Hello, folks! This is an unscheduled commission for a few reasons, and it’s also my first chance to try out my new video system! So, there is lots of info below, and THEN THERE IS THIS WONDERFUL SPECIAL THAT WE MUST TALK ABOUT! Oh god, IT WAS GREAT.
Anyway! So, when you watch the video for this episode, I explain why this commission wasn’t on the Master Schedule and why it took me two weeks to complete it. Basically, it appears that UPS ran over my package with a steamroller? I DUNNO, MAYBE THAT’S A SERVICE THEY OFFER. I ordered the third series DVD, which has the Christmas Carol episode on it, so that I could do a big post about that and this final special. After all the hassle of getting a copy, it was busted. THEN the DVD itself actually doesn’t have the Christmas special at all! LIES. So, I didn’t want Amir (who commissioned “Back and Forth” from me) to have to wait any longer, so here is this post!
If you didn’t hear yesterday or on Twitter, my Vimeo account was deleted because Warner Bros are a bunch of bigots who claimed I was hosting their episodes on my account. I’m not. I’m upset, but I refuse to let this interrupt my videoblogging! From here on out, I’ve got a public Dropbox folder where I will index all my Mark Watches videos in the .mov format, which both Quicktime and Windows Media Player 12 can handle. Not only that, but as you’ll see, you can actually stream .mov files from WITHIN Dropbox if you want! You don’t need a Dropbox account to download my videos, either. I just wanted to make sure you could still download the files like Vimeo would allow you to do.
So, first things first. Here is the public folder where all my videos will be, and they are organized by the show I’m watching or in the Random Commissions folder.
Here’s today’s video: “Blackadder Back and Forth”
- This was splendid. It was hilarious, a brilliant way of looking back on the show, and of closing it up. It’s a goddamn spectacular ending.
- I think “Beer” is still my favorite single episode of the show, but this comes a very close second behind it.
- DOESN’T THIS FEEL LIKE A LOVING SATIRE OFÂ DOCTOR WHO??? Oh my god, IT’S GOT SO MANY VISUAL REFERENCES TO THE SHOW. I refuse to believe otherwise!
- They got everyone to come back, and it was fantastic. Tim McInnerney, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, and Tony Robinson. EVEN NURSIE WAS THERE!
- It was also fascinating to see how this worked as a journey through British history in general, not just of the places and time periods the show visited during its four series.
- I think another reason I enjoyed this more was that there was no laugh track. I’ve never been a fan of them, and “Back and Forth” benefited from the lack of one.
- For a moment, I thought the entire dinosaur sequence was totally taken from Jurassic Park. Like, they just put a greenscreen there and stole the film. Which… that’s also a genius idea??? WHY DIDN’T I WRITE THIS?
- I also enjoyed the idea that the newest incarnation of Blackadder knew that he was basically visiting his own bloodline. The character hasn’t ever been as explicitly aware of the Blackadders as a family institution quite as much as this one was.
- Baldrick had a cunning plan that actually worked. Wow.
- I didn’t actually recognize Colin Firth OR Kate Moss during this. Whoa! I swear, I’m usually better at recognizing actors and actresses.
- Until the reveal at the end that Blackadder did rewrite history so that the French took over Britain, Shakespeare never wrote anything, and Robin Hood was never heard of, I had a sneaking suspicion something was wrong for one reason: Things were going to well for Blackadder. Throughout the show, things in his life never went this well. Maybe he got what he wanted, but there was always so much cynicism and fatalism attached to it.
- What a great ending! Blackadder is king, Baldrick is the Prime Minister, and Parliament was dissolved. Blackadder actually got what he wanted. After all the Blackadders went through for thousands of years, one of them finally ended up on top. Bless.
Thanks for getting me to watch this show, y’all! NOW LET’S DISCUSS.
