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"Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989)

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36 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :-
A True History Lesson, 25 August 2002
Author: Sonatine97 (sonatine97@hotmail.com) from Birmingham, England

This forth and final series is perhaps the best of all the Black Adder episodes; it is also more of a tragi-comedy than just plain old slapstick perhaps because at the time (1989) the events of WW1 were very much in the minds of a lot of people, whether it be surviving soldiers or relatives.

As such there was some controversy when it was first broadcast by the BBC for its apparent lack of respect to those who fought and lost their lives for the sake of freedom & democracy.

However, in retrospect, this isn't strictly true because even with Episode One there is a tangible shift in tone from previous Black Adder series. Yes some of the slapstick tomfoolery is still there, mainly at the expense of poor gormless Private Baldrick. But in addition a lot of the supposedly funny lines do have quite serious undertones, and bely the real truth of the sheer lunacy & farce that went on during the real war.

For those that know their 20th Century history, WW1 was seen as a complete disaster for all and sundry, especially for the British soldiers in the trenches. Because they were being commanded & told how to fight a war by the most repulsive upper-class morons that call themselves Generals that ever wore a uniform.

This was plainly represented by the bumbling fool, General Melchett (a wonderfully bemusing performance from stephen Fry). Melchett simply has know idea of what life really is like for the troops on the frontline while he prattles on 35 miles behind the frontline in some safe palacial mansion where the most dangerous hazard to his life is whether he can unscrew a cork out of a champagne bottle without hitting him in the face.

Melchett is a complete buffoon but only Captain Blackadder realises this, everyone else thinks the General knows what he is doing. So it is no wonder that Blackadder wants to mutiny because its a hard choice deciding who the real enemy is - the Germans or his own Generals. For example:-

General Melchett: Are you looking forward to the big push?

Private Baldrick: No sir, I'm absolutely terrified.

General Melchett: The healthy humor of the honest, Tommy. Don't worry my boy, if you should falter, remember that Captain Darling and I are behind you.

Edmund Blackadder: About thirty-five miles behind you.

This dark humour is wonderfully interwoven with the usual witty lines thanks largely to the writers, Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. It is typically anti-war but with good reason. As Blackadder declares in one episode

"with 50,000 men being killed every week who is going to miss one dead pigeon!"

The madness of this war also draws our attention to those very same frontline troops such as Blackadder, Baldrick & Lieutenant George. Their living conditions are disgusting & the fear of being shot or bombed out of their trench a very real possibility.

The humour is just an adjunct to the real horrors that are going on in their lives, and this is beautifully concluded in the very sad finale. No longer did the critics argue this series lacked any respect because come the final few minutes of Episode Six we were treated to the sad demise of all those soldiers fading into time and replaced by the infamous poppy fields that strewn Northern France.

Blackadder Goes Forth is far more intelligent than a lot of sitcoms; the writing and acting is exceptionally good, and also underpins the true human sacrifice the millions of soldiers gave to their King & country while the smug & arrogant Generals went home to more medals, honours and riches than ever before.

School children of today find reading about history boring & not very relevant. But thanks to this series I am sure young & olds alike will find this far more interesting, absorbing, damming & shocking than any written word on the subject could ever say.

War Is Hell!

****/*****

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25 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Wickedly funny, 31 July 2001
Author: wbhickok (wbhickok@hotmail.com) from California

The scathing wit by Rowan Atkinson is at it's peak, in this, the forth Blackadder series. Everyone in this series is top drawer, Hugh Laurie as the dimwitted George. Stephen Fry as the insane Melchert and Tony Robinson as the repulsive, but loveable Baldrick. The episode where George is Blackadders lawyer is a riot. No show has ever pointed out the pointless lunacy of war better than this, with a series finale that is remarkably somber and very stirring. A very well done show all around.

