MovieChat Forums > Blackadder the Third (1987) Discussion > Missing Pimpernel Line

Missing Pimpernel Line

posted 18 years ago by veela_magnet
19 replies | jump to latest

I don't know if it's just me, but in the episode with the Scarlet Pimpernel, when Blackadder is probing Baldrick about his "scarlet pimple", I'm sure I remember a TV screening where Baldrick sings a small rhyme, "they seek him here, they seek him there", and Blackadder adds the rhyme "what is that horrid garlic smell" or something. It never appeared in my old VHS copy, and was just wondering if it ever existed, or if anyone else remembers it? Apparently on the new DVD they cut out a line about nailing a dog on a wall from the Christmas Carol episode...

[–] Pickwick12 18 years ago

That's weird. I never saw the series on TV, only on DVD, but it would make sense for that line to be in there, especially since that rhyme is out of the Scarlet Pimpernel book. I wonder why it would have been cut.
That episode is my favorite, by the way.

How can the gods speak to us til we have faces?
C.S. Lewis

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] jog_on 17 years ago

how odd! iv heard it like 500 times on tape (because im just so old school like that) and its one of my favourite bits!
and im sorry, but to lino-sikosek, its actually revolting garlic smell, not horrible, its just im very fanatical about getting words right, ha sorry!

When I get genital herpes from the toilet paper you'll be really sorry.

[–] carl-lloyd 18 years ago

It is on my (UK PAL Region 2) DVD. Without even loading it up to check, I can picture Edmund's face as he speaks the line!! And the first Black Adder was the best!

[–] randommovies2002 17 years ago

The line about the garlic smell is on the US vhs copy of the series that I borrowed from my public library.

[–] The_Devonian 17 years ago

The Pimpernel rhyme was removed from the UK video release for copyright reasons, not "political correctness", as someone else suggested. The rhyme is always present when the episode is shown on TV.

The cut in the Christmas Carol episode is made just after Baldrick has described the fiasco of the local workhouse's nativity play, where a shortage of sheep and babies meant that roles of Jesus and those of the sheep had to be played by dogs, which results in "Jesus" trying to get a "sheep" to give him a "piggy-back ride". The line (inexplicably) cut from the DVD - "They want us to do another one at Easter. They want to see us nail up the dog!" - is, again, always present when shown on TV.

"I'd much rather be happy than right, any day."

[–] MrOstrich 17 years ago

I've always assumed that the line about nailing the dog up was because someone (RSPCA?) probably thought it cruel etc.

Cambridge man you know. His uncle Bertie and I used to break wind for our college.

[–] The_Devonian 17 years ago

Well, it's either the RSPCA or some Christian types taking offence at the idea of Jesus Christ being portrayed by a dog...

I still can't understand why the line is cut from the DVD at all - it's silly, rather than offensive. I mean, it's supposed to be a bleedin' comedy show, innit?! It's not as if we actually see the dog nailed up or anything! And, as I pointed out, it has never been cut from the subsequent TV repeats.

Besides, if they cut every line in Blackadder which suggested some act of cruelty or might possibly offend some single-issue nutcase, each episode would be about three minutes in length.

"I'd much rather be happy than right, any day."

[–] ced19 17 years ago

I've got the US dvd box set and it isn't on there!
But I did find it on youtube if anyone wants to watch it...just search --Blackadder pimpernel song.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] paulmarkj 17 years ago

It was not cut for PC reasons (which is the excuse people use when they don't understand something. It for copyright reasons.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Hancock_the_Superb 16 years ago

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed this. The line isn't even listed in the "Blackadder: The Whole Damned Dynasty" script book! I do believe Baldrick is singing an actual song though, so the copyright reason at least makes sense. Given the fact that the entire episode does nothing BUT make fun of the French, I don't think the "political correctness" explanation is at all credible.

"The best of them won't come for money - they'll come for ME!" - Lawrence of Arabia

[–] worldleaderpretend 16 years ago

It is an actual song:

I think it goes like this

They seek him here
They seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That damned elusive Pimpernel

Of course What's that disgusting garlic smell is a much better ending.

[–] randommovies2002 14 years ago

They seek him here
They seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That damned elusive Pimpernel

This is the rhyme that appears in the Scarlet Pimpernel novels by Baroness Orczy. I suspect that the book series must still be under copyright, and therefore, the distributor of the Blackadder DVDs would have to pay royalties to the copyright holder.

Sir Percy Blakeney recites this rhyme in most versions of the story adaptated on film (e.g. Anthony Andrews and Richard E. Grant, in their respective film versions).

[–] Hancock_the_Superb 16 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-ke6GlVW4

REPENT, you son of a bitch!