Original subtitles

- I'm gonna just have you read this tweet to me.

Downloaded from YTS.BZ

(Rick laughing)

- "I feel like @dimension20show, @dropout,

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ

should do a separate show called "Building with Perry."

@RichardHPerry for us production/techie folk.

I wanna see that process and work."

- [Director] What do you think about that idea?

- I think that's an awesome idea.

(rhythmic drumming music)

My name's Rick Perry.

I am a production designer and creative producer

on "Dimension 20."

- [Brennan] Welcome, one and all,

to "Dimension 20!"

- [Rick] "Dimension 20" is an actual play show,

where seven comedians

play a "Dungeons and Dragons" style game

with elaborate custom miniatures

that my team and I create.

- Shout-out to Rick Perry.

Shout-out to Rick Perry.

- Shout-outs to Rick Perry.

- Shout-out to Rick Perry.

- Shout-out to Rick Perry and the entire art team.

(players applauding)

- Every season is more ambitious than the last.

We hand build hundreds of custom minis

and full-scale battle boards.

(tool spraying)

(upbeat rhythmic music)

It's a massive show to create, but the rewards are amazing.

(upbeat rhythmic music continues)

(upbeat rhythmic music fading)

(gentle electronic music fading in)

(gentle electronic music continues)

We're here on our farmstead, on Lopez Island.

(gentle electronic music continues)

It's about 28 acres,

and we live in this old farmhouse that was built in 1905.

and we live in this old farmhouse that was built in 1905.

It's a great place to be. (fire crackling)

I am married to Meredith.

She's an awesome editor and a filmmaker.

Her edit bay is up here in the top of the barn.

We have two kids.

A daughter, Willie, who's seven.

And then we have a son, Cypress, who is almost four.

My wife's dad bought this place I think in 1971.

My wife kinda grew up here,

and we got married here under the walnut tree and stuff,

so this is a very special place for us.

(upbeat rhythmic music continues)

And then, he passed away about eight years ago.

The property was in this sort of like contentious situation,

where we didn't really know what was gonna happen.

It might have gotten sold

and it had a mortgage and stuff on it.

We were livin' in Los Angeles, and we were just like,

"Man, we gotta get outta LA," you know?

Like, I grew up in the hill country outside of Austin,

and Meredith spent a lot of time up here, you know?

So we love LA, it was a great place,

but we just like livin' in the country a little bit more.

(upbeat rhythmic music continues)

Lopez was traditionally known as Sx'walech.

People have been coming here for over 12,000 years,

and they would set up these winter villages

where they would reef net and gather clams and things

and just make life here.

(gulls squawking)

Because it's almost an hour from the mainland by ferry,

there's this kind of barrier or boundary

that you have to really intentionally come here kind of

I think.

You know, especially living here,

it's a little bit different than livin' on the mainland.

(tractor rumbling)

Really,

I try to build up here in my shop as much as possible

because I like to be close to my family

and this is where I wanna be.

But a lot of the work is kinda just solo design work.

But once we start building things,

I need model makers to come here

and work with me in the shop.

Personally, I love workin' with people

that I think are like way more talented and skilled than me.

(leaves piling)

It's so awesome havin' like Raven and Jesse around

because my kids get to see like look all these people

that are working professionally and like creative.

- They were looking for model builders

to come out to Lopez Island

and build stuff for a "Dungeons and Dragons" show.

I loved nature, I was a model builder,

and I played "Dungeons and Dragons,"

so it was kind of a perfect intersection

of all of my interests.

Our friend K.C.'s the art director on "Dimension 20,"

and they have been working on the show

for a couple years now.

K.C. was like, "I know the perfect people to live in a tent

and model build in the woods for an entire summer."

And so we were rushed on a road trip out here,

and we've kind of been coming back ever since

and it's been a lot of fun. (laughing)

- Back before we moved here,

my wife and I would come up in the summers.

We had a renter in the farmhouse,

and all three of us would stay in this cabin

and we had this outdoor kitchen set up with a tarp.

And so now, we set it up

and other people come and stay and and use it.

And it's pretty sweet.

You'll see, once we get it all up, it's pretty nice.

