understand, with Shanon,
he wants to go really elaborate and big and over-the-top.
I want to make it functional.
The taller you make it,
the more difficult it is to keep it stable.
Five feet gives you plenty of room.
I think Marc wanted a smaller wheel
just 'cause he's a smaller person.
I wanted a seven-foot wheel,
because I wanted it to be
that massive thing, like in the movie.
If we're going for realism, that's what we want to go for.
Yes?
Check it out-- dummy...
wants to do a five-foot wheel,
for the Shredder.
I want to do...
No, no, no, listen.
I want to do...
We really could do seven feet.
All right.
RON: Marc and Shanon are arguing about which size
of the wheel looks best--
either the five-foot or the seven-foot wheel.
I'm stuck building both of them.
Like a hamster, eh?
RON: I can see what's going to happen-- they're going to
come out here and I'm going to have to build a third.
In case you have have to do this in the morning.
This is the sports car version.
That's the minivan version.
It looks ridiculous.
(imitates engine revving)
Who cares what you think it looks like?
You don't see the end product.
Coming up on Dream Machines:
SHANON: I want to put holes in the tread for the Shredder.
MARC: Listen to me,
you do your part, I'm doing mine.
You're not putting the holes in there...
I can't do my part 'cause you're asking me not to do my part.
MARC: It's time to put the two wheels together.
Two, three.
We gotta make sure this thing's going to be strong enough
to carry anybody that has to get in.
Don't lose your grip, Dean.
(laughs): Don't lose your grip.
MARC: Universal coming to us and asking us to do this build
is huge for us.
I want you guys to build a shredder.
(loud boom)
We've always been more inspired by television and movies
then we have from just normal vehicles.
Let's build a wheel!
But at the same token, they're not looking
for a statue-- they want a functional vehicle.
Check it out-- dummy...
wants to do a five foot wheel, for the Shredder.
I want to do...
No, no, no, listen.
I want to do...
This thing's got to go down the road.
This thing's got to be able to be loaded on a truck.
This thing's got to be able to make it
into a theme park or an event or whatever.
In case you have have to do this in the morning.
This is the sports car version. That's the minivan version.
I don't want to make it tiny,
but I've got to make it reasonable enough
to make it functional.
It looks ridiculous.
(imitates engine revving)
Who cares what you think it looks like?
You don't see the end product.
I think you're way too... (laughs)
way too tall.
And Marc over there
is going to cut his hair in his, so...
All right, mine might be a little bit too tall,
and you're is a little bit, well, really short.
Split the difference.
We've decided on a six-foot wheel.
Marc wanted five, I wanted seven.
We're going right in the middle.
But once the scales actually go on it,
it's going to make it a little bit bigger,
so we're going to move forward with a six-foot wheel.
All right.
So basically a big, big wheel.
Add some step-downs here.
Now that Marc and I have agreed on the size,
it's become apparent that we actually need
some sort of stabilization to make this thing drive.
So we're going to use two smaller wheels on the front,
and I also remember seeing
that there was some sort of tail on the Shredder.
We're going to use those to actually connect
the smaller shredders to the bigger one.
I'll work on the tail.
Well, work on the scales,
'cause there's a lot more of them to cut out.
Each step needs to be a different shape
so it gives a different look.
So scales and tails.
All right.
MARC: No one has ever built anything
remotely close to a Shredder before.
Yeah.
This is a Parker Brothers kind of build.
The other stuff is fun, but this is badass.
All right, just leave him right there.
Hey, man, that ain't funny.
Help, help.
So now the outer hoop is done,
we start forming the inner hoop,
which will actually be the stationary frame part
that you sit on and the motors are mounted to
and the frame connects to.
We have a stack of pieces
that all have to be welded together in a specific order
so that all the casters line up
and all the motor mounts line up and everything else.
Every one of these is off.
See, now, it's this plate here.
And we screwed up.
You know, a couple of the puzzle pieces
got put in backwards.
Well, we can do it one of two ways.
Either we can cut the welds out,
or we can just drill it.
There's six of them there that need to re-drilled.
