Meta: Operation Certain Death
Dec. 21st, 2006 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamyOperation Certain Death: Angel s5 vs Blackadder s4
What's that? You need two volunteers for a mission into No Man's Land? Codename Operation Certain Death? Yes, I think I have just the fellows...
OK, here’s a weird thought. We know that Joss & Co like their Monty Python, but... I’m not sure that’s the only British comedy show they’ve watched. Cheap laughs aside, doesn’t season 5 of Angel remind you a heck of a lot of season 4 of Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder? Really, there are some parallels that seem a little too close to be pure coincidence... especially that much-debated and supposedly oh-so-original final scene of “Not Fade Away”.
For those unfamiliar with Blackadder’s fourth season (AKA Blackadder Goes Forth), it takes place during WW1 and is centered around the cynical Captain Blackadder, the idealistic Lieutenant George and the... well, not very bright Private Baldrick, who all sit in the same trench trying to not get shot. It also has a considerably darker tone than the previous seasons, not just because it’s set in the middle of a war and frequently has its characters point out how utterly pointless the war is, but also because of the way it ends...
But on to the comparisons, which may seem a bit silly individually, but hear me out.
Both seasons break with the traditional form set up by previous seasons. Angel by moving the show to W&H, out of the dark alleys and into a swanky office building, abandoning much of the arciness and (optical) darkness of the previous seasons and giving Angel a wacky blonde sidekick (plus Harmony), and also by delving deeper into the question posed by Buffy way back in “Gingerbread”:
BUFFY: But we never...
ANGEL: We never win.
BUFFY: Not completely.
ANGEL: We never will. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there's things worth fighting for.
It’s a theme that pops up every now and then in Angel – famously in “Reprise”, Holland Manners and the elevator ride – but has never been tackled properly: how do you keep playing the game when the game is rigged so that you cannot possibly win?
Similarly, Blackadder, which previously took place in the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries, moves into something which looks much more “now” – 1917 wasn’t that long ago. It becomes even more cynical, even more obsessed with the question of why the world seems to be ruled by malicious idiots. Throughout the ages, the character of Edmund Blackadder has gone from a prince to a lord to the king’s servant and now he’s a lowly soldier, ordered to fight a war which was the biggest mass slaughter the world had yet known, and all for no good reason. A “win” for Captain Blackadder means concocting a scheme that will keep him out of the firing line for one more week. In the end, he cannot get out.
Some specifics:
Angel s5: Our heroes work from within the belly of the beast, trying to do good and survive on hostile territory.
Blackadder s4: Our heroes work from within the belly of a trench, trying to survive despite frequent orders to enter hostile territory.
Angel s5: Apart from the more obvious enemies (various demons and robots) our heroes also have to fight their own superiors (the senior partners) who supposedly wish to keep Angel alive, yet cannot be trusted; you never know when they will decide to sacrifice him to bring about the apocalypse.
Blackadder s4: Apart from the more obvious enemies (Germans) our heroes also have to fight their own superiors (personified by general Melchett) who supposedly wish to keep Blackadder alive, yet cannot be trusted; you never know when they will decide to sacrifice him and a few thousand others to gain a few yards of terrain.
Angel s5: Our heroes keep in contact with their superiors via a young woman who is not what she claims to be (Eve).
Blackadder s4: Our heroes keep in contact with their superiors via a young woman who is not what she claims to be ("Bob").
Angel 5.05 "Life of the Party": To keep their superiors and the general population of lawyers happy, our heroes have to throw a big party. One of them turns into something else (Lorne’s sleep demon) and it almost costs everyone their lives when their more powerful guests misunderstand the situation.
Blackadder 4.03 "Major Star": To keep their superiors and the general population of soldiers happy, our heroes have to throw a music hall performance. One of them turns into something else (George dresses up as a woman) and it almost costs everyone their lives when the general misunderstands the situation.
Angel 5.12 "You're Welcome": Just as Angel is at his most cynical and is ready to give up, his beloved Cordelia comes back and puts him in a more hopeful frame of mind. Too bad she dies at the end.