(Rick laughing)

- It's kind of more middle now that we like shifted-

- Yeah, that's true-

- This season, one of the things we're excited about doing

is pulling out the old dungeon master screen

from "Fantasy High."

We're gonna update it, we're gonna refresh it.

But we haven't opened it in years so, you know,

hopefully it didn't melt or somethin' like that.

But you know, you just haven't looked at it, so.

"Fantasy High" is a mashup

of a classic medieval fantasy world

with like an American suburban town,

where all the players go to high school.

And instead of taking algebra,

they're studying barbarian techniques

and learning new spells,

while they're also trying to go to their job

at the food court.

You know,

"Fantasy High" was the first season of "Dimension 20."

I had never really done any miniatures work

before starting on this show.

I've done a lot now, so a lot of new like skills and tricks

and things we can bring to it.

The show keeps growing audience wise, which allows us

to have like little bit bigger budgets incrementally

and do more things.

It's kinda mind blowing.

It's staying very vital and alive for me, which is great.

(rhythmic music ending)

(birds chirping)

(tool buzzing in background)

This morning,

we pulled the old original "Dimension 20: Fantasy High"

DM screen crates from storage,

and we're about to unbox everything.

(drill whirring)

We haven't seen these guys in like four years,

so it's kind of exciting to open 'em back up.

You never really know until you look, so.

It's okay.

- [Jesse] Whoo!

- There's some spider webs in there.

(exciting rhythmic music)

It looks good, it looks perfect.

You got even the little bloodrush players

are still there on the board.

- [Person Off Camera] Wow.

- I love imagining the spiders like crawlin' around

and hanging out with the tiny little people.

- Yeah, right?

Yeah, look at the spider web that-

- Exactly, yeah.

- That would be a horrific monster. (laughing)

- Yeah, for these games.

I met Rick because I moved in up the road from him,

(laughing) yeah.

They brought me in

and I started helping out by watching their kids,

and it's been a slow progression

into migrating my way into the shop.

Is this the big car chase?

- Yeah.

This is the other half of the DM screen,

this is like the lower section,

which we don't really have this going on

in our kinda configuration now.

But I remember (laughing) particularly Siobhan

was really tickled by these little sheep

that are like almost the size of a grain of rice.

You know, the "Sophomore Year,"

the second season of "Fantasy High,"

was all theater of the mind.

They did kind of a Twitch sort of stream thing for that,

so we didn't get to build any miniatures for that.

So there's a lot of things

that came to life during that season

that I'm excited to like realize.

We are always tryna do new things, you know,

we're always tryna kind of one-up ourselves.

I think it makes it more fun to do it that way,

but it's just like one of the things we do,

we're just always tryin' to do somethin' different.

We have a different table now,

it's a slightly different shape,

so this format doesn't quite fit anymore.

So we'll have to essentially chop this up

and kinda make it more into that shape over there.

But we'll also probably be adding some elements

from "Sophomore Year" and from "Junior Year,"

so we'll be tryna add some more details in here,

kind of build out the world a little bit.

You know, scheduling is always tricky

when you have a lotta cast members you're trying to schedule

in a really kind of funny shooting calendar.

And so because of that stuff, our stoats season is shooting

right before the new "Fantasy High" season shoots.

So we're kinda doing both things at once,

which is a little bit tricky.

So we'll build, build, build and prep things,

but at some point, we have to put it all in crates

and ship it down to Los Angeles.

We spin up a model shop there,

where we will work for a number of additional weeks

to do the finishing touches,

and be available as the set gets loaded and stuff

so that also then the dungeon master can come

and look at the things and interact with 'em and stuff.

(low rhythmic music)

- [Hallie] Hey, y'all.

- Howdy.

Sorry I'm late.

I'll meet with some of the producers and EPs and stuff

over Zoom, and we'll just start talking through that season

and like kinda ideas that they have.

- I just like would love to be brought up to date

on how it's all going and what y'all are working on.

- There's still a lot to be figured out.

But the DM screen from before,

it doesn't match the shape of our current table

and it has extra stuff on it.

So there's this whole conversation of like well,

do we wanna do projections even?