I'm not doing that.
Cut them out, flip them over, weld 'em back in.
At least we caught it before
the whole thing was put together.
So I'm glad we caught it when we did.
Next step in Shredder is going to be
finishing all the tread, get all the wheels welded together,
waterjet out the rest of the pieces.
Hey, Marc.
Where's my pieces?
We got a problem.
We're out of garnet.
Garnet is an abrasive that we use
with the FlowJet machine.
And without the garnet,
the FlowJet doesn't work.
So now we're stuck. I can't get the rest of my damn pieces.
Can't get anything done.
I'm sitting here with 200 pieces
that I need cut for this build
and now we're just kind of stuck dead in the water.
We don't have time to screw around with details
that should've been handled already.
Ron!
We get to take the day off.
'Cause we're out of garnet.
Now we can't cut
the rest of the pieces.
We got one center hub, one ring, and that's it?
That's it.
We can't do anything with that.
I mean, I don't even have
enough pieces to make one wheel, much less both of them.
We got, we have no garnet to finish the rings we need.
Right.
All right.
When somebody drops the ball, and we did have time
to order something we knew, weeks in advance,
that we were going to need it,
and I thought it was ordered already,
and then I find out last minute, 'Oh, I forgot to order that,'
that just pisses me off.
MARC: While we're waiting on the garnet to get here,
it might be a good idea for us
to blow off a little bit of steam.
I mean, we're kinda dead in the water
until the garnet gets here
for the flow jet anyway.
Marc's always taking crap about this mud pit.
He doesn't think a girl can do it,
so I'm gonna show him what a girl can do.
MARC: Karen is Shanon's wife.
I'm not sure exactly
how he tricked her into that,
but she married him and, you know, she knows how to drive,
she knows how to play in the mud and everything...
Yeah, go that way!
(engine revving)
MARC: Aw, she found the hole.
(Marc laughing, clapping)
Damn it!
Slightly too deep.
Somebody go back a truck up and get her out.
Damn. This is some funny (bleep).
She came in and she got stuck, and she kept trying
Are you really doing your (bleep) makeup right now?
Hey! What else am I doing?
I got (bleep) to do. Come on.
Come on, let's go.
Mud pit, one; Karen, zero.
She got three wheels turning now.
Powdered gold.
SHANON: The garnet came in.
Obviously, everybody was all hands on deck.
One more and I'll be good.
We lost about half to three-quarters of a day.
The fact that we don't have
enough time to get the job done to begin with,
it's a huge thing.
Thank God! We're up and running again, right?
Up and running.
We, we got the inner ring,
we've got the outer ring, we've aligned everything,
we've welded it all together.
Watch your fingers.
It's time to put the two wheels together,
put all the bearings and the casters in there
so that it'll start rolling.
One, two, three.
Shut the front door!
So we just put the inner wheel
in The Shredder.
All right, everybody out of the way.
Let's test this thing out.
I'm ready.
Take it slow, now.
It tracks square and true,
and it rolls good.
We've only got half the casters in and it's rolling great.
(laughter)
It think it's time to give this thing a real, true weight test,
'cause I don't weigh a lot,
so we gotta make sure this thing's gonna be strong enough
to carry anybody that has to get in it.
(laughter, groaning)
Don't lose your grip, D.
(laughing): Don't lose your grip!
(men hooting, laughing)
Oh, my God!
Okay, stop it right there.
(laughter continues)
All right, we have officially weight tested it.
It's not gonna fall apart.
(laughter)
(saw buzzing)
That's awesome, dude.
Get in it.
I already took a ride.
Sit down. Sit down on that plate.
Oh, my God.
Hey, wait, how we gonna see around it?
MARC: It's bad.
Coming up on Dream Machine:
SHANON: There's no actual way to put a windshield on it
Bam!
Driving with a camera view, you can't tell how far away
something is exactly.
These can't be sharp, dude.
Peter Berg said he wanted this thing vicious.
It's The Shredder.
SHANON: Marc and I realize, on The Shredder,
that there's a huge blind spot.
