Jabberwocky (1977) Terry Gilliam’s first feature-length foray into directing a film met with a mixed reception. The Lewis Carroll anti-Beowulf children’s verse inspired an anti-fairy tale where the inept hero, Dennis Cooper [Michael Palin], unintentionally succeeds in slaying the monster, a Godzilla-puppet Jabberwock, and thereby saving the king, Bruno the Questionable [Max Wall] and marrying the princess [Deborah Fallender]. However, it is very hard to create a successful fantasy that mocks itself. You get the feeling that a 30-Minute skit has been expanded into a feature film, with the most interesting character being that giant puppet.
The damsel in distress
Has a dragon in her throat.
Knight someone to put the fire out
Before her chickens choke.
At the court the dodo rules
To punctuate her briefs.
She obfuscates legal tools
In Symmachian forgeries.
The Juhub and the Bandersnatch
Send smoke signals from Rome
Whose Fabergé eggs hatch
Within a palindrome.
She recites a doctor’s script
With all those made-up names
That secretly encrypt
Maidens in mainframes.
Ah, that’s what she should have said.
She should have said that instead.
Because whatever’s left unsaid
Collects monsters under the bed.
[Disposable Poem October 15, 2020]
Dr. Mike
SPACESHIP 