Black Books- Series 3 (2004)- DVD5 (PAL Format)

One thing I admire about British television is that, unlike American television, which has the innate ability to ruin a great show by either canceling it far too soon or running it into the ground, it knows when to call it quits. Canceled at the height of its popularity, Black Books never had to resort to the classic oh-my-god!-we're-going-to-have-a-baby! plotline often used to buy an extra season or two, and the characters never had the chance to become caricatures of themselves. Here's the final season of Black Books, as good as the two that came before it!




From A.T. Hurley:

The lovably misanthropic Britcom Black Books wrings its laughs out of characters as cynical and crabby as they come. The third series continues to follow the adventures, such as they are, of Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), a bilious bookstore owner who dislikes books and dislikes customers more. The deep-black comedy of the series is built on satire and sarcasm (Moran created the series and is also its chief writer), and no depth is too low to go.

In "Manny Comes Home," Black Books' sole employee, the clueless aging hippie Manny, finally has had enough of Bernard's unappreciation, and takes a job at the swanky Goliath Books next door. The episode gets as many chuckles for Manny's fish-out-of-water experience (honestly, Black Books is the only place he can work, probably in all of the British Isles) as for Bernard's flailing and resentment without him. "Up he goes with that little wiggle of his," Bernard sneers as he spies on Manny shelving Gotham books on a ladder, "the wiggle of Judas!" Meanwhile, the sight gags of the deplorable conditions of both Bernard and the shop (mushrooms growing in Bernard's hair; mollusks on a drink glass) are good for that singularly pleasurable combination of cringing and belly-laughing.

The extras include deleted scenes (the cat who plays Mr. Benson is a true rising star); a moody black-and-white short called "Bernard's Letter," in which Bernard composes a snarky response to a manuscript rejection; and loads of great deleted scenes, showing that the cast has as much fun on the set as the viewer does watching them.




Technical Information:

Title: Black Books
Season: 3
Year: 2004

Source: DVD5 Retail
DVD Format: PAL
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 4.35 GB
Programs used: ImgBurn

Resolution: 720x576
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG2 @ ~ 3800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 25 fps

Audio 1: English- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Audio 2: Commentary- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: cc- English

Menu: untouched
Video: untouched
DVD Extras: trailer, outtakes, photo gallery, deleted scenes, Bernard's Letter, commentary


Episode List:

Manny Come Home
Elephants and Hens
Moo-Ma and Moo-Pa
A Little Flutter
Travel Writer
Party




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Black Books Series 3 Megaupload Links


Series 1 is located HERE.
Series 2 is located HERE.

Black Books- Series 2 (2002)- DVD5 (PAL Format)

As promised, here is the second season of Black Books. Series 3 is on its way.




From Brian Fetzer:

How do the British make surly misanthropy so entertaining, even downright delightful? Britcom Black Books springs from a dingy London bookstore owned by Bernard Black (series creator Dylan Moran, Shaun of the Dead), a bilious, petty xenophobe whose only pleasures in life are drinking, smoking, and berating his one long-suffering employee, Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey, Saving Grace), whose bursts of competence only drive Bernard to greater heights of apoplexy. Bernard's only friend in the world is Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig, also on the equally blackhearted Green Wing), who's similarly enslaved by her appetites and dabbles in personal fads that she drops as soon as they become inconvenient.

The second six-episode series of Black Books takes a series of relatively modest set-ups--Bernard wants to ask a customer out on a date; Manny tries to emulate upscale chain bookshops; Fran needs to find a job--and spins them out into deranged, surreal, and sometimes near-apocalyptic conclusions involving infestations of rat-like creatures and illiterate mob enforcers, often accompanied by spasms of slapstick comedy and arias of verbal abuse. None of these characters is "likable" in the usual sitcom sense--which is exactly why they've earned radically devoted fans, who savor every nasty, jittery moment. Black Books would give an American TV executive a heart attack; fans of similarly loopy Britcoms like Fawlty Towers and Spaced should dive right in.