MARC: Since The Shredder has a rotating wheel,
there's no actual way to put a windshield on it,
so we're going to have to come up with
some sort of video-assisted camera system
to make sure that somebody can actually see
to drive this vehicle.
Are those your dash panels?
Oh, yeah, some kind of video monitoring system here,
and then you cut them out from here
'cause you want to be able to try and put a person in here,
you know what I'm saying?
I wonder how that's gonna work?
(crackling)
(inaudible chatter)
SHANON: I've never actually driven anything
just by looking at a monitor.
so I wanted to get some experience
and see what that was all about.
This will cover up the front windows and everything.
I like that.
SHANON: Since we're gonna use cameras to see out of The Shredder,
I thought I'd try to figure out exactly how that was gonna work.
My mom's van happens to have a backup camera system,
so we're gonna go have some fun.
Hurry up, man, 'fore my mama find out.
Bam! It has been bunkerized.
We got this.
Wait, where's the first one?
That's the first one right there.
Ah, see? Yeah.
It's kinda weird.
I think I got it.
FRO: Okay, we're dragging that one.
SHANON: Once you start driving with a camera view
there's a depth perception thing going on.
You can't tell how far away
something is, exactly.
With a camera, your vision is impaired.
Just kinda messes with you.
Driving with this camera is not that damn easy.
This may be a stopping point on The Shredder.
If camera vision doesn't work,
we might need to change our idea.
Let's go talk to Marc, though,
'cause if we run over kids like we did those cones,
probably gonna be bad.
Okay, so then we start placing the rubber now or..?
MARC: The next step in Shredder
is going to be finishing all the tread...
Oh, I gotta get you the design for the rubber, right?
Right.
Now, the big thing is, you know, we're definitely trying
to leave a channel right down the middle
'cause that's where we want the motion of the light
to come through, 'cause that's the way it is in the movie.
The majority of the light comes right out of the center.
We'll go ahead and design up a little bit,
you put it on the flow jet, cut out some stuff,
All right.
That works for me.
SHANON: The tread design for the Shredder
It's really important to me
I want to put holes in the treads
for the Shredder
because it has to match the scales.
If it doesn't, it's gonna look like
a big tire in the middle
and scales on the side.
This thing has to flow.
It has to look like one big, massive concept.
And if it doesn't work that way,
it's just not gonna look right.
So now that the rubber finally showed up,
we can actually move forward
and start cutting up the tread.
RON: That's a hell of a tread, isn't it?
MARC: Whose idea was the center hole?
JON: Your brother's.
Well, too bad for him.
MARC: Shanon wants a design that's pretty.
I want a design that's functional.
He's not gonna win this one. It's just a "no."
I thought we were cutting holes out of them.
Oh, does it do it after the fact?
JON: He's saying that it'll
tear the rubber to shreds.
'Cause the last on he built,
it tore it to shreds when he did that?
JON: I have no idea.
Taking bets. Which Parker wins.
Why?
I need the surface area...
for these things to be able to bond to that metal.
I don't need flimsy spikes.
It's not flimsy...
Listen to me. You do your part,
I'm doing mine. We're not putting
I can't do my part
'cause you're asking me not to do my part.
Do the center pieces however you want to.
Those are carrying all the weight.
And when this turns, all that force
is on those outside treads.
All that that you're cutting out, I need.
You want to make the center ones decorative
however you want to, that's fine, but these,
I can't put the holes in them.
SHANON: Nothing's gonna stop me
from making this thing really awesome.
Go ahead. Put the holes in.
No holes.
I'm serious.
As much as Marc wants to complain,
I'm still moving forward.
MARC: We're not changing those.
We're not putting holes in them at all.
Fine.
Seriously, I'm not playing around with this.
All right.
Wait till he goes to lunch
and just cut the damn hole.
MARC: He's not gonna win this one.
I'm gonna win this one.
This thing has to roll. It's over
3,000 pounds.
I can't have it ripping
the rubber off the wheel
as it's going down the road.
It's just a "no."
(bell dings)
RON: Round one over.
