Amazon.co.uk Review
Although now regarded as the opening salvo of a classic series, the original
Blackadder series was not considered a great success, either among critics or many viewers, so a major rethink took place when it was recommissioned. On the writing front, future-
Four Weddings And A Funeral scribe Richard Curtis was joined by Ben Elton, while the expensive War of the Roses-era sets were replaced by cosier Elizabethan ones. The most important change, however, was with Rowan Atkinson's eponymous character who, in the first series, had been a fairly weak-willed idiot but now emerged as the familiar Machiavellian fiend which would cement Atkinson's place in the pantheon of great British sitcom actors. Moreover, even if so many of the script's lines have been subsequently ripped off by lesser hands that it can't help but occasionally sound dated, the central performances of Atkinson, Tony Robinson (Baldrick), Tim McInnery (Lord Percy), Stephen Fry (Lord Melchett) and, of course, Miranda Richardson as the childishly psychotic Queen Elizabeth ("I love it when you get cross. Sometimes I think about having you executed just to see the expression on your face") remain note perfect. Yet the real pleasure for viewers may be in rediscovering the raft of excellent guest star performances--not least Tom "Doctor Who" Baker's berserk turn as a literally legless old sea dog given to guzzling his own urine long before the drinking water has run out. --
Clark Collis
Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
DVD 9
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital English
Dolby Digital
Graphic Features
Scene Selection
English
From the Back Cover
England 1558-1603. The filthy genes of the Blackadder dynasty bubble back to the surface of the melting pot of history as Lord Edmund, arrogant peer about town, swaggers back with a big head and small beard in search of grace and favour from stark raving mad Queen Bess. Accompanied by a small rabble of be-reuffled rif-raff - bottom breath Baldrick and pea-brained Percy - the serpentine Lord Blackadder lowers the whole tone of England's Golden Age.
Bells With Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart. Served by a dungball in a dress and accompanied by a bird-brained dimwit he can't shake off, Edmund is reasonably normal - until he meets Bob...
Head Edmund, newly appointed Minister in Charge of Religious Genocide and Lord High Executioner, finds himself in a spot of bother when he completely ruins Lord Farrow' weekend by cutting off his head.
Potato With Tom Baker as Captain Redbeard. Blackadder sets off unwillingly to seek out new potatoes and to boldly go where Sir Rather-a-Wally Raleigh has already gone before...
Money With Ronald Lacey as the Bishop. Trouble is in store for Edmund when the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells drops by unexpectedly.
Beer With Miriam Margoyles as Lady Whiteadder. An embarrassing incident with a turnip, an ostrich feather, and a fanatically puritan aunt lead to a right royal to-do.
Chains With Hugh Laurie as Ludwig. Edmund is slightly inconvenienced when a fat-headed German chamberpot boxes him up in a chestful of iron spikesand leaves him to play charades with a crazed Spanish interrogator.
