If you have ever worked in an office and hated it, it is a wonderfully cathartic piece. I loved it, and it was a big plus in a movie that I found a little uneven in entertainment. I actually liked the Mr Creosote part. That’s strange because I’m not usually a big fan of gross out humor. But again, Meaning of Life came out at a time when there wasn’t so much gross out humor in movies.
You need to watch the scene, someone posted a link. He is given something that causes everything else to give off a gas. He balloons in front of us and the waiter knows it is going to happen. Definite chemical reaction causing huge amounts of gas.
I have always thought the whole “Blancmange” thing from Season 3 or 4 to be tedious.
Regarding the Gumbys, I think the whole man-with-knotted-handkerchief-on-head-wearing-shorts-standing-in-water thing was a parody of the way British men looked when they were on vacation. Excuse me … on holiday.
I was just rereading a James Herriott book, written in the 1970s, and he mentioned subbing in for another vet who went on holiday to the beach. He got a picture from the guy, and he describes him as wearing a knotted handkerchief and shorts, standing knee-deep in water. As soon as I read Herriott’s description, I immediately saw Michael Palin as a Gumby.
“The Science Fiction Sketch”?:eek: Heretic! :mad::mad:
But perhaps you are talking of another “Blancmange” thing: I am reasonably sure that “The Science Fiction Sketch” is from season one, or at most two.
It is actually an anticipation and counterpart of events related in a more literal and linear way by Star Trek: TNG. It explains why the Borg traveled back in time in order to invade Earth. As the python reveals, they went back to the 1970s, and did it in order to win Wimbledon. Which they did, repeatedly.
It is a parody of a parodic stereotype of the working class Englishman on holiday from a much earlier period. I actually grew up in an English seaside resort town, much favored by working class holidaymakers, through the 1950s, '60s and '70s, and I do not recall ever once actually seeing a man with a knotted handkerchief on his head. I was aware of the stereotype, though. Presumably it used to happen once upon a time.