2012 Summer Olympics: The Thread

[jackpackage200]

It was rather silly...but in a good way. I enjoyed it, especially Rowan Atkinson. The "Boy meets Girl" bit was incredibly cheesy and over the top but it did make me smile.

Also, I wish David Tennant was the one lighting the Olympic torch.

 

[HollaAtchABoi]

American here, just finished watching, for some reason they tape delayed it.
I thought it was amazing personally.
I enjoyed the rock and roll bits...im a huge fan of british rock though and artic monkeys in particular though so not suprising I liked that.
But the real highlight for me was the industrial revolution bit with the childrens choirs...forging the rings like that was very clever and impressive, shouldve ended with that but still overall really cool.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

The opening just confused me. Half the time I had no idea what was going on.

 

[Aris Khandr]

But the got Tubular Bells going on, so I'm willing to forgive the lack of Tolkien. (I know, I know, I'm a bad geek.)

Total loss of geek credibility here: I've never seen Doctor Who.

Absolutely loved the cultural children's choirs. Despite being Scottish, I still smiled at the rendition of "Danny Boy". I just love that song.

 

[CounterReproductive]

Despite being an awful cynic and spoilsport. I have to say honestly that overall I have enjoyed watching the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. Stand out moments go to the young athletes chosen to light that fantastic petalled Olympic torch, the boat that Beckham arrived on (who wouldn't want a boat like that), the fact that they managed to drop the only acceptable line from God save the Queen by the Sex Pistols into the ceremony , Emile Sande's accappella[sic] rendition of Abide with Me. I know the two world wars had a profound effect on us as a country but not sure why we had to bring it up at an International Olympic opening ceremony.. way to make Germany feel a bit awkward ... but hey we are British i suppose. Nice job Mr Boyle, nice job.

That was my facebook status at 1 pm

I heard the TARDIS arrive, which made me go... ok thats good enough, I also at the start of the ceremony saw a weather balloon disappearing out of the stadium, I forgot about it completely until the end of the Pink Floyd music after the torch was lit, and before Sir Paul McCartney started singing, when they showed the Olympic Rings hanging in the upper atmosphere on the edge of space. I know its been done by a lot of people with a lot of different objects , but I liked it

 

[Vince Cocozza]

It was certainly better than I expected.

There was a distinct lack of rock in the music section though. No Led Zeppelin? No Black Sabbath? No Iron Maiden?

We had a brief section of trampled under foot by Zeppelin (as in blink and you miss it), but yeah still no Sabbath or Maiden

Loved the ceremony, although why Paul MacCartney and not MUSE I will never know.

Should have ended with Invincible and then the official song IMO.

 

[Appleshampoo]

I thought it was fantastic. I was expecting something horrible, but we really delivered for once. I actually sat and watched the entire thing, with a little bit of patriotic fire burning in my heart.

I have never been more proud to be British than I was during that. We pulled it off well.

The only thing that ruined it was the Queen. I think she embarrassed the country by cleaning her nails when her own team walked out into the arena. And the 'I declare the games open' speech she gave sounded horribly forced and almost as if she didn't really want to be there. Oh, and lets not forget the fact that she had a face like a thundercloud for most of it.

Ah well, still great over all

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

It was certainly better than I expected.

There was a distinct lack of rock in the music section though. No Led Zeppelin? No Black Sabbath? No Iron Maiden?

We had a brief section of trampled under foot by Zeppelin (as in blink and you miss it), but yeah still no Sabbath or Maiden

Loved the ceremony, although why Paul MacCartney and not MUSE I will never know.

Should have ended with Invincible and then the official song IMO.

There was muse, in the big dance party bit, and it was pretty good.

OT: I loved it, it pretty much got british'ness down to a T.
Mr Bean made me laugh for a good few minutes, and I loved the amount of young British actors and sportsperson s they slipped into the "Chariots of Fire" Scene.
Overall, very good, full of humour and nostalgia.

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

Emile Sande's accappella[sic] rendition of Abide with Me.

That entire segment, the tribute to those lost in the 7/7 bombings and in general, was cut from the NBC US broadcast in favour of a pre-recorded interview with Michael Phelps.

This was an amazing opening ceremony though. The forging of the olympic rings was magnificently done and it overall was oh so very British in it's self deprecating humour and sense of fun.

