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Live brass eye screening

Started by Bobloblawslawbomb, March 23, 2017, 06:07:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
Joyous so far. Just watching brass eye as part of an audience is a fun experience, 3 more eps then the film, can't wait!

dfurnell

Was that Peter Fincham up the stick on the chair?


hard rocx and mettals

Quote from: olliebean on May 07, 2017, 09:05:31 PM
No Paedogeddon?

Someone asked about this in the Q&A. Apparently it's as simple as that unlike the original series, the BES isn't celebrating its 20th anniversary. Also, Michael Cumming didn't direct it.

So any volunteers to summarise it / share the bootleg video for those of us stuck in another country?  Was there any discussion of Decline originally intended as a Religion episode?  Any standout bits of unseen material?  Really would've loved to be there.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

Quote from: Darles Chickens on May 07, 2017, 09:31:32 PM
So any volunteers to summarise it / share the bootleg video for those of us stuck in another country?  Was there any discussion of Decline originally intended as a Religion episode?  Any standout bits of unseen material?  Really would've loved to be there.

I was going to ask about the Decline/Religion situation, but it was addressed as an offshoot from another question - Cumming confirmed that Religion was to have been a standalone episode, but said they didn't get/have enough material, so - as has been theorised - Decline was used as a catch all subject so as to be able to use leftover sketches from other episodes.

The extended Sutcliffe Material was great, and a standout sketch for me was 'Female Parliament' where Morris chaired - and patronised - a miniature parliament of four women with different opinions. I enjoyed the way it captured some of the anchor/presenter dynamics from The Day Today, as there was a woman Morris seemed to fancy (ala Valerie Sinatra) a blonde woman he treated with utter disdain (Collaterly Sisters) and two women he kept undermining/pitting against one another (similar to Peter O'Hanrahahanrahan or the Anglo/Australian war Morris helped kick off)

There was also a sketch that went on to become a Blue Jam quickie, in this instance involving Kevin Eldon playing the lawyer suing a rape victim for not warning her attacker she had HIV.

It was just great seeing Morris fucking up and giggling about mistakes, and getting a chance to see the man behind this extremely enigmatic era of his career.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

It's sort of cool that this is a special thing confined to individual screenings, but the completist in me is frustrated that all this fantastic material is largely going to exist solely as a memory. I'd love a DVD release, to be able to pore over the scripts and documents that flash onscreen at points.

hard rocx and mettals


BJB

Ahh, so many great bits in that. Jotting them all down before my cider addled memory consigns them to the brain bin.

- The already mentioned Lady Parliament sketch, with Morris being in full TDT mode. Really giggled at his patronising link into the Peregrine Worsthorne interview. "Lets see what a MAN thinks of this".   

- Morris cracking up during the Purvis Grundy/Blouse sketch, he ends up quoting Phil Daniels. "Sorry about that, I'll do another one that you can cut in later....help us get that trunk out!"

- The elephant in the Carla The Elephant intro almost flooding the studio with piss during one take. "You fucking piss tank"

-Another great bit of tension releasing corpsing during the interview with the abused girl in the Sex episode ("[twelve...[/i]).

- Morris managing to get David Sullivan to state that gay pornography dosen't count as real pornography, but a naked picture of David Sullivan does apparently.

- More of the abused golf caddy stuff. Actually pretty bleak in places. Lots of wobbly VHS footage of the caddy being chased across the course at night, and being beaten into the corner in the bar.

- The drug dealers (This is not wood man!), getting fed up with Morris's schtick, and effectively begging him to go away. I may have misheard, the sound was a bit shaky through the whole thing, but it seemed like Morris was giving the game away at one point, saying something like "There's people in a car there, about 6 of them".  Did anyone else who was there hear that?

- More of the teacher who believes all animals are vegetarian, including an item about letting zoo animals loose for a day. Worth it to see Sally Phillips being all giggly and lovely.

- Paul Garners cock

- An unused interview with Buzz Aldrin during the NASA segment of Science. As mentioned by Micheal Cummings in the Q&A, it was cut because he was actually quite reasonable, and hard to lead down any surreal paths. The Darcus Howe interview was also cut for this reason, Cummings describing his interview with Morris "like two heaveyweight boxers going at it". Chris apparently added the silly intro ("I'm sitting opposite a man, he knows nothing...) after the interview was over just so they could gleam at least some usable marital.

