Best Blackadder Moments #6: The Macbeth Ritual (Sense and Senility)

Macbeth!

For my second pick from Blackadder the Third, I'm going to go with a more slapstick-oriented joke.

Blackadder has prepared a speech for The Prince Regent to give as part of his father's royal  birthday celebrations, and the Prince seeks elocution lessons from thespians David Keanrick and Enoch Mossop, played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Connor. Blackadder has nothing but contempt for actors, but nonetheless agrees to seek them out.

However, he gets a kick from an actors' superstition in which it is bad luck to say the name "Macbeth" outside of rehearsals or performances. If someone does mention Macbeth, the actors must perform a special ritual which consists of patty-cake and arm winding motions while saying an incantation, concluding with them tweaking each other's noses. Blackadder casually winds the name into the conversation at every opportunity, prompting the actors to perform the ritual six times in one scene.

There has been one of many unusual internet debates over what exactly they say during the ritual. The general consensus (what it said on Wikipedia last time I checked) seems to be "Hot Potato, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends." The first and last parts are clear enough, but the middle part is the subject for debate. It sounds like "off his drawers" or "off the shores".

Anyway, flame risk aside, I think it's a great example of comedy stemming from somebody else's pain.

Macbeth!

Best Blackadder Moments #5: The Dunny-on-the-Wold By-election (Dish and Dishonesty)

Sorry Mr Biggun

We're now in the third series, and following the most ruthless incarnation of Edmund Blackadder. And now I'm needing to provide a little more background as the writers get more accustomed to episode-length stories.

The petulant teenager William Pitt the Younger has become Prime Minister, and seeks to strike the Prince Regent from the Civil List. Parliament is deadlocked on the issue, so Blackadder attempts to tip the balance by leaning on an MP named Sir Talbot Buxomley. Sir Talbot pledges his support for the Prince...and promptly dies, triggering a by-election in his constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, a rubber button rotten borough in which the landowner controls the voters and the MP. Blackadder proposes a scheme to have Baldrick run in the by-election against the Prime Minister's brother, Pitt the Even Younger.

Baldrick becoming a politician. The jokes practically write themselves, especially with the by-election coverage which spoofs contemporary British election coverage. They even got former BBC political commentator Vincent Hanna to make a guest appearance as "his own great-great-grandfather". He practically steals the scene with his deadpan delivery of such absurd lines.

There's also Ivor Biggun running for the "Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party", whose policies include the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the under-fives, and the abolition of slavery. For the international readers of this blog, we do have candidates who run for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, such as one who recently ran in Stoke called The Incredible Flying Brick. As much as I like asparagus, I don't want it every day. Particularly if it's out of season.

There's also some historical irony in the scene, as William Pitt himself was actually elected through a rotten borough. On top of that, Pitt the Even Younger is mentioned to be running for the Whigs, who acted as the left-wing party in Parliament for a long time before the Labour Party appeared in the early 20th Century. Pitt the Younger was with the right-wing Tory party.

The episode this scene appears in has become so popular that it's often repeated whenever there's an election being held. It's absolutely sublime, and one of the best comedic moments.

Best Blackadder Moments #4: Hiring Captain Rum (Potato)

You have a woman's link, my Lord!

I'm really piling on the guest appearances for these moments.

Lord Blackadder is disdainful of Sir Walter Raleigh's recent return, and attempts to upstage him by claiming to be preparing an expedition around the much-feared Cape of Good Hope. The captain who is purported to know the safe route is Redbeard Rum, played by Tom Baker.

Unfortunately, Redbeard is completely deranged and delightfully over-the-top. He claims that every part of Blackadder's body is a woman's, because it has not been exposed to hardships of maritime life. Exposure which sounds really exaggerated. This wears thin on Blackadder, leading to the captain's disdain until our protagonist insults him.

While we're following a more dashing and intelligent Blackadder in this series, it's kind of funny that he doesn't really have a witty retort to being called "a lapdog to the slip of a girl".

Other than "Better a lapdog to the slip of a girl than a...git."

However, this works, and Redbeard takes the job as captain. Following another ridiculous story about having a woman's legs, Blackadder tempts fate and calls out Redbeard's claim...only for one of the funniest payoffs which I'll leave the attached link to show.

