The Ice King (2018) | Page 3 | Golden Skate

The Ice King (2018)

MGstyle

Crawling around on the ice after chestnuts
Medalist
Joined
Sep 1, 2015
It’s available for purchase as a dvd on eBay, though you’d have to check whether it’s the right format. Since you can pay using PayPal, you could probably fund your PayPal with a non UK credit card. It also looks like it’s available on Amazon EU through third party sellers, but not sure how payment works.

Thanx!!!! I wasn't quite sure if there were differences in format, haven't purchased any DVDs for ages and couldn't remember, and I was afraid perhaps I was thinking with my 90's brain and VHS tapes :laugh2: I will do my research on that.
 

sadya

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Country
Netherlands
For anyone living in the Netherlands and in Belgium, you can order both the book and the dvd here:

Alone The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry
https://www.bol.com/nl/p/alone/9200000020393476/?s2a=

The Ice Kind DVD
https://www.bol.com/nl/p/the-ice-king/9200000094361040/?s2a=

This is where I finally found my copies of the book and the dvd. They were gripping and exciting and sad, all at the same time. I like how the author explained how programs and shows were created and what was happening behind the scenes. I look at these shows with different feelings now, I still love and appreciate these performances, but understanding what was going on with and between these skaters changes the way I enjoy these programs. I also understand the attitude much better which Curry had in interviews, such as seeming to be dismissive of his gold medal sometimes. (remember the Maestro interview?) It's sad how he felt about himself and how that influenced his relationship with friends and colleagues and lovers.

My children don't like figure skating as much as I do, but even they were fascinated by The Ice King documentary. They didn't like John Curry as a person though. I don't like everything he said and did, but understanding where it came from and how hard he was for himself as well, doesn't make me dislike him as a human. It's tragic really. I wish he would have survived and be alive today, so he would be older and wiser and perhaps more accepting of himself which would make him more accepting of others I think. He might have been in a place in life which would have finally given him peace and happiness. And who knows how many great performances we would have enjoyed.
 

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!
Medalist
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Country
United-Kingdom
My children don't like figure skating as much as I do, but even they were fascinated by The Ice King documentary. They didn't like John Curry as a person though. I don't like everything he said and did, but understanding where it came from and how hard he was for himself as well, doesn't make me dislike him as a human.

How can you judge what a person was really like from one documentary? There are many sides to everybody. John also gave lovely, complimentary interviews. He described Torvill & Dean's Blues OSP after it's debut performance at St.Ivel Autumn International at Richmond in 1981 as "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen". He was there to skate exhibitions, which thrilled the audience. Anyone who thinks John's career highlight was his Olympic FP only needs to look a lot further. He was full of admiration for other skaters too, Janet Lynn was a favourite of his. He played clips of her skating Debussy's Faune to the students he coached for his TV series in the late 80s. Having received the AIDS diagnosis and come home, aswell as doing the Maestro interview, he made a series for BBC coaching Skating at Dundonald rink in Northern Ireland. It included Neil Wilson, then a boy, later to become a British Champion and is now a coach in Canada. John was patient and charming with all (even when the Junior female skater insisted on putting her arms straight up in the air when doing a split jump thereby ruining the line, which we could all see!) He also strapped a camera to his chest to give the viewer an on ice perspective long before Jordan came on the scene!


This is the final episode of 5 programmes.

https://youtu.be/33ZSMfSz-Pg
 

sadya

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Country
Netherlands
Hearing some of the things Curry said to other skaters, made my children dislike his personality. Yes, there are skaters with only nice experiences with Curry.
 

La Rhumba

Supporting All British Skaters!
Medalist
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Country
United-Kingdom
Hearing some of the things Curry said to other skaters, made my children dislike his personality. Yes, there are skaters with only nice experiences with Curry.

I think the documentary did focus on the negative and depressing aspects of his life to the exclusion of all else. When skaters are in the creative/competitive process they will say unsavoury things or snap. That doesn't define their personality forever.
 

kolyadafan2002

Fan of Kolyada
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
I love John curry due to the fact he’s british. Him and Robin cousins were considered GOATs during there times, back when Britain had a huge impact on the figure skating scene. I know this is irrelevant, however I think I’m going to post various GOAT’s in order of appearance. These do not reflect competition achievements necessarily so bare that in mind. I have also left long gaps so it is not too tedious. (Missing out a number of greats - sorry)

- Dick Button (first to do double axel, first to do triple, first & only non-European to win Europeans).

- John Curry (won Olympic gold, bought ballet into skating changing shape of skating).

- Robin Cousins (extremely artistic skater, did backflips which became one of his signifier moves).

- Brian Orser (first to land triple axel in Olympics, couched many multi-quad jumpers to success).

- Kurt Browning ( amazing artistic skater, entertained all, first person to land a quad).

- Alexi Yagudin (greatest of his time in my opinion, however still doesn’t touch Kurt browning)

- Evgeni Plushenko (post-2005) - (he dominated the technical ability, landing the first quad-triple-triple, which nobody else goes for. He attempted quad lutz, and skated to sex bomb. Artistically I much preferred Yagudin in 2002 skating worlds videos however Plushenko was my idol growing up.)
Side great: Stéphane Lambiel - one of the most beautiful skaters I’ve ever seen and apparently an amazing coach.
Side great: Brian Joubert - one of the greatest technical skaters who was one of the pre-mature quad pioneers, landing 4S & 4T.

