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Black Adder Ultimate Edition |  | Studio: Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: CDN$ 99.90
Buy New: CDN$ 69.70
as of 9/5/2010 04:33 CDT details
You Save: CDN$ 30.20 (30%)
New (12) Used (1) from CDN$ 54.00
Seller: importcds__
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 1930
Format: Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English (Unknown)
Rating: Unrated
Discs: 6
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 1
MPN: 883929090129
UPC: 883929090129
EAN: 0883929090129
ASIN: B002LFPAUM
Release Date: October 20, 2009
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.ca
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
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
Grandiose! August 20, 2010
Julien (Montréal, Quebec Canada)
Blackadder est une rare sitcom qui ne montre aucun signe de vieillissement. Chacune des quatre séries a son charme. La finesse et la subtilité des dialogues donnent le goût de revoir sans cesse les épisodes. La «Ultimate Edition» est fort bien présentée. La qualité de l'image et du son est quelque peu supérieure à l'édition précédente, mais sans plus. Les «extras» sont agréables et fournissent des informations supplémentaires sur la confection de la série. Indispensable pour les amateurs d'humour Anglais et de sitcom.
FABULOUS! July 1, 2010
MaddyElizabeth (British Columbia, Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As ever, Rowan Atkinson is totally funny, brilliant and the entire cast couldn't be bettered. I can watch these over and over and still laugh as much every time.
He's going to rule the world! May 16, 2010
E. A Solinas (MD USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
You have to give the Blackadder family credit -- they're tenacious. "Black Adder - The Complete Collector's Set" chronicles this odd, sardonic family's presence throughout the greatest eras of British history. The first season stumbles somewhat, but the following seasons are brilliant -- sardonic, kooky, and sometimes rather sick.
On the day of the Battle of Bosworth Field, the Duke of York (Brian Blessed) and his son Harry (Robert East) accompanied the king (Peter Cook) into battle. His second son Edmund (Atkinson) hopes to come along, but he oversleeps -- and when he arrives, he accidentally kills the king, and Edmund's his father is made king. He dubs himself the "Black Adder" and decides to one day become king of England... too bad nobody likes him.
He's followed by a string of descendents through the ages -- all more acid-tongued and intelligent than he, or anyone else around them. And they're always accompanied by a Baldrick. That includes Lord Edmund Blackadder, the favorite of the demented queen Bess (Miranda Richardson); Edmund Blackadder Esq., valet and butler to the half-witted Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie); and Captain Blackadder, a soldier in World War I who spends his time trying to get out of it.
These unlucky Blackadders find themselves dealing with demented Puritans, hosting bawdy drinking parties, crazed bishops, even crazier princes, giant turnips, the Red Baron, drag musical acts, Spaniard inquisitors, and almost being shot for eating a carrier pigeon. Startlingly, the final season -- although another is in the planning stages -- ends on a very poignant note.
But there is an upbeat ending overall -- the final episode introduces us to the modern-day Blackadder, a sharp-tongued aristocrat dining with the modern-day descendents of Prince George, Queen Elizabeth, Melchett and Darling. Not to mention Baldrick in a truly horrifying porno apron.
Blackadder reveals that using da Vinci's plans, Baldrick has constructed a time machine, and bets £30,000 that he can bring back historical items. It's actually an elaborate scam... until the machine works, and Baldrick and Blackadder find themselves spinning helplessly through time, with no idea how to get home. And in a couple of side-stories, Ebenezer Blackadder discovers how his pleasant cheery attitude will affect his descendents; and the last two Loyalists to King Charles (in other words, Baldrick and Blackadder) deal with the impending execution of the king ( "No, it's not! It's a huge pumpkin with a pathetic moustache drawn on it!").
The series starts off a little weakly -- the first season is funny, but not outrageously so, and Prince Edmund is the incompetant twerp rather than Baldrick or Percy. But things blossom with the arrival of a new writer in "Blackadder II," and sets the tone for the rest of the series: a smart, bitter man who's constantly surrounded by nincompoops.
There are one or two dud episodes, but the majority of them shine with comic genius, from the kookily childish Queen Elizabeth ("Who's Queen?") to Baldrick's rancid boxers killing the dinosaurs. Atkinson gets most of the good lines ("He's the most over-rated human being since Judas Iscariot won the AD31 Best Disciple Competition") but the rest of the cast usually gets in some great ones too ("A total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through!").
Atkinson, of course, rules the whole series a series of acid-tongued Blackadders who have influence but no power, and Robinson is great as the gross servant who always has a cunning plan. The rest of the cast reappears regularly -- Laurie as a series of half-witted bluebloods, Richardson as drippy young women, Fry as cunning advisors and hearty generals, and McInnery as airbrained idiots and prissy assistants.
Aside from being polished up in the remastering process, apparently this edition is going to have deleted scenes, audio commentaries (YAY!) and interviews. It's probably not worth the shell-out if you already own the whole thing, but definitely is if you don't.
The complete series of "Black Adder" is a comic cornucopia -- it starts off a bit weakly, but once it gets its footing, it's absolute hilarious. A must-have.
 Black Adder April 11, 2010
Leslie Shragge (Edmonton, AB. Canada)
I am so glad that I finally got this on DVD-- I had it on VHS and find that I really can't live without this series. I absolutely love it and this version of it is excellent.
Great TV Series February 23, 2010
Allan Yee (Edmonton, AB)
Great deluxe edition of one of the funniest and most literate TV shows of all time - Rowan Atkinson is so much better as the Black Adder than as Mr. Bean. The only thing that would have made it more complete would have been the inclusion of the seldom seen pilot episode (as well as some commentaries on the first series), but that would probably have been too much to hope for. Viewing the episodes again, I was surprised at how relatively few times (much less than I seem to remember) the tag phrase "cunning plan" actually comes up, which only goes to show that they didn't overdo it, but used it just enough to make it memorable.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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