History Recap / BlackadderSS3BlackadderBackAndForth

* CompressedVice: Baldrick's tie, machine not having any labels or clear ways to control it is purely to avoid Blackadder immediately returning to the present. Once he actually does return, Blackadder and Baldrick have enough control to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong (UsefulNotes/TheOtherWiki suggests that Baldrick presumably labelled the dials to make it easier to control, but there's little to indicate this).

* ActorAllusion: In the opening credits, there is a photo of Blackadder in Indian attire. This is a homage to Creator/RowanAtkinson's then-wife Sunetra Sastry, who did makeup on the second season and is of Indian descent.

* TakeThat: Blackadder disparages Shakespeare for being responsible for "[[Creator/KennethBranagh Ken Branagh's]] endless, uncut, 4-hour version of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''."

The final installment of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'', ''Back & Forth'' is set on New Year's Eve in 1999. The modern day Lord Edmund Blackadder and his idiotic servant Baldrick construct a time machine designed by Creator/LeonardoDaVinci as part of a prank on his party guests, betting them to give £10,000 each if he brings back a nominated item of historic significance for him to bring back - namely a Roman centurion helmet, the Duke of Wellington's iconic wellies, and a stinking pair of 18th Century underpants (provided by Baldrick). To their surprise, the time machine actually works, landing in the Cretaceous Period where they are attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Baldrick tosses the collected props at the dinosaur, successfully killing it with his underwear (apparently wiping out all dinosaurs with the stench).

Blackadder's friends go upstairs to watch the countdown for the Turn of the Millennium on television. On TV, a royal car rolls up and out steps Blackadder -- now King Edmund III -- accompanied by Maid Marian as his queen. Baldrick has become Prime Minister, and maintains a strong friendship with Blackadder. The end credits end with a teaser claiming that the sequel will be released in the year 3000!

* ActorAllusion: In the opening credits, there is a photo of Blackadder in Indian attire. This is a homage to Creator/RowanAtkinson's then-wife Sunetra Sastry, who was makeup on the second season and is of Indian descent.

* OddballInTheSeries: The only installment of ''Blackadder'' without a laughter track, and very minimal music. It is also the only one to upgrade Elizabeth I's royal court to show guards, footmen, and other officials.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: We never see precisely ''how'' Blackadder changes history to become king. Perhaps it involved changing the ending of the first season so that the first Blackadder wasn't tortured or poisoned to death, or maybe he made sure that the second Blackadder got to marry Elizabeth I and so start his own dynasty. Either way, the present-day Blackadder becomes King Edmund ''the Third''.

* ThrowTheDogABone: The episode ends with Blackadder dynasty finally achieving greatness, as Edmund uses the time machine to ensure that he becomes King. It works the Baldrick family too, as one of them gets to be Prime Minister (a puppet PM given that King Edmund III has abolished Parliament, but still).

* BookEnds: The first ''Blackadder'' series was all about Prince Edmund wanting to become king. In this special, the last of the ''Blackadder'' series, his descendant finally achieves it [[note]] the Blackadder from ''Blackadder the Third'' also achieved it in the interim, but had to pose as Prince George (later George IV) to do so[[/note]].

* ThrowTheDogABone: The episode ends with Blackadder dynasty finally achieving greatness, as Edmund uses the time machine to ensure that he becomes King. It works the Baldrick family too, as one of them gets to be Prime Minister (a puppet PM given that King Edmund has abolished Parliament, but still).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Blackadder may be a scoundrel, but he's a ''British'' scoundrel. The realization that he'd inadvertently caused England to be conquered by France horrifies him into go back into the time machine to undo the damage he'd done to history.

* HistoricalInJoke: In this version of history, the dinosaurs were killed by the smell of Baldrick's underwear. (And unlike every other change Blackadder and Baldrick make to history, they never undo this one.)

* LighterAndSofter: Though it still has the series' trademark wit and BlackComedy, the vulgarity is toned down noticeably. Blackadder, while still a {{jerkass}}, is more a petty schemer that gets caught in a plan gone wrong, and perhaps most noticeably the film ends on a surprisingly happy note that isn't at the expense of any of the main characters.

* GivingRadioToTheRomans: Because he forgot to take his pen back when getting Shakespeare's autograph, Blackadder created a new timeline where the ballpoint pen was invented a few centuries earlier.

* OddballInTheSeries: The only installment of ''Blackadder'' without a laugh track, and very minimal music. It is also the only one to upgrade Elizabeth I's royal court to show guards, footmen, and other officials.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: We never see precisely ''how'' Blackadder changes history to become king. Perhaps it involved changing the ending of the first season so that the first Blackadder wasn't tortured or poisoned to death, or maybe he made sure that the second Blackadder got to marry Elizabeth I and so start his own dynasty. Either way, the present-day Blackadder becomes the third King Edmund.

* TakeThat: Blackadder disparages Shakespeare for giving them “[[Creator/KennethBranagh Ken Branagh’s]] endless, uncut, 4-hour version of Theatre/{{Hamlet}}.”

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Inverted. After Blackadder accidentally kills the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon wins the Battle of Waterloo and succeeds in conquering Britain, rendering it (and presumably the rest of the British Empire) subservient to France. He discovers this when he returns home and is offered his reward in francs and told that the others are about to watch the President of France's New Year's speech, upon which they start singing ''La Marseillaise''. Blackadder is ''horrified'' by this.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Blackadder's reaction when he discovers that he's altered history and caused Britain to become a French colony. It's implied that he could have lived with Robin Hood and the works of Shakespeare being erased from history, but not this -- although he ends up restoring everything. For a few minutes, at least.

* OddballInTheSeries: The only installment of ''Blackadder'' without a laugh track, and very minimal music. It is also the only one to upgrade Elizabeth's royal court to show guards, footmen, and other officials.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: We never see precisely how Blackadder changes history to become king, presumably it involved changing the ending of the first season so that the first Blackadder wasn't tortured or poisoned to death.

* OddballInTheSeries: The only installment of ''Blackadder'' without a laugh track.