Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Black-Adder II - season 2 (1986) - More historic, English tomfooleries from BBC

1/13/2014

Black-Adder II - season 2 (1986) - More historic, English tomfooleries from BBC

♥♥♥♥

Rowan Atkinson again brings laughter as a new Black-Adder in the series' second season

QUICK REVIEW:

The BBC sitcom has in its second season scrolled forward in time to 1558, and the new protagonist is Lord Edmund, who is supposed to be Prince Edmund 'Black Adder' from the first season's great-grandson. - A fairly inconsequential, but nevertheless cunning way to continue the show, (as Black-Adder himself would have put it), - and an important one, as the original protagonist died in the last episode of the first season!
The second season is more flippant and sexually focused, (some would say vulgar or coarse), in its humor, involving such things as dildoes, fake breasts, vomit, prostitution and other auspicious subjects for its historic comedy. Another considerable change is that the new Edmund isn't the underdog outsider we knew in the first season: Here he is arrogantly ruling, with his helpers Baldrick and Percy, but always under the grace of Queen Elizabeth I. Unfortunately, Miranda Richardson (The Crying Game (1992)), who plays the queen, and Patsy Burne (Les Misérables (1998)), who plays her 'nursie', are two of the series' worst detractors; both are loud, hysterical and unfunny women.
The first season was apparently, although it is hard to imagine when seeing it today, too expensive for BBC, and the second season was therefore made under heavy economization; it has virtually no expensive scenes.

The opening title in the show's second season

Again there is only few episodes, so I will quickly sum them up one by one:

In the first episode, Edmund falls in love with someone who he thinks is a male servant, (homosexuality is still - as in the first season - a frequent subject.)
In the wickedly funny Head, Rowan Atkinson as Edmund wears a sack on his head and acts as one of the persons, he had the bad fortune of executing prematurely.
In Potato Tom Baker has a brilliant role as Captain Rum, a traveling explorer.
In Beer, Edmund hurries between a drinking contest and a dinner with some confused, puritanical relations.
In the last episode, Chains, Edmund and the queen's helper Melchett get kidnapped by an evil German, but Edmund heroically saves the day, and the season ends with a wonderful dialog between Edmund and the queen:
Edmund: "Life without you was... as a broken pencil."
The queen: "Explain"
Edmund: "Pointless"
The series is still naughty, intelligent, funny-as-hell, theater-like television of the highest, British carat.

Related reviews:

Rowan Atkinson: Bean/Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie/Bean: The Movie (1997) or, A Bean in America
The Black Adder - season 1 (1983) - Historic fooleries with Rowan Atkinson and co.

Rowan Atkinson is still a find as the now arrogantly ruling lord Edmund

Watch the funny, original teaser trailer here

How do you find season 2 compared to the other seasons?
How can we get Rowan Atkinson out of his country-stupor and back to doing comedy?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

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1/13/2014

Black-Adder II - season 2 (1986) - More historic, English tomfooleries from BBC

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