Overwritten.net
Community => Entertainment => Topic started by: Cobra951 on Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 01:14:36 AM
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AC4 pulled me into the pirate lore. I was reading up on some of it when I stumbled across this Starz series, which debuted this year. Didn't take me long to sit through all the episodes of the first season. Same setting as the game, year included. Many of the same historical characters fictionalized (Flint, Vane, Hornigold, Bonny, Rackham, etc). As with most other cable shows, we need to put up with unnecessary boobs and sex. (Someone should tell these guys we can easily find all the porn we want already.) But after the first show, that took a back seat, thankfully. I think it's quite worthwhile if one cares at all about this premise. Anyone watch it already? A search found no reference to it at all here.
Don't let Michael Bay scare you off. He's just exec-producing, not directing.
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The settings of the show is actually a prequel to Treasure Island, about 20 years prior to its events. When John Silver was just youngster. It's interesting and I wonder how it will stack up with Crossbones.
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Good question. I watched a bit of Crossbones when it debuted, but I didn't come back for more. It seemed more an angsty John Malkovich vehicle than a proper pirate yarn. Checking quickly, I see it has 7 episodes already. I think I'll be checking those out. Then I'll know exactly how it stacks.
I read about the connection of Black Sails to Treasure Island. John Silver starts out as the most likely character to get murdered too. (Obviously, that can't happen.)
But where the hell is Edward Teach? Season 2?
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Good question. I watched a bit of Crossbones when it debuted, but I didn't come back for more. It seemed more an angsty John Malkovich vehicle than a proper pirate yarn. Checking quickly, I see it has 7 episodes already. I think I'll be checking those out. Then I'll know exactly how it stacks.
I read about the connection of Black Sails to Treasure Island. John Silver starts out as the most likely character to get murdered too. (Obviously, that can't happen.)
But where the hell is Edward Teach? Season 2?
I'm not sure. They might introduce as Teach, Tache, or Thatch (the three most common surnames he had before his famous moniker Blackbeard) but I suspect they'll link him directly to Hornigold, possibly even as his protégé.
The show has taken some creative liberties here and there but all seem worth the entertainment value so far.
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I need to see more of it. Downloaded the first episode a little while back and...I dunno, didn't grab me. Which is weird because its pirates and I'm me.
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Its a great show that takes a little while to get going. I can understand why its sorta slow, those pirate battles look extremely awesome and extremely expensive.
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Yep. Slow at first, what with gratuitous boobs/lesbianism/bullshit/etc. You'll want to get to Episode 5 (V) for sure, idol.
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You sold me at gratuitous boobs.
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Haha! Thought so!
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The settings of the show is actually a prequel to Treasure Island, about 20 years prior to its events. When John Silver was just youngster. It's interesting and I wonder how it will stack up with Crossbones.
I've watched all of Crossbones now, including tonight's final 2 episodes. The series was cancelled by NBC, so they wrapped it up quickly in Episode 9. It's more than a little disappointing, and not just because of the cancellation-induced hurry to a conclusion. The show was all over the place, concentrating way too much on petty character bullshit, rather than the fascinating premise of a British agent sent to find and kill Blackbeard, long after the fearsome pirate was supposed to have been beheaded. The show wasted no opportunity to go cheap, and keep us in a soap opera rather than naval battles. They even dabbled in gothic horror and a bit of a slasher tale--not to mention that latest darling of Hollywood, the all-powerful hyper-villain (and I don't mean Blackbeard). It's a shame, because Malkovich was fascinating--if way improbable--as an aged Edward Teach. The Lowe character was played impressively as well.
So, my final answer must be that, while Black Sails remains unfinished, Crossbones does not stack up against it at all, even if the former were cancelled tomorrow, and never yielded another episode. Black Sails is by far the better pirate yarn, at least.
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I like Richard Coyle, who played Lowe, so I was really trying hard to keep my attention on Crossbones but, you're right, they kept deviating from the interesting stuff!
If you get a chance check out a movie called Grabbers. It's a horror flick that doesn't take itself too seriously.
But yeah, Black Sails really feels like it's more on the level with actual seafaring piracy as opposed to extraneous drama.
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On a related note, I'm watching Treasure Planet; it's the Disney reimagining of Treasure Island as a space pirate adventure.
I wish Disney would make more creative ideas like that.
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I wish Disney would rot in hell for eternity in a bottomless pit.
... I know, I'm a troll. This is my only contribution to this thread, even though I've been reading it.
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I wish Disney would rot in hell for eternity in a bottomless pit.
... I know, I'm a troll. This is my only contribution to this thread, even though I've been reading it.
Haha Your input is always valuable, Que ;D
I like to keep hope that corps like Disney will eventually do good in this world :P I know it's wishful thinking.
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I just read they want to now ruin Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" for a whole new generation.
I really hate those assholes.