Blackadder: The Lost Pilot

[Ben Kirkham]

I realise I’m about a month late to this but I’ve finally got around to watching this in its entirety and decent quality for the first time ever. I’m interested in what you all thought about it?

Topic

[Jonsmad]

It’s easy to see how with hindsight they probably had something a little better in The Pilot than they did with the same episode script almost in The Blackadder. They went a bit ambitious with the spend on the series but ultimately blackadders don’t get good until Ben Elton and fry and Laurie join the party.  The other Fox baldrick isn’t that much different to the first series of Robinson as the character doesn’t get good until the second series either. 

[Dave]

Bumping this thread as I only just saw that there’s a Blackadder complete Blu-Ray set due out soon.

Disappointingly it doesn’t seem to include the pilot (or Back And Forth, apparently, making it somewhat less complete than the old DVD set).

Anyway, I was wondering what the prospects were for the upscale/remaster actually being worth checking out. I presume that at least the first series has some film elements that can be rescanned in HD, but not sure whether the rest of it is going to be in a similar position to Red Dwarf.

[MANI506]

On this very forum I said I probably wouldn’t be able to afford the Hitch Hikers and Red Dwarf blu rays until 2023. Reader, I now have those blu rays and the Hitch Hikers one especially is a treat. I’m not super enticed by the new material given the price but the  studio tapes of iconic episodes plus new commentaries means I’ll be picking this up around 2027.

[Ben Kirkham]

The blu ray set arrived today! The lack of pilot episode is extremely disappointing.

Aside from this, the episodes look great! The film sequences in the first series are excellent, the new extras are also very impressive; at last, some commentaries for series one!

[Ben Kirkham]

The best thing about the set is that it features *hours* of studio footage and film recordings, some that were never used in the broadcast episodes. The love that has gone into this set is very evident. Yes, the lack of Pilot is a shame, but it’s more than made up for in this comprehensive set!
And ‘Back and Forth’ has an optional laugh track!

[Dave]

Oh, I had thought Back and Forth wasn’t going to be on the new set.

[Ben Kirkham]

Yes, it was a pleasant surprise! I’m not a huge fan of ‘Back & Forth,’ but it looks wonderful in HD.

The upscale is far better than ‘Red Dwarf’ blu rays. The film sequences in series 1 look much richer, and the colours really pop in the studio sequences for 2-4. The studio sequences in series 1 are variable. All in all, definitely worth checking out. There’s a treasure trove of unseen stuff. And the recent version of the Pilot is doing the rounds on the internet now, too.

[Dave]

I gather the episodes are all uncut too (including Baldrick’s Christmas Carol story) – tempted to get it just for that.

[Dave]

The upscale is far better than ‘Red Dwarf’ blu rays. The film sequences in series 1 look much richer, and the colours really pop in the studio sequences for 2-4. The studio sequences in series 1 are variable. All in all, definitely worth checking out.

This is great to hear!

[Flap Jack]

Have there been any whispers about why the pilot wasn’t included on this new set? Was it just discovered too late relative to its production, is there some kind of rights difficulty, or would it have pushed it into needing an extra disc and the BBC weren’t willing to spend/charge more for it?

[Ben Kirkham]

There are whispers that legal wranglings made the release of the pilot impossible, though the team responsible for this release did their best to include it. It’s a shame, but once you’ve seen the rushes and all the raw footage of stuff that’s probably never been seen before, it more than makes up for it.
You can now watch the mini-saga of the balladeer from series 2’s end titles.

The trailers are exhaustive, the deleted scenes include whole film sequences from series 1 that I never knew existed. So much material. A feature on the editing of the final scene of ‘Goodbyeee,’ and raw footage from the recording of that episode, that really shows how tense all of the cast were feeling as they knew their characters’ fate. 