Because we have never done projections for "Fantasy High,"

and I would love the chance to do like a Spyre map

that also has a zoom in on Elmville.

The neutral board, you know, in the past,

it was just like a green grass field with white dots.

So we're gonna keep that, but we're gonna refresh it

by adding a mowed pattern, but put like an Owlbear logo

that was like mowed in the grass type of thing.

- So cool.

I totally agree with you Rick,

I think that that would be badass.

Let's just be thoughtful about budget and timing.

- You know, luckily, we know that the DM screen

is something that can already be started on immediately.

And the neutral board, we feel 100% on that, can be done.

So those things we can definitely like fully, fully do.

Hey!

How you doin'?

Sorry, my daughter is home.

- [David] Hey!

- Hi.

- So first shoot date is the 27th of May,

and then we're talkin' about April 19th, is that right?

So you know, that's five and 1/2 weeks, you know,

so it's tight but like I think we can do it.

Cool, that's kinda all we got.

- I'll see you guys later.

- Alright, adios.

- Bye.

- Bye - Bye y'all.

- I am excited to go back to this world.

I'm definitely a little nervous

about getting it all done in time,

but yeah, I mean we always get it done, so not too worried.

(curious electronic music)

I have this silly thing pinned up over my desk

that's like "the creative process."

It's like, "This is awesome.

This is hard.

This is shit.

I'm shit.

This might be okay.

This is awesome."

And it's like a complete arc, you know?

Even having that thing up there,

and knowing that those are probably things

I will experience during the course of a project,

it doesn't change,

it doesn't like make me not experience those emotions,

(laughing) those feelings, you know?

The job's hard, you know, having deadlines and budgets

and just all the moving pieces of a film production.

It's hard and there's moments where it feels impossible,

you know, or impossible to make something that's good,

or impossible to achieve what the dungeon master wants,

or you know, there's really challenging moments,

but you know you have to get past it.

(curious electronic music continues)

(water rushing)

(curious electronic music continues)

(birds chirping)

This place is like an alien land when I came here,

it's so different from where I grew up.

I'm a fifth generation Texan.

My middle name is Houston, you know,

I come from like a very like Texas family.

I was always kind of artistically oriented.

My folks always had me drawing and painting

and doin' that kind of stuff.

I got picked on a lot.

I actually switched schools three times.

I got like beat up, and my homework torn up,

and like really kind of intense bullying.

And then by the time I got to high school,

I was like, "Man, fuck these sports,

I'm not playin' any of this bullshit.

I'm gonna do newspaper, I'm gonna do art,

I'm gonna do all the stuff that I wanna do."

I went to undergrad at the University of North Texas.

It was sort of like

a super radioactive like creative time for me to develop.

I had "live, breathe, and eat art."

I found this group of creative artists.

We just started doing these really wild

performance art things.

One of the things that's kinda blown up recently

is this "PriceMaster" yard sale that we did.

We created this situation

where we would invite unsuspecting people to a yard sale.

We had set up this really loud music

and this like whole spectacle

where everything was priced super high,

and if someone wanted to buy something,

they would have to ask the PriceMaster

who was like this entity that was up on the porch.

(haunting high-pitched music)

- What price?

- Make me an offer!

- [Rick] And so they would say like,

"I'll give you like five bucks for this plate,"

and he would be like, "$500,000!"

They just had to deal with it.

- Alright, I'm just takin' it and givin' you money.

(people off camera laughing)

- You know, someone had to be out there

and they would ask me for a price, and so then I go,

"Oh, you gotta ask the PriceMaster."

- I'll give you $17.95.

- $17.95 for the mini TV?

- $17,000!

- I'm ready to go, are you?

- I'm about ready.

- There was a few people who were like, "No,

like I really just wanna buy this.

Come on, like stop joking, I just wanna buy this."

Creating a spectacle that kinda jams up

the conventional way things are expected to work,

it sort of like stuns people and amuses them too.

Like they feel a little tickled by it.

- Who thought up all of this?

- The PriceMaster.

- The PriceMaster.

We sold a dollar for 64 cents,

that was the only thing that we sold, so. (laughing)

(low tones)

(birds chirping)

We've been working here on Lopez, in the shop,

for a couple weeks now.

