The Black Seal
Created | Updated Apr 17, 2003
Blackadder Series 1, ep 6: The Black Seal
The Plot:
Blackadder decides that he can wait no longer to seize his destiny. He sets out to recruit the six most evil men in the Kingdom - The Black Seal - to help him take control of the country.
His plans are thwarted by the arrival of his oldest enemy: the Hawk. This implacable foe throws Edmund into a dungeon and goes off to take over the kingdom himself. Edmund escapes and summons the Black Seal, but they betray him and help the Hawk to imprison Edmund in a hideous torture device. Percy and Baldrick kill the villains with poisoned wine, but unfortunately they manage to murder the entire royal family - Edmund included - with the same batch. Whoops.
Moment of pure evil:
It’s one long rollercoaster of evil from start to finish in this episode. A highlight is the Hawk’s “amusing” torture devise:
“In precisely one minute, the spike will go up your nethers, the shars will cut off your ears… the axes will chop off your hands. I don’t think we need to go into the attributes of the coddling grinder.”
Brush up your Shakespeare:
Blackadder calls the Black Seal, “we few, we happy few, we band of ruthless bastards” - an echo of Henry V’s speech before the Battle of Agincourt.
This week’s most interesting fact:
Baldrick’s father was called Robin the Dung Gatherer. Baldrick waited for years before himself becoming a dung-shoveller. It’s an enviable career, apparently, with more applicants than vacancies.
Quotes:
Blackadder (to Percy): You ride a horse rather less well than another horse would. Your brain would make a grain of sand look large and ungainly and the part of you that can’t be mentioned, I am reliably informed by women around the Court, wouldn’t be worth mentioning even if it could be.
Blackadder: Dear Lord, who made the birds and the bees… and the snails, presumably, erm, please help me, a little animal too, in my despair. I have bee a sinner, but now I intend to follow the path of the saints: particularly the very religious ones.
King: St Juniper once said; ‘By his loins shall ye know him, and by the length of his rod shall he be measured.’
Read the other episode guides:
Series 1:
1. The Foretelling
2. Born to Be King
3. The Archbishop
4. The Queen of Spain's Beard
5. Witchsmeller Pursuivant
6. The Black Seal
Series 2:
1. Bells
2. Head
3. Potato
4. Money
5. Beer
6. Chains
Series 3:
1. Dish and Dishonesty
2. Ink and Incapability
3. Nob and Nobility
4. Sense and Senility
5. Amy and Amiability
6. Dual and Duality
Series 4:
1. Captain Cook
2. Corporal Punishment
3. Major Star
4. Private Plane
5. General Hospital
6. Goodybyeee
These guides were brought to you by the BBCi Comedy website.
The Plot:
Blackadder decides that he can wait no longer to seize his destiny. He sets out to recruit the six most evil men in the Kingdom - The Black Seal - to help him take control of the country.
His plans are thwarted by the arrival of his oldest enemy: the Hawk. This implacable foe throws Edmund into a dungeon and goes off to take over the kingdom himself. Edmund escapes and summons the Black Seal, but they betray him and help the Hawk to imprison Edmund in a hideous torture device. Percy and Baldrick kill the villains with poisoned wine, but unfortunately they manage to murder the entire royal family - Edmund included - with the same batch. Whoops.
Moment of pure evil:
It’s one long rollercoaster of evil from start to finish in this episode. A highlight is the Hawk’s “amusing” torture devise:
“In precisely one minute, the spike will go up your nethers, the shars will cut off your ears… the axes will chop off your hands. I don’t think we need to go into the attributes of the coddling grinder.”
Brush up your Shakespeare:
Blackadder calls the Black Seal, “we few, we happy few, we band of ruthless bastards” - an echo of Henry V’s speech before the Battle of Agincourt.
This week’s most interesting fact:
Baldrick’s father was called Robin the Dung Gatherer. Baldrick waited for years before himself becoming a dung-shoveller. It’s an enviable career, apparently, with more applicants than vacancies.
Quotes:
Blackadder (to Percy): You ride a horse rather less well than another horse would. Your brain would make a grain of sand look large and ungainly and the part of you that can’t be mentioned, I am reliably informed by women around the Court, wouldn’t be worth mentioning even if it could be.
Blackadder: Dear Lord, who made the birds and the bees… and the snails, presumably, erm, please help me, a little animal too, in my despair. I have bee a sinner, but now I intend to follow the path of the saints: particularly the very religious ones.
King: St Juniper once said; ‘By his loins shall ye know him, and by the length of his rod shall he be measured.’
Read the other episode guides:
Series 1:
1. The Foretelling
2. Born to Be King
3. The Archbishop
4. The Queen of Spain's Beard
5. Witchsmeller Pursuivant
6. The Black Seal
Series 2:
1. Bells
2. Head
3. Potato
4. Money
5. Beer
6. Chains
Series 3:
1. Dish and Dishonesty
2. Ink and Incapability
3. Nob and Nobility
4. Sense and Senility
5. Amy and Amiability
6. Dual and Duality
Series 4:
1. Captain Cook
2. Corporal Punishment
3. Major Star
4. Private Plane
5. General Hospital
6. Goodybyeee
These guides were brought to you by the BBCi Comedy website.
