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The Blackadder Thread

Lord Blackadder

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
Original poster
May 7, 2004
15,684
5,516
Sod off
By request, I hereby create the Blackadder thread. May it live in infamy, just like it's namesake. :D

Anyway... I was first exposed to Blackadder via public television. Most people in the states don't know anything more than it's a show "with that Mr. Bean guy, but he talks." I thought it was hilarious and I wanted to see more.

After seeing a low-quality VHS copy of the Christmas special I was a confirmed fanatic and treasure my Blackadder DVD set.

I happen to have a weakness for UK comedy shows; Python & Fawlty Towers of course, but also Father Ted, the Young Ones, and whatnot. I've even been known to laugh at Are You Being Served. :eek:

I love Blackadder because he's such a b*stard - he's just evil. Atkinson as Blackadder awakens the hidden (maybe not so) little bastard in me. The supporting cast is fantastic. Tim McInnerny and Hugh Laurie are excellent idiot sidekicks, and of course Stephen Fry is an absolute comedic and intellectual force. Baldrick is funny less for what he does than what the world of Blackadder does to him. But that thingie-shaped turnip was inimitable.:D So now I'm looking into a Little Bit of Fry & Laurie and other stuff involving Blackadder alumni.

Rick Mayal as Lord Flashheart has amazing lines. "Love the Beard! It gives me something to HOLD ONTO!". A Flasheart quote once recited by a friend of mine in a very innaproppriate setting some years ago, with hilarious results.

BTW, I think I was the last person on earth that didn't recognize Laurie in House, MD. :eek:

So tell me how great this show is!
 
Blackadder was the show to watch when I was growing up. It was the height of humour to bellow quotes from the show at each other across the playground.

I revisited the show recently & it still is as funny as I remembered - the last three series more so than the first. It suited the character far more to be a bastard.

What still surprises me though, is how powerful the final scene of Blackadder Goes Forth is. One of the most elegant statements on the pointlessness of war, made by a comedy program.
 
rockandrule said:
I was always wondering what Blackadder was. Sounds interesting.
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I strongly suggest you beg, borrow or steal one of the DVDs.

Also it is run off and on by BBC America, if you have that channel
 
I love blackadder. The dictionary episode might be one fo the funniest things I've ever seen. I don't much like the 4 season, but the first three I think are brilliant. I'll be getting it on DVD eventually.
 
I think my favourite Blackadder series was Blackadder II with Queenie and Nursie. Absolutely hysterical! The Regency one didn't quite capture it the same way for me. Blackadder IV was equally good though and, as stated above, remarkably poignant.

Any mention of anyone having a 'cunning plan' still makes me smile :D

I have a US-based friend who didn't figure out that Hugh Laurie was House until November this year if it makes you feel any better.
 
Utterly brilliant comedy. I grew up watching this stuff... Blackadder, along with The Young Ones and A Kick Up the Eighties, etc

And to think, he was almost called The Black Vegetable!


I've seen it so many times on TV and old videos... but it never fails to make me giggle. Think I really ought to buy the DVDs.
 
Applespider said:
I have a US-based friend who didn't figure out that Hugh Laurie was House until November this year if it makes you feel any better.
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Just a little. :)

Blackadder II is my personal favorite as well. I like the period and cast arrangement.

I really can't find a favorite episode in series II, they are all collectively my favorites. Series III and IV are all very good. Series I is certainly different but it has some great moments too. The ending of the last episode of series IV was a huge surprise for me - they managed to really wipe the smile off my face, but it made the statement that much more powerful. I like it.

There have been several rumblings of a new series (see the Wikipedia article). It seems unlikely, but I really hope they do more Blackadder, even if it's just a one-off special or something. It would have to be the original cast though.
 
More of a young ones fan myself, grew up watching them late night on mtv (when mtv was still good). Black Adder was a great show too, love the first season the most, just cause I think atkinson can play the wimp to a tee.
 
Unfortunately here on campus we don't get BBC. I guess they figure that some sort of outside influence might be bad in Florida? Who knows. I'll try to snab a copy of it this summer for sure.
 
I remember seeing the first ever episode of Blackadder back in 83 (or maybe early 84). I was 13 (or 14) at the time and we were having a party (this was before those included any alcohol or worse ;)) at a girl friend's (not girlfriend) house and some of us decided to sleep over, when the party died out around midnight (hey, we were nice at 13 and sleeping over actually involved sleeping).

So, anyway, me and another guy got each end of a large corner sofa in the living room, but since we weren't that tired we turned on the telly. Didn't have high hopes as this was back when we only had one channel in Norway, NRK, and they were notoriously dull and usually stopped broadcasting around midnight. But they sometimes, in the weekends, send something quite late, like a late night film or the occasional concert (often some large venues from Germany, like "Rock am Ring" or some annual concert at Lorelei, or concerts from the Marquee or even Wembley(?) in England).