- Snippits of what seemed to be an alternate shoot for the Sex episode. Different studio, smaller audience, a different child playing the girl who's parents were killed by a frozen dog. Should have asked Micheal Cummings about this really, but got nervous and just rambled at him instead.

- Mark Heap getting Morris to crack up during the scene in Animals when Ted Maul knocks on his caravan, mainly by spouting more insults from the inside of the caravan "Your from Gloucester you, mate!"

- Morris in Ted Maul garb, and Paul Garner, taking turns shouting "TECHNOLOGY" at passers by.

- I think I saw a young Alexander Armstrong at one point playing a priest? Can't remember what he was saying, (this is a very unhelpful guide, I know).

- Some outtakes of the shot in Animals where a man's chasing a chicken down the road. First thing they ever shot for the whole series too. The first take was the only good one. The chicken then proceeded to fuck up the rest of the takes by running into the grass, watching the poor chap (Don't think it's Morris, it's hard to make out), darting at this poor chicken through the mud really was quite endearing.

- The deleted scenes already on the DVD are included too. The extended Carla bits with the attempt to get Jeffery Archer involved in the campaign, and the Reggie Kray phone call (which, as mentioned in the Q&A, ended up getting cut due to shady individuals making death threats at the Talkback offices).

There's loads more little snippets and bits, the whole thing zips by so fast, you can't really take it all in in one sitting. It's a bloody shame there's no DVD of this, as already mentioned, it would be great to just slow down everything and pore over every little detail, every bit of script flashed on the screen, every subtle detail and nuance. Maybe they could run it in a gallery for a bit?

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

It's nearby impossible to tell from the episode, but from the alternate shots, I reckon the chicken chaser was Mark Heap.

You did indeed see Alexander Armstrong as a man of God in a piece cut from the armed priest skit.

Also, wasn't the elephant just referred to as a great pisstank?

Which question did you ask, BJB?

As mentioned, I intended to ask about the Decline/Religion theory, but when it got addressed via another question, I went back to the drawing board. Later considered asking about the amount of prep involved in sections like Sutcliffe the Musical - how much of a show did they produce? - but things wind down a little quicker than I anticipated.

BJB

I was the guy in the red mac and bad haircut who asked about Morris approaching the drug dealers, and the whole "Grade Is A Cunt" business. Didn't plan on asking two questions, but like you said, things seemed to be ending quickly, so I thought I'd chance my arm.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

#41
It was odd seeing the original broadcast versions of the episodes, as I'm so familiar with the DVDs - I think the sequence with the religious paintings containing guns was absent ("Judas, you have betrayed me...) but the documentary revealed an excised segment introducing an old cowboy-like character who was supposed to have been the artist of said artwork - (Played by the same Bill Bailey who portrayed the gun toting Priest in Alabaster Codify's report.)

Things keep drifting back to me:

A shot of the Virgin Statue.

Moss Staples V/O: People reporting that the statue smelled of...

Moss Staples absolutely hurls himself into shot at the foot of the statue and inhales deeply.

Moss Staples: Petrol.

BJB

It was odd too seeing the original censored Decline ending, with the Channel 4 circles covering up the shot of Christ and the little girl. It's such a botch job isn't it? Maybe I'm just desensitised, but I don't really see the problem. South Park was on around that time wasn't it? Surely that was doing far more blasphemous material? Even on the uncut version, you can barely make out what Christ is doing anyway, due to the black and white graininess.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

Quote from: BJB on May 08, 2017, 08:49:39 AM
It was odd too seeing the original censored Decline ending, with the Channel 4 circles covering up the shot of Christ and the little girl. It's such a botch job isn't it? Maybe I'm just desensitised, but I don't really see the problem. South Park was on around that time wasn't it? Surely that was doing far more blasphemous material? Even on the uncut version, you can barely make out what Christ is doing anyway, due to the black and white graininess.

Absolutely. Don't think I've seen it since it was first broadcast, so it really was striking at how shonky and out of place the effects were - the bizarre black smoke effect covering Mark Heap's Jesus, before the frame simply freezing is a real damp squib of a finale after such a slick, incendiary series.

South Park was possibly still a year away when Brass Eye was first broadcast, but I guess that also has the excuse of the animation style distancing itself from the reality of the things it depicts, plus Brass Eye had already drawn so much angry attention, it's no wonder they got cold feet for that final sequence.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

The young girl corpsing during one of the takes during the 'When you fall in the snow, do you leave two bumps?' exchange, was an amazing diffusion of tension. Also, does that put pay to the mooted theory that some of the audience thought it was a real talk show, as the surrounding audience members seem to similarly break character along with Morris and laugh?

