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View Full Version : I Have Two Words For You Guys..."BLACK SAILS"...



SteyrAUG
03-22-15, 02:14
It's on Starz, you need to start getting caught up NOW. Netflix has it.

If you hear the word "Pirate" and think of skinny Africans on driftwood boats with RPGs taking on unarmed commerce then this show will help fix everything.

Your notion of true pirates will be restored, with a little bit of historical accuracies and some gratuitous nudity for good measure.

If you suffered through the homosexual content in the original Spartacus (which was historically accurate but still not everyone's cup of tea) then the meeting with Blackbeard will set all things straight again (no pun intended).

Interesting characters, well developed storyline, great writers.

Watch it for Hannah New

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/black-sails-2014.jpg

Watch if for Jessica Parker Kennedy

http://kx.i1.fdbimg.pl/x4wfw2s1_n2hfsu.jpg

But just watch it.

https://www.voiceoftv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Starz-Black-Sails-2.jpg

Averageman
03-22-15, 07:35
I agree, great show.

tb-av
03-22-15, 10:26
Gotta check that out. I love Pirate shows. Do you know if they are going to have a season 2 of Crossbones with John Malkovich? I was liking that one. Hard to figure where they would keep going with it though.

JulyAZ
03-22-15, 10:50
I got Starz just so I could watch season 1 when it premiered, I was a big Spartacus fan, loved SOA, Never miss a episode of Vikings.
I just couldn't get in to this show I watched season 1 completely, it bored me it tried hard to like this show. I just couldn't, there were no major cliffhangers, and it was obnoxiously predictable. Granted the female cast in this show were amazingly beautiful, but having to deal with the rest of this show wasn't enough to keep me coming back.

Turnkey11
03-22-15, 13:07
Is it set to hit Netflix sometime? I don't do cable.

tb-av
03-22-15, 15:26
First post "Netflix has it."

SteyrAUG
03-22-15, 15:52
I got Starz just so I could watch season 1 when it premiered, I was a big Spartacus fan, loved SOA, Never miss a episode of Vikings.
I just couldn't get in to this show I watched season 1 completely, it bored me it tried hard to like this show. I just couldn't, there were no major cliffhangers, and it was obnoxiously predictable. Granted the female cast in this show were amazingly beautiful, but having to deal with the rest of this show wasn't enough to keep me coming back.

Hmmm, I didn't find it that predictable. But if you couldn't get into after Season One, then obviously it just isn't your thing.

Cincinnatus
03-22-15, 15:55
I didn't see it on Netflix online.
I found it elswhere.

Watched first episode of season one.

It's watchable and more gritty than other pirate movies. You do have to suspend disbelief about some things, like democratically elected captains, women having roles that smack too much a Kiera Knightly in Pirates of the Carribean that are definitley not historically believable, and little things like "dollars" as money rather than pounds or pieces of eight. Also, the girl dual-wielding cutlasses and being fearsome and deadly is great for a Hong Kong action film or anime, or Kill Bill, or Sucker Punch, etc. but really seems out of place and ludicrous in the setting.

I do think the pirates could have been more ruthless, and probably were historically speaking, but the writers have to be careful not to make them too viscious, or you won't care about them as characters. They make them viscious enough to be believable without really crossing that line.

So far, the writers have not made me feel the zeitgeist of the pirate age, though they are trying for it. The little implausibilities keep getting in the way, as well as the fact that the writers seem to be undecided as to which central message or theme they are trying to evoke, coming close to several that could be profound, but never quite getting there.

However, I will have to watch more to really judge its merits.

jpmuscle
03-22-15, 16:00
First post "Netflix has it."
Negative on my Netflix

SteyrAUG
03-22-15, 16:38
I didn't see it on Netflix online.
I found it elswhere.

Watched first episode of season one.

It's watchable and more gritty than other pirate movies. You do have to suspend disbelief about some things, like democratically elected captains, women having roles that smack too much a Kiera Knightly in Pirates of the Carribean that are definitley not historically believable, and little things like "dollars" as money rather than pounds or pieces of eight. Also, the girl dual-wielding cutlasses and being fearsome and deadly is great for a Hong Kong action film or anime, or Kill Bill, or Sucker Punch, etc. but really seems out of place and ludicrous in the setting.

