User Reviews

DAD'S ARMY - SERIES 5

BATTLE OF THE GIANTS

Although there was no series in 1971, it was still a busy year for the cast of Dad's Army, with a big screen spin-off and an hour long Christmas special to tide fans over. The film was typical of the glut of 70s sitcom movies that rehashed ideas and gags from the series to lesser effect. But the Christmas special was excellent. With its double-length runtime, Battle of the Giants has enough scope to cater to every aspect of Dad's Army's success, so we get a mixture of great character comedy and social comment mixed with some knockabout slapstick and moments of genuine peril. The episode is split neatly into two acts. The first sees Mainwaring deliberately ignoring an order that troops should wear their medals on parade, in order to hide the fact that he doesn't personally have any. It's another great deconstruction of class and status by Croft and Perry, and it sets up the second half in which Mainwaring accepts a challenge from Captain Square to take part in tests of strength, stamina and initiative to prove who has the better platoon. This second half sometimes feels like a cross between Dad's Army, Wacky Races and It's a Knockout, but the vignettes of the two platoons sabotaging one another build into an amusing, exciting storyline. There's the odd moment that gets a bit silly (having Jones succumb to an attack of malaria and then get stumbling drunk results in Clive Dunn's comedic talents being sold a bit short) but overall it's tremendous fun and you can imagine it having made terrific Christmas viewing.

I nearly turned the TV off, 20 minutes from the end as the middle section of this extended episode was just too drawn out and silly (the race between the two lorries) however, I decided to stick with it, and it got a lot better. As always, Jonesy saved the day, despite an "attack of Malaria", and having had an entire bottle of port! LOL Actually, another character REALLY saved the day....an unexpected suprise!

As per usual, this episode was filled with high jinx, from all the beloved characters that we've come to know. It included a rather touching tribute to the entire platoon (with the exception of Captain Mainwaring, who doesn't have any medals) when they were ordered to wear their medals for a public march through the town.

This episode was all about initiative, and working as a team....and they certainly achieved that, in their own unique way! Haha.