The raw footage for each episode selected (I think it’s ’Bells,’ ‘Duel and Duality,’ ‘Corporal Punishment’ and ‘Goodbyeee’) are about an hour in length each and feature Ben Elton’s studio warm-ups, introductions to the audience, breaks in the recording etc, a real opportunity to experience the atmosphere of those episodes being recorded. 

There‘s the full film sequence from ‘Bells,’ which shows Blackadder and Bob’s courting and it’s hilarious. 

I’m so happy and pleasantly surprised with the riches modestly contained within this set.

[Ben Kirkham]

Dave, if you do purchase it, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. In fact, it’s a shame this isn’t a Blackadder website, as it’s the sort of set a G and T review would be perfect for! 

[Flap Jack]

There are whispers that legal wranglings made the release of the pilot
impossible, though the team responsible for this release did their best
to include it. It’s a shame, but once you’ve seen the rushes and all the
raw footage of stuff that’s probably never been seen before, it more
than makes up for it.

Ah, OK then. I guess newly discovered pilot episodes aren’t automatically added to pre-existing home media licensing agreements, eh.

A minor shame, but as you say, not outright complaint-worthy given the embarrassment of riches that is included.

[Dave]

Dave, if you do purchase it, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. In fact, it’s a shame this isn’t a Blackadder website, as it’s the sort of set a G and T review would be perfect for! 

After hearing your thoughts I’m very tempted to get it. Like a lot of people my age I went through a period where I was hugely into Blackadder and this sounds like a real treasure trove on a par with Bodysnatcher.

[RunawayTrain]

Wow Ben, that sounds an amazing set!

I’ve needed a new external optical drive for a while, this might be what pushes me to get a blu-ray drive.  [It’s frustrating, I have a blu-ray player, but rarely get to use the TV so the player just sits doing nothing – for years, now.]

[Flap Jack]

In late-to-the-party news, I finally watched the pilot last night, as the Blu-ray chat put it in mind. I probably would have checked it out earlier, but I completely forgot that Gold (or at least a lot of its content) was included in my Now TV package. Oops.

Anyway, pretty good, I thought! Not on the level of any of the later episodes I’ve seen (including Series 1) and in particular a lot of Edmund’s put-downs felt like they could have used another draft or two, but it definitely had the right rhythm to it.

The way they’ve nested it within a documentary about it is a bit annoying though. I’d really prefer not to have seen clips and images from the pilot and heard discussions about the pilot’s content before actually getting to watch the pilot. I’d have also preferred to watch the full opening and closing credits properly, not cut to a bunch of comedians watching it at a screening and applauding in a way that felt largely performative.

I’m baffled about why they didn’t just make the pilot episode a dedicated programme, and then make the documentary aspect a separate programme shown straight after. Not only would this have alleviated the above grievances, but it would have made the documentary part better, because they could have shown a compilation of the people at the screening reacting to the episode rather than just showing the beginning and end, and they could have freely discussed more in depth about the story and jokes of the episode.

Also, unless I blacked out for it, they didn’t cover how the pilot was unearthed, which I was curious about. Maybe that story was just too boring, I don’t know.

[Warbodog]

Not on the level of any of the later episodes I’ve seen (including Series 1)

You’ve seen all of II–IVth though, right?!?!?!?!?

[Flap Jack]

Uhhhhh… well, I’ve seen the odd episode here and there. At least one from each of the later series for sure, and Christmas Carol.

I did buy a DVD set some years back with the intention of watching them all in order. I got up to the beginning of Series 2 and I was enjoying it, but I must have got distracted by something else, and have since neglected to go back to it. Now that the Blu rays are a thing, I may as well wait until I have those.

Fun fact: the DVD set I have is one of those crap ones where they’ve changed the cover to be the same style as other TV show sets in a range. This one. From The Nationalism Collection.

Also, I noticed that on this set they keep formatting Series 3 as “Blackadder III” instead of “Blackadder the Third”. What’s that about?

