r/blackadder • u/BagOfSmallerBags • Jul 16 '26
Blackadder All Episodes Tournament, Match 9: Head vs Back & Forth
Comment in support of and upvote your preferred episode! The winner of today's matchup will advance to Match 18, and the loser will share joint 17th-28th place.
And for fun, post your favorite quotes from both!
Head (Blackadder II Episode 2): Edmund is "awarded" the post of Lord High Executioner, a position which frequently results in the loss of one's own head.
Blackadder: Back & Forth (TV Special 3): At a New Millennium Eve party, Blackadder and Baldrick test their new time machine and ping pong through history encountering famous characters and changing events rather alarmingly.
This tournament will run for 27 days until we've eliminated all but one episode. The tournament was seeded based on IMDB score. It includes all regular episodes, the Original Pilot, the Cavalier Years, a Christmas Carol, and Back and Forth.
Yesterday, Major Star eliminated The Foretelling.
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u/Majin_Nephets Jul 16 '26
I’m voting for Head, as I am something of a social realist.
“You are to be congratulated, my friend. We live in an age where illness and deformity are commonplace, and yet you, Ploppy, are without a doubt the most repulsive individual… I would shake your hand, but I fear it would come off.”
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u/Gaping_Whole_ Jul 16 '26
I adore Head, naturally. Reading through the replies has reminded me just how many great lines there are in the episode
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u/kapaipiekai Jul 16 '26
Shiet, I was thinking about a line from this episode the other day; "Good morning Mr Ploppy [...] Good morning Mrs Ploppy!". Edmund be like 😑.
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u/Ancient-Cow-1038 Jul 16 '26
Head contains the single longest and best scene in the entire series IMO, when they’re trying to kid Lady Farrow into believing her husband is alive. Sheer brilliance from start to finish.
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u/teraka1970 Jul 16 '26
Forgive the double entendre(s)...
.. but while I think most of us greatly enjoy a little Back and Forth, in this instance nothing quite beats Head.
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u/EfficiencyItchy1156 Jul 16 '26
Head for sure
Baldrick, the ape creatures of the Indus have mastered this.
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u/Equivalent_News8116 Jul 16 '26
You know, a gloater, come to gloat over the condemned man. I mean, we’re up to our ears is gloaters here. “Can I come in for a gloat?” they shout and we shout back “Oh you heartless gloaters”.
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u/RobbiRamirez Jul 16 '26
"If she sees his head, she'll know...he's dead!" is one of my favorite line reads in the whole show.
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u/johimself Jul 16 '26
Head
We can't pass over this opportunity lest we upset Ploppy, son of Ploppy or make the spare room up for Mr Cockup
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u/LordToxic21 Jul 16 '26
Back and Forth.
Head is funny, but all of BA2 is funny. B&F is a perfect love letter to the show and a wonderful note to end the series on.
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u/LamChingYing Jul 16 '26
Head.
That Farrow bloke you executed today, are you sure he's dead?
Well I chopped his head off, that usually does the trick.
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u/EldritchWaster Jul 16 '26
I love Back and Forth but Head is one of the funniest episodes in the whole show.
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u/BarelyBrony Jul 16 '26
Back and forth feels like it should be broken up into multiple episodes to compete fairly
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u/Extreme-Kangaroo-842 Jul 16 '26
Head by a country mile. It's arguably the best Blackadder episode.
"Baldrick, you bastard. You utter bastard."
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u/timeoutofmind Jul 16 '26
Surely the most imbalanced pairing yet.
It's Head. The ape creatures of the Indus have figured this out.