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Major Star (Blackadder)
Encyclopedia
"Major Star" is the third episode of Blackadder Goes Forth
, the fourth series of the BBC
sitcom Blackadder
.
and a really offensive Charlie Chaplin
impression by Baldrick
.
film to cheer him up, but Blackadder says they are about 'as funny as getting an arrow through the neck and then discovering there is a gas bill attached to it.' Baldrick then gets a newspaper saying the Russian Revolution has started. The Russians have pulled out of the war
as a result of the revolution. George is initially delighted, until he's reminded the Russians were on their side, and Blackadder is dismayed, since it will mean 'three quarters of a million Germans leaving the Russian Front and coming over here
, with the express purpose of using my nipples for target practice!'. Blackadder decides to desert, but is stopped when General Melchett comes into the trench (ironically mentioning that he needs Blackadder to help him shoot some deserters). Melchett, reminding Blackadder of the Mutinies in the French Army
the previous year, where the top suffered from tremondous uprisings to the bottom (which Blackadder says was traced to a shipment of garlic eclairs), and the recent Russian uprising, is determined to prevent the same thing happening in the British Army. To prevent an uprising, he asks Captain Blackadder
to organize a cabaret
to boost the men's morale
, something that Blackadder eagerly accepts when a possible tour is mentioned (which would allow him to leave the trenches). Melchett also asks his driver, Corp. "Bob
" Parkhurst, to aid Blackadder. Blackadder immediately notices that "Bob" is a girl in disguise, something of which Melchett remains entirely unaware; however, Bob persuades Blackadder not to give the game away.
The show, which features Baldrick's Charlie Chaplin
impression (featuring a dead slug
as Baldrick's "moustache"), which Melchett thinks is a slug-balancer, and Lieutenant George's drag
act, "Gorgeous Georgina", is a success on its first night, but unfortunately Melchett falls in love with "Georgina," takes her to the Regimental Ball, and proposes to her. Worst of all, George says yes because he thought he might have been court-martial
ed for disobeying a superior officer.
Blackadder is called to Melchett's office and it's reveal the marriage is to take place on Saturday and the General wants him to be his best man. Consequently, he informs Melchett that there is something wrong with Georgina. At first Melchett is worried she is welsh
, but Blackadder then informs him of Georgina's "death" from stepping on a cluster of landmines. At first, Melchett mourns deeply for his "perfect woman," but seconds later, he recovers by saying "Oh well. Can't be helped. Can't be helped." He then refuses to continue the show, citing that Georgina was the only good thing about it, but Blackadder says he has already found a new leading lady. These words place Blackadder in "the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun
!"
All of George's suggestions as to who to replace him as leading lady are rejected as being too short, too old or too dead. Baldrick offers to take up the role, but Blackadder quickly dismisses the idea, considering "a two-legged badger wrapped in a curtain" to be unsuitable (in truth, Baldrick's plan was to marry Melchett and be a Trojan Horse
' -or 'frozen horse' as he refers to it- to bring down the aristocracy). He then realizes he has had a leading lady in his presence all the time and replaces George with Bob. In spite of Bob's more convincing and better received 'drag' act, and Baldrick's now seemingly "feeble impression of Buster Keaton
," Melchett proclaims the second night's show a disaster, recognising Bob and still not realising she is a female, and immediately stops any possibility of a tour (and Blackadder leaving). He instead declares that with the arrival of the Americans into the war (6 April 1917), morale will be boosted by endless showings of Charlie Chaplin films (with Blackadder as projectionist
at a personal request from Chaplin himself which Darling reads out, much to his annoyance). Captain Darling
revels in Melchett's displeasure with Blackadder, causing Blackadder to offer him "liquorice" (Baldrick's slug), which he accepts.
Blackadder Goes Forth
Blackadder Goes Forth is the fourth and final series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC One....
, the fourth series of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom Blackadder
Blackadder
Blackadder is the name that encompassed four series of a BBC1 historical sitcom, along with several one-off instalments. All television programme episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as anti-hero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick...
.
Summary
The Russian Revolution produces two more appalling results: an offensive by GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and a really offensive Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
impression by Baldrick
Baldrick
Baldrick is the name of several fictional characters featured in the long-running BBC historic comedy television series Blackadder. Each one serves as Edmund Blackadder's servant and sidekick and acts as a foil to the lead character...
.
Plot
Blackadder is feeling bored, so George suggests a Charlie ChaplinCharlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
film to cheer him up, but Blackadder says they are about 'as funny as getting an arrow through the neck and then discovering there is a gas bill attached to it.' Baldrick then gets a newspaper saying the Russian Revolution has started. The Russians have pulled out of the war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as a result of the revolution. George is initially delighted, until he's reminded the Russians were on their side, and Blackadder is dismayed, since it will mean 'three quarters of a million Germans leaving the Russian Front and coming over here
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
, with the express purpose of using my nipples for target practice!'. Blackadder decides to desert, but is stopped when General Melchett comes into the trench (ironically mentioning that he needs Blackadder to help him shoot some deserters). Melchett, reminding Blackadder of the Mutinies in the French Army
French Army Mutinies (1917)
The French Army Mutinies of 1917 took place amongst the French troops on the Western Front in Northern France. They started just after the conclusion of the disastrous Second Battle of the Aisne, the main action in the Nivelle Offensive, and involved, to various degrees, nearly half of the French...
the previous year, where the top suffered from tremondous uprisings to the bottom (which Blackadder says was traced to a shipment of garlic eclairs), and the recent Russian uprising, is determined to prevent the same thing happening in the British Army. To prevent an uprising, he asks Captain Blackadder
Captain Blackadder
Captain Edmund Blackadder is the main fictional character in the fourth and final series of the popular BBC sitcom Blackadder, Blackadder Goes Forth...
to organize a cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
to boost the men's morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
, something that Blackadder eagerly accepts when a possible tour is mentioned (which would allow him to leave the trenches). Melchett also asks his driver, Corp. "Bob
Bob (Blackadder character)
Bob is a pseudonym used by two characters in the sitcom Blackadder, both female and played by Gabrielle Glaister.-Blackadder II:Kate, who goes by the pseudonym "Bob", is one of the first characters to appear in Blackadder II...