BJB

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on May 08, 2017, 09:47:50 AM
The young girl corpsing during one of the takes during the 'When you fall in the snow, do you leave two bumps?' exchange, was an amazing diffusion of tension. Also, does that put pay to the mooted theory that some of the audience thought it was a real talk show, as the surrounding audience members seem to similarly break character along with Morris and laugh?


I never bought into that really. The way they quickly turn on Marks Heaps "bad AIDS" character, and also the business at the end with them putting there hands up on every question. ("How many of you have changed your minds? And why was that? Thanks). A real audience wouldn't have immediately gone on the attack and shout "bad AIDS" at someone they've never met.

At least I hope not. 

It's just occurred to me that I should have asked Micheal Cummings if Morris's "The Time, The Place" shenanigans in 96 were intended for Brass Eye. Fuck.

acrow

this was fucking brilliant and i urge any of you with an interest in seeing it to annoy your local cinemas and get them to put it on.

hard rocx and mettals

Quote from: BJB on May 08, 2017, 08:21:21 AM
I was the guy in the red mac and bad haircut who asked about Morris approaching the drug dealers, and the whole "Grade Is A Cunt" business. Didn't plan on asking two questions, but like you said, things seemed to be ending quickly, so I thought I'd chance my arm.

Oh cool, I was sat next to you I think. Quite close to the two bar twats who wouldn't stop talking during the Q&A.

Many interesting tidbits have already been mentioned here, but I can at least pass on that Michael Cumming's favourite episode is Drugs, and his least favourite is Science. More specifically, however, he said he's not keen on one of the last jokes in Drugs, with CM on the monitor repeating the word 'vomiting'.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

What was going on with the woman endlessly nattering at the back of the room? My girlfriend kept saying how rude she was being, then it all kicked off when that other patron - quite reasonably- asked for quiet, but it didn't seem to stop her completely. Was the wittering party engaging with the content at all, or just having a separate conversation?

TJ

Quote from: BJB on May 08, 2017, 10:03:44 AMIt's just occurred to me that I should have asked Micheal Cummings if Morris's "The Time, The Place" shenanigans in 96 were intended for Brass Eye. Fuck.

CM did tell me that this was simply to get a 'feel' for how shows like that were made from the studio end, as research for some of the linking segments, but decided to have a bit of a laugh with it. May or may not be the whole story but as I've said before it's doubtful Anglia would have cleared any of the footage for use. If you've ever seen the full full thing, it doesn't 'work' after a while anyway as Morris keeps trying to be wacky and disruptive while John Stapleton - who in all honesty comes across as a good solid broadcaster throughout - totally ignores him.

This doc sounds amazing. Any sign of the John Major/Pink 'Cake' business? Did we find out which interviewee he was losing his temper with in the opening titles?

TJ

As regards the ending of Decline, you really have to look at it in terms of how savagely the tabloids were going for Channel 4 at the time. They were *determined* to 'do something' about it, even more than they had been in the eighties. So it's no surprise they cut it really.

At the risk of sounding like a prat, in a way I actually preferred it edited, in that there was something of a thrill in thinking 'wh... what just happened there?"; the real thing was a bit too woo are you offended yet for me really. Also, it gave us a lot to talk about back in the day - in fact one of the first threads on Neil's first Morris Messageboard was speculation on what might have been obscured.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on May 08, 2017, 08:44:06 AM
It was odd seeing the original broadcast versions of the episodes, as I'm so familiar with the DVDs...

Did you get to see Graham Bright MP in Drugs?  Once I'd learnt he'd been cut from the DVD I always meant to go back to my original off-air VHS to see what he'd said, but never got round to it before all my tapes went into storage.


Huge thanks to BJB and others who've shared notes and experiences of watching this thing... sadly I couldn't make it myself.


Sexton Brackets Drugbust

Quote from: Ambient Sheep on May 09, 2017, 02:59:51 PM
Did you get to see Graham Bright MP in Drugs?  Once I'd learnt he'd been cut from the DVD I always meant to go back to my original off-air VHS to see what he'd said, but never got round to it before all my tapes went into storage.

Indeed, although his appearances are quite unremarkable - and I'd even say no great loss, comedy-wise. It's more the coup of stinging someone who really should know better and frustrating that he was able to use his power and influence to worm his way out of appearing.