Full Circle with Michael Palin

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Full Circle with Michael Palin
DVD cover
Written byMichael Palin
Directed byRoger Mills
Presented byMichael Palin
Theme music composerPeter Howell
ComposerElizabeth Parker
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series1
No. of episodes10
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Roger Mills
  • Clem Vallance (Series Producer)
Cinematography
  • Nigel Meakin
  • Stephen Robinson
EditorAlex Richardson
Running time50 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkBBC One
Release31 August (1997-08-31) –
9 November 1997 (1997-11-09)
Related
Pole to Pole with Michael Palin
Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure

Full Circle with Michael Palin is a 10-part 1997 documentary television series, first broadcast on BBC One in 1997. Presented by Michael Palin, Full Circle was the third of a series of programmes in which Palin made and documented lengthy journeys. The first was Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, a 7-part series first broadcast in 1989, and the second was Pole to Pole with Michael Palin, an 8-part series first broadcast in 1992.

The series documented a 245-day, 50,000-mile (80,000 km) trip taken by Palin and a film crew around the rim of the Pacific Ocean in 1995 and 1996, beginning on the Diomede Islands between Alaska and Russia in the Bering Strait.[1] The intent was to make the full anti-clockwise trip around the Pacific Rim and end up back on the Diomede Islands, but due to rough weather, he was unable to actually set foot back on the Islands again at the end of his journey, bringing him within two miles of completing the full circle. Palin travelled through Russia, Japan, South Korea (they were not allowed to pass through North Korea), China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, United States, and Canada.

Palin also authored

Full Circle - The Photographs, a large coffee-table style book
printed on glossy paper.

Episodes

The programme consists of 10 episodes, each 50 minutes long. Unlike the first two Michael Palin journeys, the episodes were not given names, and are just presented as "Episode One", etc.

Episode One: Alaska and Russia

Palin begins his trek around the

Pacific Fleet and is given an opportunity to sing Polyushko-polye
with the Pacific Fleet Ensemble.

Episode Two: Japan and Korea

Palin begins his time in Japan at

Huis ten Bosch
, a Dutch-themed park set to symbolise old trading ties with the Dutch.

After catching a ferry to

Panmunjeom into the North; however, he cannot venture much further than that without risking being shot or arrested. He looks out into North Korea and states that North and South Korea are not really two separate nations, that it is one nation divided against itself. Twenty-three years later, he would have the chance to tour North Korea in Michael Palin in North Korea
.

Episode Three: China

Arriving in China at the port city of

Friendship Gate
, on the Vietnamese border.

Episode Four: Vietnam and the Philippines

Palin arrives in Vietnam at a time when it is reintroducing itself to the global stage, via a process called

Mekong River
.

In the Philippines, Palin notices how congested traffic is in the capital of Manila. He then chats with some women who are going abroad to work in order to support their families. Palin then takes the opportunity to observe the Banaue Rice Terraces. However, when he gets there, a dense fog prevents him from seeing the terraces, causing frustrated and disbelieving laughter. In Baguio, he witnesses two unique procedures (assisting in one of them) known as "psychic surgery". In the southern part of the country, Palin gets some scuba diving lessons and has a meal underwater. In Zamboanga, he attends a cockfight and also judges the Miss La Bella Pacifica beauty pageant. Afterwards, he drives a jeepney down the streets of the city, waiting for a ferry to take him to Borneo.

Episode Five: Borneo and Java

Palin catches a ferry across the Sulu Sea to the northern tip of Borneo. There, he visits an orangutan rehabilitation centre. From there, he ventures south to Kuching in Sarawak, once ruled by what were known as the White Rajahs. Then he travels inward to a longhouse where members of the Iban people reside. He chats with former headhunters and takes part in a special feast honouring the highest-ranking Iban in the Malaysian government.

Afterwards, he ventures south to the island of Java in Indonesia. From the capital Jakarta, he journeys east with his guide to a tea plantation where he samples tea and helps harvest tea leaves. They then observe a wayang kulit puppet show. In the cultural hub of Yogyakarta, they sample some durian, a pungent fruit. They then tour the Buddhist temple at Borobudur and climb Mount Bromo. In Surabaya on the east coast of Java, they encounter their first major transportation issues since Alaska. Being unable to find a boat to take him across the sea to Darwin, Australia, they settle for one that will take them east on Java, but no further.

In the DVD interview, Palin states that while in Kuching, he learned that his wife, Helen, needed surgery to remove a brain tumor. He flew back to London from Indonesia, spent a few days with her, and then flew to Australia to continue his Pacific trek

Episode Six: Australia and New Zealand

Palin begins in Darwin, where he catches a truck down to Katherine. There, he visits a crocodile farm and helps hatch a few eggs. (Palin wanted the camera to focus on the fact he held a baby crocodile in his hands for five seconds.) Nearby, he checks out an animal rehabilitation centre. Down to King's Creek, he participates in an exciting camel hunt which results in Palin actually getting one. Down to Alice Springs, he catches the Ghan train down to Adelaide, where he participates in the Desperate and Dateless Ball. Then he takes part in a cow race, where he finishes second. In Sydney, he makes a cameo appearance in the soap opera Home and Away.

On to Auckland, New Zealand, he catches a train down to the town of Kaikōura. There he participates in a Māori acceptance ceremony where he spoke and sang a song he learned at Shrewsbury. Palin then travels to Aoraki / Mount Cook and Queenstown for lessons in mountaineering and rafting. He then watches bungee jumping and chats with A. J. Hackett, who developed the sport. Palin then ventures south to the University of Otago in Dunedin, where he is caught in the middle of orientation-week activities. Palin has now reached the halfway point—at least on land—around the Pacific.

