What did you think of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremonies?

[Deleted]

Hey,

This is obviously a question to all of those who watched the whole show. How would you rate the show? Have you watched more shows than this one, more than this and Beijing, are you comparing this show only to Beijing, etc? Let's try and keep all the Illuminati-related conspiracy theories out of this if we can, all right?

I personally loved the show. It honestly blew me away in how fast the 2.5 hours went before the countries marched in. The music was amazing. Not only the clips of music we know and love that came during the latter parts, but for example this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM0fiegRbTg was pure ecstasy. Well, Underworld. Had to be good.

So, if you saw the show, click on a rating, and if you didn't, you can click on the "haven't seen it" option.

[Fenixdown]

I heard James Bond parachuted down. That sounds kinda cool.

But as far as the torch lighting goes, if they could top '96 and Ali, that'd be something.

I didn't watch them. I was at work.

[Deleted]

But as far as the torch lighting goes, if they could top '96 and Ali, that'd be something.

Ali was there, albeit not during the lighting of the "cauldron", but during the raising of the Olympic flag. As far as lighting the cauldron goes, I for one think it was awesome in it's complexity and originality.

I get what you mean though, the pride that is concentrated on a singular athlete, and seeing that athlete then do something as important as light the cauldron. These ceremonies didn't concentrate on any singular person, though, although they did emphasize a few. Rather, they showcased the children and the young generation of athletes.

[Deleted]

7 seems fitting. The Beijing one was better imo, but that's understandable as the chinese spent 3x as much cash in comparison with the british.

[Kendrel]

I preferred the UK one to be honest, as it was just unique. Any nation could have put on the Chinese one with enough cash and its strength was its sheer scale. The UK ceremony carried more of an emotional charge, although it was a bit chaotic and some of the jokes I'm not certain that people outside of the UK wouldn't have understood/appreciated.

The Industrial Revolution sequence just blew me away. The design, the involvement of the rings, the choreography, the specific relevance to the UK and most of all the music. It was also dark, it was gritty, it exemplified the trade off that built the Empire between the 'green and pleasant land' and the 'satanic mills'. The NHS and childrens literature sequence was also well achieved, though the 7/7 commemoration was probably less interesting to watch if you didn't have anything invested in the day itself.

The Torch/Cauldron. What can I say. That was so beautifully orchestrated. Everyone built the cauldron and the right to light it was passed to the future, not some celebrity.

I don't think that anyone else could replicate that, and carry so much emotional weight, whilst at the same time highlighting the contradictions of British society. I've rambled quite a lot on this I think, but I loved it.

[sadface]

It was embarrassing to me as a UK citizen

[Fuzzzie]

I liked it for the most part, but some parts got kinda odd. There was also a bit of a boring stretch but it is an Opening Ceremony.

[Alraml]

I didn't watch it because I get bored of long drawn-out ceremonies. I just caught up to the bits people were talking about in BBC iplayer.

I thought the Rowan Atkinson bit was hillarious. I wouldn't expect any less from him

[Badluckandtrouble]

amazing. although with all the teams walking out got boring

[expectwar]

it wasn't as great as i hoped. i didn't really like how it was a story line and if the commentators weren't telling me what was going on i would have been so lost. but i still loved it and loved all the effort put into it! the queen sky diving in was funny lol

[Lockula]

I thought it was pretty good. Granted apparently NBC cut some things like the 7/7 segment, and the commentary was not that good.

[Deleted]

some bits were good, some were extremely dissapointing.

[Armacy]

I thought it was pretty good and made people feel proud to be British, which is all that mattered really seeing as we paid for it.

[Bodaway]

I gave it about 30 minutes but it was so boring I had to shut it off.

[Alilei32]

Compared to 2008 in Beijing? -100000000. I was in absolute awe during those opening ceremonies the entire time. I was like how the hell are they doing this flawlessly?

These just bored the hell out of me and I had to force myself to finish it. I mean I guess the opening ceremony is supposed to reflect the history and culture and the people of the host country and I think they accomplished that but since I am not from the UK nor have I ever been there I dont really know. But again nothing compared to 4 years ago, not even close.

[Sills]

I really enjoyed the parts that looked at the Industrial Revolution and the ode to British literature. They were well done. I didnt care for the part that looked at the evolution of music through time as I felt it dragged for a bit and the story with the kids was, to me, pointless. The Queen and Bond was hilarious though and overall I felt that they did a really good job. More entertaining than the opening ceremony for Vancouver 2010 but not as good, for me, as Beijing. I gave London 2012 a solid 8. I enjoyed it overall

[Jeire]

i really was not impressed. Some parts were fine indeed, but overall just mediocre.

It was a Uk theme, Team GB but only showed 45secs? of anything outside england. slap in the face to other countries.
Also spoke in French before english each time, which was weird to speak that before the host nation language. I know why they did it, but still..

And while the industrial phase was well planned out, it made no sense to anyone outside of the country from all reports I have read. was just weird!

Oh and MR. Bean stole the show

[Soahar]

It had the TARDIS sound during Bohemian Rhapsody, that was all I ever wanted.

[Maleren]

Some parts were really nice and some were boring. The music wasn't that great. I was hoping to hear more of the British bands/singers of the past. Arctic Monkeys, whoever they are, didn't impress me at all. That rendition really fell flat. Paul McCartney just sounded terrible. I grew up watching the Beatles in the 60's and I understand with age, voices change, but his was pretty bad. The torch lighting was pretty good but very, very disappointing that the Olympic torch cannot be seen outside the stadium like it should be.

[Zelk]

I have a feeling the ceremony went over the head of most people outside the UK.
As a brit however, I thought it was a a tremendous celebration of what or small nation Isle has achieved in the last 300 years or so. The rising of the Mills and the forging of the rings were awe-inspiring. I also loved that the tongue in cheek nature of Brits was included in the show. I think it's the smartest Olympic Flame I've ever seen too.

Compared to Beijing? Well Beijing was on a whole other level when it comes to scale. But that's to be expected to the largest country in the world. The Beijing ceremony was surreal, but at points it felt heartless. For me the Beijing ceremony was certainly impressive and awesome, but at the same time I always had this niggling thought in my head that something wasn't quite right. Perhaps that was just my pre-conceptions of the country, I don't know.

One thing though, we didn't have to teach our population how to applaud.

---------- Post added 2012-07-29 at 12:23 AM ----------

7 seems fitting. The Beijing one was better imo, but that's understandable as the chinese spent 3x as much cash in comparison with the british.

I think it was actually close to four times as much. The London ceremony cost £27 million, Beijing was close to £100 million.