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* ''Blackadder: The Cavalier Years''. Set during the English Civil War
* ''Blackadder's Christmas Carol''. Victorian era, an [[Affectionate Parody]] of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''
* ''Blackadder Back & Forth''. The 21st Century Blackadder and Baldrick trip through time in a [[Doctor Who|TARDIS]].
All four seasons, but not the specials, are available on Netflix.
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Blackadder, Blackadder – life deals him a bum hand! }}
* [[The Casanova]]: Flashheart.
* [[Catch Phrase]]:
{{quote|'''Baldricks''': "I have a [[Zany Scheme|cunning plan]]..."
'''Melchetts''': "[[But You Screw One Goat!|BAAAAA!]]"
'''Blackadder''': "...well quite." }}
* [[The Chain of Harm]]: Discussed (and simultaneously played out) in ''[[Blackadder]] III'':
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** Possibly true for Prince George and Lieutenant George.
** Also the Melchetts, Percys, Flashhearts and Kate (aka Bob)
* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: Titles of season 2 episodes are one word long and pertain to the subject of the episode in question ("Bells" as in wedding bells, "Chains" referring to imprisonment); season 3 uses [[The Noun and the Noun]] (to reference ''[[Sense and Sensibility (novel)|Sense and Sensibility]]'' and ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', which are set in the same era) - for example "Dish and Dishonesty"; season 4 gives all bar one its titles military ranks with double meanings - "Private Plane," "Major Star," "General Hospital," etc- the exception being "Goodbyeee...", the last one, named after a popular [[World War
* [[Just Like Robin Hood]]: Parodied briefly.
* [[Kill'Em All]]: Played for laughs in the finales of seasons 1 and 2, then {{spoiler|played [[Drama Bomb Finale|tragically straight]] in the finale of season 4}}.
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* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Played with in Edmund, although only the third really qualifies.
* [[With Friends Like These...]]: Blackadder to Percy in the first two series.
* [[World of Snark]]: The shallowness, stupidity, and downright arrogance of the world around him make Blackadder's hijinks as a [[Villain Protagonist]] [[Kick the Son of a Bitch|particularly satisfying]]
* [[Zany Scheme]]: Blackadder tends to have one for every occasion. Baldrick also cooks all sorts of these up...problem is, with his intelligence, most of them border on the ridiculous (Such as in season 3's "Nob and Nobility", where he suggests to Edmund that they wait until their heads have been cut off by French revolutionaries before they make an escape, in the manner of a headless chicken). His season 1 plans were perfectly feasible and at times even [[Hitman|worthy of Codename 47]]. That said though, Edmund does take him up on one plan in season 4. Percy also had his share of these in the first two seasons.
** Sometimes the situation is shown as being so desperate that Blackadder is forced to resort to one of Baldrick's plans due to the lack of any other alternatively (for example, trying to rewrite The Dictionary which take Samuel Johnson 10 years in only two nights).
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* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Edmund is arranged to marry the Infanta for diplomatic reasons. When the political situation changes, he ends up marrying an eight-year-old princess - which, oddly, was [[Truth in Television]].
* [[Bragging Theme Tune]]: The theme is a parody of this trope. Although it does say how wonderful Blackadder is, it does seem like the truth slips out.
* [[Burn the Witch]]: "Witchsmeller Pursuivant"
* [[Catch Phrase]]: King Richard IV's "'''[[Brian Blessed|CHISWICK!!]] [[Large Ham|FRESH HORSES!!]]'''
* [[Carnival of Killers]]: The "six most evil men in England" in "The Black Seal".
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* [[Buffy-Speak]] (Notably in "Beer")
{{quote|'''Lord Melchett''' ''(in regards to Edmund's constant leaving-and-entering)'': You twist and turn like a...twisty-turny thing!}}
** In "Money", Edmund (usually a master of similes) says: "The grave opens up before me like a... big hole in the ground."
* [[But You Screw One Goat!]] / [[Noodle Incident]]
{{quote|Lord Melchett, Lord Melchett - intelligent and deep.
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* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Nursie. Queenie, too, and also Percy to a certain extent.
* [[Couch Gag]]: Three per episode: In the opening credits, the episode title is accompanied by the object to which it refers. In the closing credits, the theme song has different lyrics and the minstrel accosts Edmund in different ways, although the last one ("Chains") has Edmund finally catch the bugger and drown him.
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: In "Beer":
{{quote|'''Lady Whiteadder''': Luck! Sounds almost exactly like f-- ''[episode ends]''}}
* [[Despair Speech]]: A very short one, which is also a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Richard II]]'':
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* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: Nursie. Since her real name is Bernard, it's [[Justified Trope|understandable]].