While Tom Baker has said this may not be his favourite role, he provides most of the comedic gold in the episode from his ridiculous stories to the later reveal that his sailing expertise is not even minimal.

Best Blackadder Moments #3: Blackadder and Kate's Wedding (Bells)

Enter the Best Man

We're now moving to the second season of Blackadder. Ben Elton has replaced Rowan Atkinson as a writer, and the roles between Blackadder and Baldrick have been reversed.

The humour of the first episode shown retains the Shakespearean aspect of the previous season with a story similar to Twelfth Night. A woman named Kate poses as a boy called Bob to find work as a servant in Lord Blackadder's employ. After Blackadder becomes attracted to "Bob" and the truth is revealed, he soon wishes to marry her.

I've heard the writers were challenged to get more laughs in the last five minutes of the episode than anywhere else. And that's accomplished with Blackadder's best man, the boisterous and arrogant Lord Flashheart. Played by Rik Mayall, Flashheart parodies the heroic image of the archetypal swashbuckler which accentuates the flaws of such archetypes, and is a highly promiscuous and narcissistic womaniser.

Anyway, Flashheart arrives late at the wedding, but makes a spectacular entrance. He immediately throws Percy out, seduces Nursie and the queen (and even Baldrick, who was acting as the bridesmaid), insults Melchett, and promptly elopes with Kate.

Flashheart's dialogue and over-the-top presence is pretty much comedic gold, accentuating how full of himself he is. My favourite line is definitely when he says to Melchett "Still worshipping God? The last I heard he's started worshipping me!"

While the reduced budget of this series shows when he nearly takes the set down by throwing Percy through the doors, I still think that adds to the humour.

Rik Mayall gave off such a good performance that he would later return with a much larger role in Blackadder Goes Forth, applying the same style of parody to a World War I flying ace.

Woof!

Best Blackadder Moments #2: Don Speekingleesh (The Queen of Spain's Beard)

Clip

Wow, Jim Broadbent looks really young in this episode.

Prince Edmund is arranged to marry the Spanish Infanta, played by Miriam Margolyes, whom he soon discovers to be...not as beautiful as many speculated. She also happens to be very sexually voracious, to the Black Adder's terror. Most of this episode involves him trying to get out of the marriage with constantly backfiring results.

Anyway, the funniest part of the episode involves Jim Broadbent as the Infanta's ever-present translator, whose name is revealed in the credits as Don Speekingleesh. The main source of humour stems from his word-for-word translation of everything the Infanta says. I'll pick their introductory scene for this moment, in which the Infanta's declaration of love is being translated and Edmund believes that the translator is trying to woo him. Well, he did say that he was the Infanta.

Anyway, that's the weaker series out of the way. Tomorrow I'll start looking at my favourite moments from Blackadder II.

Best Blackadder Moments #1: The Profit Areas of the Church (The Archbishop)

Relics

Yes, I'm going to be looking at the first season of Blackadder. Even if it is mostly Shakespearean in-jokes and the rubber-faced buffoonery which Rowan Atkinson would later put to better use in Mr Bean, it still gets a fair share of laughs.

Anyway, my first pick (I'm going in chronological order) is from the episode in which Prince Edmund is appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury (the fourth person to be appointed that year), in the hopes that he will convince dying nobles to bequeath their lands to the Crown rather than the Church. The episode features a strong religious satire, and draws heavily on the events surrounding the death of actual Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, who was assassinated after conflicting with King Henry II over matters of the Church.

After actually winning his father's favour for once, The Black Adder and Percy learn from Baldrick about the four major profit areas of the church: curses, pardons, relics, and "selling the sexual favours of nuns" (to foreign businessmen and other nuns, apparently).

I've included a link to a clip in which they discuss relics, including Shrouds from Turin, numerous works of carpentry produced by Jesus (including pipe racks and coffee tables), not to mention an array of body parts belonging to Saints. Edmund coins on fairly quickly that none of it is genuine, which dismays Percy. He claims to have a genuine relic in the form of a finger bone of Jesus, which even Baldrick is amazed at...because they normally come in boxes of ten.

Richard Curtis has gone on record saying that the first season is more akin to sketch comedy, and this is a key example of this. It's a relatively self-contained sequence, which doesn't really need what happens before or after to back it up. However, it's still a great sketch. I think this was an early look at the historical satire the show would later become famous for in subsequent seasons. I also think it's great to see Edmund on top for once.

