Blackadder Back & Forth (1999)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

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
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:

At the dinner party at the beginning, a portrait of Captain Blackadder from "Blackadder Goes Forth" (1989) is positioned on the wall behind the present Blackadder.

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: You really are as thick as clotted cream, that's been left out by some clot, and now the clots are so clotted, you couldn't unclot them with an electric de-clotter, aren't you, Baldrick?

Movie Connections:

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

a delightful old favorite gets a makeover

Old BBC shows are lovely, so low-budget and witty and strange.

To a lover of literature and history like myself, Blackadder stands as possibly the funniest sitcom of all time. Like Doctor Who, it was cheap, but I didn't give a fig...it was simply ten times cleverer than anything on American television, and I loved it. At first, I was dubious about this millennium special - I didn't think that Blackadder really needed a big-budget makeover, special effects, etc. But in the end, "Back and Forth" served its purpose for me. I laughed. Lots. Maybe I would've liked a little more wit and a few less sight gags, but so what? It's been ten years since the original Blackadder went off the air, and it's unreasonable to expect that a new special will emulate the old show exactly. And in addition to the new material, there's plenty of nostalgic jokes on hand (e.g. "I have a cunning plan"...why do people complain that this was recycled here? Can you image Blackadder WITHOUT this line?).

Like the recent big-budget Doctor Who and Asterix films, this was criticized by fans who were disappointed that it wasn't 4 stars all the way...but a general audience can forgive the odd flaw and accept this for what it is, a delightful reunion of great British comics for one last episode of a great show.