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March 28, 2024, 10:44:31 PM

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Blackadder Series 5?

Started by Phil_A, June 30, 2019, 02:48:49 PM

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Shaky

Quote from: Autopsy Turvey on July 02, 2019, 11:47:32 PM
I've thought a bit about The Blackadder Five too over the decades, was always excited by the idea. I concluded that Fry would have had to be the head of Melchett Records, and that McInnerny would be A&R rather than in the band. I assume managerial shenanigans would take precedence over band activity, but it would be very tempting to bring in Flashheart on guitar, and Nigel Planer could bring back a Smedley on bass for a Bad News/Blackadder supergroup. Philip Pope would surely be a shoe-in for organist, perhaps fleshing out Leonardo Acropolis. Bob would be a roadie-cum-groupie. Baldrick can be Bald Rick as long as his full name is Bald Rick Baldrick, and he leaves the band at one point to join folk duo The Ploppies.

No offence, but that sounds fucking horrible.

In about twenty years, they'll probably do Blackadder Five-Barely-Alive, set in a geriatric ward or nursing home.


Autopsy Turvey

Quote from: Shaky on July 03, 2019, 10:06:12 AM
No offence, but that sounds fucking horrible.

Well none taken, it's just an idle daydream about who could have been in the line-up of The Blackadder Five, which obviously was always a shit idea based on two desperate puns. Which other Blackadder alumni would have been good to cast as a 60s beat group?

ajsmith2

Quote from: Autopsy Turvey on July 03, 2019, 02:14:57 PM
Which other Blackadder alumni would have been good to cast as a 60s beat group?

Ade Edmondson (of 'Private Plane' and the archetypal frustrated rock star comedian) would definitely have wanted a piece of that action.

Miranda Richardson could maybe have revived her Queenie turn as spoilt-silly deb type girl singer for the group?

Actually, I just saw that wiki has more supposed info on The Blackadder 5, apparently derived from when Tony Robinson was hawking the idea around in various public appearances between 2005 and 2010 , which was prob what ImitationLeather was recalling earlier in this thread, and I would agree, is way too late on. Improbably, mention is made of the long dormant 1983 The Black Adder cast being re-introduced as the 1960s Blackadders family! Now that does seem like a bit of a daft idea, kind of like when the original crew came back in Red Dward Series 8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder#Future

'In January 2005, Tony Robinson told ITV's This Morning that Rowan Atkinson was more keen than he has been in the past to do a fifth series, set in the 1960s (centred on a rock band called the "Black Adder Five", with Baldrick – a.k.a. 'Bald Rick' – as the drummer). In the documentary Blackadder Rides Again, Robinson stated that the series would present Blackadder as the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth II and running a Beatles-like rock band. Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny and Miranda Richardson would have reprised their roles, and reportedly, Brian Blessed, Elspet Gray and Robert East would have returned from the first series to play Blackadder's biological family. Robinson in a stage performance 1 June 2007, again mentioned this idea, but in the context of a movie.[citation needed]'


dr_christian_troy

Quote from: ajsmith2 on July 03, 2019, 03:35:03 PM
Ade Edmondson (of 'Private Plane' and the archetypal frustrated rock star comedian) would definitely have wanted a piece of that action.

Miranda Richardson could maybe have revived her Queenie turn as spoilt-silly deb type girl singer for the group?

Actually, I just saw that wiki has more supposed info on The Blackadder 5, apparently derived from when Tony Robinson was hawking the idea around in various public appearances between 2005 and 2010 , which was prob what ImitationLeather was recalling earlier in this thread, and I would agree, is way too late on. Improbably, mention is made of the long dormant 1983 The Black Adder cast being re-introduced as the 1960s Blackadders family! Now that does seem like a bit of a daft idea, kind of like when the original crew came back in Red Dward Series 8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder#Future

'In January 2005, Tony Robinson told ITV's This Morning that Rowan Atkinson was more keen than he has been in the past to do a fifth series, set in the 1960s (centred on a rock band called the "Black Adder Five", with Baldrick – a.k.a. 'Bald Rick' – as the drummer). In the documentary Blackadder Rides Again, Robinson stated that the series would present Blackadder as the bastard son of Queen Elizabeth II and running a Beatles-like rock band. Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny and Miranda Richardson would have reprised their roles, and reportedly, Brian Blessed, Elspet Gray and Robert East would have returned from the first series to play Blackadder's biological family. Robinson in a stage performance 1 June 2007, again mentioned this idea, but in the context of a movie.[citation needed]'

Ade as the lead singer of a rival group would have made sense, as I imagine that if poor Rik was still around he would have definitely been in that role - a music megastar who Blackadder used to know, only for their paths to go in very different directions. Or something.

