And now for something completely solemn and scholarly, a thoughtful and deftly tuned look at the madcap and mischievous indie film art of Terence Vance “Terry” Gilliam by Sir Percy Derailleur-Lambert, noted British film critic and volunteer curator of the Chinese Bicycle Museum in Ipswich.

 

JABBERWACKY:

battling blockbuster beasts

 with big, long, sharp, pointy, and slathering teeth

in the allegorical film art

of Terry V. Gilliam

 

by Sir P. Lambert-Derailleur, OBE, SOB, VC

 

        Those who witnessed a young Terry V. “Terry Baby” Gilliam, the Minneapolis, Minnesota born and initially raised son of a circus clown and a nun, perform a moving rendition of the allegorical Ernst Anschutz tune “O Tannenbaum” (1824) on the bagpipes while pedalling resolutely back and forth across the stage on a red and green unicycle during the Christmas concert in his final year at Birmingham High School-located, curiously, in the Great Los Angeles Area (GLAA), not in Alabama-would not have doubted that he would go on to an equally and memorably madcap career in telefilm and film art.  Nor would they have been surprised that after graduating from high school and the elite, exclusive, posh, private, toff, tony, and shabby Occidental College in Los Angeles, Gilliam cycled to New York City, where his madcap talents were immediately noticed as he begged in the streets by fellow madcap mischief maker Harvey Kurtzman, co-creator of Mutually Assured Dementia aka MAD comic and magazine.  Put to work creating amusing stories composed of photographs called fumetti-!gesundheit!-for Kurtzman’s latest magazine, HELP!, Gilliam met fellow young new hire, English comedian John “Johnny Baby” Cleese. 

        A fateful meeting, indeed, which led to Gilliam travelling to England with Cleese on camelback and working as an itinerant bicycle repair man across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom while also creating titillating and uncredited paper “cut-out” animation for the exuberantly anarchic, eccentric, and allegorical Joseph “Joey Baby” McGrath indie docufeature film THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN (1969) until Cleese invited him to repair bicycles for the cast and crew of the innovative indie docufeature telefilm series MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS (1969-1609).  After impressing with bicycle repairs, Gilliam soon began to also create equally innovative, brilliant, imaginative, memorable, and tragicomic cut-out animation and perform small bit parts for the series, showing a particular and natural affinity for roles as a Gumby.  Here the lucky lad met the luv of his life, the young, beautiful, bewitching, red haired, curvaceous, ravishing, intelligent, warm, friendly, sweet, luvly, luvin’, wonderful, amazing, fantabulous, obscenity spewing, and multi-talented hair and makeup artist and enthusiastic cyclist Margaret “Maggie” Weston, who became the sympathetic, supportive, and resigned wife of tiger Terry, explaining the perpetually giddy grin on his face.  Indeed, it was a very happy and fecund marriage, leading in time to the birth of three wonderful, luving, devoted, madcap, obscenity spewing, and exuberantly cycling children, Amy, Holly, Harry, and Eddie Baby.

        Curiously, and like many fiction and film artists of his era, particularly those with a fondness for riding Chinese bicycles, an eerily, ominously, and presciently twilit pall hovered over Gilliam, Weston, and their fellow Pythons that anticipated the helicopter crash that killed actor/writer/director Vic Morrow and illegally hired and employed child extras Renee Chen and Myca Le around 2:20 am in the early morning hours of July 23, 1982 on the George Folsey jr. produced John Landis set of the twilit, allegorical, computer generated imagery (CGI) enhanced, Kathleen Kennedy associate produced, Frank Marshall produced, and Landis and Steven Spielberg executive produced Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante and George Miller docufeature film TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983).  Indeed, an ominously and presciently twilit pall featured prominently when Gilliam rejoined Cleese and the rest of the gang from MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and teamed up with Playboy Productions for a cinematic revisit of their most memorable sketches from the British society and television roasting telefilm series in the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical but brilliant, imaginative, madcap, and satirical Ian MacNaughton indie docufeature film affectionately referred to as LAS BICICLETAS ROJAS in Madrid and known everywhere else except Montreal as AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (1971), released on September 28, 1971.

 

“This is a frightened city.

 Over these cyclist filled streets…

hangs a twilit pall of fear.”

 

        Indeed, after the Columbia intro, ominously and presciently twilit forbodings were on explosive display right from the beginning of the film in the opening H.M. Government Public Service Films no. 42 HOW NOT TO BE SEEN sketch.  For the twilit trio of exploding shrubberies that eventually led to the death of the unfortunate Mr. E.W. Lambert, who, alas, was hiding behind the middle, and last, of three exploding shrubberies, and the carefree callousness of the narrator-played by Cleese-eerily anticipated the equally callous indifference to human life and limb that led to the thunderous on set special effects explosion and resultant fireball that took out the stabilizing rear rotor of the Vietnam war era Huey helicopter that crashed on the Landis set of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE and killed Chen, Le and Morrow on that fateful and fatal early morning of the TZ disaster.  Significantly, Gilliam reaffirmed the film’s eerie prescience with the cut-out animation sequences that he created for AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, starting with the opening titles that followed HOW NOT TO BE SEEN.

        For the squashing foot from the allegorical Agnolo Bronzino painting VENUS, CYCLIST, TIME AND FOLLY (circa 1546) that fell out of the sky to begin and end, with the agony of defeat, the cut-out animation enhanced opening titles of the film also eerily and tragicomically anticipated the falling Huey helicopter of the TZ disaster, as well as affirmed that allegory was already on the mischievous mind of Gilliam long before he started creating his own allegorical indie docufeature film art.  Another cut-out animated bit that followed the Bronzino foot squashing the title of the film saw a beautiful, blonde, chubby, and naked woman with huge pendulous breasts descend from the sky by what appeared to be balloons only to fall on and be cut in half by a huge mousetrap, eerily anticipating the helicopter rotor that cut poor Le in two in the TZ disaster.  Later, and even more ominously, another Gilliam animation sequence featured an old shaving man who cut off his own head with his razor with one rotoring sweep of his hand in an even more eerie anticipation of the rotoring blades of the falling helicopter that decapitated poor Morrow and cut Le in two.  In addition, another cut-out animation sequence featuring killer cars falling on and killing pedestrians, but not cyclists, also eerily anticipated the falling TZ helicopter, for the sequence reminded us that Chen was crushed by the helicopter on that fateful fatal morning.

        This ominous anticipation of the TZ disaster was reaffirmed by the presence of noted British film artist Sir Edward “Eddie Baby” Ross-played by Graham “Chappy Baby” Chapman-in the “It’s The Arts” sketch, for the surname of Sir Ross eerily anticipated that Steve Ross would be CEO of Warner Brothers, the studio that oversaw the creation and distribution of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, at the time of the TZ disaster.  Significantly, the fact that interviewer Thomas aka Tom aka Tommy Baby-played by Cleese-referred to Sir Ross as Frank also eerily anticipated that Frank Marshall would be the producer of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE.  The madcap sight and sound of “musician” Ken Ewing-played by Terry Graham Parry “Parry Baby” Jones-using wooden mallets with carefree and callous abandon to pound notes out of 23 live and “trained” musical mice at one point yet again eerily anticipated the equally callous, carefree, and more deadly abandon with which Chen, Le, and Morrow would be used by Folsey jr., Kennedy, Landis, and Marshall on the July 23, 1982 date of the TZ disaster

Equally tragicomically, one of the final madcap Gilliam cut-out animation sequences that featured a giant mutated Siamese cat menacing polite and impolite society was also important, for the catty sequence was the first appearance of the ravenous and insatiable blockbuster beast with big long sharp pointy slathering teeth in the film art of Gilliam, preparing us for the many desperate battles with blockbuster beasts with big long sharp pointy slathering teeth and horrible nasty breath in his solo indie docufeature films to come.  The fact that Gilliam openly mocked Walt Disney, MGM, and Twentieth Century Fox in other cut-out animation sequences also openly affirmed that the expatriate film artist had set his satirical sights on American film art and film studios.  The fact that Gilliam also appeared in numerous bit parts, fittingly, first as a cyclist enjoying a peaceful ride that was rudely interrupted by a police officer, than as a nun, a World War II era British soldier, a WWII era British doctor, a smiling member of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) choir, a fashionably dressed, made up, styled, and exuberantly embattled member of the Townswomen Guild of Sheffield in Yorkshire, an irritated neighbour woken by an upper class twit, and, lastly, a chubby chipmunk named Squeakers, respectively, affirmed that Gilliam was committed to developing and strengthening his thespian talents.  Last but not least, the mention of an unseen person named Sir Arthur and the presences of brazenly cuckolded husband Arthur Putey-played by Michael “Mikey Baby” Palin-dedicated twin mountaineers Arthur Wilson-played by Eric “Ricky Baby” Idle-and the not quite so dedicated mountaineers Arthur Brown were a curious quartet that anticipated the second and even more famous Monty Python film.

        Significantly, Sidney Lumet implicitly experienced and liked AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, for he had the short, black haired, eyed, moustachioed, suited, and bowler hatted, brilliant, eccentric, fussy, celebrated, and implicitly Jones linked Belgian detective M. Hercule Poirot-originally implicitly linked to the equally black haired, moustached, and eyed, brilliant, eccentric, and celebrated French writer Marcel Proust by Dame Agatha Christie, and played by Albert Finney-unexpectedly board an Orient Express train with the ominously twilit locomotive number 230-G-353 at Stamboul and then slowly and surprisingly deduce that the young, tall, slim, beautiful, tawney haired, and implicitly Chapman linked Miss Mary Debenham-played by Vanessa Redgrave-the middle aged, tall, handsome, fiery, moustached, and implicitly Cleese linked Lieutenant-Colonel John Arbuthnott-played by Sean Connery-the middle aged, moustached, burly, and implicitly Gilliam linked Antonio “Gino” Foscarelli-played by Denis Quilley-the old, balding, and implicitly Idle linked Doctor Stavros Constantine-played by George Couloris-the young, blonde, handsome, wealthy, and implicitly Palin linked Count Rudolf Andrenyi-played by the fittingly named Michael York-the old, slim, blonde, but still beautiful actor Linda Arden aka the annoying, chatty, and gum chewing “Mrs. Harriet B. Hubbard-implicitly linked to fellow Python Connie “Connie Baby” Booth, and played by Lauren Bacall-and the middle aged, blonde, heavy set, and strong maid Hildegarde Schmidt-implicitly linked to fellow Python Carol “Clevey Baby” Cleveland, and played by Rachel Roberts-had joined the old, haughty, black clad, Queen Victoria evoking, and implicitly Dame Christie linked Princess Natalia Dragomiroff-played by Wendy Hiller-the young, tall, slim, clean shaven, twitchy and implicitly Spielberg linked secretary Hector McQueen-played by Anthony Perkins-the old, stuffy, black suited, and implicitly Alfred Hitchcock linked butler Edward Beddoes-played by John Gielgud-and the middle aged, multi-lingual, and implicitly Francois Truffaut linked porter Pierre P. Michel-played by Jean-Pierre Cassell-in collectively murdering an insidious man they all turned out to be connected to, the Evil, vile, hated, pushy, wealthy, cigar smoking, and art collecting gangster and killer of a blonde and Shirley Temple evoking girl played in newspaper photographs named Daisy Armstrong-played by Alana Smithee-the notorious Lanfranco Cassetti aka “Mr. Ratchett”-implicitly linked to the equally despised Lew Wasserman, suspected gangster head of Universal Studios, and played by Richard Widmark-implying the hope of Lumet that Gilliam and the rest of the Monty Python gang and Hitchcock, Spielberg, and Truffaut would all triumph over Wasserman and also succeed with their gleefully demented and satirical cinematic creations, as well, at the surprising end of the allegorical docufeature film AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974), a film released on November 21, 1974 that was inspired by the allegorical Dame Agatha Christie indie docufiction novel Murder On The Orient Express (1934) and that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. 

How fitting that fellow exuberant cyclist Jones was implicitly linked to, and played such a central role in ultimately and sympathetically identifying and liberating all of the murderers as, Poirot in AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, for Jones would play a central role as co-actor/co-writer/co-director with Gilliam, the rest of the Pythons, and 76,188 exuberant bicycle riding llamas as Gilliam the animator and Jones the live action man donned the co-star/co-writer/co-director hats and raucously fused live action film art with mischievous cut-out animation to create a raucously mischievous “animaction” style of film art in the first wholly original and still most brilliant, imaginative, madcap, satirical, and memorable but also eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical Monty Python indie animaction film, a film that roasted the conventions of film art as gleefully and knowingly as the conventions of telefilm art were roasted in MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and that was known as THE LORD OF THE BICYCLES in certain parts of Moscow on Thursdays and in most other places including Nairobi as MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975), released on March 14, 1975.

 

“!Remorseless

and bicycle riding

Death

awaits the world of film art!.”

 

        Intriguingly, after beginning with the opening of the allegorical, positively “Dreemy” and product placement mocking C.M. Pennington-Richards indie docufeature film DENTIST ON THE JOB (19??), reminding us that AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT began with the H.M. Government Public Service short film no. 42 HOW NOT TO BE SEEN, and after various bizarre and tragicomic opening titles increasingly filled with exuberantly madcap llamas, the film eventually began with an opening title setting the film in England in 932, immediately linking the film to the fateful numbers 23 in another ominous memory of the disastrous future on July 23, 1982.  Soon Gilliam’s young, loyal, short, slim, clean shaven, and big eared squire, Patsy, appeared with the young, tall, handsome, bearded, valiant and indomitable King Arthur, vanquisher of the Saxons and King of the Britons-played by Chapman-and approached a castle to parley with its knights and persuade these knights to join them as Knights of the Round Table at Camelot.  As Patsy clopped halves of a coconut together to imitate the sound of hoofbeats while the two men pretended to ride horses rather than simply rode bicycles, as bicycles, alas, had not been invented in the tenth century, it was immediately clear that Gilliam’s madcap and mischievous indie film art would be a squired taste, indeed.

        While King Arthur failed in his attempt to persuade the heckling and jeering French castle knights to join him as Knights of the Round Table, he soon gathered a loyal and dedicated group of men who did join him as Knights.  Significantly, one of them was the black moustached and thoughtful Sir Bevedere-as fond of deductive reasoning as Poirot, making it fitting that he was played by Jones-who resembled and was implicitly linked to Walter Murch, an important sound designer/sound editor who worked with Francis Coppola and George Lucas on their early films.  Thus, the implication was that King Arthur, his loyal squire Patsy, and Sir Bevedere were linked to Coppola, Lucas and Murch, and that the madcap quest to find the Holy Grail that they and the rest of the Knights of the Round Table-including the young, short, slim, dark haired and eyed, clean cut and shaven, naïve, innocent, implicitly virginal and Spielberg linked Sir Galahad the Chaste, played by Palin-all soon dedicated themselves to after being ordered to so by the gold crown wearing and Gilliam cut-out animated God-who resembled and was implicitly linked to MAD magazine founder, publisher, and editor William Gaines, and was also played by Chapman-symbolized the equally madcap sight and sound of the Coppola led film artists of New Hollywood dedicating themselves to a quest for the Holy Oscar and its attendant fortune and glory, meeting and gently tormenting an old, distraught, round faced, and implicitly Lumet linked peasant woman-played by Bee Duffell-by saying “!Ne!” to her-or was that short for “!Sid-Ney!”and struggling to get past the madcap, cackling, mysterious, wild greying haired, moustached, and bearded, and implicitly Kurosawa Akira linked weird old man-also played by Gilliam-along the way.

        Significantly, this madcap quest for fortune and glory was again not without eerily prescient and twilit forebodings of the impending TZ disaster future.  For a desperate sword fight to the death that broke out between King Arthur and the grim, silent, intimidating and obdurate Black Knight-played by Cleese-that led to King Arthur unconcernedly hacking off the Black Knight’s arms and legs and leaving him a petulant and heckling torso again ominously anticipated the decapitating and dismembering rotors of the falling helicopter in the TZ disaster.  The implicitly gay and three headed Knight-also played by Jones, Chapman and Palin, respectively-who frightened off brave Sir Robin-played by Idle-also eerily anticipated the three victims of the TZ disaster.  The sight and sound of King Arthur and his determined Grail Knights ignoring a warning from the tall, long bearded, intimidating, mysterious, mystic, powerful, all knowing, and implicitly Stanley Kubrick linked Tim the Enchanter-also played by Cleese-to stay away from a cave containing a killer rabbit and the horrifying sight and sound of the rabbit decapitating an unwary Knight Sir Bors-also played by Gilliam-soon after they descended into the cave also again ominously anticipated the decapitation of Morrow.  This ominously twilit prescience was also affirmed by the cuts to a contemporary police investigation of a real world murder of an old, grey haired, kindly, earnest, exuberant, and “famous historian” named Frank-played by the ironically surnamed John Young-perhaps committed by the young, tall, handsome, dark eyed, clean shaven, hacking and slashing luvin’, and implicitly Perkins linked psycho Sir Launcelot-also played by Cleese-cuts that ended with first Sir Launcelot and then King Arthur and Sir Bevedere being arrested and hauled away by the police at the end of the film also eerily presaged the all too real investigation of the equally unexpected, shocking, bloody, horrific, and more outraging deaths of Chen, Le, and Morrow in the TZ disaster.

        Thus, it was all too fitting that King Arthur and his Knights, who narrowly missed out on desperate battles with the duplicitous Dragon of Angnor and the merciless Chicken of Bristol, were all almost killed by the back to back attacks of the deceptively small and harmless killer rabbit and the huge, big horned, multi-eyed, ravenous, legendary, and highly cut-out animated Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh!, for the devastating attacks of these two ravenous and slathering blockbuster beasts with big long sharp pointy teeth ominously and presciently anticipated the sight and sound of the ranks of Coppola and the rest of New Hollywood being laid low by their quest to create and achieve fortune and glory with equally ravenous and insatiable blockbuster cinematic beasts.  A dire warning that New Hollywood was wise to heed, as the Black Beast of Aaaarrrgggghhhh! was so terrifying it gave Gilliam, its creator and animator, a heart attack.  It was also too tragicomically fitting that, after the implicitly Spielberg linked Sir Galahad joined the rest of the nutty Knights in attacking and then fleeing from the killer rabbit and the Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh! that Spielberg would wrestle with his own blockbuster beast with big long sharp pointy slathering teeth in the ominously and presciently twilit and allegorical Spielberg docufeature film JAWS (1975), a film that implicitly annoyed Gilliam and that he implicitly replied to and roasting in his first indie animaction film.

Curiously, the brilliant, creative, madcap, and cut-out animation filled indie animaction style of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL allowed co-director Gilliam to experiment with and develop his own indie animaction style.  However, later that year Gilliam implicitly worried that his attempt or attempts to succeed as an indie film artist would fail as surely and tragicomically as the many attempts of flight enthusiasts to fly with a succession of home-made aeronautic devices, perhaps due in part to none of them being pedal powered, in the allegorical Gilliam cut-out animation short film MIRACLE OF FLIGHT (1975), a fine, creative, and humourous short film released in June of ’75 that abundantly affirmed that cut-out animators were as free to do what they wanted and move in any direction they wanted as hand drawn animators were and as CGI animators would be in the future.  Three months later, Volker Schlondorff and Margarethe von Trotta implied their hope that Gilliam and his fellow Pythons would strike back at film critic Pauline Kael after an implicitly dismissive review like the implicitly Jones linked Kommissar Beizmenne-played by Mario Adorf-joined the implicitly Chapman and Cleese linked prosecutors Hach and Dr. Korten-played by Rolf Becker and Horatius Haberle, respectively-led the investigation that captured, arrested, tried, and convicted the young, naïve, duplicitous, and implicitly Kael linked Katharina Blum-played by Angela Winkler-and her equally young and handsome terrorist luver Ludwig Gotten-played by Jurgen Prochnow-after Blum shot dead the young, handsome, charming, cocky, persuasive, rule flaunting, pesky, and implicitly Gilliam linked DIE ZEITUNG/THE PAPER journalist Werner Totges-played by Dieter Laser-at the end of the allegorical indie docufeature film DIE VERLORENE EHRE DER KATHARINA BLUM aka THE LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM (1975), a film released on September 17, 1975 that was inspired by the allegorical Heinrich Boll indie docufiction novel Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder: Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie fuhren kann (1974).

Significantly, the legendary Black Beast of Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh! then prepared us for another legendary blockbuster beast when Gilliam implicitly conquered the fears of flying on his own as an indie film artist implied in MIRACLE OF FLIGHT and, inspired by the madcap indie animaction antics of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, donned the co-writer/director hats and teamed up again with Jones, Palin, Weston, and Julian Doyle-production manager and special effects photography man on MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL-with his best girl by his side, sung lustily and collaborated to fuse madcap live action film art with his own exuberantly idiosyncratic and riotously raucous cut-out animation to create an even more madcap, exuberantly idiosyncratic, and riotously raucous “animaction” style of film art which he unleashed on the unsuspecting Temple Theatre in his first solo and madcap but eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, fantastic realist, satirical, and Ozian themed indie animaction film, dubbed THE SEVENTH CYCLE for patriotic reasons in Stockholm, but known most everywhere else as JABBERWOCKY (1977), released on March 28, 1977 and inspired by a poem in the allegorical Lewis Carrol children’s novel Through The Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There (1871).

 

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son,

the jaws that bite,

the claws that catch cyclists!”

 

        Fittingly, after a brief blank black screen that evoked the often equally brief blank black opening screen of a Spielberg film, the first fine feature film of Gilliam began, initially, at the beginning by leading off with an opening introductory prologue with no opening titles and an unsuspecting green moth resting peacefully on a fern before it was squashed from above by the right foot of a ragged and whistling poacher-played by Jones-as he wandered through a familiar medieval forest on his rounds checking his illicit traps while the opening lines of the allegorical poem “Jabberwocky” from Through The Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There were read by an unseen man.  This squashing foot recalled the squashing foot of Bronzino falling from the clouds out of the sky that Gilliam had created for the opening cut-out animation titles of the MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS telefilm series and for AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, immediately affirming that implicit allegorical intentions and mischief were afoot and already making an impression here at the start of the peripatetic and peregrinating preface to the premier allegorical and madcap Gilliam indie animaction film. 

