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An American here and I think I got most of the ceremony.
Parts I really liked, the look on your Queen's face after her Bond Girl surprise and how touched she was by the children singing your Anthem, and liked the nod to history throughout the ceremony. Thought it was good the way contributions to mankind and the world were touched upon. A nod to where we were and where we are was cool. Thought the entry of athletes was well handled and efficient. Forging the rings, etc was all nice. Pyrotechnics were great.
But I could have done with a lot less jumping on the bed, nightmares, and dancing medical people. that segment just went on too long for me. And while I got the tube thing and partying kids, I would just have soon seen a musical.
But, the NBC (I think) announcers really did not do you all a favor and ruined a lot of it with their blathering chatter. If they were chattering about what something symbolized or why it was done in explanation, I could have stood the chatter itself. But they veered off into politics, ideology, and celebrity.
So I took the dog for a walk instead of listening to their garbage. But good luck on the Olympics. Hope it goes well.
Not at all. The Olympics are a global event and shouldn't be solely about the host country. If international viewers 'don't get it' or don't enjoy it then that's a failure whatever the reason. What's obvious is that Brits cannot handle any criticism from outside. It's usually palmed off with "they don't understand", or "it's too subtle".. what a load of old twoddle!
Put it the other way around: many people from other countries can never accept that Brits can do events right. It's in their blood bash Brits. For some people, whatever the opening ceremony was, they could never get it right...because it was in London.
An American here and I think I got most of the ceremony.
Parts I really liked, the look on your Queen's face after her Bond Girl surprise and how touched she was by the children singing your Anthem, and liked the nod to history throughout the ceremony. Thought it was good the way contributions to mankind and the world were touched upon. A nod to where we were and where we are was cool. Thought the entry of athletes was well handled and efficient. Forging the rings, etc was all nice. Pyrotechnics were great.
But I could have done with a lot less jumping on the bed, nightmares, and dancing medical people. that segment just went on too long for me. And while I got the tube thing and partying kids, I would just have soon seen a musical.
But, the NBC (I think) announcers really did not do you all a favor and ruined a lot of it with their blathering chatter. If they were chattering about what something symbolized or why it was done in explanation, I could have stood the chatter itself. But they veered off into politics, ideology, and celebrity.
So I took the dog for a walk instead of listening to their garbage. But good luck on the Olympics. Hope it goes well.
What he/she said is accurate. I loved the parts where adults and children sang different songs/anthems live. But the partying kids just felt out of place in the ceremony. Also, while honoring the doctors and health service is great, that segment felt drawn out and weird with the giant baby ().
The TV announcers here were terrible. They made fun of many countries during the athlete entry. Plus many commercials made specially for the Olympics. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to tell when the commercials ended and a section of the ceremony recorded in advance was shown (I mean the Bond entry and other similar). But the cauldron lighting was a lovely idea.
Full disclosure: I am not American, but an Indian living there.
Well, I'm American and I got it, literary and historic references and all - all but Mr. Bean, that is, who was funny but brand-new to me. I did get the "Chariots of Fire" reference, of course, and found his deadpan mildly humorous, but far from hilarious.
What was hilarious was the Queen as Bond Girl - and whoever decided to include the corgies was inspired. Outstanding, fresh, very funny, and totally unexpected!
I was stunned by the beautiful swift motion trek down the Thames from its source to London at the very beginning, and also loved the lovely-to-look-at, nostalgic "green and pleasant land" opening sequence, though being tipped off, I did wonder how this top-of-the-candy-box view of Olde Englande ( a view still to be found in many places, btw) would transform into the Satanic Mills sequence - imagine my surprise when I saw the rural folk rolling up the turf and lugging it off! Presumably to be reused elsewhere. And how on earth did those rings really form above the industrial chimneys? And how did the chimney sweepers (??) manage to rise with the towers?
