I only came across “Cruise of the Gods” when I became addicted to Little Britain (as a lot of us did, during the far superior first series), I just started searching for other comedies featuring David Walliams and Matt Lucas. This was one of the few DVD’s that I found, and it especially drew ... Read review
Both warmly funny and surprisingly touching, the one-off 90-minute BBC comedyCruise of the ... more
Gods(2002) unites the twin comic talents of Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan for the first time. Brydon, whoseMarion&Geoffbrought him instant cult status and critical...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Both warmly funny and surprisingly touching, the one-off 90-minute BBC comedyCruise of the ... more
Gods(2002) unites the twin comic talents of Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan for the first time. Brydon, whoseMarion&Geoffbrought him instant cult status and critical...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The Children Of Castor - an 80s apocalyptic science fiction TV series is a hit with young ... more
British viewers. For its young stars, Andy Van Allen (Brydon) and Nick Lee (Coogan), the future looks bright. Twenty years later, the show still has a dedicated f...
Comedy - Director: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Carol Cleveland, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Production Year: 2004 - Comedy - Director: John Hay - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jimi Mistry, Kate Miles, Dougray Scott
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Advantages: Very original, surreal and funny show. Disadvantages: Could be shorter
I only came across “Cruise of the Gods” when I became addicted to Little Britain (as a lot of us did, during the far superior first series), I just started searching for other comedies featuring David Walliams and Matt Lucas. This was one of the few DVD’s that I found, and it especially drew my attention because Rob Brydon co-starred (who I had been watching on the fantastic “The Keith Barret Show”). I had missed it when it had aired in 2002, so ... ...in buying the DVD, with this in mind it took me a couple of years to eventually buy it.
I decided to pluck up the courage to buy it when I got into Steve Coogan’s comedy, so I went on a hunt for the DVD. I say hunt because it was very hard to obtain, I regretted waiting so long to buy it. I eventually found a copy in HMV, it was the last in the shop and quite expensive, but I was so delighted I had found it, I bought it anyway. more
I only came across “Cruise of the Gods” when I became addicted to Little Britain (as a lot of us did, during the far superior first series), I just started searching for other comedies featuring David Walliams and Matt Lucas. This was one of the few DVD’s that I found, and it especially drew my attention because Rob Brydon co-starred (who I had been watching on the fantastic “The Keith Barret Show”). I had missed it when it had aired in 2002, so I was going to take a bit of a risk in buying the DVD, with this in mind it took me a couple of years to eventually buy it.
I decided to pluck up the courage to buy it when I got into Steve Coogan’s comedy, so I went on a hunt for the DVD. I say hunt because it was very hard to obtain, I regretted waiting so long to buy it. I eventually found a copy in HMV, it was the last in the shop and quite expensive, but I was so delighted I had found it, I bought it anyway.
I watched it that day and enjoyed it a lot; the story is about an ex-actor, Andy Van Allen (Brydon), who starred in a popular 80’s science fiction show, “The Children of Caster”. Twenty years later, his life hadn’t gone as well as he had planned, he now works in a hotel, whilst his co-star Nick Lee (Coogan) is a huge star, thanks to his very successful show “Sherlock Holmes in Miami”. He ends up reluctantly going on a fan cruise, organised by Jeff Monks (Walliams).
Although Brydon’s character is the central character of the story, he isn’t very likeable, which isn’t a bad thing, just unexpected. Steve Coogan’s character also surprised me; I thought he would be impolite and arrogant partly based on the fact that Coogan plays a quite a lot of characters like that, and the fact that his character is now very famous (famous characters are often shown as being quite horrible.), but instead he got involved with the fans and helped out Brydon’s character, to get some work. I’m glad my assumptions were wrong as it made the whole thing more refreshing and enjoyable.
Walliams is absolutely hilarious in this; every scene with him is pure joy, mainly because he plays a manic fan, shockingly well. Though for me this is where the problem of this show comes from, most scenes without Walliam’s didn’t make me laugh as much, and a lot of the time it is more of a drama than a comedy, which I didn’t expect considering the cast. I couldn’t help but feel it could have been cut down more, but it is still a enjoyable 88 minutes.
The extras are quite good, there are the usual deleted scenes, out-takes (which I had higher hopes for), and a commentary, which are mildly funny to watch. The “Coogan’s Runner” documentary is enjoyable, and a great insight into how a show like this is made, also the alternative ending was interesting, but I was glad that it wasn’t the real ending!
Overall, it is worth watching, I wasn’t disappointed and I especially loved all the plot twists, they surprised me each time (but I guess that’s the point…). However, I definitely recommend this to fans of cult TV shows that go on fan cruises and conventions, you’ll enjoy how accurate it is at times, look out for Russell Brand’s cameo as a fan, it’s very funny.
Andy Van Allen is a failed TV star who is now working as a hotel porter. When he is offered, out of the blue, a job as principal celebrity on an organised 'celebrity cruise' plus serious money as well things seem to be on the up. Soon after sailing things start to go wrong and matters become worse when he meets his former colleague who has gone on to the bigtime.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
2 ENTERTAIN VIDEO; SONY DADC
Release date
02/06/2003
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
BBCDVD 1216
Barcode
5014503121624
Languages
Main Language
English
Subtitle Language
English
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Commentary With Tim Firth Declan Lowney And Alison MacPhail, Coogans Runner Behind The Scenes Documentary, Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Children Of Castor Sequence, Children Of Castor Script, Photo Gallery, Scene Selection
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital Stereo
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital Stereo English
DVD Description
CRUISE OF THE GODS is an excellent one-off comedy from the BBC which stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as former stars of a 1980s science fiction series "The Children of Castor." Twenty years on, and whereas Nick Lee (Coogan) is a successful actor in his own series (the surreal "Sherlock Holmes in Miami"), Andy Van Allen (Brydon) is down on his luck and virtually forgotten. When the offer to attend the "The Children of Castor" fan cruise arises, he reluctantly accepts. Once on board he runs into Nick, struggles with the demands of obsessive fans and an alcoholic former scriptwriter. But the cruise ultimately turns out to be more meaningful than Van Allen had anticipated when he meets the son he never knew he had and discovers the true meaning of being a star.
Compare Cruise Of The Gods (DVD) to other similar Comedy »