Ironically, the squashing of the unsuspecting moth resting on a shrubbery by a larger creature striking from above also prepared us for the sight and sound of the poacher being silently stalked from behind and above, and then paying for his illicit activity by being snapped up in the jaws and gobbled up and killed by the film’s huge and ravenous blockbuster beast with big long sharp pointy slathering teeth, the eponymous and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked Jabberwocky-played by Peter Salmon-a death that made the poacher the implicitly Wicked Witch of the East linked character of JABBERWOCKY and set off the healing Ozian spiritworld dream.  Curiously, this tragicomically brutal sequence was shot high up looking down from the blockbuster beast’s point of view (POV) so that audiences were left in the suspenseful dark as to the actual appearance of the monster, evoked the falling killer cars and the blockbuster cat beast in AND NOW OR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIERENT, and eerily anticipated the falling helicopter of the TZ disaster. 

        Significantly, this attack on the unsuspecting poacher by the dread Jabberwock also evoked the attack on the unsuspecting beautiful blonde teenage girl swimmer Chrissy Watkins-played by Susan Backlinie-by a great white shark at the beginning of JAWS, a film that returned the blockbuster beast to the Temple Theatre and enraged most New Hollywood film artists, as they believed that films should be about higher and serious adult things than battling blockbuster beasts.  Thus, Gilliam immediately and implicitly affirmed that he was indeed replying to and roasting Spielberg and JAWS in JABBERWOCKY, an implication affirmed after the prologue and a single opening title displaying the title of the film by the tragicomic arrival of the young, brunette, clean cut and shaven, naïve, innocent, chaste, cheerful, perky and implicitly Spielberg and Cowardly Lion linked Dennis the Cooper-played by Palin, his name evoking a more politically minded and argumentative peasant named Dennis also played by Palin in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL-the ambitious, and restless son of a content, dedicated, fastidious, uncompromising, unmoving, and implicitly Hitchcock and Tin Man linked cooper named Ralph-played by Paul Curran.  For the implicit link of Ralph to Alf not only reminded us that Hitchcock was an inspiration to Spielberg, but that the humble but vital occupation of cooper evoked Hooper-played by Richard Dreyfuss-the short, slim, bespectacled, bearded, serious, educated, and implicitly Lucas linked shark expert in JAWS, linking the father and son cooper to Hooper, and, hence, to Spielberg and JAWS.

        Curiously, cheerful and naïve young Dennis soon fell under the sway of the profit minded fishmonger Mr. Fishfinger-played by Warren Mitchell-and fled the proud and principled indie craftsman ways of his father, his peaceful village, and his young, blonde, chubby, statuesque, and selfish sweetie Griselda Fishfinger-played by Annette Badland-for fleeting fame and fortune in a nearby fortified citadel filled with Hollywood union evoking guilds and so many different shoppes it resembled a fortified medieval shopping mall-a furtive flight made, as in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, not with a smoothly rolling bicycle in those darkest of Dark Ages before the enlightening and liberating arrival of the bicycle, but on faltering and flitting foot-and that had experienced a huge increase in business and faith due to the many frightened people who had fled to it to escape the dread blockbuster beast, reminding us that people fled beaches and attacks by blockbuster great white sharks offshore for the reassuring safety  of air conditioned shopping malls with matchbox cinemas showing JAWS in the frightened and sizzling summer of ’75.  Significantly, this relocation reaffirmed the implicit link of Dennis to Steven.  For the sight and sound of young Dennis being led astray by Mr. Fishfinger reminded us that in the late Sixties, Spielberg was led astray by Sid Sheinberg, then head of the television division of Universal Studios, when the young student was persuaded by him to leave behind UCLA film school and his dedication to the indie film art path of Hitchcock before he graduated as a fully trained and higher minded film artist and embrace fortune and glory as a commercial telefilm director with the tv wing of Universal, overseen at the time by the tall, grey haired, slim, suited, intimidating, and questionable supposed gangster Wasserman, who was implicitly linked to the fortified medieval shopping mall’s ruler, the also implicitly Great Oz linked King Bruno the Questionable-played by Max Wall.  This tv beginning set Spielberg apart from the other film artists of New Hollywood, who usually were post-secondary film school graduates and who usually preferred to make film art for film art’s sake, rather than for fortune and glory. 

Indeed, the fact that Dennis was as clean shaven as the implicitly Spielberg linked Sir Galahad in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL reaffirmed his implicit link to Spielberg, reminding us that Spielberg was also clean shaven in 1977, unlike the denizens of New Hollywood, who favoured mustaches and beards to make it clear that they were serious and thoughtful film artists.  The sight and sound of Dennis sneaking into the fortified citadel also reminded us that Spielberg luved to irritate people by insisting that he also snuck into Universal Studios as a “young nipper” without providing any evidence to back up this claim or explain why no one thought it unusual that he would pedal in on a tricycle.  Thus, the fact that Dennis found no fame and fortune in the fortified medieval shopping mall but was instead foolishly led away to act as a faithful squire to the big and sturdy Red Herring Knight-his name evoking the fake “red herring” clues created by the twelve vengeful murderers of Cassetti to hide their collective crime in AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS to implicitly link him to Lumet, and played by David Prowse-and to help him track down and kill the dread blockbuster Jabberwock beast terrorizing the countryside outside the fortified citadel implied the belief of Gilliam that Spielberg was foolish for creating JAWS. 

Curiously, however, the Red Herring Knight was soon cut in two with a sword by another big, horned, intimidating, and implicitly Scarecrow linked Black Knight-also played by Prowse-before he could kill the Jabberwocky, which resembled a huge, fully alive, and monstrous parrot, perhaps an Icelandic red or an Antarctic turquoise, and the Black Knight was karmically killed in turn by the slathering monster, leading to the cowering and quavering Dennis ironically and accidentally killing the dread Jabberwock by popping one of its eyes with the point of a lance as it swooped down to gobble him up.  Thus, it was Dennis who was hailed as a hero and also awarded the young, beautiful, slim, luvin’, and implicitly Lynne Kay Wasserman, Dorothy, and Hollywood linked blonde Princess-who evoked Watkins, the doomed swimmer at the beginning of JAWS, and was played by Deborah Fallender-daughter of King Bruno the Questionable, rather than his sweetie Griselda, and forced to ride off into the cut-out animation sunset in a carriage rather than a tandem bicycle with the pretty Princess, implying that Gilliam believed that by embracing fortune and glory in Universal tv land symbolized by the pretty Princess, Spielberg had lost a true and enriching luv of film art for film art’s sake symbolized by Griselda, in the unhealing, unharmonizing, catastrophic, and, ironically, bicycle free end of a fine, beautifully shot, and natural light luvin’ first initial lead off career starting premier feature film that started his cinematic quest to create his own unique, madcap, creative and indie “animaction” style that did not have any cut-out animation sequences in it, however, unlike AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, but that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to JAWS, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, and the allegorical Victor Fleming film THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939).

        Thus, and long before the TZ disaster, Gilliam had already begun using his solo indie film art to implicitly and desperately warn audiences and film artists about the dangers of embracing brainless and insatiable blockbuster beasts with big, long, sharp, pointy, and slathering teeth, and valiantly crusading with a tin foil lance on his favourite ’64 Beijing Zephyr ten-speed against these insidious, ravenous, and loot lusting blockbuster beasts.  Alas, the sight and sound of the Jabberwock falling on its victims from above-including Gilliam’s mad diamond man-of the Red Herring Knight being hacked in two by the Black Knight and of King Bruno’s first and annoying herald-played by John Bird-being decapitated on orders from the king all again eerily and presciently foreboded the Huey helicopter falling from above and decapitating Morrow and dismembering Le on the Landis set of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE on that fateful and fatal early morning of July 23, 1982, giving an ominously twilit ambience to JABBERWOCKY.  Curiously, the sight and sound of the implicitly Walt Disney linked Walt Dabney-played by Jerold Wells-begging in the streets of the fortified medieval shopping mall was also rather ironic, given that the indie hand animation and animaction film luving film division of the Mouse House was indeed on the ropes in 1977, but would take advantage of the TZ disaster to successfully remind global audiences that it was a family friendly studio that did not kill child extras or film veterans on its film sets, use its shrewd, knowing, mischievous, and satirical films and tele films to lure those audiences back to its own cheerful and upbeat family, and go on to become the number one film studio on planet Earth.

        As for Gilliam, after celebrating the success of the brilliant and hilarious JABBERWOCKY and peddling happily for months on his ’64 Beijing Zephyr, he then donned the co-writer/co-star/animation/production designer/co-director hats and teamed up again with Doyle-now back as editor-Weston, the rest of the Monty Python gang, and on the eerily and presciently twilit, madcap, and allegorical Jones indie animaction film MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN (1979), released on August 17, 1979 and better known in Calcutta as HANUMAN AND THE MAGIC BICYCLE.

 

 

“!Weally, thenturion,

I’m thurprithed to hear a man like you

wattled by a wabble of wowdy Webels

without bithycleth!”

 

        Curiouthly, the film began with a thtar filled expanth of thpathe like a thy fi film, before the dawn of light thwept over the thcreen from, ironically, the left corner as a twilit trio of robed riderth on camelth followed a star acroth the thcreen from left to right to, presumably, Bethlehem to prepare us for the three With Men-played by Chapman, Cleese, and Palin, rethpectively-dithcovering that the baby boy Brian-played by Albert Smithee-that they journeyed to worthip wath not the baby metthiah they were hoping to meet.  Grabbing back their prethenth, they hurried to the real metthiah down the threet, leaving behind the beamith boy and its mother-played by Joneth.  Cut to the opening titles, filled with ominouthly and eerily twilit cut-out animation from Gilliam thuch ath flying headth of thtatueth and a twilit trio of decapitated trumpeterth holding their trumpeth in their right handth and their headth in their thinithter left handth, and then raithing their trumpeth to the lipth of their headth and blowing out red bannerth with more opening titlth on them, at which point three trumpeterth became four trumpeterth, and later a falling decapitated statue, all to the allegorical, James Bond theme evoking, and David Howman and Andre Jacquemin written Sonia James tune “Brian” (1979)

        Then the film thaw the adult Brian Cohen-played by Chapman-join madcap Rebel groupth and fight the Roman Empire occupierth of Jeruthalem, all the while being mithtaken for another metthiah by the enraptured mattheth, reminding us that George Lucath was now being theen by the mattheth ath a thinematic mettiah due to the Rebel filled and Empire battlin’ allegorical, CGI enhanthed, Othian themed, and implithitly Thpielberg roathting Lucath indie docufeature film THTAR WARTH EPITHODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977), the implication wath that the rith and fall of the implithitly Lucath linked “metthiah” Bwian and hith cruthifithian, in the end, thymbolithed the prethient belief of the Pythonth that the new thinema “metthiah” Lucath and his Old Hollywood Empire and blockbuster beast battling THTAR WARTH Clathic Trilogy would altho rithe and fall in popularity before being cruthified by audienth, in time.  Indeed, the cloth encounter of the madcap kind that Brian briefly had with ethtraterrethtrialth that carried him away in a thpacecraft for a brief battle with another thip in thpath at one point in the film affirmed the implithit Lucath addrething intent of MONTY PYTHON’TH LIFE OF BRIAN.

        Eerily, the thight of ditmembered body parth lying threwn about in a Jeruthalem colietheum and being picked up and plathed in basketh ominouthly antithipated the TZ dithater onth more.  In addition, the thight and thound of Bigguth Dickuth-also played by Chapman-altho ominouthly antithipated the permanent link of literary artitht Philip K. Dick to 1982 via hith death in early March of that year and by the fact that hith allegorical and implithitly Dithney and Frank Herbert addrething indie docufiction novel DO ANDROIDTH DREAM OF ELECTRIC THEEP? (1968) inthpired the twilit, allegorical, THGI enhanthed, Othian themed, and implithitly Matthew Robbinth addretthing Thir Ridley Thcott indie docufeature artbuthter BLADE RUNNER (1982).  Eerily and ominously twilit prescience that continued in the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed, Lucas executive produced, and implicitly William Friedkin roasting Spielberg indie docufeature film RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), released on June 12, 1981, the same day that saw the release of the equally and ominously prescient and twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed, and implicitly Gilliam toasting Desmond Davis animaction film always referred to as BEDTIME FOR BUBO in South Delta and known everywhere else including Bangkok as CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981).

 

“A hundred good deeds cannot atone

for one murder

 of one cyclist.”

 

        Curiously, the film began with the middle aged, big, blonde, moustached, bearded, bitter, brooding, and angry King Acrisius of the Greek city-state kingdom of Argos-played by Donald Houston-consigning his young, beautiful, brunette, and curvaceous daughter Danae-played by Vida Taylor-and her baby son Perseus-played by A.I. “Baby Baby” Smithee-to be locked into a coffin and set adrift on the Mediterranean Sea to die due to the fact that Danae had been impregnated by a god.  This caused the god that had impregnated her, the old, white moustached and bearded, King Bruno the Questionable evoking, and implicitly Wasserman and Great Oz linked Zeus, King of the Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus-played by Sir Laurence Olivier-to furiously command his brother and fellow Olympian god of the seas and oceans, the tall, slim, black haired, eyed, moustached, and bearded, and implicitly Spielberg linked Poseidon-played by Jack Gwillim-to unleash the huge, dreaded, and four armed blockbuster Titan Kraken scary beast with two big long sharp pointy slathering teeth-brought to life by stop motion animation legend and film co-producer Ray “Harry Baby” Harryhausen-from its underwater lair to destroy Argos in a hurricane.

        Argos destroyed and most of its citizens including King Acrisius dead, Danae and Perseus were allowed to drift ashore on the secluded and peaceful island of Seriphos, where the demi-god Perseus grew from an exuberant and beamish boy-played by I.A. “Smithy Baby” Smithee-into a young, handsome, tanned, muscular, strong, virile, brave, honest, pure, innocent, dashing, determined, patient, shrewd, knowing, foul smelling, and implicitly Gilliam and Scarecrow linked demi-god hero Perseus-played by Harry Hamlin, whose name fittingly looked and sounded like Terry Gilliam.  Meanwhile, after killing all of his herd of flying horses except beautiful white winged Pegasus, Zeus cursed and transformed the violent, nasty, and implicitly David Lynch linked young demi-god Calibos-played by Neil McCarthy-into a bitter, grotesque, gruesome, lustful, hairy, horned, hated, hideous, impure, repulsive, and sweet smelling outcast beastman who evoked the grotesquely deformed but intelligent, sensitive, art luvin’, and implicitly David Cronenberg linked John Merrick aka “the Elephant Man”-played by John Hurt-in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Lynch indie moving painting THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) to affirm the implicit link of Calibos to Lynch.  This cursed transformation so infuriated and moved the mother of Calibos, the tall, slim, beautiful, red haired, vengeful and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked Thetis, Olympian Goddess of the Sea-played by Maggie Smith-that she peevishly used her power to transport Perseus and fend for himself in the bustling and commerce filled city of Joppa, capital city of the Kingdom of Phoenicia, which evoked the equally crowded and commerce obsessed fortified citadel in JABBERWOCKY.

        Luckily for Perseus, he quickly befriended the old, white haired, moustached, bearded, and implicitly Tin Man linked playwright Ammon-ominously played by Burgess Meredith, a veteran of four episodes of the original TWILIGHT ZONE telefilm series-and the young, handsome, blonde haired, moustached, and bearded, strong, sturdy, and implicitly Cowardly Lion linked Joppan soldier Thallo-played by Tim Piggott-Smith-and also won over beautiful winged Pegasus to his side.  A watchful Zeus also persuaded the beautiful, brunette, wise, and implicitly Glinda the Good linked Athena, Goddess of War-played by Susan Fleetwood-the beautiful and blonde Aphrodite, Goddess of Luv-played by Ursula Andress-and his beautiful, brunette, and implicitly Edith Beckerman linked wife Queen Hera-played by Claire Bloom-to help the cause of Perseus by giving him a protective helmet that also gave its wearer invisibility, a Vorpal evoking sword that could cut through anything, and a sturdy and reflective shield, respectively.

        With these supportive friends and gifts, Perseus soon solved the riddle of Calibos that lifted his bitter curse and won him the young, beautiful, slim, strawberry blonde, sweet, luvly, luving, and implicitly Weston and Dorothy linked Princess Andromeda-who evoked the equally pretty Princess in JABBERWOCKY, and was played by Judi Bowker-daughter of the tall, slim, red haired, and commanding Queen Cassiopeia-played by Sian Phillips-ruler of the kingdom of Phoenicia and its capital city of Joppa, who awarded Andromeda in marriage and her kingdom to Perseus.  Alas for Perseus and Andromeda, the sight and sound of Queen Cassiopeia foolishly insisting that Princess Andromeda was more beautiful than the Wicked Thetis while leading the wedding ceremony of the two luvbirds in the Temple of Thetis in Joppa aroused the righteous and jealous fury of the Wicked Thetis.  So much so that an earthquake immediately shook the temple and broke off the head of the towering statue of the Wicked Thetis, a decapitation that again eerily and ominously anticipated the decapitation of poor Morrow in the TZ disaster.  Falling to the floor of the temple, the head of the Wicked Thetis was filled with her furious spirit and came alive, its eyes opening and its mouth angrily condemning the pretty Princess to be sacrificed to the dread blockbuster Titan Kraken beast in retaliation for the insolence of her Queen mother, grimly evoking the equally talking heads of statues in the cut-out animation created by Gilliam for MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS.

        Not surprisingly, this alarming sentence forced the young hero to again use his supportive gifts and friends to hunt down, decapitate, and kill the deadly Harryhausen hand animated Gorgon Medusa, and use her bleeding snakehaired head to ironically but fittingly negate the sacrificial curse placed on Andromeda by the decapitated head of the statue of the Wicked Thetis by turning the dread, slathering, and blockbuster Titan Kraken beast to stone as it returned on the order of the Wicked one to kill a chained and sacrificial Andromeda, bringing the film full circle in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end, implying that Davis enjoyed JABBERWOCKY and hoped that Gilliam would return to the Temple Theatre with another brilliant, imaginative, original, madcap, and equally indie film art for film art’s sake animaction film that would also slay the slathering and loot lusting blockbuster beast and return health and harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre unlike CLASH OF THE TITANS, a well meant but dull and pedestrian film that was altogether too serious and solemn for its madcap and satirical implicit target, and an unintentionally hilarious film, particularly with the unfortunate arrival of kooky Bubo the implicitly Toto linked golden mechanical animated owl created by the big, silent, and brooding Haphaestus-played by Pat Roach-but whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to JABBERWACKY, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN, THE ELEPHANT MAN, and THE WIZARD OF OZ, and which did lead to the creation of a fantastic painting by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt for the one sheet or movie poster of the film which, alas, turned out to be one of the last paintings ever created for a film poster/one sheet. 

Equally unfortunately, the decapitated head of Medusa used to defeat and turn the Kraken into stone yet again eerily anticipated the decapitated head of Morrow that would cause the ignominious defeat of New Hollywood.  Thus, it was all too ominously fitting that Meredith, the four time original TWILIGHT ZONE telefilm series vet, appeared as another trainer to another determined and initially unknown young hero as in the allegorical John G. Avildsen indie docufeature film ROCKY (1976).  It was also too eerily fitting that Perseus sought advice on how to kill the beastly blockbuster Kraken from a twilit trio of witches-played by Freda Jackson, Anna Manahan, and Flora Robson, respectively.  Last but not least, the sight and sound of Calibos transformed by Zeus from a demi-god into a bitter, grotesque, and hated outcast beastman as punishment for killing all of the herd of flying horses of Zeus except for Pegasus also all too eerily and presciently anticipated the equally bitter, hated and outcast Landis after the TZ disaster.  Thus, it was equally eerily fitting that the name of Calibos had the same three syllable cadence as John Landis.

        Curiously, and ironically, soon after the release of CLASH OF THE TITANS, the young, blonde, cute, naïve, innocent, earnest, brave, determined, Mark Hamill and Luke Skywalker evoking, and implicitly Lucas and Tin Man linked dragon slaying sorceror’s apprentice Galen Brandwardyn-played by Peter MacNicol-who steadfastly refused to “…make a shameful peace with dragons” or any other blockbuster beasts with big, sharp, pointy, and slathering teeth teamed up with his old, wise, mysterious, mystic, ailing, and implicitly Hitchcock and Great Oz linked sorcerer mentor Ulrich the Enchanter-played by Sir Ralph Richardson-and his short, slim, short haired, boyish, brunette, and implicitly Marcia Lucas and Dorothy linked sweetie Valerian-played by Caitlin Clarke-to hunt down and kill the old, wily, cranky, fire breathing, flying, and implicitly Gilliam and Wicked Witch of the West linked blockbuster beast of a dragon with big, sharp, pointy, and slathering teeth known as Vermithrax Pejorative at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Matthew Robbins indie animaction film DRAGONSLAYER (1981), a fine feature film released on June 26, 1981 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to JABBERWOCKY, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS, the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, and THE WIZARD OF OZ, and whose dastardly dragon was animated far more realistically than the mythological critters of CLASH OF THE TITANS.

Even more ironic, soon after the release of DRAGONSLAYER, an upbeat Gilliam, still riding high on the success of JABBERWOCKY, jubilantly donned the director’s cap, the co-writer’s pipe, the producer’s whip, and the continuity girl’s panties and also showed up with Sir Richardson when he teamed up again with Cleese, Doyle, Palin, Weston, Charles McKeown-who had played variouth roleth in MONTY PYTHON’TH LIFE OF BWIAN-and Home Made Films-production company behind MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN-and returned to the Temple Theatre with the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, madcap, fantastic realist, satirical, and Ozian themed indie animaction artbuster usually referred to in Glasgow as BICYCLES ARE FOREVER and also known in other countries as TIME BANDITS (1981), released on July 16, 1981.

