Really hope after they’re done with Nemesis, they take the effort to repaint and re-theme it with the key elements that are missing. John deserves to see his vision fulfilled.

I wish they would go back and make this original version complete. e.g. the themed tunnel. Make Air Great again.

Just hearing John talk so brilliantly about Air being the hero makes me want it to go back to its original themeing. Such a simple and fantastic name. I never got to ride Galatica with the VR but it feels like a missed opportunity. I hope the Towers eventually change the name back and give this icon the love it deserves

the internet can be a great place at times… this is a wonderful video

This was a fantastic watch. Thanks for creating it!

I felt sorry for him when he said he never got to finish the theming and now he can't do that anymore

Wow.. this video was incredible! Such a shame Air was re-themed to Galactica - it would have been so much better if Merlin did what was meant to be done in the first place - complete the amazing scenery and special FX that were never finished originally.

Thought this was a very interesting video, down to earth and an insight into prototyping new rides, presented John's interview really well!

Thank you for making this video, air has a special place in my heart since i had only just started to get into theme parks in 2001 and watched them build it. The hype around this coaster was huge, there where people hiding in the bushes whilst the trains where being delivered so they could get photos to post online. In the early days air was a real troublesome coaster with technical problems after almost every train had completed the circuit. Within a few weeks of opening one of the steel rails that tilt the cars in the station actually bent badly and the ride was closed for a few days. I spent many hours queuing for it in the first few weeks. I remember my first ride in the first week of opening, my girlfriend at the time did not enjoy it so much as the rubber vest that holds your upper body released above the shoulders plunging her forward so she was almost hanging out of the train. I have the picture from that particular ride somewhere. At no point was she in danger, it was just an uncomfortable ride.

Incredible documentary with a beautiful edit!

GREAT video , love that man 🤩. I remember Air being opened by Mark N Lard off Radio 1 . Mark nearly threw up I seem to remember 🤢🤮😂😂👍🏼🧱

Absolutely outstanding short documentary! Bravo!!! In my opinion, Air is the underdog of modern coasters - not just at Towers - and it has a great deal of significance and importance in the theme park industry. Don't worry about Galactica, that fad will pass, although admittedly it is a great brand and perhaps stronger than Air's brand. But, the original coaster itself will be around for a long time and hopefully one day, maybe with the next revamp, the original concept will be fully realised.

There were coasters i went on befoe air. But that was the one that made me fall in love with them. It was so beautiful and graceful, and the feeling of flying was just incredible. It was so smooth (well, back the year it opened anyway!). I will always have a soft spot for it.

First time I ever went on this attraction..... Never have I felt a smoother ride than this. This is a dream to fly. Yes I agree shame they didn't complete the tunnel and other fly throughs. But still an amazing ride

Absolutely fantastic!

Really interesting video and very nicely put together! Air was a great concept and groundbreaking at the time, but to be honest I wouldn't be sad to see it go now. It's funny that even John doesn't like the nauseating 'lying on your back' bit, haha.

Wow! beautifully put together interview/documentary. Would love Towers/Merlin to re-visit Airs original theming especially now they've seen what impact it has with the wicker man and now they are on the cycle of smaller investment for the next few years it would be the perfect time to do it.

Wonderful video. Shame they run out time and money to theme the bits John had visions for. It's the only rollercoaster I have been on that I called "beautiful". From the ground it looks quite scary, but once you are released from the lift hill and are then sent flying, the sensation was just amazing. It is shame they rebranded it and from what I read, they give up with the VR now. Personally if they hadn't, I wouldn't of bothered with it. I loved the sights of seeing the sky on the barrel roll at the start. I haven't been to AT since it's rebranded - before Wickerman in fact, but I am hoping to go this year. Love Alton Towers, hold a special place in my heart. Mainly as it was where I rode the first roller coaster back in the 90's and Corkscrew holds that place too for being the first one to go upside down, so glad they kept the corkscrew section at the start of the park too. I often pat it before going in as a sort of homage to the great park that is Alton Towers. 💙

Such a great coaster and created by a amazing man I love this coaster

Incredible video 👍🏻

This material and footage is absolutely fantastic! Keep these up!

Aw such a shame the theming of the ride wasn’t complete but it was one of my favourite AT rides. My mum loved Air and said it was her favourite. Just imagine what the ride would be like if they finished the theming as planned...