Miranda Richardson keeping in tradition as a failed love-interest (perhaps a journalist writing about the band who turns out to be also writing bad reviews about them under a pseudonym. Or something.

gilbertharding

Ok, ok - back the bus up a bit there: How on earth would 'the bastard son of Elizabeth II' work?

I mean, have a fucking think - and here's a clue: The bastard son of The Duke of Edinburgh is not the same thing.

What he's talking about is a hypothetical son of Elizabeth II, who has no genes in common with Prince Philip - who would be (as far as anyone was concerned) a full brother to Prince Charles and Princess Anne. In any case, if he is Prince Charles' little brother, he'd be aged about 15 in 1965, much too young to be managing a pop group.

Or perhaps he thinks it would be a hilarious back-story to imagine Princess Elizabeth got secretly knocked up during the war, and was sent away to have the baby who was then adopted?

I mean, I know the Royal Family are blood sucking lizard alien parasites, but fucking hell.

What a fucking whopper.

dr_christian_troy

Quote from: gilbertharding on July 03, 2019, 04:01:50 PM
Ok, ok - back the bus up a bit there: How on earth would 'the bastard son of Elizabeth II' work?

I mean, have a fucking think - and here's a clue: The bastard son of The Duke of Edinburgh is not the same thing.

What he's talking about is a hypothetical son of Elizabeth II, who has no genes in common with Prince Philip - who would be (as far as anyone was concerned) a full brother to Prince Charles and Princess Anne. In any case, if he is Prince Charles' little brother, he'd be aged about 15 in 1965, much too young to be managing a pop group.

Or perhaps he thinks it would be a hilarious back-story to imagine Princess Elizabeth got secretly knocked up during the war, and was sent away to have the baby who was then adopted?

I mean, I know the Royal Family are blood sucking lizard alien parasites, but fucking hell.

What a fucking whopper.

Indeed. With the idea of a Beatles-style band would suggest a 60s era setting, and although Liz was 44 by the end of the 1960s, even if she had this alleged bastard lovechild as early as 16, I think it's fair to say that Rowan Atkinson now pretending to be a 28 year old would be casually depressing.

Personally, if they really had to milk the Blackadder prostate dry one more time, I would have thought the 1980s would have been a better era, in that it would bring the whole thing back full circle. Fuck knows how it would work though. Well, it wouldn't.

gilbertharding

The 80s idea might have worked. The court intrigue surrounding Prince Charles (as thick as George in Blackadder 3, but with added Dunning-Kruger), the Thatcher government, the miner's strike, yuppies and advertising 'creatives', and the New Romantics... and, as you say, the cast and writers will all know the milieu like the backs of their hands.

I like the idea of Blackadder as a kind of Dance to the Music of Time you imply.

the ouch cube

Quote from: Autopsy Turvey on July 03, 2019, 02:14:57 PM
Which other Blackadder alumni would have been good to cast as a 60s beat group?

Frank "Witchsmeller" Finlay as a hairy saucer-eyed occultist rocker as the carefree early-to-mid-60s slowly succumbs to the bad-trip/Vietnam/Manson/proto-metal/going mad while tripping on acid in remote country houses late 60s. Final episode where everyone dies, again.

bigfatheart

Maybe a variety act of the sort alternative comedy ostensibly killed off? Blackadder as the gag writer who wants to be doing something more; Baldrick and George as a C-list, Syd and Eddie-style double act; Melchett as a telly producer; Darling as... something, I don't know. It'd be an era they know well, it'd be 'meta' and all that in as much as they were of the next generation, it's a setting where they're actually the appropriate age to be playing those roles. It'd still be shit, but it'd be less shit than them playing a 60s rock band.

dr_christian_troy

Now if it was done just right (which it probably won't be whatever happens, let's be honest), the idea suggested above could be interesting. The idea of Blackadder as a producer of a failing light entertainment show being thrust into the world of alternative comedy could be...well, certainly interesting, if not funny. I suppose a comedy in which the comedy comes from comedy characters discussing what is funny and what is no longer funny could actually be very clever, or in the wrong hands deeply cynical and resentful of whatever the New Guard is these days.

gilbertharding

It would make a good episode, I think. Not a series, surely?