" Parkhurst, to aid Blackadder. Blackadder immediately notices that "Bob" is a girl in disguise, something of which Melchett remains entirely unaware; however, Bob persuades Blackadder not to give the game away.
The show, which features Baldrick's Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
impression (featuring a dead slug
Slug
Slug is a common name that is normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell...
as Baldrick's "moustache"), which Melchett thinks is a slug-balancer, and Lieutenant George's drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
act, "Gorgeous Georgina", is a success on its first night, but unfortunately Melchett falls in love with "Georgina," takes her to the Regimental Ball, and proposes to her. Worst of all, George says yes because he thought he might have been court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
ed for disobeying a superior officer.
Blackadder is called to Melchett's office and it's reveal the marriage is to take place on Saturday and the General wants him to be his best man. Consequently, he informs Melchett that there is something wrong with Georgina. At first Melchett is worried she is welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
, but Blackadder then informs him of Georgina's "death" from stepping on a cluster of landmines. At first, Melchett mourns deeply for his "perfect woman," but seconds later, he recovers by saying "Oh well. Can't be helped. Can't be helped." He then refuses to continue the show, citing that Georgina was the only good thing about it, but Blackadder says he has already found a new leading lady. These words place Blackadder in "the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick Insect got stuck on a sticky bun
Sticky bun
Sticky buns are a dessert or breakfast pastry that generally consist of rolled pieces of leavened dough — sometimes containing brown sugar or cinnamon — which are then compressed together to form a kind of flat loaf corresponding to the size of the baking pan...
!"
All of George's suggestions as to who to replace him as leading lady are rejected as being too short, too old or too dead. Baldrick offers to take up the role, but Blackadder quickly dismisses the idea, considering "a two-legged badger wrapped in a curtain" to be unsuitable (in truth, Baldrick's plan was to marry Melchett and be a Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse
The Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the stratagem that allowed the Greeks finally to enter the city of Troy and end the conflict. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside...
' -or 'frozen horse' as he refers to it- to bring down the aristocracy). He then realizes he has had a leading lady in his presence all the time and replaces George with Bob. In spite of Bob's more convincing and better received 'drag' act, and Baldrick's now seemingly "feeble impression of Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
," Melchett proclaims the second night's show a disaster, recognising Bob and still not realising she is a female, and immediately stops any possibility of a tour (and Blackadder leaving). He instead declares that with the arrival of the Americans into the war (6 April 1917), morale will be boosted by endless showings of Charlie Chaplin films (with Blackadder as projectionist
Projectionist
A Projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector. In the strict sense of the term this means any movie projector and therefore could include someone who operates the projector in a home video show or school. In common usage the term is generally understood to describe a paid employee of...
at a personal request from Chaplin himself which Darling reads out, much to his annoyance). Captain Darling
Kevin Darling
Darling is the name of several fictional characters played by Tim McInnerny in the British mock-historical sitcom Blackadder. Introduced in its fourth iteration, Blackadder Goes Forth, Captain Kevin Darling is main character Captain Edmund Blackadder 's intellectual peer and bitter rival; while...
revels in Melchett's displeasure with Blackadder, causing Blackadder to offer him "liquorice" (Baldrick's slug), which he accepts.
Continuity
- At one point in the episode, Blackadder says, "If I should die, think only this of me...I'll be back to get you." This is a reference to the first verse of Rupert BrookeRupert BrookeRupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...
's famous war poem The SoldierThe Soldier (poem)"The Soldier" is a poem written by Rupert Brooke. The poem is the fifth of a series of poems entitled 1914.It is often contrasted with Wilfred Owen's 1917 antiwar poem Dulce Et Decorum EstThe manuscript is located at King's College, Cambridge....
. - The plot device of including a character who is a woman dressed as a man had previously been utilised in past series of Blackadder; in Series 3's Amy and Amiability, where Miranda RichardsonMiranda RichardsonMiranda Jane Richardson is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes and a BAFTA during her career....
portrayed the villainous Amy posing as a Highwayman, and in Series 2's BellsBells (Blackadder)"Bells" is the first episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603. Although "Bells" was the first to be broadcast on BBC1, it was originally destined to be the second episode...
, where Gabrielle GlaisterGabrielle GlaisterGabrielle Glaister is an English actress.-Early life:She was a school friend of Ben Elton at Godalming Grammar School on Tuesley Lane in Godalming, Surrey; Glaister was in the year below Elton...
portrayed a young woman disguised as a man named Bob, a part she reprised for this episode. - This episode depicts Russia as having pulled out of the war before the USA entered it. In actual fact, the Treaty of Brest-LitovskTreaty of Brest-LitovskThe Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
, which marked the Russian exit from the war, was signed in March 1918 - nearly a year after the Americans entered the war, and shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. The revolution that took place before the American entry was the February RevolutionFebruary RevolutionThe February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
, which merely marked the end of the Tsarist era.