Blackadder: The Cavalier Years

Blackadder: The Cavalier Years is like Blackadder's Christmas Carol just one episode, just one story and not a complete season like in the series. This time it's just fifteen minutes long but in this short amount of time you get enough good classic British Black Adder humor to entertain you fully. Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson and Stephen Fry play this time the main characters and as always it's a delight to watch. For the fans of the series this is a nice short episode.

The Cavalier Years is a Blackadder special made for Comic Relief - and to be honest, it is pretty good. Though it is rather dated and it always tries to stay off the violence (to be honest, Blackadder should display more violence in its historical settings and rather violent eras it depicts (WWI, Medieval era, Revolution)). This episode once again delivers some hilarious liners, and Blackadder is still the cruel, calculating character everybody knows him as, but there isn't much interaction between him and Stephen Fry - Mr. Fry did not depict a king sentenced to death too well. But this is just as classic as all other Blackadders - the abundance of cunning plans, hilarious moments and historically-accurate humour ensure that The Cavalier Years is not one to be overlooked as just "another spin off".

Blackadder: The Cavalier Years may be short, but it is what you would call "a quick blast". Very good, but could have been a bit better. 8/10

This is located on at least one set of the full series, seasons 1-4, though not all, so be sure to notice if or when you purchase it. Fifteen minutes of pure Blackadder. What better way to spend a quarter of an hour? This has Edmund as a Lord during the time of Cromwell and the revolution. He has to defend King Charles I(Stephen Fry, in a deliciously accurate parody of Prince Charles of Wales) from Oliver and the Roundheads. Baldrick returns, Percy does not. The minimalistic cast of this is works perfectly for this short. This has some of the best writing of this franchise. This is very close to being even funnier than Blackadder II, but it's prevented by just one too many uninspired gags and jokes and some pacing problems. It has quite a bit of the most clever material and laugh-out-loud as well as burst-out-laughing moments and scenes of these. I doubt more than half a minute passed without me laughing through watching this. A must-see for any fan of Blackadder. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys British humor, Rowan Atkinson's work and/or the titular character. 8/10

I felt rather wistful watching this 16 minute segment from Comic Relief. That's because a Blackadder series set during the English Civil War might have been terrific--too bad it was only a small segment and not an entire series! The show is set in the final days of the Civil War. At this point King Charles is virtually alone--with only Blackadder and Baldrick! In other words, he's totally screwed! Eventually, the King is captured and the next order of business is to find someone awful enough to be willing to execute the man. Take a wild guess which scoundrel they manage to find who is willing to do this infamous deed! Overall, not bad at all--just too short, too short, too short.

I usually only rate an entire series, so reviewing a short fifteen minutes piece is difficult. It's basically an ordinary Blackadder episode with the same, great, British humour. And the setting is unique as we don't see it again after this, unlike the other settings which encompass whole series. Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) and Baldrick (Tony Robinson) are in the time of King Charles I (Stephen Fry) and Oliver Cromwell (Warren Clarke) where they try to protect the King from the threat of Oliver Cromwell.

Unique, but I wouldn't say it stands out from the others. Just another episode of Blackadder, but shorter due to the Comic Relief telethon here in the United Kingdom. No reason not to watch this if you're a fan of Blackadder.