"Blackadder the Third"
Ink and Incapability (1987)

Director:

Mandie Fletcher

Writers:

Richard Curtis (written by) &
Ben Elton (written by)

TV Series:

"Blackadder the Third" (1987)

Original Air Date:

24 September 1987 (Season 1, Episode 2)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Baldrick burns the only copy of Samuel Johnson's dictionary, and Blackadder has only one weekend to rewrite it.

Plot Keywords:

Cunning Plan | Role Reversal | 1700s | 1790s | Black Comedy

Cast

Rowan Atkinson	...	Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson	...	Baldrick
Hugh Laurie	...	The Prince Regent
Robbie Coltrane	...	Dr. Samuel Johnson
Helen Atkinson-Wood	...	Mrs. Miggins
Lee Cornes	...	Shelley
Steve Steen	...	Byron
Jim Sweeney	...	Coleridge

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Blackadder defines the word "A" as an "impersonal pronoun" when its correct grammatical label is an indefinite article or determiner.

Quotes:

Blackadder: Baldrick, have you no idea what 'irony' is?
Baldrick: Yeah, it's like 'goldy' and 'bronzy’, only it's made of iron.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Just a Minute: (#1.6)" (1994)

Class Act

I've been hearing about this TeeVee series for years and finally watched an episode.

Its probably not a fair assessment because the gimmick depends on accretive jokes. But I was fairly impressed.

The reason is that the basis for the story and many of the jokes depends on a literary awareness. Its a bit of a pleasure. No, the jokes weren't any better in formation than what you usually see. But there's something deep and lasting in literate humor, even silly puns. I wonder why this is so rare, even in films.

This is superimposed on relationship situations. Most sitcoms are, but because this is intelligently British, its not based on friends and lovers, but on class. Even for this non- Brit, that element goes deeper.

If I were going to mess with TeeVee shows, this would be near the top of the list.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.