 

“Lads, here’s to stinking rich-

and riding solid gold bicycles!

!Hah hah!”

 

Significantly, after a Hand Made Films logo and title, nine opening titles of the major stars, and then a map which soon had a white square grid superimposed on it and a TIME BANDITS title form on the grid before the title fell out and receded into the distance followed by the blank black grid squares the title had appeared in which fell to Earth before an overhead shot of a drab and dreary lookalike suburban neighbourhood appeared on the screen, the film revolved around an exuberant, imaginative, art and history luving, bored and implicitly Dorothy linked English surburbanite boy named Kevin-as bored and restless and soon to be on a quixotic quest for fortune and glory as Dennis in JABBERWOCKY, and played by Craig Warnock-who resembled and was implicitly linked to Gerald Potterton, an English hand animated film artist who was in Montreal at the time with executive producer Leonard “Len” Mogel and producer Ivan Reitman overseeing the creation of the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical indie hand animated film HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE (1981), a sly fi/fantasy/horror film inspired by the “adult illustrated” HEAVY METAL/METAL HURLANT magazines which was released on August 7, 1981 by distributor Columbia Pictures.  Indeed, the implicit link of Kevin’s dull, dreary, unimaginative, and tv obsessed, and attractive blonde Boomer Mom and balding Boomer Dad-played by Sheila Fearn and David Daker, respectively-to attractive blonde Canadian classical guitarist Liona Boyd and her then boyfriend Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau affirmed the implicit link of the lad to a film artist linked to Canada. 

Thus, it was fitting that soon after meeting Kevvy, and after an intrepid Grail Knight on horseback-played by Brian Bowes and Valiant, respectively-straight out of JABBERWOCKY and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL suddenly charged out of his wardrobe, leapt over his bed, and disappeared into the woods behind his bed when the wall disappeared as the astounded lad was settling in to sleep perchance to dream one night, six mostly bearded, exuberantly shameless, greedy, morally stunted, and madcap little men also appeared out of his magic wardrobe the following night.  Six greedy, morally stunted, and madcap little men who were led by the contrarily clean shaven, baby faced, dark brown haired and eyed, and implicitly artist/writer Grandmaster Richard Corben linked Randall-played by David Rappaport-and who included amongst their ranks the implicitly artist/writer Jean Giraud aka “Moebius” linked Fidget, the implicitly writer Dan O’Bannon linked Strutter, the implicitly artist/writer Thomas Warkentin linked Vermin, the implicitly artist/writer Berni Wrighson linked Og, and the implicitly composer Elmer Berstein linked Wally-the artist/writers familiar faces in the pages of HEAVY METAL and METAL HURLANT, and played by Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Tiny Ross, Mike Edmonds (who played an uncredited little person in CLASH OF THE TITANS, openly and fittingly linking TIME BANDITS to that film), and Jack Purvis, respectively-and who leapt out of Kevin’s closet, frantically pushed away that unusually porous wall behind his bed to escape the hand animated, floating, shining, thundering, and relentlessly pursuing head of Glinda the God-face supplied by Edwin Finn, and voiced by Tony Jay, respectively-swept the boy up, and took a leap of faith into space and into a madcap and quixotic quest to rob some of the wealthiest and/or famous men in history and fantasy with the help of a map of the universe that revealed all of the holes in time and space left in the wake of the hasty and botched seven day creation of the universe stolen from the tall, suited, balding, imposing, and implicitly Columbia Pictures Chairman Francis “Fay” Vincent jr. and Glinda the Good linked God-played by Sir Richardson-when the little men got tired of their boring lives as workers in God’s shrubbery department, allowing them all to head off on madcap and quixotic time travelling and robbin’ misadventures. 

Tragicomic time travelling heists that reaffirmed the implicit link of Kevvy, Randall, and company to Potterton, Reitman, and company, for the famous and wealthy men they did their best to rob were implicitly linked to some of  the most successful film artists of the day whose films HEAVY METAL: THE MOVIE and its director, artists, writers, artist/writers, and actors would be competing with and struggling to beat for beastly blockbuster profits, film artists such as the young, short, baby faced, black haired and eyed, clean shaven, commanding, intimidating, and implicitly Tin Man and Sir Scott linked Napoleon-played by Ian Holm-the young, tall, handsome, brunette, clean shaven, genial, altruistic, extremely polite, and implicitly Scarecrow and Lynch linked Robin Hood-played by Cleese (whose right hand man, Marion, was fittingly played by McCarthy, again openly linking TIME BANDITS to CLASH OF THE TITANS); the middle aged, handsome, brunette but greying and moustached and bearded, big eared, virile, wealthy, and implicitly Lucas and Great Oz linked King Agammenon-played by Connery-and, after leaping off the Titanic, landing in, and being pulled through the Atlantic Ocean to the Time of Legend, the gruesome and implicitly Ronald “Ron” Miller and Cowardly Lion linked Mr. Winston Ogre-played by Peter Vaughan-and his middle aged, short, beautiful, red haired, genial, gleefully Wicked and implicitly Diane Disney Miller linked wife Mrs. Ogre-played by Katherine Helmond-whose implicit links reminded us that, while ailing, the Walt Disney Company was still the reigning leader in indie hand animated film art, making it fitting that TIME BANDITS evoked not only THE WIZARD OF OZ but the allegorical Disney and David Hand indie hand animated feature film SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937).  Alas, Mrs. Ogre’s red hair also evoked that of Kennedy, ominously linking Mr. and Mrs. Ogre to Marshall and Kennedy, who had met on the set of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and begun dating by the time of the release of TIME BANDITS, making it all too fitting that these four madcap and blockbuster loot lusting adventures ominously anticipated the four episodes of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE.

Along the way, the film bandits and Kevin eluded determined and dogged attempts by Glinda the God to catch them and retrieve the map, and even more sinister attempts at insidious mind control by the tall, lean, clean shaven, nasty, and implicitly Cronenberg and Wicked Witch of the West linked embodiment of Evil-played by David Warner-an Evildoer who also evoked the Wicked Queen-played by Lucille La Verne-in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS.  Tragicomically, while Kev and the madcap time bandits were able to elude the tenacious grasp of Glenda the God, Wicked Evil succesfully used their foolish lusts to ensnare the film bandits at last and imprison them in a hanging and television box shaped cage in his Fortress of Ultimate Darkness.  But not for long, as the irrepressible film bandits managed to escape from the cage, and then teamed up to defeat the Wicked Evil with the help of Glenda the God in an imaginative battle that ended the film.  Thus, with the film bandits and God defeating Evil and returning to their higher minded work with God, and Kevin finally returning home like Dorothy, in the end, Gilliam implied his hope that Bernstein, Corben, Moebius, Potterton, Reitman, Warkentin, Wrightson, and all of the rest of the talented international cast and crew creating HEAVY METAL : THE MOVIE-including artist/writer Angus McKie and actor/writers John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis, and John Vernon-would come to their senses, give up on beastly lusts for blockbuster fortune and glory and return to creating higher minded narrative art for narrative art’s sake and higher minded film art for film art’s sake and away from their art enjoy the simple pleasures of cycling, particularly on a ’67 Beijing Zephyr, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS and THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Curiously, Alan Hume and Michael Tuchner kicked off the new film year by implicitly replying to CLASH OF THE TITANS and by implicitly hoping that Lynch would triumph over Gilliam with a good film like the young, handsome, naïve, innocent, sincere, white dress shirt luvin’, romantic, and implicitly Lynch and Tin Man linked poet Pierre Gringoire-played by Gerry Sundquist-and the young, despondent, deformed, deaf, and implicitly Freddie Francis and Cowardly Lion linked Quasimodo the bell ringing hunchback-played by Anthony Hopkins-triumphed over the older, bewitched, backstabbing, black robed, and implicitly Gilliam and Wicked Witch of the West linked Archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo-played by Derek Jacobi-to save the young, beautiful, bewitching, brunette, and implicitly Kathryn Bigelow and Dorothy linked Esmeralda-played by Lesley-Anne Down-at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed docufeature telefilm THE HUNCHBACK OF  NOTRE-DAME (1982), a telefilm released on February 4, 1982 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to CLASH OF THE TITANS, JABBERWOCKY, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS, THE ELEPHANT MAN, on which Francis worked as director of photography (DOP), and TIME BANDITS, and with the appearances of Baker as a dimunitive pickpocket, of Gielgud, who played London Hospital Director Carr-Gomm in THE ELEPHANT MAN, as torture luvin’ Bishop Jacques Charmoule, and of Piggott-Smith as a humble and devote servant of God and sweet Jesus named Philippe. 

Just as curiously, later that year Kennedy and Spielberg implicitly and gently roasted Gilliam and his fear of the slathering blockbuster beast by having the implicitly Gilliam linked boy Elliot Thomas-played by his cousin, Henry Thomas-develop a warm and fuzzy relationship with a cute and cuddly blockbuster extraterrestrial beast in the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, bicycle luvin’ and Kennedy produced Spielberg docufeature film E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982), a film released on May 26, 1982 whose implicit interest in Gilliam was affirmed by allusions to JABBERWOCKY, MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and TIME BANDITS.  Given that Elliot almost died when E.T. died, in the end, Kennedy and Spielberg also implied that a little blockbuster beast was good for the health of film artists.  Needless to say, this was an ironic implicit interest in the health of film artists, indeed, given that soon after the release of E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL, Folsey jr., Kennedy, Landis, Marshall, and Spielberg ignored the eerily and ominously prescient and twilit warnings in film and fiction in the years leading up to ’82 and the well meant warnings from crew members studio executives and soon after set off the TZ disaster, leading to the deadly and eternal nightmare of the TZ disaster and some angry, grim and pensive cycling excursions for audience members, film artists and film scholars the world over ever since.  Curiously, shortly before the TZ disaster, Gilliam, Weston, their fellow pithy Pythons, and Ray Cooper-handyman/musician/music producer on TIME BANDITS-returned to the Temple Theatre in the allegorical MacNaughton and Terry Hughes indie docufeature film MONTY PYTHON LIVE AT HILLYWOOD BOWL (1982), a film released on June 25, 1982 that captured and distilled live performances while not riding bicycles of all of their classic MONTY PYTHON FLYING CIRCUS sketches over several memorable and hilarious nights beginning on September 26, 1980.

Alas for all, less than a month after the release of MONTY PYTHON LIVE AT GOLLYWOOD BOWL, the relentlessly and inexorably twilit pall that had for years settled unnoticeably on audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre like a relentlessly and inexorably twilit pall finally led to the horrific, shocking, and outraging TZ disaster in the early mourning hours of July 23, 1982, a disaster so upsetting that Gilliam put off cycling for a year and made the TZ disaster a major theme of his post-1982 film art.  A twilit theme also implicitly taken up by the Pythons, for the shock, horror and outrage universally aroused by the TZ disaster no doubt explained the noticeably, unusually, and disappointingly dismal, awful, and unfunny nature of their first and only implicit Zone War salvo, the twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced Gilliam and Jones indie docufeature film MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE (1983), a film released on March 31, 1983 that was obsessed with weighty matters of life, death with its rotoring scythe, fish, graphic sex lessons, and beautiful topless young women. 

 

“But of course,

Zone Warfare isn’t all fun…

That is why we need

a sturdy bicycle battalion.”

 

Indeed, after the Universal intros, the “film” was enlivened only vaguely by the opening twilit and allegorical Gilliam Crimson Permanent Assurance short indie animaction film, which saw old insurance brokers-or was that bankers?-who were implicitly linked to Old Hollywood film artists and were dedicated to higher goals than making bags of beastly blockbuster loot and killing actors and extras on film sets seize the day, take over their venerable old company, sail it off on the heady seas of high finance, and sweep aside the callow, crass and beastly blockbuster loot obsessed youngsters of the Very Big Corporation of America (VBCA) who were implicitly linked to New Hollywood film artists obsessed with beastly blockbuster loot and killing actors and extras on film sets, thus making the sketch Gilliam’s most openly implicit affirmation of his commitment to indie film art for indie film art’s sake and his commitment to the life and safety of his casts and crews. 

Curiously, one of the first sketches of the Feature Presentation that then followed the swashbuckling Crimson Permanent Assurance sketch was a wry look at a young pregnant woman-played by Aileen Smithee-giving birth in a hospital to a child with the “help” of two very incompetent doctors-played by Chapman and Cleese, irrespectively-and some impressive looking and expensive machines-particularly the one that regularly went “ping”!-which implicitly and wryly roasted the post-TZ disaster hope that technology and CGI would give birth to a neo eon of Skyrockin’ CGI enhanced film art that would heal and bring harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre.  Just as curiously, this twilit theme was also implicitly taken up by Peter Yates later that year, for he had the tragicomic and implicitly Gilliam linked “sorcerer” Ergo the Magnificent-played by David Battley-come to the implicit support of the Good, young, blonde, handsome, courageous, virtuous, Perseus evoking, rank smelling, and implicitly Lynch linked Prince Colwyn-played by the ironically and unfortunately surnamed Ken Marshall-and together hunt down and triumph over an Evil, huge slavering, extraterrestrial, ghastly, nasty, hideous, invidious, Kraken evoking, floral smelling, and implicitly Landis linked blockbuster Beast-voiced by Trevor Martin-and his remorselessly violent and Jun horde evoking legions of Slayers so as to free from the Beast’s bleak bondage and marry the young, blonde, and pretty Princess Lyssa-played by Lysette Anthony-and also free the planet Krull of the Beast’s cruel tyranny so as to implicitly free planet Earth of the cruel tyranny of Landis at the end of the twilit and allegorical docufeature film KRULL (1983), a film released on July 29, 1983 whose implicit Gilliam toasting intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to CLASH OF THE TITANS, DRAGONSLAYER and THE BEASTaaaarrrrgggghhhhhkkkkkkk!

We interrupt this “essay” to regretfully inform you that its learned author, Sir Edmund Derailleur-Parrot, world renowned authority on Chinese bicycles and the indie animaction film art of T.V. Gilliam, has been attacked and aten alive by a huge and slathering blockbuster beast of a corgi that leapt out at him from behind a fire hydrant while he was peddling placidly by on a ’64 Beijing Zephyr.  Sir Derailleur-Poodle, a living testament to the invigorating powers of cycling as he was an always spry and sprightly 155 years old at the time of his untimely demise, will be sorely missed by bicycle enthusiasts and film luvers everywhere, including his millions of cycling and film admirers in China, and most keenly missed by Fifi and Gigi, his pet llamas.  But knowing Sir D-P’s indomitable “…carry on, sergeant!” spirit full well, we carry on the essay with his daughter, renowned Scottish bicycle authority and Gilliam enthusiast, Doctor Nigel Derailleur-Phalanx, PhB.  Get on with it!

At ease, Colonel.  I can only hope that I live up to the always high and inspiring standards of insight of my inestimable Da.  At any rate, and luckily for all of us, Gilliam implicitly addressed the TZ disaster more thoughtfully and memorably than in MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE when he followed in the footsteps of Kubrick and Sir Scott and merged the art film with the blockbuster and his own madcap animaction film to create his own idiosyncratic, irreverent, imaginative, and indie version of the artbuster when he donned the co-writer/director hats and collaborated again with Cooper, Doyle, Helmond, Holm, McKeown, Palin, Purvis, Vaughan, Weston, Simon Jones-who played various roles in MONTY PYTHON’S MEANING OF LIFE-and Jim Broadbent and Winston Dennis-who played the exuberantly sleazy YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE tv game show host and the minotaur, respectively, in TIME BANDITS-and, ironically, again with Sheinberg and Universal Studios-an ironic and embattled collaboration, indeed, given that Gilliam implicitly roasted both and also Spielberg in JABBERWOCKY-and returned to the Temple Theatre to implicitly respond to the TZ disaster, to implicitly lash out at the newfound, unwelcome, frustrating, infuriating, stifling, and oppressive studio control of film art, film artists, and film sets to prevent another TZ disaster, and to complete a Palin Trilogy in the twilit, allegorical, fantastic realist, madcap, and satirical indie animaction artbuster often referred to in Perley as I WOULD LIKE TO RAVAGE YOUR DERAILLEUR OH PLEASE PLEASE MUCHLY and in some other countries as BRAZIL (1985), released in February of ’85.

 

“Now,

when twilight dims the sky above

recalling thrills of our luv of tandem cycling…”

 

Significantly, after a silent and modestly world encompassing Universal intro and a title stating “…Arnon Milchan Presents A Terry Gilliam Film” in blue fluorescent letters on a black screen, a title that implicitly affirmed the pride that Gilliam had in his first madcap animaction artbuster, to the swelling sound of the allegorical, Ary Barroso composed and written, and Geoff Muldaur performed tune “Brazil” (1939), BRAZIL began with the camera flying gracefully through a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds, evoking the similar beginning of MIRACLE OF FLIGHT.  Suddenly a ray of light rent this idyllic and peaceful beginning and the scene shifted to a shoppe display window full of Christmas decorations and commercial and money obsessed televisions all displaying the same swarmy and cut-out animation preluded Central Services duct commercial one dark pre-Christmas night before a terrorist explosion, the first of many terrorist explosions to plague the film, suddenly rent asunder the window in a fiery shower of glass and televisions, taking out at least one male passerby pushing a shopping cart full of Christmas presents, implicitly making him the dead Wicked Witch of the East linked character who set off the Ozian spiritworld dream, and evoking the explosions that killed Evil and then Kevin’s parents at the end of TIME BANDITS, linking the films together. 

Then, after a spinning pink and purple neon sign proclaiming Brazil appeared on the screen, a literal bug in the bureaucratic system led to the unexpected, unwarranted, nightmarish, and grey body bag stuffed arrest not of Archibald Tuttle but of the innocent and implicitly Morrow linked Archibald Buttle-played by Brian Miller-when an human tornado of lookalike and black garbed, helmeted, gas masked, booted, and implicitly flying monkey linked police SWAT commandos burst into his modest apartment like the Crimson Assurance pirates of MONTY PYTHON’S MEANING OF LIFE in front of his shocked and traumatized wife Veronica Buttle-played by Sheila Reid-and Chen and Le evoking son and daughter-played by Simon Nash and Prudence Oliver, respectively-as they finished reading the allegorical Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol (1843) shortly before Christmas in a future dystopic London and the first snafu in a snafu and explosion plagued film that caused problems for the rest of the characters of BRAZIL.  Significantly, this mistaken arrest startled and then was witnessed by the equally shocked but more furious, young, short, slim, blonde, beautiful, bewitching, brown leather bomber jacket, olive green combat shirt and pants, black combat boots, combative, assertive, confident, Scammell truck, cigarettes, film and Marx Brothers luvin’, and implicitly film art and Dorothy linked indie trucker Jill Layton-who shared the same initials as John Landis, whose blonde hair was cut into a short boycut, who luved to drive a huge and indomitable blockbuster beast of a Scammell truck that was in complete and ironic contrast to her small and fragile size, and was played by Kim Greist-the tenant in the apartment above as she relaxed in the tub and watched the allegorical and implicitly Walt and Lillian Disney roasting Robert Florey and Joseph Santley film THE COCOANUTS (1929), a film whose director of photography (DOP) was, curiously, George Folsey sr., the Old Hollywood veteran father of George Folsey jr., the producer who helped Landis illegally hire and use Chen and Le on the fateful and fatal night of the TZ disaster.

Then the film introduced and revolved around the dull life of the young, bland, clean shaven, baby faced, black haired, eyebrowed, and eyed, grey suit wearin’, bored and restless but unambitious, film and Old Hollywood film starlet luvin’, constantly daydreaming, fittingly machine breakdown plagued, always tragicomic, and implicitly Landis and Tin Man linked Ministry of Record/Ministry of Information bureaucrat Samuel “Sam” Lowry-another lonely and unhappy man caught up in a mad world like Dennis in JABBERWACKY, and played by Jonathan Pryce-first met in his dreams as the latest and most unusual knight met in a Gilliam film so far, a handsome, confident, strong, and high flying Knight in Shining Silver and White Winged Tin Man Armour with a thick and virile head of hair who evoked a guardian angel and who flew through the cloud filled blue skies already seen in that glimpse at the beginning of the film with noticeably more confidence, grace, and success than the wannabe fliers of MIRACLE OF FLIGHT, implicitly affirming their links to wannabe film artists.  Soon the flying Knight in Shining Silver and White Winged Tin Man Armour flew happily toward and happily kissed a young, beautiful, bewitching, and implicitly Hollywood linked woman with long blonde hair veiled in white-also played by Greist-dreams that implicitly affirmed the link of Lowry to Landis as they evoked the equally surreal dreams and nightmares that plagued young, handsome, black haired and eyed, and implicitly Kubrick linked American werewolf attack victim David Kessler-played by David Naughton-in the eerily and ominously twilit and allegorical Landis indie docufeature film AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981). 