And right now,

we're facing that we have to ship in the next two days

and we're definitely behind where we want it to be.

It feels bad like, "Ugh!"

You know, we're gonna be playing catch up,

and things just have to shift, that's the way it goes.

(model sliding)

- It's gonna be interesting.

We haven't ever repurposed a DM screen like this before.

We're gonna really well document

where everything is laid out

with some measurements and pictures.

And then we're gonna totally deconstruct this,

and then reconstruct it with another foam substrate

that is the correct shape

that we have built in the shop right now.

- Raven is going to create a document

of like where all this stuff is positioned on there,

as far as the distance to itself and to everything else.

And then we're gonna disassemble it.

We're gonna take all these pieces off

and see how they might fit on this new format,

and that will be kinda the first step

in creating the DM screen for this season.

(low rhythmic music)

It's a lot of content we're making, you know?

So like a 20-episode season, it's about 40 hours of content.

It's just a massive amount.

How's that goin'?

- Pretty good, I'm just about to attach the...

I'm gonna pin- - Pin it on.

- So at some point, I would love to just go through with you

and see how many of each ideally you would want.

- Just like any dungeon master making a campaign,

it's like do you go down

and like figure out the color of every doorknob

in the whole village?

Really, what you have to do

is figure out well, which doorknobs,

which things do we actually need to focus on?

Which is hard creative work

because it's sorta like writing and deciding,

making decisions about what places you're gonna be in.

That ends up being a lotta work for us.

But also,

if we're making things that aren't gonna appear on camera,

we're zapping resources

from things that are gonna appear on camera.

(tool spraying)

(low rhythmic music continues)

We have some really talented model makers,

and also people who specialize just in painting.

Like Shane Brockway is our lead miniatures painter,

who's been working on the show since the very first season,

and he still paints most of the minis that come through.

How's it goin'?

- Okay, so a couple things on the LEDs.

First,

I drilled out the resin to kind of test out that blue.

And we have bigger eyes to play with,

so if we wanna get larger LEDs, we can get them brighter.

- This is the minis we're workin' on right now.

Imagine that in there as the eye.

- I'm thinkin' that when we drill the eyes out,

instead of havin' to like wire it all through

like I was thinking,

we could just drill them straight out to use a wire.

'Cause the wire itself, we can hide into the sculpt easily.

And if we just drill out a pocket

for the battery housing there and styrene over it,

we don't have to take the styrene on and off

for turning it on and off camera and can blend it in.

- So you're saying...

But because we're gonna see the styrene, right?

So I think that thing should be like more center of back

as if it's like a part of their gear somehow,

you know what I mean?

- Yeah, we can do that.

- You know,

people often ask like what do we make the miniatures of,

or how do we make the miniatures?

And the answer is we do whatever works.

You know, sometimes we buy them off the shelf

and they're like already ready to go.

Like that's the character, that's the bad guy that we need.

Sometimes we 3D print things,

like we can find the best deals online

or we sometimes hire a 3D sculptor

to sculpt an original sculpt, which we then print.

Almost always, we're kit bashing,

which is when you're combining

one or more different models together,

like cutting the arms off this one and the head off of that.

We took a kit like this and built it,

but we kit bashed it, which is to say we...

'Cause this actual building is probably much bigger,

so we needed it real skinny, you know,

so we kinda chopped it up and remixed it

to get what we wanted, added some of our own details in it.

You know, it's just kinda like whatever gets the job done

and looks good, and we're constantly kind of evaluating

like what's the best way to to do it.

You know, the DM screen,

we think of it as kinda the movie poster of the whole thing.

It's a themed element that's in the bottom of every shot.

So it kinda ties the set together,

and it lets the cast kind of know like,

"Oh, this is the world."

When we're designing these,

we're thinkin' about like visibility, right?

Like you don't wanna get too far up into their face,

into their shot, and also these side things provide modesty.

So from the three-shot for the cast,

we try not to see like the computer screen

and all the gak back here.

And also we're thinking about usability, like you know,

the dungeon master, it needs to reach over to move a piece,

you know, we need to provide spots for them to reach.

