Olympic Ceremonies

[The Mystery Machine]

Well have not watched yet, I taped it. Probably won't get to see it till later this evening or tommorrow. From the descriptions here it sounds interesting.

China was most certainly memorable that is for sure. Topping that will be hard.

Good or bad, I get to scroll through at lightening speed.

 

[castleview]

My 2 cents: Mr. Bean was funny, the first few minutes were good, the video music montage was just wrong for a live show, the torch itself was cool but the torch lighters and torch relay very unexciting.

 

[islandmum]

There is something wrong when you need people to narrate & explain what's going on.

well its major parts of the history of GB - which obviously those who don't take interest in other countries history won't know about.

Things like the piece about the digital age/music/tv/culture through the last 50 years .... I think the world thinks Microsoft invented the World Wide Web - actually it was a little British guy ....... and he revolutionised the world more than any ipad has done!

we just don't shout about it quite as loud.

And the music .... brilliant! - apart from Paul McCartney, he represents 1948 London games better!

 

[darthtatty]

Interesting to read all your comments, glad so many enjoyed it.
I thought it was wonderful, going through bits of our history.

There was a technical problem at the start of Sir Pauls singing, so it made it sound a lot worse. I agree with others and think he needs to retire gracefully.

 

[Laura]

That's an interesting perspective!

I was not a fan of the opening ceremonies - I guess I just thought most of it lacked the gravitas and respectfulness and importance worthy of the Olympics. The giant Voldemort, and Mr. Bean (really, we can't just enjoy the fabulous London Orchestra?), and the whole texting/dance scene just seemed... almost inappropriate (the whole world is watching!). But this does give me more context and appreciation for the opening ceremonies. And I am, admittedly, sort of a stick in the mud about these types of things.

ETA: And I guess it goes without saying that the commentary was HORRIBLE!

I couldn't disagree more, except the commentary was indeed horrible. I thought it was a perfect bit of British humor, poking fun at the Olympics' solemnity. Especially the Mr. Bean bit! It had the right amount of gravitas at the right moments.

Paul McCartney. What happened? I didn't know he couldn't sing anymore!

 

[sam_gordon]

Mr. Bean was funny but the rest was just meh to the point that I will probably not waste my time watching another opening ceremony.

With the exception of the parade of nations, isn't every opening ceremony different? Why would a bad one (your opinion) keep you from watching others?

I watch things from a technical standpoint, and what they pulled off... transforming from the agriculture to industrial age, the lights on the seats, and the lighting of cauldron were all very cool.

The Queen thing was a good idea, but I think it failed because everything shot ahead of time was in daylight. Even when they opened the door of the helicopter, it was obviously daylight (despite showing the helicopter approach the stadium in darkness).

I know this was an NBC thing, but I had a hard time hearing the stadium sound... not as big a deal during the parade of nations, but during the boy/girl thing, I wanted to hear the music.

Another "fair" IMO, during the boy/girl thing (and I thought the staging was great), boy sees girl, girl leaves her phone, boy finds the phone, then boy texts girl? How did he text her if he had her phone.

 

[Hrhpd]

All in all, I found it disjointed, hard to follow and not very good. I agree that if the majority of your audience needs a cheat sheet just to understand, it was poorly played.

The fact that the Brits on here say they understood it makes it even worse. This was supposed to be a show for all countries, all of the billion people watching it. Gearing a show so that only the Brits know the inside scoop is rather self centered and not in the spirit of the International significance of the games. I appreciate that they were celebrating their history, but it could have been done so that everybody understood better.

That said, there were a few good moments. Getting the Queen to participate was fun. Mr. Bean was entertaining and the forging of the Olympic rings was spectacular.

But really, kids' nightmares for an Olympic theme? The whole technology skit was bizarre. Found it ironic that the beginning of the skit, they were all holding IPads, a decidedly American piece of technology. It was also small in scale, all being played out on one side of the house. Can't imagine what the audience behind the house thought since they couldn't see through the house. Too much video for a live performance. The children's choirs representing the 4 countries would have been much more effective if they were singing in the stadium live.

