It would be impossible to try to top the Opening Ceremonies production from Beijing, and Danny Boyle had no intention of trying to do so.
Instead, he went for a more personal and intimate mood. It opened with pastoral images of England's past, and then showed the transformation brought on by the Industrial Revolution.
There was a segment on the war and on the National Health Service, and a nice little children's bedtime sequence with all the story-time villians chased off by Mary Poppins.
When they announced they were going to do Chariots of Fire, I groaned thinking it would be really boring, but Mr. Bean turned it into a piece of comic treasure.
The Royal Entrance was also quite memorable, and amusing, with an escort from James Bond (Daniel Craig). The Queen is a very good sport.
The "Digital Revolution" brought us from the 60's to the present with an amazing musical medly and dance sequence following the story of two young lovers, and ended with a tribute to Tim Berners-Lee (credited with creating the Internet).
This was followed by the parade of athletes, and our own Simon Whitfield leading Canada's team into the stadium.
If you were wondering why each country was accompanied by a young women carrying what looked like a bronze funnel, it was because they used these to have the Olympic Flame be created by a combination small flames from all 200+ countries.
They had a really cool look at the flame looking up from inside the torch...
And of course, the night ended with fireworks...
I thought they did a good job, but it was probably more interesting for the TV audience than for those inside the stadium because of all the video segments and on-screen graphics. I liked the transformation from pastoral to industrial, and how they planted all the country flags on the hill.
From inside the IBC, everything went very well for us, although the guys tell me it was a rough day getting ready for tonight. Lucky for me, I didn't have to me in until midnight (though I showed up at 7:30pm to watch the ceremonies), so I missed most of the chaos. (I had an interesting day myself, because I couldn't sleep the whole day, but I'll tell you about it tomorrow).
Hope you enjoyed the show!
The Queen is now a Bond Girl...that really made me LOL!! Mr.Bean was quite funny and David Beckham quite hunky!!! ;0)
ReplyDeleteIt was no Beijing but I liked it.I always enjoy the Opening Ceremonies no matter...although I vaguely remember a very boring fashion show in the Albertville Opening Ceremony!
Alicia -0)