London 2012 Opening Ceremony - What did you think?

[PyroKinesis]

Started slow, but it picked up really quick, and the Cauldron is just beautiful.

[Hodori]

I enjoyed it, especially the industrial revolution bit (and how they transformed the stage from a shire-like environment to a gritty factory). Music was wonderful and I thought the lighting of the cauldron was beautiful.

[Gonzo]

Pretty forgettable ceremony

No real standout iconic moments that will live on forever

Queen was bored out of her brain

Very British & Very Dull

[NY20??]

It seemed very messy and not very polished. Not in a thematic, conceptual way, but in a very literal way.

You could clearly see performers from the previous segment walking out through back doors by the Tor, stagehands with headsets openly directing the Olympic Flag bearers, big black boxes that I imaged held props laying around during the Parade, cameras getting in the way of cameras. Stuff like that.

I've never noticed these kinds of things with past Ceremonies.

And for some reason, it all screamed of having a budget. It felt cheap. Another feeling past Ceremonies never really gave off.

So at the moment, I'm left disappointed, though I've yet to really wrap my head around the entire thing.

I'm glad to see some people really enjoyed it, especially the Brits.

[Soaring]

I have to admit that I was disappointed. There were some very nice parts... the music, lighting, lightheartedness, the greenery, the steel rings in the air, the torch on the boat, the queen/Bond sequence, the construction workers lining the entrance as the torch came in, the youth involved with lighting the cauldron.

What I didn't like so much...

I felt that it really didn't connect with a "world audience" so much. I mean, I could relate to a fair amount of the program because British culture has a significant influence over here, but I didn't sense as many artistic "Olympic" themes in the program. Maybe they felt like past hosts played those themes out.

I felt like the industrial portion dragged on too long, and it was kind of hard to follow everything going on.

The giant baby was creepy

My biggest disappointment was the cauldron. I think it is cool how the petals all came together, but it was not raised high in the air for the surrounding city to see. I feel like it is trapped inside a stadium where no one (unless they have a ticket) can see it.

[mr.x]

A for Aliens: A group of science geeks had predicted extraterrestrials would arrive in London for the Games. Not unless they were dressed as milkmaids. Or IOC members.

B for Beckham, David: Stiffed when not named to the Olympic football squad but last night he handed off the torch to Sir Steve Redgrave, gloriously golden British rower.

C for Canada: Looking fine, the half-squad that marched in the parade of nations, but their red-and-beige uniforms were blah.

D for Drummers: 965 banging their skins for the “Age of Industry’’ segment.

E for Eccentric: The British ethos.

F for Flitter Drop: 7 billion tiny pieces of paper dropped on the stadium from a Westland helicopter — one for each person on the planet.

G for Garments: 57,000 separate articles of clothing for the costumes.

H for Hoers: I said HOERS, men with hoes.

I for Isles of Wonder: All the British ingenious stuff, from Industrial Age to the guy who invented the World Wide Web.

J for Jewish: Israel President Shimon Peres cancelled his opening ceremonies trip to London because there were no hotels within walking distance of the stadium and religious observance (in his presidential role) prevents him from riding in a car on the Sabbath.

K for Koreas (2): This time they got the flags right.

L for Light: Let there be — pyrotechnics and the primitive glow of a flame.

M for Macca: Sir Paul McCartney, still rocking “Hey Jude” as a septuagenarian.

N for NHS: The show actually paid tribute to Britain’s National Health System.

O for Oath: Taken on behalf of the athletes by Sarah Stevenson, most successful Taekwondo athlete in British history.

P for Peace: As called for, during the Games, by the U.N. secretary-general. As if.

Q for Quirky, Queer, Queen – and Quiddich: the fictional Harry Potter game some people want to see become an official Olympic sport.

R for Roger: Bannister, 83-year-old four-minute miler, who should have lit the cauldron.

S for Sir Sebastian, Lord Coe: Godfather of these Games.

T for Technology: 70,799 small panels mounted on stadium seats, composed of nearly 640,000 pixels controlled by a computer, which created complex images all night long with a little help from spectators holding up the appropriate parts. Don’t ask me.

U for Usain Bolt: Jamaica’s flag-bearer double gold sprinter claims he’s only “95 per cent’’ coming into London.

V for volunteers: 7,500 in the show’s cast.

W for Wenlock: Hideous London 2012 mascot.

X for X-citement: Okay, cheating, but 16 days of that to come.

Y for Yelena Isinbayeva: Two-time and reigning Olympic pole vault champion from Russia, and arguably world’s greatest show-woman.

