Mr. Bean: Difference between revisions

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[[File:MrBean.jpg|frame]]
 
'''''Mr. Bean''''' (1990-1995) is an incredibly well-loved British comedy by writer Richard Curtis and writer-star [[Rowan Atkinson]].
 
The show is about a very odd man about whom we know nothing except his last name, who basically wanders around, getting into trouble, finding unique solutions to predicaments, and wilfully causing mayhem. Mr. Bean is perhaps the ultimate example of [[No Social Skills]]. Not only does he seem to be unfamiliar with all social conventions and standard methods for doing anything, he never even demonstrates normal human thought processes -- witness his strategy for protecting his furniture and possessions when painting his flat, which is to wrap every single item in newspaper right down to individual grapes.
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Followed by an [[Animated Adaptation|animated series version]], which was obviously less well-received by the fans, as Mr. Bean's charm is that he is an actual person doing embarrassing things for real.
 
In 2006, the ''[[Myth Busters (TV)|Myth BustersMythBusters]]'' tried to reproduce Mr. Bean's "dynamite in a paint bucket" method of painting his flat, with no luck.
 
[[Not to Be Confused With]] Mr. Bean the Postman from ''[[The Comic Strip Presents]]: Dirty Movie''.
 
The entire series can be seen on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/show/mrbean?s=1 hereon YouTube].
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Adult Child]]
* [[The Alleged Car]]: Bean's [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini |BMC Mini]] is a small econo-car with character, and Bean makes occasional eccentric modifications to it. Depending on your taste, it could qualify as a [[Cool Car]].
** Not to mention the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliant_Regal:Reliant Regal|Reliant Regal]] driven by Bean's nemesis.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: The tie-in books ''Mr. Bean's Diary'' and ''Mr. Bean's Scrapbook'' provided a lot of background information that would later be used in the animated series.
* [[Altum Videtur]]: The theme tune. "''Ecce homo qui est faba'': Behold the man who is (a) bean."
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* [[Big Blackout]]: In "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", he pulls an electric cord out of its socket to test a string of Christmas lights while shopping at Harrods and cuts out all the power to the store.
** Plus, the time he was out clubbing with his girlfriend and she leaves him for another man, he pulls the fuses on the disco's lights before making a hasty exit.
* [[Bits of Me Keep Passing Out]]: Mr. Bean's dentist keeps accidentally injecting himself with Novocaine until he passes out completely, forcing Bean to do his own dental work.
* [[Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game]]: Mr. Bean finds himself playing one in ''Tee Off, Mr. Bean'', in which he accidentally knocks a ball out of the miniture golf park, but continues to play the golden rule: "Always play the ball where it lies."
* [[Bootstrapped Theme]]: The original theme song (used throughout the first episode) was reused as the Reliant Regal's [[Leitmotif]] for its appearance in "Tee Off, Mr. Bean".
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* [[Cringe Comedy]]: frequently.
* [[Defictionalization]]: When the show became popular in the 'States, a company produced faithful (if larger than screen-accurate) replicas of Teddy.
* [[Digging Yourself Deeper]]: Surprisingly averted in the first film, where Mr. Bean is forced to give an improvised speech on the Whistler's Mother painting, and he handles the speech quite well.
** The speech is very confident, but lacks any meaningful content. The characters who might have been offended take it as dryly comical [[Take That]] at their earlier request not to have a boring lecture of art history, and maybe insert a joke or two into the speech, since they assumed Bean to be a stereotypical British academic.
* [[Dinner Order Flub]]: Mr Bean orders Steak tartare, believing it was just a fancy steak and the rest of the episode revolved around him trying to get rid if all the raw beef.
* [[Disaster Dominoes]]: several, including the ending from his infamous rooftop-drive.
* [[Drives Like Crazy]]
* [[Free Wheel]]: Every time Mr. Bean crashes the Reliant Robin offscreen.
* [[Funny Character, Boring Actor]]: Atkinson doesn't regard himself spontaneously witty. A "making of" video of ''Mr. Bean's Holiday'' shows how meticulous Atkinson is in planning all of the gags.
* [[Genius Ditz]]: Bean seems to have great difficulty handling everyday problems, but comes up with quite intricate and ingenious ways to navigate them.
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: [[One Foot in Thethe Grave|Victor Meldrew]] is the dentist.
** A young Angus Deayton plays the lifeguard.
** Stephen Frost is the guy on the train laughing while reading his book.
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* [[I Am Not Spock]]: Atkinson often grumbles about being associated with the character.
* [[Improbable Parking Skills]]: Mr Bean thrives on these.
* [[It Got Worse]]: The Library episode.
* [[Large Ham]]: Mr Bean himself.
* [[Laugh Track]]
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** However, in ''Mr. Bean's Holiday'', in which his passport reveals it to be {{spoiler|[[The Danza|Rowan]]}}.
** Bean's girlfriend is simply billed as "The Girlfriend" in her first couple appearances, although she's eventually identified as one Irma Gobb.
* [[No Social Skills]]: The starting point for much of the humour--in fact, Atkinson's original concept for the character was "the most embarrassing man in the world", both to himself and to others. To be fair, he is implied to be an [[Amusing Alien|alien]] or angel by the opening and closing credits, which show him falling from and being sucked back into the sky, respectively. [[Word of God]] claims that the opening credits were meant to imply that Bean is "an ordinary man cast into the spotlight," although the "he's an alien" opinion is held by basically everyone, even Atkinson himself. And this is actually ''canonical'' in the animated series.<br /><br />He does seem to be familiar with at least a ''few'' social conventions, which leads to some of the hilarity (such as not wanting to appear picky in "The Return of Mr. Bean" or not wanting to appear cowardly in "The Curse of Mr. Bean").