My only real complaint was the choice Rugby songs at the beginning. Should have been Calon Lân for the Welsh

 

[Aris Khandr]

Emile Sande's accappella[sic] rendition of Abide with Me.

That entire segment, the tribute to those lost in the 7/7 bombings and in general, was cut from the NBC US broadcast in favour of a pre-recorded interview with Michael Phelps.

What was the point of that? Why cut part of the ceremony for something that could have easily been run later?

 

[Sara Fontaine]

The Opening Ceremony was spectacular during the Industrial Revolution section, and I was maybe too excited to see Kenneth Branagh appear as Isambard Kingdom Brunel quoting Shakespeare. I loved that entire piece, especially the music. Then it went odd, for me, personally.

Though I must say, the Child Catcher on rollerskates, though only shown briefly, was quite awesome. (The fact I've been given cause to say that sentence amuses me.)

 

[robot slipper]

No Iron Maiden?
No Genesis?
NO TOLKIEN?
NO DOCTOR WHO!?

I took the giant iron-forged One Ring thing to be a Tolkien reference, though that might be a bit of a stretch. But yeah, could have done with a giant flying TARDIS or something. I'd say that's far more representative of awesome British tv than those clips they were showing on that glowing house thing (with the exception of Fawlty Towers).

And Hey Jude is feeling a bit tired now, especially with Paul McCartney looking very old. I think it would have been way more awesome to finish the show with Brian May and Roger Taylor playing Bohemian Rhapsody with someone else singing (obviously).

 

[Terratina.]

My only real complaint was the choice Rugby songs at the beginning. Should have been Calon Lân for the Welsh

Yeah, 'Bread of Heaven' (or whatever it was.) isn't particularly Welsh, is it?

Instead of the boys choirs, they should of had the manly Welsh male voice choirs. But I guess that children were used for the 'cuteness factor'.

 

[Andrew_C]

I found the entire ceremony (apart from the Athletes entering the stadium and the Queen declaring the Games open), pants wettingly retarded, embarrassing and boring.

They even made the lighting of the Olympic flame boring.

And isn't Mohammed Ali getting a bit old to wheel out at every opening ceremony? It's not like Britain doesn't have any famous black Olympians.

Can anybody expain what hell was it with the music? Heroes? Enola Gay? Dark Side of The Moon? Come Together? Were they trying to be "eccentric" or just thick.

 

[Kragg]

The only thing that ruined it was the Queen. I think she embarrassed the country by cleaning her nails when her own team walked out into the arena. And the 'I declare the games open' speech she gave sounded horribly forced and almost as if she didn't really want to be there. Oh, and lets not forget the fact that she had a face like a thundercloud for most of it.

Ah well, still great over all

thats just how the queen is nowadays though, she was like that for most of the Jubilee stuff aswell, sadly for kings and queens there is hardly ever a way to gracefully retire, no matter how good you were in life, youll be a dribbling idiot by the end of it

i really liked the event, bond and the queen and i really loved the music bit, maybe cause im 25+ from europe so it brings back alot of memories from when i was very young. Watched it on the bbc, so even some bits i didnt get like the kidcatcher were explained, maybe thats why americans didnt like it, toom uch stuff they didnt get

 

[fish iron4]

Is it kinda sad how I think that the best part of the opening ceremony was Rowan Atkinson?

 

[In Search of Username]

I still have no interest in the sports, but that opening ceremony was a lot better than expected. Trust Danny Boyle to go and include a celebration of the one thing our current government would rather we didn't celebrate - the NHS. And, heard a bit of Fuck Buttons in there, too, which always improves everything.

Now to ignore it until the closing ceremony. Bye!

 

[AnarchistFish]

Why the fuck is this country so hellbent on criticising itself? The ceremony was great. The concept for the olympic flame was brilliant. Apparently the atmosphere if you were there was immense, but I liked how Danny Boyle took a different take on it rather than trying to outdo Beijing, which would never have worked. Only problem is that some other countries might not get some of the references. I'm wondering how many people thought the Mr Bean act was a genuine cock up.

I live in London and love watching the Olympics, but ironically I'm going to Ecuador in a few days time so I'm gonna try to pack in as much of the Olympics as I can in this short time.

Now that the British are done making a fool of themselves on the world stage, a question for our British escapees. Will you be ever able to live this down?

ugh