MARC: When Shanon's mind is set on something...
he just doesn't let it go.
So I know from past experience,
the best thing to do is just distract him.
Get him on something else so he'll leave me alone,
and let me get my work done.
You gonna put him to work?
MARC: I, no, God, no. Please.
I was gonna say, you'll make more for me.
Yeah, so that we can go back and fix it all?
Right.
Got to be able to do something to screw with him.
All right.
Let's get mischievous.
What would drive him the craziest?
What would make him have to work?
What if we just took every one of these comics
and turn them upside down or backwards?
Let's do it.
MARC: He's gonna cry.
Man...
Seriously? Who did that?
MARC: We're gonna give you something to do.
SHANON: You even turned the people upside down?
Even my screen's inside out?
I think it looks good, man. It's redecorated.
You would think this looks good.
Winner by TKO...
Marc Parker.
So have fun. See you later.
ANNOUNCER: Coming up on Dream Machines...
They're all already cut. You can't just start
making it up as you go along.
I hope you guys are having some success out there.
Damn. The blind leading the blind here.
SHANON: They actually have a robot
that you drive by camera vision.
All right, boys. So this is it.
Oh, my God.
MARC: Peter Berg wants us
to build a promotional vehicle for the Battleship movie.
We want to emulate the Shredder from the movie.
And in the movie it's not a big tire.
It's a big ball of saw blades.
So the idea that we came up with is to
build the wheel out of metal, but then put
rubber pads on it to give it a little bit of cushion,
give it a little bit of traction for driving.
Make it happen.
All right. They're gonna be solid.
MARC: I told Dean whatever glue we use
has to be stronger than death.
He evidently found something
stronger than death. Once they go together,
they're not coming apart.
PETER: All right, how we doing, boys?
What's happening, Peter?
How are you guys?
Good, good.
Peter Berg calls via Skype to check on the progress
of the Shredder.
I'm a little nervous because I hate
showing people an unfinished build.
I mean, we see this build coming together.
All they're seeing is a bunch of random parts.
How's things in L.A.?
Yeah, things are good.
The Shredders are looking really, really good
in the movie. People are going off on it.
So I hope you guys are having some success out there.
Well, trust me, once you see this thing,
you'll see we're definitely inspired.
Ah, man, I'm psyched.
All right, I'm gonna walk you around
and show you what we're working on right now.
This is one of your front wheels.
Oh! Awesome.
The rear wheel...
is over here.
(laughs)
And you
ride inside of it.
(laughs)
When he saw it he was excited.
I mean, he was jumping around in his seat.
He couldn't believe
what we were building.
Huge thumbs up right now. So here's the deal guys.
It looks like we're gonna be in L.A.
for the premiere.
We'll shut down Hollywood Blvd. And there'll be
at least 50,000 people
on the streets.
800 live news cameras,
helicopters,
every movie star in town...
I tripped out when Peter told me
how many people were gonna be at this movie premiere.
I mean, it's amazing. All these people
getting to see our creation.
And it's really scary because
what if this thing doesn't work?
Judgment day's coming. So I need this thing
to be vicious, and to make some noise.
I need to get some attention with this.
All right, thank you.
All right, cool.
Thanks, Peter, for scaring the hell out of me now.
Uh, yeah.
Let's get to work.
MARC: The Shredder's gonna have to be driven
with a video assist system.
And Shanon's early attempt at experimenting
didn't go so well.
So this time we're gonna bring in some experts.
We're at the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad.
Hey, I'm Shanon.
They actually have a robot that you drive
by camera vision. That is a cool robot.
SHANON: Short circuit. Is that Johnny Five?
MARC: Shanon and I are both
kind of geeks at heart. you know
we like robots and science fiction.
So this is neat
to see this kind of stuff in person.
The Shredder concept that we're working on...
I want to drive it with actual video screens rather than
being able to see straight out of it,
and use camera assist to actually drive it.
Here in order for the driver to drive this thing,
run four cameras on board today.
That's our drive camera.
The surveillance camera.
The arm cam.
Your fourth camera-- this is a weapons cam.