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18 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
-, 12 February 1999
Author: Mike Sh. (michaelshannon123@comcast.net) from Lowell MA

My favorite of the Blackadder series (I love 'em all!). A very funny series about a rather grim subject. Rowan Atkinson, better known in the States for his Mr. Bean character, shows here (as in his other Blackadder incarnations) that he's as good at verbal comedy as he is at physical comedy. This series is funny all the way up to its somewhat surprising ending. Also, very illuminating to me as an American regarding the British slant on the war to end all wars...

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15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Fine sitcom, 21 February 2001
Author: Tom May (joycean_chap@hotmail.com) from Sunderland, England

Probably the best of the four series, although the last three are all on a par really. The usual excellent one-liners, witticisms and comic characters are there, but with a very serious, tragic context. There is an added pathos, particularly in the last episode, "Goodbyeeee", which is one of the finest half-hours of comedy no less. The second episode, "Corporal Punishment" is surely one of the very best Blackadders, with Blackadder murdering Melchett's pigeon, Speckled Jim... A hilarious episode there. Yes, maybe the plots are more consistent and original in series 2, but this series makes the best use of the historical period, which is, of course, World War 1. Special mention must be made of Rowan Atkinson's consistently excellent portrayal of the cynical Blackadder, Stephen Fry gives one of the finest caricatured performances you'll ever see as the insane Gen. Melchett and the excellent Hugh Laurie impresses as the ever-optimistic yet idiotic Bertie Wooster-type, Young George. A must-see, even if you've seen it so many times before... If you haven't yet seen it, a veritable feast awaits. Rating:- ***** (out of *****)

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
British comedy at its best, 25 July 2003
Author: Phil from Belgium

Forget "The Royle Family", forget "My Family", if you want a good example of British comedy, watch blacadder goes forth. In my opinion the best series of the lot; it has everything. Brilliant scripts, faultless acting and sarcastic and hilarious humour. My favorite episode has to be Captain Cook simply because it is so sarcastic and mocking of real life; both now and in the trenches of WWI. Facts that in history books seem shocking are made into hilarious situations, like the lack of food or the dangers of flying in aeroplanes of the era. Without doubt the best British comedy since Monty Python. See it.

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
WWI comedy series with great lines, 3 December 1998

Author: Stefan Kahrs from Canterbury, England

While I can think of plenty of WWII comedies, comedies about WWI are few and far between. Okay, there is Chaplin's Shoulder Arms, but then I fail to think of anything - apart from these glorious 6 half-hour long pieces of British Comedy. There are reasons for this scarcity, most notably that hardly anything happened during the war, except that millions of soldiers died in their muddy trenches. Not much room for a comedy writer to get his teeth into, is there?

Well, watch this and you'd be surprised how much one can squeeze out of that setting. The main angle is the absurdity of it all, which our hero, Edmund Blackadder, is fully aware of. Alas, he's the only one and so his cynicisms and sarcasms remain undetected by the other characters. The highlights of the series are thus Blackadder's one-liners (well, often a bit longer than one line).

If you have grown up watching TV comedy US style only then you may find the conclusion of the series rather disturbing.

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
"Forth" Conquers!, 1 November 2005
Author: Pickwick12 from Ft. Myers, FL

As a huge fan of Hogan's Heroes, I was attracted to the vague similarities to it that exist in "Blackadder Goes Forth." But this series has British charm and hilarity all its own. All the Balckadder series are funny, but I believe this one is the best. The episode in which Blackadder is on trial is a favorite, as is the final episode.

Hugh Laurie, one of my favorite actors, does a marvelous job as George "last of the tiddlywinking leapfroggers" and, of course, Baldrick and Blackadder play off one another seamlessly. The slightly more serious nature of the subject matter does not seem forced. In fact, the humor makes the ending more affecting.

Blackadder has become a British classic, and this installment lives up to the others and surpasses them in spots. In my mind, Blackadder and his friends will forever be frozen in time, going "over the top."