Tragicomically, as BRAZIL progressed, the bewitching blonde was implicitly caged by the same oppressive and stifling studio forces that were stifling and oppressing film art at that time, forcing the angelic knight to land, shake off his wings, lift his legendary Vorpal sword, and determinedly fight those Dark Forces, personified by a huge and Black Knight and Darth Vader evoking blockbuster beast of a masked Samurai Knight with no big, long, sharp, and slathering teeth but furiously wielding an equally huge pike, lance, spear, or big long pointy thing with a very sharp and nasty tip-played by Dennis-to win her freedom, implicitly affirming the link of the caged blonde to Hollywood film art in general and to that of Landis in particular.  Curiously, as the desperate battle in his dreams worsened, to Lowry’s surprised delight his dreams suddenly became reality.  For the real dull and uneventful life of the bland and unambitious MOR/MOI bureaucrat unexpectedly changed when he got caught up in the madcap chaos caused by the wrongful arrest and execution of Buttle, which evoked the more nasty chaos Landis was overwhelmed with after the more outraging and shocking deaths of Chen, Le, and Morrow in the TZ disaster and which led to a surprise meeting with Layton when he travelled to the apartment of Mrs. Buttle to give her a cheque compensating her for the wrongful arrest and death of Mr. Buttle.  Indeed, she suddenly appeared in reality sporting not long blond hair as in his dreams but that short boy cut that evoked that of Ophelia, the hooker with a heart of gold-played by Jamie Lee Curtis-in the twilit and allegorical Landis indie docufeature film TRADING PLACES (1983), affirming the implicit link of Lowry to Landis.  In addition, Lowry also was swept up to his dismay in the equal chaos unleashed on his apartment by the infuriatingly inept and implicitly Marshall and Spielberg linked Central Services air conditioning repairmen Dowser and Spoor-played by Derrick O’Connor and Bob Hoskins, respectively. 

Determined to triumph over Central Services and find and marry this bewitching young woman of his dreams, Lowry horrified his older, short, big eared, toothbrush moustached, equally grey suited, timorous, and implicitly Lucas and Cowardly Lion linked MOR/MOI boss M. Kurtzmann-played by Holm-and pleased his equally older, grey suited, but more confident, cheerful, amiable, and implicitly Dan Aykroyd and Scarecrow linked Ministry of Information Retrieval (MOIR) torturer friend Jack Lint-a fitting link, as Ackroyd was a good friend of Landis who played initially wealthy and then down on his luck commodities broker Louis Winthorpe III in TRADING PLACES, and played by Palin-by accepting a promotion to MOIR that his old but beautiful, red haired, gleefully devious, youth obsessed, and implicitly Kennedy and Glinda linked mother Ida Lowry-played by Helmond-had managed to get for him from her friend, the old, grey haired and suited, stocky and powerfully built but wheelchair bound, and implicitly Warners CEO Steve Ross and Great Oz linked Deputy Minister of MOI Eugene Helpmann-implicitly linking the MOI to Warner Brothers, and played by Vaughan-so that he could use their computers and his new and higher security status level to hunt down his dream girl.  Curiously, Lowry did indeed succeed in tracking down and liberating Layton by erasing her from the computer system, and also successfully defeated the huge and tenacious Samurai Knight of his nightmarish dreams and liberated his dream blonde. 

Lowry also defeated Lime and Spoor with the confident, shrewd, knowing, indomitable, gun brandishing, and ironically cheerful, polite, and sympathetic help of the handsome, moustached, cigar smokin’, and implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked indie rebel heating engineer Archibald “Harry” Tuttle-his surname evoking renowned film and television makeup effects wizard William Tuttle, who worked on the original TWILIGHT ZONE telefilm series, his New York accent evoking Landis nemesis Kubrick, his fondness for cigars evoking Sir Scott, and played by Robert De Niro.  However, after a dreamy explosive Rebel terrorist attack on the MOI led by the indomitable Tuttle-one of the Rebels wearing a Pluto mask, and another dressed like Santa Claus-Lowry watched in horror as Tuttle was literally overwhelmed, suffocated, and then terminated by bureaucratic MOI paperwork before disappearing like the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of THE WIZARD OF OZ, implying the belief of Gilliam that the cigar smokin’ and equally indie Kubrick or Sir Scott would also soon disappear.  Significantly, Lowry then failed to escape with Layton in her huge Scammell truck into the country for a quiet life of his final dreams free of the future dystopia and ended up wistfully singing “Brazil” and dying in the insidiously amiable clutches of his happy torturer “friend” Lint while Dep. Min. Helpmann watched in the diseased, disharmonious, and catastrophic end, implying the belief or hope of Gilliam that Landis would fail to use films like TRADING PLACES to truly succeed again as a film artist, an implicit belief that proved correct, in a film whose implicit allegorical intents were affirmed by allusions to AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, BLADE RUNNER, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the STAR WARS Classic Trilogy, THE COCOANUTS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS, TRADING PLACES, TWILIGHT ZONE, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, the allegorical, Ozian themed, and implicitly Disney toasting and Ralph Bakshi roasting Lucas indie docufeature film AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973), and the allegorical, Ozian themed, and implicitly and ironically Jack Warner roasting Michael Curtiz film CASABLANCA (1942), a film whose clips, furtively enjoyed on mirror evoking computer screens by bored young bureaucrats in the Records Department of the MOI, openly linked BRAZIL to Warner Brothers, the studio that oversaw and released CASABLANCE and financed and collaborated with Dante, Folsey jr., Kennedy, Landis, Marshall, Miller, and Spielberg to create and release TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE.

As for Alex Cox, he implicitly roasted Gilliam in the form of Rock Head-played by Stuart Fox-an American drug dealer in London, which implied that Cox was not fond of the addictive visual f/x in BRAZIL, in the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Sir Scott roasting indie docufeature film SID AND NANCY (1986), a film released on May 14, 1986 that implied that BLADE RUNNER was as violent and incomprehensible as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen-played by Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb, respectively.  Curiously, the following year Cox again implicitly roasted Gilliam in the form of the eccentric and indie and but luvable and sensible Chuch-played by Sara Sugarman-one of the few implicitly film artist linked denizens of an outlaw Western town to survive the closing shootout at the bloody end of the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film STRAIGHT TO HELL (1987), released on May 14, 1987.

For their part, Lucas and Ron Howard combined to implicitly roast the determined and madcap attempts of Cameron, Cox, Gilliam, and Robbins to implicitly use their post-82 film art to implicitly roast all of the film artists responsible for the TZ disaster and the decision of Lucas to work with Kennedy and Marshall on the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Spielberg indie docufeature film INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984) and to liberate film art from the capacious jaws of the twilit and slathering blockbuster beast to the equally determined and madcap quest of the young, handsome, blonde, muscular, and implicitly Cameron and Cowardly Lion linked warrior Airk of Bairk-played by Gavin O’Herlihy-the beguiling, and implicitly Cox and Tin Man linked sorceress Fin Raziel-played by Patricia Hayes-the young, handsome, courageous, mischievous, female impersonating, and implicitly Gilliam and Scarecrow linked swordsman Madmartigan-played by Val Kilmer-and the dimunitive, doughty, and implicitly Robbins and Great Oz linked Nelwyn sorceror’s apprentice Willow Ufgood-played by Warwick Davis-to rescue the implicitly Dorothy linked baby princess Elora Danan-played by Kate and Ruth Greenfield, respectively-from the Wicked Queen Bavmorda-played by Jean Marsh-her Evil minions, led by the implicitly Nikko the flying monkey king linked General Kael-his surname evoking film critic Kael, and played by Pat Roach, who played Hephaestus in CLASH OF THE TITANS-and the slathering two-headed stop-motion blockbuster beast, the Siskebert-its name evoking film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel to implicitly reaffirm that the film was also lashing out at film critics-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie animaction film WILLOW (1988), a film released on May 20, 1988 whose implicit Gilliam and Robbins roasting intent was affirmed by the film’s allusions to AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, DRAGONSLAYER, JABBERWOCKY, THE BEASTMASTER, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS.

For his part, Gilliam left behind the twilit gloom and doom of BRAZIL and embraced daylit life, luv and indomitable carefree exuberance when he donned the co-writer/director hats and teamed up again with Cooper, Dennis, Idle, McKeown, Pryce, Purvis, Weston, and BRAZIL composer Michael Kamen to merge his cut-out animation with live action and art with blockbuster again and to wrap up a Dennis, McKeown, and Purvis Trilogy or DMP Trilogy in his most gleefully demented animaction mayhem so far in the daylit, allegorical, fantastic realist, madcap, satirical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie animaction artbuster called THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE CYCLIST in Waikato and usually known most everywhere else as THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1988), released on December 8, 1988.

 

“!That man is a bicycle despising ass!

!Only I can end this war-

and celebrate with a cycling tour of China!”

 

Significantly, the film began with Kamen’s exuberantly and indomitably high spirited Main Theme playing over a blank black screen, reminding us that JAWS and the allegorical Spielberg docufeature telefilm DUEL (1971) had begun with blank black screens way, implying that Spielberg was being addressed in THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.  Then, after the Columbia Pictures intro appeared on the screen, followed by three opening titles, the third of which proudly proclaimed “… A TERRY GILLIAM FILM”, the image of a Moslem army camped on a beautiful, peaceful, and sunny morning along a crescent moon shaped bay that evoked a waxing moon while the words “…Late 18^th Century…Age of Reason…Wednesday” flashed on the screen now implied that the film was addressing Landis.  For the waxing moon shaped bay reminded us that a waxing moon floated in a cloud scudded sky in the early morning hours of July 23, 1982 at the time of the TZ disaster, while the phrase “…see you next Wednesday” usually turned up somewhere in a Landis film.  But before the mystery of whether the film was addressing Landis or Spielberg was resolved, exploding cannons rent and dispelled the peaceful morning as a siege commenced on a fortified and nameless European citadel.

After wandering briefly through the battered and ruined streets of the city and meeting a short, blonde, cute, feisty, fearless, feminist, and implicitly Dorothy linked munchkin girl who turned out to be Sally Salt-played by Sarah Polley, a talented Canadian actor who went on to be a feisty and fearless feminist film artist-fittingly first met defacing the posters advertising “The Henry Salt and Son Players” by crossing out the “Son” and replacing the word with “Daughter”, given that the dread allegorical Zone Wars saw the successful and permanent arrival of female film artists in the Temple Theatre.  Soon we found ourselves with little Salt in a live theatre filled with weary citizens who had wandered in to escape the war without where Sally’s hard pressed, red haired, and redoubtable middle aged father Henry Salt-played by Bill Paterson-did his best to help his fellow citizens escape their troubles for a while by playing the eponymous title role in an exuberant live production of the imaginative adventures of the legendary Baron Munchausen. 

Significantly and tragicomically, the play did more than entertain the war weary audience, for it also attracted the attention of the old, tall, slim, bald, big nosed, lined, weary, but still equally exuberant, beautiful lady luvin’, indomitable, sword carrying and using, ultra-indie, and implicitly Cameron and Glinda linked Heronomous Carl Frederick, the Baron Munchausen-played by John Neville.  Vowing to return to end the war, Baron Munchausen soon left the city with sweet Sally by way of an hot air balloon carried sailing ship that evoked the flying farmhouse of Dorothy and the floating hot air balloon of the Great Oz in THE WIZARD OF OZ on madcap adventures in time and space that evoked the sight and sound of little Kevvy being swept off by the diminutive time bandits to similar madcap adventures in time and space in TIME BANDITS to track down Munchausen’s four elemental Ozian companions, the big, burly, strong, and implicitly Earth and Scarecrow linked Albrecht aka Bill-played by Dennis-the tall, slim, fleet on his feet, and implicitly Water and Tin Man linked Berthold aka Desmond-played by Idle-the silent, sure shooting, and implicitly Fire and Cowardly Lion linked Adolphus-played by McKeown-and the short, big eared, and implicitly Air and Great Oz linked Gustavus-played by Purvis.  Soon the old Baron and Sally sailed to and arrived at the sandy surface of the equally twilit and first quarter moon to visit the exuberantly loony and at one with the universe King o’ the Moon-who was implicitly linked to Lynch as he evoked Kyle MacLachlan’s equally moon luvin’ and at one with the dreaming universe Paul-Maud’dib Atreides in the twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Lynch indie moving painting DUNE (1984), and was played by the fittingly loony Robin Williams-to pick up the now old Berthold, before it was off to the fiery, hellish, and tempestuous depths of Mount Etna to visit the short, burly, moustached and bearded, bad tempered, loud shouting, and implicitly Sir Scott linked Vulcan-played by Oliver Reed-to pick up the also old Albrecht, tow visits with famous immortal men that evoked the sight and sound of the film bandits dropping by to visit and rob famous mortal men in TIME BANDITS. 

The irrepressible and progressively younger and rejuvenated Baron, Sally, Albrecht, and Berthold then fell into the Mediterranean Sea, and were pulled through to the other side of the world in an aquatic sequence that evoked the equally aquatic journey of the madcap time bandits into and through the Atlantic Ocean to the Time of Legend in TIME BANDITS.  Here on the other side of the world, they were swallowed up by a blockbuster and implicitly Disney linked leviathan beast with big, sharp, and pointy teeth that affirmed its implicit link to Disney by evoking the blockbuster whale beast Montro in the allegorical Disney, Hamilton “Ham” Luske and Ben Sharpsteen indie hand animated feature film PINOCCHIO (1940).  Luckily, here in the belly of the beast, Munchausen, Sally, Albrecht, and Berthold found the equally old Adolphus, and Gustavus, and the Baron’s faithful and still young and strong white stallion Bucephalus.  Returning to the besieged citadel, the Baron and his companions used their healing Ozian elemental harmony and the limitless power of the imagination to triumph over the besieging Muslim army and its chubby, black eyed, moustached, and bearded, bald, creepily avuncular, gleefully depraved, decapitation luving, and, hence, implicitly Landis and Wicked Witch of the West linked leader and Grand Turk, his Majesty the Sultan-played by Peter Jeffrey-and to also end the petty reign of error of the slim, bespectacled, soulless, altogether too rational, uncreative, and implicitly Spielberg and Nikko linked bureaucrat running the besieged city, the Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson-played by Pryce-and the constantly shadowing and winged spectre of Death to liberate the city and save its citizens, in the exultantly healing, harmonizing, and eucastastrophic end, Gilliam implied his hope that the equally exuberant, indomitable, imaginative, and triumphant indie docufeature Zonebuster film art of Cameron would defeat Landis, Spielberg, and the TZ disaster and free not just the besieged cinecity of Hollywood but audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre from the Twilight Zone just in time to kick off a daylit and CGI enhanced new era of film art in the Nineties, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to DUNE, PINOCCHIO, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS, and the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly John and Deborah Landis addressing Sir Scott indie docufeature artbuster LEGEND (1986).

Curiously, but fittingly, an again old but exuberant Baron Munchausen tossed a rose to sweet and steely Sally before he rode off on Bucephalus into the sunset with his loyal, luvin’, protective, and implicitly Toto linked greyhound Argus in search of more exuberant adventures and triumphs and disappeared, in the end, making it doubly fitting that Sally was played by Polley, given that Polley went on as an adult to be one of those equally feisty and fearless female film artists who would challenge Cameron for supremacy in the Temple Theatre with film art that was sometimes as exuberantly daylit and allegorical as THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.  Alas for Gilliam, Polley and company, however, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN tanked in theatres, perhaps partly as a result of its too upbeat spirit at a time of few and mostly part-time minimum wage jobs for young people, and its frequent flippant allusions to decapitation.  This expensive failure tarnished the reputation of Gilliam, making financial backers and studios reluctant to go near the enfant Terry.  Leading to a Dark Age in the life and film art of Gilliam, indeed, during which he no doubt wondered if he would ever direct a film again, or, worse yet perhaps, be forced forever after to accept telefilm assignments from the CBC, making it all too macabrely appropriate that he could be referred to as T.V. Gilliam.  A Dark Dark Dark Darkest of Dark Ages that was a perfect time for a word from our sponsor.

 

“Ni hao,

cyclists of the world!”

 

Ever wondered what bicycle the last Emperor of China giddily peddled as a beamish boy?  Wanted to know more about the importance of the bicycle to the culture and socioeconomy of China?  Planning a cycling tour of the always alluring and exotic Middle Kingdom?  Than the Chinese Bicycle Museum, with its many thought provoking exhibits providing exciting insight into all aspects of the bicycle in China, is definitely for you!  And while you’re here, feel free to enjoy the many eclectic shoppes, award winning restaurants and legendary hospitality of beautiful and historic downtown Ipswich!  The Chinese Bicycle Museum-come have a wheely good time!

We now return to IT’S THE ARTS! And the scholarly “essay” on the indie animaction film art of Sir T.V. “Gilly Baby” Gilliam where, at this Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark Age, we find him depressed, despondent, despairing and all too fond of pensively pedalling his ’64 Beijing Zephyr listlessly down lonely back streets and taking consolation in dressing in women’s clothing, particularly a fetching and strapless summer dress by McQueen and a pair of casual but supportive flats by the good Doctor, Marten.  Alas for brave Sir Terry, the striking McQueen/Marten combo was to no avail, as he was soon forced to don the director’s hat and team up again with Cooper and Williams and create a dreaded Studio Mandated Film (SMF)-oh petty and pernicious Fate!-that was, not surprisingly, his most dejected, listless, and sadcap film to date and one that also implicitly addressed Cameron with much decidedly less exuberance, perhaps due to the failure of THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, resulting in the daylit, allegorical, fantastic realist, darkly satirical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed animaction film sympathetically referred to in Vancouver as EASY CYCLIST, and often known to the rest of the world as THE FISHER KING (1991), released on September 10, 1991.

 

“They said you’re the one

to find the Grail

and

kick off a bold new era

of intrepid cycling!”

 

Curiously, the sight of the white winged Pegasus of the Tri-Stars Pictures logo running toward the camera at the start of the film fittingly evoked the sight and sound of Perseus astride Pegasus in CLASH OF THE TITANS and the sight of Baron Munchausen astride Bucephalus before both disappeared into the daylit eternity of allegorical myth at the end of THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.  Just as curiously, soon after the Tri-Stars Pictures logo disappeared, the third opening title proclaimed, despite the fact that THE FISHER KING was a dreaded SMF, that the film was “…A TERRY GILLIAM FILM”, as an opening title had more proudly proclaimed at the beginning of THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.  It was an ironic allusion to the daylit, irrepressibly upbeat, and implicitly Cameron addressing last Gilliam film, for THE FISHER KING was a relentlessly dark and depressed implicit look at Cameron. 

A dark and depressed implicit look at Cameron that immediately began with the young, blonde, handsome, intelligent, cocky, confident, controversial, popular, ironically named as implicitly Cameron and Tin Man linked New York DJ “Wolfman” Jack Lucas-played by Jeff Bridges-found in the sound booth of a radio station and photographed in such a way as to make it appear like a jail cell, complete with the blinds creating cell bar evoking shadows across the walls.  Thus, given that Lucas was already implicitly imprisoned by Fate, it was not surprising that soon after meeting him, JD DJ Lucas abandoned his controversial radio show after being traumatized by the revelation that the last caller on his final radio show, one shy, solitary, lonely, and nerdy Edwin Malnick-played by Christian Clemenson and voiced by Pat Fraley, respectively-was inspired by his anti-yuppy rant to take a shotgun and shoot up a popular yuppy restaurant called Babbit’s before committing suicide in a brutal and ahuman tornado of bloody violence that implicitly affirmed the link of Lucas to Cameron as it evoked the equally pitiless and remorseless gun and rifle rampages of the big, muscular, and implicitly Lucas and Wicked Witch of the West Cyberdine Systems 101 cyborg Terminator-played by Arnold Schwarzenegger-in the ragingly twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas roasting and Lynch addressing Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster THE TERMINATOR (1984).

 Knocked out of his successful world and off like Dorothy into the healing Ozian dreamworld by this violent tornado, reminding us that the wrongful arrest in a human tornado of SWAT men and death under interrogation of Buttle set off the equally dark, nightmarish, and tragicomic events of BRAZIL, Lucas wound up on the skids, working at the indie Video Spot! video store owned by his young, beautiful, brunette, statuesque, strong, fearless, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked girlfriend Anne Napolitano-played by Mercedes Ruehl.  Curiously, shortly after standing near a Canadian red, white, and true Maple Leaf flag hanging amongst others outside the front a New York hotel to implicitly affirm his link to a Canadian film artist one dark, troubled, and despairing night, Lucas met the slightly older, brunette and bearded, ragged, equally troubled and down on his luck, and implicitly Spielberg and Scarecrow linked ex-scholar of myths and legends, Doctor Henry Sagan aka brave Sir Parry, a bold and true Grail Knight-played by Williams-whose name and obsession with the Holy Grail affirmed his implicit link to Spielberg as they evoked the name of two fisted archaeologist Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones jr.-played by Harrison Ford-and his own quixotic quest for the implicitly Oscar statuette linked Holy Grail in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, Lucas executive produced, and Kennedy and Marshall produced Spielberg indie docufeature film INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989).  Significantly, Dr. Sagan had also fallen by the wayside with mental illness after his young, beautiful, blonde, slim, luvly, luvin’, and implicitly Wicked Witch of the East linked wife-played by Lisa Blades-was killed by Malnick in the shooting rampage in Babbit’s, and was now as haunted and tormented by memories of the brutal, bloody, callous, horrific, and traumatic rampage as the young, handsome, courageous, determined, and implicitly Lynch linked Reese-played by Michael Biehn-was haunted and tormented by dreams, nightmares, and memories of the twilit and equally bloody, brutal, callous, horrific, and traumatic future wherein the last remnants of a fallible and imperfect but endearing, enduring, and vital humanity battled beastly, pitiless and CGI enhanced or all CGI blockbuster machines in the ruins of Earth. 