Autopsy Turvey

Quote from: the ouch cube on July 03, 2019, 04:48:41 PM
Frank "Witchsmeller" Finlay as a hairy saucer-eyed occultist rocker as the carefree early-to-mid-60s slowly succumbs to the bad-trip/Vietnam/Manson/proto-metal/going mad while tripping on acid in remote country houses late 60s. Final episode where everyone dies, again.

YES.

This for some reason reminds me that there was a ridiculously obscure Norwegian death metal band called Balvaz who opened their 1990 demo tape 'Phlegm' with the Blackadder The Third theme tune, AND wrote a song called 'Contrafibularities' (the lyrics are illegible, alas, except for the word 'Contrafibularities').

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=373v71C4aG8

Might as well flag up this band here too:
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Witchsmeller_Pursuivant/11129

Any other Blackadder-based band names?

dr_christian_troy

Quote from: gilbertharding on July 03, 2019, 05:23:13 PM
It would make a good episode, I think. Not a series, surely?

Or maybe if they went down the Blackadder as a teacher route, it could be set in the 1950s/60s and ultimately there's an implication that he's a teacher at a certain university where certain pupils later grow up to be writers of a certain comedy show, with the teacher (and his subsequent ancestors) as the central influence? I dunno.

gilbertharding

I know that 'Forth' wasn't, but all the other series put him in or close to the Royal court - the benefit of this was that so much fictional history can be woven into the real stuff - so all the executions, and the explorers discovering America, and the puritans, and in 3 you had Wellington, the French revolution, Dr Johnson - and everything kind of resets every episode until they die at the end.

The point is, the characters stayed the same each week, but the situation was different every time: "I want you to put on a concert/find a spy/become a war artist/join the RFC..."

Obviously it doesn't have to be like that...

greenman

Quote from: gilbertharding on July 03, 2019, 06:19:35 PM
I know that 'Forth' wasn't, but all the other series put him in or close to the Royal court - the benefit of this was that so much fictional history can be woven into the real stuff - so all the executions, and the explorers discovering America, and the puritans, and in 3 you had Wellington, the French revolution, Dr Johnson - and everything kind of resets every episode until they die at the end.

The point is, the characters stayed the same each week, but the situation was different every time: "I want you to put on a concert/find a spy/become a war artist/join the RFC..."

Obviously it doesn't have to be like that...

I spose one way the "Bald Rick" idea could have worked along those line wouldnt be having it based around a band but around a record label, Melchett as an eccentric out of touch owner of the label, Blackadder in charge at a lower level, Bald Rick as a session drummer, George as a dim witted producer only employed as a favour to his family, maybe Darling running a rival division of the label or a different label. That would allow you to mix things up a bit more each week featuring different bands.

St_Eddie

Quote from: the ouch cube on July 03, 2019, 04:48:41 PM
Frank "Witchsmeller" Finlay as a hairy saucer-eyed occultist rocker as the carefree early-to-mid-60s slowly succumbs to the bad-trip/Vietnam/Manson/proto-metal/going mad while tripping on acid in remote country houses late 60s. Final episode where everyone dies, again.

In a plane crash, whilst traveling to embark upon their big American tour.

Spiny Norman

The problem is shown by some of the posts above - we would take the characters and dress them up differently and pretend it's actually new.

Back & Forth already painfully demonstrated how ossified the cast had become - Fry was the same Melchett, just 80 odd years later, etcetera. Which is particularly bad if you believe that 4th was the weakest series (or tied with 1).

For someone's sake, if this should ever really happen, I hope they'll have the wisdom to tell Stephen Meh Overacting Meh Fry to feck off and perhaps then the experience will only be mildly humiliating.

greenman

Quote from: Spiny Norman on July 03, 2019, 08:30:13 PM
The problem is shown by some of the posts above - we would take the characters and dress them up differently and pretend it's actually new.

