STARZ announces the release of “Black Sails” - a new pirate series set during the Golden Age of Piracy.
Some of you that have read my reviews know that I am very critical of Hollywood and its constant shallow hollow historical offerings....Not altogether true of TV series however. This is where the real talent and best potential for the historical media genre dwells.
For those of you that have been following the STARZ series Spartacus: War of the Damned, last week saw its final episode of the four season series.
I had followed this series religiously and though initially put off by some of its “freeze frame – slow motion” blood spatter action, it grew on me over time the way a stylized comic book does. I came to be completely drawn into its plot, its excellent writing and dialogue and its fantastic cast and characters.
The final episode was among the best of the series and had me awestruck. The final battle was absolutely epic with multiple surprises. I was shocked by the crucifixion of Gannicus at the end who had become my favorite character. In his final moments he sees his dead best friend Oennimaus, and then the spectacle of the adoring crowd of the arena once again. Wasn't certain if this was his final hallucination or his entry into warrior paradise or Hell. But the brilliant vision thwarts and contradicts Crassus' final words on the matter that “legends are but dreams of flesh rotting in the hot cruel sun of reality.”
At any rate STARZ hit another homerun! The soundtrack is amazing and mixes and combines dark heavy metal tracks with the most beautiful classical themes and motifs. This whole series was fantastic and has developed an almost cult following. The creator Steven DeKnight is in my opinion an absolute genius and carried off the whole series seamlessly even with major tragic setbacks.
On the same evening of the finale, STARZ premiered their next series “Davinci's Demons”. I watched the first episode and was really disappointed. I started out very excited. The characters were good and I really liked the music and the little artistic hallucinations of Davinci – very creative and charming!
The backdrops and atmosphere were also good enough, but the writing and character dialogue were just sickeningly sappy and overplayed as if they were trying way too hard to be comedic and sophisticated at the same time. The writing reminded me of the absolutely horrific dialogue in the StarGate Atlantis series: gag me!!! The addition of the useless Cult of Mithras mystery crap cinched this one up for me. I was like...WTF! Did they even bother researching Davinci and his philosophy at all? The fact is that he followed a doctrine of reason his whole life but became very spiritual and dedicated to Catholicism in his final years.... he instructed that three separate masses be performed for him at his death.
I came away with no common bond towards - or appreciation for the struggles of the protagonist. He has no real cause (save his own self promotion) and is completely self absorbed – not at all the hero we had come to know in Spartacus by a long shot.
I also came away believing that their producers and writers alike believe that all homosexuals are evil and all clergy (the Pope) and nobility alike enjoy buggering boys in baths. Again they tried way too hard in the opening episode to vilify the governmental/religious apparatus in place within Renaissance Italy, when it would be so much more effective to introduce these aspects of the system and key character's defects over time. I think they insult the intelligence of many of their viewers. I may watch another episode, but don't think I'm going to pay this one much attention. It's not even close to as good as Showtime's “The Borgias”, also set in Renaissance Italy.
However in a glimmer of hope that there are better things to come, STARZ took the opportunity to announce the release of “Black Sails” for 2014. Now this one shows some promise. All the characters look fantastic! The trailer looks just excellent and talk about an innovative idea – build a series around the story and characters that occurred the generation BEFORE the famous story “Treasure Island” . So old Long John Silver, Captain Flint, Blind Pew, Billy Bones, etc..., that are either dead or old scared “has beens” in Robert Louis Stevenson's famous story, are now young, coming into their own and taking charge of their destinies during the Golden Age!
Take a look at their cast on IMDB: Toby Stevens has the leading role of Captain Flint. He is a very talented actor that has been cast in many roles. I especially enjoyed him as the villain Gustav Graves in the Bond movie “Die Another Day” and as Prince John in the Robin Hood series.
The cast also gives us a glimpse that we will be graced by the historical characters Captain Charles Vane, Jack Rackham and Anne Boney.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375692/
Here is the trailer. It looks excellent!!!
The popularity of Spartacus allowed a video game to be developed by Ubisoft to be released this May - although it looks to be for consoles only unfortunately. As an owner of every console, I will be buying it anyway. http://www.gamespot.com/spartacus-legends/
We can only hope Black Sails will be so popular as to allow a video game to be developed for it as well. Done right it has tons of potential and I plan to sign up.
Aaron R. Shields A.K.A. Modernknight1
MK