Wonderful Documentary!! It's really interesting to see the ride from Johns perspective. It makes me sadder though now knowing what they had originally planned, and now seeing it in such a sad state. John deserves to see his original vision finally become a reality. I love the old theme so much!

Fantastic interview, very interesting and well edited. Thanks for this contribution!

This man is a legend! I still believe air is the most fun ride in the UK because of how well it replicates the idea of flying. You can still experience it by choosing not to wear the headset with Galactica 😊

Hello There, great interview and it was fantastic to see John Wardley's perspective on the whole ride. Cheers Peter :)

I have seen this video already 4 times, love it! Air is a way better name than Galatica.

Fantastic video. It will always be air to me and on my last several visits more people rode it without the new vr than with ! The way it should be.

Really really awesome documentary! Very interesting to hear how John Wardley came up with the ride. Wished Air had all it's originally theming. I'm actually pretty curious what John Wardley thinks of the current theming...

John, you made my favourite ride

Brilliant. A lovely insight. Honestly it’s sad that the new theming takes so much away from the ride compared to what it added. It’s really surprising that a ride as sensual as air was even considered for VR, something which wholly detracts from the experience of flight the ride provides so well. I compare it to adding a floor to a floorless coaster. Regardless air will remain at heart as a ride so special. Nothing can provide the same feeling it continues to.

We owe so so much to John Wardley in this country - a genuine unsung hero and very much deserving of a knighthood

After the nemesis retrack AT should defo consider doing the themeing it once was going to

Fantastic ride, still one of my favourites at the park.

thank you for uploading this!! air/galactica is my favourite ride at towers :’)

Rip Air, fantastic ride, Proud for AT to be the first to have a flying coaster. :) Great video as well!

Magnificent! Thank you!

Such a good editing. We need more of these high-end productions of Themeparks and rides! Well done!

Great video 👍🏻 I think they should drop the galactica name and name it Air again, finish the theaming as John intended years ago .Still a good coaster ,like the way it swoops round the walking area,.My daughter can’t wait to go on this when she is tall enough .

Great documentary. Well put together and lovely sound track too. More than happy with the ride as either air or galactica. Do t forget you can ride VR or non VR to best of both worlds.

loved every second of this video!

I’ve always wanted to meet John Wardley he’s my idol he’s amazing

Stunning video. Love it

This is the dream!! A talk with the master!

This video is great, loved it!!

Amazing video, thank you!

I love Air, my favourite ride

Fantastic documentary but it doesn’t cover the insane amount of issues Air had at opening. It clearly was a prototype and the poor weather at opening in March really affected the ride. The systems John mentions had scores of issues getting people in and out of the prone position. People got trapped on the ride on the break run and the actuating bar in the station snapped at one point.

3:22 EXACTLY So all you people saying 'OoH rOlLeRcOaStErS aReN't SaFe' can go to buggery

He’s amazing!!

Brilliant ! Just wish merlin spent the money on finishing the concept rather than turning it into galatica :(

I've always defended this ride because some riders hate the fact that it's slow but people sometimes think that speed is everything but I tell them that if superman or supergirl came up to you and said get on my back and let's go for a flight.......would you want to woosh around the world at high speed and seeing nothing and your ride is quickly over? Or would you prefer to go around the world at a nice smooth flight taking in the scenary and having a lot longer flight with the Kryptonians? They soon think twice lol but I also tell them about the physics of a roller coaster and I then say..........with the position your in and you want to go around a turn point at high speed! There is nothing in the front of your body to stop your vital organs being pushed out your chest and that would cause blackouts and possibly fatalities. Air is an awesome marvel of coaster engineering and I'm glad the VR is gone as VR is not ready for coasters if at all but VR does have a promising future, I'm currently designing a ride that will use VR but not in coasters and I've given you some clues in this message of what I'm doing. Great video and Mr wardley is a big miss for British theme parks.

I know I’m quite a few years old to commenting on this however Air will always be Air to me. Galactica wasn’t something I enjoyed due to suffering from motion sickness with VR headsets and all of this “worlds first” that the parks keep going for doesn’t really bother me. I know people say they wouldn’t be sad to see the ride go but I would - Rita is the one I’m not overly bothered about missing sadly as it’s just Stealth but without the top hat. Air was and still remains a great ride in my opinion

Great video!!

John Wardley is also a cheat code in RCT3. And its also the name of a guy who designed a coaster. Coincidence? Maybe..................

