Best Blackadder series?
Poll: Best Blackadder series?
Total Members Polled: 334
Discussion
e46acs said:
I went for the 3rd one, just. And although it does not get a love in comparison to the rest, I am a big fan of the first series. Brian Blessed & Peter Cook, powerhouse's!
Had to look Peter Cook up, as I couldn't remember him being in it at all, it was just one episode, so my memory isn't failing as much as I first thought. 
vixen1700 said:
e46acs said:
I went for the 3rd one, just. And although it does not get a love in comparison to the rest, I am a big fan of the first series. Brian Blessed & Peter Cook, powerhouse's!
Had to look Peter Cook up, as I couldn't remember him being in it at all, it was just one episode, so my memory isn't failing as much as I first thought. 
3-2-4-1 for me.
Series 3: I love the episode with Dr. Johnson ("Please accept my most enthusiastic... contrafribularities") the most out of that series, but I don't think there's a bad one in that entire run.
Series 2: The only episode I wasn't massively keen on was the one with Prince Ludwig, but I wouldn't say it was a weak episode.
Series 4: Overall, good fun, the last scene is incredible and very moving, but there's just too many nonsensical similes going on ("This is the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun.") They only work because of Rowan's delivery, but it's pretty bad writing IMO. Melchett is fantastic in this series though, and "Certainly! You should hear the noise she makes when she eats a boiled egg!" is something of a catchphrase whenever I'm talking about my other half's sister.
Series 1: No doubt that it's the weakest, but it's improved with rewatching and is still good TV. The simpering Blackadder just doesn't work though, I'm glad they changed it for 2 onwards.
Series 3: I love the episode with Dr. Johnson ("Please accept my most enthusiastic... contrafribularities") the most out of that series, but I don't think there's a bad one in that entire run.
Series 2: The only episode I wasn't massively keen on was the one with Prince Ludwig, but I wouldn't say it was a weak episode.
Series 4: Overall, good fun, the last scene is incredible and very moving, but there's just too many nonsensical similes going on ("This is the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun.") They only work because of Rowan's delivery, but it's pretty bad writing IMO. Melchett is fantastic in this series though, and "Certainly! You should hear the noise she makes when she eats a boiled egg!" is something of a catchphrase whenever I'm talking about my other half's sister.
Series 1: No doubt that it's the weakest, but it's improved with rewatching and is still good TV. The simpering Blackadder just doesn't work though, I'm glad they changed it for 2 onwards.
2-3-CC-4-1
I didn't quite get on with 4, I know it was clever, but it over stretched it for me, it's like someone told the writers that it's funniest when Baldrick comes up with a 'cunning plan' and Blackadder then knocks it down with a lengthy simile, so there was very little else.
Baldrick - "Sir I have a cunning plan, I'm going to do X so I won't have to fight/die".
Blackadder - "Ah yes, that has to be the stupidest of cunning plans since Helmut the Twangler (or similar) decided to shave his X with Y and resulting Z went 'Wibble'"
Seemed a little bit too repetitive and forced for me, 2 & 3 were just clever yet gloriously silly, it's a shame that British TV can't make anything remotely funny any more, this programme stands head and shoulders above every British sitcom since.
I didn't quite get on with 4, I know it was clever, but it over stretched it for me, it's like someone told the writers that it's funniest when Baldrick comes up with a 'cunning plan' and Blackadder then knocks it down with a lengthy simile, so there was very little else.
Baldrick - "Sir I have a cunning plan, I'm going to do X so I won't have to fight/die".
Blackadder - "Ah yes, that has to be the stupidest of cunning plans since Helmut the Twangler (or similar) decided to shave his X with Y and resulting Z went 'Wibble'"
Seemed a little bit too repetitive and forced for me, 2 & 3 were just clever yet gloriously silly, it's a shame that British TV can't make anything remotely funny any more, this programme stands head and shoulders above every British sitcom since.
qube_TA said:
I didn't quite get on with 4, I know it was clever, but it over stretched it for me, it's like someone told the writers that it's funniest when Baldrick comes up with a 'cunning plan' and Blackadder then knocks it down with a lengthy simile, so there was very little else.
