Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6515 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-11-01
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 196 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The classic first series of BlackAdder was slightly different to its successors--Ben Elton was not yet part of the writing team, and Shakespearean parody featured prominently. Rowan Atkinson was at his best as a would-be Machiavellian medieval intriguer while Brian Blessed plays his gloriously over the top blustering militarist father.

The episodes collected here are: "The Foretelling", in which Richard III, played by Peter Cook in a brilliant parody of Olivier, wins Bosworth only to get in an unseemly argument about a horse; "Born to be King" in which Edmund, lumbered with providing bearded ladies, morris dancers and eunuchs for a festival, discovers some indiscreet love letters; "The Archbishop" in which after his father has the Archbishop of Canterbury killed, Edmund starts his intrigues again; "The Queen of Spain's Beard" in which Blackadder's father's international schemes call for Edmund to make a dynastic marriage to Miriam Margolyes as the Infanta of Spain, and Jim Broadbent plays a peculiarly irritating interpreter; "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" in which Edmund falls foul of the demonic witchsmeller, played with more gusto than is quite credible by Frank Finlay; and "The Black Seal", wherein Edmund assembles a group of villains as his personal retinue (Rik Mayall plays a mad prisoner).

On the DVD: No extras here at all, aside from subtitles in English, SDH, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, and chapter points within each episode. --Roz Kaveney

Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital English
Dolby Digital
Colour Booklet
Danish\Dutch\English\French\Italian\Norwegian\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish

Synopsis
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."

Customer Reviews

The Best!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first series is somewhat forgotten by many people, but this is simply because of its few repeats. I'm not going to drone-on about the wonderful comedy writing and performances because Blackadder's proven its worth by standing the test of time. What I will say is that this series cost the BBC a shed load of money in production costs and more or less cancelled any chance of a second series. Thank god for the BBC and realising a gem in its infancy. We often forget how wonderful the BBC has been in producing fine comedy that travels the globe. I hope for a Blackadder 5 like most people, but I don't forget how spoilt the first four have made me.
Back to the series: King Richard IV's (Brian Blessed) deliberate misuse of his second son's name of Edmund is a shear joy, (EDNA is a particular favourite).

Love this series for its raw invention. It's the foundation for the wonderful three that followed. A clever Baldrick and a dim-wit Edmund is a refreshing twist. Percy's character is pure genius!

Wickedly funny
The first, and the best, series of Blackadder. Starring Rowan AtKinson as Prince Edmund aka 'The Black Adder'. Each hilarious episode sees the hopeless Edmund trying to wrest some power from his father the King (Brian Blessed) and Harry his older brother aided by his two sidekicks Percy and Baldrick.
As usual, the 'cunning plans' backfire on the hapless trio with the usual side splitting consequences. Wickedly funny and well worth watching.

Good, but could be great.
It's wonderful to get the first of the Black Adder series on a single DVD. However, despite this luxury, this could have been incredible if it had contained secondary audio commentary by Rowan Atkinson and/or Richard Curtis commenting on the various scenes or what have you. I look forward anxiously to the other three series on DVD!