Adam Savage Goes Behind the Scenes of New Zealand's Weta Workshop

I recently had the chance to take a vacation to New Zealand, and while I was there, I visited Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop and took a tour of the place. It was incredible (as you might imagine), but unfortunately, they wouldn't allow me to take any photos or video inside the space. Adam Savage and his Tested team recently went to Wellington and visited as well, but it looks like they didn't have the same restrictions I did. While they apparently weren't able to give everyone a look at the main floor of the workshop (yet, anyway), they did manage to get a bunch of access to some side areas and talk to its employees about sculpting, prosthetics, model painting, and more. This may be the closest you get without flying across the world and visiting Weta yourself!

On our trip to New Zealand and Weta Workshop, Adam Savage visits the miniatures stage for Thunderbirds are Go, a television series featuring incredible handcrafted "bigature" sets. We get up close to the intricate and detailed models to learn how these scaled environments were designed, fabricated, and then used for filming.

On a visit to effects studio Weta Workshop, Adam Savage meets and chats with artists who bring their own obsessions and passion projects to work. Sculptor Johnny Fraser-Allen, who is working on miniatures for Jim Henson's Labyrinth board game, shares with Adam his own intricate maze miniature, which will end up being the size of an entire room!

Adam Savage geeks out over model painting at Weta Workshop's paint department! Chatting with senior painter Jules German, Adam learns how the Weta Workshop artist creates the paint master for a scaled diorama from The Hobbit, as well as discussing tips and techniques for model makers of any skill level.

At Weta Workshop, we stop by the mold and cast department, where artists make the prosthetic makeup applications that transform actors into elves, dwarves, and orcs. We meet Kim Docherty, senior prosthetics artist, who explains how a silicone prosthetic like a dwarf's nose is made from start to finish at the shop.

Weta Workshop is composed of many different departments that produce its world-class fabrication and special effects work for films, but there are also departments that produce products for fans. We visit the collectibles workshop at Weta to learn what goes into designing and making a Lord of the Rings collectible.