The Black Adder 2

• Cert:
• Cat.no: BBCDVD 1019
• Running time: 175 minutes
• Year: 1985
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
• Chapters: 36 plus extras
• Sound: Mono
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-enhanced: No
• Macrovision: No
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: None
  

  ---

  Director:

  Mandie Fletcher

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Lord Blackadder: Rowan Atkinson
Baldrick: Tony Robinson
Lord Percy: Tim McInnerry
Queenie: Miranda Richardson
Lord Melchett: Stephen Fry
Nursie Patsy Byrne

Black Adder II was, IMHO, the best series madeand this disc comes just over a year after the first release and I look forward to theBBC being rather more prolific with their DVD schedule, taking the opportunityto bring out more recent titles day-and-date with the VHS equivalent,as opposed to primarily back-catalogue fare.

Once again there are six episodes, starting with Bells in which Edmundgets a new ‘man’-servant (Gabrielle Glaister) named Kate (“it’s shortfor Bob”) and is set to marry him/her with Lord Flashheart (Rik Mayall)as his best man; Head sees Edmund as the newly-appointed Minister inCharge of Religious Genocide and Lord High Executioner, leaving him in a picklewhen Lord Farrow is offed; and Potato send Blackadder off with CaptainRedbeard (Tom Baker) onto the high seas in search of a greatdiscovery – and an even greater present on their return…

In Money, Blackadder is blackmailed out of £1000 by thebaby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells – failure to pay will result in a red-hotspike up his bottom, while Percy makes a brooch of purest green; Beerbrings the arrival of Lady Whiteadder (Miriam Margolyes), the greatestpiss-up in the world ever and an encounter with a turnip that’s shaped exactlylike a thingy; and in Chains, Hugh Laurie plays Ludwig, a masterof disguise, attempting to overthrown the Queen and her entire staff.

Like the first series DVD, the picture here is by no means perfect but it’scertainly watchable. There’s no artifacts on view but it does look a littlehazy from time to time. It’s presented in its original fullscreen ratio, beinga TV series from the 1980s and the average bitrate falls between 5-6Mb/s,depending on which episode you’re watching.

The mono soundtrack is purely functional, giving clear dialogue.

36 chapters spread out the series, the menus have some animation showingclips from the episodes but only the main one has the theme tune, whileEnglish-only applies to both the dialogue and subtitles.

There are no extras, but twenty notes is certainly worth it for thishigh quality series.