You're seeing a crosshair in the middle of the screen.
When you fire this barrel, that's where the round
is going to go.
Uh, they're unloaded. They're fine.
SHANON: The robot that they're using has four cameras on it,
and it's very small
in comparison to the Shredder,
so I'm thinking now, uh, up the amount of cameras.
Obviously, to get more of a view.
I'm really excited about this next step-- driving it
with the monitors. I think it's gonna be
a little bit more difficult, but I'm excited
to give it a shot.
Ooh, that's tight.
Come on, Speed Racer. See what you got.
Want you to pick up the tennis ball
at the end of the...
MARC: You're about five feet away from the cone right now.
Shut up.
See how far away the, uh... the tennis ball is?
Yeah. I got no depth perception.
That's a challenge with driving a camera.
SHANON: It's difficult.
Once you start driving with the camera view, you can't tell
how far away something is exactly.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
What I'm gathering from the bomb squad is
that we're better off with screens actually on the sides
where the windows of a regular car would be.
That's actually gonna be a better perception
of where everything is when you're actually driving it.
Mm!
Are these by scale?
Yes. Just going
on the front alone, there's about
176 between the two fronts.
All right.
We got no time to waste.
All right, y'all want to put some scales on?
Figure we start piecing them on
and just kind of figure it out, buddy.
Well, yes, that sounds great, but
you want 'em to fit.
The scales and blades
that we're putting on the Shredder are a real challenge.
There's a lot of overlapping, interlinking,
different shaped, different angled pieces.
They have to be perfect.
If you have one just a little bit out of line,
it throws off the next one and the next one and the next one,
and by the time you get
all the way around to the beginning again,
the whole thing's screwed.
I'll show you what it needs to look like.
Don't worry about it.
Shanon, they're all already cut.
We can't just start making it up as we go along.
Put these back. Just put these
back so we don't get 'em all mixed up.
Let me do this the right way.
Is that the way?
SHANON: To me, it's kind of like a big puzzle
that nobody's ever put together before.
You kind of put it together,
and then you look at it, and you say,
yes, it's right, or no, it's not right.
Shanon...
I'm asking you a damn question.
Seriously dude, stop.
And, so, no, I'm not gonna stop.
And I'm trying to figure it out, so stop.
Damn. The blind leading the blind here.
MARC: Coming up on Dream Machines...
There's still a ton
of little details that have to be done.
It's not gonna work.
It's a liability.
If somebody pulls up at a premiere...
Some little kid walks by and cuts himself...
I don't want anybody to get hurt.
Safety is the top priority.
MARC: The blade design for Shredder
is a little complicated.
We're trying to get
a three-dimensional look out of flat pieces.
In addition, we have aluminum blades
that we're having to mount to a steel housing.
We've got angles, we've got overlaps.
It's a giant jigsaw puzzle,
and every piece has to fit, because if they don't,
one starts bumping into the other,
it throws the whole system off.
Imagine that coming down at you at 45 miles an hour.
Dude, that is like a fricking nightmare.
MARC: We're coming close to the end.
There's still a ton of little details that have to be done.
Paint work, more blades, more scales,
a little bit more wiring.
If y'all didn't want me to drive this thing,
you could have just told me.
You didn't have to make the hole small.
It's hard to design anything
that Dean'll fit in.
SHANON: One of the biggest challenges
in dealing with the Shredder was the door,
and how it was gonna open.
'Cause it is heavy
and made of steel,
you couldn't just open it up any old way.
You had to figure out a way to do it and do it right.
So, I designed a small hinge door on the side.
We want this to be as inconspicuous as possible,
because, obviously,
the Shredder in the movie doesn't have doors.
SHANON: Go ahead, Pooh Bear.
Okay.
SHANON: Okay, but getting out.
'Cause I mean, if somebody pulls up at a premiere, and
they get out, and they fall all over themselves,
it's gonna feel goofy.
It's not bad?
No. It's Deanable.
It's Deanable.
What is this all about?
That's sharp. It can't be sharp, dude.
No. They're gonna be sharp.
It's a liability.