Blackadder 4.05 "General Hospital": Just as Blackadder is at his most cynical and is ready to give up, he appears to fall in love with the nurse Mary who puts him in a more hopeful frame of mind. Too bad she dies at the end.
Angel 5.20 "The Girl In Question": Angel and Spike go abroad (to Italy). All their plans keep getting foiled by an opponent who apparently can do nothing wrong and wins the heart of every woman (The Immortal). In the end, they’re humiliated, The Immortal saves their asses and makes off with the girl.
Blackadder 4.04 "Private Plane": Blackadder and Baldrick go abroad (to Germany). All their plans keep getting foiled by an opponent who apparently can do nothing wrong and wins the heart of every woman (Lord Flashheart). In the end, they’re humiliated, Lord Flashheart saves their asses and makes off with the girl.
Angel 5.21 “Power Play”: To fool his superiors on the eve of the last battle, Angel pretends to have gone evil.
Blackadder 4.06 “Goodbyeee”: To fool his superiors on the eve of the last battle, Blackadder pretends to have gone mad.
Angel 5.22 "Not Fade Away": Before the last battle, our heroes are unexpectedly joined by one of their most bitter enemies (Lindsey McDonald).
Blackadder 4.06 "Goodbyeee": Before the last battle, our heroes are unexpectedly joined by one of their most bitter enemies (Kevin Darling).
Granted, taken one by one, all of these are completely circumstantial. You might argue that both series rely to some extent on traditional plots and plot devices that go all the way back to the earliest drama and beyond (indeed, both series are very fond of quoting Shakespeare). But if this doesn’t convince you, nothing will:
At the end of Angel’s very last episode ("Not Fade Away") our heroes have finally been forced into a corner. There’s nowhere to run, no more schemes to pull, no more loopholes to use, no more favours to cash, and they decide to fight anyway even though the odds are hopeless. The last discussion takes place in an alley as they are about to face an army of demons and a dragon or two.
SPIKE: In terms of a plan?
ANGEL: We fight.
SPIKE: Bit more specific?
ANGEL (calmly determined): Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work.
They lift their weapons and charge their seemingly unbeatable foe as the rain hammers down. Before we can see what happens to them, the screen goes dark and the credits roll.
At the end of Blackadder’s very last episode* ("Goodbyeee") our heroes have finally been forced into a corner. There’s nowhere to run, no more schemes to pull, no more loopholes to use, no more favours to cash, and they decide to fight anyway even though the odds are hopeless. The last discussion takes place in the trench as they are about to face the German army and a barrage of machine-gun fire.
BALDRICK: I have a plan, sir.
BLACKADDER: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
BALDRICK: Yes, sir.
BLACKADDER: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
BALDRICK: Yes, sir.
(Off-screen voice: “On the signal, Company will advance!”)
BLACKADDER (calmly determined): Well, I'm afraid it's too late. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of here by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman ‘round here? Good luck, everyone.
They lift their weapons and charge their seemingly unbeatable foe as grenades and bullets rain down. Before we can see what happens to them, the screen is filled up with gunsmoke, the picture fades to a field of poppies and the series ends (without closing credits, for once).
* The Blackadder characters have popped up in occasional sketches and specials made after “Goodbyeee”, but it’s considered the end of the actual series.
Angel never courted comedy in the same way Buffy did; even if it does have its moments of silliness, at its heart it's a much more serious show. It's certainly more serious than Blackadder. Yet while both shows go out on much the same note - pretty much the exact same scene, even - the tone is very different. Angel manages to make it a message of defiance, as positive a note as you can end an arc like this on: no matter what, we keep doing what's right until we're hacked apart. You can die without having failed.
Blackadder manages a much darker turn: our heroes have spent their entire time in the war trying to survive a "mad world of blood, death and fire", to quote Eric Bogle. It's "a war that would be a great deal simpler if we simply stayed at home and shot 50,000 of our men per week". And in the last few minutes, the show drops all pretense of comedy and kills the entire cast in a hail of gunfire, dying for something they themselves don't believe in, failing completely. The endings are very similar, and both are great, but... for different reasons.
OK, so I’m not saying Joss stole season 5 from Blackadder. Then again, I’m not saying he stole Gnarl from Lord of the Rings either... ;-)
Questions? Comments?
