Trivia / Blackadder S 1 E 0 Pilot

• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The pilot episode has never been released on DVD, although some scenes were featured in the 25th anniversary special Blackadder Rides Again. However, various bootleg copies exist and footage can be found online. The episode finally received a television airing on Gold in 2023 to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary as part of a documentary presented by Tony Robinson.
• What Could Have Been: Or, as far as most fans are concerned, What Should Have Been, since this episode is much more in keeping with the tone of the second, third and fourth series — unlike in the first series, Prince Edmund is a clever, ruthless schemer and Baldrick is an idiot (albeit not as much of an idiot as the Tony Robinson incarnation would eventually become); as a 2010 article in The Guardian pointed out: "It's notable that the show only really started to pick up traction when it reverted to the format of the pilot". The only major things missing from this episode are Tony Robinson as Baldrick and BRIAN BLESSED!!!!! as the King (though some would argue that the incarnation of the latter, played here by John Savident, could have worked if he'd been given better lines).

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