Private Plane (19 Oct. 1989)

Blackadder and his friends join the Air Corps, wrongly believing it will be less dangerous than being in the trenches.

Director:

Richard Boden

Writers:

Richard Curtis (by), Ben Elton (by)

Stars:

Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Rowan Atkinson	...	Captain Edmund Blackadder
Tony Robinson	...	Private S Baldrick
Stephen Fry	...	General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett
Hugh Laurie	...	Lieutenant The Honourable George Colthurst St. Barleigh
Tim McInnerny	...	Captain Kevin Darling
Rik Mayall	...	Squadron Commander Lord Flasheart
Adrian Edmondson	...	Baron von Richthoven
Hugo Blick	...	Lieutenant von Gerhardt (as Hugo E Blick)
Gabrielle Glaister	...	Driver Parkhurst

Storyline

Captain Blackadder, Lieutenant George, and Private Baldrick see joining the Air Corps as a great way of sitting in a classroom instead of fighting on the front lines. Unfortunately for them, the course is taught by Squadron Commander Flasheart, who lives for danger- much like his nemesis, the infamous Red Baron.

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Plot Keywords:

artillery fire | sopwith camel | air raid | rescue | mispronounce name | 

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Genres:

Comedy | History | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 1989 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Color:

Color (sepia colour: in closing credits)

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the flying sequences, footage from Aces High was re-edited and dubbed over with the actors' voices.

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Quotes

Lieutenant George: Crikey, sir. I'm looking forward to today. Up diddly up, down diddly down, whoops, poop, twiddly dee - decent scrap with the fiendish Red Baron - bit of a jolly old crash landing behind enemy lines - capture, torture, escape, and then back home in time for tea and medals.
Captain Blackadder: George, who's using the family brain cell at the moment? This is just the training - 6 months of dull men looking at machinery.
Lord Flasheart: [Voice from outside the room] Hey, girls - look at my machinery!
[Girls scream]

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Connections

Edited from Aces High (1976)

User Reviews

Aside from some sloppy use of stock footage, a funny episode...thanks to Lord Flasheart!

Like the last episode, this one features a nice cameo from a star from the first episode ("Bells") from "Blackadder II". Early on, Squadron Commander Flasheart is forced to crash his plane and lands at the British front lines. He is EXACTLY like he was in the previous show--all swagger and sex drive! And, just like the last episode, Bob shows up for a bit of a tongue-lashing from Flasheart.

As a result of the visit, the usual three idiots (Blackadder, George and Baldrick) all get air corps fever--all thinking it will be glorious AND safer than staying in the trenches. Plus, Blackadder thinks the duty will be soft--with lots of girls and booze. Unfortunately, when they arrive at flight training, it's taught by the idiot Flasheart--who mostly makes sexual innuendos and does practically no teaching at all! And, in the only REAL teaching he does is explain that the life expectancy of a pilot is about 20 minutes!

Fortunately, the two are shot down but survive--and are taken to a German prison. Unfortunately, the idiot George wants to go behind enemy lines to rescue him! With help like that, Edmund might as well just shoot himself.

By the way, I know they took clips from another TV series, but they didn't even bother finding clips involving a two-person airplane--just a single-seat model. Which, is a bit of a cock-up, as Baldrick AND Edmund are supposed to be in the plane TOGETHER.