Luckily for the troubled doctor, Lucas topped the brave Knights of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and proved that he was indeed the one by successfully completing brave Sir Parry’s madcap quest to find the surrogate Holy Grail in the form of a silver cup trophy won as a lad for work done on the Christmas Pageant of 1932 by old and implicitly Great Oz linked local New York billionaire Langdon Carmichael-played by the film’s production designer Mel Bourne-hidden in Carmichael’s midtown castle and used it to heal and wake Dr. Sagan, trapped in a catatonic coma after a brutal beating by two nasty young punks-played by Jayce Bartok and Dan Futterman, respectively-freeing Dr. Sagan from the fiery and violent grip of the film’s blockbuster beast, a huge, terrifying, blood red, flaming, and implicitly Babbit’s massacre and Wicked Witch of the West linked Red Knight-played by Chris Howell-and also atoning for his comments to Malnick and healing himself in the process.  And so health and harmony returned to the lives of Lucas and Dr. Sagan, allowing them both to return to the respective luvin’ arms of Napolitano and the young, pretty, sweet, shy, slim, nerdy, goofy, lonely, romance novel luvin’, and implicitly Dorothy linked Lydia Sinclair-played by Amanda Plummer-in the eucatastrophic end, implying the hope of Gilliam that Cameron would tone down the violence in his Zonebusters, and that he and Spielberg would work together to create great films in the Nineties that would exorcise the TZ disaster and heal and free audiences, film art, film artists-including themselves-and the Temple Theatre from the Twilight Zone and the dread allegorical Zone Wars and kick off a brave and bold new era of CGI enhanced film art, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by allusions to BRAZIL, the Indy Trilogy, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, T1, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the allegorical Disney, Hamilton “Ham” Luske and Ben Sharpsteen indie hand animated feature film PINOCCHIO (1940). 

Alas, there was little hope of the implicit allegorical intent of THE FISHER KING coming true, as the short marriage of Bigelow and Cameron had already ended by the time of the release of the film, and Spielberg would end 1991 by turning audiences and film artists against him forever with the most infuriating implications yet that he had been on the Landis set but had done nothing to stop the use of Chen and Le on the night of the TZ disaster in the twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced animaction film HOOK (1991), released on December 11, 1991 and curiously starring Williams as the implicitly Spielberg linked Peter Banning aka Peter Pan.  However, and luckily for Gilliam and company, THE FISHER KING was popular and successful with audiences, particularly equally disaffected and troubled Gen X audiences, and won Ruehl an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, the first and still the only Academy Award bestowed on a Gilliam animaction film, despite the fact that Ruehl did not ride a bicycle once in the film.  Not once! 

As for Oliver Stone, he implicitly likened Gilliam and his brilliant, original, and gleefully madcap film art to the gleefully madcap murdering pair of Mickey and Mallory Knox-played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, respectively-in the twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994), a film released on August 26, 1994 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to the film art of Gilliam.  Then an implicit new hope in Lucas was missing when Gilliam sighed resignedly and, buoyed by the success of THE FISHER KING, donned the director’s cap and teamed up again with Jones, Universal Studios, and THE FISHER KING DOP Roger Pratt, and now with another Plummer and Atlas-Classico to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the release of BRAZIL with a fine feature film which, despite being another sadcap SMF, was another idiosyncratic animaction artbuster, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, fantastic realist and darkly satirical animaction artbuster known in Streetsville as THE WIZARD OF BICYCLES and everywhere else including Chicago as 12 MONKEYS (1995), released on December 8, 1995 and inspired by the allegorical Chris Marker short indie docufeature film LA JETEE (1962).

 

“I can’t save anyone

who doesn’t ride bicycles. 

No one can.”

 

Curiously, after two opening titles, three lines purporting to be excerpted from an interview with a anonymous and “…clinically diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic” on April 12, 1990 at Baltimore County Hospital warned that “…5 BILLION PEOPLE WILL DIE FROM A DEADLY VIRUS IN 1997…THE SURVIVORS WILL ABANDON THE SURFACE OF THE PLANET…ONCE AGAIN THE ANIMALS WILL RULE THE WORLD”, a cryptic quote warning of a neo-Medieval plague that reminded us that Gilliam was still in the midst of his own Dark SMF Age.  Then after the words “…A TERRY GILLIAM FILM” appeared on the screen superimposed over a swirling red vortex of black monkeys followed by the titles of the main actors of the film all accompanied by the organ grinder evoking Main Theme from composer and conductor Paul Buckmaster, there was a short and dream-like prologue set in a cavernous and crowded hall in an airport or subway or train station that saw a boy-played by Joseph Melito-watching a man run away from him, be shot, and throw out his arms and fall to the ground, causing a tall and attractive young blonde woman to scream, rush over to him, and kneel beside him, reminding us that Buttle’s young daughter and son witnessed his unexpected, nightmarish, and traumatic arrest at the beginning of BRAZIL and that Dr. Sagan watched his beloved fiancee be gunned down in THE FISHER KING.

Then the film began with the young, short, shaven headed, strong, muscular, memory of the future tinged past plagued, and equally ironically named as implicitly Lucas and Tin Man linked James Cole-literally as haunted by memories of the ruined future as Reese in T1, and played by Bruce Willis-waking up in his subterranean cell next to the younger, scarfaced, and implicitly Scarecrow linked Jose-played by Jon Seda-in his cell in a bleak future Baltimore where the remnants of a plague decimated humanity lived underground.  Soon he was sent on a fact finding mission aboveground by the overseers of the underground world-comprised of an astrophysicist, botanist, engineer, geologist, microbiologist, and zoologist played by Carol Florence, H. Michael, Walls, Ernest Abuba, Bob Adrian, Bill Raymond, and Simon Jones, respectively-which revealed Baltimore to be a bleak, cold, frozen, and wintry wasteland where animals had taken over the ruins.  Impressed by his results, the overseers persuaded Cole to travel back in time to gather facts that would hopefully reveal how the plague started and how to stop it back in time so as to free humanity from the depressing underground and return eucatastrophic health and harmony back to the world.

The first time travelling mission returned him to Baltimore in October of 1990, where Cole was soon arrested as he raced around on a bicycle and his distraught explanation of the reality of the future and his fact finding mission soon landed him in an asylum, where he met the young, tall, slim, beautiful, brunette, brainy, past Baltimore based, and increasingly distraught and uncertain, and implicitly Kathryn Bigelow and Dorothy linked psychiatrist Doctor Kathryn Railly-played by Madeleine Stowe-who was surprised and baffled to discover that all record of Cole had been erased from the system like all record of Layton had been erased from the system by Lowry at the end of BRAZIL.  Curiously, Cole also met a fellow and even more madcap patient in the young, short, gesticulating, madcap, and implicitly Tim Burton and Scarecrow linked form of Jeffrey Goines-played by Brad Pitt.  As 1990 was the same year attributed to the quote from the schizophrenic patient that preceded the film, the implication was that the quote came from Cole.

Not finding out much about 1990 due to his arrest and incarceration, Cole was returned to the future by the overseers and questioned.  Not impressed with his lack of data, they returned him to Baltimore.  Alas for Cole, he popped up in the Great War in France in October 1917 and was shot in the leg, before he was sucked back into the time stream and wound up in Baltimore in November of 1996.  Hunting down Dr. Railly, who had become the bestselling author of The Doomsday Syndrome (1996), he kidnapped her and managed to find out that young Goines had started an indie rebel animal rights bicycling group called the Army of the 12 Monkeys, and that he was the kooky son of the old, grey haired, distinguished, suited, and implicitly Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Great Oz linked Nobel prize winning virologist Doctor Leland Goines-played by Christopher Plummer-a link to a virologist who was in a position to unleash the viral plague that killed most of the people of the world in 1996 that killed his overseers when he returned to the future.

Indeed, the link between the Goines pleased his overseers so much, they pardoned Cole and sent him back to the past again to team up with Dr. Railly to frantically attempt to stop the assistant of Dr. Goines, the tall, blonde, round faced, genial, quiet, thoughtful, ironically pleasant and polite, and implicitly John Lasseter and Cowardly Lion linked mad scientist Doctor Peters-played by David Morse-from releasing the plague in Philadelphia on December 16, 1996.  Alas for Cole, he was gunned down by police officers in the same cavernous and crowded Philadelphia airport hall that he had been seeing in his troubled nightmares before he could stop Dr. Peters from boarding his plane to New Orleans and died watched over by Dr. Railly and his younger self, who turned out to be the boy-still played by Melito-seen in the opening dream sequence to bring the film full time spinning circle in the diseased, disharmonious, and catastrophic end, reminding us that Lowry died watched over by Dep.Min. Helpmann and Lint at the equally disastrous end of BRAZIL.  Thus, Gilliam implied that he did not think that Lucas would return to the Temple Theatre with a CGI enhanced film that would restore his reputation, beat Cameron or Lasseter-who had all to fittingly appeared on the scene with the help of Disney that year with the world’s first, daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed indie all CGI animated feature film TOY STORY [1995], released on November 19, 1995-and prevent a pernicious and palpitating plague of CGI enhanced blockbuster beasts or all CGI blockbuster beasts from killing worldwide film art, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to AMERICAN GRAFFITI, T1, the twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Bigelow indie docufeature film NEAR DARK (1987), the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie docufeature artbuster POINT BREAK (1991), the twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Burton super satirical animaction film BATMAN (1989) and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Burton super satirical animaction artbuster BATMAN RETURNS (1992)-in which Lucas was implicitly linked to the young, handsome, lonely, solitary, traumatized, troubled, bitter, brooding, and wealthy Gotham City playboy Bruce Wayne aka “Batman” (played by Michael Keaton)-the twilit, allegorical, black and white, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Burton indie docufeature artbuster ED WOOD (1994), the allegorical Hitchcock feature film THE BIRDS (1954), the allegorical and Ozian Hitchcock feature film VERTIGO (1959), the eerily and presciently twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Kubrick roasting Lucas indie docufeature film THX 1138 (1971)-with its own future underground society full of shaven headed inmate citizens-the allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting Lucas indie docufeature film STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977), the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lynch roasting Cameron indie docufeature Zonebuster TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991), the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Spielberg roasting indie telefilm series THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES ADVENTURES (1992-96), and the allegorical Norman Z. McLeod film MONKEY BUSINESS (1931).

Then, ironically, and despite the implicit fear and loathing of CGI expressed in THE FISHER KING, CGI returned when Gilliam sighed resignedly, donned the co-writer/director caps and teamed up with Cooper, Helmond, Universal, Michael Jeter-who played Eddie, the despondent, homeless, and implicitly John Waters and Cowardly Lion linked gay cabaret singer in THE FISHER KING-Christopher Meloni-who played police Lieutenant Halperin in 12 MONKEYS-and now also with Rhino Films to use another dreaded sadcap SMF-nnnoooooo!-to complete his American Nightmare Trilogy with his most madcap film to date, the brilliant, twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, fantastic realist, and darkly satirical animaction film known in London as GONE WITH THE CYCLIST and often referred to everywhere else as FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998), released on May 15, 1998 and inspired by the allegorical and indie docufiction Hunter S. Thompson book Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1971).

 

“Buy the ticket, take the ride-

on a psychedicycle.”

 

Curiously, after two opening titles, neither of which mentioned Gilliam or the cast and crew, followed by black and white tv footage of young American Sixties Boomer protestors to the incongruously  and ironically sweet sound of the allegorical and Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers written and Lennon Sisters sung tune “My Favourite Things” (196?), and then a bloody red film title, the film began with the young, slim, bald, clean shaven, baby faced, chainsmoking, drunk and stoned, and implicitly Richard Lester and Scarecrow linked “gonzo journalist” Mr. Raoul Duke-as constantly gesturing, hyper, and twitchy as Jeffrey Goines in 12 MONKEYS, and played by Johnny Depp-driving his young, dark haired and moustached, chubby, and equally drunk and stoned, and implicitly Coppola and Tin Man linked “attorney” Doctor Gonzo-played by Benicio Del Toro, respectively-in a “…fire apple red” ’71 Chevy Impala convertible down a flat and barren desert highway in eastern California on a hot big blue sky day like bats out of Hell to Las Vegas, both men wearing colourful “Acapulco” shirts that evoked the equally colourful Hawaiian shirt worn by the disguised Cole when he was gunned down in the airport at the end of 12 MONKEYS to immediately link the two films together all to the rockin’ sound of the allegorical and Sam Andrew written Big Brother & the Holding Company tune “Combination Of The Two” (1968) in the first of many classic Sixties tunes on the soundtrack of the film.  Significantly, this tragicomic sight and sound also evoked the equally tragicomic sight and sound of the implicitly Stone and Sofia Carmina (SCC) Coppola linked Bobby Peru and Perdita-played by Willem Dafoe and Isabella Rossellini, respectively-driving the luvable and implicitly Burton linked lunk Sailor Ripley-played by Nicolas Cage-in the back seat of a similar cherry red ’76 Cadillac Eldorado convertible to the bank robbery in Lobo, Texas that climaxed the daylit, allegorical, Ozian themed and implicitly Burton addressing Lynch indie moving painting WILD AT HEART (1990), implying at the outset that Gilliam was also addressing Lynch on one level in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.

Indeed, shortly after arriving in Vegas, Duke and Gonzo met the young, handsome, blonde, clean shaven, friendly, smiling, upbeat, and implicitly Lynch and Cowardly Lion linked Lacerda-played by Craig Bierko-the photographer assigned to him to take photos of the desert motorcycle race sponsored by the Mint Casino that Duke was supposed to be writing an article on for his unnamed magazine, affirming that Lynch was being addressed on another level in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.  Alas for Duke, Gonzo, and Lacerda, the over the top drug use of Gonz and the Dukester prevented much “gonzo journalism” from taking place.  Instead, when the film wasn’t wobbling with Ministry of Booze and Drug Addled Silly Walks, it was an implicit, sad eyed, and wistful meditation by Duke on the end of the Rebel Sixties and of the higher minded New Hollywood era of film art and the beginning of the lower minded and loot lusting CGI enhanced blockbuster beast era after the TZ disaster in 1982, with Hollywood cadenced Las Vegas and its money lusting casinotels implicitly symbolizing Hollywood and its beastly blockbuster loot lusting studios, particularly the Bazooko Circus Casino, home to the openly film art linked Flying Fellini trapeze team, scenes that evoked the carnival freak show in THE ELEPHANT MAN to reaffirm the film’s implicit interest in Lynch.

Thus, it was fitting that while CGI featured more prominently in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS than in 12 MONKEYS, it was treated with far more fear and loathing throughout the film.  Indeed, CGI was used to enhance creepy psychedelic scenes that saw the faces of tourists and employees of the casinotels-including a hotel front desk clerk played by Helmond-of the real life Emerald City of Las Vegas with its Neon Of Many Colours warping into nightmarish masks or the same denizens transformed into lizard people when Duke was drunk and/or stoned out of his gourd and plagued by nightmarish visions that made those of brave Sir Parry in THE FISHER KING and Goines in 12 MONKEYS look mild in comparison.  And how fitting that one of the last shots in the film that saw Duke typing away in the trashed and flooded Room 2073 was lit and shadowed in such a way as to give the impression that the room was a jail cell.  For the sight and sound evoked the similar radio station sound booth as jail cell beginning of THE FISHER KING and the various cells Cole was imprisoned in in 12 MONKEYS, linking FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS to those two films to truly bring the American Nightmare Trilogy full SMF circle.

Indeed, the film’s allusions to the allegorical and often eerily and presciently twilit Coppola indie docufeature films YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966), MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER (1972), APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), and ONE FROM THE HEART (1982), and to the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Lynch addressing Coppola indie docufeature film GARDENS OF STONE (1987) also affirmed the implicit link of Dr. Gonzo to Coppola.  In addition, the fact that Duke and Gonzo’s prolific drug and alcohol use throughout the film constantly evoked the equally consciousness altering and vision causing spice melange in DUNE reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Lynch, making it fitting that the name of Raoul Duke evoked that of Maud’dib in DUNE.  In fact, the appearance of Gary Busey as lonely Nevada Highway Patrol Officer Pullmen openly linked the film to Lynch, for Busey played the implicitly Cronenberg linked Bill Dayton in the twilit, allegorical, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas addressing Lynch indie moving painting LOST HIGHWAY (1997), a film which starred the Pullmen evoking Bill Pullman as the troubled and implicitly Lucas linked saxophonist Fred Madison.  The appearance of Troy Evans as an outraged Michigan police chief trying to get a hotel room for a district attorneys conference in Vegas also openly linked the film to Lynch, for Evans played Twin Peaks High School Principal George Wolchezk in the twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Lynch telemoving painting series TWIN PEAKS (1990-91).  Last but not least, the quick cameo of Harry D. Stanton as an angry judge in a guilty fantasy sequence also openly linked the film to Lynch, as Stanton played intrepid but doomed private investigator Johnny Farragut in WILD AT HEART.

Last but not least, the implicit link of Bigelow to a disgruntled waitress-played by Ellen Barkin-at the North Star Coffee Lounge in Las Vegas implicitly reaffirmed that Gilliam was sympathetically roasting Coppola and Lynch in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.  For Bigelow implicitly roasted Coppola and Lynch in the implicit forms of ex-police officer/rapist/murderer Max Peltier and music producer Philo Gant-played by Tom Sizemore and Michael Wincott, respectively-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas addressing indie docufeature film STRANGE DAYS (1995), implying that Gilliam was replying to that film on another level in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.  The fact that the scenes in the North Star Coffee Lounge evoked scenes in the Double R Diner in TWIN PEAKS and in a small town diner in the presciently twilit and allegorical Bigelow and Monty Montgomery indie docufeature film THE LOVELESS (1981) reaffirmed the film’s implicit interest in Bigelow and Lynch.  In fact, the appearance of Evans as that outraged police chief also openly linked the film to Bigelow, as he played a concerned detective in NEAR DARK.

All in all, while laugh out loud funny at times, one wondered if made should have Gilliam FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, given that the film came across as an enthusiastic endorsement of over the top and out of control alcohol and drug binges and law breaking antics, given the enormous power of the medium of film art and its effect on gullible and impressionable audiences, particularly in Washington.  At any rate, its brief psychedelic flashback trip to the Matrix Club in San Fran in 1965 where Duke pondered Thompson like the boy Cole pondered the adult Cole at the end of 12 MONKEYS presciently anticipated the arrival in the Temple Theatre the following year of the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Bigelow, Lucas, and Roland Emmerich toasting and Morrow roasting Andy and Larry Wachowski indie hung fu animaction film THE MATRIX (1999).

As for Jonathan Frakes, he returned to the Temple Theatre that year to implicitly roast Gilliam and the implicitly anti-CGI outlook of 12 MONKEYS in the symbolic form of the nefarious Ru’afo-played by F. Murray Abraham-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and BRAZIL evoking animaction film STAR TREK INSURRECTION (1998), released on December 10, 1998.  The sly fi roasts continued the following year, for Lucas implicitly linked Gilliam to the headstrong and indie Jedi Knight Qui Gonn Jinn-played by Liam Neeson-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Cameron and Spielberg roasting animaction film STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999), released on May 26, 1999.  Burton also implicitly linked Gilliam to Brom Van Tassel-played by Casper Van Dien-and had him team up with the implicitly Polley linked Katrina Van Tassel-played by Christina Ricci-and the timorous and implicitly Cronenberg linked NYPD Constable Ichabod Crane-played by Depp-to desperately exorcise and free the town of Sleepy Hollow of the remorselessly and relentlessly decapitating nightmare of the implicitly Paul Verhoeven linked Headless Horseman-played by Christopher Walken-in the twilit, allegorical and CGI enhanced animaction artbuster SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999), released on November 17, 1999.

Then it was time to pedal eagerly off to Gilliam’s next indie animaction film THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, which was inspired by the allegorical and implicitly William Shakespeare roasting Miguel de Cervantes indie docufiction novel Don Quixote (1605-16) and which broke its chain on a steep incline and refused to continue during production in Espana, ending the production to the frustration of all, a tragicomic collapse detailed in the twilit and allegorical Keith Fulton and Luis Pepe indie documentary film known as THE PARROT HOPPED BACKWARDS in Cairo and in some other countries as LOST IN LA MANCHA (2002), released on February 11, 2002 in the twentieth anniversary year of the TZ disaster.

A tragicomic and frustrating experience, indeed, and one perfect for a deft dab of a damp sponge on the sweaty forehead of Mr. Edward “Eddie Baby” Edwards-Edwards, world renowned bicycle repair man, by his keen and earnest young apprentice, A. Gumby, at a critical moment of the repair of a restored ’64 Beijing Zephyr in front of a mid-week morning crowd of appreciative tourists at the Chinese Bicycle Museum in Ipswich, before we return to a bitterly disappointed and despondent Gilliam, wailing in despair and pulling out his hair over this latest malevolent manifestation of perfidious Fate, before gently but firmly releasing this unfortunate circumstance with a resigned sigh and channeling his frenetic frustration into another twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, fantastic realist, and satirical animaction film spelt BICYCLETTES D’AMOUR in Paris and in the rest of the world as THE TIMELY AND FISHY ADVENTURES OF BAZOOKY THE JABBERING MONKEY AND HIS FEARSOME SINO-BRAZILIAN BICYCLE (2003.58), released on Octember 29, 2099.

 

“Here’s to humans in stinking cages-

without bicycles!

!!Hah hah!!”

 

Of course, the allusive title of the film, which openly but subtly referred to all of the allegorical, fantastic realist and satirical animaction film art of Gilliam, immediately implied that, as in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, he was again moodily meditating on his derailed film art career and how he had been forced to accept dreaded SMFs-aaaaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhh!-after the failure of THE ADVENTURES OF BARON BICYCLIST.  Thus, the sight of Bazooky the jabbering monkey-played by Oodle the poodle-jubilantly pedalling his Sino-Brazilian astro-bicycle across the solar system and being waylaid by the Red Herring Hood-played by Marilyn Gable-the mysterious and enigmatic leader of a hot blooded crew of dimunitive and time travelling space pirates in the cold and lawless asteroid belt between Mars and Ipswich implicitly symbolized---

We profusely and profoundly apologize for the foregoing nonsense, caused by a lingering head injury suffered by Dr. Cromwell-Derailleur while biking up the Great Pyramid of Giza without an approved helmet.  Dr. Gunda Fahrradgottin of the University of Wittenberg will now complete the essay.