[Warbodog]

It probably wasn’t in your face as much when you were at the ideal age for it to make the biggest impression (like Monty Python, Bottom… actually, that probably applies to everything). I think of it as one of the Classics, but it’s not like I really ever watch it or think much about it outside of a comments thread on G&T every year or so.

[Rudolph]

In fact, it’s a shame this isn’t a Blackadder website, as it’s the sort of set a G and T review would be perfect for! 

Ganymede & Titan & Bath & Wells

[Ian Symes]

Grumbledook & Turnips

[Dave]

Like a scene from decades past, I picked up a copy of the Blu-Ray set from HMV today. I think that’ll go under my Christmas tree this year. Thanks Ben!

[Flap Jack]

It probably wasn’t in your face as much when you were at the ideal age for it to make the biggest impression (like Monty Python, Bottom… actually, that probably applies to everything). I think of it as one of the Classics, but it’s not like I really ever watch it or think much about it outside of a comments thread on G&T every year or so.

Perhaps, though it still felt like an easy thing to hear about in the mid to late oughts, what with list shows and UKTV repeats, so the opportunity to be fully hooked was there. I was probably just too fixated on Red Dwarf and The Simpsons and Scrubs to give it consideration. Remember Scrubs? Oh, the japes that were had.

[Unrumble]

I was probably just too fixated on Red Dwarf and The Simpsons and Scrubs to give it consideration. Remember Scrubs? Oh, the japes that were had.

I was hooked on Scrubs in my teens during the early-mid 00’s. Don’t think I’ve seen it in over a decade, whereas Red Dwarf has endured. As has The Simpsons (up to about season 11) to an extent.

[Jonathan Capps]

Oh man, I’d take the chance to rediscover Blackadder all over again.

[Warbodog]

Oh man, I’d take the chance to rediscover Blackadder all over again.

I remember when I started secondary school and discovered that the library not only had a bunch of unseen Red Dwarf series on video, but also that apparently Blackadder wasn’t just a war series, there was all this other stuff. A stupendous moment in my own personal history.

[Flap Jack]

Blackadder is kind of the opposite of Red Dwarf when you think about it.

Red Dwarf – set in the future, Blackadder – set in the past.

Red Dwarf – lost a dedicated co-writer and got worse, Blackadder – gained a dedicated co-writer and got better.

Red Dwarf – started using Roman numerals after its second series, Blackadder – ditched Roman numerals after its second series.

Red Dwarf – starts R-E-D-D, Blackadder – ends D-D-E-R.

Red Dwarf – has an episode called “White Hole”, Blackadder – has an episode called “The Black Seal”.

[Formica]

White Hole

You mean the White Adder?

[Warbodog]

Red Dwarf is regional scum, while Bladders is Oxbridge establishment.

[Dave]

Blackadder is kind of the opposite of Red Dwarf when you think about it.
Red Dwarf – set in the future, Blackadder – set in the past.
Red Dwarf – lost a dedicated co-writer and got worse, Blackadder – gained a dedicated co-writer and got better.
Red Dwarf – started using Roman numerals after its second series, Blackadder – ditched Roman numerals after its second series.
Red Dwarf – starts R-E-D-D, Blackadder – ends D-D-E-R.
Red Dwarf – has an episode called “White Hole”, Blackadder – has an episode called “The Black Seal”.

Red Dwarf kills off most of its cast in its series opener, Blackadder kills off most of its cast in its series finales.

[Rudolph]

Both shows lost a main character – Rimmer and Percy – for a series, only for them to make a return playing a slightly different character in the next one; which would turn out to be the final series (for a while for one of them, anyway).

[Ben Kirkham]

I remember being extremely upset with the death of the first Blackadder when I was 10 years old, maybe it’s the sad hymn at the end. Doesn’t affect me at all now.

But the only really affecting one is the conclusion to Goes Forth, which is a masterpiece.

The Third is my personal favourite series, and I love that Blackadder wins at the end of it!

[International Debris]

They both currently end on a feature length special: one is awful, the other is great.

