THE MOVIE

Blackadder Goes Forth marks the final in the Blackadder series. The setting is the Western Front during World War I (1917). This time, Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) is an army captain trying to survive in the trenches, and if possible, find an easy way out of the war. By his side, in the thick of things are Private S Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and Lieutenant the Honourable George Colhurst St. Barleigh (Hugh Laurie). They are answerable to General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett (Stephen Fry) and his right hand man Captain Kevin Darling (Tim McInnerny).

Like the other Blackadder DVDs, there are six episodes in total and each episode runs for approximately 30 minutes in length. The DVD offers the option to play all episodes, or alternatively you can choose individual episodes. Here is a quick look at each episode.

Episode 1 - Captain Cook
Melchett has called upon Captain Blackadder, he has a special mission for him. It seems Field Marshal Haig has a bold new plan. The troops should simply climb out of the trenches and walk slowly towards the enemy. However, a moral boost might be required first. So with that in mind, Melchett is looking to commission a man to paint an especially stirring picture for the next issue of the magazine ‘King and Country’ to inspire the troops. Blackadder volunteers when he learns it could mean a ticket out of the trenches. The only problem is that he can’t paint to save his life.

Episode 2 - Corporal Punishment
Captain Darling is trying to relay orders through to Captain Blackadder, but the phone lines don’t appear to be working very well, so he sends the orders via carrier pigeon. Blackadder shoots the pigeon, although he soon learns that because of the communication crisis, shooting carrier pigeons will result in a court martial. Those found to be guilty will be put to death by the firing squad. So Blackadder eats the evidence for lunch, only to find out the it was Melchett’s top pigeon, Speckled Jim. How is he going to get himself out of this one?

Episode 3 - Major Star
The Russian Revolution has started. The Russians have pulled out leaving the Eastern Front open, and soon German reinforcements will be heading in Blackadder’s direction. Once again, Melchett has a plan, he wants to host a concert to boost the troops moral. Blackadder manages to convince him that he’s the most suitable man for the job as the concert organiser. The concert is a hit but Melchett wants to escort the leading lady Georgina, who is actually George, to the ball. This episode also features Gabrielle Glaister as Driver Parkhurst.

Episode 4 - Private Plane
During an air raid, squadron commander Lord Flasheart (Rick Mayall) makes an unexpected arrival in the trenches when he runs out of fuel. Flasheart convinces George and Blackadder to join the Royal Flying Corps, the so-called ‘Twenty-Minuters’. Twenty minutes of work a day sounds good to Blackadder, but what he doesn’t realise is that twenty minutes not the workload, but the average life expectancy of new pilots. During the night, the Germans advance one mile and the next day Blackadder and Baldrick crash land on the wrong side of the wrong side of the trench. While being held in a German prison, they are told they will have a fate worse than death, they are to be sent to Germany to a convent school to spend the rest of the war teaching young girls home economics. However, George and Flasheart show up and save the day. This episode also features Adrian Edmondson as Baron von Richthoven.

Episode 5 - General Hospital
George is injured and goes off to hospital, lucky bastard! Meanwhile it seems that the Germans are anticipating all the moves made by the British army. Melchett suspects a spy in the field hospital and Blackadder is sent to find him. If he is successful, he will get to head up the new security network, operation Winkle. Blackadder initially suspects Mr. Smith (Bill Wallis), a patient with a German accent, but he soon gets distracted by Nurse Fletcher-Brown (Miranda Richardson). Meanwhile, Melchett shoots Darling in the foot so he can go to hospital and keep an eye on Blackadder.

Episode 6 - Goodbyeee
The British haven’t been making any ground and the final big push is about to happen. Blackadder has a plan though, he sticks some pencils up his nose and underpants on his head in an attempt to convince Melchett that he’s gone insane so he can return to England. However, when the plan backfires, he decides to call Field Marshal Dougie Haig (features Geoffrey Palmer) and ask for a favour. Haig offers him the following advice - stick two pencils up your nose and put some underpants on your head and they’ll think you’ve gone insane and will send you home. Great advice. It looks like this could be the end…

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Blackadder Goes Forth is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (4:3) full frame. The video transfer is reasonably good, probably as good, if not better than the three other Blackadder DVDs already released. There is a fair amount of detail, but then there is also a fair amount of grain as well. There are also a couple of instances of highlight overload (comet-tailing) but these aren’t overly distracting. Colours are somewhat muted, and at times the olive green army suits take on an almost brown appearance. There is also some minor over-saturation to be found. Skin tones are very pale, and at times, the foreheads of Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie are positively reflective. There are some occasional bright colours though, like the red jacket worn by Stephen Fry in Episode 3. Like the other Blackadder DVDs, this is a dual layer (RSDL) disc, although the layer change is not evident, presumably it has been placed in between Episode 3 and 4.

Audio:

Just like the other DVDs in the series, Blackadder Goes Forth has only one audio soundtrack, that being Dolby Digital 2.0. The audio on this DVD is satisfactory. Dialogue is always clearly audible, and it is easy to hear all of the punch lines, despite the often quite raucous audience laughter (mind you, there are both English and Dutch subtitles included as well). There didn’t appear to be any audio synch problems on this DVD. Finally, the title music composed and arranged by Howard Goodall is quite good, being reminiscent of that used in the previous Blackadder series, but still being somewhat unique.

THE EXTRAS

Unfortunately, just like the other Blackadder DVDs, this forth DVD in the series is also completely devoid of extra features. The main menu features animation and looped Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound, as does the episode selection menu and scene selection menu.

SUMMARY

Blackadder Goes Forth is the entire historic fourth series of Blackadder which is set on the Western Front in 1917, Blackadder is now a Captain in the British Army. This DVD is likely to appeal to those of you who have already purchased the first three DVDs in the series. This is definitely a worthy addition, with plenty of humour from Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie and others. The visual and audio transfer are acceptable but there are no extra features to be found on this DVD.