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Goodbyeee, 27 February 2005
Author: didi-5 from United Kingdom

This final Blackadder series to date (I'm not counting Back and Forth, that one off for the end of the 20th century, because it was disappointing) was set in the Great War, where Blackadder and his fellow soldiers (Baldrick and George - Tony Robinson and Hugh Laurie) had to cope with the blithering idiocy of General Melchett (the incomparable Stephen Fry) who liked nothing better than shouting and belittling his private secretary, Cpt Darling (played winningly by Tim McInnerny, who had of course been a regular fixture of Blackadder's first two series).

With an episode which involved George dragging up for a camp show, the famous final episode which sent our heroes over the top, and the episode where Blackadder made a play to leave the war to become troop artist in Paris, this series was a worthy sign-off to a long-running comedy classic.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
a fitting end to Blackadder, 24 May 2005
Author: Tob147258 from Manchester

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

SPOILERS Six years after the name Edmund Blackadder first appeared on television, and the series of "Blackadder" finished (at least at time of writing) strongly with a final series to be proud of. This time set in the trenches of the First World War, "Blackadder Goes Forth" contains some brilliant episodes and finishes with the most memorable and poignant conclusion of any television series period. The War is approaching it's end. Three years after the killing of Franz Ferdinand the war is in it's second to last year. That conclusion, one which will come too late to spare millions of lives, is prayed for each day by so many men in trenches across Europe. Captain Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) hopes to see that day, and remembers fondly the old days when the toughest opponent he had to face was armed with fruit and a large wooden stick. Each day though, he knows the orders could come through to send himself and his troops out into no mans land and face slaughter like so many others did against the German machine guns. Blackadder doesn't want to die, no he'd rather get out of there as soon as possible. "Blackadder Goes Forth" deals with a difficult topic. No longer fresh in the minds of the people of the Britain (mostly replaced by more recent memories of World War Two), the slaughter of millions as the result of the stupidity of our generals is not an easy topic to base a comedy around. Written once again by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, somehow the series manages to pull it off. Never taking war that lightly and always pointing out the stupidity of it all, this series was able to make us laugh whilst never letting us forget. As Captain Blackadder, Rowan Atkinson played a distinctively more mellowed member of the family. Playing more of a teaching role for the inept Private Baldrick (Robinson) and Lieutenant George (Hugh Laurie), this Blackadder still beat up his imbecile private, but more often than not he would try to educate his companions on the futility of it all. This is a considerably more depressed Blackadder and Rowan Atkinson shows this wonderfully. Thirty miles away, the series also benefits from wonderful performances by Stephen Fry and Tim McInnerny. McInnerny was a regular through the first two series as Lord Percy Percy, and in "Blackadder Goes Forth" he returned as Captain Kevin Darling. Adopting a nervous tick which he then took another two months to loose, McInnerny is outstanding as the cowardly Darling, a man who really doesn't want any involvement in the war and just wants to see it out and go home to marry childhood sweetheart Dorice. The link between Darling and Blackadder is superb with Darling constantly acting as a superior, even though they're the same rank, and Blackadder using any opportunity to put him down. Both men don't want to be involved in the war, and Blackadder's dislike for Darling's safe position 30 miles away probably accounts for his dislike for the man. As General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett, Stephen Fry is also brilliant. With countless good lines throughout, Fry shows the true pomposity of the leaders of the army, and their blatant lack of reality in regard to the fate of their men. Melchett believes Blackadder to be a man of courage, a man of action, but that doesn't stop him trying to get the Captain killed at every opportunity. When the series finally reaches it's conclusion, Richard Curtis and Ben Elton created perhaps the finest ending to a series that you will ever have. With the soldiers finally going 'over the top', Curtis and Elton created a powerful and beautiful piece of work with final episode "Plan F: Goodbyeeee". Emotional throughout, the episode was stunning to watch and it's final conclusion is the most important and magnificent way to ever finish a series. Brilliant to watch throughout, "Blackadder Goes Forth" could so easily have failed miserably. It is a much more mature series to it's predecessors and it thrives on it's never ending demonstration on the futility of war. As it reaches it's conclusion, the series finishes on a high with probably the finest ending ever. So many people have grown to love these characters and when this series finished, it was the perfect way to say goodbye.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the finest moments of television I have seen., 29 January 2003
Author: Brendan Kilpatrick (the_sleeper54@hotmail.com) from Baltimore, Maryland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Okay, this is going to be laden with spoilers, but oh well.

