Over the past 15 years, Michael has made the following travel series:
Around the World in 80 Days
Pole to Pole
Full Circle
Hemingway Adventure
Sahara.
His latest show is “Himalaya”. There was apparently a LOT of controversy just trying to get the show started. The Pakistani government didn’t want him to travel into Al Qaeda territory.
He finally got permission, but, for the first time, had to agree to a military escort.
This show is scheduled to be broadcast in the fall in the UK. I can’t wait for the DVDs.
I’ve gotten all of the above (Full Circle will be released in the next month, but Hemingway has not been announced on DVD, yet).
Ah, the joys of a code-free DVD player w/PAL converter built-in!
I liked the first three because there was a sense of adventure and urgency to them. It gave it a purpose.
The Hemingway Adventure I found deathly dull and only saw a small part of it.
Sahara was pretty good, but again because he didn’t have a time limit or any other rules, it seemed kind of ordinary in places. Though that tribe that did the weird eye thing to attract women was pretty freaky.
I do like Michael Palin generally, though. He’s a really excellent frontperson for these series.
I love Michael Palin’s travelogues. I especially like the one where he crosses the International Dateline, so the crew of the ship he’s on make him go through a huge long made-up ceremony that included being covered in ketchup. Pretty funny stuff.
I enjoyed “Around the World in 80 Days” and “Pole to Pole,” but haven’t seen the later ones. Like GuanoLad, I liked the urgency of “80 Days,” plus in both shows, the opportunity to see parts of the world I know I’ll never get to myself (especially not with Michael Palin as a travel companion).
My parents are very big fans of these travel series, but the funny thing is that they never watched Monty Python on TV or in films, and had no idea who Michael Palin was before they first saw “80 Days.” I showed them my Holy Grail tape at one point, and spent a lot of time pointing out to Mom and Dad which one Michael was.
I’ve seen and liked the first three on your list. They have been repeated on UK Gold lately and they are just as good the second time round. If I envy anyone it’s him doing those journey.s
I’m still a fan of “80 Days.” The contest idea gave it a great hook to hang all the episodes on, even though, if you read the book, you’ll realize that they beat Fogg’s record easily. They decided on a side trip to France for a long, leisurely drunken lunch before heading home, on the BBC’s dime, of course!
The book also gave some great insights into the mechanics of filming, and how certain sequences were recast or changed to make for a more interesting story. It’s easy to fool yourself, watching the show, to think that Palin’s out there by himself (when he’s got five people along to help carry the load).
Of course, it did get hairy when he was stuck in Dubai and somehow got the Saudis to let him drive across their country over a weekend, so I guess even the best-laid plans can go aft aglay.
Plus, it made some very cogent points about how travel by air doesn’t give you much of a sense of how big and varied the world is.
After that, the series began to go downhill. “Pole to Pole” is noteworthy for the Africa journey. Americans especially don’t get a really good opportunity to see the continent the way Palin did. “Full Circle” was clever. “Hemingway” was disappointing, since almost all of the Hemingway sites have been turned into well-troddened shrines.
Without that urgency found in “80 Days” , the rest seem more like conventional travelogues.
There was a recent “Life of Python” documentary in which some of the surviving Pythons — Cleese, Jones, Gilliam, and Palin to be exact — dress as Pepperpots and natter on about how nice Michael Palin’s travel shows are. “They’re so restful!” Cleese’s character coos. “All over the world he goes, and nothing interesting or exciting ever 'appens! ‘Hello, are you Michael Palin?’ people say, and he says, ‘Yes, I’m Michael Palin, hello!’! It’s so nice!” Paraphrasing wildly there, but you get the gist; it was some seriously funny shit, and having Palin there playing along made it even better.