John Thaw | Patricia Routledge | BlackAdder DVD | Celeb Castaway

limited to the Tony Robinson narrated biographical sketches, historical notes based on incidents depicted in various episodes also narrated by Robinson and a brief sing-along to the series theme.

BlackAdder II: The planets must have been in a particularly auspicious alignment when Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Rowan Atkinson and company conceived this second series. this time out it's the Elizabethan BlackAdder and he's far from the toady mongrel of the previous series.As with all the BlackAdder series BlackAdder II sports a brilliant supporting cast. Tony Robinson and Tim McInnerny (Lord Percy) are back, Stephen Fry joins the fun and Miranda Richardson is perfect as a warped Queen Liz. The usual top flight cameos are here as well from the likes of Tom Baker, Rik Mayall and Simon Jones.

Extras include the Robinson narrated biographies and historical footnotes plus the Comic Relief special BlackAdder the Cavalier Years. While not up to the usual high standards of the full series this one-off provides a few nice moments thought the video quality is not as sharp as the regular series episodes

BlackAdder the Third: Having ravaged the Tudor and Elizabethan era the BlackAdder gang now move on to the Restoration.Edmund has been reduced to servitude, but at least it's servitude to the Prince Regent (an exceptionally funny Hugh Laurie) and he has his faithful dogsbody Baldrick by his side just as his ancestors did.Along with the second series BlackAdder the Third is a highpoint for television comedy - brilliantly written and performed in that marvelously English smart/silly style pioneered by the likes of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers.

The extras on disc three include BlackAdder's Christmas Carol, the dark but often hilarious retelling of Dicken's classic of yuletide redemption. The Victorian BlackAdder is a lovely bloke whose good nature is taken advantage of and abused so thoroughly that the nicest man in Britain can only afford a Christmas Twig and loses his modest Christmas pudding to a group of greedy, overstuffed orphans. BlackAdder's Christmas Carol works best when it flashes back (and forward), with the help of Robbie Coltrane's Spirit of Christmas, to peek in on the holiday celebrations of past BlackAdder's. All the old crew is present for the Elizabethan and Restoration flashbacks as well as a look at the BlackAdder of the far flung future.

BlackAdder Goes Forth: This is what happens when good comedy writers get serious, they lose the thread and turn one of the great comedies into a dramedy. Doubtless bored by the now standard BlackAdder formula it appears the creative team decided to make some sort of anti-war statement and plonked Edmund, Percy, and Baldrick

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic