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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* [[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 the Grave|Victor Meldrew]] is the dentist.

** A young Angus Deayton plays the lifeguard.

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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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* [[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.

* [[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 [[Blackadder]], 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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