"My Lord, I have a cunning plan." The Blackadder Thread: Now disc. 'Blackadder Goes Forth'

Series 2 is hilarious so far. I'm having a lot of fun with it.

 

Walter Raleigh, I think.

Or, Sir Rather-a-Wally Raleigh.

As for the title of the second episode... I see what they did there.

 

Now that you mention it, so do I.

 

Episode 3: 'Potato' (first broadcast 23rd January 1986)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/Blackadder_II_-_Potato.jpg/200px-Blackadder_II_-_Potato.jpg]

Plot summary:

Insult of the episode:
"So. Where's this barnacle-bottomed, haddock-flavored, bilge-rat Sir rather-a-wally Raleigh then? I hear he's about as exciting as one of his potatoes." - Blackadder

'Wisdom' from Baldrick:
Blackadder: "To you it's a potato, to me it's a potato. But to Sir Walter Bloody Raleigh it's country estates, fine carriages, and as many girls as his tongue can cope with. He's making a fortune out of the things; people are smoking them, building houses out of them ... they'll be eating them next."
Baldrick: "Stranger things have happened--."
Blackadder: "Oh, exactly."
Baldrick: "--that horse becoming Pope."

Trivia:
* Both Simon Jones and Tom Baker are well-known for their roles in British science fiction television. Jones played Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as well as the original radio series and LP records), while Baker was the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who.
* It is implied that Blackadder and crew actually reach Australia in their travels, as one of the gifts E

 

Well, Caligula made his horse a Senator.

I now *have* to see this series.

 

Episode 4: 'Money' (first broadcast 6th February 1986)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bb/Blackadder_II_-_Money.jpg/200px-Blackadder_II_-_Money.jpg]

Plot summary:

 

I had no idea that Ron Lacey... my icon... was the Bishop of Bath and Wells!



Also, for some reason, my favourite line from that episode is "skewered his catflap for want of a farthing." It's so damn poetic.

 

I barely recognised him myself (though you can just recognise him through his face).

 

Episode 5: 'Beer' (first broadcast 13th February 1986)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Blackadder_II_-_Beer.jpg/200px-Blackadder_II_-_Beer.jpg]

Plot summary:

 

"Great Boo's Up" is the single greatest cover-up gag in history. "Beer" might well just be the finest Blackadder episode in history. It's a hoot.

 

Well I can't confirm the best episode ever part since I'm still watching them , but this episode is undoubtedly so damn funny throughout. Blackadder is in smashing form and the other cast have some really good lines too. This whole season has been overwhelmingly excellent so far.

 

A classic episode, the gags in this one ran like a Tudor version of an American college movie, my favourite part is Baldrick entering the room with the mouse over his face in replacement of the cheese:

Baldrick: My Lord...?
Edmund: Why?
Baldrick: I got fed up with the all-mouse diet, My Lord. I thought I'd try cat for variety.
Edmund: Good. Well done.

Perfectly executed dialogue and Tony Robinson at his dead-pan best.

And of course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRNoIUqfaqA

Edmund: I can't -- not just like that. I'm a complicated person, you see,
Aunty... Sometimes I'm nice, and sometimes I'm nasty -- hee hee!
...and sometimes I just like to sing little songs, like:
"See the little goblin, see his little..."

I'm wearing a cardinal's hat because I'm Cardinal Chunder;
I have an ostrich feather up my bottom [Percy nods and mouths
Edmund's words, having heard this before] because Mr Ostrich put it
there to keep in the little pixies -- ha ha!

And double yay for the first appearance of Hugh Laurie in Blackadder, (he pops up again in the last episode too. )



"See the little goblin, see his little feet /
And his little nosy-wose -- isn't the goblin sweet?"

"Yes!"

 

Episode 6: 'Chains' (first broadcast 20th February 1986)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/90/Blackadder_II_-_Chains.jpg/200px-Blackadder_II_-_Chains.jpg]

Plot summary:

Insult of the episode:
"Yes, well, enough of this banter. Who the hell are you, sausage breath?" - Blackadder

'Wisdom' from Baldrick:
Queenie: "What are you meant to be?"
Baldrick: [has 2 pencils stuck up his nose] "A pencil case."

