Blackadder The Third

Excellent series if I do say so.

Jumping forward to the time of the Prince Regent, Blackadder is now a not so humble butler in the service of Prince George as he lives the life of luxury in the company of idiots, a cruel fate which I understand well. That's one aspect of this entire series that I enjoy, not only is each series 6 episodes meaning a short but sweet experience but the story itself is hardly ever complex and built more around a situation than overarching stories which means easy and fun viewing. I'm not as literate in british government and history as I would love to be, but it has never been a hurdle to cross while watching any of the series, sure I know these are all very real periods of history and know bits here and there but the fact that the show is crafted so well without having to have the audience be a wellspring of knowledge on the times just shows that the writers had their priorities straight. Comedy first, with the backdrop of history. I know Blackadder was a real treat in the second series but I think this is my favorite ever. The sarcastic and dry wit could never be better in no short part due to the supporting cast. Hugh Laurie makes this series for me, the man is brilliant and yet can play an utter prat with such ease and expert comedic timing, he is half the reason you should watch this! Tony Robinson has his moments too but I would say Baldrick from either the first or second series is my favorite but of course we have just one more after this so who knows. And as always we have our sterling cast crop up again in small parts, delightful as always. Something I noticed about the production design here is that while the sets are really quite small they don't skip out on the detail and the costuming is spot on so I must give expert props to the production team this time around! Plus I am thrilled there wasn't such a downer ending, I really hate being bummed out at the end of a comedy series but this one breaks from that and all for the better I say. But is this better than the last? Well my enjoyment factor was much more than last time and to be fair all the stories are so well done whereas even in the second series there were some I could say is worth skipping on repeated viewing, but here they are all on point and good fun to watch again. I may have to rate this a smidge higher. 4 stars, 8.5/10! Can the fourth and final series top this score? It is quite possible at this point, nothing surprises me anymore. See you next time when we go over the top.

Blackadder II

This is the one that will be the hardest to top.

Years back when I first sat down to watch the entire run of Blackadder, series 2 was my absolute favorite. The plot is somewhat similar to the first with Edmund Blackadder living under the rule of Queen Elizabeth The First, but instead of trying to usurp control of the throne, he's constantly battling the idiocy of the times. Where the first series was still trying to find it's footing, the second is on top form with an amazing cast and simple but fun concepts for episodes. Easily the best performances are from Rowan Atkinson and Miranda Richardson, they just crack me up with Rowan being deadpan and sarcastic to the Nth degree and Miranda for lack of a better word, being very simple. It's just so damn funny seeing Queen Elizabeth acting like a silly and spoiled child, and precisely nothing like any other sort of regal performancein media. It's an absolute joy. Tony Robinson and Tim McInnery return as Baldrick and Percy, this time playing the oafs to Blackadder which they handle perfectly. The writing for this series is where the most praise should go, you can tell they put effort into the scripts and it really does work and really the writing is why this series is so highly regarded in the comedy world. It's difficult to pick a favorite episode, it's a toss up between Potato and Beer. One has a fun cameo by Tom Baker, and the other is the perfect storm for poor Edmund to be in but it is outstanding. This is a definite improvement for the series and one thing I noticed is that they really don't shift the cast up, nearly every supporting cast member from series 1 makes an appearance here and thusly the supporting cast from this in some small way makes their way to series 3. So there's always this tight knit sense of community both on screen and off screen, which makes it even more enjoyable. 4 stars, 8/10! And next time we get to see Hugh Laurie shine before he became a big name doctor here in the States.

The Black Adder

Happy Christmas to me.

One more week of reviews after this and I refuse to be party to any merriment or all around joy to humanity, so join me as we visit cynical Britain once more as we see all iterations of the classic Blackadder series. It's very humble beginnings for the series as we enter the 15th century following the ascent of King Richard IV and not historically Henry Tudor, and we encounter the meek and backstabbing Edmund who tries every trick he can to take the throne. Not the most involved of plots but nevertheless a very entertaining and fun series, obviously with many a nod to Shakespeare. I will fully admit of all the subsequent entries in this show, the first season is definitely weakest in terms of comedy. But don't let that stop you from watching it, it's a good start and still has it's moments. Any scene with Brian Blessed is glorious, Rowan Atkinson has some genuinely funny moments, no doubt the more historically knowledgeable will get a kick out of the narration, but I think it's more satirical of the time period. To poke fun is not neccessarily always funny, but wit is always wonderful. And any chance I get to feel good about myself by recognizing Shakespeare dialogue without reading any of his works is awful nice. This is one of the more lavish BBC productions I've seen at that period in time, there was a lot of on location filming at a proper castle and it's subsequent grounds, with more than just leftover period costumes, the whole nine yards, and it does look good. One aspect that must be addressed, because this is the oldest BBC show I've reviewed though I've seen many from the 60s to the 2000s, is the fact that location shooting or really anything outside the studio is shot on film and not all film stock is the same so it does have a grainy look to it whereas the studio footage had those proper big three lensed cameras so it looks really good. It's actually really interesting to sort of chart the character progression between all the series, because a good chunk of this cast gets brought back each time even if they don't play the same characters. Queen Victoria from the christmas special is the Spanish Infanta in this series and is marvellous to say the least for example (Bit out of sync but hey welcome to the timey wimey show!), so we'll compare notes on each. I don't actually think any sort of future series was even spared a thought of at this point, and could have very easily been just a one shot but it flourished throughout and could arguably be said that each series is better than the last. But of course more on that, in time. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10! And we'll time warp tomorrow to the age of Queen Elizabeth I for Blackadder II.