[tombow]

seeing as we’re discussing the roots of other BBC comedies, I watched Manos – the Hands of Fate last night, and… how “league of gentlemen” is this?  Esp with the whole “being trapped in a rural town you can’t leave” thing. (skip to 44 mins for some very League like voices/mannerisms).

[Flap Jack]

As Warbodog asked, my thoughts upon my (re)watch of Series 1 of Blackadder, aka “The Black Adder”:

– It had been so long since I last saw this, that I didn’t twig just how much of episode 2 is a direct copy of the pilot, like pretty much all of it, which is impressive given the hundred year setting difference. It makes the pilot’s absence from the box set sting a little less. And the Series 1 version has Tony Robinson, Brian Blessed, and the proper version of the theme song, so it’s obviously the superior version. Although the pilot version does have Robert “Todhunter” Bathurst himself.

– Right off the bat the production quality is great – the costumes, the sets, the location work, the visual effects, and the prominence of music from Howard Goodall is almost Red Dwarf-esque. I don’t think the show needed to grow in that regard.

– On top of it being unfair that Series 1 has the reputation of being bad, I realised that it’s also unfair that Series 1 Edmund is known as the “stupid” counterpart to the versions of later series. While he definitely has his moments of clumsiness and duncery (episode 1 is probably when he’s at his stupidest), he’s still always coming up with verbose put-downs and schemes, and he’s most often playing the straight man to Percy (and even to Baldrick on very rare occasion). The vast majority of Series 1 Edmund dialogue you could give to the later Blackadders with very little editing. It’s just in Series 1 Rowan Atkinson delivers those lines in a silly voice while making a face and wearing an especially stupid looking outfit. He’s far from being a un-mute Mr. Bean in this, and the fact that they were able to remake the pilot (where his performance was more like Series 2-4) without really changing Edmund’s dialogue or his characterisation much kind of proves that. In fact, it’s obvious Harry is a much bigger idiot than Edmund on average.

– I will concede however, that Edmund in Series 1 is compromised in his characterisation, and it leaves the overall dynamic unbalanced. Because you have Edmund who is generally clever, but he has a stupid voice and stupid expressions, and will suddenly become stupid if a plot point or a joke requires it. Then you have Percy as the reliably stupid one, and Baldrick as the notionally most clever one, but Baldrick really doesn’t contribute much, so he kind of feels like he’s just… there a lot of the time.

– It was pretty bold how much weirdness they put into the setting with this one. Not just the ahistorical “Richard IV” stuff, but the supernatural stuff too. Episode 1 has both witches and a ghost, and episode 5 is resolved with voodoo. I’m not sure whether I like it or not, but it’s striking.

– Brian Blessed doesn’t just steal every scene he’s in, he more or less steals all the episodes too. His presence is consistently delightful. However good the later series are, Series 1 will always have that over them.

– Episode 4 might be my favourite of the series, for having Jim Broadbent and Miriam Margoyles (who had an unfairly difficult task in selling herself as repulsive, but managed to sell it well enough by just looking constantly crazed), and it gave us some genuine continuity with Edmund’s marriage to Princess Leia. Although she was absent from episode 6, so I hope she got out OK.

– Why wasn’t Rik Mayall credited in episode 6? Was it just too obvious it was him, like a Stan Lee cameo in a Marvel movie? Or did he just find the idea of “Mad Gerald as Himself” so funny a credit that he was willing to be uncredited?

– Does it seem strange to anyone else that Edmund’s killing of Richard 3 never comes back to bite him? Not that it was needed, but it seemed like the kind of thing that would have played into the final episode. Considering he cruelly abandons Percy and Baldrick in episode 6, and they know his secret, you’d expect them to use that against him. I guess they’re just ride-or-die Black Adder Buds. “Do you think that I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?” as Dr. Who once said, except this time said about someone who has been a selfish arsehole throughout the friendship.

– Speaking of Doctor Who, IAN CHESTERTON IS IN EPISODE 3???

