Blackadder II: Historic Second Series (1985)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1985
Running Time	175:16
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Mandie Fletcher
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Rowan Atkinson Tony Robinson Tim McInnerny Miranda Richardson Stephen Fry Patsy Byrne
Case	C-Button-Version 2
RPI	$34.95	Music	Howard Goodall

    Those familiar with Blackadder will know the type of humour on offer. The silly situations, biting insults and put-downs don't let up. The pathetic characters of Baldrick and Lord Percy are frequently victims of some of the most vicious insults ever seen on TV.  Many purchasers of this DVD are likely to be very familiar with the plots and will be able to recite favourite lines from each episode, such is the high regard that this BBC series has been held in. Fans of the series will look forward to seeing Blackadder 2 without commercials and on their favourite format.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Unfortunately, the transfer is not exceptional.  Those who have seen the first series will have to put up with similar problems for the second. The first series featured considerable compression artefacts such as macro-blocking appearing in the background parts of the picture. If anything, Black-Adder II contains even more macro-blocking.

    Dark scenes are problematic. This is most notable in the first episode when Edmund visits the wise woman. At 15.36 and for the next couple of minutes extensive low level noise, grain/pixelization and macro-blocking dominate the picture. Although the rest of the disk does not look as bad as this, background macro-blocking is the most objectionable problem with the transfer. Fortunately, the disc contains few really dark scenes.

    The transfer does not have problems with videotape artefacts and handles the fine detail of the colourful costumes quite well with problems such as colour bleeding being completely absent.

    Black-Adder II is shot on video with the exception of the opening titles featuring the snake on the black and white tiles, the garden scenes that accompany the credits at the end of each episode and the brief scene shot outside for the romance of 'Bob' and Edmund in Episode One. Film artefacts can be found during these sequences. This is also the case for the first series which was shot on video for the interior scenes but outside sequences were shot on film and contain all the classic artefacts associated with film. The format used outside was most likely 16mm.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio track for Black-Adder II is unspectacular mono. It is delivered through the front left and right channels but both channels contain the same signal. The sound is at least clean and free of distortion. There was incidental music in the first series, often coming from an organ. It provided at times a bit of bass extension which was quite pleasant. In the second series there is virtually no music at all apart from 'Greensleeves' which accompanies the romance of 'Bob' and Edmund. The Blackadder theme is used for the opening credits and vocals accompany the same theme over the end credits. Apart from that, there is just the sound of laughter mixed into the soundtrack. For material like Blackadder, though, the important thing is dialogue clarity so that every muttered snide remark can be picked up, and in this regard the soundtrack does its job.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are no extras at all on this disc. There is a 4x3 static main menu with animated 'tiles' containing action from some of the episodes. One can choose to play the episodes in order or select an episode or a particular scene within that episode and watch with or without subtitles. Apart from the animated tiles in the menu system, there are no extras.

    A boxed set of the whole Blackadder series has just been released in the States and it looks to have a whole heap of extras - where is our version?

    Those who loved the Blackadder series will enjoy the DVD. It is a pity there are no extras. An amazing soundtrack and reference quality transfer will not make you laugh any harder than with the efforts made for this release.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall