h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Can't we at least do it Trainspotting-style, with the athletes getting chased by store detectives through the streets of Edinburgh?"
Haven't you read the backlog? No store detectives here, just badgers and chinchillas.

there is a distinct lack of clangers. I'm pretty sure I was promised clangers. or maybe I dreamt that bit.

No... you didn't dream it... we were promised clangers, badgers, Cliff Richard, dancing Chinchillas, pearly kings and queens, and I'm sure there was a threat* of Elton John... or Elton the ham[ps]ter... one of the two I think

The clangers had to be dropped due to overrunning.

Coooool! Mark Cavendish's entourage are really enthusiastic! And so many of them!

>>..any dancing badgers or chinchillas yet? <<

Sorta, kinda. During the 'famous British books for kids'
there were some sneaky creepy critters in black with
huge green eyes and some sort of badger like guys with
big furry heads who bounced around on spring-loaded
short stilt thingies for a very long time. Presumably,
these characters would be known to those who are familiar
with the books that created them but all I really recognised
myself was the 32 Mary Poppins who dropped from the sky
on neon-lit umbrellas to scare away these monsters from
the hundreds of kids hiding under covers in NHS hospital beds.

You'da loved it.
It was a stunning visual spectacle.
Big, bright and beautiful.

And the music was pretty great too.
Mike Oldfield was there with all his tubes and bells
and the London Symphony had Mr Bean doing a one finger
solo throughout Chariots of Fire. The '50 years of pop-hits'
collage was a bit patchy, too ambitious to try to cover
so much musical history in a few minutes using projections
of old Top-o-the-Pops clips behind a live dancing crowd of
at least 1000 teens twittering on cellphones.


~jwf~

Doves on bikes. Wow. Just, wow.
*Almost* as good as a pony-riding chinchilla.

the doves on bikes will compensate somewhat for the lack of chinchillas Any sign of Cliff Richard yet?

Was that really Muhammad Ali? That was heartbreaking.

I really really hate to see him wheeled out like that.
On the other hand, he is just so Freaking Cool.

Jesus - the Beatles really did die off in the wrong order didn't they?

Does a Champion of the Earth title come with wand and magic powers? - cos that's a job I need to be applying for!

I think I enjoyed Mr Bean's musical number more than McCartney's.
... Is that good or bad?

I think most people did!

... On second thoughts, if we start speaking badly of McCartney for this, what will we say when we end up with the Spice Girls on the Closing Ceremony...

That was a shame the way it ended

On a brighter note, how cool is the Olympic "Cauldron"?

Extremely, very, hugely cool.
And pretty, too.

Glad I stayed up.
But now, I'm off to bed.
Bye bye everyone, it was really nice sharing this together.

They went with McCartney over Cliff? The fools.... they should have gone with Cliff... Cliff would have been the right Choice... and had Elton John, being shot on a rocket, across the stadium, to light the coldren... with the torch...

We had 3 rocket men earlier - to the accompaniment of David Bowie of course

Were there any hoovers featured?