[Warbodog]

It may be unfair and exaggerated, but I can only see series 1 as divorced from the other three. Not to the Red Dwarf VII/VIII level though, since they’re obviously better than those, and lesser in very different ways, but not a compulsory part of the package for me. I always found the Witchsmeller episode pretty tedious and overly silly though.

The vast majority of Series 1 Edmund dialogue you could give to the later Blackadders with very little editing. It’s just in Series 1 Rowan Atkinson delivers those lines in a silly voice while making a face

I had the (nicely period-illustrated) script book as a kid, with its ‘Blackadder’s best insults’ section across all the series that felt consistent on the page. I just mentally read them in the ‘normal’ voice.

[Flap Jack]

My thoughts upon completing my first full watch of Series 2 of Blackadder, aka “Blackadder The One After The First One”:

First of all, falling in live with boys is not weird, you stupid homophobic theme singer, fuck you. It’s slightly unfortunate that as that’s the variant of the ending theme used in episode 1, it’s playing on loop on the main disc menu. And “especially boys without a dingle”? What’s that supposed to mean – transphobia as well, just for good measure?

Outside of the theme song though, the episode actually feels moderately progressive for the mid 80s. Edmund is totally at peace with the possibility that he might be gay (or more realistically bi, if TV shows of this era could acknowledge such a thing) and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with it, he’s just concerned with how society will treat him. If your heart is fully committed to it, you could even take Blackadder being attracted to both a woman in drag – in episode 1 – and a man in drag – as recalled in episode 6 – as a sign that Blackadder II is technically queer representation.

Oh, and there were some other episodes. All pretty good, I suppose.

P.S. I trust it’s a well established fan theory that Blackadder’s drinking buddy in episode 4 played by Hugh Laurie was secretly Prince Ludwig, right?

P.P.S. I’d heard that the cast being killed off was a series tradition, and while I wasn’t expecting something on the level of Series 4 I was at least expecting it to feel as earned as Series 1. Instead it was an incredibly tacked on post credits scene that seemed to serve no purpose other than to suddenly end the show on a downbeat note. Were they afraid that the BBC would force them to make another Elizabethan era series against their will, and did that to make it impossible? Here’s hoping the ending to Series 3 is at least a bit less shit than that.

[Dave]

First of all, falling in live with boys is not weird, you stupid homophobic theme singer, fuck you. It’s slightly unfortunate that as that’s the variant of the ending theme used in episode 1, it’s playing on loop on the main disc menu. And “especially boys without a dingle”? What’s that supposed to mean – transphobia as well, just for good measure?

The minstrel is meant to have an actively antagonistic relationship with Blackadder, which you can see play out in full if you watch all the closing credits back-to-back (which is a nice option on the new Blu-Ray set). It’s not like he’s explicitly representing the views of the programme-makers or anything. 

[Flap Jack]

True enough, but regardless of whether the singer is meant to be a protagonist or antagonist, ultimately we’re still meant to find his songs funny. And as Blackadder is the star of a sitcom and not a virtuous hero, songs lambasting him are clearly intended to ring true, to an extent.

It’s like the end of Dear Dave. You can analyse how we’re not really meant to be on his side, but when it comes down to it, if a character says something sexist and it gets a big laugh, chance is good the laugh is for the sexism not against it.

[Dave]

The whole Bob plot of a woman pretending to be a boy so that she can get a job is straight out of Shakespeare, Viola in Twelfth Night basically (which would have been extra funny in Shakespeare’s time because a female character like Viola would have been played by a boy). So the plot is more riffing on that than any true homosexual or transgender aspect.

In terms of the song lyrics, Blackadder is heterosexual and so falling in love with a boy is weird for him (on some subconscious level he perhaps realises Bob is really Kate), and I think Kate is always pretty clear that she considers herself a woman and is just pretending to be a man rather than genuinely feeling that she is changing gender during her deception. So the song is really just summarising the plot.