Danke, Doktor Smithee.  Intriguingly, this unusually frustrating time in Herr Gilliam’s life is perhaps best summed up not by words but by “Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Bicycle Bell”, my Concerto for Bicycle Bells in D Major.  First, we start with eerie and twilit silence, the eerie, hushed, and shocked silence that suddenly settled on the Landis set of TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE after the fatal helicopter crash.  Then, the sad and mournful sound of a bicycle bell keening softly and plaintively rents the…

Yes, yes, danke very much, Frau Gottinfahrrad.  Our profound apologies for this additional foregoing nonsense.  We will now play “Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Bicycle Bell” in the more appropriate C Minor.

Stop it!  Stop it at once!  This has become much too silly!  Time for some discipline in the ranks.  Stand at attention, you slackers!  Eyes front!  And get that smirk off your face, reader!  Do you think this is a game?  Right!  That’s better.  It’s clearly time to get you scousers back on the right path, and who better to do that than Mr. Wright.  !Get on with it, Gardevil!

At once, Colonel!  !Ready aye ready!  Of course, what we really needed to know was that, after failing to create the thought provoking allegorical film THE MAN WHO KILLED THROATWARBLER MANGROVE, Don Gilliam de la Bicicleta Zephyr was implicitly addressed by equally brilliant and mischief luvin’ newcomer Richard Kelly in the implicit form of the a medium sized, slim, brunette, enviably acne free, troubled, tormented, and time travellin’ teenaged boy Donald “Donnie” Darko-played by Jake Gyllenhaal-in the twilit, allegorical, slightly CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature film DONNIE DARKO (2001), a film released on January 19, 2001 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to THE WIZARD OF OZ and 12 MONKEYS; then was implicitly roasted in the implicit form of Duke-played by Jacobi-in the fittingly tragicomic, twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced Cox indie docufeature film REVENGERS TRAGEDY (2002), released on August 6, 2002; and the following year was also implicitly and mildly roasted in the implicitly Gilliam and Great Oz linked form of Port Royal Governor Swann-fittingly played by Pryce-in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Disney and Gore Verbinski indie docufeature film PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003), released on June 28, 2003.  Curiously, later that year Gilliam was also implicitly roasted in the form of the old, despondent, and demented Denethor, Steward of Gondor-played by John Noble-in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas roasting Sir Peter Jackson indie docufeature artbuster THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003), a film fittingly released in Wellington on December 1, 2003 whose implicit allegorical interest in Gilliam on one level was affirmed by allusions to JABBERWOCKY, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, and TIME BANDITS.

Tragicomically, the following year DreamWorks Animation and Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon collaborated to have the big, green, swamp luvin’, and implicitly DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Scarecrow linked ogre Shrek-played by Mike Myers-and the highly animated, exuberant, and implicitly DreamWorks Animation and Toto linked talking Donkey-played by Eddie Murphy-team up with the short, feisty, combative, musketeer hat, sword and boots luvin’, and Spanish but implicitly Sir Ridley Scott and Cowardly Lion linked red Manx cat Puss in Boots-who evoked the red Manx cat Jones played by Jones in the eerily and presciently twilit and allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas and Spielberg roasting Sir Scott indie docufeature artbuster ALIEN (1979), and was played by Antonio Banderas-to save the young, beautifully ugly, green, and implicitly Marilyn Siegel and Dorothy linked Princess Fiona-played by Cameron Diaz- from an unhappy marriage with the young, handsome, blonde, and implicitly Gilliam and Tin Man linked Prince Charming-played by Rupert Everett-with the madcap “help” of a magic Happily Ever After potion stolen from his mother, the old, grey haired, attractive, bespectacled, chubby, and implicitly Maggie Weston and Glinda linked Fairy Godmother-played by Jennifer Saunders-at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed all CGI animated film SHREK 2 (2004), a film released on May 8, 2004 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to ALIEN, JABBERWOCKY, PINNOCHIO, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS, and by the appearance of Cleese as Fiona’s resigned father, the perhaps Harvey Kurtzman linked King Harold the Froggish.

As for Gilliam, he proved that he had not quite run out of creative beans yet when he donned the director’s hat, teamed up again with Pryce and Carlo Poggioli-assistant to costume designer Gabriella Pescucci on THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN and now back as costume designer in his own right after learning his craft-and now also with Dimension Films and MGM and attempted to escape from dreaded SMF limbo forever by returning to the fantastic realms where his film art career began as he also implicitly responded to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, fantastic realist, madcap and satirical indie animaction film often referred to in New York as BICYCLE REPAIR MAN: THE MOVIE and in many other parts of the solar system as THE BROTHERS GRIMM (2005), released on August 26, 2005 and also inspired by the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm.

 

“I know,

 we can play my favorite game.

!It’s called “Who’s the Fairest Cyclist

of Them All!””

 

Fittingly, after the Dimension Films and MGM intros and no opening titles, the frantic and frenetic film began with the words “…Once upon a time…1796” like all STAR WARS films to immediately establish a Grimm fairy tale and a Lucasian spirit to the film on two levels.  Then, after a short prologue that introduced the Brothers Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm as boys-played by Jeremy Robson and Petr Ratimec, respectively-living in poverty with their mother and ailing sister Lotte-played by the fittingly surnamed Barbora Lukesova and Anna Rust, respectively-and quarrelling over magic beans, the film nimbly leapt fifteen Forceful years into the future and landed in a Germany in 1811 occupied by French soldiers implicitly linked to the Walt Disney Company.  Hier we quickly met the intrepid, madcap, quixotic, still constantly quarrellin’, fairy and folk tale, legend, and myth luvin’, witch and spook exorcising, and conniving brothers Grimm in the feisty forms of the young, handsome, Jedi twin luvin’, and implicitly Lucas and Cowardly Lion linked Wilhelm “Will” Grimm-with a Skywalkin’ blonde Hamill hairdo, and played by Matt Damon-and his equally young, but bespectacled, brunette, magic bean luvin’, and implicitly Spielberg and Tin Man linked brother Jakob “Jake” Grimm-played by Heath Ledger-as they rode determinedly through the pouring rain on the Kassel run and then through the main gate and into the French guarded and fortified town of Karlstadt. 

Curiously, the Brothers then teamed up with their two bumbling and implicitly Andy and Larry Wachowski linked sidekicks in con artistry, the blonde, the bald, chubby, and squat Bunst and the blonde, thin, and gangly Hidlick-played by Richard Ridings and Mackenzie Crook, respectively, the latter of whom openly linked the film to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL via his one-eyed, cretinous, and implicitly Adamson linked corsair Ragetti in that exuberantly swashbuckling film-to pretend to desperately exorcise and free the town of the dread grip of the hideous and insidious Mill Witch-also played by Crook-in an elaborate and special effects filled con, to the stunned and grateful relief of its inhabitants and its Wallace Shawn resembling Mayor-played by Roger Ashton-Griffiths.  Alas, the conniving foursome were then arrested by and the black clad and hatted, intimidating, exuberant, gesticulating, moustached, sideburned, torture luvin’, and implicitly Burton and Scarecrow linked Mercurio Cavaldi-played by Peter Stormare-and his French soldiers and taken to the old, smug, exuberantly tyrannical, and implicitly ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Great Oz linked French General and gourmet Vavarin Delatombe-played by Pryce, who also openly linked the film to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL via his character Port Royal Governor Swann in that equally frantic and frenetic film.  Here le General persuaded them on pain of death to team up with the young, slim, fearless, indie, beautiful, brunette, toad luvin’, Elizabeth Swann evoking, but implicitly Bigelow and Dorothy linked trapper Angelika Krauss-played by Lena Headey, and in a fairy tale flashback by Denisa Malinovska, respectively-and free the small, less fortified, and Disneyland, Hollywood, and Tortuga cadenced town of Marbaden, Germany and its surrounding creepy, crow filled, and CGI enhanced woods of the insidious and vampiric grip of a once beautiful, brunette, busty, sensual, and alluring, but vain, selfish, narcissitic, reflection luvin’, Snow White resembling, and CGI enhanced blockbuster beast of an implicitly Walt Disney Company and Wicked Witch of the West linked Thuringian Queen of Mirrors and deadly illusions-played by Monica Bellucci, who played sexy Persephone in the Matrix Trilogy-who lived all alone as a hideous old hag-played by the fittingly surnamed Deborah Hyde-in a solitary tower like Rapunzel in the midst of the forest and used the life force of the girls of Marbaden to try to create the illusion that she was still beautiful, youthful, and vigourous, implying that Gilliam believed that the Walt Disney Company was an equally ancient and hideous crone that fed off the exuberant energy of its primarily boy and girl audiences and the money of their indulgent parents to keep it alive and give it the illusion that it was still young, beautiful, and vital rather than old, ugly, and unimportant.

Curiously, the Wicked Queen was helped in her vampiric efforts by her favourite old, bearded, besotted, and implicitly Landis and Nikko the Monkey King linked servant and Angelika’s father, the Woodsman-played by Tomas Hanak-whose ability to transform into a werewolf made him a beastly and nasty fellow with big, sharp, slathering, and pointed teeth, indeed, and one whose lycanthropy affirmed his implicit link to Landis via AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.  Thus, the fact that the Brothers Grimm, Krauss, and Cavaldi succeeded in their madcap quest to defeat the Wicked Queen and the Woodsman and free the town of Marbaden from their insidious grips at last, destroying the creepy tower of terror in the process, and also freeing the town from the more tragicomic and slightly less insidious grip of Gen. Delatombe and his equally madcap and implicitly ex-Walt Disney Studios Chairman Katzenberg linked valet-played by Martin Kavan-and returning from the creepy forest in triumph to Marbaden in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end, implied a new hope on the part of Gilliam that Bigelow, Burton, Lucas, and Spielberg would put aside their feuding and work together to defeat and free audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre from the equally insidious grips of Disney and Landis, the TZ disaster and the Twilight Zone, and kick off a truly neo eon of CGI enhanced film art, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to AMERICAN GRAFFITI, JABBERWOCKY, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, the Matrix Trilogy, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, the STAR WARS Classic and Tragic Trilogies, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed animaction artbuster SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999).

Curiously, this implicit new hope disappeared when Gilliam donned the director’s cap and teamed up again with Bridges on his most unusual and surreal film ever, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, fantastic realist, sadcap, and satirical indie animaction film not known in Tokyo as SEVEN CYCLISTS and not referred to anywhere else as anything but TIDELAND (2005), released on September 9, 2005 and surprisingly based on the twilit and allegorical Mitch Cullin indie docufiction novel Tideland (2000).

 

“Here’s the monster shark!

!It’s coming for our bicycles!”

 

Significantly, after the intros for THINK FILMS, RECORDED PICTURE COMPANY, Capri Films, and HanWay Films, and four opening titles, the fourth unusually stating “…a TERRY GILLIAM film”, the film began with a blank black Spielberg screen like that already seen at the beginning of the beginning of THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN to immediately imply that Spielberg was being addressed again on one level in the film accompanied by music and the voice of a girl-played by Jodelle Ferlan-reading from the allegorical Carroll novel Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (1865).   Curiouserly, however, after that Spielbergian beginning, and after seeing the beautiful, brunette, and implicitly Angelina Jodie linked girl playing in a gorgeously daylit and lush sea of Saskatchewan barley or wheat or grass and in an abandoned school bus lying amongst that sussurating sea, we then travelled back in time and rocked out at a club with the old, greying haired, moustached, and bearded and implicitly Kris Kristofferson and Tin Man linked Boomer rock star Noah-played by Bridges.

Returning home, we found that Noah was a heroin addict, that the girl was his implicitly Jodie and Dorothy linked daughter Jeliza Rose, and that his wife was the young, blonde, fat, troubled and, haggish addict Queen Gunhilda-played by Jennifer Tilly-whose resemblance to Courtney Love implicitly linked her to Cox, given that Love played Gretchen in SID AND NANCY and Velma in STRAIGHT TO HELL.  Soon Queen Gunhilda died of a reaction to methadone, dying like the Wicked Witch of the East at the beginning of all Ozian themed films, causing Noah to flee with Jeliza Rose to the isolated, deserted, and run down rural family home that he fled as a youth, the one with that daylit and lush sea of Saskatchewan graingrass already seen in the film’s prologue, where he then faded wistfully away in one last immobilizing Tin Man heroin rush, perhaps implying that Gilliam believed or hoped that Kristofferson would also fade away.  Leaving Jeliza Rose all alone with Baby Blond, Glitter Gal, Mustique, and Sateen Lips, her fourceful and elemental Ozian quartet of doll heads, and soon back in the Spielberg roasting territory implied by the blank black screen that began TIDELAND.

For Rose left the beat up old house and explored that cheerily daylit and lush sea of Saskatchewan graingrass, soon meeting and befriending as best she could her neighbours, the tall, black hatted and clad, brunette dreadlocked, creepy, witchy, and implicitly Spielberg and Wicked Witch of the West linked Dell-played by Janet McTeer-and her younger brother, the short, shaven headed, clean shaven, and implicitly Cameron and Nikko linked and epileptic childman Dickens-played by Brendan Fletcher.  Tragicomically, Dickens quickly affirmed his implicit link to Cameron by confiding to Jeliza Rose his desperate and obsessive quest in his imaginary submarine-bicycles no doubt being a bit awkward to ride through a daylit and lush sea of Saskatchewan grain or grass-to hunt down and kill a blockbuster beast of a shark that infested that part of the prairie, a blockbuster shark beast that turned out to be a blockbuster train beast.  For the obsessive submarining quest evoked Cameron’s luv of submarines, underwater exploration, and equally obsessive and quixotic assaults on the blockbuster beast in his twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and always indie and righteously furious Zonebusting films.  Of course, this imaginary blockbuster shark beast with big rows of big, sharp, nasty, pointy, and tearing teeth openly evoked the great white shark of JAWS, affirming the implicit link of Dell to Spielberg, and reminding us that Gilliam had kicked off his solo film art career with the implicitly Spielberg and JAWS roasting JABBERWOCKY.

Curiouserly and curiouserly, Dickens appeared to succeed in his quest, for the film ended with Rose wandering through the fiery and smoking night amongst the dead and wounded passengers of a train derailment, a blockbuster derailment perhaps caused by the deranged Dickens using stolen dynamite to terminate the blockbuster train shark beast that so bedeviled him.  It was an unusually pensive and despondent climactic triumph over the beast that implied not only that Gilliam believed that Cameron would never succeed in his obsessive Zonebusting quest to slay the twilit blockbuster beast, but that perhaps it was best not to bother, given that the TZ disaster had resulted in highly realistic CGI that was able to create bigger blockbuster beasts with big, sharp, pointy, and slathering teeth than ever before, and also implied that Gilliam hoped that, if Jolie ever went on to create her own film art, she would avoid making big CGI enhanced Zonebusters and blockbusters like Cameron and Spielberg.

The following year, Kelly implicitly linked Gilliam to the past and future selves of the young, handsome, big, muscular, and strong ex-U.S. soldier turned Los Angeles UPU2 police officer Roland and Ronald Taverner-played by played by Seann W. Scott-in his brilliant, madcap, and epic satire, the twilit, allegorical, slightly CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature film SOUTHLAND TALES (2006), which was first screened at Cannes on May 21, 2006 and affirmed its implicit interest in Gilliam on one level with allusions to DONNIE DARKO, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and 12 MONKEYS.  A year later DreamWorks Animation collaborated with Raman Hui and Chris Miller to have the big, green, swamp luvin’, and implicitly DreamWorks Animation CEO Katzenberg and Scarecrow linked ogre Shrek-played again by Myers-and the highly animated, exuberant, and implicitly DreamWorks Animation and Toto linked talking Donkey-played again by Murphy-get a little help from the short, feisty, combative, musketeer hat, sword and boots luvin’, and Spanish but implicitly Sir Scott and Cowardly Lion linked red Manx cat Puss in Boots-played again by Banderas-and save the young, beautifully ugly, green, and implicitly Siegel and Dorothy linked Princess Fiona-played again by Diaz-by triumphing over the young, handsome, blonde, and implicitly Gilliam and Tin Man linked Prince Charming-played again by Everett-and living happily ever after at the healing, harmonizing, eucatastrophic, and formulaic end of the daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed indie all CGI animated film SHREK THE THIRD (2007), a film released on May 6, 2007 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to DRAGONSLAYER, JABBERWOCKY, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, PINNOCHIO, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS, and with the return of Cleese as Fiona’s resigned and dying father, the perhaps Kurtzman linked King Harold the Froggish, and the appearance of Idle as the madcap Merlin the Enchanter.  For his part, Sean Penn implied that he was not impressed with the implicit allegorical intent of TIDELAND, for he implicitly roasted Gilliam and TIDELAND in the twilit, allegorical and CGI free indie docufeature film INTO THE WILD (2007), released on September 7, 2007. 

However, despite this roasting, a more relaxed and confident embrace of CGI continued when Gilliam finally left behind that dreaded SMF limbo when he donned the co-writer/director caps and collaborated again with Cooper, Depp, Ledger, McKeown, Plummer, Verne Troyer-who played a mysterious little person in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS-and Tom Waits-who played a Vietnam vet named E. Apricot reduced to begging in Union Station in THE FISHER KING-and now with Davis Films, E1 Entertainment, and Infinity Films on the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, fantastic realist, madcap, satirical, and Ozian themed indie animaction film known in Ho Chi Minh City as THE SOUND OF BICYCLE BELLS, and better known outside of Berlin as THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS (2009), a film released on May 22, 2009 and partly filmed in London, Burnaby and Vancouver.

 

“He dreamt that a hooded cyclist

was fast approaching

on the snowswept plain.”

 

Curiously, after the Davis Films and Infinity Features intros, and four opening titles that did not mention Gilliam or his bicycle, the film began in London with an old mobile theatre of the imagination being slowly drawn by two horses down a nighttime London street before the title of the film appeared on the screen, evoking the theatres of the imagination seen in the indie moving paintings of Lynch to immediately imply that the film was addressing Lynch.  This implication was affirmed when the theatre stopped outside of the Medusa bar, and it opened down and up, revealing itself on closer inspection to be an “Imaginarium”, and a young, tall, slim, handsome, goofy, gangly, awestruck, devoted, and implicitly Jay Baruchel and Tin Man linked man-played by Andrew Garfield-his face painted silver and wearing a Roman Centurion uniform with a metal winged helmet that evoked Hermes and Mercury, messenger of wisdom, to implicitly affirm his link to the Tin Man, stepped out from behind the curtain and introduced the old and all knowing Doctor Parn-assus.  On cue the curtains parted and a raised chair rolled across the stage to reveal an old, balding, and grey haired, moustached and bearded and implicitly Great Oz linked man-played by Plummer-sitting in a meditative lotus position, reminding us that Lynch had long embraced and enthusiastically promoted transcendental meditation to implicitly link the old meditating man to Lynch. 

Soon a young, tall, slim, beautiful, strawberry blonde, bewitching, and implicitly Polley and Dorothy linked woman-played by Lily Cole-spun into view on a doorway with a silver mirrored curtain, and a small and feisty head Munchkin-played by Verne Troyer-joined Tinny Hermes onstage, a trio who caught the attention of, and were approached and verbally harassed by, a drunken and boorish young blonde punk in a green combat jacket-played by Richard “the Riddler” Riddell.  Significantly, this drunk and boorish young ruffian resembled Mark Pellegrino, who played the madcap, inept, and implicitly Cameron linked hitman Joe in the twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Lynch indie moving painting MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001), affirming the implicit link of Dr. Parn-assus to Lynch.  Clambering onstage, the blonde boor sexually harassed the beautiful young maiden before walking through the silver mirror curtained doorway behind the meditative old fellow and found himself in a cardboard cut-out forest and then a forest in the fantastic world of CGI.  Here to his surprised horror he transformed into another blonde punk-played by Bruce Crawford-who looked like a young Lynch to reaffirm the implicit interest in Lynch in THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS.

Soon the transformed young punk was offered a chance by Dr. Parn-assus to climb a long and difficult stone stairway to sunlit and transcendent Heaven, but was seduced and led astray to the dirty and seedy nearby Mr. Nick’s Lounge Bar, persuaded to enter by a sinister and talking painted and sculpted portrait of Waits on the bar’s door wearing a black bowl hat, a red bow tie, and a black suit that smoked a cigarette in a long holder and held a stein of beer in both hands, and destroyed when the bar blew up.  Then the scene shifted back to reality, where the imagination luvin’ and story for story’s sake Dr. Parn-assus was soon telling the beautiful young blonde, who turned out to be his daughter Valentina aka “Scrumptious” aka “Scrumpy”, a story about a wager he had once foolishly and regretfully made with the real short, black bowl hatted and suited, black and red striped bowtied, thoughtfully smoking, gleefully insidious, red haired, blockbuster, beastly, and implicitly Coppola and Wicked Witch of the West linked Devil aka “Mr. Nick”-fittingly played by Waits, a veteran of numerous Coppola films-to see who could lead twelve souls to the Light or the Dark first, Parny or Nick, that the Good doctor won and that gifted him with a crushing and depressing immortality. 