What's that? You need two volunteers for a mission into No Man's Land? Codename Operation Certain Death? Yes, I think I have just the fellows...
OK, here’s a weird thought. We know that Joss & Co like their Monty Python, but... I’m not sure that’s the only British comedy show they’ve watched. Cheap laughs aside, doesn’t season 5 of Angel remind you a heck of a lot of season 4 of Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder? Really, there are some parallels that seem a little too close to be pure coincidence... especially that much-debated and supposedly oh-so-original final scene of “Not Fade Away”.
For those unfamiliar with Blackadder’s fourth season (AKA Blackadder Goes Forth), it takes place during WW1 and is centered around the cynical Captain Blackadder, the idealistic Lieutenant George and the... well, not very bright Private Baldrick, who all sit in the same trench trying to not get shot. It also has a considerably darker tone than the previous seasons, not just because it’s set in the middle of a war and frequently has its characters point out how utterly pointless the war is, but also because of the way it ends...
But on to the comparisons, which may seem a bit silly individually, but hear me out.
Both seasons break with the traditional form set up by previous seasons. Angel by moving the show to W&H, out of the dark alleys and into a swanky office building, abandoning much of the arciness and (optical) darkness of the previous seasons and giving Angel a wacky blonde sidekick (plus Harmony), and also by delving deeper into the question posed by Buffy way back in “Gingerbread”:
BUFFY: But we never...
ANGEL: We never win.
BUFFY: Not completely.
ANGEL: We never will. That's not why we fight. We do it 'cause there's things worth fighting for.
It’s a theme that pops up every now and then in Angel – famously in “Reprise”, Holland Manners and the elevator ride – but has never been tackled properly: how do you keep playing the game when the game is rigged so that you cannot possibly win?
Similarly, Blackadder, which previously took place in the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries, moves into something which looks much more “now” – 1917 wasn’t that long ago. It becomes even more cynical, even more obsessed with the question of why the world seems to be ruled by malicious idiots. Throughout the ages, the character of Edmund Blackadder has gone from a prince to a lord to the king’s servant and now he’s a lowly soldier, ordered to fight a war which was the biggest mass slaughter the world had yet known, and all for no good reason. A “win” for Captain Blackadder means concocting a scheme that will keep him out of the firing line for one more week. In the end, he cannot get out.
Some specifics:
Angel s5: Our heroes work from within the belly of the beast, trying to do good and survive on hostile territory.
Blackadder s4: Our heroes work from within the belly of a trench, trying to survive despite frequent orders to enter hostile territory.
Angel s5: Apart from the more obvious enemies (various demons and robots) our heroes also have to fight their own superiors (the senior partners) who supposedly wish to keep Angel alive, yet cannot be trusted; you never know when they will decide to sacrifice him to bring about the apocalypse.
Blackadder s4: Apart from the more obvious enemies (Germans) our heroes also have to fight their own superiors (personified by general Melchett) who supposedly wish to keep Blackadder alive, yet cannot be trusted; you never know when they will decide to sacrifice him and a few thousand others to gain a few yards of terrain.
Angel s5: Our heroes keep in contact with their superiors via a young woman who is not what she claims to be (Eve).
Blackadder s4: Our heroes keep in contact with their superiors via a young woman who is not what she claims to be ("Bob").
Angel 5.05 "Life of the Party": To keep their superiors and the general population of lawyers happy, our heroes have to throw a big party. One of them turns into something else (Lorne’s sleep demon) and it almost costs everyone their lives when their more powerful guests misunderstand the situation.
Blackadder 4.03 "Major Star": To keep their superiors and the general population of soldiers happy, our heroes have to throw a music hall performance. One of them turns into something else (George dresses up as a woman) and it almost costs everyone their lives when the general misunderstands the situation.
Angel 5.12 "You're Welcome": Just as Angel is at his most cynical and is ready to give up, his beloved Cordelia comes back and puts him in a more hopeful frame of mind. Too bad she dies at the end.
Blackadder 4.05 "General Hospital": Just as Blackadder is at his most cynical and is ready to give up, he appears to fall in love with the nurse Mary who puts him in a more hopeful frame of mind. Too bad she dies at the end.