So usually, it ends up being kinda the middle

is a good place to get some height, but not too much.

So I did like a rough sketch

of how this DM screen might work out,

and lookin' at some reference images that Raven took

and also from like past seasons.

And now, I'm gonna mark out the foam

and start to kinda figure out

how it might all work together,

how this stuff might fit in there.

There's a lotta stuff goin' on in the shop,

it's very distracting.

And so if I'm doin' something like this,

I try to like put a headphones in

and listen to a podcast or listen to music

just to sort of like turn everything else off

and kinda be able to focus.

(rhythmic electronic music)

(rhythmic electronic music continues)

Flow state is a lot about a mindset.

And being like highly stressed, or scared,

or feeling like low confidence,

those kinda things are not conducive to doing your best work

or being the most effective.

The way that I make creative work

is kinda the same way that I do everything.

(rhythmic electronic music continues)

You know, sometimes you get kind of a stuck in a rut

or like a pathway that is not fruitful,

and so you have to like sometimes just mix it up,

like go for a walk or just do something different,

take a break, take a nap, take a shower.

I mean,

all these kinda things can kind of jolt you out of it

and like relax you enough to like do your job.

(rhythmic electronic music continues)

(rhythmic electronic music continues)

(rhythmic electronic music continues)

You know, from kinda just this prelim work here,

I think it's pretty clear that we're not gonna be able

to use most of the pieces from the old screen

'cause they're too big.

I mean, that's cool,

it just means we're gonna be scaling 'em down some,

and probably some scratch builds and maybe some 3D printing.

(rhythmic electronic music continues)

- [Director] What step are you at right now?

- I'm pretty close to "I am shit" right now

in this exact moment.

I'm sure I'll pop back out here when we get to LA

and probably dip back in a few times. (laughing)

But you know, you just only have so much brain power

or whatever you wanna call it in a day,

and like I'm a little outta gas right now

to really give it what I wanna give it,

which feels not good, you know, it's not a good feeling.

(door shutting)

(birds chirping)

- [Cypress] Dad-

- Whoa, look!

It's some kinda mushroom or something.

- Yeah.

- [Cypress] Oh, are you okay?

- Yeah.

(children exclaiming playfully)

- [Meredith] You have to bring that-

(waves rolling gently drown out Meredith speaking)

- [Rick] Yeah.

- Oh yeah.

- Hey!

(Cypress yelling)

- Alright.

- It's springtime,

you know, things are really gettin' sunny and nice,

so I'm gonna try to soak up as much of that

before I have to be gone for two months,

and spend some time with my family and stuff.

Hey Willie, look,

there goes the blue heron, it's flyin' right over us.

- Whoa!

- Whoa! (laughing)

- I win!

- You won! (laughing)

- We have these beautiful rocky beaches here

that there's this semi-precious stone, it's called an agate.

I think they come from Oregon,

maybe from the Columbia River,

and they get rolled in the sea and they come on shore here.

They're little clear drops of glue or amber or something.

Sometimes, they have a little white spot on 'em.

It's just a fun pastime when you're hangin' out at the beach

to look for them.

It's just kind of a special thing from here

that has some meaning for us.

And we collect them,

we have a whole window sill full of agates in there.

I found a really big one one time

in the garden when I was digging, which was awesome.

(rocks clicking)

It's kinda meditative, you know,

just to sit here and run your hands through the rocks.

It just kinda, I don't know,

it does something to your brain I think

when you're just like scanning all these rocks

over and over again.

It's like watchin' a fire or somethin', you know?

Usually when I'm headed to LA,

I will grab an agate and take it with me.

And I just keep it in my pocket when I'm working

and run my fingers over it.

When I'm touchin' the agate, I guess it just represents

all the things that mean the most to me, which is my family

and livin' the kinda life I wanna live.

You know, like it's such a dream to live here,

but also get to do all this creative work

and get to collaborate with such super talented people

both on the crew and the cast.

And I just feel real lucky, you know?

And so I guess it makes me think about that stuff.

It brings me back a little bit, you know?

Wow, look at that!

Nope, it's fake agate.