Z for Zara: Phillips, 13th in line to the throne, competing as an equestrian Olympian in three-day-event. Thirty-six years ago, I covered her mother, Princess Anne, in the same event at the Montreal Games.

I have to lie down now.

[NY20??]

That stupid bell was the most unnecessary and overhyped thing ever.

Honestly.

[runningrings]

Yeah I admit - the bell was overhyped and felt underwhelming when it actually happened. Also the fact it's the first bell to feature since Berlin 1936 isn't really Olympic symbolism worth revisiting.

[baron-pierreIV]

That stupid bell was the most unnecessary and overhyped thing ever.

Honestly.

I know. As mechanically mesmerizing as the cauldron was (altho it left me a bit cold), the bell was a totally useless fixture for me. Like so what if it was cast at the local foundry? Boyle focused too much on the "industrial" part of London. So what? That's not what the world wants to know about London & the UK. Surely, there were other subjects he could've picked. And the "Isles" theme didn't come across too well because, aside from the Children's choruses, what else was featured about Wales, Scotland & NI? Not much. Even the Kenneth Branagh part wasn't necessary. And what did he stand in that little Time Machine-looking thing for? Was that a "time Machine"?

A show like last night is what happens when you use a person whose forte is another medium. Doesn't translate too well. (Yimou is also a film director but Yimou specializes in spectacle and color in his films; thus Beijing's show.) Last night was stuck on too much heavy, massive props and the like, rather than being a light, airy event.

[Kenadian]

Was it really the first bell since 1936? I recall bells ringing in the official opening of the Athens Games.

But back to London...I would have thought it should have been rang 3 times for the London's 3rd hosting or 30 times for the XXX Olympiad.

[baron-pierreIV]

Was it really the first bell since 1936? I recall bells ringing in the official opening of the Athens Games.

But back to London...I would have thought it should have been rang 3 times for the London's 3rd hosting or 30 times for the XXX Olympiad.

It did ring a few more times towards the cauldron-lighting but it really wasn't a very innovative device. I think only DB was emotionally attached to the idea.

[koolicon]

Well considering all ceremonies since 1992, it was the worst and underwhelming one ever! I guess only the British got it, for most of world it was plain boring and uninspired. Almost everyone one of my FB, twitter and BBM were seen giving negative comment, and stopped watching after an hour (from US to Australia)

The Cauldron was pretty, but again uninspired lighting, the worst one ever actually

[mattygs]

I think you'll find this will possibly be an opening ceremony that will find favour with sports watchers who normally ridicule some of the pap (in their minds) that ceremonies producers often use as their inspiration. Kind of heard a tiny tiny bit of it tonight , in the form of the 7 billion bits of paper for each person on earth. This was a more real ceremony, so I think it will win alot of fans from that sector, those who normally don't see the point of these sorts of events.

In terms of Yimou, while his movies were more theatrical and conceptual than Danny Boyle, he had also had experience in directing large scale outdoor spectaculars, so he had his foot in the live event camp a little bit more.

As for the seldom used bell, I guess one positive is that it will probably be the only tangible representation of this opening ceremony on the ground in London, as it seems like we won't have the cauldron anywhere to visit down the track.

And yes, there was a small bell in Athens, and the sound of the bell was used in Seoul too.

[blueview]

The replay is now on in manila, and it just looks worse that the live broadcast. I was trying to take this opportunity to soak stuff in rather than being bombarded and surprised in the initial broadcast.

-the camera was a bit distracting during the countdown, i think the LED countdown was for the audience while the children and balloons were for the TV. Its just so distracting to pan from one to another.

-the pastoral scene was a complete waste,if the intention was to use it for such a small piece of theater, it wasnt worth it.

- the satanic mills was pandemonium in the worst sense,too much going on, and the choreography irritates me. couldnt they have done ala-Athens and just had the people wandering around rather than doing zombie Macarena moves.

- overall the whole Shakespeare angle flops.

[LOUIS]

Well considering all ceremonies since 1992, it was the worst and underwhelming one ever! I guess only the British got it, for most of world it was plain boring and uninspired. Almost everyone one of my FB, twitter and BBM were seen giving negative comment, and stopped watching after an hour (from US to Australia)

The Cauldron was pretty, but again uninspired lighting, the worst one ever actually

I ve got the same reactions, even by people who are fans of British music...

[worldracer]

It was a 6.5 for me. The first two sequences (pastoral/industrial) had little focus or story to them, until the ring was formed and joined with the others. *That* was the first moment with some impact. The bedtime sequence didn't rate either, but at least the nurses and doctors added some pep to the show. I thought the puppets were weak. If it had been a recurring element in the show, fine, but the four brief appearances didn't gel with anything else. Bond sequence jump/finale was fine, but the ride in the helicopter was anything but exciting and Bondian; seemed like a waste of his appearance. Mr. Bean was funny (and did underscore some of the other sly sense of humor in the show), but it's not how I would have honored that song/story.