Back & Forth already painfully demonstrated how ossified the cast had become - Fry was the same Melchett, just 80 odd years later, etcetera. Which is particularly bad if you believe that 4th was the weakest series (or tied with 1).

For someone's sake, if this should ever really happen, I hope they'll have the wisdom to tell Stephen Meh Overacting Meh Fry to feck off and perhaps then the experience will only be mildly humiliating.

The 4th series is I'd say actually the one that approaches a sitcom formula most closely(hence having less shift in its style/plotting each episode) with Edmond vs Darling under Melchett with George and Baldrick as dim helpers so I spose its not supprising people transpose that onto different time periods for potential ideas most often.

Going back to that formula again though would probably have been diminishing returns though I'd agree, with the right setup potentially something worthwhile could have been made from it though I'd imagine. The other obvious alternative I spose would be returning more to the series 2 setup of having Blackadder and Melchett as the smart rivals and maybe even Laurie playing a different character more akin to prince Ludwig.

Spiny Norman

Quote from: The Lion King on July 02, 2019, 11:13:35 PM
funny to think that the time period that blackadder goes forth was set in, at the time of filming, is the equivalent to a new series being set around 9/11
9/11 is the equivalent of stubbing your toe to someone losing their entire family in a car crash.

I get it, it's significant because it was the USA and with so many casualties, but even so. Do the math. 3,000 vs. 40 million people - a dip that was still visible in the population pyramids 50 years later.

Mostly, it was pride that was hurt. Vanity! The 2008 Christmas Massacre for example just doesn't get the same attention and that's not just because it had "only" 800 victims. (Also, 9/11 can't be that sacred, if a certain elected official can openly and obviously lie about it to make himself seem more important.)

For the band scenario, wouldn't Baldrick be better as some studio assistant, who became a roadie on the band's tour?  Having him as a member of the adder's band seems like an insufficient subordination of what was always a servile character.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Autopsy Turvey on July 03, 2019, 02:14:57 PM
Well none taken, it's just an idle daydream about who could have been in the line-up of The Blackadder Five, which obviously was always a shit idea based on two desperate puns. Which other Blackadder alumni would have been good to cast as a 60s beat group?

None of them, to be honest. Even the likes of Mayall, Edmondson and Planer were too old to convincingly portray a 60s beat group.

I think you're right, though, a sitcom based around Blackadder's managerial shenanigans in which the band, played by younger actors, were more or less peripheral figures could've worked. The '60s pop scene was full of posh establishment chancers and sharks, which is something Curtis and Elton would've enjoyed satirising.

Anyway, as you say, it was obviously never anything more than a shit throwaway pun. I very much doubt that Curtis and Elton ever seriously thought about what the show would actually be like. 

Autopsy Turvey

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on July 03, 2019, 08:59:20 PM
None of them, to be honest. Even the likes of Mayall, Edmondson and Planer were too old to convincingly portray a 60s beat group.

Could have been blues boomers! Alexis Korner and John Mayall were in their mid-30s when the blues boom boomed. Hugh would have enjoyed it. I like Queenie as a loose cannon wild child singer, getting Nursie to score her heroin. Mrs Miggins on merch. Redbeard Rum as an offshore pirate radio DJ. Sorry this is taking me right back to the early days of internet, among the first things I ever read online circa 1995 was shit Blackadder fanfic.

QuoteThe '60s pop scene was full of posh establishment chancers and sharks, which is something Curtis and Elton would've enjoyed satirising.

Was there ever a sitcom about band management/A&R/record labels? Kitty Schreiber in Rock Follies of '77 was a hoot, but it seems an overlooked area.


Icehaven

Is the fact the main cast are more or less all still alive the main reason a newer cast doesn't seem to have been considered (apart from how the originals improved the scripts too)? Updates of things like Porridge, Reggie Perrin etc. were obviously going to have a different cast from the get-go (and needless to say they didn't exactly set the bar for remakes), but with Blackadder 5 it doesn't even seem to have been an option.

BritishHobo

Quote from: gloria on July 03, 2019, 08:32:36 AM

More likely The Sun never found it at all credible and spun the story deliberately from the flimsiest basis.

That's what I mean. Cobble together some made-up shit when you're in need of a big story, quote 'a source', and a story with absolutely no basis in reality gains traction all across the internet. How is this still happening?