It's a nice lookin' one though, but not agate.

(deep droning)

(deep droning continues)

(ship honking)

(bright rhythmic music)

You know,

this place is where I wanna be with my family and stuff.

In this moment,

it feels really, really hard to leave them behind.

(vacuum sucking)

You know,

it's always stressful building up to the day that we ship,

but then once you ship, it's sorta like,

"Oh, that's a relief now it's all crated up,"

and then the fun begins again in LA.

(drill whirring)

Yeah, I think we're in really good hands

with our shop down there and our team down there.

I'm lookin' forward to havin' a little bit of distance

and bein' able to really dive into "Fantasy High."

It's super exciting to go back to that world, you know,

so I wanna do a good job.

It's a really long time to be gone.

It's also just a really sweet time of year up here

with like the season turning and stuff.

I'm gonna miss all the plums when they come in,

but I'll be in time for the pears and apples I think

when I get back.

I'll take these crates to the ferry,

and then it's about a two-hour drive to Sea-Tac airport.

We didn't get as much done as I'd hope to,

but we'll just adjust

and figure out how to get it done in LA.

(car whooshing)

(curious electronic music)

(curious electronic music fading)

(cars whooshing)

We're here in Los Angeles, at our shop.

We start shooting tomorrow.

We're still finishing things.

It's been a very long, intense journey.

Everybody is working diligently and getting stuff done,

but you know, there's never enough time.

The DM screen is close and it's looking beautiful,

but it's not quite done yet.

We've never had this many talented people

all working on a season, and it is humbling

and incredible to see the stuff that people make.

Raven's kinda been spearheading it,

along with Amber and Kelsey.

And we've had to 3D model

a lotta the buildings that are on there

because the ones from the original DM screen were too big,

so we scaled 'em down.

We got a lotta LED lights going on there,

which is gonna be really cool.

It should be really beautiful.

- This is the size of Aguefort from the original DM screen,

from season one.

And this is what we're lookin' at with our new DM screen.

So everything from the old DM screen

was just so much bigger.

- We're doing a really comprehensive map this season.

as well as these projections of Elmville.

So this is the first time we're seeing projections

in a "Fantasy High" season.

And then we're doing an updated DM screen.

So those are all kinda representing the same town,

the same place.

So we've been trying really hard

to kinda synergize the looks

so that everything is kinda matchy.

These are all the maps of Elmville

that have been done over the years.

This one and this one were the original maps,

and then this map was done for season two,

and then this map was done for the seven.

We took all these maps

and created like a rough version that sort of combined info,

and then we did a sketch of it.

And the idea

is kinda like one of those promotional town maps

that you might get

that show you like all the little businesses in the town.

So now, this is a prop that the cast is gonna get on set.

Is the 24th a double-shoot day?

- Yeah.

- It was a two banger, so it probably still is.

But anyway, that just tells us we're...

- Whew!

- Now also,

we're looking at the schedule may be changing yet again

because of a impending SAG strike.

The Screen Actors Guilds' contract is up at the end of June,

June 30th,

and it's seeming very likely that they're gonna strike,

which is awesome.

But we are a SAG show,

so that would probably affect us, which means that anything

that we have scheduled after June 30th might not happen.

So we need to get everything done before June 30th.

Well, there's only so many days.

- Yeah, yup.

- So we may be taking the last like 25% of the show

and squinching in all into June.

We knew that something was coming,

and now that we know what it is,

we can react to it and make a plan.

Tomorrow, the shooting company shows up

and the cast and everybody, and we shoot the show,

so it's gotta be done by then.

(exciting rhythmic music)

(exciting rhythmic music continues)

(exciting rhythmic music continues)

(exciting rhythmic music continues)

(exciting rhythmic music fading)

- [Raven] I think that's done-

- We're gonna definitely have to go sideways

to get through the doors, do we feel okay about that?

Everything should be glued in.

- Yeah, we might use a couple trees, but we-

- Theoretically, yes, I feel great about that.

- Okay.

Probably like many creative people,

I care way too much about the work that I do,

I care way too much about this show.

I mean, I actually love this show and the work that we do.

It's probably not the most like professional way to be,

but I think it's the truth, you know?