And I hope that at 70, I will have half the energy of Sir Paul.

Not my favorite opening ceremonies. If they wanted a show full of innuendo just for the British people, they shouldn't have invited the rest of the world. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

It wasn't my favorite opening ceremonies that I have ever seen. The whole Tubular bells; hospital scene, Lord Voldimort thing was quite freaky, as was teh giant kid sleeping at the end (and I really don't think that part was intended to be creepy). I wish that they had had an actual legend carry the torch at the end. I know that they were going for different and they achieved that, but it wasn't my cup of tea. Like most Americans, I hated out uniforms. Really didn't care that they were made in China, but thought that the Ralph Lauren logo over the heart was dumb. The flag should be over the heart. Ralph Lauren logo also shouldn't have been bigger than our flag. Personally, I think they looked like they were all getting ready to assist people as they fly the friendly skies. Very American Airlines Stewardess-like. Luckily, United Kingdom came out a bit later and took all the heat off of our uniforms. Yikes. Looked like the Beegees got together with some futuristic designer and that is what they came up with. But, as always Kate was stunning, Harry was adorable, Will was Regal, and Queen Elizabeth was lovely.

 

[Laura]

I thought the US contingent looked like Air France stewardesses. The French looked more American.

 

[PigletsPal2]

Wow, what do you do, military?

No, DH was in the Foreign Service, an Administrative Officer at our Embassies and Consulates overseas. It was a wonderful life, and I miss it terribly.

BTW, the missing part of that link is "visite" if anyone had trouble with it.

Queen Colleen

 

[Bay Hill]

The ending was edited out on NBC, such as the Arctic Monkeys preformed 2 songs and the Olympic oath by the athletes and the officials were not part of the broadcast.

My wife was saying that Mr. Laurer and Ms.Viera was calling the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

 

[Pipkin]

I'm in the minority so far, but I think the Opening Ceremonies stink!! With a capital S!

We're watching but none of us are liking it.

Well, I'm in the minority with you. The only parts I have enjoyed are the Queen and James Bond thing, and Mr. Bean doing the Chariots of Fire scene. I've been really bored by the rest of it.

BRING ON SIR PAUL!

boring and so cluttered its hard to see anything or understand what is going on. I really dislike this opening ceremony

We didn't care for it. Very disjoint and boring

I didn't like it.

Leslie

I have to admit that this was painful to watch. I enjoyed the Bond segment though.

The Bond segment was ok. Bean went on too long, the rest was awful.

 

[Planogirl]

Most of the commentary didn't really bother me all that much but I suspect that it was because the show was hard to follow. Lauer at least helped clear up a few parts where we just looked at each other and wondered what was going on.

 

[epcot.girl]

well its major parts of the history of GB - which obviously those who don't take interest in other countries history won't know about.

Exactly. I understood the whole thing without commentary because I'm British. But I would have been clueless about the Beijing opening ceremony without some commentary.

Found it ironic that the beginning of the skit, they were all holding IPads, a decidedly American piece of technology.

Well the lead designer is British: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive Or it could have been a touch of incorporating other cultures. Or just because iPads are everywhere in the UK and part of our culture, along with nearly every other developed country.


I heard NBC edited out some bits including the lesbian kiss and the tribute to the 7/7 victims. Nice.

 

[phorsenuf]

The ending was edited out on NBC, such as the Arctic Monkeys preformed 2 songs and the Olympic oath by the athletes and the officials were not part of the broadcast.

My wife was saying that Mr. Laurer and Ms.Viera was calling the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

I thought it ended kind of odd. There's all this stuff going on, fireworks and all, go to a commercial, come back and it's over and it looked like a lot of the stadium was almost empty. Seemed a bit disjointed.

 

[akhenaten]

The ending was edited out on NBC, such as the Arctic Monkeys preformed 2 songs and the Olympic oath by the athletes and the officials were not part of the broadcast.