Technical Information:

Title: Black Books
Season: 2
Year: 2002

Source: DVD5 Retail
DVD Format: PAL
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 4.35 GB
Programs used: ImgBurn

Resolution: 720x576
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG2 @ ~ 3800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 25 fps

Audio 1: English- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Audio 2: Commentary- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: cc- English

Menu: untouched
Video: untouched
DVD Extras: trailer, outtakes, stills gallery, black dolls, commentary


Episode List:

The Entertainer
The Fever
The Fixer
Blood
Hello Sun
A Nice Change




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Black Books Series 2 Megaupload Links


Series 1 is located HERE.
Series 3 is located HERE.

Black Books- Series 1 (2000)- DVD5 (PAL Format)

I usually can't stand anything with a laugh track, but Black Books had me sold by the end of the first episode. An odd combination of sitcom and surrealism, this show has perfect comic timing (and is pure catharsis for anyone who's ever worked in retail). Enjoy the first season - I'm working on the second and third and will post them soon!




From Michael Brooke at BFI Screenonline:

Following the likeable, low-key How Do You Want Me? (BBC, 1998-99), Irish comedian Dylan Moran's second sitcom was a very different proposition. This time, Moran doubled as co-writer (alongside Graham Linehan), and the result emerged as a twisted cross between Fawlty Towers (BBC, 1975/79) and Linehan's own Father Ted (Channel 4, 1995-98), injecting several doses of wild surrealism into an otherwise traditional format.

Moran starred as Bernard Black, terminally grouchy wine-sozzled proprietor of the bookshop that bears his name. Like Basil Fawlty before him, he is entirely unsuited to running a business, openly despises his customers (instead of special offers, the shop blackboard contains stern admonitions ranging from "No Anecdotage" to an all-encompassing "Don't") and generally manages to alienate all his friends as well, with the inexplicable exception of ditzy Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig), who runs the New Age accessories shop next door.

This relationship became triangular at the start of the second episode, with the employment of long-haired, bearded Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey) as Bernard's accountant-cum-dogsbody. As sunny and genial as Bernard is surly and rude (in the first episode, Manny accidentally swallows a copy of The Little Book of Calm, with a seemingly permanent effect on his psyche), he is happy to coast along blithely, brushing aside Bernard's frequent barbs and even physical assaults as though they were mere gnat bites.




The only regular characters were the three leads, though most episodes featured inspired cameos by familiar comic performers. Examples include Johnny Vegas's sleazy landlord, Peter Serafinowicz's jobbing actor (whose oddly sensual rendition of the Shipping Forecast drives Fran wild), Jessica Stevenson's yoga fanatic, Rob Brydon's businessman spouting incomprehensible jargon, Kevin Eldon's sinister cleaner, and Julian Rhind-Tutt's explorer, so infectiously charming that even Bernard is won over. Perhaps most fondly remembered was Simon Pegg as the oily technocratic manager of Goliath Books, Manny's temporary employers after yet another falling-out with Bernard.

Black Books debuted with minimal publicity in September 2000, but quickly became a cult hit on the back of overwhelmingly favourable word of mouth. After the first series won a BAFTA for Best Situation Comedy, two more were commissioned, this time written by Moran in collaboration with Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley and occasionally Father Ted's Arthur Mathews. Although the third won another BAFTA, Moran had already decided to take another leaf out of Fawlty Towers' book and kill it off while on a high.




Technical Information:

Title: Black Books
Season: 1
Year: 2000

Source: DVD5 Retail
DVD Format: PAL
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 4.35 GB
Programs used: ImgBurn

Resolution: 720x576
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video: MPEG2 @ ~ 3800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 25 fps

Audio 1: English- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Audio 2: Commentary- Dolby AC3 Stereo @ 192 kb/s
Subtitles: cc- English

Menu: untouched
Video: untouched
DVD Extras: trailer, outtakes, photo gallery, commentary


Episode List:

Cooking the Books
Manny's First Day
Grapes of Wrath
The Blackout
The Big Lockout
He's Leaving Home




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Black Books Series 1 Megaupload Links


Series 2 is located HERE.
Series 3 is located HERE.