And I try to be professional and distance myself,

but I really appreciate the work.

You know, it's probably slightly unhealthy,

but like so many creative people,

we find our value in like the work that we create

and how it touches people and stuff like that.

- Can we put the tips sort of down first?

(model squeaking)

Yeah, there we go, that's the money.

- Cool.

(model clicking)

- Wow!

- That looks awesome.

- It looks good.

What do ya think?

- I mean...

Do you remember?

(Rick laughing)

I'm gonna be really nostalgic this season,

more than any other seasons, I'm gonna say that right now.

Like this brings back a lota really great memories

of us sort of inventing the show and going,

"What the hell are we doing?"

And then, you know, magically, it all comes together.

Growing up,

I just loved the idea of like having houses

that were like kind of above each other.

So when we were thinking about like the original DM screen,

there was just something so romantic and poetic

about a town that was sort of built on a mountain

and the way that...

You know, it's like mining towns in Pennsylvania,

you know, it's like that kinda feel.

Where it's like, "I don't care what the landscape is,

I'm gonna build a house here."

This is just beautiful.

I mean...

- [Rick] It's nice, huh?

- They gotta give the gardener a raise.

The fact that he cuts "Owlbears" into the grass like that

with the mower.

- Yeah.

- He's got one of those 360s though.

- Oh yeah, yeah. - You know what I mean?

It's gotta turn-

- Well, it's like our campo tech,

you know, it's powered by magic.

(Michael laughing)

- Dude, look at this man, we're back!

It's "Fantasy High," baby!

This is day one.

This is day one here.

Rick Perry, man.

- Lookin' at "Fantasy High" as the first season

compared to now,

it's hard to say like one thing that we do better,

we kinda just do everything better.

We paint better, we do flocking better,

we do LEDs better, we carve foam better.

- Let's go!

- All of those things are just five years different.

(group chattering)

- Okay, we'll hold a note, hold a note.

(group humming musical note)

(group holding musical note)

Okay, that's good, thank you.

(group laughing)

- Alright, thank you so much for being here everyone.

Welcome to our first day

of shooting "Dimension 20: Fantasy High: Junior Year."

(group cheering)

(group applauding)

We've weathered a pandemic,

we've weathered many other seasons of "Dimension 20,"

and we are here doing this again.

I cannot be more excited, thank you.

(people cheering)

- I'm very thankful to have this job

and be able to make this content that is good.

I've heard from enough people out in the world

that it makes a difference in their lives.

So just so you know,

you make a difference in somebody's life that you never met,

and that is very, very special.

- It's a very rare gift

to be able to work with people that you respect,

admire, and love.

I am eternally grateful to everybody in this room,

and all of the people beyond this room

that make us being in this room possible.

So thank you all very, very much.

- This is Rick Perry.

Rick Perry is-

(group cheering drowning out Michael speaking)

- This show is a lot of work, as you all know, you know?

But this show also is a lotta joy, it's a great joy.

And that's why five years later,

we're still here makin' this show.

It's the biggest, best version of this show ever.

The amount of talent and people here in this room

all havin' fun making stuff together

is truly humbling, and special,

and just somethin' to think about.

Goin' back to Elmville feels like comin' home,

you know what I mean?

It's really somethin'.

So I just have one thing to say, which is hoot, growl!

- [Group] Hoot, Growl, Hoot, Growl, Hoot, Growl!

(exciting rhythmic music)

- "Fantasy High: Junior Year."

Brennan, the floor is yours.

(cymbals crashing)

(cars whooshing in background)

(tape tearing)

- We're almost done.

We're shooting our last episode tonight.

The last battle started day before yesterday,

so as you can see, we're just packin' it all up.

It's all gotta go into storage,

and we gotta inventory and label all the miniatures,

and get ready for the mini shoot

which will happen after this.

But otherwise, it's kinda just the end of all the design

and the fury of makin' all this stuff.

- It's always bittersweet when the season ends.

It's exciting to move on to the next thing

'cause the creative minds behind this show

are always dreaming up amazing new things.

So, I know that whatever we do next

is gonna be just like even more fun.

