What's a worldcon bid without a giant faceted phallic symbol?

See it at about :24 in this fabulous London in 2014 worldcon bid promotional video; go look soon before they get a takedown notice:

Serge should have a field day picking out the film references in this one.  (I'm tempted to make a project in the comments of listing them.  Help?  The only ones I recognize are a few of the recent Doctor Who clips.)

I was sort of sorry not to go back to Scotland, but this video just sold me on the bid.  I'll be sending my presupporting membership in this week.

(And yes, they're using that building in the bid logo.  So I'm entitled to make rude jokes about it.)

Comments

[Jim Belfiore]

"The Prisoner" references were classic and easy to spot, though in the context of the song used for the mash-up, it appears that Leo Muscat was a cross-dresser.

Definitely one of the better bid videos of the last few years. Yep, a pre-support is in order.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Easy to spot if you've ever seen the show! I'm almost entirely clueless about TV shows.

[Mary Aileen]

Yes, very impressive.

No need to go to :24, the video preview centers on that giant dildo.

[Susan de Guardiola]

What I sent to friends after seeing the bid logo:

"Mine's bigger than yours!"

"Yes, but mine can fly!"

[Gillian]

I saw triffids go by, and The Avengers. This makes me want to go to Reno to vote for them! I haven't been to London in too long.

[shark_hat]

The guy in green scrubs on the bridge is from 28 Days Later.

There were also classic Who clips- the Cybermen on the steps of St Paul's are from The Invasion, and the man covered in web and collapsing next to a newsvendor's sign saying "Londoners Flee" is from Web of Fear, I think- the one with Yetis in the Tube tunnels, anyway.

Lots I didn't recognise. Fun!

[Neil W]

There was a lot of Reign of Fire - every scene where London is wrecked and a dragon is causing trouble.

I also spotted a V for Vendetta clip and a touch of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a film so bad it made the preview for the awful Dark is Rising film look good.

[Serge]

I did catch a glimpse of Konga, aka whaqt happenes when Michael Gough gives growth hormone to a monkey.

[Serge]

I also saw Steamboy.

[Serge]

I'll have to look again, but it seems to me that there should be a clip from "Gorgo", in which the British steal a big monster from Ireland's territorial waters and take it to London, after which they realize that the big monster really was a baby and mom is coming to take him back home.

[Serge]

No "Gorgo" clip, but there was "The Doctor Dances".

[Paul A.]

Just about all the black & white bits (after the opening) are old-school 'Doctor Who'. There's the Daleks' spaceship from "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", the Cybermen from "The Invasion", the War Machines from "The War Machines", a Dalek from "TDIoE", and the news-seller bit from "The Web of Fear". From NhoWho, there's "The Doctor Dances", "Rise of the Cybermen", "Aliens of London", "Doomsday", "The Shakespeare Code", "Voyage of the Damned", "The Christmas Invasion", and "Rose".

The colour clip between the Cybermen and the War Machines looks like "The Prisoner", but I don't know which episode (I admit I've only seen the first one). The later bit with the yellow car is also 'The Prisoner'; it's in the title sequence.

Then there's 'V for Vendetta', 'Reign of Fire', 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', 'The Bed Sitting Room', ...

(And yes, that does still leave a few for the rest of you.)

[Serge]

Paul A... The clip of the Prisonner and the Butler running along is from the finale. If I remember correctly.

[Susan de Guardiola]

I think we need to start putting these in chronological order so I can sort them out, since I won't recognize the visuals that go with your cites!

[Paul A.]

0:00 - London Films production bumper
0:09 - zoom in from space - ?
0:14 - the Thames - ?
0:16 - a bridge - ?
0:19 - weird stuff in the sky - ?
0:20 - Tower Bridge - ?
0:22 - more weird stuff in the sky - ?
0:24 - the Gherkin - ?
0:26 - view through green rangefinder thing - ?
0:27 - Canary Wharf Tower - ?
0:29 - Westminster - ?
0:31 - Tower Bridge - ?
0:32 - walking plants - ?
0:34 - overhead at night, moving lights, explosions - ?
0:37 - Doctor Who, The Dalek Invasion of Earth
0:39 - Doctor Who, The Invasion
0:42 - The Prisoner, don't know the episode
0:45 - Doctor Who, The War Machines
0:48 - Doctor Who, The Dalek Invasion of Earth
0:52 - Doctor Who, The Empty Child
0:56 - a set of loudspeakers, with Westminster in the background - ?
0:57 - V for Vendetta
1:00 - clouds gather - ?
1:01 - smoke and ruins - ?
1:03 - Reign of Fire
1:05 - smoke, ruins and a helicopter - ?
1:07 - I *think* this is Battersea Power Station as it was in Doctor Who, Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
1:08 - Nineteen Eighty-Four
1:13 - Doctor Who, Aliens of London
1:17 - strange lights in the night sky - ?
1:19 - actor I probably should recognise in deserted streets - ?
1:23 - walking across a bridge at night - ?
1:26 - Doctor Who, The Web of Fear
1:29 - Konga, I presume
1:33 - Doctor Who, The Empty Child
1:37 - Doctor Who, Doomsday
1:40 - London bus - ? (?The Mummy Returns, maybe, but since we can't see any of the people...)
1:42 - grey wolf with bloodstained jaws - ?
1:44 - Reign of Fire
1:46 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
1:48 - old-timey London - ?
1:49 - Doctor Who, The Shakespeare Code
1:53 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2:01 - animated fireworks, tickertape, etc. - ?Steamboy?
2:14 - ?The Avengers?
2:18 - The Prisoner, title sequence
2:20 - Doctor Who, Voyage of the Damned
2:28 - clouds rolling in - ?
2:30 - Doctor Who, The Christmas Invasion
2:32 - Reign of Fire
2:34 - weird lights in the sky - ?
2:36 - Doctor Who, The Christmas Invasion
2:39 - The Bed Sitting Room
2:43 - Doctor Who, Rise of the Cybermen
2:45 - No Exit 666 sign - ?
2:52 - Doctor Who, Aliens of London
2:58 - Great Clock of Westminster struck by lightning - ?The Avengers?
3:03 - Westminster Palace blows up - ?V for Vendetta?
3:15 - fireworks - ?
3:20 - Doctor Who, Rose

[Paul A.]

... I didn't realise how long that was until I posted it - the edit box only shows a few lines at a time.

[Serge]

Thanks, Paul A.

0:42 - "Fall Out" - final episode of "The Prisoner"
2:01 - yes, "Steamboy
2:14 - yeah, that was the dreadful "Avengers" movie

[TIm Walters]

I'm pretty sure I saw some Quatermass in there. And the building is the famous "Gherkin," which is Limey for "pickle." Not obscene at all, no sirree.

[Neil W]

As the wikipedia entry for 30 St Mary Axe says

Due to the current building's somewhat phallic appearance, other inventive names have also been used for the building, including the Erotic gherkin, the Towering Innuendo, and the Crystal Phallus (also a pun on Crystal Palace).

I always used to refer to it as the Swiss Re building when I worked in the insurance trade, because I felt the need to be different. And correct.

[Fledgist]

That's not a giant dildo, that is The Gherkin.

[Syd]

I think the wolf with bloodstained jaws is from "An American Werewolf in London"...but it's been a while since I've seen the film, so I'm not certain. The other scenes I recognized have already been identified.

[Serge]

Syd... I think it is indeed from that movie.

[Kip W]

Ah. So that's what "London Calling" sounds like.