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'I have a cunning plan': The Blackadder Thread
GoldenGun
Per ora e per il momento che verrà
I am revisiting one of my favourite comedy shows of all time and I thought surely a community with so many Brits around will have a thread dedicated to Blackadder.
To my amazement I couldn't find it via a Google Search, but do correct me if there is one floating around somewhere. In that case feel free to point me in the right direction.
Anyway, any fans of Blackadder around here on Mi6?
To my amazement I couldn't find it via a Google Search, but do correct me if there is one floating around somewhere. In that case feel free to point me in the right direction.
Anyway, any fans of Blackadder around here on Mi6?
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Comments
And let's not forget Flashheart! What a character! :))
If ever I need my spirits lifting then it's on with Potato featuring one of the best characters, long on beard and short on leg, it's Captain Red Beard Rum - Ah hah!
'So you don't know the way to France either? Bugger!'
2 and 3 are virtually inseparable but with 4 there's a slight odrop off as it got too popular and transferred to BBC1 and it relies too much on amusing similes ('Sticky the stick insect' etc). Although 4 does have the dramatic heft of the Great War which elevates it a bit but it started to feel a tad pastichey but there's not a lot of difference between the three. And obviously I think we can all agree that 1 is by far the worst.
Full rating:
1. Blackadder II - Perfection.
2. Blackadder the Third - A gnats cock behind.
3. Blackadder Goes Forth - Ever so slightly behind the other two.
4. Blackadder's Christmas Carol - Probably second only to The Office as best ever Christmas special.
5. Blackadder: The Cavalier Years - Very decent effort.
6. The Black Adder - Only average at best I'm afraid.
7. Blackadder: Back and Forth - Utterly dismal.
It's pretty depressing that to 90% of the world Rowan Atkinson is Mr Bean when this is by far the peak of his career.
They only got a green light for 2 if they could promise to do it all for peanuts on a set. Pretty sure that the only thing filmed on location for 2 is the end credits isn't it?
Also I've got a vague feeling I remember hearing that the costume designer dug out some old dresses from Glenda Jackson's Elizabeth R series from the 70s (although I might have made that up) to save money.
My rankings are exactly the same as those of TheWizardOfIce. There were always so many rumours years ago of a possible fifth series. It'll never happen now, of course, but I was intrigued by the idea of a 1960s pop group taking the world by storm (or trying to) managed by their follicly-challenged agent, Bald Rick.
That would have been fantastic! Wonder what type of Flashheart character we'd see in that.
Rowan Atkinson: Err Edmund Blackadder obviously/NSNA
Robbie Coltrane: Blackadder 3/GE and TWINE
Patrick Malahide: Blackadder 1/TWINE
Geoffrey Palmer: Blackadder 4/TND
Imagine him as M.! Bond wouldn't dare to not follow instructions!
"BOND'S ALIVE!"
She also appears in the fourth series as Nurse Fletcher Brown (or should I say Nurse Fleischer Baum?). Miranda was the best. I loved Hugh Laurie as Prince George, but I also think he was great as Lt George, just as silly, but a bit more endearing than the Prince Regent.
Another British actor I'm always slightly surprised hasn't popped up in a Bond film is Tim McInnerny. His Lord Percy Percy (the discoverer of 'purest green') and his Captain Darling were superb in very different ways. He even contracted a real twitch while playing Darling.
With such a talented cast I wonder what odds you would have got back in the 80s, if you had bet that the only one of them to get a real life knighthood was Baldrick!
Imagine Blackadder's reaction to Baldrick getting knighted!
Might actually agree with that, although Laurie's had several really good parts over the years.
The spine of regulars:
Rowan Atkinson
Stephen Fry
Hugh Laurie
Tony Robinson
Miranda Richardson
Tim McInerry
And then contributions from a host of other greats:
Peter Cook
Rik Mayall
Brian Blessed
Frank Finlay
Ronald Lacey
Tom Baker
Robbie Coltrane
Kenneth Connor
Nigel Planer
Chris Barrie
Warren Clarke
Jim Broadbent
Miriam Margolyes
Adrian Edmonson
When you compare it with some of the dross you get these days like Mrs Brown's Boys and Citizen Khan it makes you want to weep.
My favourite series is definitely 2 ,followed by 3.
And I do love Nursie..aka Bernard.
For back up it also has the highwayman with Miranda Richardson and Prince George and Blackadder doing their ham fisted cyrango de Bergerac routine (although as Alan Partridge so accurately stated Bergerac can only be played by John Nettles)
And ends with the duel episode where Blackadder and Prince George swap roles to the disbelief of Stephen Fry's violent Wellington.
I often wonder how there was a second series because I always struggle watching the first or just skip it entirely
The biggest surprise about the commissioning of a second series wasn't necessarily the quality of the first (although it was a bit hit and miss) but the immense cost of the first. As mentioned above thread, a severely stripped down second series (and the addition of Ben Elton) worked wonders. They didn't need to have vast sets and stacks of extras, they just needed to focus on the character-driven comedy powered by some of Britain's greatest comic actors.
His point made, Baker returned to his original glorious portrayal. Thank God we got that rather than the Rowan Atkinson version.
Rowan Atkinson, of course, later played the Doctor in a Comic Relief Doctor Who special. I think Tom should have rung him up with some advice!