Significantly, after relating this story, the young, brash, cocky, handsome, dark haired, eyed, moustached, and goateed, dishonest, fortune and glory lusting, law breaking, violent, and implicitly Jason Reitman and Nikko linked amnesiac victim Anthony “Tony” Shepard-played variously by Depp, Ledger, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, respectively-was discovered by the denizens of the travelling Imaginarium dangling from a noose from the bottom of the Granville Street Bridge in Vancouver.  Soon after, the Devil returned to offer the Good, all too sad eyed and knowing, and morosely immortal Doctor a new wager and a chance to exchange his immortality for a peaceful and anonymous old age and merciful death if he saved five souls from damnation before the Devil dragged them off to Hell, five souls that evoked the five dreaded SMFs forced on Gilliam after the popular and financial failure of THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN.  Just as significantly, while losing this wager when an angry Scrumpy defied the good Doctor and chose to be the fifth and final soul won by Mr. Nick, Nick Mr. still allowed Parny to trick the insidious Shepard into being seduced by the Devil, preventing tony Tony from marrying Scrumpy, saving beautiful and brainy, sweet and steely Valentina and freeing her to marry a now bowtie luvin’ Anton and live happily ever after with him and daughter Scrumpilita-played by Emma Karwandy-in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end, returning the Good doctor to everyday, unenhanced reality and leaving him even more old, sad eyed, knowing, and longer bearded and bereft of bicycle than before but content in the knowledge that Scrumpy and her family were safe and happily bumming with Percy on Robson Street outside the Roman Coliseum evoking Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library implying that Gilliam admired Lynch’s unswerving lifelong commitment to film art for film art’s sake, was confident that Polley was successfully carrying on the film art tradition with her directorial debut, the daylit, allegorical, and implicitly Lucas and Lynch adressing indie docufeature film AWAY FROM HER (2007), was rooting for Baruchel, but not fond of Reitman, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to DUNE, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, THE ELEPHANT MAN, THE WIZARD OF OZ, the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Cameron roasting Coppola indie docufeature artbuster BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992), and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and implicitly Lynch addressing Coppola indie docufeature film YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH (2007).

Curiously, later that year Sir Peter Jackson had the young, good looking, devastated, and implicitly Gilliam/Scarecrow and Maggie Weston/Dorothy linked parents Jack and Abigail Salmon-played by Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, respectively-mourn the brutal and savage murder of their daughter, the young, short, slim, pretty, blonde, shy, sweet, innocent, naïve, Kodak photography luvin’, and implicitly Polley and Wicked Witch of the East linked fourteen year old teen Susan “Susie” Salmon-played as a teen by Saoirse Ronan, and as a three year old girl in the film’s prologue by Evelyn Lennon, respectively-throughout the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed Sir Jackson indie docufeature film THE LOVELY BONES (2009), a film released on November 24, 2009 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to AWAY FROM HER, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIDELAND, and TIME BANDITS.  Significantly, the following year Disney collaborated with Burton for the first time in years to implicitly affirm their fondness for the gleefully satirical Gilliam despite THE BROTHERS GRIMM and also for Polley-who had played sweet, sad and bicycle luvin’ Molly Monaghan as a little girl in her first film role in the twilit, allegorical and implicitly Dante and Landis addressing Disney and Phillip Borsos indie docufeature film ONE MAGIC CHRISTMAS (1985)-by having the big, white, furry, black spotted, and implicitly Gilliam linked blockbuster CGI Bandersnatch beast with big, sharp, pointed, slathering teeth team up with the young, slim, beautiful, blonde, restless, rebellious, eccentric, and implicitly Polley and Dorothy linked Alice Kingsleigh-played by Maria E. Challen as a girl, and by Mia Wasikowska as a teen, respectively-to take on and defeat the big headed, imperious, intimidating, and implicitly Jeffrey Katzenberg and Wicked Witch of the West linked Iracebeth of Crims, the dreaded Red Queen-played by Helena B. Carter-her loyal, one-eyed, and implicitly Spielberg and Nikko linked Knave of Hearts, Ilosovic Stayne-played by Crispin Glover-and her hearty CGI playing card soldiers, and slay their dread, flying, fire breathing, and dragon evoking CGI blockbuster Jabberwocky beast-played by Christopher Lee-with a valourous, virtuous, and victorious Vorpal sword, bringing daylit health and harmony back to Wunderland on a fabulously Frabjous Day in the eucatastrophic and futterwacken end, thus implying the hope of Disney and Burton that Polley would also bring daylit health and harmony back to audiences, film art, film artists, and the Temple Theatre with her films at the end of the quirky and unusual, dark, creepy, macabre, but ultimately daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed animaction artbuster ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010), a film released on February 25, 2010 that was inspired by the allegorical Lewis Carroll children’s novels Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (1865) and Through The Looking Glass (1871) and that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to those two tomes and to DRAGONSLAYER, JABBERWACKY, and THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Curiously, later that year Disney implicitly reaffirmed their fondness for Gilliam and Polley by collaborating again with Byron Howard and now also with Nathan Greno to fuse old school Disney fairy tale with new school CGI, to implicitly affirm their fondness for Gilliam despite the implicit allegorical intent of THE BROTHERS GRIMM, and to also implicitly hope that Polley would triumph over Amy Irving and work together with Gilliam and the equally young and talented film artist Richard Kelly to make great films like the young, beautiful, green eyed, magical healing blonde haired, fryin’ pan luvin’, and implicitly Polley and Dorothy linked Rapunzel of the Canada cadenced kingdom of Corona-played by Delaney R. Stein as a girl and by Mandy Moore as a teen, respectively-and her small, green, silent but expressive, and implicitly Gilliam and Toto linked chameleon familiar Pascal-no doubt an implicit nod to Gilliam’s famous ability to change genres from one fine and madcap film after another with carefree and chameleon-like abandon-teamed up with the young, handsome, brunette, roguish, and implicitly Kelly and Scarecrow linked Flynn Rider aka “Eugene Fitzherbert”-played by Zachary Levi-and his valiant, crime hating, apple luvin’, Bucephalus evoking, and implicitly Dwayne Johnson linked white stallion Maximus to triumph over the old, grey haired, haggard, and implicitly Irving and Wicked Witch of the West linked “Step”-Mother Gothel-played by Donna Murphy-and to marry Rider at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed indie CGI animated feature film TANGLED (2010), a film released on November 24, 2010 that was inspired by the allegorical Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Rapunzel” and whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to the Matrix Trilogy, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS.

For his part, Coppola teamed up again with Waits to implicitly address Gilliam in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie docufeature film TWIXT (2011), a film released on September 11, 2011 that was inspired by the allegorical Edgar A. Poe indie docufiction stories “The Cask Of Amontillado” (1846) and “The Gardevil In The Belfry” (1353). 

 

“The fog on the lake

 hid the cyclist.”

 

Fittingly, the sad and sweet film began with a fairy tale preamble narrated by Waits that evoked the written fairy tale preamble that began THE BROTHERS GRIMM, a preamble that also set the scene and accompanied a montage of shots of a small, lonely, deserted, and dilapidated town called Swann Valley not far from Los Angeles before the middle aged and heighted, brunette, chubby, ponytailed, despondent, struggling, and implicitly Gilliam and Tin Man linked alcoholic writer Hall Baltimore-played by Kilmer-drove into town to promote his latest mostly ignored twilit and allegorical indie docufiction novel Witch Hunter (201?), evoking the sight and sound of the Brothers Grimm riding on horseback into the town of Marbaden at the beginning of THE BROTHERS GRIMM to immediately affirm the implicit Gilliam addressing intent of the film.  Curiously, Baltimore immediately began to meet the equally despondent ghost o f the young, tall, slim, blonde, shy, sweet, self conscious, braced and buck teethed, mysterious, and implicitly Sofia Carmina (SCC) Coppola and Dorothy linked Virginia aka “V”-played by Elle Fanning-in his alcoholic fever dreams.  Intriguingly, V resembled Baltimore’s young, slim, pretty, and deceased daughter Vicki-played by Fiona Medaris-who had been killed all too young in a tragic boating accident and who haunted him even more than Poe and V.  This reminded us that Coppola’s youngest son Gian-Carlo “Gio” Coppola had also died too young after an equally tragic boating accident, implicitly linking Vicki to Gio and the Coppola clan as well as V.

 

To his surprised and pleased delight, Baltimore also immediately began meeting in his alcoholic fever dreams the equally despondent and alcoholic ghost of the tall, black haired, eyed, and moustached, black tied and suited, brilliant, creative, madcap, indie, literary art for literary art’s sake, and implicitly “Uncle” Walt Disney and Scarecrow linked Poe-played by Ben Chaplin-who revealed that V had been murdered in 1955 decades before along with some other children by the middle aged, bespectacled, suited, creepily avuncular, psychopathic, and implicitly Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Iger and Wicked Witch of the West linked “Pastor” Allan Floyd-played by Anthony Fusco.  Out of his dark dreams in the daylit real world, Baltimore also met the old, grey haired and moustached, genial, exuberantly demented, gesturing, pointing, and self promoting, loot lustin’, and implicitly Smilin’ Stan “the Man” Lee and Nikko linked Swann Valley Sheriff Bobby LaGrange-his implicit link to Lee reminding us that Lee and his Marvel Comics had been purchased by Disney CEO Iger and were now creating beastly big budget blockbuster CGI super satirical animaction films with Disney, and played by Bruce Dern-who revealed that a real life serial killer was stalking and killing girls in the area implicitly like the super satirical animaction films of Disney and Marvel were “killing” the imaginations of young audiences. 

Thus, the sight and sound of Baltimore, with the help of the haunting and haunted Poe, and young, short, handsome, gothic, mysterious and implicitly Sir Jackson linked young indie rebel biker known only as Flamingo-played by Alden Ehrenreich-slowly outing Sheriff LaGrange as the Wicked “Pastor” Floyd possessed serial killer and causing him to commit suicide to escape arrest, conviction, and/or incarceration and execution, and being inspired by all of his experiences in Swann Valley to write the modestly bestselling, daylit, and allegorical indie docufiction novel The Vampire Executions (201?) much to the surprised but pleased delight of Baltimore’s beautiful, red haired, and implicitly Weston and Glinda linked wife Denise-played by Whalley-and his genial and sympathetic but demanding and intimidating and implicitly Great Oz linked editor Sam Malkin-played by David Paymer-implied the hope of Coppola that Gilliam and his brilliant, creative, original, madcap, and film art for film art’s sake animaction film art would triumph over that of Dis and Marv, in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end.  In addition, as the triumph over the Wicked “Pastor” Floyd possessed Sheriff LaGrange also equated with a belated triumph over the Wicked “Pastor” Floyd on behalf of V, Coppola also implied that SCC would triumph over Dis and Marv with her equally film art for film art’s sake indie docufeature film art, perhaps due to the fact that the year before the release of TWIXT, Disney, Marvel, and Jon Favreau had the young, short, red haired, slim, strong, sexy, deadly, and implicitly SCC and Dorothy linked Russian ex-assassin and ex-model Natasha Romanoff aka “the Black Widow”-inspired by a character created and originally implicitly linked to the newly widowed Jacqueline Kennedy by Lee, Doughty Don Heck, and Dapper Don Rico for Marvel Comics, and played by Scarlett Johansson-in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and implicitly Lucas, young Reitman, Diablo Cody, and Irvin Kershner addressing super satirical indie animaction film IRON MAN 2 (2010), an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, 12 MONKEYS, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS, THE LOVELY BONES, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and by the fact that Fanning openly linked TWIXT to SCC via her role as Cleo Marco in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed and implicitly Lucas roasting SCC indie docufeature film SOMEWHERE (2010).

Speaking of super satirical animaction films, the following month Disney and Marvel teamed up with Jouncin’ Joe Johnston to have the young, tall, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, clean cut and shaven, muscular, strong, and implicitly Gilliam linked patriotic U.S. soldier turned Howlin’ Commando Sergeant James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes-inspired by a character created by Jaunty Joe Simon and Jolly Jack Kirby for Timely Comics, the predecessor of Marvel Comics, and played by Scowlin’ Sebastian Stan “the Man”-befriend and then fight in Western Europe alongside the young, blonde, handsome, but initially short and scrawny, and then tall, even more handsome, clean cut and shaven, muscular, strong, ironically polite, patriotic, virtuous, indomitable but kind, gentle, foul smelling, and implicitly Clint Eastwood and Tin Man linked super soldier Steven “Steve” Rogers aka “Captain America”-inspired by a character also created for Timely by Kirby and Simon, and played by Chris Evans-to free the world from the tyranny of the Nazis and their HYDRA science division led by the middle aged, tall, slim, short haired, big eared, clean shaven, and then grotesquely skinless and bloody skulled and implicitly Cox and Wicked Witch of the West linked Doctor Johann Schmidt aka “Red Skull”-inspired by a character also created by Kirby and Simon for Timely, and played by Hugo Weaving-at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011), a film released on July 19, 2011 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to the Matrix Trilogy, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the twilit, allegorical, and Ozian themed Cox indie docufeature films REPO MAN (1984) and DEATH AND THE COMPASS (1993).

Later that year, DreamWorks CEO Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation, and Miller implied that despite ROBIN HOOD, they had no hard feelings for Sir Scott and wished him well on his imperfect but vitally human, blockbuster beast battlin’, and indomitably indie film art for film art’s path by having the short, feisty, combative, feathered musketeer hat, sword, and boots luvin’, Spanish but implicitly Sir Scott and Cowardly Lion linked red Manx cat Puss in “Jonesy” Boots aka “Diablo Gato” aka “Chupacabra” aka “The Ginger Hit Man”-played again by Banderas-team up with the white, oval headed, jovial, creative, inventive, conniving, duplicitous, and implicitly Hans Zimmer and Tin Man linked Humpty Alexander Dumpty aka “Egg Boy”-played by Zach Galifianakis-and the sweet but deadly and equally duplicitous grey and white and implicitly Glinda linked cat burglar Kitty Softpaws-played Salma Hayek-to steal the three magic green beans from the big, nasty, and implicitly Gilliam and Maggie Weston linked Jack and Jill-played by Billy B. Thornton and Amy Sedaris, respectively-in order to grow a beanstalk and then steal the golden eggs of the Golden Goose before repenting of madcap lusts for fortune and glory and saving the Golden Goose and the town of San Ricardo, to the satisfaction of its townsfolk, from the righteous wrath of Mother Goose, the blockbuster beast that was the mother of the Golden Goose, and fleeing the town on his own indomitably indie Puss in Boots outlaw path at the almost but not quite healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, and Ozian themed all CGI animated film PUSS IN BOOTS (2011), a fine and funny film released on October 16, 2011 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS, and the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie docufeature artbuster ROBIN HOOD (2010).

As for Gilliam, his madcap give the cat a Jabberwack spirits were implicitly and understandably raised by the creation and success of THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS, which finally broke him free from lonely SMF limbo forever, making him a happy and beamish boy with an indomitable commitment to his own idiosyncratic and imaginative indie animaction film art who soon collaborated with Cooper, Damon, Poggioli, Stormare, daughter Amy “Amy Baby” Gilliam-a co-producer of THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS-and Peter Stormare-who played the bespectacled, suited, and wheelchair bound but assertive, cheerful, and exuberant President in THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS-and now with amplfiy, LE PACTE, MEDIAPRO PICTURES, VOLTAGE PICTURES, WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT, WILD SIDE FILMS, and ZEPHYR FILMS on the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, fantastic realist, madcap, satirical, BRAZIL evoking, and Ozian themed indie animaction film known every second Tuesday in Beijing as PLANET OF THE CYCLISTS and everywhere else except Ottawa as THE ZERO THEOREM (2013), a film released on September 2, 2013 that was ironically co-produced by Dean Zanuck, son of Richard D. Zanuck, co-producer of JAWS, the film implicitly roasted in JAWBERWOCKY.

 

“You’re the One, Q.

You are the Chosen One.

!You’re the One the Oracle said

would someday come to us

and lead us all out of the twilight

and into a neo eon of exuberant cycling!”

 

Curiously, after the amplify, Well Go USA, and Voltage intros, and ten opening titles, the last of which stated simply “…a Terry Gilliam film”, the film began with a close-up of the all devouring black hole at the centre of a swirling and Milky Way evoking CGI spiral galaxy that the camera slowly pulled back from to reveal that the spiral galaxy was on a big computer screen before which sat a bald, naked, middle aged, expressionless, grim, obsessed, and implicitly Tin Man linked man-as bald as Cole in 12 MONKEYS, and played by Christoph Waltz-who evoked the sight and sound of Jones playing a naked pianist in various episodes of MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS.  Just as curiously, the sight and sound of the bald and naked man trapped in another day all alone in his messy apartment in front of his computer screen and pausing every now and then to frantically answer the telephone evoked the sight and sound of the young, handsome, black haired and eyed, clean shaven, talented, and implicitly Lucas and Scarecrow linked software programmer and hacker Thomas J. Anderson aka “Neo”-played by Keanu Reeves-asleep in front of his computer screen all alone in his tiny and messy apartment at the beginning of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Bigelow, Lucas, and Luc Besson toasting Andy and Larry Wachowski indie animaction film THE MATRIX (1999) implying that Gilliam was addressing the Wachowski Siblings and the Matrix Trilogy in THE ZERO THEOREM.

Soon after, the solitary man left his computer, performed his morning ablutions, dressed, and then reluctantly left for work, walking in a long and hooded black leather jacket that made him look like a First Stage Guild Navigator in DUNE through madcap streets filled with colourful graffiti and large digital screens beaming equally colourful and noisy commercials at the world.  Crunching data entities and pedalling industriously at his workstation in the onthological research division of ManCom-“Corporations Sans rontieres”-with its mysterious, grey haired, bespectacled, suited, and implicitly Cronenberg and Great Oz linked CEO aka “Management”-played by Damon-literally watching over him from a poster on the wall behind him to affirm that he was as trapped in the workplace machine as Lowry in BRAZIL, the bald man was quickly revealed by a computer to be “Qohen Leth”.  Then, in a third person filled conversation with his tall, slim, moustached, madcap, and implicitly Cowardly Lion linked supervisor Mr. Joby-played by David Thewlis-who constantly called him “Quinn”, Leth was invited to a party after work. 

Here the big and bald Leth met the young, short, beautiful, blonde, bewitching, curvaceous, elusive, mysterious, and implicitly Glinda linked Bainsley-played by Melanie Thierry-a sight and sound that evoked the equally big and bald Andy Wachowski and the short and transitioned from short and equally bald Larry to equally short but pink haired Lana Wachowski at that point of time in 2013 before Andy transitioned into Lilly Wachowski to reaffirm that the Wachowski Siblings and the Matrix Trilogy were being addressed in THE ZERO THEOREM.  Here Leth also met Management, who in person evoked with the mysterious, white haired, moustached, bearded, and suited, and implicitly Alvy Ray Smith and Great Oz linked Architect of the Matrix-played by Helmut Bakaitis-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced and Ozian themed indie animaction hung fu film THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003) and the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie animaction hung fu film THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (2003) to reaffirm the film’s interest in the Wachowski Siblings and the Matrix Trilogy.

 Thus, the tragicomic sight and sound of the obsessed, asocial, and ahuman Leth being sent home to his lonely and messy ex-Christian monastery apartment to try and fail to crunch out enough entities to crack the Zero Theorem (ZT), to flirt with and fail to connect in reality or on the internet in an idyllic virtual tropical island fantasy world with the liberated, sociable, and vivacious Bainsley, to fail to cope with Management’s young, brash, cocky, and implicitly Brandon Cronenberg and Scarecrow linked son Bob-played by Lucas Hedges-to fail to finally receive the reassuring phone call he had been waiting for all of his life that evoked the life changing phone call that Anderson received from the equally bald but bigger and more mysterious, virile, and implicitly Besson and Great Oz linked Morpheus-played by Laurence Fishburne-at the beginning of THE MATRIX to implicitly affirm the link of Leth and Bainsley to Andy and Lana Wachowski at the time of the release of THE ZERO THEOREM, and left alone and, unlike Neo at the eucatastrophic end of THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, ironically trapped forever in that idyllic and internet based virtual tropical island fantasy world in the unhealing, unharmonizing, and catastrophic end, implied that Gilliam believed that the premise that people were trapped in a digital virtual fantasy world that they had to break free from in the Matrix Trilogy was silly and that the Wachowski Siblings would also fail to truly connect with each other, with audiences, and with their film art in a film whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to BRAZIL, the Matrix Trilogy, and THE WIZARD OF OZ.

        For their part, the Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios teamed up with Amiable Anthony and Jovial Joe Russo to have the still young, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, clean shaven, muscular, strong, metal left armed, and former patriotic U.S. soldier turned HYDRA brainwashed, traitorous, nasty, Evil, and sweet smelling assassin and then eventually Good, brain clean and free, re-patriotic, and implicitly Gilliam and Nikko linked indie assassin James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier” aka “the asset”-again played by Scowlin’ Stan “the Man”-and, with a celery stick grasped firmly and stoutly in his living right hand, do his best to take on and take out the equally still young, tall, handsome, blonde, clean cut and shaven, muscular, strong, ironically polite, patriotic, virtuous, indomitable but kind, gentle, sweet, luvin’, rank smelling, and implicitly Eastwood and Tin Man linked super soldier Steven “Steve” Rogers aka “Captain America”-played again by Evans-and the young, short, slim, red haired, sexy, smart, strong, deadly, and implicitly SCC and Dorothy linked Russian ex-assassin and ex-model Natasha Romanoff aka “the Black Widow”-played again by Johansson-throughout the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014), a film released on March 13, 2014 that affirmed its implicit interest in Gilliam on one level by allusions to BRAZIL, SOUTHLAND TALES, THE FISHER KING, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and 12 MONKEYS.  Later that year, and perhaps inspired by TIDELAND, Jolie teamed up with LaGravenese to implicitly toast Gilliam in the form of the indomitable Pacific War American airman Louis “Louie” Zamperini-played by Jack O’Connell-and implicitly roasted Penn and INTO THE WILD in the twilit, allegorical, and CGI enhanced indie docufeature film UNBROKEN (2014), a film released on November 17, 2014 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS and TIME BANDITS. 

        Curiously, the following year Disney collaborated with Rob Marshall to implicitly address Gilliam again in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie animaction film INTO THE WOODS (2015), a film released on December 8, 2015 that was inspired by the allegorical James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim musical INTO THE WOODS (1986).

 

“Careful the tales you tell,

that is the spell,

children will listen.”

