Beatles Yellow Submarine
Plot
Pepperland is a cheerful music-loving paradise under the sea, protected by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which falls under a surprise attack by the music-hating Blue Meanies; the attackers seal the band inside a music-proof bubble, then turn the Pepperlanders into statues and drain the country itself of colour.
- Sea Of Time - where time flows both forwards and backwards to the tune of "When I'm Sixty-Four",
Sea Of Science - where they sing "Only a Northern Song",
Sea Of Monsters - where the dreaded "vacuum cleaner" beast sucks up the entire landscape and then itself,
Sea of Nothing - where they pick up a rather helpful "nowhere man" named Jeremy Hilary Boob PhD, and sing the song of the same name. Ringo takes pity on him and takes him aboard the submarine.
Foothills of the Headlands (or Sea of Heads) - where they get separated from the submarine and John sings "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds",
Finally, Sea of Holes - where Jeremy is kidnapped by one of the Blue Meanies. When Ringo jumps on to a green -
hole (which turns into the Sea of Green), they arrive in Pepperland.
-
Reunited with Old Fred and the submarine, they imitate Sgt. Pepper's band, and "rally the land to rebellion".
Jeremy is rescued, colour and flowers rebloom, the original Sgt. Pepper's band is released (thanks to a hole in Ringo's pocket from the Sea Of Holes), and Pepperland is restored. The Blue Meanies are forced to retreat, but John extends an offer of friendship, and the Chief Blue Meanie has a change of heart and accepts. An enormous party ensues, with everyone living happily ever after.
At the end, the real Beatles (in a live-action sequence), having returned home, playfully show off their souvenirs. George has the submarine's motor, Paul has "a little love", and Ringo still has half a hole in his pocket because he gave the rest to Jeremy. However, John spots "newer and bluer Meanies in the vicinity of the theatre" and cheerfully comments there's only one way to go out: "Singing!" The quartet obliges with a reprise of "All Together Now" which ends with various translations of the song's title appearing in sequence on the screen.
Production
Released at the height of the psychedelic pop culture period of the 1960s, the movie Yellow Submarine was a box-office hit, drawing in crowds both for its lush, wildly creative images, and its soundtrack of Beatles songs. The original story was written by Lee Minoff, based on the song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and the screenplay penned by four collaborators including Erich Segal. The recurring line "It's all in the mind" is taken from The Goon Show.
The dialogue is littered with puns, double entendres, and Beatles in-jokes.
"Blue Meanies" is sometimes used as a slang term for the police, although many viewers will have missed this . The term "Blue Meanies" is actually a metaphor for bad people in
Animation
The movie's style contrasts greatly with the efforts of Disney Feature Animation and other animated films previously released by Hollywood up until the time. The film uses a style of limited animation that deliberately defies reality and paints a landscape that could never exist in the real world; something that appealed greatly to the escapists of the 1960s (see also Fantastic Planet). It also paved the way for Terry Gilliam's animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python.
The Beatles' participation
The Beatles themselves were not enthusiastic in participating in a motion picture at the time. They had not enjoyed the production of their second feature film Help!, and had just produced and starred in the disastrous TV special Magical Mystery Tour. They did, however, see an animated film as a favourable way to complete their commitment to United Artists for a third film. Voice actors were hired to imitate the Fab Four's voices in the film. However, The Beatles were impressed after seeing a rough cut of the film, and agreed to make a live-action cameo appearance in the final scene. The cameo was originally intended to feature a post-production psychedelic background, but due to time and budget constraints a blank background remained in the final film.
The original soundtrack album consisted of Beatles tracks and some orchestral pieces by George Martin on the
second side:
"Yellow Submarine"
"Only a Northern Song"
"All Together Now"
"Hey Bulldog"
"It's All Too Much"
"All You Need Is Love"
"Pepperland" (George Martin)
"Sea of Time" (George Martin)
"Sea of Holes" (George Martin)
"Sea of Monsters" (George Martin)
"March of the Blue Meanies" (George Martin)
"Pepperland Laid Waste" (George Martin)
"Yellow Submarine in Pepperland" (Lennon/McCartney, arr. by George Martin)
Another soundtrack, the Yellow Submarine Songtrack, was released in 1999 to contain all but one of The Beatles'
songs from the film:
"Yellow Submarine"
"Hey Bulldog"
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Love You To"
"All Together Now"
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
"Think for Yourself"
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
"With a Little Help from My Friends"
"Baby You're a Rich Man"
"Only a Northern Song"
"All You Need Is Love"
"When I'm Sixty-Four"
"Nowhere Man"
"It's All Too Much"
Lyrics:
In the town where I was born
Lived a man who sailed to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines
So we sailed up to the sun
Till we found a sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
in our yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
And our friends are all aboard
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
(Full speed ahead Mr. Boatswain, full speed ahead
Full speed ahead it is, Sgt.
Cut the cable, drop the cable
Aye, Sir, aye
Captain, captain)
As we live a life of ease
Every one of us has all we need
Sky of blue and sea of green
In our yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
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