We were totally unprepared for what started. We didn't know who Rowan Atkinson was, and the craziest English humour we had been exposed to up until that moment were Yes, Minister. We almost went into shock just from laughing. It was unbelievable... and quite right, the next day, when trying to explain the show for all our friends (who had been to the party and of course not seen this show), they looked at us with a total and utter disbelief. They thought we had gone completely mad (already then :D).

Most of them did gathered in front of the telly the following week, though, to catch episode 2... the world never really was the same after that... ;)

Later I've also appreciated shows like The Young Ones and Red Dwarf, and of course Fawlty Towers and most of Monty Python's work**.

** Funny off topic anecdote: Life of Brian was actually forbidden in Norway when released because of blasphemy... the decision was, luckily, later reversed...
 
Interesting story, Mittthrawnuruodo.

I can't remember which episode was the first I saw...I'm pretty sure it was from Blackadder II though.

To this day, Blackadder is nowhere near as universally recognized in America as it is just about everywhere else. Mr. Bean has far more market penetration.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
BTW, I think I was the last person on earth that didn't recognize Laurie in House, MD. :eek:

So tell me how great this show is!
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It took me a few scenes to place the guy.

I was initiated to Blackadder via PBS and then BBC America thankfully played it continuously for my pleasure. My favorite is the second series. Love Queeny :D
 
Blackadder... where to start. Probably the best comedy series this country has ever produced, though I am aware that may ruffle a few speckled pigeon feathers.

Never really got on with series 1. It is fundamentally different, with amusing parts, but the characters don't gel as in the other series. I think I enjoyed Blackadder Goes Forth the most, but III is also truly excellent, especially the Samuel Johnson episode:

"Leaving already, Doctor? Not staying for your pendigestatory interluditories?"
 
Love Series 1's characterisation of the prince as a truly loathsome weasel... Much darker than 2 or 3 — less sit-commy and less schoolboyish innuendo. Although 2 is good too. Was particularly disapointed by Series 3.

Enjoyed Tim McInnerny's work more than Tony Robinson's.
 
1 isn't funny at all.

2 then 3 then 4. ;)

2 being the best, and quite possibly the greatest ever UK comedy series ever. ;)
 
iGav said:
1 isn't funny at all.

2 then 3 then 4. ;)
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Well. I think season 1 was the funniest of them all, closely followed by 4 and then 2. But even season 3 is still funnier than most other comedies... :)

iGav said:
2 being the best, and quite possibly the greatest ever UK comedy series ever. ;)
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Well, that (or season 1 ;)) has to compete with Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers, (the first couple of seasons of) Absolute Fabulous and The Young Ones... :D

Close race there between Red Dwarf, Blackadder and Fawlty Towers, IMO...
 
iGav said:
2 being the best, and quite possibly the greatest ever UK comedy series ever. ;)
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Yeah I'll give you that. Some of the best Alan Partridge is worth a look-in, though. Not quite as cringe-worthy as Fawlty Towers, which, whilst brilliant, is pretty painful to watch.
 
Applespider said:
Nah... much as I love Blackadder, I love Father Ted more; especially the first season of it.
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Ah, yes, Father Ted. Brilliant... :D

I'd almost forgotten that... :eek:

How soon the mind goes after losing BBC Prime... d*mn those cable providers... :mad:

I also think the first series or so of My Family is quite good... even though the show went downhill fast when "Nick" moved out... :(
 
iGav said:
2 being the best, and quite possibly the greatest ever UK comedy series ever. ;)
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I agree with this. Other shows have been as funny at times. but for me Blackadder II is consistently the funniest TV EVER.

See the little goblin, see his little feet.....



...But Father Ted is a close second to Blackadder. Very quotable. The episode "Kicking Bishop Brennan up the Arse" is epic. I'm Catholic, but I think that makes the show even funnier for me. They had a Father Ted Marathon a couple years ago on BBC America. Right after watching it I knew I must own the DVDs.
 
It was THE funniest thing to ever grace this earth. Period. That's where I stand on Bladders.

"You think there's a market for jewellery that looks like snot, then?"

:D

Most people seem to like the second series best. I think it's my favourite, too, closely followed by the third.

One of my favourite lines: when Bladders and Baldrick think they're about to leave for the West Indes and he tells Baldrick how he'll 'stand out as an individual':

"Will I?"
"Of course you will. All the other slaves will be black."

:D

Probably not PC now :rolleyes:
 
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