What do you think of the London Olympic opening ceremonies?

I find it quite interesting that there’s this huge section based on the National Health System. No way the US could ever do that!

They are running through all the most famous fictional characters from English authors, using NHS staff and patients (including children), as dancers.

But I find the electronics to be very much similar to the Beijing ceremony, so far.

Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells! Brilliant!

(And no advertising! BBC rulez!)

Finding it slightly discordant to have the French introductions to everything first – I suppose it must be considered a well spoken worldwide language (the Eurovision song contest is always done in English and French) but I really wasn’t expecting it at the London Opympics…

Chariots of Fire with Mr. Bean!!!!!!

Totally brilliant! I was laughing so hard!

French and English are the two official languages of the Olympics. That is how it always is. Usually there’s the third language of the host country, but in this case, it is the same as the second language.

http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/63204/1/olympics-opening-ceremony-countdown-live-stream-online.html in case anyone wants to watch now.

Best that I’ve ever seen. I was up dancing!

(Brazil coming in. Wow, some beautiful women)

@wundayatta thanks for the link. My g/f was looking for it.

Live coverage on CTV Canada.

I’m loving every minute. Proud to be a Brit right now! Especially loved the Queen and the corgis and, of course, Mr Bean!

I’m waiting for it to come out on DVD.

Can anyone find a video for the opening part with the Queen and/or Mr. Bean? I keep searching and can’t find anything.

Loving it! Great music through the decades too. I loved Tubular Bells too and James Bond with the Queen. The Corgis are stars. Will the Queen (or the Corgis) win an oscar?

Just getting it on TV now.

Hahahahaha, I loved the Queen’s bit, and Mr. Bean was hilarious!!! I finally gave up searching and just waited for it to start on NBC here. :D

Honduras parading in now.

The opening was great. Loved the James Bond bit with the Queen. The Rise of the Industrial Age was awesome. The molten Olympic rings rising in the air was so cool. And, of course, the popular music overview (with the Internet age love story). Now I wanna crank some Zepplin.

I always enjoy seeing some of the tiny countries march in. Seems you only hear of them at the Olympics.

Nauru?!?!
Oman?!?!
Palau?!?!

Who?

Australians have all heard of Nauru. It’s where we were sending our asylum seekers for a while.

It is great to see such small countries participating though. I also found it sad that the Spanish team had to have their uniforms donated. Just another indicator of the economic crisis in Europe that Spain can’t afford uniforms for their Olympic team.

The bit I watched I found to be quite enjoyable, bravo UK on this one.

I loved it. Very British and quirky. I especially loved how all the individual flames (one for each participating country) rose up to make the giant Olympic Flame, and I loved that they got some children to light it. The Olympic heroes of the past “passing the torch”, literally, to the Olympic heroes of the future. I wasn’t intending to stay up til 1am watching it all but I’m so glad I did.

I loved the Torch, very cool! What a great fireworks finale! The rings were great as well. I didn’t catch most of the references being made during the dancing/storytelling segment, the NBC narrators could have done better than saying “I don’t get it” for one of the bits. I did love how most was performed and executed with volunteers. Definitely liked the parachute bit, very “No! Really! No! Oh, okay No, she didn’t, oh thank God!”

All in all I liked it.

The torch was cool, but overall I was disappointed. I was expecting something more Shakespearian—way too much pop culture for me. There is so much rich history and culture to draw from, that the whole house-party dance-fest seemed gaudy and superficial by comparison.

Some of the other highlights were the rings being forged, the organic set, the children singing from the different parts of the UK, seeing the workers who built the facilities being honored and the performance for the hearing-impaired.

It was like a big party (so much like Eurovision, really). Nothing about the Olympic ideals, the importance of being an athlete, fair competition, honesty, etc. I was very disappointed.

I liked the whole thing. I thought it was very well done. I almost felt proud to be British.

I was slightly worried before it started, what with the rumours of maypole dancing & cricket on the village green, but I loved the whole thing.
Showcased our little country for what it is, steeped in rich history/humour & a never say die, kick arse philosophy that serves us well, very proud.
Nice one Danny!

On a side note, can’t understand why this wasn’t in my “questions for you”, i’m a proud Brit & sport has always been listed in my topics, very strange.

Did you see this?... It’s a real shame if you were watching NBC coverage only and missed it, it was one of the most moving parts.

I felt sorry for Muhammad Ali, he looked frail when lighting the flame at the Atlanta games in 96, but the difference in him was startling.
Keep fighting the fight, legend.

@harple Why did NBC not air that?

Edit: Nevermind, I just saw where the article mentioned that no one seems to know why.