Alton Towers, please keep Air’s identity into what it used to be. Changing the theming and name into Galatica gives it such a loss of identity.

What a great video

I never rode Galactica but from what I've seen I like the Air theme better

I'm Very Interested In Rollercoasters And Such So This Was Very Interesting! I Look Up To John And His Great Ideas! I'm Also Very Confused Why Did They Rename It Galactica I Know It Fits For The G In STRONG For Big 6 And All But Still!

excellent slow mo shots...! almost makes one wonder why the coaster isn't as slow IRL

If this guy asked me to go to one of his garden barbecues, I could die happy.

This is awesome! Can we get one about Vampire please?

The only thing I would keep from galactica is the soundtrack but everything else get rethemed back to air with additional bits of theming to have the complete package

Simply use the VR to simulate the original theming to replicate the tunnel and scenic landscape

Ashamed to say I’ve never ridden it either as Air or Galactica but that changes next month. So I’ll be the best person to compare the two as I’ll do VR first not knowing the sensation and visuals of each movement then non VR straight after. That way I’ll be be able to compare both concepts completely fresh without any preconceptions other people had having ridden Air in the past. Should be interesting.

I wonder how he feels now that they made it galactica

This guy played RCT in real life

By the way. You could've placed the Theming elements overtime Like for example: 2003 = Retheme Tunnel 2004 = Theming Phase 1 2005 = Theming Phase 2

12:23 I mean you can always take the goggles off XD

I wonder if the train still relays back data from the restraint sensors to the station whilst its mid ride? There does not appear to be any kind of electrical circuit on the track outside station for it do this, and I dont think we had the likes of wifi or even bluetooth back when air was in development. You can clearly see the train runs into a set of electrical contacts as it enters the station and leaves them as it exits. I agree with John about the bit on your back, I dont really like it either, it seems a bit pointless as birds dont fly upside down although at the time the ride was built, I understand that it was limited as to what the coaster could do and they needed to more than just a barrel roll in the ride.

what camera did you use for the videos, the quality is amazing

music at the end?

When they get the money sod an SW 9 add the original concepts to Galactica and change the name back to air

Air was a great coaster concept but there have been better uses of the flying coaster all around the world. It's a shame that AT ran out of money. I love manta at SeaWorld Orlando and thanks to B&M and JW we have many more flyers. When Airs time is up I think AT should preserve one of the trains at the entrance plaza.

Great video, they need to get rid of the vr, the ride would be alot better if they heavily themed it like originally planned!!!

Who else hopes that John Wardley’s gunna be involved in Thorpe Park’s 2020 project 🤞?

John wardley aren’t you amazing !!!

Does anyone know how I could send John an E-Mail as I have a question to ask him?

Don’t look down!

Hey do people complain about the headsets? You don't need them to ride. I guess you could argue that air was just removed from the face of the earth in theming but I still love Galactica / Air ether way.

Omg look nemesis might get a re track

cool

Didnt know Jigsaw liked rollercoasters.

Does John Wardley still consult for Alton Towers?

Another BAKER, Battered with his own LLOOCCKKIINNGG PIIIIN!!!! XD

Could they not plant some higher trees?

You sound like the charity shop sue guy

I miss air I don’t like vr that much and galactica what does that even mean this ride it supposed to feel like your flying not going to spa e

Bring back air towers

So many dislikes?

Wardley never designed Nemesis...

shouldve done it instead of galactica duh

It's too short and too slow, 😪

I remember being so disappointed when I first rode it. Even to this day I couldn’t care less if I ever rode it again. Tatsu at magic mountain tho, now that’s how a flying coaster should be! I do understand that AIR was the first of its type and has all those horrid Alton towers restrictions but I still find the ride dull. Painfully slow loading and a painfully dull ride. I can’t be the only one with this opinion surely?

This ride is crap i always give it a miss . Thats my personal opinion . They should remove it and build a better rollercoaster to replace it.

terrible ride.

Personally for me. The uk theme parks are just shite compared to parks I Europe such as six flags. No comparison. You could pay the same amount of money. 2 hour queue for a 30 second drop. What a waste of sodding money. No thanks. Waste of money. For the convenience I get it being in the uk but to call alton towers the best theme park in the uk. No chance. There is no ultimate theme park in the uk. PERIOD. Go to the states.

Great video!