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    The Black Adder 4 - Blackadder Goes Forth

    BBC/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 174 mins . PG . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    OK, let’s do-oo-oo-oooo it! It’s time for another taste of good old British spunk with the final instalment in the life and times of the Black Adder dynasty-ish kind of thingy.

    It’s once more into the fray with Richard Curtis and Ben Elton masterfully manning the quills, this time popping by the early 1900s, or more specifically World War I. The Edmund of now is a Captain in the British Army, the Baldrick is not surprisingly a Private, and another blip in the regal lineage is back in the form of The Honourable George Colthurst St Barleigh (Lieutenant). A Melchett descendant makes his return, in the form of General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett (Stephen Fry), and he’s kind of ably assisted by Captain Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny). The opportunity is also seized upon for visits from many previous favourites from seasons gone by – Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Miranda Richardson – and even Geoffrey Palmer pops up at one point.

    So, take the opportunity to get a little tiddly, and plop (ooh, a dirty word!) yourself down for more than just a teensy-weensy bit of Black Adder silliness. Baaaaa!

    Captain Cook: Uh-oh – new ladders have been sent to the trenches, which can only mean one thing – General Haig is planning to send the troops over the top. When an artistic commission comes up, Edmund sees it as a perfect opportunity to avoid nasty old “big push” war stuff, however...

    Corporal Punishment: Edmund is simply ignoring orders to advance by any means possible. When he shoots Melchett’s prized carrier pigeon Speckled Jim, however, he’s up for a court martial – and a rather biased trial. No problem, George and Baldrick will save their Captain from being dead, dead, dead. Ahem...

    Major Star: There’s something afoot in the wind... The Russian revolution has begun, and as even Baldrick speaks of insurrection, Charlie Chaplin fever takes over the trenches. A concert party is planned to boost morale, and Melchett is quite taken with one of the show’s stars, Georgina. Ooh, hello Bob!

    Private Plane: Impressed by the aerial gymnastics of Lord Flashheart’s Flying Aces, there’s a scramble to join the “20 Minuters”. Some see a chance for glory, while others see it as a chance to avoid death. However, after landing behind enemy lines, will Edmund end up as a lowly home economics teacher?

    General Hospital: Rather bomb-struck, George ends up in hostipal. When leaks to the Germans are discovered to be coming from the very same place, Edmund is sent in on a spying mission to flush out the traitor. Surely it couldn’t be that absolute peach Nurse Mary?

    Goodbyeee: It’s time for the inevitable – the “Big Push”. After failing in his bid to play the insanity card (wooble!), Edmund is resigned to his fate – as is a reluctant Captain Darling. After a poignant history lesson of sorts we witness a rather sombre end to all things Black Adder... Beep!

      Video
    Contract

    Now then, now then, now. Then. Now. Then. Now then, now then. Then now, now then... another quite fabulous transfer to DVD awaits all comers to this disc.

    Naturally being an older telly series it comes to us in full frame and isn’t anamorphically enhanced. Almost entirely shot on video, colour is as excellent as it gets for something predominantly based in dingy WWI trenches (unless of course you’re a colour-blind hedgehog stuck in a bag), and shadow detail is pleasingly up to the task. So, overall we have quite a sharp little visual package here – and a job (ooh, another dirty word!) bally well done by those responsible for the transfer. The opening credits are shot on film, as are some flying scenes in Private Plane, and these do exhibit a few speckles and (beep!) signs of grain, however the only other use of the medium is for the closing credits – and these are so heavily processed to look old that it would be silly to even comment further.

    The layer change is placed between episodes, so doesn’t (wooble!) show its ugly little rat face, and special mention should be given to the subtitles. Why? Well, call me Ms Picky, but they appear to have been US sourced, so as well as the many examples of silly poo-poo American spelling that abound, some of the particularly English words seem to have caused some befuddlement. For example, “floury” is represented as “flowery”, and “aubergine” pops up as something so silly I can’t even bring myself to type it here. Stupidy, stupidy stupids!

      Audio
    Contract

    The old standard for telly to DVD releases Dolby Digital Stereo rears its head again (although “rears” probably isn’t a very apt word to use if you think about it). It all serves king and country (beep!) rather well, although unlike the other series’, the laughter track does seem rather loud and tends to become rather grating at times – especially when an uproar goes up EVERY single bloody time Darling is mentioned (baaaaa!). At least the actors have a fairly good idea when to pause, so very little in the way of dialogue gets lost. Once more audio synch offers no cause for alarm and it must be said again that surround activity simply isn’t there, yes – the surrounds are as dead as some doo-doos throughout, purely because they’re supposed to be. And of all the times it would be appropriate to mention the sub Woof! Woof!

    The composer of all the Black Adder series’, Howard Goodall, returns (wooble!) for a final time, and once again comes up with suitable musical accompaniment for all that goes on. The theme comes courtesy of brass band, and while this is quite rousing and fun there is very little (beep!) else in the way of music throughout the episodes.

      Extras
    Contract

    As anybody acquainted with the local Black Adder DVDs by now will no doubt expect, the menus are essentially static, other than for some wee windows playing back bits of different episodes. Once more there are no extras whatsoever – which can be put down to that annoying old chestnut of “rights issues”. So, yah boo sucks to the rights holders! Baaaaa!

      Overall  
    Contract

    Everybody has a favourite series of Black Adder, and let’s face it, they’re all so much better than most any other comedy series ever to grace our screens that this is hardly surprising (wooble!).

    Looking spiffier than you might expect, one disc offering up an entire series of the most classic of British (beeb!) comedy is hard to look past in the “phwoar, what value!” stakes, even with less side dishes than Baldrick’s fricasseed rat.

    And if you don’t agree, well we’ll just have to get hold of a cocker spaniel, tie you down on a chair with a potty on your head, pop your todger* between two floury baps and shout “dinnertime, Fido!”.

    * Naturally this only applies to those of the male species. The author surmises that any female readers would be too clever to ever consider this disc not to be a purveyor of simply excellent value... (Amy ducks and dodges sniper fire!)


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      And I quote...
    "Even funnier than a vegetable that’s grown into a rude and amusing shape..."
    - Amy Flower
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-535
    • TV:
          Sony 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Onkyo TX-DS494
    • Speakers:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse RBS662
    • Centre Speaker:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECC442
    • Surrounds:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECR042
    • Subwoofer:
          DTX Digital 4.8
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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