:He does seem to be familiar with at least a ''few'' social conventions, which leads to some of the hilarity (such as not wanting to appear picky in "The Return of Mr. Bean" or not wanting to appear cowardly in "The Curse of Mr. Bean").
* [[Not What It Looks Like]]: Occasionally, as when Bean attempts to retrieve his trousers from the man in the bathroom stall in "Back to School, Mr. Bean" and the drill sergeant walks in on them.
* [[Offscreen Crash]]: The ending of the first episode. "The Trouble with Mr. Bean" has what could be called an Offscreen Splash.
* [[Police Lineup]]: "Mr. Bean Goes to Town".
* [[Playing Against Type]]: Atkinson is otherwise renowned for his [[Deadpan Snarker]] roles, most notably [[Black AdderBlackadder]]. Except in countries that don't know [[Black AdderBlackadder]]. Brazil for example.
* [[Please Put Some Clothes On]]: Mr. Bean feels uncomfortable in the presence of nudity and the show has him disapproving not only of nude models but also nudist art. So whenever he sees a nude statue or a painting of a nude he uses the closest piece of cloth or paper to hide the 'offending area.' With the nude model, he crafts a makeshift bra out of clay and gets it on her without his instructor noticing.
* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Mr Bean often goes to ridiculous lengths to secure his property. He's right to do it. (A carjacker tries to steal his Mini only to discover that there is no steering wheel.)
* [[Removable Steering Wheel]]: Present in "The Trouble with Mr. Bean" and "Mr. Bean in Room 426".
* [[Shout -Out]]: Fellow prisoners seen when Mr. Bean is accidentally sent to jail in the [[Animated Adaptation]] include [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter]] and Steve McQueen's character from ''[[The Great Escape]]''.
** The postie van kiddie ride in the episode "Mind The Baby, Mr. Bean" plays the [[Postman Pat]] theme.
* [[Silence Is Golden]]: Much of the show's international success has been attributed to its reliance on physical comedy over dialogue.
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* [[Star-Making Role]]: For Atkinson in the States. He was already a star in the UK when this show came about.
* [[Status Quo Is God]]: Poor Teddy gets decapitated in "Mr. Bean in Room 426", used as a paintbrush in "Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean", and shrunk in the wash in "Tee Off, Mr. Bean", but is back to normal at the beginning of the next episode.
** Possibly [[Doing inIn Thethe Wizard|explained]] in the final episode of the animated series, in which it's revealed that {{spoiler|Teddy is possibly of alien origin, because Mr. Bean is from a race of [[Human Alien|human-like aliens.]]}}
** We do see Teddy receive a new pair of eyes in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean" which he retains throughout the series, his head is shrunk while at the laundry which stays for at least one episode, and Teddy's decapitated head shows up a few times (not that sewing a head back onto a stuffed animal is hard to do) so it is averted in some cases.
* [[Stuff Blowing Up]]: His method of repainting his entire flat in one fell swoop basically consisted of putting some fireworks into a tin of paint, lighting the fuse and running. This was actually busted by ''Mythbusters''.
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* [[Vertigo Effect]]: Used in "Mr. Bean in Room 426", when he realizes he's just consumed a bunch of rotten oysters.
* [[Video Credits]]: ''Mr. Bean's Holiday''
* [[Video Inside, Film Outside]]: Not totally consistent, as some inside scenes are shot with film when on location, but it's fairly obvious when one is used versus the other.
* [[Wild Mass Guessing]]: Interpretations of the meaning of the opening title screen vary from showing that he's innocently naive (based on the [[Cherubic Choir]] music, suggesting he's being dropped from Heaven), or that he's an alien that even Martians find too weird so they dump him on Earth as if to say, "Screw this, he's your problem now."
** Finally explained in the final episode of the animated series, where {{spoiler|Mr. Bean is dropped back down to Earth after being abducted by a race of aliens that all look like him and all have [[Companion Cube|stuffed animals]], similar to Mr. Bean's Teddy.}}
* [[What Could Have Been]]: According to rumour there were going to be references to a couple of Rowan Atkinson's previous roles: namely, the leader of the Mr Bean-aliens was going to be [[Black AdderBlackadder]], or at least resemble him. Also, Mr Bean passes a prominent red telephone box while following Irman and Mr Pod to the spaceship; if the show had git clearence, the telephone box would have been a police box instead, and after Mr Bean would drive past, Rowan Atkinson's Doctor would have stepped out.
* [[Zany Scheme]]: A lot of the humour comes from the fact that Bean approaches the same problems as everyone else using his own improvised plans along these lines. And quite often, they work.
 
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* [[The Stinger]]: After the end credits, Mr. Bean passes by to state that it is now the end of the movie, and tells the audience to leave.
* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Bean with David Langley. [[Discussed]] by David while talking to Allison, his wife:
{{quote| '''David:''' I don't know what to say about Bean. He is clearly a force ten disaster area...but God help me, I like him.}}
 
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* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: A more mundane case. All Bean wants to do is go to the beach at Cannes, France, but he had to go through a lot of stuff in order to do so.
* [[Rare Guns]]: Of all the franchises for this trope to apply, ''Mr. Bean's Holiday'' shows one of the commercial actors playing a Nazi soldier holding the very rare MP-41 submachine gun. About the only other movie this gun has appeared in is ''[[Enemy Atat the Gates]]''.
* [[The Stinger]]: After the end credits, Mr. Bean records his feet writing the word 'FIN' in the sand. As he finishes, the video camera battery dies out.
* [[Trauma Conga Line]]: Mr. Bean went through one that lasted for at least a [[Overly Long Gag|third of the movie]].
 
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