My wife was saying that Mr. Laurer and Ms.Viera was calling the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Thanks for mentioning the oath.... I was wondering what happened. I always enjoy the oath.... Poor editing choice..... The commentary was horrible.... Even when the athletes came in....not enough stories about the athletes .

 

[akhenaten]

I heard NBC edited out some bits including the lesbian kiss and the tribute to the 7/7 victims. Nice.

Since it was edited out could you tell who kissed and what the tribute was?

 

[sittinpretty]

All in all, I found it disjointed, hard to follow and not very good. I agree that if the majority of your audience needs a cheat sheet just to understand, it was poorly played.

The fact that the Brits on here say they understood it makes it even worse. This was supposed to be a show for all countries, all of the billion people watching it. Gearing a show so that only the Brits know the inside scoop is rather self centered and not in the spirit of the International significance of the games. I appreciate that they were celebrating their history, but it could have been done so that everybody understood better.

That said, there were a few good moments. Getting the Queen to participate was fun. Mr. Bean was entertaining and the forging of the Olympic rings was spectacular.

But really, kids' nightmares for an Olympic theme? The whole technology skit was bizarre. Found it ironic that the beginning of the skit, they were all holding IPads, a decidedly American piece of technology. It was also small in scale, all being played out on one side of the house. Can't imagine what the audience behind the house thought since they couldn't see through the house. Too much video for a live performance. The children's choirs representing the 4 countries would have been much more effective if they were singing in the stadium live.

And I hope that at 70, I will have half the energy of Sir Paul.

Not my favorite opening ceremonies. If they wanted a show full of innuendo just for the British people, they shouldn't have invited the rest of the world. Just my opinion, of course.

The director was trying explain our recent history (an agrarian society which kick starts the world wide industrial revolution, moving through to the world wars and beyond) & to celebrate the things that we British try to feel proud about (although this isn't really in our nature). If the NBC hosts didn't explain what was going on then perhaps they weren't very good or very well prepared? There were two full dress rehearsals during the week that they could have sat in on. I understand that your version was also highly edited and full of commercials which I think would be very jarring and ruin the fluidity of the whole thing.

Alas some people aren't going to get every reference, especially those with no interest in other countries. To make it completely understandable to everyone on the planet I guess we could have held a North Korean style Mass Games event - lots of spectacle and thousands of well drilled people performing gymnastics and throwing balls in the air. What do you think?

Inevitably there were going to be British references in the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games and I don't think we were being self-centred to include things which not everyone might understand. I won't expect the Rio games in 2016 to be devoid of any Brazilian content that I may not immediately get, in fact anything curious would likely pique my interest and make me want to find out more as I like to learn about other cultures.

 

[islandmum]

Found it ironic that the beginning of the skit, they were all holding IPads, a decidedly American piece of technology.

it was a nod to Joanthan Ive - quote from the Apple bio:

"He is the lead designer and conceptual mind behind many of Apple's products, including the MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad."

produced by an American company yes, designed and conceived by a Brit.

Danny Boyle is a big techno geek and gave nods to 2 Brits who've changed the face of the world with their ideas and creations - Tim Burners-Lee and Jonathan Ive.

I'm glad it was a huge British themed party - as it should have been imo. I hope down in Brazil for the next games it will be a massive Samba party!!

 

[epcot.girl]

Since it was edited out could you tell who kissed and what the tribute was?

The kiss was from an episode of a TV program here ('Brookside') shown years ago. The first same-sex kiss shown on TV before the 9pm watershed. There are rumours that last night it became the first same-sex kiss shown in Saudi Arabia.

Here's some info on the 7/7 stuff: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-attacks-tribute-edited-Opening-Ceremony.html

The memorial was a moving section on a night full of pomp, humour and high drama that got the Greatest Show On Earth up and running in truly British style.

The BBC introduced the segment by saying: 'Ladies and gentlemen, please pause silent for our memorial wall for friends and family who can't be here tonight.

'The excitement of that moment in Singapore seven years ago when England won the games was tempered the next day with sorrow from the events of July 7 that year. A wall of remembrance for those no longer here to share in this event.'