In next Tuesday’s eFlyer, there’s an item about some new features of Singapore Airlines‘ KrisWorld inflight entertainment system. As I was writing about the built-in spreadsheets and the 100-plus movie choices, I couldn’t help but think about the days–not so long ago–when the overhead screen was the only game in town. Some movies are just not made for airplane viewing. One was the 1977 thriller “Rollercoaster,” which I guess made the play list because of its all-star cast (Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, and a 14-year-old Helen Hunt, to name a few). The plot revolved around terrorism at an amusement park–which theme today would be enough to keep the film “grounded,” but those were simpler times. But the real issue was that much of the film was shot with a camera mounted on a rollercoaster car. It was very realistic–and queasiness-producing. After a while, it was hard to tell if it was the airplane losing altitude suddenly, or just the camerawork. Remember the film “Watership Down”? Based on the popular book, it was an animated film about struggles among populations of rabbits. I remember dozing during an overnight transatlantic flight, and waking to an image of animated, bloody rabbits (I gather that bunnies fight with their teeth). It felt like a waking nightmare. My favorite, however, was a business-class experience on an Eastern European airline I won’t name. The film, made on the airline’s home turf, bordered on soft-core porn and featured a story about a post-apocalyptic land of women, “invaded” inadvertently by two young men. Hilarity–and nudity– ensues. The icing on the cake, though, was the choice of soundtrack–either the original language, or the English version. The latter consisted of one heavily accented male voice reading all the parts–including those of the women, often topless, who made up 98% of the cast.

–Mary Hunt, Editor, eFlyer