#captain blackadder

[splintersiry]

They’re divorced parents in a weird rom-com way where they have to take care of their stupid child named George and you cannot tell me otherwise

[asexual-squidward]

Captain Darling's Medals

Guess who has fallen back into her Blackadder fandom and spent way too much time researching the characters medals

A bunch of WW1 nerds have already done deep dives on Blackadder, Melchett and Flashhart but not much on Captain Darling or Lieutenant George (Baldrick doesn't seem to have any medals, sorry Baldrick)

Darling's medals aren't that easy to see, because stills from episodes are very grainy but here are his full medals from Captain Cook:

I then went and found some HD production stills from alamy and found a far sharper version of the 'bars' on his usual uniform:

In order his medals are:

The Military Cross (white with a purple central stripe) - Awarded for acts of valour in WW1

The Queens Service Award (Orange middle stripe with smaller blue and red striped either side) - Awarded for serving in the Boer War

The 1914 Star (the french flag colours) - Awarded for serving in WW1 from 1914 onwards

The Croix de Guerre (thin green and orange stripes) - Awarded by the French army (to french and allied soldiers) for acts of 'gallantry or courage' from 1914 onwards

The Military Cross was established in 1914 and awarded to officers who had demonstrated exceptional valour and 'gallantry during active operations against the enemy'. It's also the one medal that Darling has that Blackadder doesn't. (George also has one, but idk if that is because of what happens in General Hospital or something else)

So canonically according to these medals, Darling HAD to have seen active duty in 1914 and performed particular acts of bravery and valour in order to qualify for both the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre.

So Melchett really did take a man who had already been taken out of active front line service (perhaps to recuperate from whatever trauma that had caused) and sent him back to the trenches to die. Kevin Darling deserved better (despite still being a bit of a bureaucratic bastard)

[scribledon]

Blackadder Goes Forth is so good

[dhplover]

Happy Birthday Rik, the world will forever be a much poorer place without you in it

#RememberingRik #RikMayall #BlackadderGoesForth

George: “Crikey! I'm looking forward to today. Up-diddly-up, down-diddly-down, whoops-poop, twiddly-dee, a decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron, a bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines, capture, torture, escape & then back home in time for tea & medals.”

Blackadder: “George, who's using the family brain-cell at the moment? This is just the beginning of the training. The beginning of five long months of very clever, very dull men looking at machinery.”

Flashheart: “Hey, girls! Look at my machinery! Enter a man who has no underwear. Ask me why.”

Everyone but Blackadder: “Why do you have no underwear, Lord Flash?”

Flashheart: “Because the pants haven't been built yet that'll take the job on! And that's the type of guy who's doing the training around here. Sit down! Well, well, well, well, well! If it isn't old Captain Slack Bladder.”

Blackadder: “Blackadder.”

Flashheart: “Couldn't resist it, eh, Slack Bladder? Told you you thought I was great. Alright men, let's do-oo-oo it! The first thing to remember is: always treat your kite like you treat your woman!”

George: “How, how do you mean, Sir? Do you mean take her home at weekends to meet your mother?”

Flashheart: “No, I mean get inside her five times a day & take her to heaven and back.”

Blackadder: “I'm beginning to see why the Suffragette Movement want the vote.”

Flashheart: “Hey, hey! Any bird who wants to chain herself to my railings & suffer a jet movement gets my vote. Er, right. Well, I'll see you in ten minutes for take-off.”

Blackadder: “Hang on, hang on! What about the months of training?”

Flashheart: “Hey, wet-pants! This isn't the Womens Auxiliary Balloon Corps. You're in the Twenty Minuters now.”

Darling : “Er, Sir?”

Flashheart: “Prat at the back!”

Darling: “I think we'd all be intrigued to know why you're called the Twenty Minuters.”

George: “Oh, Mister Thicko. Imagine not knowing that.”

Flashheart: “Well, it's simple! The average life expectancy for a new pilot is twenty minutes!”

Darling: “Ah!”

Blackadder: “Life expectancy of twenty minutes.”

Flashheart: “That's right. Goggles on, chocks away, last one back's a ****! Hurray!”

[ofserpentsnoir]

guys why would blackadder the fourth need a huge false moustache when he /has/ a moustache. .

[czesirethefool]

My obsessions have cycled back to Blackadder goes Forth once again.

[theknightofivanhoe]

Tarkin: Good luck, Padawan Tano.

Ahsoka: Well thank you, Tarkin. And what’s your big job today? Straightening chairs?

Tarkin: No. In fact, I’m appearing for the prosecution. I wouldn’t raise your hopes too much. You’re as guilty as hell, you haven’t a chance.

Ahsoka:  Oh, thank you, Tarkin. And I hope you die in a freak thermal exhaust port explosion.

Tarkin: Only doing my job, Padawan Tano. Obeying orders, as well as having enormous *fun* in the bargain!

Ahsoka: I wouldn’t be too confident if I were you. Any ‘reasonably’ impartial judge is bound to let me off.

Tarkin: (smirking) Absolutely...

Ahsoka: (pauses) Who is the judge, by the way?

(Palpatine appears)

Ahsoka: ...I’m dead!

[tony-angelino]

Ahh so I’ve just finished watching this episode, and for so long I sad that this ending ALWAYS makes me cry. I think one time it didn’t, and I thought I was over it. Haven’t seen it in a while so watching now I legit cried again 😂. I think something this whole episode does so well is break away from the comedy in a lot of sections and really show just how horrific the war was. You have Blackadder desperately trying to get out of it, George trying to keep his optimism until just before and realising he is in fact scared, Baldrick speaking out against the war and basically asking the question we all ask, “why didn’t it just stop?”, and then of course Darling begging not to be “allowed” to join the frontline. It is of course funny, but it makes you realise that the war was something horrible and a comedic take on that era can still show some of the reality of it. Then, of course, you have the line of “the Great war, 1914 to 1917″, and while people laugh at that, you KNOW that it’s not true. You know that the soldiers in the war had no idea when it was going to end once 1914 had passed, so their optimism that that could have been the end when you just know that they still had another year to go is honestly heartbreaking. And naturally the final scene when they go over the top (as in the bit that makes me WEEP) is a true display of a fraction of the reality of battle, and as it slowly ends you know what’s about to happen to them. Every other series ends with at least one character death, so this one shouldn’t be any different. But they leave it there, they just show you the poppy field at the end, they take away the comedy of death from the previous series and just show you the reality of war. Anyway that’s my thoughts on it, it made me emotional so I thought I’d share why 😂.