Tag: Stephen Fry
WATERSHIP DOWN
Ever read a book you basically wanted to dislike for various reasons yet still you like it, and you like it a lot? Watership Down by Richard Adams is one of those books, for me. It should seem cheesy and all rabbity and odd, but it’s endearing and compelling instead.
I suppose it depends on how you view the story. 
As a sweet tale a father started telling his children on car rides or an allegory about corporate persecution, domination of the vulnerable, logic and sentiment at war and so much more.
If viewed as the latter I wonder who would be most disturbed by a freedom so longed for, snatched away, the children or the parents? Both can understand, but children still have the hope of that freedom, while adults realize it is more illusionary.
Depending on the level you choose to read or believe, perhaps a challenging read, but worth it. Very strange, but there it is.
Watership Down has been adapted to film, TV, theatre, games, and has inspired songs, album titles, references, and parodies, it’s become a cult classic. Why? I’m sure there are various reasons.
Perhaps because the 1970s were a time of change where people were exploring massive social, political, and economic shifts. Using anthropomorphic depictions of animals lets us examine human issues, problems, flaws, transformations, strife, horror, etc. through nonhuman images in a sort of Safe Mode.
It’s a lot like Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (by Robert C. O’Brien, later made into The Secret of NIMH) which published just a year before, similar ideas and visions. But maybe we’re reading too much into WD, sometimes a rabbit is just a rabbit.
I wonder…40 years from now what literature will represent our times, to last the test of time, if any? Maybe just an app or chip or a memory. Hopefully all is not Lost.
Jeeves and Wooster
Understandable this clunky British 1930s era comedy isn’t for everyone…but isn’t that a shame? You really don’t know what you’re missing, then again, if you don’t know, you’re probably not missing it and are ok with that.
Jeeves and Wooster is a lenient, laconic, laughable dance. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry onscreen are pure magic. Their chemistry is flawless.
Jeeves and Wooster are like:
Pasta and sauce. 
Cake and ice cream.
Oil and vinegar.
Tomato soup and grilled cheese.
Hot chocolate and whipped cream.
Chips and salsa.
Cabbage and tomato.
Peanut butter and banana. 
Peanut Butter and jam.
Peanut butter and bacon.
They’re peanut butter and chocolate.
Oops, I’ve gone off on a peanut butter tangent. But you get the point. Things that could be great separately, but are superb together.
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are fantastic on their own, but together, they’re a magnificent treat that’s timeless.
Hugh Laurie plays Bertie Wooster, an upper class British twit who gets himself in one scrape after another. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just kind of oblivious. Stephen Fry plays his long-suffering pragmatic, perfect, and always prepared valet who keeps Wooster’s escapades in check, or at least, he tries. The P.G. Wodehouse books these were adapted from are worth a read as well.
Gentle, carefree merriment.
BLACKADDER
I refuse to believe Blackadder was 30 years ago due to the insinuations, age wise and all. Yet there it is. Loved this show. Laughed so much it actually physically ached. Was also watching lots of Monty Python at the time. I place my very deep laugh lines squarely on the Brits, too witty.
The Blackadders (all played by the rubbery brilliant Rowan Atkinson) appear to be cursed. Possibly due to their horrible asinine unscrupulicity and their continued association with the dim-witted Baldricks, servants all played with sinister simplicity by Tony Robinson.
I don’t think they ever really explained how either line propagated because they always seemed to be single with no progeny. Perhaps it’s best not to 
know.
I’m always torn between Blackadder II and III as my favourites. The rest are hilarious, but there’s something special about II and III. Love the chemistry between Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, also seen in their Bit of Fry and Laurie stuff and then Jeeves and Wooster.
Hugh Laurie as the Prince Regent is still one of my all time fav parts for anyone in a comedy. I look at him and think, socks.
Blackadder even tackled Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and transformed it as only they could.
Blackadder: Back and Forth, the 2000 special was a little forced, but had lots of funny bits, even punching Colin Firth as William Shakespeare.
The unique blend of ribald and clever make Blackadder worth the deep laugh lines.
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