JEFF: The blades in the Shredder are way too sharp.
I don't know what Marc's thinking.
If he doesn't grind these things down,
we're gonna get sued for sure.
You think that everything else
on this is not a liability, but that?
Come on, give me a break, dude.
Okay, the problem is, when the thing...
Somebody's... some little kid walks by and cuts himself...
You don't think that's a lawsuit?
No. I'm not making 'em dull.
It's the (bleep) Shredder.
I'm already dealing with enough crap from Shanon
while I'm trying to build the Shredder.
And now, Jeff comes to me, and goes,
"Oh, you got to shave all the points down.
It can't be sharp."
Uh, excuse me.
Peter Berg said he wanted this thing vicious.
We just need to do our due diligence.
Right, we're trying to make sure...
Right.
So that one there-- that's too sharp.
That's okay, and it still looks sharp.
The scales have been a major hurdle.
I don't want anybody to get hurt.
Safety is the top priority.
The reason why I'm okay with them touching it
is because I want them to realize that it's all metal.
(overlapping chatter)
SHANON: Right.
This is a good compromise.
Okay.
MARC: Shanon and Jeff are dead set
that we got to dull these blades
down, fine, but it's gonna take the rest of the day to do it.
(whirring)
Hey, fellas.
I got close-circuit cameras for you.
As well as 15-inch universal monitors.
We can mount the cameras on the blades.
I like that idea.
SHANON: We're hooking up the cameras and monitors
for the drive-by video system,
and we learned from the bomb squad
that the more cameras you have, the better off you are.
So I'm really excited
to see how this works.
(echoing): Hello, hello, hello, hello...
I think I got 'em all hooked up. Bam.
(laughs)
They look like big, giant Shredder balls.
That's the reverse, right?
This is for the backup.
These I've got
kind of pitched down a little bit
so it doesn't feel like two-dimensional.
It feels three-dimensional.
I think these monitors are gonna work great
for driving the Shredder, and not only
are they functional, but they're really bad-***
and futuristic-looking, too.
Oh, my God, this is cool (bleep).
I can see you.
I've got to bolt the seat in
and hook up the last of the batteries.
Yup.
And then we'll be able to test-drive this thing.
This is awesome.
MARC: One of my biggest concerns is the weight of the Shredder.
It's heavy, and to make this thing functional
with the electric drive system and all of the weird
components that are gonna have to come together,
it's got my head spinning a little bit.
Hmm?
It's not gonna work.
Right now, the system isn't strong enough
to actually turn the motors over.
We're gonna have to add
way... more batteries.
What's-what's "way?" How many?
Probably double the batteries we got right now.
The battery system for the Shredder is not adequate.
I was worried about that from the beginning,
but I was assured that it would be.
Come to find out now, it's not.
What's wrong?
Remember I told Danny there wasn't gonna be
enough batteries in here to juice this thing,
'cause I told him this thing was gonna be real heavy?
It's not turning it over.
The bottom line is,
we got to have more batteries.
Where are we gonna put more batteries?
We got places to put more batteries.
The problem is, we've got four days
to have this thing finished.
They're talking about, the batteries won't be here
for three days.
And we're looking at two days to install everything.
We can fix it if we can get everything here in time,
but honestly, in order to get it done in time,
I need it all here today.
We're screwed. That's... There's no way we can do that.
We've got to deliver this thing
in four days, and basically, we're screwed.
Call God, call the Tooth Fairy, call Santa Claus.
I don't give a damn. Whatever we got to do.
We got to have those batteries here right now.
All right, now, straighten it out.
MARC: We're basically dead in the water right now.
The battery system for the Shredder is not adequate
to make this thing work.
Peter Berg is gonna come down here
and shoot us in the face with a bazooka if we don't get this done.
SHANON: Peter Berg asked us to build a vehicle
for the premier of Battleship in L.A.
We've only got five hours left before we have to be done.
We got a mad scramble going on right now
trying to put every battery that we can find
into the Shredder to make sure it's got enough power.
That didn't sound good.