Although I'm not too sure about the four ducat curse they had on offer. Yes, he has turned orange in hue, and I'm sure God will hate him and all of his kind, but I'm still waiting for his head to fall off at an inopportune moment. I might have to ask for my money back.

I'll see you tomorrow for my second pick from The Black Adder.

Best Blackadder Moments

Well, I'm halfway through Freshers' week, and I thought I might take a bit of time to do some blogging.

I've mentioned before that one of my favourite TV shows is Blackadder. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a Twitter page was asking people for their favourite Blackadder moments. I couldn't decide on a single moment, but instead picked two from every series.

With that in mind, I decided to go into more detail. Starting tomorrow, I'll be sharing my two favourite moments from all four seasons of Blackadder. Yes, even the first season.

Watch this space. I have a cunning plan.

Western Weekend - Three Amigos

I recently saw the movie Game Night, and decided that I wanted to do another Western Weekend. Go figure. Anyway, I always rated The Magnificent Seven as one of my favourite western films. So, I decided to take a look at the story again, but this time with a comedic edge in the form of Three Amigos.

Taking place in Mexico in 1916, the village of Santo Poco (Little Saint) is being periodically raided by the bandit El Guapo (The Handsome), played by Alfonso Arau. The village leader's daughter Carmen, played by Patrice Martinez, goes search of gunfighters willing to protect the village and learns of The Three Amigos, a trio of wandering gunfighters from a popular series of silent films: Lucky Day, Dusty Bottoms, and Ned Nederlander, played respectively by Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short. Having just been fired by their studio for demanding a raise, the Amigos receive Carmen's telegram, but misunderstand the message due to the low budget for sending it.

And that's the over-arching joke; the misunderstanding. The villagers believe the Three Amigos are real gunfighters, while the Amigos believe that El Guapo is another actor and they're being asked to do a show with him. I think it's an interesting set-up, and that it's inevitably going to fall apart. Which arguably results in a pretty good dramatic moment.

I do like the characterisation of the Amigos. Lucky is presented as the most charismatic, and serves as the overall leader. Dusty comes off as the most dim-witted, which is saying something as none of the Amigos are particularly smart.  My favourite though has to be Ned. Not for his comedic moments, but for the fact that he is actually the most badass. When the misunderstanding comes to a close and the Amigos are ready to leave in disgrace, it's Ned who wants to go after El Guapo. I also quite like El Guapo and his henchman, El Jefe (The Boss). They get a ton of hilarious lines (you might say a plethora), and El Guapo's birthday celebration provides the backdrop for a hilarious infiltration being ineptly carried out by the Amigos.

However, I do have to reserve some criticism for the section when the Amigos are travelling to El Guapo's hideout, which features a rather bland musical number and some jokes which delve into fantasy involving a singing bush and an invisible swordsman. While the jokes are quite funny (lip balm?), the overall segment could have been cut as it doesn't do much to advance the story.

While the comedy sometimes falls flat, it's nonetheless a good story, and worth a watch.

Review: Disenchantment

Well, I'm due back in work tomorrow and I've been having something of a lazy weekend. So, in order to look productive, I thought I might write about the Disenchantment series which debuted on Netflix the other day.

Disenchantment is an animated sitcom by Matt Groening, who has also brought us The Simpsons and Futurama. Taking place in a fantasy world, we follow Bean, the princess of Dreamland. Who is anything but the image of princesses made famous by Disney. She's a hard-drinking and rebellious teenager who is always getting into fights, mostly with her overbearing father, King Zog.

Bean is often accompanied by her two closest companions, Elfo and Luci. Elfo is an elf of the candy-making fairy tale variety as opposed to the Tolkein variety, who left his perpetually happy but soulless homeland to see the world. He has a kind heart, but his sheltered life often makes him come across as naive. He looks an awful lot like Bart Simpson while his personality is similar to Fry. Meanwhile, Luci is a catlike "personal demon" who was sent to Bean under the guise of a wedding present. He shamelessly serves as a sociopathic enabler (which doesn't take much effort, considering Bean), and is very similar to Bender. This does mean that there is plenty of bickering between him and Elfo, who acts as more of a moral guardian.

