Flight safety, Middle-Earth style!
If you would please direct your attention to your computer screen, we will take a few minutes to go over the safety features of these tropes.
If you've been on a commercial flight, you've heard it: the whole spiel explaining the safety features of your aircraft. It's important information and you simply have got to know it but...it's boring. And frequent fliers have a tendency to tune it out if they've heard it already. So what are airlines to do?
In an attempt to make sure people pay attention, many airlines are actually attempting to make the safety spiel entertaining. Few have gone as far as Air New Zealand has in their series of safety videos, which comprise of celebrity cameos, Shout outs, sports, aerobics and Fanservice. Bet you're paying attention now, aren't you?
Some of the videos are:
- "Bare Essentials of Safety". (737-300 version
) - "Crazy About Rugby" with the New Zealand All Blacks. (777-200ER version)
- "Mile-High Madness" with Richard Simmons. (737-300 version)
- "An Unexpected Briefing", for the release of The Hobbit. (777-300ER version)
- "The Bear Essentials" with Bear Grylls. (A320 version)
- "Safety Old School Style" with Betty White. (A320 version)
- "Safety in Paradise" featuring Sports Illustrated swimsuit models for the 50th anniversary of the swimsuit issue. (A320 version)
- "The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made" again for The Hobbit. (777-300 version).
- "Safety in Hollywood"
- "Summer of Safety"
Please note these tropes in preparation for your flight:
- Beach Episode: "Safety in Paradise".
- Body Paint: In "Bare Essentials" none of the people are wearing anything, but they do have their uniforms painted on.
- But Not Too Gay: In "Crazy About Rugby", a female fight attendant requests a kiss on the cheek from an All Black, and gets one. When a male flight attendant requests the same, the All Black chickens out.
- Creator Cameo: Peter Jackson appears briefly in "An Unexpected Briefing".
- Deadpan Snarker: More so in the regular videos.Crewmember: During the flight, if an oxygen mask falls down in front of you ... don't stop to ask why.
- Distracted by the Sexy: The guys demonstrating the brace positions in a canoe in "Safety in Paradise" keep sneaking glances at the model in the bikini on the beach.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: "Safety in Hollywood" starts with Anna and Rhys in a cop movie with "official police donuts".
- Fanservice: Part of the reason for "Bare Essentials", and definitely the reason for "Safety in Paradise".
- Fan Disservice: The streaking grandma at the end of "Crazy About Rugby".
- Hot Wind: "An Unexpected Briefing" has a moment where an Mr. Fanservice passenger does this with his long black Aragorn-like hair...until the elvish flight attendant takes the hair dryer off him.
- Naked People Are Funny: The other reason for "Bare Essentials".
- Pun: At the end of "An Unexpected Briefing", the pilot, dressed as Gandalf, says, "Fly you fools!" as they take off.
- Scenery Porn: "Safety In Paradise": If you've never heard of the Cook Islands before, you'll want to go there after seeing the white beaches and turquoise water.
- Showdown at High Noon:
- Special Guest:
- Betty White in "Safety Old School Style".
- Richard Simmons in "Mile-High Madness". There are also cameos from The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, international netballer Temepara George, outspoken television presenter Paul Henry, and even Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe.note
- The All Blacks in "Crazy About Rugby".
- The Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.
- In addition to the Creator Cameo above, Peter Jackson features in "The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made", along with Elijah Wood, Sylvester McCoy, Taika Waititi, Dean O'Gorman, and Sir Richard Taylor.
- Anna Faris and Rhys Darby in "Safety in Hollywood".
- Rachel Hunter, Zoë Bell, Scott Dixon, Jayden Daniels, Joe Naufahu, Eliza McCartney and Ladyhawke in "Summer of Safety".
- Stealth Pun: In "Crazy About Rugby", All Black captain Richie McCaw is sitting in the cockpit, in the captain's seat.
- Walking Swimsuit Scene: The SI models one.
