7542/20471
We went to see Elemental, which looked like it might be in the same vein as the excellent Inside Out, but it wasn't as good as Inside Out, making some heavy-handed points about immigrants who are made of fire. It reminded me a bit of the Organ Gang, in being a slightly desperate attempt to anthropomorphise increasingly unlikely objects. And then I felt a bit sad that the Organ Gang hadn't been more successful.
We originally intended it as a genuine kids show, albeit one that was a parody of desperate anthropomorphising with dark overtones and so it probably didn't work as well as it could have done within TMWRNJ where it was clearly a pastiche aimed at grown ups (though kids would be watching!). Also the episodes ended up being way too long to put in that show. But it was nice to meet Brian Cant (who totally got it).
It was one of those ideas that came to me in a fever and I think I pretty much created the whole thing sitting in a Burger King on Oxford Street in an hour or so before heading up to the BBC to do proper writing on Weekending (or something). Back then there were loads of days (and nights) when ideas were pouring out of me, but I was convinced as I came up with more characters that this was going to be a smash that would make me (and Stew, even though he didn't really have much to do with it and never really liked it) a millionaire. We did get to take it to Spitting Image, who I think were interested in developing it. Maybe they even paid us a few hundred quid. But it came to nothing. Until we did it ourselves. Where it came to nothing.
It was better than Elemental though. I may have that put on my grave stone, "The Organ Gang was better than Elemental". It will mean very little to anyone and not really sum up my life at all, but why not confuse people and make myself look bad at the same time.
I also got told off by an usher, when I was checking my phone for the cricket score. She snuck up in the row behind and whispered (politely enough) for me to do so, which gave me a bit of a shock. But it seemed a bit of an over reaction. I suspect she was more worried about me possibly filming this crappy film (though why would I?) than me keeping up with the Ashes or disturbing other patrons (none of whom were near enough to notice - apart from my own family).
The film wasn't that crappy. Though having immigrants made of fire that can do proper damage to other citizens (even if they can in turn be harmed by water) seems a bad analogy, unless you think immigrants are actually dangerous.
Fire and water fell in love. Ernie, not unreasonably wanted to know what their kids would look like and I too had been thinking the same thing and was sure they'd show us, even if in the bit with the credits, but they didn't even bother to come up with the awful chimera of luke-warm water.
In an alternate Universe all your kids have Organ Gang pencil cases and pencil toppers and I died in a cocaine fuelled orgy on my yacht. How I envy alternate Universe Richard Herring.
