Black Adder (Remastered Ultimate Edition)

Black Adder (Remastered Ultimate Edition)

Editorial Review of  Black Adder (Remastered Ultimate Edition), courtesy of  Amazon.com

Buy from Amazon.com Black Adder (Remastered Ultimate Edition)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

Product Description of  Black Adder: The Complete Collector’s Set

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.

DVD Features of  Black Adder: The Complete Collector’s Set:

  • Featurette
  • Interactive Menus
  • Interviews
  • Music Video
About tom.raymond 1562 Articles
Professional clown for over 25 years - happily married, with 5 children and 1 grandson