The re-discovery of the Fisher-Price Adventure People line and the addition of a water feature compelled me to put this ridiculous video together.
My wife and I have both long imagined adding a stream and pond water feature to our property. Since 2020 has proven to be such a stay-at-home year, we decided this was the time to attempt the addition. The project took us two long months but we are incredibly happy with the end results.
During the project, I was somehow reminded of an old toy line I had enjoyed quite a bit as a child: Fisher-Price Adventure People. They were sturdy, not attached to any movie, television show, or other property, and provided hours and hours of fun.
I honestly think it was being down on my hands and knees, building with dirt and rocks, that reminded me of these great toys.
I did some online hunting and was delighted to discover that the line was quite large, ran for a decade, and sold well. Consequently, they are readily available on the secondary market and at mostly reasonable prices.
Initially, I was only interested in some of the toys I’d had. Luckily, we never had the big sets, so I was looking at around $30 for what I wanted. A major improvement over when I was hunting 1970’s and 80’s era Japanese diecast and vinyl toys, I can assure you!
One of my other purchases: Fisher-Price Adventure People Cycle Racing Team (the sidecar is out of the shot)
The toys arrived and I was thrilled with holding them again. I received a single figure, “Hawk,” and the “Cycle Racing Team,” with two figures and a motorcycle with a sidecar. All favorites from my childhood.
The only problem was, during my hunt, I’d seen that the line had a couple of kayaks in it. Well, darn it, now that I had a stream … let’s just say that the conclusion was inevitable. I picked up a loose kayak … and a Deep Sea Diver?
Do-Over
I shared the purchases with my brother, along with news of when the stream and pond project was complete. One of his first questions was, can you float the kayak down the stream?
I told him it floated around very nicely in the pond but that it was far too large for the stream. “Oh, well. Back to the drawing board, then,” he joked.
A week or so later, while fixing a minor leak in the stream, my brother’s joking comment kept resurfacing in my mind. Could I make a stretch of the stream Fisher-Price kayakable? I twinked around with the stream-bed layout and, when the water was flowing again, made a test run down the lower straight. Success!
Lights, Camera, Hack-tion
The kayaking section of stream, pre-modification.
I was eager to share the success with my brother and shot some video of Hawk cruising down the stream in the kayak. Then I decided to try another angle. One of the runs was good but I still didn’t have a decent shot of it stopping at the falls.
Oh, I came up with every excuse I could to sit there playing with that kayak and my camera phone.
When I sat down to edit the varying shots together, a (really stupid) idea occurred to me. I ran back out to capture some single shots to round out my “story,” such as it was.
For a soundtrack, I modified a piece I’d been working on but had stalled on me. The incomplete composition seemed to fit the action and needed very little tweaking to work – voila!
I realize the ending of the video feels rushed and is generally unsatisfying. I had envisioned a far more elaborate scene for the Deep Sea Diver rescue, including some underwater shots. Unfortunately, we were over budget and the studio execs were really on my neck to get it out. Maybe I’ll release a director’s cut in the future (also, the video was created primarily for my brother, so get stuffed).
