Blackadder

Hmm, erm, I'm not entirely sure about the Ho Yay in Blackadder. I'll tell you what I am sure about though: Macbeth.

The third series is probably my favourite too, that incarnation of Blackadder is just so delightfully devilish and Baldrick has more moments of... not being so typically Baldrick-y I suppose. He's still officially the fool obviously, but the idea that he probably secretly hates everyone above him is toyed around with now and then.

Got lots of love for the second and fourth though, not that I hate the first or anything. It's just a little awkward to me, though that might be because I started with the second series myself.

Back and Forth... eh, it was fun. As said, the circumstances of producing it were very clear. Loved seeing Mayall again though, as always.

The Christmas Carol parody was enjoyable, mostly because the ultimate subversion is so obvious from the off. But it's funny because it's Blackadder and because Fridge Logic is involved in-story so cheekily.

Aarrgh! Hot potato, off his drawers, Puck will make amends, nggh!

I think the second series is my favourite, closely followed by third, fourth, then first. I think the second was the most consistently funny. The episode where Lord and Lady Whiteadder come to dinner on the same night as Blackadder's booze-up is some of the cleverest Bottle Episode writing I've ever seen - almost the entire thing is in one set.

Yeah, I loved stuff like how he said goodbye to Mr. B that one time. "You lazy, big-nosed, rubberfaced bastard." And the fact that the prince was even stupider than him.

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

I think the series just got better as it went on. Goes Forth always seems to me like it has the best lines, and I love the more world-weary Blackadder rather more than the downright bastard Blackadder. i still think II and Third are excellent but not quite as good, and the first series I've not actually seen much of (hardly ever seems to get shown. I wonder if it falls into Old Shame territory?)

I have Back & Forth on DVD. I loved it when I first saw it and it was actually what got me into the series. Looking back on it now it's more okay, really. I think I liked the concept rather more than the excecution, if only in comparison to the series proper.

It doesn't matter whether the glass is half empty or half full. I am still going to drink through a silly straw.

I just discovered this show and was hooked after watching the pilot. Being a lover of British humor and history, this kind of stuff naturally appeals to me. I actually started watching it to familiarize myself with BRIAN BLESSED, who is awesome as Richard IV. SLIT THEIR GIZZARDS! He and Edmund*

are my favorite characters so far. Oh, and I love the Gratuitous Shakespeare. There are few things that please me more than Gratuitous Shakespeare.

edited 13th Dec '11 11:17:30 PM by Mort08

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Anyone else tear up at the ending of Goes Forth?

Hell yes. That's the reason why Blackadder is my all-time favorite TV show.

Season 2, because Blackadder had the Queen to play off of, and Percy is funnier than George.

Never trust anyone who uses "degenerate" as an insult.

I just watched the first episode of Season 2.

I didn't think it was possible for the start of a show's new season to be better than the whole previous season, but it was. Oh Lord, it was.

edited 12th Feb '12 10:59:40 PM by Mort08

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The second's my favorite, as well, for much the same reasons. Hugh Laurie's a fine actor, but the Prince was a bit much for my taste. George in Forth was a definite improvement, but I feel the second still had the most sustained humor.

[Scene: Pearly Gates, St Peter at the lecturn]

Enter Lord Rikheart.

Hiya Pete. Tell God to move over, I'm here now. And get Allah to send over those 72 Virgins. WOOF!

Yep. I hope it went down exactly like that. I heard it on the BBC News and my jaw bounced off my mattress and hung there for about a minute.

Poor Rik Mayall. Dead before sixty. Rest in peace, Lord Flashheart.

It looks like there really were World War I veterans called Captain Blackadder, Private Baldrick, Lieutenant George, and Captain Darling.

The moral I take from that story is "Piss off, Michael Gove, you are as full of crap as usual!"

Good story as well.

Very cool.

Reminded me of this factoid that the most unrealistic thing about that season was Captain Darling being named Kevin- Kevin is a Gaelic name that was pretty much nonexistent in England during the time.

Edit, edit, edit, edit the wiki

I only have one thing to say to you:

MACBETH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck shall make amends! Nnngh!

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

You mean you have to do that every time I say Macbeth?

I say what is all this shouting and screaming and yelling blue murder?

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck shall make amends! Nnngh!

So watching season 2 episode 1. They take Sweet on Polly Oliver and play it straight into the ground. 'Tis a thing of beauty.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Happens again in the 4th series with the same character. Kate/Bob is brilliant!

The whole thing is very enteratining, but Series 4's Bolivian Army Ending was...

"Why can't we just stop, sir? Why couldn't we just say "No more killing, let's all go 'ome?" Why would it be stupid just to pack it in, sir? Why?!"

"Good luck, everyone."

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

I like the rapidly escalating stakes of Season 2's plots, and that version of Edmund was the deadpannest of snarkers— he got the best dialogue. Mr E Blackadder gets to win, but that seems like the lesser consolation, somehow, what with what seemed to be a higher reliance on slapstick and anachronism rather than dialogue. Season 4 is carried aloft on the shoulders of Stephen Fry. That ending alway gets to me. Hell, even those opening credits, too, knowing what they're leading toward.

I have a horrifying headcanon about Season 4.

One which ruins its poignancy but it black comedy at the series side and helps explain the subsequent serial.

They went over the wall....and Edmund threw himself on the ground behind everyone else just before the bullets flew.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.