This was a welcome addition to the original four series of Black Adder. It is strong on humor and it being one episode, it doesn't get stale or have any comedic lulls.
This is sort of an "anti-Christmas Carol" where this Black Adder is the complete opposite of all the previous ones. He is unbelievable kind and giving and as a result, everyone takes complete advantage of him. After being used by pretty much everyone, one of the Christmas Ghosts accidentally comes to his home. Realizing his mistake, the ghost praises Black Adder for his goodness BUT makes the mistake of staying to talk with Black Adder. He accidentally agrees to show him his past incarnations (such as Edmund from "Black Adder 2" and the future Master of the Universe Black Adder). From this accident, Black Adder realizes being nice is for the birds and his future is bright, indeed, if he is 100% selfish and rotten! Nice moral to the story, huh?
I think one of the reasons I love this show so much is that there have been too many versions of "A Christmas Carol"--and few of them are that inspired to make them worth making in the first place. After all, we have some excellent versions of the original story and I think the only reason we could use more is if the story is DIFFERENT and not the same old same old--and "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" certainly is different!
This is sort of an "anti-Christmas Carol" where this Black Adder is the complete opposite of all the previous ones. He is unbelievable kind and giving and as a result, everyone takes complete advantage of him. After being used by pretty much everyone, one of the Christmas Ghosts accidentally comes to his home. Realizing his mistake, the ghost praises Black Adder for his goodness BUT makes the mistake of staying to talk with Black Adder. He accidentally agrees to show him his past incarnations (such as Edmund from "Black Adder 2" and the future Master of the Universe Black Adder). From this accident, Black Adder realizes being nice is for the birds and his future is bright, indeed, if he is 100% selfish and rotten! Nice moral to the story, huh?
I think one of the reasons I love this show so much is that there have been too many versions of "A Christmas Carol"--and few of them are that inspired to make them worth making in the first place. After all, we have some excellent versions of the original story and I think the only reason we could use more is if the story is DIFFERENT and not the same old same old--and "Blackadder's Christmas Carol" certainly is different!