Blackadder: The Cavalier Years

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.

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

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.

"Blackadder: The Cavalier Years" is a very short, and very funny, episode of the adventures of one of the Blackadder's characters as played by the legendary Rowan Atkinson.

The story doesn't really matter, but goes around King Charles I being on the run from Cromwell and hiding at Blackadder's place. Of course, Cromwell discovers quite fast that King Charles I is there and apprehends him. Edmund will try to save... will try to do what interests him best, as always.

For a very short episode, just 15 minutes long, this "The Cavalier Years" pucks a punch and it's full of very funny jokes. The delivery is great, and all the actors do an amazing job on keeping the things funny and very silly. Probably at this stage they could all have played the characters in their sleep, but still do a great job in making them funny for the viewer. The production values and the camera work are just OK, but that is not what really matters.

A great extra in the "Blackadder"'s world.