Load of rubbish!!

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Ah, so this is how the Blackadder series got started(And it's a good start, too!). Rowan Atkinson(Best known as Mr. Bean) stars as Edmund Blackadder, a cunning yet slimy Duke of Edinburgh out to overthrow his father, Richard IV(Brian Blessed) and become King of England. He has two assistants named Baldrick(Tony Robinson) and Percy(Tim McInnerny), who maybe dumber than bricks but are loyal to their master. My favorite episodes are Born to be King and the Queen of Spain's Beard. There's also Princess Leia of Hungary, who is probably the cutest reference to the Star Wars franchise I ever seen. The plot is original, all the characters make me laugh, but the ending is kind of sad. This is part one of the Blackadder series.

That said, it's not too bad; just not the classic mixture that gelled in the next series. As others have said: too much Bean, not enough Blackadder. If you already liked Rowan Atkinson, you'll enjoy his facial muggings; but aficionados will miss the stylish, scheming sociopath we came to know and love.My pick, for those who want to check it out, is "The Queen of Spain's Beard", with Miriam Margolyes as the Spanish Infanta. Very funny, and full of the sort of quotes we associate with the later series.Thank God the BBC had the foresight to see its potential and schedule a second series because, as we all know, the rest is history.

Rowan Atkinson was funny as Mr. Bean, but he was downright hilarious as the Black Adder. He had such a talent for playing the sharp-tongued rogue I'll never figure out why he decided to start doing comedy in which he hardly spoke. The premise of this British comedy series is that the central character, "The Black Adder", shows up at different points in history in various incarnations distorting historical events and poking fun at various British historical figures and situations along the way.Lots of people don't like Black Adder I, in which the title character, Edmund, is the younger son of a brutish man consumed with thoughts of war who actually becomes king of England through Edmund's own bungling - he arrives late for the Battle of Bosworth Field and winds up chopping off the head of Richard III, thus saving the life of Henry Tudor. Throughout this first season he plays the buffoon, often having the expression of a deer caught in the headlights. This is the only season in which the Black Adder takes on the persona of a weak effeminate person. Especially funny is Edmund's mother who is a proper noble woman sitting around doing embroidery and indifferently waiting for the next marauding army to pass through.The second season takes place early during the reign of Elizabeth I, with the Black Adder confident, handsome, and even a favorite at court. A young Amanda Richardson plays the role of Elizabeth I, who comes across as Betty Boop, just not as intelligent. Although more cunning in this season, Black Adder still comes up the loser in just about every episode. My favorite is "Bells", in which Blackadder finds his new servant, Bob, curiously pleasant company. Afraid for his reputation at court, Blackadder searches for a "cure" - which of course involves leeches, until Bob conveniently reveals that she is in fact a girl called Kate. Their wedding is disrupted by the profane Lord Flashheart, who, although he is the best man, winds up stealing the bride.The third season takes place in the eighteenth century during the reign of George III, and will be a favorite of all fans of "House, M.D." due to the presence of a young Hugh Laurie. Here, Black Adder plays the manservant of the Prince Regent, George, played by Hugh Laurie. George is the dim-witted target of Black Adder's many schemes to enrich himself by taking advantage of his cushy position in George's household, and this often means having to save the Prince Regent's pension and position in the kingdom, which is largely controlled by Parliament.The fourth season takes place during World War I, with Edmund Blackadder as a captain in the British army whose company is trapped in one of the trenches that gave everyone in Europe such a distaste for warfare between the two world wars. Blackadder's aim in this season is to stay alive by staying in that trench until the war ends. His stunts include shooting a carrier pigeon when it arrives with orders to advance, and joining the Royal Flying Corp - "the twenty minuters". Unfortunately, the name comes from how long they are expected to live once in the air, not how much time they work each day, as Blackadder had originally thought.This show has several interesting plot devices. First, most of the main characters show up in different periods of time with the same name but different roles. Hugh Laurie is always "George", Tony Robinson is always "Baldrick", Stephen Fry is always "Melchett", and Tim McInnerny is always "Percy". Since each season was shot in alternate years - (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989) - the cast must have been having a terrific time in order for them to be regathered after such long intervals in order to make filming this series possible. Secondly, everyone in the cast, including the Black Adder, always dies in the final episode of each season. It is somewhat like the South Park stunt of Kenny being killed at the end of every show only to reappear in the next episode as though nothing had happened.Do note that there are only six episodes per season. If you liked "Red Dwarf" or "Fawlty Towers", you'll probably like this series too.

The central premise of The Blackadder is that Richard III did not in fact lose the Battle of Bosworth field and that the Plantagenets continued to rule for "thirteen glorious years" before Henry Tudor became King.The first episode deals with the afore said battle and it's immediate aftermath and is presented from the point of view of Prince Edmund who is second in line for the throne and who is also looking to make that "second in line" into "first in line". In this first series Edmund is incredibly slippery, stupid and a bit of a weasel - for the viewer he's not a particularly likable character and the programme overall suffers because of this.Despite the weaknesses in the main character the show is still very good value for money. Every episode has enough jokes to keep you laughing throughout and on the whole the show holds up a lot better than most British comedies from the mid-eighties. That said though this first series of Blackadder is no where near as good as the sequels, for one it is just not as sharp or witty. Meanwhile Prince Harry and Lord Percy are no match for their successors George and Darling in terms of comedy value - the "Hello Darling" line still cracks me up every time.Also the observational humour is not quite as strong here as it is in later series of Blackadder - although this may just be down to my own lack of familiarity with this particular period of British history.Despite it's shortcomings, and although often though it is very easy to see why Michael Grade did not want to re-commission Blackadder for a second series, The Blackadder is still very much worth watching especially for 'The Archbishop' episode which is simply brilliant.