Blackadder Back & Forth (1999)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Paul Weiland

Writers:

Richard Curtis (television series "The Black Adder", "Blackadder II", "Blackadder the Third" and "Blackadder Goes Forth") &
Rowan Atkinson (television series "The Black Adder") ...
(more)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | History | Sci-Fi

Plot:

At a New Millennium Eve party Blackadder and Baldrick test their new time machine and ping pong through history encountering famous characters and changing events rather alarmingly....

Plot Keywords:

Time Machine | Friend | Millennium | Con | Cunning Plan

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Rowan Atkinson	...	Lord Edmund Blackadder / King Edmund III / Blackaddercus
Tony Robinson	...	Sod-Off Baldrick / Baldrickus
Miranda Richardson	...	Lady Elizabeth / Queen Elizabeth
Tim McInnerny	...	Archdeacon Darling / Duc de Darling / Duke of Darling
Hugh Laurie	...	Viscount George Bufton-Tufton / Georgius
Stephen Fry	...	Bishop Flavius Melchett / Melchett / General Melchecus / Wellington
Rik Mayall	...	Robin Hood
Colin Firth	...	William Shakespeare
Kate Moss	...	Maid Marian / Queen Marian
Patsy Byrne	...	Nursie
Simon Russell Beale	...	Napoleon
Jennie Bond	...	Royal Reporter
Crispin Harris	...	Friar Tuck
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Amanda Jane Manning	...	Lady in waiting
Tyronnosaurus Rex	...	Dinosaur
Sacha Bennett	...	Will Scarlett (uncredited)

Directed by
Paul Weiland

Writing credits
Richard Curtis		television series "The Black Adder", "Blackadder II", "Blackadder the Third" and "Blackadder Goes Forth" &
Rowan Atkinson		television series "The Black Adder" &
Ben Elton		television series "Blackadder II", "Blackadder the Third" and "Blackadder Goes Forth"
Richard Curtis		(writer) &
Ben Elton		(writer)

Produced by
Peter Bennett-Jones	....	executive producer
Sophie Clarke-Jervoise	....	producer
Marigo Kehoe	....	line producer
Geoffrey Perkins	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Howard Goodall

Cinematography by
Tony Pierce-Roberts

Film Editing by
Guy Bensley

Production Design by
Andrew Howe-Davies

Art Direction by
Nic Pallace

Costume Design by
Hazel Pethig

Makeup Department
Jan Sewell	....	makeup designer

Art Department
Kevin Day	....	stand-by prop
Peter Hallam	....	property master

Sound Department
Philip Meehan	....	adr editor

Special Effects by
Colin Shulver	....	art finisher
Colin Shulver	....	creature sculptor

Visual Effects by
Sean Danischevsky	....	digital compositor: Magic Camera Company
Max Dennison	....	digital matte artist
Sarah Lockwood	....	digital compositor
Daniel Pettipher	....	digital supervisor
Andy Stevens	....	visual effects camera assistant: Millfilm

Stunts
Marc Cass	....	stunts (as Mark Cass)
Joss Gower	....	stunt double: Rowan Atkinson
Steve Griffin	....	stunts
Richard Hammatt	....	stunt coordinator
Paul Heasman	....	stunt coordinator
Tony Lucken	....	stunts
Lee Sheward	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Sam Goldie	....	camera trainee
Rawdon Hayne	....	assistant camera
Andrew Shields	....	video playback operator
Philip Sindall	....	camera operator

Other crew
Adam Browne	....	location manager
Sue Calverley	....	production coordinator
Gavin Charlton	....	sous chef
Peppy Dickinson	....	stand-in
Simon Giles	....	title designer: closing title sequence
Paul Jackson	....	health and safety
Charles Jiminez	....	stand-in
Paul Kirkby	....	stand-in
Nathaniel McCullagh	....	floor runner
Paul Mortimer	....	unit paramedic

Production Companies

• New Millennium Experience Company
• Tiger Aspect Productions

Distributors

• BBC Enterprises
• British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB)
• Sky TV
• VCI Distribution

Other Companies

• Shepperton Studios  movie studio
• Mobile Mouthful  catering
• One8Six  video playback equipment
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

Also Known As:

Time for Blackadder (UK) (working title)
Untitled Blackadder Millennium Project (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

33 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS 70 mm

Certification:

Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

New Millennium Experience Company

Trivia:

Writers trademark (random black extras). Although they are not correct to the period, black extras can be seen in the Robin Hood and Elizabethan scenes because of a long-running joke between Richard Curtis and Lenny Henry who apparently always complains that he could have been the extra instead.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Blackadder exits the time machine in the Elizabethan era, the lights in the basement are electric wall lights and couldn't have featured in an Elizabethan building.

Quotes:

Blackadder: [punches Shakespeare] That is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next 400 years. Have you any idea how much suffering you're going to cause? Hours spent at school desks trying to find *one* joke in "A Midsummer's Night Dream", wearing stupid tights in school plays and saying things like, "What ho, my Lord," and, "Oh, look, here comes Othello talking total crap as usual."

Movie Connections:

Featured in Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga (2008) (TV)

Great reunion, for actors and fans.

Blackadder Back and Forth was, or seems to be, meant as a collector's film for fans of Blackadder, and also as a fun reunion for the actors at the millennium. That is, it started out with the same motif as the other Blackadder series: just to have fun and be funny. Though Back and Forth is only funny as an addition to the other Blackadder's, not by itself. All the other series' could be funny on their own. This movie isn't a disappointment if you realize that it's just a wrap up put together for fun at the turn of the millenium, it wasn't meant to be like the other Blackadders, and it certainly isn't. It's a mere following of some of the characters throughout time, which is funny in itself, especially the part with the Romans and the short skirts.

The only real disappoint I had was the loss of Percy Percy. Even in the "Making of a Blackadder" they seemed to avoid talking about Percy Percy deliberately. I think it's great to see Tim McInnerny as more than one role in the series: Darling and Percy (and Smedly), because he's such a terrific and underrated actor, but I loved him the most as Percy and I miss that character. I know he doesn't want to be pigeon-holed as just one character, and he shouldn't be, but it would have been great to see both Percy and Darling in one film.