 

Significantly, the sight and singing sound of the bearded, burly, and implicitly Gilliam and Scarecrow linked baker-played by James Corden-teaming up with his young, beautiful, auburn, and implicitly Maggie Weston linked wife-played by Emily Blunt-the young, blonde, and implicitly Munchkin linked boy Jack the Giant Killer-played by Daniel Huttlestone-and the young, black haired, voracious, and implicitly Munchkin linked girl Little Red Riding Hood-played by Lilla Crawford-the young, short, petite, pretty, brunette, and implicitly and SCC and Dorothy linked Cinderella-played by Anna Kendrick-the young, beautiful, blonde, and implicitly Glinda linked Rapunzel-played by MacKenzie Mauzey-and successfully triumphing over a wily, voracious, and pointy teethed Wolf-played by Johnny Depp-and succeeding in turning an old and ugly Wicked Witch of the West-played by Meryl Streep-back into a young and beautiful sorceress who gifted the baker and his wife with a baby boy and Cinderella with a happy marriage to a young, handsome, charming, and implicitly Spike Jonze linked Prince-played by Chris Pine-in an initially healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic triumph before everything went to hell and Cinderella and the charming but unfaithful Prince broke up, Jack’s cranky and Hoskins resembling mom-played by Tracey Ullman-was inadvertently killed, and the baker’s wife was also killed by a towering, angry, vengeful, not quite slathering or pointy teethed, and implicitly Great Oz linked blockbuster beastie of a Giantess-played by Frances de la Tour-that needed to be killed by Jack in the second and not quite so healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end implied that Disney and Marshall hoped that Gilliam would understand that film art could lead to serious consequences and that he be more cautious with the implicit allegorical intents and messages in his films at the final end of a film that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to INTO THE WOODS, TANGLED, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS. 

For their part, and not to be upstaged by Disney and Marvel, DC, Warner Brothers, and Zack Snyder had the brilliant, madcap, indie, and implicitly Gilliam and Wicked Witch of the West linked genius Alexander “Lex” Luthor-inspired by the character created for DC by Joltin’ Joe Shuster and Genial Jerry Siegel, and played by Jesse Eisenberg-mischievously transform the implicitly Quentin Tarantino and Nikko linked General Zod-played by Michael Shannon-into Doomsday, the literal embodiment of the CGI enhanced blockbuster beast, a mayhem luving blockbuster beast that could only be stopped by the implicitly SCC and Glinda linked Amazon Princess Diana Prince aka “Wonder Woman”-inspired by the character created by Dapper Doctor William M. Marston for DC, and played by Gal Gadot-the troubled and implicitly Gardevil and Scarecrow linked Gotham City playboy Bruce Wayne aka “Batman”-inspired by the character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane for DC, and played by Brandon Spink as a boy and Ben Affleck as an adult, respectively-and the implicitly Jason Reitman and Cowardly Lion linked Kryptonian orphan Kal-El/Clark Kent aka “Superman”-inspired by the character created and originally implicitly linked to DOC SAVAGE super saga writer Lester Dent by Shuster and Siegel for DC, and played by Henry Cavill-in the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed super satirical animaction film BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016), a film released on March 12, 2016 whose implicit Gilliam roasting intent on one level was affirmed by allusions to MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS and 12 MONKEYS. 

Then, not to be outdone by DC and Warners, Disney, Marvel and the Russo Brothers kicked off their latest merry marchin’ Marvel film back in 1991 with the still young, tall, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, muscular, strong, tough, mysterious, one-armed, and implicitly Gilliam and Nikko linked indie assassin James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played again by Scowlin’ Stan-still a brainwashed HYDRA stooge woken up with the secret sinister codewords and sent off to assassinate the old, tall, slim, white haired and moustached, gruff but luvin’ SI CEO Howard Stark-played again by Slattery-and the old, short, slim, grey haired, pretty, sweet, and luvin’ Maria Stark-played by Hope David-leading to a super showdown with not only the equally still young, tall, handsome, blonde, clean cut and shaven, muscular, strong, ironically polite, patriotic, virtuous, indomitable but kind, gentle, sweet, luvin’, altruistic, philanthropic, generous to a fault, abysmal smelling, and implicitly Eastwood and Tin Man linked super soldier Steven “Steve” Rogers aka “Captain America”-played again by Evans-but also with the bold, brash, brilliant, cocky, confident, creative, handsome, brunette, and implicitly young Reitman and Cowardly Lion linked Anthony “Tony” Stark aka “Iron Man”-inspired by a character implicitly originally linked to Campbell Soup tin can luvin’ machine man wannabe Andrew “Andy” Warhol created by Heck, Kirby, Lee, and Laughin’ Larry Lieber for Marvel Comics, and played by Robert Downey jr.-and the young, handsome, black haired, moustached, and goateed, muscular, strong, and possibly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linked Prince T’Challa aka “Black Panther” of Wakanda-based on a character created by Kirby and Lee for Marvel Comics, and played by Chadwick Boseman-at the not so healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), a film released on April 12, 2016 whose implicit interest in Gilliam on one level was affirmed by allusions to BRAZIL, SOUTHLAND TALES, TIDELAND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIME BANDITS, and 12 MONKEYS. 

Curiously, Disney, Burton, and now James Bobin implicitly reaffirmed their fondness for Gilliam and Polley by having the big, white, furry, black spotted, and implicitly Gilliam linked all CGI blockbuster Bandersnatch beast with big, sharp, pointed, slathering teeth team up again with the young, slim, beautiful, blonde, courageous, intelligent, determined, patient, perseverant, ambitious, talented, and implicitly Polley and Dorothy linked Captain Alice Kingsleigh-played again by Wasikowska-and using a handy stolen Chronosphere to travel back in time in daylit, restored and harmonious Wunderland to bring life, health, and zany exuberance back to the wild green eyed, madcap, orangehaired, and implicitly Wright and Scarecrow linked Tarrant Hightopp the Mad Hatter-played again by Depp, and by Louis A. Serkis as boy, respectively-and to triumph again over the big headed, imperious, intimidating, and implicitly Katzenberg and Wicked Witch of the West linked Iracebeth of Crims, the Red Queen of Hearts aka “Racie”-played again by Carter, and as a girl by Leilah de Meza, respectively-and her new head lackey, the handlebar moustached, punctual, and implicitly Walter Murch and Nikko linked Time aka Tick Tock-played by Sacha B. Cohen-at the healing, harmonizing, eucatastrophic, and futterwackin’ end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie animaction artbuster ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (2016), a film released on May 10, 2016 and inspired again by Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to those two tomes and also to ALICE IN WONDERLAND, DRAGONSLAYER, JABBERWOCKY, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Cameron addressing Murch indie animaction film RETURN TO OZ (1985). 

Just as curiously, the following year Disney collaborated with Tom Caulfield and Stephen Sandoval and also again with Levi and Moore to exuberantly affirm that the spirit of indie hand animated film art was alive and well at the Mouse House and to also again implicitly affirm their fondness for Gilliam, Johnson, Kelly, and Polley by having the young, beautiful, green eyed, magical healing blonde haired, and implicitly Polley and Dorothy linked Princess Rapunzel-played again by Moore-team up again with the young, handsome, brunette, roguish, fryin’ pan luvin’, and implicitly Kelly and Scarecrow linked Flynn Rider aka “Eugene Fitzherbert”-played again by Levi-the small, green, silent but expressive, and implicitly Gilliam and Toto linked chameleon Pascal, and the valiant, crime hating, apple luvin’, Bucephalus evoking, and implicitly Johnson linked white stallion Maximus and now also with the confident, assertive, acerbic, intimidating, black haired and eyed, and implicitly Sarah Sugarman linked Lady-in-Waiting Cassandra-played by Eden Espinosa-to triumph over the beautiful, brunette, bitter, brooding, and implicitly SCC and Wicked Witch of the West linked Lady Caine-played by Laura Benanti-to the relieved delight of the kindly, greying, and implicitly Mick Polley and Great Oz linked King Frederic-played by Clancy Brown-and the equally kindly but more beautiful, slim, brunette, and implicitly Bigelow and Glinda linked Queen Arianna-played by Julie Bowen-at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie hand animated film TANGLED: BEFORE EVER AFTER (2017), a telefilm released on March 10, 2017 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to TANGLED, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the twilit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, and implicitly Lucas roasting SCC indie docfeature film MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006).

        Curiously, Bharat Nalluri implied later that that Gilliam was as natural, brilliant, creative, original, madcap, and important a talent as the young, handsome, exuberant, and dedicated and implicitly Gilliam and Tin Man linked English writer Charles Dickens-played by Dan Stevens-or would be as brilliant and important as Dickens if he would come to grips with and exorcise the haunting, depressing, embittering, enraging, and troubling SMF memories and ghosts of his past like Dickens came to grips with and exorcised the haunting, depressing, embittering, enraging, and troubling memories and ghosts of his past at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie docufeature film THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS (2017), a film released on November 10, 2017 that was inspired by A Christmas Carol, and that was a nice, implicit, supportive message for brave Sir Terry in his older, reflective, wistful, and equally ghost haunted trainspotting years whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to BRAZIL, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS, and by the return of Pryce and Plummer as Mr. John Dickens, the implicitly Great Oz linked father of Dickens, and the implicitly Wicked Witch of the West linked Ebenezer Scrooge, respectively.  The following year, Disney, Marvel, and the Russo Brothers again implicitly linked Gilliam to the still young, tall, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, muscular, strong, tough, mysterious, and one-armed indie assassin James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played again by Stan-and had him grasp a banana firmly in each hand and leap happily into the fray with exultant Gumby beserker fury and join the Avengers in their desperate battle to defeat the towering, purple, bald, vainglorious, universal harmony obsessed, sweet smelling, and implicitly ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner linked mad all CGI Titan, Thanos-played by Josh Brolin-in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018), a film released on April 23, 2018 whose implicit interest in Gilliam on one level was affirmed by allusions to THE WIZARD OF OZ and 12 MONKEYS. 

Just as curiously, while the various super satirical films did not implicitly inspire Gilliam to don the co-writer/director hats, the title of THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS may have caused him to don those very same hats and collaborate again with Amy and Pryce on another version of THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE and implicitly wrap up a Cameron Trilogy as he completed a truly elemental, Foursful, and Ozian Pryce Quartet in the form of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, Ozian themed, fantastic realist, madcap, and satirical indie animaction film respectfully referred to as PING!  PING!  PING!  NOOGA GOOGA POOGA!  KTUNG!  KTUNG! on the International Space Station (ISS) and, surprisingly, also alluded to on Earth as THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE (2018), released on May 18, 2018 and inspired by Don Quixote.

 

“I always knew

you were more than

a bicycle riding Sancho!”

 

Curiously, after a Screen Media intro and nine opening titles, the eighth of which invoked and lamented the twenty-five years needed to make the film, followed by the final one reading “…a Terry Gilliam film”, the film revolved around a young, tall, slim, handsome, black haired, eyed, moustached, goateed, and implicitly Reitman and Cowardly Lion linked American tv commercial artist named Toby Grummett-played by Adam Driver-filming a Don Quixote themed commercial in Spain under the supervision of his old, grey haired, and implicitly U.S. President Donald Trump and Tin Man linked Boss-played by Stellan Skarsgard-and his young, beautiful, blonde, statuesque, and implicitly Melania Trump linked wife Jacqui-played by Olga Kurylenko.  Wandering away from the set on a motorcycle, he visited the village of Los Suenos where he had filmed his own version of the twilit and allegorical indie docufeature film THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE (2009) ten years earlier.  Here he discovered to his surprised bemusement that the old, tall, lean, ragged, grey haired, eyebrowed, moustached, and bearded, fearless, deluded, madcap, incurably romantic, verbose, vainglorious, Munchausen evoking, and implicitly Cameron and Scarecrow linked Javier Sanchez-played by Pryce-the shoemaker of the dreamy village of Los Suenos that he had enlisted to play Quixote in his film, had been left forever after convinced that he was Don Quixote de la Mancha. 

Here in Los Suenos, Grummett also discovered to his surprised dismay that the young, short, slim, beautiful, blonde, sweet and innocent but spunky and implicitly Grimes and Dorothy linked waitress Angelica “Gelica” Fernandez-played by Joana Ribeiro-that he had coaxed into playing Quixote’s delirious luv Princess Dulcinea del Toboso in THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, had turned to prostitution after working on the film.  However, after slowly, reluctantly, and resignedly becoming the tragicomic, donkey riding, blockbuster gold loot lustin’, and Patsy evoking Sancho Panza squire to Sanchez’s madcap, irrepressible, and King Arthur evoking Don Quixote de la Mancha on his faithful and Bucephalus evoking white steed Rosinante as he attacked Hollywood windmills and Evildoers-including the Boss, Jacqui, and the tyrannical and implicitly Elon Musk and Great Oz linked Russian oligarch Alexei Miiskin (played by Jordi Molla) whose vodka was being advertised in the quixotic commercial Grummett was creating-the film ended with Grummett accidentally knocking Javier Quixote off a balcony to his doom and death, being reverently given Quixote’s sword before he passed on, and Grummett atoning for his deadly mistake by transforming into Don Toby Quixote de la Mancha after attacking a titanic trio of thunderously rushin’, RUSH evokin’, and windmilling giants-played by Ferran Gadea, Javier Iglesias, y Manuel Monzon, respectively, and voiced by Gilliam, Peter Dickson, and Tony Hertz, respectively-before riding off into the sunset on Rosinante with Gelica as his faithful and donkey riding Sancha Dulcinea Panza, implying that Gilliam hoped that Cameron would just die already or retire and that Reitman would follow in his legendary footsteps and create irrepressibly and indomitably indie Zonebuster film art beasts that would offend cowardly, clueless, doddering, and demented wannabe dictators like Musk and Trump rather than stamping out blockbuster loot lustin’ beasts in the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end, an implicit allegorical intent affirmed by the film’s allusions to Don Quixote, JABBERWOCKY, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE FISHER KING, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARN-ASSUS, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and TIME BANDITS.  At any rate, it was fitting that Gilliam created THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, for the tragicomic sight and sound of the knight errant and his doubtful squire in THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE always evoked the even more tragicomic sight and sound of the errant knights and faithful squires of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL and JABBERWOCKY, bringing the film art of Gilliam full indie circle.

As for Disney, Marvel, and the Russo Brothers, they implicitly reaffirmed their fondness for Gilliam and Polley by implicitly linking Gilliam again to the still young, tall, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, muscular, strong, tough, mysterious, one-armed, and cucumber wielding indie assassin James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played again by Stan-and implicitly linking Polley to the young, short, slim, beautiful, blonde, brainy, confident, steely, indomitable, and implicitly Polley and Dorothy linked ex-U.S. Air Force Captain Carol “Avenger” Danvers aka “Captain Marvel”-played by Brie Larson-and having them join the rest of the assembling and dissembling Avengers in battling and finally defeating the towering, purple, bald, vainglorious, universal harmony obsessed, sweet smelling, and implicitly Eisner linked mad all CGI Titan, Thanos-played again by Brolin-and his malevolent all CGI minions, who all faded away to limbo, implicitly taking the Eisner Era (EE) of the Walt Disney Company with them to implicitly affirm the arrival of the Disney CEO Blockbuster Robert “Bob” Iger Era (IE) at the Mouse House at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019), an eagerly awaited film released on April 22, 2019 whose implicit interest in Gilliam and Polley on two levels was affirmed by allusions to ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, BRAZIL, the Matrix Trilogy, THE WIZARD OF OZ, TIDELAND, TIME BANDITS, and 12 MONKEYS.  Thus, Thanos and implicitly Eisner faded away, as Gilliam himself would one day fade away, given that THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE was quite possibly the final affirmation of brave Sir Terry’s unswerving commitment to a madcap, imaginative and idiosyncratic indie animaction film art for film art’s sake, but not before Dis and Marv teamed up again with Stan and now also with Jubilant Julius Onah to give the still young, tall, handsome, dark brown haired and eyed, muscular, strong, tough, mysterious, one-armed, and implicitly Gilliam linked indie assassin James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played again by Stan-a small supporting role in the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD (2025), a film released on February 11, 2025 that affirmed its implicit allegorical intent with allusions to the Matrix Trilogy and THE WIZARD OF OZ. 

Curiously, two months later, Dis and Marv teamed up again with Stan and now also with Rakish Jake Schreier to bring the still young, handsome, tall, dark brown haired and eyed, strong, tough, mysterious, one-armed, and implicitly Gilliam and Scarecrow linked indie assassin James “Bucky” Barnes aka “the Winter Soldier”-played again by Stan-the middle aged, big, burly, bearded, confident, strong, and implicitly Coppola and Tin Man linked Alexei Shostakov aka “Red Guardian”-played by David Harbour-the young, short, blonde, tough, laconic, reformed, and implicitly Gia Coppola (GC) and Dorothy linked Russian assassin Yelena Belova-played by Florence Pugh-and the rest of the “New Avengerz” including the young, handsome, red haired, moustached, and bearded, and implicitly Christopher Nolan and Cowardly Lion linked John Walker aka “the Junior Varsity Captain America”-played by Wyatt Russell-onto the scene to take on and take out the old, beautiful, short, slim, browning blonde haired, duplicitous, and implicitly Sam Taylor-Johnson and Wicked Witch of the West linked CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine-played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus-and the young, brunette then blonde then shadowy then brunette again, goofy, manic depressive, and implicitly Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Nikko linked “messiah” Robert “Bob” Reynolds aka “The Sentry” aka his literal Dark Side “The Void”-played by Lewis Pullman-at the healing, harmonizing, and eucatastrophic end of the daylit, allegorical, CGI enhanced, and Ozian themed indie super satirical animaction film THUNDERBOLTS (2025), a film released on April 22, 2025 whose implicit allegorical intent was affirmed by allusions to BRAZIL, the Nolan Batman Trilogy, the Matrix Trilogy, THE BROTHERS GRIMM, THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE ZERO THEOREM, TIME BANDITS, 12 MONKEYS, and by the reappearance of Kurylenko as the young, tough, traumatized, tormented, and implicitly Wicked Witch of the East linked indie assassin Antonia Dreykov aka “Taskmaster”. 

At any rate, given that Gilliam had not returned to the Temple Theatre and might not ever do so, it was fitting to ask the person in the street in Ipswich what they thought of brave Sir Gilliam’s lifelong commitment to higher minded film art and his indomitable cinematic quest to slay the slathering and insatiable blockbuster beast with big sharp teeth.

“Well, I think Terry Jones has done a wonderful job protecting us from the blockbuster beast!  Simply smashing!” said a kindly old woman and helpful volunteer at the Chinese Bicycle Museum in Ipswich.

“The blockbuster beast with big pointed slathering teeth must be banned at once!” thundered a burly and bearded cyclist in a purple tutu.  “At once!”

“Terry Gilliam?  Did he ride for Virgin in last year’s Tour?” wondered aloud a beautiful young female police officer with a handlebar moustache.

“I luv BICYCLE REPAIR MAN: THE MOVIE!” enthused A. Gumby.

“Well, I didn’t take the slathering blockbuster beast with big sharp pointed teeth seriously until one bit my Aunt Percy on the left buttock,” said a man in a fetching McQueen dress, daring Doc Marten flats, and cheap dark sunglasses.

“Bollocks!  There is no such thing as a blockbuster beeaarrrrrggggghhhhkkkkk!”

Thus, and in the end, here at the conclusion of the essay, with no more left to write, finality staring us poignantly in the face, termination rushing interminably towards us, cessation nigh, end near, and with that wistful feeling one gets at the conclusion of most anything, when we wonder about all of the might have beens and could have beens and should have beens, before pedalling quietly and pensively off into the softly gathering darkness on a ’64 Beijing Zephyr, Gilliam implicitly affirmed thaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

“We do profusely apologize for the frustrating and disappointing inability of Mr. Wright to finish his “insightful” essay on the allegorical, madcap, idiosyncratic, fantastic realist, satirical and implicitly blockbuster beast thrashing indie animaction film art of Sir T.V. “Terry Baby” Gilliam.  Unfortunately, however, a towering and ravenous Peruvian spotted llama with big sharp pointed slathering teeth sprang out from behind a stop sign and attacked Mr. Wright while he took a break from writing and rode off on a quick spin on a ’64 Beijing Zephyr to clear theeeaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!”

“Good evening.  My name is Sir Edith Peacock, and I am the Secretary-Treasurer and LGBTQ liaison of the Chinese Bicycle Museum in Ipswich.  On behalf of all of the members of the General Council of the museum, I would like to express my sincere and deepest apologies for the foregoing and completely deplorable silliness.  We all know that there are no such things as “towering” llamas with “big sharp pointed slathering teeth” who hide behind stop signs or shrubberies waiting patiently to attack unsuspecting cyclists and suspected Gardevils-particularly not llamas of the Peruvian spotted variety, a sound and sensible animal not given to confusions of blockbuster grandeur.  In faaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!”

Right!  That’s enough of this silliness.  Clearly, the only big blockbuster beast with big sharp pointy slathering teeth in these parts is the so called “scholar” who wrote all of the foregoing ridiculous rubbish, ghastly and gruesome Garzilla, King of the Maniacs.  With a little discipline, he might have written an essay that someone might have enjoyed reading and recommended to a friend, possibly even a sibling or a favourite aunt, or maybe even the quiet chap down the street.  All in all, a shocking waste of human talent.  Suffice to say that quite lucky to have so long enjoyed the perennially brilliant, original, imaginative, idiosyncratic, madcap, fantastic realist and satirical indie animaction film art of Gilliam were world audiences, a wonderfully and delightfully irreverent oeuvre best described as completely and gleefully…Jabberwacky.

 

 

Bibliography

 

Christie, Agatha.  Murder On The Orient Express.  New York:

        HarperCollins Publishers, 2011.

 

Gilliam, Terry.  Gilliamesque: my me, me, me, me memoir.

        Edinburgh: Canongate, 2015.

 

Gilliam, Terry and Michael Palin.  Time Bandits: the movie

        script.  New York: Dolphin Books, 1981.

 

Sterritt, David and Lucille Rhodes.  Terry Gilliam: interviews.

        Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 2004.