Paralympics 2012 Opening Ceremony Review

Now to finish the summer off, we get the Paralympics. The difference between this and the Olympics is that every athlete in this one has some sort of a physical disability (I won't say more as it can be very complicated to explain) and are classified as superhumans. A number of them fought in the War and that's pretty much where this was born. It comes home to London (spiritually that is) for the first time since 1948 (it's debut in other words) and from what I can see, we can expect great things from these athletes. So with that out of the way, let's review the opening:

Ella Ella Ella:

This was the start of the ceremony and as such, is a tribute to the rainy weather, this country has. Using Rihanna's song "Umbrella" in this segment felt rather fitting to it's theme and a performance from the dance trope "Flawless" set the tone of the event itself so good work there. 8/10

Enlightenment:

So in this segment (which was the main segment of the ceremony), we have Stephen Hawking narrating the segment which follows a girl called Miranda (played by the disabled actress, Nicola Miles-Wildin) who is being asked to find an apple through a maze of discovery. Upon finding it, she (and the rest of the audience at the exact same time) bit the apple and continues her discoveries, assisted by Hawking's and Prospero (played by Sir Ian McKellen who some of you will know as playing Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films and Magneto in the X-Men films), having a use of Shakespeare's The Tempest play (previously used in the Olympic ceremonies) and exploring The Big Bang Theory (not the sitcom, the actual thing), the Large Haldron Collider at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland and a giant library of books. We also see a giant representation of the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn and references to Sir Issac Newton, William Harvey and many others from the worlds of sport, science and music. This was a very good segment. While it's not as spectacular as the Olympic ceremonies, it still deserves credit for how much work was put into this so well done for all involved. 9/10

And after that (or rather, in the middle of the last segment) we have the parade of athletes, Speeches from the  London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) chairman Sebastian Coe and president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Philip Craven, The arrival of the paralympic flag (with the paralympic anthem being played), The Oaths, The arrival of the torch and it's lighting of the cauldron and finally, The Queen declaring the games open. Overall, a great start to what could be, the most successful Paralympic Games to date. 9/10 overall for the opening.