# Holy Flying Circus, BBC4 19 Oct



## T & P (Oct 18, 2011)

Saw a trailer for this and it got me intrigued. A dramatisation of the build-up to Life of Brian and what Monty Python went up against. Sounds interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162zbx

Let's see if the actors playing Cleese, Palin & co. can pull it off...


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## Cid (Oct 19, 2011)

Hmm... Very tricky one. Darren Boyd looks like his stab at Cleese might do it, not sure about Palin though.

Oh. Just watched the clip in the office. Cringey fourth wall breaking obvious politician joke ahoy.


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Starting now.


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## Balbi (Oct 19, 2011)

LOL he has tourettes LOL


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## 5t3IIa (Oct 19, 2011)

Enjoying this.  A lot.  So there.


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## DrRingDing (Oct 19, 2011)

Had to turn this off after about 3 minutes. I was starting to clench all over.


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

It's trying waaaay too hard.


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## kabbes (Oct 19, 2011)

Meh.

It's alright as background telly but not worth its hype.


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## madzone (Oct 19, 2011)

It's a bit hit and miss isn't it?


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

LOL at the BBFC stuff - the idea of "James Ferman" dealing with anyone in a tea and biscuits way is hilarious.  And scriptwriters, 'twas the British Board of Film Censors in them days [/pedant]


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## Balbi (Oct 19, 2011)

Yeah, trying hard - still can giggle a bit.


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Er this has just turned totally shit. Lightsabre fight? Really?


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Er this has just turned totally shit. Lightsabre fight? Really?



I know - er, what was that about exactly?


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Totally lost me...think they were trying to be clever and have a wacko nonsense bit like they did in Brian with the alien abduction...?


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Totally lost me...think they were trying to be clever and have a wacko nonsense bit like they did in Brian with the alien abduction...?



Yeah, and then quoting "The Time Bandits", "The Blair Witch Project" etc

Oh god, that interview fantasy sequence was cringeworthy.


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## fen_boy (Oct 19, 2011)

Yes, it's not like anything surreal ever happened in python.


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

fen_boy said:


> Yes, it's not like anything surreal ever happened in python.



Except it was done well, was bloody brilliant and mostly funny. Where as this isn't near any of those things.


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

fen_boy said:


> Yes, it's not like anything surreal ever happened in python.



Surreal can be a powerful thing when it really is surreal.  This was, in comparison, a bunch of poorly conceived "ideas" ("let's throw in a Star Wars reference!  Even though this is set in 1979, and Star Wars came out in 1977!") with zero spark or, frankly wit.  What's the point?


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Ok, that ending with Stephen Fry as god was actually really well done! Why the hell wasn't the rest of it like this?!


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## fen_boy (Oct 19, 2011)

I thought it was pretty good.


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

The actual interview is on now, and I'll give the guy who played Tim Rice his due - Rice really was that distracted and fiddly with his pen.

e2a:  Palin and Cleese much more garrulous and witty than in the drama - Bishop pretty much the same pub bore, and Muggeridge is much more waspish and unpleasant.


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## goldenecitrone (Oct 19, 2011)

Very good. Does Michael Palin's wife really look like a man? Doh!


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

Bloody hell, it's been kicking off over the past couple of minutes - Muggeridge really is being very nasty.  Cleese is holding his own very well.  Poor old Palin hasn't said much at all.


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

...and it ends with that pathetic, hypocritical "30 pieces of silver" comment from the Bishop of Southwark (who surely was due a visit to the inhabitants of Craggy Island at that point).  Cleese looks crossly amused. Palin looks furious.

Now we have Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann) bluesing it up, followed by (argh!) Norris McWhirther.


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## madzone (Oct 19, 2011)

What a pair of self righteous cunts _they_ were.


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 19, 2011)

madzone said:


> What a pair of self righteous cunts _they_ were.



I know!  I was taken about at how vehement they were in their ignorance and closed-mindedness - so much for "Christian" understanding and tolerance, eh?


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## Ax^ (Oct 19, 2011)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Ok, that ending with Stephen Fry as god was actually really well done! Why the hell wasn't the rest of it like this?!




For some reason that grated with me

Like stephen fry but will the bbc get off his sack


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## Kid_Eternity (Oct 19, 2011)

Ax^ said:


> For some reason that grated with me
> 
> Like stephen fry but will the bbc get off his sack



I just thought it was funny having him give the little speech about how religion turned out.