As this show is on Netflix, there is a lot more adult humour than what Matt could get away with if he was writing for terrestrial television. Personally, I was worried that this was going to be a fantasy version of Futurama, what with Elfo and Luci being similar to Fry and Bender, but I was surprised to be proven wrong. One of my favourite jokes involves King Zog's habit of throwing his sceptre out of the window when he's angry. He has a collection of sceptres for the occasion, and most of them are embedded in a tavern which Bean frequents. Which is called 'The Flying Sceptre'.

There are plenty of other laughs, but there are also times when the show gets really dark. One of the teasers show Elfo encountering Hansel and Gretel, who intend to eat him. They have the typical house made of confectionery, but the basement looks like something straight out of a horror film. One running plot thread involves Zog tasking his wizard and alchemist Sorcerio with obtaining elf blood to make an elixir of life. This starts out with some humour, with a switch pulled by Luci resulting in the chauvinistic Prince Merkimer being turned into a pig. Oh, and that's Matt Berry doing the voice of Merkimer, essentially reprising his role as Douglas Reynholm from The IT Crowd. However, it later takes a different turn which results in some new character depth.

That's one of the other things I love. Unlike most sitcoms, Disenchantment uses a serial format. While each episode presents their own comedic hijinks, the overarching story is a lot more dramatic, and has so far ended on a very gripping cliffhanger.

The first ten episodes are available on Netflix, and I'm waiting for the next lot already.

Swanwick 70

Once again, that wonderful time of year has passed. No, not Christmas, but my annual visit to the Swanwick Writers' Summer School, held every August at the Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire since 1948. Once again, I was able to indulge in a week of camaraderie, writing, sharing ideas, and wine. A lot of wine.

Anyway, I'll give you the breakdown of the courses and events I attended.

The A to Z of Novel Writing

Out of this year's selection of four-part specialist courses, I was torn between Simon Hall's "The A-Z of Novel Writing" and Della Galton's "Scribe a Short Story". Now, I normally write short stories, but I intend to do a series, so I figured that the novel writing course would suit me better. I wish I had Hermione Granger's time-turner so I could attend both.

The course structure was exactly what it says in the program; We went through the alphabet, fitting in something relating to writing with each later, from Adversity (faced by characters) to Zeroes and Zeniths (faced by authors). This included a few tasks to plan out a crime or romance story set at Swanwick. I was assigned to do a romance, if you're asking.

The Secrets of Sitcom

A new art movement

Sunday's short course was "The Secrets of Sitcom", hosted by Daniel Page. Now, I've mentioned previously on this blog that I've been making rough notes on a fantasy sitcom. It was an idea so bizarre I had no choice but to consider it. Well, this course was about how to structure a sitcom, what makes them work, and how to make a "monster" who always gets the short end of the stick. I even managed to pitch my project, and it seems to have a lot of potential.

Although it does mean having to compete with that Disenchantment series which has just debuted on Netflix.

Creating Believable Characters

On Monday, I attended Veronica Bright's course in which she talked about the Enneagram. This is a study of nine basic personality types, with the positive and negative aspects of each type, their primary motivators or passions, and where certain traits overlap. The Enneagram's model is a lot easier to visualise that the Myers-Briggs model, and I drew parallels to the Theory of Basic Human Values devised by Shalom Schwartz. I wouldn't be surprised if Schwartz drew influences from the Enneagram.

Veronica has actually written a book on this topic, and her course intrigued me enough to buy a copy at the Book Room. I've just started reading it, and look forward to making use of it in my future projects.

Wild Words

I didn't go to any of the workshops on the Tuesday, which is known as the 'Procrastination Free Day', but on Wednesday I attended Bridget Holding's "Wild Words" course. I've attended Bridget's courses each time I've been to Swanwick, looking at the philosophical and psychological sides of writing. The first session looked at comparing creativity and writing to tracking a wild tiger, using the distance between you and the tiger as a metaphor for the amount of emotion put into a story. This involved a task in which attendees were put into pairs and told to discuss something from their past, while the other person tries to gauge what emotions the speaker conveys and when.

