Movie
Summary: Vicky, a British pop
sensation, collapses in the middle of a sensational new
smash pop hit and is sent by her manager to recuperate on a
bee farm. Yes, there was a room available. There, she
encounters a depressed bee farmer, Mr. Hargrove, his
depressed wife, and an even more depressed dog who can think
of nothing but eating. Then there's a despondent
tavern-keeper who doubles as a sort of policeman, and a
seriously dispirited rival beekeeper who looks like one of
those weird kids we all grow up with, only this one is in
his forties. Prologue: A series of "previously on the Satellite of Love" vignettes: "Answer the question, skel!" Things like that. Segment One: In the castle, Bobo and Brain Guy are relaxing when the two other Observers suddenly show up and reclaim Brain Guy. Pearl is very, very huffy upon learning that he's leaving. Segment Two: Crow writes a sonnet to Mrs. Hargrove, AKA the "cigarette hag": "I love you, filter, flavor, pack or box." Segment Three: Brain Guy packs, and Pearl and Bobo sing him a song to try to get him to stay: "Please staaay, we are your friends, through our brains are not in pans..." Segment Four: Mike dresses like a bee and tries to communicate like them, with movement. He turns out to be very good at it. Segment Five: Brain Guy fights off the Observers in a battle of brains and banishes them to Wisconsin, where they must become mortal Packer fans. An odd fellow with a bowler walks through both settings, too. Stinger: Mrs. Hargrove: "The dog's meat, have you seen it?" Reflections: In a
way you have to admire the idea that a movie might be
centered so purposefully and irretrievably on dreariness,
and still presume to hold an audience's attention. It's an
old-fashioned notion, I think, or British.
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