* [[Everyone Is Satan in Hell]]: The Whiteadders ''are'' this trope, in its in-universe form. They may be getting better, now that Lord Whiteadder has broken his vow of silence and they've both discovered the joys of being drunk.
* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: Edmund vs Prince Ludwig the Indestructible
* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Queenie
* [[Freud Was Right]]: In-universe; she doesn't realize it, but Queenie's description of her dreams suggest that [[Incredibly Lame Pun|The Virgin Queen badly wants to get laid]]:
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{{quote|"Well, I hope you had a pleasant inheritance...Did I say 'inheritance'? I meant journey...If you'd just like to help yourself to a legacy...a chair."}}
* [[Fridge Logic]]: Prince Ludwig permanently impersonating Queen Elizabeth nicely explains the whole virgin queen thing.
** Also, Prince Ludwig is very likely an ancestor of Prince George (George IV) from Blackadder the third. George IV's great grandfather was Georg Ludwig of Germany. Which explains the uncanny resemblance (both are played by Hugh Laurie)
* [[Friendship Moment]]: Hilariously subverted in "Money": Percy loyally offers his life savings to get Blackadder out of debt, only to have Blackadder casually reveal that he has long since stolen and spent the savings in question. And even BALDRICK was in on it.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: ''Blackadder II'' features Queen Elizabeth I as a petulant schoolgirl. A petulant schoolgirl with power of life and death over the whole of the Kingdom of England.
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* [[Royal Brat]]: Queenie
* [[Shaped Like Itself]]: When Blackadder asks the Young Crone how to find the Wise Woman in "Bells":
{{quote|'''Young Crone:''' Two things you must know about the Wise Woman! First...''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|she is...a WOMAN!]] And second...
'''Blackadder:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|...she is wise?]] }}
* [[Shout-Out]]: In "Bells", Blackadder says "Come, [[Kiss Me Kate]]!"
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* [[Bottomless Magazines]]: Amy's flintlock pistol [[Rule of Funny|never seems to need reloading]] in "Amy and Amiability".
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: This lovely bit at the beginning of "Duel and Duality":
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': I want to be remembered when I'm dead. I want books written about me, I want songs sung about me, and then, hundreds of years from now, I want episodes from my life to be played out weekly at half past nine by some [[Rowan Atkinson|great heroic actor]] of the age.
'''Baldrick''': Yeah, and I could be played by some tiny tit in a beard. }}
* [[Buffy-Speak]]: Blackadder: "Disease and depravation stalk our land like... two giant... ''stalking'' things." Also: "We're about as similar as two completely dis-similar things in a pod."
* [[Captain Morgan Pose]]: The actors teach The Prince Regent to do a pose while they are training him in public speaking.
* [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much]]: The returning officer and lone voter in Dunny-on-theWold [[Blatant Lies|apparently]] died, respectively, from accidentally brutally cutting his head off while combing his hair, and accidentally brutally stabbing himself in the stomach while shaving.
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* [[Dream Sequence]]: In "Ink and Incapability"
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': Baldrick, who gave you permission to turn into an Alsatian?!}}
* [[Dude, Not Ironic]]:
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?
'''Baldrick''': Yes, it's like goldy and bronzy only it's made out of iron. }}
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* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Hugh Laurie in make-up and tights has been known to make a lot of straight women (and a few lesbians) perk up.
* [[Face Palm]]: Blackadder, when {{spoiler|Lord Topper}} revealed his disguise.
* [[Fictional Political Party]]: Going hand-in-hand with the [[Election Night]] trope (above), the episode "Dish and Dishonesty" uses these, too, in its parody of British election conventions. After the constituent of rotten borough Dunny-on-the-Wold (consisting of nothing more than a tiny plot of land, many farm animals, and only one voter) suddenly died, Prince Regent and Blackadder decide to run Baldrick as their own candidate and tip Parliament in their favor. Baldrick runs on behalf of the "Adder Party," a name that becomes much more appropriate when it turns out that Blackadder was both the borough's Returning Officer and lone voter after both died in freak "accidents." Other fictitious parties on the ballot included "Keep Royalty White, Rat Catching and Safe Sewage Residents' Party" and the "Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party" (whose party line stands for "the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the 'under-fives,' and [[The Triple|the abolition of slavery]]" - though the last one was just put in as a joke).
** The last two are a [[Shout-Out]] to two real minor perennial candidates at British elections at the time the show was broadcast--Bill Boaks, who usually stood as something like "Democratic Monarchist Road Safety White Resident", and Screaming Lord Sutch of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party.
* [[Her Codename Was Mary Sue]]: Blackadder's novel ''Edmund: A Butler's Tale'' sounds like this, based on what he tells Baldrick about it.