[Warbodog]

The scene at the doctor’s is the low point for me, but Bells, Head & Money are still my faves. The ever-looming, unpredictable threat of Queenie is amazing, but her entourage make it a bit too crowded to be my favourite incarnation.

[Flap Jack]

The whole Bob plot of a woman pretending to be a boy so that she can get a job is straight out of Shakespeare, Viola in Twelfth Night basically (which would have been extra funny in Shakespeare’s time because a female character like Viola would have been played by a boy). So the plot is more riffing on that than any true homosexual or transgender aspect.

In terms of the song lyrics, Blackadder is heterosexual and so falling in love with a boy is weird for him (on some subconscious level he perhaps realises Bob is really Kate), and I think Kate is always pretty clear that she considers herself a woman and is just pretending to be a man rather than genuinely feeling that she is changing gender during her deception. So the song is really just summarising the plot.

Of course, I understand the allusion being made, and I don’t have a problem with the plot in general, I’m just picking at the song. The way I see it, the minstrel is meant to have a Greek chorus quality to him, and so however you justify it (obviously if he’s an actual 16th century minstrel, he’ll have just the same prejudices as anyone else from the era), the effect just doesn’t feel right.

It’s also way too much of a reach to judge the meaning as “falling in love with boys is weird… for you specifically, as a heterosexual man” when clearly it was meant to be an echo of the doctor’s viewpoint, that being gay is just weird in general.

And I agree that Kate is obviously not meant to be trans, but the only way I can make sense of that line of the song is if the singer is generically grouping all masculine or gender non-confirming women (a group which includes trans men too, in the mind of the bigoted) together as uniquely unattractive freaks. Otherwise the comment of “fancying a boy is weird… especially if it’s actually a girl!” makes no sense.

Anyway, it’s not really a big deal as it’s just the credits music, and the episode is pretty great overall. I just found it noteworthy that the minstrel would make this kind of first impression.

[Dave]

It’s a fair point, especially viewing it through a 2024 lens. But I always felt as though the story is more about Blackadder being weirded out that he’s suddenly started fancying a boy when it’s out of character for him as a womaniser, rather than general gay panic stuff. Maybe that comes from having first watched it as a kid though and seeing it through more innocent eyes.

The doctor character is a different thing though and feels a bit more uneasy, although I guess that’s partly meant to be a reflection of the times and there’s an attempt to do something unexpected by having him handle it all so matter-of-factly too.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Here’s hoping the ending to Series 3 is at least a bit less shit than that.

Without spoiling anything, you won’t be disappointed.

[International Debris]

I honestly just took it as Elizabethan attitudes being represented, nothing more.

I always found the doctor’s matter-of-fact acceptance of it and half-arsed condemnation to be a representation of a lot of so-called conservatives: fully aware that these things happen, puts on the front of judgment but deep down probably doesn’t give that much of a shit. Some of the humour certainly comes from how little he reacts or cares.

The real question is: if the Wise Woman knows Bob’s name, does that mean she’s really magic?

As for the ending, I dunno, it’s just a gag, isn’t it? They knew it was gonna be the last one so thought it’d be funny to kill everyone off. It’s interesting to see it talked about in such a modern way, I suppose having the foreknowledge that each series ends in a certain way might do that. “Earned” suggests a certain amount of dramatic intent which, for those middle two series in particular, I don’t think was even on Curtis and Elton’s radar. It’s just 30 minutes of sarcasm with a bit of farce and satire sprinkled in really, isn’t it? 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Here’s hoping the ending to Series 3 is at least a bit less shit than that.

Without spoiling anything, you won’t be disappointed.

The ending of series three is probably the biggest laugh of the whole of Blackadder for me. 

[Warbodog]

The ending of series three is probably the biggest laugh of the whole of Blackadder for me. 

I wouldn’t know where to start on choosing funniest bits, just thinking about series II has brought a load of them to mind. “By a thousand-to-one chance, my willy got in the way” etc etc.

[Author]

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