- Patrick Chan - (had quad and was very artistic - however lacked stable jumps. Three time world champion cannot be overlooked.)
Side great: Kevin Reynolds is one of the early quad pioneers , being the first to do two in a short program.

- Yuzuru Hanyu : quad pioneer and very artistic skater . First person to land quad loop. 2 time Olympic champion
Side great: javier Fernandez- very artistic skater two time world champion.
Side great: Shoma Uno - first to land quad flip ratified, first to attempt triple axel qud toe. Artistic skater who’s technical is good but needs to learn how to improve prerotation.

- Nathan Chen, first to land five different quads in a program, and has now improved his skating skills and become very artistic .


This looks like I’ve gone on a tangent, but each great has made another great and so without John curry those figure skaters would have all been very different skaters today. This is why John curry is a GOAT.
 

WeakAnkles

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
I love John curry due to the fact he’s british. Him and Robin cousins were considered GOATs during there times, back when Britain had a huge impact on the figure skating scene. I know this is irrelevant, however I think I’m going to post various GOAT’s in order of appearance. These do not reflect competition achievements necessarily so bare that in mind. I have also left long gaps so it is not too tedious. (Missing out a number of greats - sorry)

- Dick Button (first to do double axel, first to do triple, first & only non-European to win Europeans).

- John Curry (won Olympic gold, bought ballet into skating changing shape of skating).

- Robin Cousins (extremely artistic skater, did backflips which became one of his signifier moves).

- Brian Orser (first to land triple axel in Olympics, couched many multi-quad jumpers to success).

- Kurt Browning ( amazing artistic skater, entertained all, first person to land a quad).

- Alexi Yagudin (greatest of his time in my opinion, however still doesn’t touch Kurt browning)

- Evgeni Plushenko (post-2005) - (he dominated the technical ability, landing the first quad-triple-triple, which nobody else goes for. He attempted quad lutz, and skated to sex bomb. Artistically I much preferred Yagudin in 2002 skating worlds videos however Plushenko was my idol growing up.)
Side great: Stéphane Lambiel - one of the most beautiful skaters I’ve ever seen and apparently an amazing coach.
Side great: Brian Joubert - one of the greatest technical skaters who was one of the pre-mature quad pioneers, landing 4S & 4T.

- Patrick Chan - (had quad and was very artistic - however lacked stable jumps. Three time world champion cannot be overlooked.)
Side great: Kevin Reynolds is one of the early quad pioneers , being the first to do two in a short program.

- Yuzuru Hanyu : quad pioneer and very artistic skater . First person to land quad loop. 2 time Olympic champion
Side great: javier Fernandez- very artistic skater two time world champion.
Side great: Shoma Uno - first to land quad flip ratified, first to attempt triple axel qud toe. Artistic skater who’s technical is good but needs to learn how to improve prerotation.

- Nathan Chen, first to land five different quads in a program, and has now improved his skating skills and become very artistic .


This looks like I’ve gone on a tangent, but each great has made another great and so without John curry those figure skaters would have all been very different skaters today. This is why John curry is a GOAT.

Kevin Reynolds but not Brian Boitano?

:confused:
 

sadya

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 10, 2006
Country
Netherlands
I think the documentary did focus on the negative and depressing aspects of his life to the exclusion of all else. When skaters are in the creative/competitive process they will say unsavoury things or snap. That doesn't define their personality forever.

Exactly. Which is why I wrote in my post: I don't like everything he said and did, but understanding where it came from and how hard he was for himself as well, doesn't make me dislike him as a human.

I really think if he would still be alive and older, more people would have seen a different side of him, he might have been in a different place in life which would change everything. As I told my children, we didn't know Curry personally, a public persona can be different in private (in a better or worse way).

I didn't judge the personality of Curry in the way you keep saying btw, I just wrote what my children thought after watching this, being non-skating fans. I also shared my own different opinion, having admired the work of Curry for years. My own different opinion was clear from my original post.
 

Warwick360

Medalist
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
I knew who John Curry was.
I knew he was British.
I knew he was an Olympics Gold medalist.
What I certainly did not know was that this documentary existed. I know I'm a bit late to this party but this documentary just made me appreciate how just one of a kind he was.

And also loved his bravado, which some might consider cocky, when he said something to the effect of, 'people say Russian skaters are balletic, so wonderful...and I know the Russian skaters, and I know they won't take a ballet class, and how bad they are'. And it's so surreal how even then the politics played part on the fate of skaters, when it came to where each judges were, and if the panel were mostly comprised of east or west. Yet, he came through all that and achieved what he did, and introduced changes like a pioneer that he was. Truly a marvel.
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Country
United-States
I don't want to argue with you but until seeing your mentions of Cranston somewhere few years ago, I'd never heard of him at all. On the other hand, I'd acknowledged John Curry as a GOAT all along although I really didn't have as much knowledge as yours on both skaters and competition before the 1990s. I've seen a lot of people including famous skaters and not just figure skating but cultural critics praised John Curry for his innovative and various challenges to incorporate ballet moves into figure skating. Some people even compared him with dancing legends like Vaslav Nijinsky and pioneers of modern dance such as Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham. This all came to me a sort of shock because I was still in the box that figure skating is all about ladies' sport. Whereas I haven't heard of such spoken or written praises about Cranston unfortunately. Maybe due to that the winners take it all?
You'd never heard of Toller Cranston????????? How is this possible?????
 
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