* [[Identical Grandson]]: In addition to the previously mentioned usage, this series features Blackadder's Scottish cousin [[Violent Glaswegian|MacAdder]], played by Atkinson in a [[Wig, Dress, Accent|curly red wig, a kilt and a deliberately bad accent]] and Vincent Hanna playing "his own great great great grandfather".
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'''Amy''': And Aunty Ruth and Uncle Isiah, she was a milkmaid and he was-
'''Hardwood''': The Pope! Yes, yes, all right. }}
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]: During the episode 'Duel And Duality'.
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': I want to be remembered when I'm dead. I want books written about me. I want songs sung about me. And then, hundreds of years from now, I want episodes of my life to be played out weekly at half past nine by [[Rowan Atkinson|some great heroic actor of the age]].
'''Baldrick''': Yeah, and I could be played by some tiny tit in a beard.
'''Blackadder''': Quite. }}
** And in 'Amy and Amiability':
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': What a way to die. Shot by a [[Villainous Crossdresser|transvestite]] on an unrealistic grassy knoll.}}
* [[Legacy of Service]]: The Baldricks to the Blackadders.
* [[
* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: The Prince Regent calls Blackadder "Bladder" at the end of "Sense and Senility", even after Blackadder tells him not to.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: A fatal example of this occurs in the last episode, when {{spoiler|Prince George}} screws up Blackadder's plan to save his life by blabbing about the whole thing in front of the Duke of Wellington, who intended to kill him. Wellington doesn't actually believe him, but gets so pissed off at the fact that {{spoiler|the Prince, who is disguised as Blackadder and vice-versa}} is acting disrespectfully to his "master" that he whips out his pistol and shoots him dead.
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== Tropes Present in ''Blackadder Goes Forth'' ==
* [[Actually Pretty Funny]]:
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': So, Counsel, with that summing up in mind, what are my chances, do you think?
'''George''': Well, not good I'm afraid. As far as I can see from the evidence, you're as guilty as a puppy sitting beside a pile of poo.
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* [[Charge Into Combat Cut]]: One of the most famous examples of this trope, in which the scene cuts from Blackadder and co. charging over the trench to {{spoiler|a field full of poppies}}.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: In the final episode, Darling begs Melchett not to send him to the front lines because he doesn't want to die; Melchett just thinks Darling is getting sentimental and saying "I'll miss you too much". Of course, considering [[Kill'Em All|what happens next]], "comical" might not be the right word...
* [[Creator
* [[Credits Gag]]: "Tyrannosaurus Rex" credited as "Dinosaur".
* [[Disguised in Drag]]: George, in "Major Star", leading to [[Attractive Bent Gender]] when Melchett falls for "Georgina".
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* [[Downer Ending]]: Series four finale; even more remarkable is that the [[Kill'Em All|same basic ending]] was played for laughs in series one and two. [[Reality Subtext]] is to blame for the [[Mood Whiplash]]. To put it into perspective, it aired on Remembrance Sunday with no complaints whatsoever. (Well, almost none - one woman wrote to the ''[[wikipedia:Radio Times|Radio Times]]'' to ask why a comedy would want to show people the terrible things that happened, reminding her of her own husband. Another woman wrote in to ''Points of View'' thanking them for such a beautiful tribute.) Though the original ending planned, as seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbR9-etyN6I here], wasn't nearly as dramatic or moving - general consensus is that it was a good thing they changed it.
** The {{spoiler|fade out into a field of poppies}} is also the very last shot. No [[Closing Credits]]; just a small BBC production copyright in the corner of the screen for the final few seconds. [[Fade to Black]].
* [[Evil Gloating]]: But terminated gloriously.
{{quote|'''Baron von Richthoven''': Ah, and Lord Flashheart! This is indeed an honour! Finally the two greatest gentlemen flyers in the world meet! Two men of honour, who have jousted together in the cloud-strewn glory of the skies... face to face at last! How often have I rehearsed this moment of destiny in my dreams! The valour we two encapsulate, the unspoken nobility of our comradeship, the— '''*[[Boom! Headshot!]]* '''
'''Flashheart''': '''[[Take That|WHAT A POOF!]]'''" }}
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* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Blackadder manages a look of unparallelled contempt while his own firing squad are providing such gems as assuring him that they ''aim'' to please.
* [[Inherently Funny Words]]: Blackadder's delivery of "Bob" added it to this category - Rowan Atkinson had to over-accentuate the the first "B" phonetic to [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged|overcome his stutter]]. Given that 'Bob' is clearly a girl, his pronunciation adds foot-high inverted commas and derisive sarcasm to what in theory isn't that funny. He does this on all words with b's throughout the series and his pronunciation is part of what makes the word play more hilarious than witty.