Episode Seven: Chile and Bolivia

Starting the second half of his journey at

Santiago, he observes a memorial to victims of the 1973 coup d'état. He flies to the remote Juan Fernández Islands, which were the inspiration behind the Robinson Crusoe novel. Driving through the Atacama Desert, Palin reaches the highest elevation of his life thus far. At the world's largest copper mine in Chuquicamata, Palin does the honours of counting down to the detonation of a mining blast. In the northern town of Arica, he catches a one-car train to La Paz in Bolivia
. Things go smoothly until, as they are within striking distance of La Paz, the train has a freakish derailment. After several attempts to get the train back on line, they are successful and eventually reach the Bolivian capital in the black of night.

Episode Eight: Bolivia and Peru

At the town of

Cuzco, he arrives in the middle of the Feast of Corpus Christi. He then journeys to the Inca Empire's lost city of Machu Picchu, and visits a nearby village of Inca descendants. He then catches a train to Quillabamba, and then moves on to Kiteni, where he meets a local pub owner who agrees to go up the Urubamba River with him. After a day or two consisting of sailing and birdwatching, they reach the canyon of Pongo de Mainique
. Soon thereafter, they stop and set up camp for the night. Palin later states that Pongo de Mainique was his favourite place to travel in the world.

Episode Nine: Peru and Colombia

Palin and his guide approach a

St. John the Baptist is going on. Palin observes men's and women's intervillage football matches. Then he samples a drink made from the yucca plant. Back on the Urubamba, Palin eventually makes it to the northern town of Iquitos. Here, there is a barrio that contains many shops. Palin visits one where a lady is making cigarettes. He then takes his first puff of a cigarette in a long while. After a little wait, Palin realises a dream by catching a boat on to the Amazon River
.

Bogotá, Colombia, is described by Palin as "trading one jungle for another." With a guide, he discovers why the Colombian capital is one of the most dangerous places on earth. He learns that most of the trouble stems from the drug trafficking in the country. He then travels down Bullet Street, arguably the most violent street in the city. Here, rocks are thrown at the car Palin and his guide are travelling in. He then offers to take him to lunch; however, his guide declines, stating that the restaurant he is going to is owned by the father of a drug trafficker. Palin, however, continues, and is granted an interview (in Spanish) with horse breeder and close friend of Pablo Escobar, Don Fabio Ochoa,[2] who at one point was the father of 3 men on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Continuing north, he visits an emerald mine and some of the workers there. Then, it is on to Cartagena, where he hops on a party bus, celebrating the end of his nine weeks on the South American continent.

Episode Ten: Mexico, Western USA, Canada and Alaska

In

United States–Mexico border, known as the "Tortilla Curtain". Here he observes illegal immigrants "Pollos" attempting to enter the United States and evade the Border Patrol. Afterward, Palin crosses the border legally into San Diego
and gets a glimpse of the border from the American perspective.

Venturing north to

homosexual population. Palin's guide introduces him to a local gay policeman and then shows him the place where The NAMES Project originated in 1987. From San Francisco, he flies to Seattle, where he tests a flight simulator at Boeing
headquarters.

In Canada, Palin manages to flag down a train near Vancouver, British Columbia. In the nearby town of Squamish, he is the guest of honour at a loggers sports festival, where he takes part in one of the races. Taking a train north through to Prince George, he realises that the closer he gets to completing the circle, his transportation options dwindle. On the day 245 of the journey, he reaches Wales Beach, the westernmost point on the North American mainland. However, Little Diomede is still 25 miles away. Then the Coast Guard comes to pick him up and put him on a boat that will attempt to get him there. The weather does not co-operate, and the Coast Guard abandons the attempt. Even though Palin came up two miles short, he believes, in a way, he did close the circle.

In the DVD interview, Palin said that it was somewhat fitting the circle was not closed, referencing his inability to enter the Reform Club at the end of Around the World in 80 Days and not getting on the Agulhas ship to get to Antarctica in Pole to Pole.

Broadcast history

The first episode of Full Circle was scheduled for 31 August 1997 at 8:00 pm on BBC1.[3] However, due to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in the early hours of the morning, it was moved to BBC2 at the same time, to allow rolling news coverage to continue on BBC1.[4] The week after, instead of showing the second episode as originally scheduled, BBC1 repeated the first episode for viewers who may have missed it, with all subsequent episodes delayed a week from their intended broadcast date.[5]

Reception

DVD Talk gave a highly positive review.[6] The A.V. Club recommended that viewers read the companion book to get the full picture.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Michael Palin's Travels, Official Website
  2. ^ "Colombian Minister Won't Bow to Threats". The Washington Post.
  3. ^ "Full Circle with Michael Palin: Alaska and Russia – BBC One London – 31 August 1997 – BBC Genome". BBC Genome. 31 August 1997. Archived from the original on 22 November 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Death of Diana, Princess of Wales". MHP. 29 March 2000. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Full Circle with Michael Palin – BBC One London – 14 September 1997 – BBC Genome". BBC Genome. 14 September 1997. Archived from the original on 26 December 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  6. ^ Gibron, Bill (7 October 2008). "Full Circle with Michael Palin : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  7. ^ Phipps, Keith (29 March 2002). "Full Circle · Michael Palin · Book Review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 31 August 2016.

External links

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