NationStates Jolt Archive

I personally love the show and I was wondering what everyone's favourite iteration was. I would have to go with Blackadder 2 as I think it is pretty much the perfect comedy.

Blackadder II or Blackadder III for me, it's a shame the best episodes are spread out over multiple series.

The first series was funny, the fourth a little less so - and the two in between were riots.

If I have to pick one... I'm going with the third season, by a tiny margin. And Doctor Johnson and Sir Talbot Buxomly are responsible for a lot of that.

Blackadder II or Blackadder III for me, it's a shame the best episodes are spread out over multiple series.

The first series was funny, the fourth a little less so - and the two in between were riots.

If I have to pick one... I'm going with the third season, by a tiny margin. And Doctor Johnson and Sir Talbot Buxomly are responsible for a lot of that.

Really? Goes Forth was my second choice, I found that the characters were far better drawn in that series than in any other. I would've had it as my favourite but I found some of it a little depressing; namely the final episode - possibly the most moving bit of comedy ever.

Four is joint favourite because it's the one that, to me, seems the most well developed series; it moves beyond comedy (still, of course, hilarious) and is a lot deeper than the other series.

The other joint favourite is three. It's just comedy genius.

I prefer II

though really its all flash (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx3eH-E6v5E&feature=related)

Really? Goes Forth was my second choice, I found that the characters were far better drawn in that series than in any other. I would've had it as my favourite but I found some of it a little depressing; namely the final episode - possibly the most moving bit of comedy ever.

The final episode was awesome. :)

Overall though, as a series, I just didn't find it as funny as the third season. What I always liked best in Blackadder was the wordplay - and that didn't really take off until the second season, and didn't really make it into the fourth.

I like the whole medieval/Renaissance theme, so Blackadder and Blackadder II for me. Those were a lot of fun.

What's for diner Baldrick?
Rat-o-Van
Rat that has been run over by a van.

Goes forth, though I like them all. Third was great with the scarlet pimpernel. Second was a blast with Lord and Lady Whiteadder and the drinking party. Brian Blessed as the King in the original cracked me up.

And heaven help you if you don't!

There's no All of the Above option. :(

There's no All of the Above option. :(

As in - you don't have a favourite, or you just don't like Blackadder?

There's no All of the Above option. :(

It was deliberate, I was trying to force you into a choice you dirty backslider! :)

As in - you don't have a favourite, or you just don't like Blackadder?
As in I love Blackadder, all the seasons and the Christmas special, equally.

As in I love Blackadder, all the seasons and the Christmas special, equally.

Pfft! Cop out and a half! Especially as Back and Forth was quite frankly a pile of wank...

It was deliberate, I was trying to force you into a choice you dirty backslider! :)
*shoots!* *gazes down at Supergroovalistic's bloodied corpse* Inner conflict resolved.

Pfft! Cop out and a half! Especially as Back and Forth was quite frankly a pile of wank...
I shot you too soon. *conducts medieval style show trial on Super's corpse and hangs it for good measure.*

I shot you too soon. *conducts medieval style show trial on Super's corpse and hangs it for good measure.*

I shall return, and I shall wreak my revenge!

As in I love Blackadder, all the seasons and the Christmas special, equally.

Ah. Agreed. Yes. Well - obviously I hold some of them above others, but it's all good. I wasn't including the extras in my thinking, though - I very much enjoyed the Christmas one. :)

Hard choice but IV wins by a hair. Comedy and tragedy combined!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_MpbMm0433I not the nine o'clock news is better. Rowan Atkinson is much better in it than Black Adder

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_MpbMm0433I not the nine o'clock news is better. Rowan Atkinson is much better in it than Black Adder

Eh. You're comparing sketch comedy to a sit-com. Not quite the same.

i know but i perfer the sketch comedy

Eh. You're comparing sketch comedy to a sit-com. Not quite the same.

