Battlestar Galactica roller coaster dismantled, analyzed at Universal Studios Singapore

Rokuchan said:

Jeff said:
Since when is any POV interesting at all?

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Hmmm.. this is a coaster fan site right? We supposedly like coasters, looking at them and talking about them right?

Since then :) Sure, riding the coaster is better, but at home a POV is the best we can get.

^ Thank you. People wouldn't film POV's if everyone thought they were boring, and this is a site for coaster dorks, so if we don't like them who will?

Rockit very clearly slows down at each brake after barely even making it up the hills! That's the definition of boring and tame to me, but hey, it wasn't open when I was down there so I could be wrong.

Anyways, It's pretty scary that a piece of a seat could fly off like that, but this is Vekoma.

CoasterDemon said:
Sure, riding the coaster is better, but at home a POV is the best we can get.

I totally disagree. I'd rather see offride footage.

POV is literally the least interesting kind of park related video to me. I can't sit through it.

I can enjoy POV, I can enjoy offride. What I can't see how anybody enjoys is when someone mashes the two together. Especially when the coaster segments between the two perspectives aren't synced. That's when I need Dramamine!

CoasterDemon said:
Hmmm.. this is a coaster fan site right? We supposedly like coasters, looking at them and talking about them right?

By that rationale, we should all enjoy SLC's and ride them every chance we get. POV is boring, and lacks the context of the sensations associated with a ride.

Jeff said:
Since when is any POV interesting at all?

Some i've seen of the voyage, i get the feel that you fly on that ride. Can't wait to find out :)

CoasterDemon said:

Sure, riding the coaster is better, but at home a POV is the best we can get.

A homemade POV is the worst. I don't understand how people that put these on Youtube think that they have quality footage. I can't stand when some dork films a POV with his cellphone camera (or any hand-held for that matter) and thinks it is worth showing to other people. If the camera is not mounted, don't even try it. It will look like crap!

Jeff, in most cases I much rather be watching the POV of an SLC than actually riding it!

I agree that POV's are awesome, and the home made POV's almost always suck bigtime! I have seen a few decent hand held POVs that were probably filmed without permission form the park. While you can't feel forces, they do kind of give you an idea of what to expect if you are lucky enough to ride them someday.

That's another good thing about POVs. It allows me some of us to virtually ride coasters that we may not have an opportunity to ride otherwise.

I really love watching both POVs and off ride footage.

For those disliking POV's, are you not glad that we have them once a ride is removed / closed at a park?

There are many coasters that have been removed over the years that I never got to ride and I'm very thankful that someone POV'd them while they existed.

Honestly, as someone extremely interested in the art of roller coaster design as much if not more than I am in actually riding them, I love me some POV. It's technical and nerdy, but I get so much more out of a *mounted* POV than I do from just looking at pictures of it. Exciting, perhaps not, but still hugely appreciated!

After taking a camera to the chest on the first drop of MF.

I hate all people who think they can take a good POV. 

When are people going to understand that anything you

can film is already on youtube! and you don't lose your equipment.

Oh, It's safer also. The best part is I kept the camera!

I think Rockit is a very fun ride, personally. There are some excellent pops of air, including the run up to every block brake. Every one of my about 20 rides so far have been like that. It is definitely a little rough in the 3rd row of each car, but aside from that, I do enjoy it.

As for POVs, while I appreciate them for coasters I will likely never ride, I do agree that they are pretty darn boring.

A lot has to do with context. And I am going to disagree with some of the comments here...I find that mounted POV pales in comparison to well-done hand-held POV. The reason? A proper hand-held POV can approximate the kind of view you actually get on the ride, where you tend to look around curves and the like. Mounted POV tends to be dreadfully dull because it's fixed looking straight ahead at the track. In the POV linked in this thread for Gravity Max, there is not enough context given in the POV to indicate what the track is doing. All you see is this track in front of you in what looks like an endless vertical loop. That's not what it's doing, but that's what it looks like because you can't see ahead or to either side.

The trick is that it is not easy to do, and most people quite frankly are pretty horrible at it. There was a time when I was getting progressively better at it, then 2003 happened...

I should see if I can find my Firecracker POV and post that. It's a pretty good example of what I am talking about...

Anyway, most POV is pretty dull, and while it works nicely as an element in a video project, watching more than a few minutes of it can put me to sleep...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.