But it is always sad to say goodbye

to something that you've been with for so long.

We've been working on this season for months now,

so bitter sweet indeed.

- [Director] The final time I'll ask you this,

where on your creative process list are you?

- I'm just fully like floating along on "This is awesome."

Everything is copacetic, everything's cool,

and just coastin' on fumes a little bit, you know,

but feel very good, yeah.

We did our job.

- "Junior Year," it's been a blast.

I just love this fucking show.

- On that note, I'm gonna steal your mic.

On that note, I wanna call up the cast,

but I want to bring the crew in

to be all around here for this final episode.

- Yes! (group cheering)

- [Brennan] Come on, bros!

- Were gonna get in here!

- [Brennan] Yay! (group cheering)

Hallie Mayer, Molly Maloney, Rick Perry!

(group cheering)

Well done, you guys!

- This season,

we have never made a body of stuff at this caliber before.

You know, this is like by far the kind of biggest

and most incredible season that we've ever done.

So honestly, excited to see it all together

with editing and post, you know,

sound and illustrations and stuff.

It feels so good as a person

to make something and know that people watch it and love it

and that it touches them.

And sometimes,

this show has helped people through hard times or whatever,

and that's really meaningful as a creative person, you know?

You're not just like screaming into a void, you know,

that there's people out there that you have a dialogue with,

you know?

People love this show as much as we love it.

It's pretty awesome.

- To the ground motherfuckers, let's go!

(group cheering)

- Hall, call it!

- That's a wrap!

- [Group] Yeah! (group applauding)

- I'm excited to go back to Lopez

because I'm gonna take the month of August off

and there's a lotta stuff that needs to be done.

I gotta mow the hay fields

and just tons of things that piled up while I'm gone.

And so I'm just excited to be back

and to be back with my family and, you know,

just enjoy a little bit slower pace of life for a while.

(uplifting electronic music)

(uplifting electronic music fading)

(frogs croaking)

(people chatting)

(fire crackling)

- [Jesse] (gasping) It looks like a flower,

what flower is that?

- It does.

- Like foxglove? No, no, no.

- [Jesse] Kind of like pussy willows in a way.

- It's like...

Wait, what flower do you guys have in your house right now?

- [Rick] Oh, that's cherry blossoms.

- It kinda looks a little bit.

- [Jesse] They remind me of pussy willows.

- Oh yeah!

A lot of these are definitely gonna fall, but.

Ooh, that one on the end, Jesse.

- [Jesse] Okay.

- The one that's falling into...

Actually, those three, all of them.

- Oh, okay, okay, okay.

I'm gonna-

- Yeah. (Jesse laughing)

♪ Please don't say those words of forever ♪

♪ My fickle heart can't even tell tomorrow's weather ♪

- In film and TV production,

you definitely have like a work family that you develop.

It's really kinda intimate,

like you're goin' through your lowest lows

and your highest highs,

you know, you share them with these people

as you're making these things.

It definitely has been the best production design experience

of my career.

You know, not in my wildest dreams

did I ever think that I would live with my family

on a beautiful homestead,

and get to do creative work in my garage

that's incredibly fulfilling,

and get to have like people come and stay with us,

and like people be interested in what I'm doing.

I feel super lucky and just glad that it's happened,

and you know, I gonna keep makin' more "D20."

(fire crackling)

♪ Fallen petals on the ground ♪

(gentle acoustic guitar)

(group cheering and whistling)

- [Rick] That was incredible.

(gentle guitar music)

- [Director] So Rick, if you had the opportunity,

what advice would you give to your younger self?

- Oh, this one will make me cry.

I think about that a lot,

and I think about it when I'm raisin' my kids too, you know?

Like, I would say the same thing to my younger self

that I would say to any young person or to young people

that have come and worked here:

find things that make you happy and do 'em

and be passionate about 'em.

It will fill you up,

and it will bring good people around you,

and it will give your life meaning.

And yeah, and that stuff matters more than you know,

any of the bad shit, (laughing) you know?

(gentle guitar music continues)

(gentle guitar music continues)

(gentle guitar music continues)

(gentle guitar music continues)

(gentle guitar music fading)