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Black Adder - The Complete Collector's Set
Description
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| One of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Bean triumph, British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund, beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury--a deadly occupation if ever there was one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black Death, witch smellers (who root out spell makers with their noses), and ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in multiple episodes. Jump to the Elizabethan era and Atkinson picks up the saga as Lord Edmund, who is perpetually courting favor from mad Queen Bess (Miranda Richardson) and is always walking a tightrope from which he can either gain the world or lose his head. Subjected to bizarre services for her majesty (at one point, Edmund is asked to do for potatoes what Sir Walter Raleigh did for tobacco), Edmund--as with his ancestor--can never quite fulfill his larger ambitions. The next incarnation we encounter is in late-18th-century Regency England. This time, Blackadder is a mere butler to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly buffoonish performance) and is caught in various misadventures with Samuel Johnson, Shakespearean actors, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and William Pitt the younger. With a brief stop in Victorian London for a Christmas special, the series concludes with several episodes set during the Great War. The new Edmund is a career Army officer, but a scoundrel all the same. Shirking his duties whenever possible and taking advantage of any opportunity for undeserved reward, this final, deeply sour, and very funny Blackadder negotiates survival among a cadre of fools and dimwits. No small mention can be made of Atkinson's supporting cast, easily among the finest comic performers of their generation: besides Laurie and Richardson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny. --Tom Keogh Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
Reviews
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Author: Guest
Watching this show, it occurred to me you don't see too many shows where people actually have whole conversations. Shows where dialogue drives the plot instead of UST or explosions or the soundtrack...
Ahh, them were the days. There are so many things to love about this show, I will but name a few:
costumes, sets, plots, dialogues, funny characters, Rik Mayall as Flashheart, the insults, the metaphors
You get the idea. Now go get the DVDs!
(BTW, on a couple of the special features that Tony Robinson -Baldrick - narrates, it sounds like he gets cut off before completing a description. I'd be interested to know if this has happened for anyone else.)
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Author: Guest
...which is a shame, in a way. Don't get me wrong: I love most of these episodes (well, at least from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seasons). However, while some scenes are truly inspired and bear innumerable viewings, some other scenes are visibly uninspired and plain dull. In other words, while I enjoy watching these over and over again (mainly because of Mr. Atkinson's mostly superb, if slightly monotone, acting, and those occasional inspired scenes), this could have been even better (for this, we have mainly the script writers to blame).
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Author: Guest
I had seen little snippets of this show on late saturday night PBS programs before, but never really indulged in it, not to mention they only showed the second series.
However I rented these DVD's and I must say it was the most enjoyable viewing experience I've had in a great while.
Now I will admit that it was difficult to get through the first series, I was wholly unimpressed. Although the Archbishop and Witchsmeller Persuivant were the best in the series. But I continued on to the other series and was bursting out loud with laughter.
The viewer develops an affection towards the characters as we see them develop over time and recognize them from previous episodes. When flashheart reappears in WWI I nearly cried with laughter. And when Lord Percy is reborn as the scarlet pimpernel and the cranky Darling, it was highly enjoyable.
The acting is superb and of the highest quality. The writing is intelligent and captivating. The adventures are delightful. I recommend this with the greatest enthusiasm.
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Author: Guest
A lot of praises were written here, all of them well-deserved. It is a really great comedy - funny, witty, with nice plots. Of course, the part I is not up to the II, III and IV, but these latter ones are real pearls, especially the IV, about WWI: it is as funny and laughable as it is tragic and tear-shedding.
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Author: Guest
Rowan Atkinson was funny as Mr. Bean, but he was downright hilarious as the Black Adder. He had such a talent for playing the sharp-tongued rogue I'll never figure out why he decided to start doing comedy in which he hardly spoke. The premise of this British comedy series is that the central character, "The Black Adder", shows up at different points in history in various incarnations distorting historical events and poking fun at various British historical figures and situations along the way.
Lots of people don't like Black Adder I, in which the title character, Edmund, is the younger son of a brutish man consumed with thoughts of war who actually becomes king of England through Edmund's own bungling - he arrives late for the Battle of Bosworth Field and winds up chopping off the head of Richard III, thus saving the life of Henry Tudor. Throughout this first season he plays the buffoon, often having the expression of a deer caught in the headlights. This is the only season in which the Black Adder takes on the persona of a weak effeminate person. Especially funny is Edmund's mother who is a proper noble woman sitting around doing embroidery and indifferently waiting for the next marauding army to pass through.
The second season takes place early during the reign of Elizabeth I, with the Black Adder confident, handsome, and even a favorite at court. A young Amanda Richardson plays the role of Elizabeth I, who comes across as Betty Boop, just not as intelligent. Although more cunning in this season, Black Adder still comes up the loser in just about every episode. My favorite is "Bells", in which Blackadder finds his new servant, Bob, curiously pleasant company. Afraid for his reputation at court, Blackadder searches for a "cure" - which of course involves leeches, until Bob conveniently reveals that she is in fact a girl called Kate. Their wedding is disrupted by the profane Lord Flashheart, who, although he is the best man, winds up stealing the bride.
The third season takes place in the eighteenth century during the reign of George III, and will be a favorite of all fans of "House, M.D.". Here, Black Adder plays the manservant of the Prince Regent, George, played by Hugh Laurie (House). George is the dim-witted target of Black Adder's many schemes to enrich himself by taking advantage of his cushy position in George's household, and this often means having to save the Prince Regent's pension and position in the kingdom, which is largely controlled by Parliament.
The fourth season takes place during World War I, with Edmund Blackadder as a captain in the British army whose company is trapped in one of the trenches that gave everyone in Europe such a distaste for warfare between the two world wars. Blackadder's aim in this season is to stay alive by staying in that trench until the war ends. His stunts include shooting a carrier pigeon when it arrives with orders to advance, and joining the Royal Flying Corp - "the twenty minuters". Unfortunately, the name comes from how long they are expected to live once in the air, not how much time they work each day, as Blackadder had originally thought.
This show has several interesting plot devices. First, most of the main characters show up in different periods of time with the same name but different roles. Hugh Laurie is always "George", Tony Robinson is always "Baldrick", Stephen Fry is always "Melchett", and Tim McInnerny is always "Percy". Since each season was shot in alternate years - (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989) - the cast must have been having a terrific time in order for them to be regathered after such long intervals in order to make filming this series possible. Secondly, everyone in the cast, including the Black Adder, always dies in the final episode of each season. It is somewhat like the South Park stunt of Kenny being killed at the end of every show only to reappear in the next episode as though nothing had happened.
The only bad things I can say about this DVD set is that I didn't think that "Back and Forth" was very good, and I think that the DVD is very overpriced considering there are only six episodes per season. I guess it depends on how much you like British comedy and how much you enjoy the Black Adder series as to whether the high cost is worth it. If you liked "Red Dwarf" or "Fawlty Towers", you'll probably like this series too.
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