Trivia:
* Guest-starring Hugh Laurie (again), this time as Prince Ludwig the Indestructible.
* In the very final scene after the end credits, the music track used (the bell tolling and wolves howling) is the first part of Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend".
* Shakespeare reference - following their kidnapping Melchett bemoans their cruel fate - "As private parts to the gods are we, they play with us for their sport." This is a take on Gloucester's line in King Lear ("As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport.")

End credits song:
Beware all ye who lust for fame.
The path of life is most uncertain.
Prince Ludwig thought he'd won the game.
But now the Kraut's gone for a burton.
Blackadder, Blackadder. He beat the Hun by luck.
Blackadder, Blackadder. He's smarter than a duck.
Lord Melchett, Lord Melchett, intelligent and deep.
Lord Melchett, Lord Mel

 

'Blackadder: The Cavalier Years' (first broadcast 5th February 1988)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/df/Blackadder_Cavalier_Years.jpg/215px-Blackadder_Cavalier_Years.jpg]

In 1648, King Charles was in flight from the wrath of Cromwell & his Roundheads. Only two men remained faithful, risking certain death by their fidelity to the crown. One was the sole descendant of a great historical English dynasty -- his name, Sir Edmund Blackadder. The other was the sole descendant of an unfortunate meeting between a pig-farmer & bearded lady. History has, quite rightly, forgotten his name. - opening narration

Cast:
Rowan Atkinson as Sir Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson as Baldrick
Stephen Fry as King Charles I
Warren Clarke as Oliver Cromwell

Plot summary:

 

The "run into my fist" gag is wonderful, but the rest is fairly forgettable.

The third season is my absolute favourite, hope you enjoy it, Champion.

 

I totally digged Stephen Fry's impersonation of Prince Charles. Very funny, especially because in reality they are on first name terms.

 

The Earl, he had a thousand soverigns
Hey nonny no
He gave them all to the man with the axe
O

 

Series 3: 'Blackadder the Third'

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f1/Blackadder_the_Third.jpg/215px-Blackadder_the_Third.jpg]

The dynasty continues, with E. Blackadder Esquire as the butler to House M.D.-- err ... I mean the Prince of Wales. - BBC's description for Series 3: 'Blackadder the Third' (with my own addition )

Regular cast for the series:
Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson as Baldrick
Hugh Laurie as George, the Prince Regent
Helen Atkinson-Wood as Mrs. Miggins

Series Trivia:
* Hugh Laurie joined the regular cast after featuring as a guest star in the previous series.
* Tim McInnerny decided not to continue playing the character of Lord Percy for fear of being typecast - he did however appear in a guest role in Episode 3.
* Although this series reduced the size of the show's cast, the program featured a number of guest appearances in each episode - including Stephen Fry and Miranda Richardson who had played major parts in 'Blackadder II'.
* Apparently Blackadder doesn't sport a beard in the third series because Atkinson's girlfriend hated it.
* This third series won a BAFTA award for best light entertainment series.

Episode 1: 'Dish & Dishonesty' (first broadcast 17th September 1987)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/Blackadder_III_-_Dish_and_Dishonesty.jpg/200px-Blackadder_III_-_Dish_and_Dishonesty.jpg]

Plot summary:

Insult of the episode:
"Give the likes of Baldrick the vote and we'll be back to cavorting druids, death by stoning and dung for dinner." - Blackadder

Hail Prince George:
Blackadder: "Sir Talbot represented the constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, and, by an extraordinary stroke of luck, it is a rotten borough."
George: "Really! Is it! Well, lucky-lucky us. Yippee. Lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky. Lucky, lucky. Lucky. Luck-a-doodle-dandy-dingle. Luck luck. Luck. Cluck, cluck, cluck. Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck."
Blackadder: " ... you don't know what a rotten borough is, do you, sir?"
George: "No."

Trivia:
* The episode features a cameo by political commentator Vincent Hanna as "his own great-great-great grandfather."
* In reality, Pitt the Younger had been dead for 5 years before Prince George became Regent.
* Early in the episode, reference is made to Pitt the Elder being Prime Minister. At the time the title of Prime Minister did not officially e

 

You left out the best quote, when Pitt the Young mentions his brother and Blackadder says, "Really? And which Pitt would that be? Pitt the Toddler? Pitt the Embryo? Pitt the Glint-In-The-Milkman's-Eye?"

