Blackadder Goes Forth

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.

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.

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.

I am in complete agreement with most of the reviews posted and do not want to add anything else but to cast my vote for the final scene in "Goodbyee" as being the finest in television drama or comedy. I say comedy or drama because the scene seamlessly combines the two so that you are almost incapable of knowing exactly how to respond. The scene is prefaced by the scene in which the chillingly true nature of General Melchett is revealed. Melchett orders his obsequious clerk, Darling, to the front for the suicidal big push the next morning. Melchett is revealed as being a deadly dangerous buffoon. Read Sigfried Sassoon's poem "The General" for a similar depiction of an old duffer whose incompetent planning "does for" his men who are ironically aware but strangely accepting of his eccentrically bumbling nature. This scene reveals Melchett as being something far more sinister than is evident in the preceding episodes. The shadow of the driver falling over Darling who is on his knees begging Melchett not to send him is as chilling as anything I have seen.

As the reality of going over the top dawns on the mindlessly jingoistic George and then even on the endearingly gormless Baldrick, the true horror of war is evoked. The hopes and dreams of ordinary young men are about to be brutally dashed. The final stroke of genius is to have Darling, a man for whom we and Blackadder have had contempt, poignantly confide the plans he had for his future after surviving the war. "Marry Dorris ...keep wicket for the gentleman's eleven." Do you laugh or cry at this? I think most of us feel at a loss to know how to respond just as Wilfred Owen in his poem "Futility" as he witnesses his men's futile attempt to revive a dying comrade by putting him out to lie in the sun.

The final freeze frame and dissolve into the poppy fields of Flanders has been well documented. What more can anyone say about mankind's greatest folly - war.

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, primarily 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 no idea of what life really is like for the troops on the front-line while he prattles on 35 miles behind the front-line in some safe palatial mansion where the most dangerous hazard to his life is whether he can unscrew a cork out of a champagne bottle without it 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 purely because of his rank & social standing. So it is no wonder that Blackadder wants to mutiny because it's 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 humour 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 front-line 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 & old alike will find this far more interesting, absorbing, damming & shocking than any written word on the subject could ever say.

War Is Hell!

****/*****