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## Maggot (Oct 19, 2011)

MellySingsDoom said:


> The actual interview is on now, and I'll give the guy who played Tim Rice his due - Rice really was that distracted and fiddly with his pen.
> 
> e2a: Palin and Cleese much more garrulous and witty than in the drama - Bishop pretty much the same pub bore, and Muggeridge is much more waspish and unpleasant.



Have you seen this?


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 20, 2011)

Maggot said:


> Have you seen this?




That's a very good parody


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## ginger_syn (Oct 20, 2011)

Am watching it now, its a nice little bit of whimsy and has made me smile.


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## Metal Malcolm (Oct 20, 2011)

Watched most of this last night - thought the pythons were mostly fine (although 'Terry Gilliam' was a bit on the irritating side). However, the Tourette's bloke got tiring very quickly, and the Andy Dick / Matt Berry bloke really did need to fuck off. Just as I thought it was starting to pick up they dropped the lightsaber fight in, and I decided to take a phone call instead. Looked like it might have improved in the last half hour, will watch that later and see if it was the case...


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## Fedayn (Oct 20, 2011)

I thought it was prety funny and worth a watch as it goes. The characters were well played and even the obvious jokes even managed to be funny....


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## killer b (Oct 20, 2011)

yeah, turned over to fades for the last half hour, but enjoyed it enough to watch the end at some point. i thought it was very well done.


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## kabbes (Oct 20, 2011)

Having watched the second half, I quite like it.  I think the second half was better than the first, which is unusual.  Things normally run out of steam instead.

I see the Pythons didn't like it, according to stuff I've read.


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## Cid (Oct 20, 2011)

Seems to be mainly an issue of poor research rather than because it's awful though, going to watch now.


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## Santino (Oct 20, 2011)

kabbes said:


> Having watched the second half, I quite like it.  I think the second half was better than the first, which is unusual.  Things normally run out of steam instead.
> 
> I see the Pythons didn't like it, according to stuff I've read.


I thought I saw Terry Jones liking it on Twitter.


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## kabbes (Oct 20, 2011)

The cast were very good at pretending to be the Pythons.  Cleese in particular was very convincing.


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## Cid (Oct 21, 2011)

It was alright I think, some of the self-referential stuff was a bit shit, and really they'res* not much point trying to emulate Gilliam's directing/art, you're just not going to do it justice. Darren Boyd's Cleese was good, Palin not so sure, wife did a good Jones-in-drag though. Gilliam was a bit shit and un-Gilliamy.

*I have noticed this misspelling, but thought it was so awful I should leave it as an example to all.


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## Maggot (Oct 21, 2011)

MellySingsDoom said:


> That's a very good parody


I like the way the 'Bishop' is playing with a lens, the way the real Bishop was playing with his Cross.



Fedayn said:


> I thought it was prety funny and worth a watch as it goes. The characters were well played and even the obvious jokes even managed to be funny....


 Saw it last night, and would agree with this. Not sure why Palin was married to Terry Jones though.


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## Maggot (Oct 21, 2011)

MellySingsDoom said:


> Surreal can be a powerful thing when it really is surreal. This was, in comparison, a bunch of poorly conceived "ideas" ("let's throw in a Star Wars reference! Even though this is set in 1979, and Star Wars came out in 1977!") with zero spark or, frankly wit. What's the point?


You are the guy who complained about the Joey anachronism!


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 21, 2011)

Maggot said:


> You are the guy who complained about the Joey anachronism!



Joey??  Don't remember that one, Maggot - was that a recent posting of mine?


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## Maggot (Oct 21, 2011)

MellySingsDoom said:


> Joey?? Don't remember that one, Maggot - was that a recent posting of mine?


No, it was a scene from the programme.


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## MellySingsDoom (Oct 21, 2011)

Maggot said:


> No, it was a scene from the programme.



Ah, gotcha!


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## Santino (Oct 21, 2011)

Maggot said:


> Saw it last night, and would agree with this. Not sure why Palin was married to Terry Jones though.


Because female roles in most Python sketches and films were played by men.


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## Cid (Oct 21, 2011)

MellySingsDoom said:


> That's a very good parody



Highly recommend checking out the rest of not the nine o'clock news, brilliant programme.


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