The Bazura Project

The Bazura Project
Starring	Shannon Marinko; Lee Zachariah
Opening theme	"In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg
Country of origin	Australia
No. of episodes	42
Production
Running time	30 mins. (approx)
Release
Original network	Channel 31 (2006-2008); ABC2 (2011–)
Original release	7 December 2006
External links
	Website

The Bazura Project is a comedy show about the history of cinema, written and presented by Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah. It originally ran on Australian community television from 2006 to 2008, and on ABC2 in late 2011.^[1]

On the ABC

Guide To Sinema

In early 2011, the ABC commissioned a six-part series for ABC2. The series was subtitled "The Guide To Sinema", with each episode devoted to a different cinematic sin: Violence, Sex, Money, Profanity, Drugs and Fame. The series began on 29 September, airing Thursday nights at 9pm.

The series included appearances from Shaun Micallef, Kat Stewart, David Stratton, Tony Martin, Francis Greenslade, Julia Zemiro, John Safran, Bryan Dawe, Michael Ward, Luke Hemsworth, Abe Forsythe, Marc Fennell, Stephanie Bendixsen, and Richard Wolstencroft.

On Australian Community TV

The show originally aired on Australian community television stations (Channel 31 Melbourne, 31 Brisbane, Television Sydney and C31 Adelaide) on 7 December 2006. It ran for three seasons, ending on 18 December 2008. It was nominated for multiple Antenna Awards, and won Best Comedy Program and Best Director in 2007, and Best Arts Program in both 2007 and 2008.^[2]

Every episode began with a pre-title sequence in which hosts Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah parodied a classic film scene. There would then be a news segment, a feature story (either informational or a comedic sketch), an interview with a key figure movie figure, then reviews of that week's releases.

Opening Sequences

These sequences are not strictly parodies, but rather hosts Shannon and Lee finding themselves in situations that closely resemble famous scenes. Notable openings included the season one finale The Graduate (in which the wedding is attended by all the characters from the previous opening sequences), season two's On the Town (in which Marinko and Zachariah "sung" New York, New York with lyrics pertaining to the Melbourne International Film Festival), the season two finale Back to the Future Part II (in which they travelled back through time, appearing in that season's previous opening sequences), Plan 9 from Outer Space (featuring one of the final on-screen appearances of legendary Australian actor Bud Tingwell), Full Metal Jacket (in which their heads were shaved on-screen), and the series finale Fight Club (in which, rather than doing a single scene, the entire film was acted out).

Episode 1.01 (7 December 2006) – The Sixth Sense
Episode 1.02 (14 December 2006) – Clerks
Episode 1.03 (21 December 2006) – It's a Wonderful Life
Episode 1.04 (4 January 2007) – Say Anything
Episode 1.05 (11 January 2007) – Apocalypse Now
Episode 1.06 (18 January 2007) – Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Episode 1.07 (25 January 2007) – The Usual Suspects
Episode 1.08 (1 February 2007) – Goodfellas
Episode 1.09 (8 February 2007) – Manhattan
Episode 1.10 (15 February 2007) – American Psycho
Episode 1.11 (22 February 2007) – The Graduate
Episode 2.01 (7 June 2007) – The Blues Brothers
Episode 2.02 (14 June 2007) – Trainspotting
Episode 2.03 (21 June 2007) – Faster Pussycat Kill Kill
Episode 2.04 (28 June 2007) – Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Episode 2.05 (5 July 2007) – Pulp Fiction
Episode 2.06 (12 July 2007) – Donnie Darko
Episode 2.07 (19 July 2007) – Adaptation (film)
Episode 2.08 (26 July 2007) – The Untouchables
Episode 2.09 (2 August 2007) – On the Town
Episode 2.10 (9 August 2007) – Midnight Cowboy
Episode 2.11 (16 August 2007) – A Clockwork Orange
Episode 2.12 (23 August 2007) – King Kong
Episode 2.13 (30 August 2007) – Back to the Future Part II
Episode 3.01 (9 October 2008) – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Episode 3.02 (16 October 2008) – Lolita
Episode 3.03 (23 October 2008) – Plan 9 from Outer Space
Episode 3.04 (30 October 2008) – On The Waterfront
Episode 3.05 (6 November 2008) – The Shining
Episode 3.06 (13 November 2008) – Singin' in the Rain
Episode 3.07 (20 November 2008) – Goldfinger
Episode 3.08 (27 November 2008) – Blade Runner
Episode 3.09 (4 December 2008) – Psycho
Episode 3.10 (11 December 2008) – Full Metal Jacket
Episode 3.11 (18 December 2008) – Fight Club

Interviews

People interviewed on the community TV iteration of the show included Richard Wolstencroft, Pete! Ford, George Miller (producer), Melanie Coombs, Rohan Michael Hoole, Anthony Lucas, Sarah Watt, Chris Noonan, Everett De Roche, James Hewison, Jack Sargeant, Danny Boyle, Geoffrey Wright, Pixar's Jerome Ranft & Paul Topolos, Roger Donaldson, Robert Connolly, Sue Maslin, Jonathan King, Scott Hicks, Rolf de Heer, Jason Schwartzman, Gillian Armstrong, Brian Trenchard-Smith, David Eggby, Mark Hartley, Steven Berkoff, Leigh Whannell, Bud Tingwell, Nathan Phillips, Jan Sardi and Clara Law.

Election 2007: Countdown to a Letdown

In 2007, the crew moved away from movies to apply the Bazura style to the Australian Federal Election. The one hour special aired on the eve of the election, Friday 23 November, and featured a look back at the campaign, an instructional video about whom to vote for, a guide on how to be a politician, and an interview with the Australian Democrats' Laura Chipp. In addition to Marinko and Zachariah, the special was also hosted by Emma Race and Adam Knox.