*** It also should be said that Rowan Atkinson used the EXACT same tone and diction when he said "his" name in series 2.
** Also, General Melchett's speech about how "pooh-pooh" can have devastating effects on morale in which [[Crowning Moment of Funny|he repeats the term "pooh-pooh" an inordinate number of times.]]
{{quote|'''Melchett:''' Is this true, Blackadder? Did Captain Darling pooh-pooh you?
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'''George''': Well, you know, one doesn't want to blow one's own trumpet.
'''Blackadder''': You might at least have told us you ''had'' a trumpet! }}
** It's worth noting that this Blackadder, in contrast with his forebears, is uninterested in scheming his way to power or wealth. He's merely trying to [[Series Goal|save himself]]. {{spoiler|Too bad [[Failure Is the Only Option]].}}
** Though lest you get too fond of him, it's better to remember that he made his career in the military by killing unarmed civilians in Africa, and doesn't show a hint of remorse for being an instrument for the ugliest side of the British colonialism.
* [[Kangaroo Court]]: Blackadder's court martial in "Corporal Punishment".
* [[Mad Brass]] / [[General Failure]]: General "Insanity" Melchett.
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* [[Unwanted Rescue]]: In "Private Plane", Blackadder and Baldrick are captured by the Germans and told they'll be spending the rest of the war [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|teaching home economics to a bunch of German convent girls]]. They're looking forward to this, until George and Flashheart turn up to "save" them. Flashheart actually works out that they were trying to get away from the front and forces them both to come with him.
* [[Verbal Tic]]: General Melchett's trademark "Baa!" has been variously attributed to madness, asthma, and an ancestor's illicit relationship with Flossie the sheep. [[Stephen Fry]] has said it really originated from his imagining that Melchett had haemorrhoids and would yell out every time he sat down or got up.
* [[Wham! Line]]: At the very end:
{{quote|'''Darling''': I say, listen - our guns have stopped.
'''George''': You don't think...
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'''George''': I'm...scared, sir. }}
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: We never do find out if Blackadder or Darling were able to prevent Nurse Mary's firing squad execution in time.
* [[World War
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: The Red Baron thinks Flashheart is one. Flashheart [[No-Nonsense Nemesis|does not agree]].
* [[You Fail Law Forever]]: "Corporal Punishment" was this [[Turned Up to Eleven]]. The judge and prosecutor both have clear conflicts of interest in the trial, to the point where the judge is actually called to testify for the prosecution. Surprisingly, though, {{spoiler|the Minister of War realizes that the whole trial was a farce, and reverses the decision}}.
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* [[Annoying Laugh]]: Ebenezer Blackadder's niece Millicent.
* [[Call Back]]: In ''Blackadder Back and Forth'' Baldrick references Blackadder's line "as cunning as a fox that's just been appointed professor of cunning at Oxford University" from the end of ''Blackadder Goes Forth''.
* [[Decapitation Presentation]]: ''Cavalier Years'': Baldrick's cunning plan to substitute a pumpkin instead of a head sort of fell apart when this moment came.
* [[Extreme Doormat]]: Actually Blackadder himself in ''Christmas Carol'', starting off as kindy generous soul (who is naturally endlessly exploited for charity). A visit from a Christmas Spirit inadvertently reveals his legacy will be destroyed due to his meekness, leading him to become an even crueler schemer than his descendants.
* [[Hot Consort]]: Marian in ''Blackadder Back & Forth'', to {{spoiler|King Edmund III}}.
* [[Naked Apron]]: Baldrick serves dinner in ''Blackadder Back & Forth'' while wearing an apron patterned like a maid uniform. [[Fan Disservice|And nothing under it]].
* [[Shakespeare in Fiction]]: ''Blackadder: Back & Forth''.
* [[Shout-Out]]: In ''Blackadder Back & Forth'' the brief space battle is between two Earth Defence Directorate starfighters and a Draconian fighter.
* [[Throw the Dog a Bone]]: Things finally end happily for (one descendant of) Edmund and Baldrick in ''Blackadder: Back & Forth'' as they alter time and history for fame and fortune.
* [[Yet Another Christmas Carol]]: An inversion and parody. Indeed, when Ebenezer Blackadder, the [[White Sheep|only good and friendly member of the Blackadder bloodline]], sees that his descendant would rule all of the universe if he became a spiteful miser like his ancestors (instead of being a slave to future Baldrick, which would happen if he were to remain kind and generous), he lampshades it gleefully:
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[[Category:The Eighties]]
[[Category:Britcom]]
[[Category:Blackadder]]▼
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Britain's Best Sitcom]]
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