Tristan: I'm gay myself, so I know what you mean, but (a.) I know for a fact that none of the people involved in the show are homophobes, and (b.) it's actually funny, unlike a lot of hack comedians who unintentionally gay-bash when they don't mean to, so I give it a pass.

I believe episodes from the series are indeed often adapted by amateur and/or semi-professional theater troupes across the UK, particularly the 2nd and 4th series.

Agreed. It's a common theme in the entire series that Edmund absolutely loathes fads of any kind, as well as most forms of popular entertainment (as his rant against the music halls proves), and he's usually quite resentful of anyone gaining more recognition than himself.

Edmund's introduction to Bob is remarkable for the fact that Atkinson was able to generate so much laughter from his pronunciation of a single (and such a short) word: "Bob?"

Melchett's howls of anguish, immediately followed by an unconcerned "Can't be helped!" is great, and is reminiscent of a similar bit from BA3, in which the Prince learns that the Love of His Life has been executed."Oh, Amy, I'll never forget you! Never, ever, ever!" Then, loutishly: "Right! What's for breakfast?"

There's no wine involved. You just marinate the rat in a puddle until it's drowned.

Baldrick: Do not despair, sir. All my talk of food was just
a dead herring.In fact, I have a cunning plan. This is not
food, but an escape kit.

I don't know why, but since Jeremy Hardy is a straight dude, I find it particularly funny watching him camp it up as Perkins. "Oh, aye, Butch Oscar!"

It's interesting to compare Darling to Lord Melchett. In Queenie's court, upstaging your rivals was a matter of necessity (as it must have been to some extent in its real-life equivalent), and Edmund is a genuine threat to Melchie simply by virtue of being much younger and sexier. Queenie makes it quite clear on…

Yes, this is all chronicled in the True History of the Blackadder. Fry suggested Darling as a name when "Cartwright" wasn't working, McInnerny improvised the facial twitch Darling got whenever anyone said his name (especially when Blackadder says it), and a character was born.

"When I was at school, education could go hang as long as a boy could hit a six, sing the school song very loudly, and take a hot crumpet from behind without blubbing."

"I think you pigs are in for a bit of a shock!"

I love the Food Pyramid song. It's easily Marilyn Manson's greatest moment.

There's a real Dawson's Creek vibe to the docks scene, which is appropriate for a comedy that spoofs 'sexy' teen shows.

My favorite bit in this ep is when Rik turns on the record player and begins pathetically dancing. It only takes seconds for the cops to break in and start smashing things. "We've got our eye on you, sonny!"

Something I've never seen anyone else comment on is how the latter 2 series of Blackadder are examples of certain subcategories within the overall world of comedy:

"Once again my path is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own satanic herd!"

I can't say I agree with Kate's views on Miranda Richardson's S3 character; I thought Amy was delightful fun, both as a soppy nitwit and as the more, er, 'take charge' (i.e. psychotic) Shadow.

Dung for dinner tonight!

Looking back, it's something of a mild shock that the show lasted all the way up until 1974. For some reason, I always think of MPFC as ending closer to the 60's than the mid-70's…