Protocol was thankfully brief and final torch relay/ torch/ Macca were all fine. But it was too little, too late.

As Mattygs said, I thought it was going to be inspired by Shakespeare and tour the "Isles of Wonder." Having on stanza of poetry and a 4 minute sequence on film doesn't really cut it to me. Vancouver had much stronger images and set pieces.

Oh, and the decade dancing was fun, but I had no idea about those two kids/the house, etc. Not to mention the plot hole of him calling her to say he had he phone. huh?

[blueview]

-the children's nightmare segment felt like it would have made a fantastic concept but again falls flat. Mary Poppins in black just confused them with the rest of the villains. the Voldemort puppet was too flimsy and simply gave height to the segment but not necessarily oomph.

- Rowan Atkinson is a gem.

-The music run-through was a glorified flash mob.

[Gonzo]

Throwing a hand grenade

It was very politically correct and left-wing do-gooder stuff

Deaf kids, inter-racial couples, people in wheelchairs, token black guy in top hat as an Industrial revolution bossman (highly unlikely in reality at the time!) oppressing the poor workers, NHS love-in, UN do-gooders carrying the Olympic Flag

Guess it does sum up Britain today

[baron-pierreIV]

-the children's nightmare segment felt like it would have made a fantastic concept but again falls flat. Mary Poppins in black just confused them with the rest of the villains. the Voldemort puppet was too flimsy and simply gave height to the segment but not necessarily oomph.

Hey, welcome back. Haven't seen or heard from you in awhile I thought about Mary Poppins' outfit too. Exactly, their black outfits were confusing. Why couldn't they have gone with reds or even, say,beige to give a little more color to the scene?

Voldemort wasn't scary enough. But I guess the darkness did convey the right atmosphere for the scene and partially disguised the, understandably, non-dancing skills of the medical people. And it looked the cameras just did close-ups on the better dancers.

Also, I wonder if we will hear from Dodie Fayed's father about them spoofing CHARIOTS OF FIRE? His son, the late Princess Diana's last lover, co-produced that film. And of course, Fayed has never forgiven the British royal family for the death of his son. So, I'm wondering if Fayed, Sr., will be issuing inflamed press statements tomorrow--especially since his arch foes were there laughing at his son's Oscar-winning film.

[nykfan845]

I just thought the whole was bizarre. Entertaining and fun, absolutely, but bizarre. The cauldron is beautiful, too.

[blueview]

I like the cauldron, I would have preferred that only one athlete lit the cauldron and have the lighting sequence a bit faster. although the final cauldron was nice, i'd have it a bit flared like a wide-brimmed flower than completely closed together.

The shots from the inside looking up was breathtaking. reminded me of Heatherwick's seed cathedral for the expo.

Also, maybe the cauldron could have been mounted on the tor and have the petals be like idle flowers in the ground.

[nykfan845]

And honestly, having those random teenagers lighting turned what could have been an impactful, stirring moment into something rather forgettable.

[tikus_kecil]

Part that I Like :

- The first 2 sequences, I really amazed

-. The Rowan 'Mr. Bean' Atkinson, you know, maybe he is one of the most popular Briton

Part that I don't like :

-. The Mary Poppins, actually I like the glowing bed, but what the heck with the dancing nurse and doctor ?? I know it should be like musical-drama, but it's not a disney show... so for me this part is really doesn't fit well

[blueview]

Hey, welcome back. Haven't seen or heard from you in awhile I thought about Mary Poppins' outfit too. Exactly, their black outfits were confusing. Why couldn't they have gone with reds or even, say,beige to give a little more color to the scene?

Yep, I always come back, periodically though every 2 years hehehehe,

Overall I didnt get a good-versus evil vibe to that segment, it was bad and then pandemonium and then sleeping children.

I didnt know that bit about Chariots...

What irks me about the ceremony was that it wasnt bad conceptually but it was hyped in places that shouldnt have been like the farmland and the Shakespeare when it didnt even amount to anything in the overall scheme of things. I never liked what DB did when he revealed the set to the media. very wrong move.

DB needed an editor, the show needed editing, I appreciate humor but this wasn't about the hosts being light-hearted, it was just a mess. an entertaining mess which will probably be looked over come 2016...

[tikus_kecil]

And I do really like the idea to introduce Sir Tim Berners-Lee, really he's the one that create the world as today, thanks to him i could watch the ceremony at youtube... so really really good idea to introduce him