I also liked the inclusion of children's literature in the Great Ormand Street Hospital sketch. Loved the kids bouncing on the beds, nurse-nannies haplessly trying to tuck them in, reading beneath the covers with a flashlight, and J.K Rowling reading from "Peter Pan", all the royalties from which were given to GOSH by author Sir James Barrie. For those who thought the children's lit. references were too Disneyfied - no, the referrals were to authors Dodie Smith ("101 Dalmations") and P.L. Travers ("Mary Poppins"). Both books predate their movie adaptions by many, many years.
However, the nightmare/literary villains looked truly scary - I hope no real childish nightmares resulted. It did concern me when the little girl perched precariously atop the rising bed appeared to lack any kind of security device to keep her safe had she accidentally fallen...why not put an inconspicuous Peter Pan flying belt on her and incorporate it into the act?
But oh, dear, that awful "Frankie and June" sequence went on far too long, and was a hot mess. Lots of energy among the young dancers, but no group choreography to make sense of it - lots of individual dancing and couples dancing, but it was shapeless, without form that would have made it more suited for viewing on TV or from above. It could have made its simple points about rock music through the years and the continuity of young love more concisely and effectively.
I am in awe at the energy and endurance of the hundreds of young drummers who pounded away for what seemed like hours, standing and stepping all the while.
I did not realize that part of the ceremony was not shown by NBC. But I was exasperated with much of the truly ignorant commentary we Americans were subjected to - really, for such an event, it was quite amateurish. It was stated repeatedly that those portraying doctors and nurses in the GOSH sequence were real doctors and nurses, and the commentators were really surprised how well they could dance. How naive - it's possible a few medicos were included, but someone had - and shared - very bad misinformation. (edited to add: I've just learned that at least 50 of the dancers WERE real doctors and nurses! Wow, that's great! - sorry for my doubts, NBC reporters...).
Similarly, the NBC commentators were barely able to cope with what they indicated was a very swift parade of athletes - they kept talking about how they were having to skip part of their script, when if they'd omitted to mention this, they would have had time to include much of what they were skipping. There were also lots of unwelcome commercial breaks during the parade, particularly when smaller nations were passing by.
I did like seeing the Thames approach of the Olympic flame, especially its earlier journey on the Royal barge, the "Gloriana", and the suspense as it entered the stadium. The lighting of the giant flame was spectacular, though it's too bad it's not visible outside the stadium.
And of course, the fireworks were spectacular and extremely well-timed for emphasis throughout.
So for those that missed Emeli Sandes i can't find a link to the Olympic coverage but i do have one to her singing "Abide With Me" although the version in the Olympics was the full song. Sadly this is the best i can find.. here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmtRlEIIZnQ
I liked the opening ceremony but i dont care for beckham. I esp liked paul mccartney & the timeless classic Hey Jude. Mister Bean was cool too. England is one of the most beautiful country in the world & the only reason im watching some of the olympics is for the sights. Todays bike race scenery is breath taking.
beckham brought his usual naffness to what was otherwise quite a hip event , not that paul mc cartney has ever been hip either
compared to the usual stern faced , stiff , establishment like presentation which is the hallmark of most olympic oppening ceremonys , this one was self depreciating , quirky and loose , both british and london in personality , it was also quite BBC in charechter , liberal politics and multiculturalism was quite evident though not obnoxiously so
i love james bond and seeing as the great man has been risking life and limb for her majesty this past fifty years , it was about time the queen showed up to show her respect for 007 , was silly but showed the queen to be a good sport
their are very few films i hate more than chariots of fire but the rowan atkinson sketch fitted right into the self depreciating tone of the evening
all in all , i thought it was very enjoyable and like i said earlier , a fresh change from previous earnest and regimental like affairs
Thanks, Baldrick, for posting the YouTube link - NBC was quite clueless last night, to omit that beautiful hymn of remembrance and tribute from its coverage.
Of course, their coverage was on the clueless side anyway...
I liked the Beijing opening ceremony better than the London one. I particularly did not like the health insurance theme part and some parts of the ceremony seemed a bit disjointed.
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For some people, whatever the opening ceremony was, they could never get it right...because it was in London.
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