In the second session, a caged tiger was used as a metaphor for times when the writer is unable to be creative, and how it can bloom. Considering the events of the past years, I actually related to this a lot. I struggled to fit my writing around a full-time job and vented in all the wrong places, which brought with it some consequences in the form of a dismissal for gross misconduct. Nonetheless, I've managed to make the best out of a bad situation and gain some direction from it. Anyway, there was another exercise in which people were asked to read out stories they'd written, and people were once again asked to gauge the emotions.

World Building

Rounding out the short courses was Paul Beatty's look at world building. This was certainly the most scientific of the courses, looking at the aspects of world building in four tiers: Physical aspects, plant life, animal life, and intelligent life. There were also debates about each of the aspects, and which genres benefit the most from world building.

Other Events

Swanwick isn't just about the courses. There is an array of evening events, along with some special events this time around to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the School, including a massive group photo on the lawn. There are after-dinner speakers every night, but I tend not to go to those, preferring to use the time to write. There's something very tranquil about sitting in the quiet bar with a glass of wine and letting the words flow.

Monday night had a fancy dress disco, with a 1940s theme this time around. That's great, because I can pass off as a 1940s-style pulp writer with my regular work clothes. Hey, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. On top of that, there was a less wild Tea Dance on the Tuesday afternoon. I think my minimal dance repertoire has improved this week, and I was only drunk for one of those. Although I still haven't perfected the Macarena yet.

Other evening events included poetry and prose open mic nights (which I didn't take part in), a busker's night (ditto), and a general knowledge quiz which I did take part in and managed to get my team into second place. My folks and I enjoy Mastermind and try and get more than fifty points every night, so I guess that paid off. I was also marginally involved in the Page to Stage performances as a back-up cameraman.

The final night featured a dregs party in which I once again suited up, a formal dinner, and a farewell event in the main hall with raffle prize draws, Page to Stage awards (Swannies), and a sing-song. Including John Lamont's famed "Swanwick Anthem" based on a Proclaimers classic.

Well, I've rattled on for a bit and will wrap things up. Once again, it was great to see everybody again, and meet new people. I look forward to coming back next year.

Happy writing.

Asterix Marathon Bonus - The 12 Tasks of Asterix

I've still got a day or so before I go to Swanwick. In the meantime, I thought I'd do another review. Since I spent the past month reviewing the Asterix comics, I figured I'd take a look at The 12 Tasks of Asterix, an animated film released in 1976. Now, I mentioned during the marathon that I wasn't going to look at the film adaptations. However, I've decided to make an exception here for two reasons: Firstly, this film is not an adaptation of any of the albums, but has an original story; secondly, it serves as a finale to the series.

The animated films actually had a rough start. There had been an animated adaptation of Asterix the Gaul back in 1967, but Goscinny and Uderzo weren't fond of it. To the point that they refused to allow an adaptation of Asterix and the Golden Sickle to be made. Nonetheless, they saw the potential and decided to make their own animated adaptations, starting with Asterix and Cleopatra in 1968. If you want something done right, you do it yourself. Anyway, let's look at the story.

After repeated failures to conquer The Indomitable Village, rumours spread around the Roman army that the villagers are gods. This reaches Julius Caesar, and he decides to test this hypothesis. If Asterix and Obelix can successfully complete a series of tasks akin to the Labours of Hercules, Caesar will relinquish control of Rome to Vitalstatistix. If they fail, the Gauls must surrender. So, it's up to our heroes to complete the tasks while observed by Caius Tiddlus.

Since this story was written and directed by Goscinny and Uderzo, the film retains the signature humour of the comics. On top of that, it utilises more fantasy and also takes a rather surreal tone in places. While this is a major shift from the tone of the comics, I'm pretty much OK with that. I especially love how bored and deadpan Caius Tiddlus sounds when he gives them the tasks.

My favourite moment has to involve our heroes venturing into "The Place Which Sends You Mad", which is not a forbidden forest or sinister cave (that was the previous task), but a municipal office. Their task is to obtain a "Permit A-38", but the bureaucrats are intentionally unhelpful and the place is labyrinthine. I can kind of relate to it, once having had to submit an application for a premises license which had to be hand delivered to five different places. While it differs from the previous tasks, it takes a cathartic satirical jab at how bureaucratic some places can be, and shows how much Asterix can be a guile hero as well as an action hero.

I could describe a lot more of what goes on, but some of the things in this film have to be seen to be believed. It's available on Netflix UK, and I do recommend you check it out.