By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders
Black Adder
The BBC releases of Fawlty Tours and Black Adder complete series boast new remastered editions. It’s not Blu Ray, but you can still tell that it holds up better than an old DVD when you watch it upconverted.
BBC in HD
Black Adder episodes still look like an old videofilm hybrid in the older series, yet the prints are clean and clear with crisp sharp lines. Medieval sets shine with polished sets, glow with popping colors and show some of the detail in the backgrounds. Some of the faces look soft in the light and makeup but that’s the original, and it’s clear these are tip top new versions. Newer series actually hold up a tad less well, with a bit more fuzz in the military fourth series, but still smooth and sharp most of the time.
Fawlty Towers looks a little more video-y with the softness and gloss of that old format. It was probably transferred from PAL too. It might look fuzzy, but that just makes it look like normal taped broadcast. Remember, if they really dumped the original transfer to DVD, it would look like YouTube. So they remastered it enough to look authentic, so you can watch it on your high tech sets.
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