Even though I wasn't into Red Dwarf growing up, I was a regular Saturday night viewer of PBS' reruns of classic British sitcoms. Fawlty Towers and Blackadder were at the top of my favorites list along with Monty Python's Flying Circus. WB/BBC Video have re-transferred both series from their original TV masters and reissued them with a pile of new extras. These now look as good as I expect they can, and the extras are good enough that I'm fine recommending them as "go ahead and finally buy it" titles. Best of all, these new sets cost less than the previous Complete Collections of each show.
Blackadder
No offense to the Fawlty folks, but between the two, I'm more of a Blackadder nut. If you're not familiar with Blackadder, here's all you should need: Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, and Miranda Richardson in period satirical comedy. Blackadder follows the actors playing different generations of people from one series to the next from earlier eras toward the present and never gets stale (like so much British TV). If you need more than that, there's always Wikipedia
The six-disc digipack book case is rather well-designed.
When I heard they were calling the third Shrek sequel "Shrek Goes Forth", I knew it was an obvious rip-off/reference to Blackadder Goes Forth (the fourth season/series). After the title was announced I'm sure the similarity in progression ("The Third" followed by "Goes Forth") caused a quiet legal inquiry by Blackadder's copyright holders, since the title became Shrek Forever After.
The new extras are rather extensive on this six-disc DVD set, so I'll rattle them off by disc:
Disc 2 (Blackadder II)
3 Audio Commentaries: on "Bells", Ben Elton, Richard Curtis, & John Lloyd; on "Money", Tony Robinson & Tim McInnerny; and on "Chains", Stephen Fry
Disc 3 (Blackadder the Third)
3 Audio Commentaries: on "Ink & Incapability", Rowan Atkinson & John Lloyd; on Amy & Amiability", Ben Elton, Richard Curtis, & John Lloyd; and on Duel & Duality", Stephen Fry
Disc 4 (Blackadder Goes Forth)
2 Audio Commentaries: on "Major Star", Tony Robinson & Tim McInnerny and on "Goodbyeee", Rowan Atkinson & John Lloyd
This is what greets you once you pull the inner case out of the slipcover and open it.
It folds out to reveal Baldrick's Family Tree
Disc 5
Blackadder's Christmas Carol
Blackadder: The Cavalier Years
Blackadder Back and Forth
Baldrick's Video Diary
Disc 6
Blackadder Rides Again, a 25th Anniversary 60-minute retrospective documentary
Extended Interviews with Hugh Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis & Ben Elton, and Stephen Fry
Costumes Revisited with Miranda Richardson, Patsy Byrne, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny
Fawlty Towers
The 30th Anniversary set collects one of the best 12-episode runs in TV comedy, if you ask me. Quality over quantity is the best standard, one that US networks care much less about than the Brits by and large, much preferring continuing to sell ads during the airtime of the same "product" into infinity.
When you open the inner "book", it lists the disc contents
The anagrams of the title on the discs are a surprise I don't mind spoiling...
...especially "Farty Towels".
New extras include:
New Commentary by John Cleese across all 12 episodes
2009 Extended Interviews, including one with Connie Booth
A booklet
Previously-available extras:
Interviews with John Cleese, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs
Series 1 Director's commentary by John Howard Davies
Series 2 Director's commentary by Bob Spiers
Artist Profiles
Outtakes
Torquay Tourist Guide (documentary short)
Cheap Tatty Review
Series 1 & 2 are split between Discs 1 & 2. With the exception of the commentaries, the extras are all on Disc 3.
Black Adder Remastered ($59 at Amazon) replaces a set that cost $20 more, and Fawlty Towers Remastered ($35 at Amazon) replaces a set that cost $10 more. Both are big upgrades over their predecessors and were released last Tuesday the 20th of October.