MARC: We're gonna have to probably
double the amount of batteries that we have
in the system right now in order to get
all four motors to turn.
Um...
I-I don't know.
SHANON: Kind of scary, thinking that
if we couldn't deliver,
we're gonna mess up this whole event.
We're in good shape in here.
I'm ready to set this thing out
to the test pilot division.
We ready? Everything good?
MARC: Finally got all the batteries in
that we can get in-- wish we had more, but...
this thing's got to work, 'cause it's got to ship out.
SHANON: I'm a little apprehensive.
Maybe it's not gonna turn. I mean, we never know.
This is the moment of truth
every time we build something.
Monitors are on.
Eveyrthing's powered up; we're ready to go.
It looks crazy, dude.
I guess, go for it.
To the right! Hard!
MARC: You're in a giant steel and aluminum ball
with blades all over it, and it just looks like
you could ram through anything that you come in contact with
and just tear it to pieces.
We're hoping to pull a miracle out,
'cause, literally, it's got to ship out in a few hours.
SHANON: We are in L.A. right now.
We are actually offloading the Shredder.
MARC: The Shredder just made it 3,000 miles across the country
in the back of a trailer.
We're gonna check it out, make sure everything is good.
Marc.
Peter's gonna be here in just a few minutes.
So we got to kind of rush and get this thing ready to go.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna take it for a spin. Just lock and load.
SHANON: I'm a bit nervous, because
this is Parker Brothers' big debut in front of everybody.
We got to pull this one off, 'cause this could put us
where we want to be with the Hollywood crowd, and...
this is the big one.
We got nothing.
I'm stuck on something.
The Shredder just made it
3,000 miles across the country,
and I don't know if it shifted
during transport or, you know, what it is.
The wheel has slid over
and is pushing against the frame right there.
So it's, like, acting like a brake.
10:51.
He's gonna be here in nine minutes.
Aw, son of a ***.
If something happens
with the Shredder, you know, we're really gonna look bad,
we're never gonna work
in this town again.
Nothing like problems at the last minute, right?
Makes it fun.
We're still scrambling to finish fixing the Shredder.
It's almost ready, but he's
gonna be here any minute, so...
we're trying to get it prepared for him.
I see Peter Berg. He sees it for the first time.
I'm freaking out that he's here.
Are you for real?
PETER: It's the only
real thing we've had
from our film,
to suddenly pull it out
of the world of CGI and you'll
be able to feel it and touch it
and experience it, as a filmmaker,
is... awesome.
I meet people every day who promise stuff and they...
they don't deliver, so tonight let's make sure that this thing works.
We'll take care of it.
Obviously, the last thing we want
to do is make Peter Berg look bad on premier night.
She'll be ready to roll when you are.
PETER: Parker Brothers need
to make sure that she's squared away,
that every system works.
If they do their job,
they're gonna be heroes.
SHANON: We are at the premier for Battleship.
It's about to happen.
All our hopes and dreams
rest on this right here.
PEOPLE: Peter! Peter!
All right, boys, so this is it.
We need to make sure that nothing goes wrong,
everything goes smooth.
We'll make it happen.
We're gonna do a last-minute walk-through on the Shredder
with Peter, and after that he's on his own,
and nothing we can do but watch.
This is gonna be the craziest entrance
anybody's ever made.
Oh, my God, I am nervous.
I mean, this is it.
This is the culmination
of everything we've worked for.
Oh ... here it comes.
(cheering)
♪ ♪
Yeah!
PETER: That was insane.
Best arrival I think anybody's ever had for a premier.
Awesome!
Total success.
These boys are my hero.
You scared the hell
out of a couple people on the right there.
Parker Brothers are now part of the Battleship family.
You like our ride?
For Marc and I, this is a dream come true.
This is exactly what we wanted when we started our company.
We said we wanted to be the go-to guys in Hollywood
to build things just like this.
This is our first step towards a journey
This project is called
Parker Brothers Concepts, which is not just me and Shanon.
It's everybody in that shop.
We don't have employees; we have family.
And this is for everybody.
Captioning sponsored by TRIAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org