Product Description
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This deluxe edition includes fantastic digitally remastered
episodes plus a whole host of special features, many of which are
completely exclusive to DVD. This remastered Blackadder
collection brings together all four eras of the classic comedy
starring Rowan Atkinson. Each series of the historical sitcom
traces the sniveling title character and his equally irksome
descendants. Episodes feature a wide range of British stars,
including Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, Rik Mayall, Jim
Broadbent, Brian Blessed, and many others.
The Ultimate Edition includes…
The Blackadder: Behold the bad hair in this first collection of
silliness! Here the slimy Edmund (Rowan Atkinson), Duke of
Edinburgh (alias The Black Adder), emerges from the bowels of
somewhere stinky to annoy historians. The collection includes
"The Foretelling," "Born to be King," "The Archbishop," "The
Queen of Spain's Beard," "Witchsmeller Pursuivant," and "The
Black Seal."
Blackadder II: The degradation of the grand and proud tradition
that is the British monarchy continues as the loathsome
Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) snivels his way through the 16th
century into the court of Queen Elizabeth I. This collection
includes the six episodes comprising both "Parte the Firste," and
"Parte the Seconde." Episodes are "Bells," "Head," "Potato,"
"Money," "," and "Chains."
Blackadder III: This third series presents more dim-witted antics
from the annals of the Blackadder family. Previously
aristocratic, Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) now finds
himself in the midst of the Industrial Revolution as a butler and
gentlemen's gentleman to the pea-brained Prince Regent (Hugh
Laurie). The collection includes six episodes: "Dish and
Dishonesty, " "Ink and Incapability," "Nob and Nobility, " "Sense
and Senility," "Amy and Amiability," and "Duel and Duality."
Blackadder Goes Forth: Edmund Blackadder finds himself in the
trenches on the Western Front in 1917. Episodes include "Captain
Cook" (where Blackadder tries to escape active duty), "Corporal
Punishment" (which finds ol' Edmund facing an execution), "Major
Star" (featuring a concert of sorts), "Private Plane" (in which
Blackadder finds himself caught in the crossfire), "General
Hospital" (where Blackadder searches for German spies among the
wounded), and "Goodbyeee" (when the end of the war is at hand).
.co.uk Review
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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, 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 ),
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
let 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
rtunity 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, .com