Baldrick - "Sir I have a cunning plan, I'm going to do X so I won't have to fight/die".
Blackadder - "Ah yes, that has to be the stupidest of cunning plans since Helmut the Twangler (or similar) decided to shave his X with Y and resulting Z went 'Wibble'"
Seemed a little bit too repetitive and forced for me, 2 & 3 were just clever yet gloriously silly, it's a shame that British TV can't make anything remotely funny any more, this programme stands head and shoulders above every British sitcom since.
Totally agree... It became a parody of itself. I can recall thinking I might not bother watching to the end of the series when it was first shown (Although I was glad I did).Baldrick - "Sir I have a cunning plan, I'm going to do X so I won't have to fight/die".
Blackadder - "Ah yes, that has to be the stupidest of cunning plans since Helmut the Twangler (or similar) decided to shave his X with Y and resulting Z went 'Wibble'"
Seemed a little bit too repetitive and forced for me, 2 & 3 were just clever yet gloriously silly, it's a shame that British TV can't make anything remotely funny any more, this programme stands head and shoulders above every British sitcom since.
M.
Third for me.
I was always a bigger fan of II, but I didn't watch any of them for several years before buying the complete boxset.
The Black Adder - finding its feet, several episodes didn't work, but it had its moments. I still maintain that 'The Archbishop' is among the best episodes of any of the Blackadder series. That scene where Archbishop Blackadder, Bishop Percy and Brother Baldrick are running through the ways they can make money out of the church cracks me up every time. 'The Queen Of Spain's Beard' is another good one. "Help! In 24 hours I'm going to be married to a walrus." Brian Blessed is good value too.
Blackadder II - still hilarious after all these years. Best one to watch when drunk.
Blackadder The Third - really surprised me second time around. The quality of the writing is absolutely superb. Easily the best.
Blackadder Goes Forth - As others have said, a little bit over-written. That said, you realise that after a while all the stories are essentially the same (Blackadder and his men come up with an idea to escape the trenches, it doesn't work). Final scene is still a masterstroke.
Blackadder's Christmas Carol - Quite good, feels like the final episode of The Third, but it's lifted into comedy genius territory for the sake of one single line: "No, I didn't vanquish the Nibble-Pibblies because you just made them up."
Blackadder Back & Forth - It's OK. One aspect of it that the writers admitted to was the opportunity to do a Roman version of Blackadder, which was an option years earlier that they never went with in the end. You only get a brief glimpse of it, but you realise it would've been great had they done a series, with Blackadder as a Roman Legionary stationed on Hadrian's Wall. Same goes for that Civil War-era sketch they did for the Royal Variety Show, with Stephen Fry as Charles I.
I was always a bigger fan of II, but I didn't watch any of them for several years before buying the complete boxset.
The Black Adder - finding its feet, several episodes didn't work, but it had its moments. I still maintain that 'The Archbishop' is among the best episodes of any of the Blackadder series. That scene where Archbishop Blackadder, Bishop Percy and Brother Baldrick are running through the ways they can make money out of the church cracks me up every time. 'The Queen Of Spain's Beard' is another good one. "Help! In 24 hours I'm going to be married to a walrus." Brian Blessed is good value too.
Blackadder II - still hilarious after all these years. Best one to watch when drunk.
Blackadder The Third - really surprised me second time around. The quality of the writing is absolutely superb. Easily the best.
Blackadder Goes Forth - As others have said, a little bit over-written. That said, you realise that after a while all the stories are essentially the same (Blackadder and his men come up with an idea to escape the trenches, it doesn't work). Final scene is still a masterstroke.
Blackadder's Christmas Carol - Quite good, feels like the final episode of The Third, but it's lifted into comedy genius territory for the sake of one single line: "No, I didn't vanquish the Nibble-Pibblies because you just made them up."
Blackadder Back & Forth - It's OK. One aspect of it that the writers admitted to was the opportunity to do a Roman version of Blackadder, which was an option years earlier that they never went with in the end. You only get a brief glimpse of it, but you realise it would've been great had they done a series, with Blackadder as a Roman Legionary stationed on Hadrian's Wall. Same goes for that Civil War-era sketch they did for the Royal Variety Show, with Stephen Fry as Charles I.
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