Angel 5.20 "The Girl In Question": Angel and Spike go abroad (to Italy). All their plans keep getting foiled by an opponent who apparently can do nothing wrong and wins the heart of every woman (The Immortal). In the end, they’re humiliated, The Immortal saves their asses and makes off with the girl.
Blackadder 4.04 "Private Plane": Blackadder and Baldrick go abroad (to Germany). All their plans keep getting foiled by an opponent who apparently can do nothing wrong and wins the heart of every woman (Lord Flashheart). In the end, they’re humiliated, Lord Flashheart saves their asses and makes off with the girl.
Angel 5.21 “Power Play”: To fool his superiors on the eve of the last battle, Angel pretends to have gone evil.
Blackadder 4.06 “Goodbyeee”: To fool his superiors on the eve of the last battle, Blackadder pretends to have gone mad.
Angel 5.22 "Not Fade Away": Before the last battle, our heroes are unexpectedly joined by one of their most bitter enemies (Lindsey McDonald).
Blackadder 4.06 "Goodbyeee": Before the last battle, our heroes are unexpectedly joined by one of their most bitter enemies (Kevin Darling).
Granted, taken one by one, all of these are completely circumstantial. You might argue that both series rely to some extent on traditional plots and plot devices that go all the way back to the earliest drama and beyond (indeed, both series are very fond of quoting Shakespeare). But if this doesn’t convince you, nothing will:
At the end of Angel’s very last episode ("Not Fade Away") our heroes have finally been forced into a corner. There’s nowhere to run, no more schemes to pull, no more loopholes to use, no more favours to cash, and they decide to fight anyway even though the odds are hopeless. The last discussion takes place in an alley as they are about to face an army of demons and a dragon or two.
SPIKE: In terms of a plan?
ANGEL: We fight.
SPIKE: Bit more specific?
ANGEL (calmly determined): Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon. Let's go to work.
They lift their weapons and charge their seemingly unbeatable foe as the rain hammers down. Before we can see what happens to them, the screen goes dark and the credits roll.
At the end of Blackadder’s very last episode* ("Goodbyeee") our heroes have finally been forced into a corner. There’s nowhere to run, no more schemes to pull, no more loopholes to use, no more favours to cash, and they decide to fight anyway even though the odds are hopeless. The last discussion takes place in the trench as they are about to face the German army and a barrage of machine-gun fire.
BALDRICK: I have a plan, sir.
BLACKADDER: Really, Baldrick? A cunning and subtle one?
BALDRICK: Yes, sir.
BLACKADDER: As cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?
BALDRICK: Yes, sir.
(Off-screen voice: “On the signal, Company will advance!”)
BLACKADDER (calmly determined): Well, I'm afraid it's too late. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of here by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would have noticed another madman ‘round here? Good luck, everyone.
They lift their weapons and charge their seemingly unbeatable foe as grenades and bullets rain down. Before we can see what happens to them, the screen is filled up with gunsmoke, the picture fades to a field of poppies and the series ends (without closing credits, for once).
* The Blackadder characters have popped up in occasional sketches and specials made after “Goodbyeee”, but it’s considered the end of the actual series.
Angel never courted comedy in the same way Buffy did; even if it does have its moments of silliness, at its heart it's a much more serious show. It's certainly more serious than Blackadder. Yet while both shows go out on much the same note - pretty much the exact same scene, even - the tone is very different. Angel manages to make it a message of defiance, as positive a note as you can end an arc like this on: no matter what, we keep doing what's right until we're hacked apart. You can die without having failed.
Blackadder manages a much darker turn: our heroes have spent their entire time in the war trying to survive a "mad world of blood, death and fire", to quote Eric Bogle. It's "a war that would be a great deal simpler if we simply stayed at home and shot 50,000 of our men per week". And in the last few minutes, the show drops all pretense of comedy and kills the entire cast in a hail of gunfire, dying for something they themselves don't believe in, failing completely. The endings are very similar, and both are great, but... for different reasons.
OK, so I’m not saying Joss stole season 5 from Blackadder. Then again, I’m not saying he stole Gnarl from Lord of the Rings either... ;-)
Questions? Comments?
