Warning: unappetizing scenes described

Blancmange, pronounced [bləˈmɒn] or [bləˈmɒnʒ] or [bləˈmɑːndʒ], is a jelly dessert made of milk and/or cream, sugar, gelatin or cornstarch, and flavouring (usually almond). It is set in a mould and served cold. See the main article Blancmange (food) for details. The symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet can be used to show pronounciation in English. ... Look up jelly in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A glass of cows milk A goat kid feeding on its mothers milk Milk is the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals (including monotremes). ... Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. ... Magnification of typical sugar showing monoclinic hemihedral crystalline stucture. ... Gelatin (also gelatine) is a translucent brittle solid substance, colorless or slightly yellow, nearly tasteless and odorless, which is created by prolonged boiling of animal skin, connective tissue or bones. ... Products made out of cornstarch Cornstarch, or cornflour, is the starch of the maize grain, commonly known as corn. ... Binomial name Prunus dulcis (Mill. ...

Supposed blancmanges from space feature prominently in the latter four linked TV humor sketches of the 1970's TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus, Episode Seven: You're no fun any more. (Science fiction sketch; Man turns into Scotsman; Police station; Blancmanges playing tennis) Their fundamental absurdist humor is to upturn the usual relationship of people eating food, into food eating people. Monty Pythons Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus, MPFC or just Monty Python during the fourth season) was a highly popular, surreal BBC sketch comedy show from Monty Python, and the groups initial claim to fame. ...

Blancmange puddings are so commonplace in the UK, that these Monty Python sketches didn't bother to explain what they were or even show a real blancmange. When the sketches arrived in the USA on public television, these sketches baffled most viewers. That food is generally unfamiliar to Americans, and the intended food humor is typically incomprehensible in the U.S. The incomprehensibility enhances the Pythonesque reputation for creative absurdity, but the people-eating scenes (off camera with slurping noises) become more horrific than the writers intended. This is yet another variation on the theme of cannibalism from which Monty Python periodically extracts edgy humor.

The word is typically unspellable by just listening to it in the USA. Fortunately "Blancmange" is spelled out during the display of a tennis score during the sketch and can be looked up by those baffled.

Plot summary

A table-size sentient Blancmange from planet Skyron of the Andromeda Galaxy turns the tables by eating people, especially now-historic players of tennis. Alien Blancmange(s) also have the power to instantly turn 48 million English citizens into northward-marching Scots. Chief Scientist Charles, his mistreated bimbo girlfriend, and a police detective eventually deduce that this bizarre cultural conversion and player consumption is an effort to depopulate England and win the Wimbledon tennis championships. The core theory here is that if everyone in the United Kingdom is turned into Scotspeople, they are sure to lose the tennis match, since (according to the characters) Scots are terrible at tennis. What the Blancmanges stand to gain by winning at Wimbledon is never brought up. Sentience is the capacity for basic consciousness -- the ability to feel or perceive, not necessarily including the faculty of self-awareness. ... The fictional planet of Skyron in the Andromeda Galaxy is home to table-size sentient Blancmanges capable of turning normal people into Scotsmen as well as being the original home of Mr. ... M31 in a small telescope The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: , also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224; older texts often called it the Andromeda Nebula) is a spiral galaxy approximately 2. ... Bimbo is a term that emerged in popular English language usage in the late 20th Century to describe a stupid, pliable woman. ... The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest and arguably the most prestigious event in the sport of tennis. ...

The Blancmange(s) from space eat 1970s tennis stars. Then, a single tennis-playing Blancmange is thwarted when it is chased and eaten by a couple armed with forks, spoons, and napkins. The couple, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Brainsample, were snubbed as boring in the first scene, but they too just happen to be from the Blancmange(s)' home planet of Skyron. With all the famous players and the Blancmange eaten, the only remaining tennis player is kilt salesman Angus Podgorny. Podgorny seems strangely cheerful for having watched his wife being eaten a few scenes earlier. The wrapup sports announcer (John Cleese) narrates the unlikely TV spectacle of a Scotsman winning Wimbledon after playing against himself — hopping back and forth across the net — for 15 years, we are told. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ... John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) is an English comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for co-writing the TV series Fawlty Towers in which he played Basil Fawlty. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I...

Multiple Blancmange sightings are mentioned, but only one is seen and eaten in the final sketch. The Monty Python Blancmange looks more like a round coffee table in a white fabric tent than a gelatinous pudding.

See also

• Monty Python's Flying Circus
• Monty Python

Monty Pythons Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus, MPFC or just Monty Python during the fourth season) was a highly popular, surreal BBC sketch comedy show from Monty Python, and the groups initial claim to fame. ... Monty Python, or The Pythons, is the collective name of the creators of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. ...

External links

• Monty Python's Flying Circus Episode Seven: You're no fun any more; Script features an extragalactic Blancmange pudding.