Also, the election news coverage reminded me strongly of the Monty Python sketch with Sensible and Silly Party...

Idiotic girl. Blackadder (and Rowan Atkinson) looked the sexiest with the beard, longish hair and an earring.

 

Wonderful episode. Atkinson's expression once Laurie has finished his chicken impression always sends me into hysterics.

 

I did have it included originally, plus several others (such as Blackadder's description of Sir Talbot (Blackadder: "Well, according to 'Who's Who', his interests include flogging servants, shooting poor people, and the extension of slavery to anyone who hasn't got a knighthood." Prince: "Excellent! Sensible policies for a happier Britain!") and Pitt the Even Younger's rant about losing the election (Pitt: "Yes! I'm horrified! I smeared my opponent, bribed the press to be on my side, and threatened to torture the electorate if we lost. I fail to see what more a decent politician could have done!")) but I find that if I'm not careful I end up quoting 75% of the episode which is just a bit much. I do try to at least catch the scenes/quotes that best reflect what's going on that I enjoyed.

 

I understand. Blackadder is extremely quotable.

 

My favourite Blackadder series, I can quote Blackadder third backwards.

---

I love these parts:

[b]Edmund[/b]: Certainly, sir. I will return before you can say `antidisestablishment-
arianism'.

[b]George[/b]: Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that! `Antidistibblincemin...'
`Antimistilinstid...' `Antistits...'

(Caption: [i]Two Days Later[/i])

[b]George[/b]: Anti-distinctly-minty-(???)... [face_hugs]

And

[b]Sir Talbot[/b]: I care not a jot that you are the son of a certified sauerkraut-sucking
loon!

[b]George[/b]: Ah, thank you, sir.

[b]Sir Talbot[/b]: It minds not me that you dress like a mad parrot and talk like a plate of
beans negotiating their way out of a cow's digestive system. It is no
skin off my rosy nose that there are bits of lemon peel floating down the
Thames that would make better Regents than you.

[b]George[/b]: Well, bravo!

[b]Sir Talbot[/b]: The fact is, you *are* Regent...

[b]George[/b]: Yes, I am...
[b]
Sir Talbot[/b]: ...appointed by God, and I shall stick by you forever, though infirmity
lay me waste and ill health curse my every waking moment. (falls into the
chair)

[b]George[/b]: Ah, good on you, sir. And don't talk to me about infirmity. Why, sir, you
are the hardy stock that is the core of Britain's greatness. You have the
physique of a demigod. Purple of cheek, and plump of fatlock, the shapely
ankle and the well-filled trouser that tells of a human body in perfect
working order.

[b]Edmund[/b]: (who has found T's stillness rather odd and is checking for a pulse)
He's dead, sir.

[b]George[/b]: Dead?
[b]
Edmund[/b]: Yes, Your Highness.

[b]George[/b]: Oh, what bad luck; we were rather getting on.

[hr]

Tony Robinson and Rowan Atkinson are in fine form this series, but Hugh Laurie is remarkable and he gets some of the best lines.

 

Episode 2: 'Ink & Incapability' (first broadcast 24th September 1987)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cf/Blackadder_III_-_Ink_and_Incapability.jpg/200px-Blackadder_III_-_Ink_and_Incapability.jpg]

Plot summary:

Insult of the episode:
George: "Do you think he's a genius?"
Blackadder: "No sir, I do not. Unless, of course, the definition of genius in his ridiculous dictionary is 'a fat dullard or wobble-bottom; a pompous ass with sweaty dewflaps'."

Hail Prince George:
Samuel Johnson: "Well, I simply observed, sir, that I'm felicitous, since, during the course of the penultimate solar sojourn, I terminated my uninterrupted categorisation of the vocabulary of our post-Norman tongue."
Prince: "Well, I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds damn saucy, you lucky thing! I know some fairly liberal-minded girls, but I've never penultimated any of them in a solar sojourn, or, for that matter, been given any Norman tongue!"

Trivia:
* Robbie Coltrane guest stars as Samuel Johnson.
* Samuel Johnson actually published his dictionary in 1755 (7 years before the Prince was born) and died in 1784 (25 years before Prince George became Regent).
* Well-known poets Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge appear in this episode, hanging round Mrs. Miggins's coff