I posted a review for "I, Claudius" not too long ago, which at the time was the finest bit of television I had ever seen. Then the same friend that introduced me to "I, Claudius" also introduced me to "The Black Adder." Although "I, Claudius" is still the best, in my mind, "Blackadder" is right up there with the greatest. Although the first three series are all very funny and very well written, it is with the fourth and final series that it reaches its peak. I'll go through the cast, then the reasons why this series was the best of the four.

First, Rowan Atkinson returns as Edmund Blackadder, who has now fallen to the status of an army captain. He is in this series at his slickest and most scheming, though not quite as evil as he was in the third series. Atkinson is once again hilarious, as is Tony Robinson as the grimy and completely witless S. Baldrick. Hugh Laurie once again rounds out the trio as Lt. George, a much nicer and more pleasant character than the Prince Regent, but just as dim and naive.

Tim McInnery, who was mostly absent from the third season, makes a return as Captain Kevin Darling, a desk jockey at headquarters who is Blackadder's> rival. Darling is quite an interesting character, and certainly a huge change from Lord Percy. Stephen Fry returns as the hilariously inept (and completely insane) General Melchett. World War I, as we know, was one of the most pointless wars in recent memory. It was carnage for the sake of dubious causes, where millions of common men gave their lives for god only knows what, at the command of men scarecely fit to dress themselves let alone cunduct a war.

The series itself is hilarious, the cast is brillaint, and the episodes "Private Plane" (with Rik Mayall giving another hilarious performance as the obnoxious Lord Flasheart) and "Corporal Punishment" are particularly funny.

The best of the season, though, and the best, by far, of the entire series, is the final episode "Goodbyeee". I was struck speechless when I saw this episode. There was an impending sense of doom hanging over the heads of our beloved characters as they waited for the end. George, who had up to this point been champing at the bit to charge the Germans, began to show signs of misgivings...for all of his friends had been killed in the war, and he began to realize that he, too, was afraid to die. Baldrick, who seemed perfectly thick with no mind whatsoever, also began to display pathos. He remembered how wonderful and honorable it seemed to serve in the military. He also wondered why the war had to go on, and why it couldn't just stop and everyone couldn't just go home.

There are two real defining moments in this episode, though:

1.) When General Melchett sends Captain Darling off to the front line as 'a favor.' Darling, is of course, terrified. He's a pencil pusher and a snivelling desk jockey, and now, the very real spectre of death faces him. As he turns to go, the door is opened and a bright shaft of light enters the previously darkened room, outlining the shadow of a soldier who salutes. General Melchett says, in a solemn and somewhat moving manner, "Goodbye, Kevin Darling." In this poignant and moving scene, the up to this point loathsome Captain Darling is suddenly a tragic character, as he goes off into the light to face his almost certain demise.

2.) As Baldrick, Blackadder, George, and Darling prepare for the end, they both say a few last words...Darling wishing that he could just go home and go on with his life and marry his sweetheart, George finally starting to fear death and missing his friends that he lost, Baldrick confused and disenchanted by the pointlessness of the war, and Blackadder resigned, bitter, and hopeless. Blackadder had, earlier in the episode, tried to get out of the war by pretending to be mad, but in the end, realizes that in a war run by madmen, one more loony wouldn't be noticed. The four men then charge over the trenches, and are consumed in the smoke of battle. The next scene shows the ruins of the battlefield, which segues into the field as it is today, covered in poppies, serene and peaceful, a grotesque opposite of what it once was. There are no end credits. Simply the end. This ending was beautiful, fabulous, very moving and well constructed. It must be seen to be believed, it is among best I shall ever see. "Goodbye, Kevin Darling." Indeed.

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