Rowan Atkinson has been in a LOT of excellent things (***Mr Bean never happened, okay***), but his situation comedy stuff is his best stuff, especially when the writing is as good as it was in Blackadder. In my opinion, at least.

I rank them chonologically.

1st was the worst, 2nd better, 3rd better again, IV was best, final Christmas special was awesome.

Rowan Atkinson has been in a LOT of excellent things (***Mr Bean never happened, okay***), but his situation comedy stuff is his best stuff, especially when the writing is as good as it was in Blackadder. In my opinion, at least.

No love for Bean? :tongue: There's more than a little genius in Rowan Atkinson's physical comedy, I think, even if it lacks the comic spark of something like Blackadder. I do agree with you, though - his ability to play off other actors' cues is fantastic, even if he is gifted at mime.

Edit: great non-Bean example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihfieZBWT_E

3 or 4. I picked 4.

No love for Bean? :tongue: There's more than a little genius in Rowan Atkinson's physical comedy, I think, even if it lacks the comic spark of something like Blackadder. I do agree with you, though - his ability to play off other actors' cues is fantastic, even if he is gifted at mime.

Edit: great non-Bean example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihfieZBWT_E
I was never a huge fan of Bean until I saw "Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie" in which he works for a museum and there are adventures involving Whistler's Mother. I was working at a museum at the time, and let me tell you it spoke to all our hearts as truly understanding our pain. We actually showed the DVD at a staff event, and there wasn't a dry seat in the house. :D If anyone is thinking of getting a job at a museum so they can get paid access to high culture, see that movie first. (I think my favorite non-main-plot detail was the planning meeting where they discussed booking Bon Jovi for the unveiling tour of the iconic painting.)

They are all good. Good bits in each series. The killing of the King in the 1st episode. Lord and Lady Whiteadder and the comedy breasts... I mean earmuffs!. Tom Baker the legless captain. (In more ways that one!) from the second series! The election and suicide pills in the third. And who can forget Lord Flash, that pilot sketch has to be one of the best. Very crude, but this is Rik Mayall, it's accepted. ^^

(How can you forget the specials on the poll... *shakes fist*)

Blackadder goes forth is the funniest., and also incredibly sad.

I love Rowan Atkinson and, like the majority of you, found Blackadder goes Forth to be very funny. I loved the bittersweet ending where Blackadder's foxy wiles couldn't save him from going over the top to his and Baldrick's certain doom.

I also enjoy Baldrick (Tony Robinson) doing the archeolgical digs around Britain with the Time Team.....an interesting career move.

We love Brit comedy in Australia...... and those great BBC costume dramas, Hornblower, Dickens, Austen.
Don't let Gordon Brown nobble the Beeb! More funding for good, intelligent Brit comedy and Drama!

He's not nobbling it.

Which is good but watch him because he's a politician and that's what politicians do to save money - "in these troubled times"

Which is good but watch him because he's a politician and that's what politicians do to save money - "in these troubled times"

No, he'll just cut back on unimportant things like schools and the NHS. Then he'll throw the money at the MOD so they can get some new jeeps.

Yeah! Grins ruefully. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Getting out of Iraq must have saved a couple of quid. Education and Health etc need more funds of course - biut the BBC is the best of Britain in many ways.

Here's a save the BBC article from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/oct/06/bbc.television1

Getting out of Iraq must have saved a couple of quid.

Nice article, but what? We're still in Iraq, there are thousands of British soldiers there right now.

We gotta get out of this place
If it's the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
There's a better life for me and you.....
That song wasn't around when Blackadder's infantry went over the top but it was during the Vietnam War and I always thought the message of that song was brilliant.
I heartily commend a movie made in the 1930's called "Lost Patrol" starring Boris Karloff and Victor Mc Laughlin. A British patrol in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) finds itself lost and is gradually being picked off one by one by invisible assailants.

It's an odd and creepy film. But Mesopotamia still proves to be the battlefield and graveyard of empires.