I do think the pirates could have been more ruthless, and probably were historically speaking, but the writers have to be careful not to make them too viscious, or you won't care about them as characters. They make them viscious enough to be believable without really crossing that line.

So far, the writers have not made me feel the zeitgeist of the pirate age, though they are trying for it. The little implausibilities keep getting in the way, as well as the fact that the writers seem to be undecided as to which central message or theme they are trying to evoke, coming close to several that could be profound, but never quite getting there.

However, I will have to watch more to really judge its merits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governance_in_18th-century_piracy#Roles_and_duties_on_a_pirate_ship

The captain was elected by all the men in the crew and could be replaced by a majority vote by the same. Cowardly or brutal captains were quickly voted out of their position. Captains were expected to be skilled and dependable seamen. They were also expected to be bold and decisive leaders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_piracy

The first level on which pirates and women interacted was through purely business affairs. We often see, in times of war and other hardship that calls upon the entirety of the male population, that women often step up to work the jobs their fathers, husbands, and sons left behind. This was no less the case during the Golden Age of piracy, when many men were forced to set sail for economic reasons.[7] Many women, as a result, took up important jobs previously filled by men. They were allowed to trade, own ships, and work as retailers. Often they were innkeepers or the heads of alehouses. Some laws in seaside towns were even written to allow widows to keep their husbands' responsibilities and property. This was important, as alehouses and other such establishments were spots where pirates congregated and traded with each other and with the people onshore. As heads of these establishments, women had a considerable amount of freedom in business. They boarded and fed pirates, bought illegally pirated goods, acted as pawnbrokers for pirates, and even gave out loans, something many men, let alone women, were cautious of in that time period. In this way, women dealt with pirates and came into possession of pirate goods.[7] When authorities came looking to arrest their clients for piracy, these women even sheltered them from harm.

On the third, final, and most intimate level of interaction, women interacted with male pirates by becoming pirates themselves. This seems surprising for quite a few reasons. First, there are very few female pirates documented by name, and the information on them is often shady and filled with speculation and flourishes rather than facts. In addition to this, pirates did not let women on their ships very often. There were not many conveniences of technology on pirate ships, and not many women were up to the physically demanding tasks the crew had to do. In fact, there were not many men who were up to it, either. Women were also often regarded as bad luck among pirates, and it was feared that arguments would break out between the male members of the crew about them. On many ships, women, young boys, and even different acts such as gambling were prohibited by the ship's contract that the crew all signed.[7] Also, many women on pirate ships did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jack's ship.[7] She and Mary Read, another female pirate, are often credited with this act as if they had been creative and innovative in their cross-dressing. However, that was not the case. Many women dressed as men during this time period, in an effort to take advantage of the many rights, privileges, and freedoms that were exclusive to men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny

In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a "King's ship", a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet under a commission from the Governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates put up little resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight; other sources indicate it was at night and most of them were asleep. However, Read and Bonny fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time.

SteyrAUG
03-22-15, 16:47
Negative on my Netflix

I'm still on the DVD plan. No idea about streaming options.

MountainRaven
03-22-15, 17:02
I believe there are well-recorded instances of women disguising themselves as men to fight in both the Revolution and the Civil War, in addition to such figures from later American history as Calamity Jane.

Any time there is a frontier or civil conflict (look to modern Iraq and Syria, where Kurdish women fight alongside the Peshmerga and Yezidi women defend their people against the predations of ISIS), women will likely find themselves - willingly or otherwise - called upon to fulfill the roles traditionally taken on by men.

In any case, pirata est hostis humani generis. I think the idea that the pirates who once infested the West Indies and Americas are somehow "better" than those operating out of the Horn of Africa today is little more than an over-romanticization of the pirates who lived in the Golden Age of Piracy.

Honu
03-22-15, 18:47
when I lived in the Caribbean lived on the island where some of the Morgans live today :)
hearing stories past down etc... and loving pirate lore having worked on sail boats in the islands a good part of my life always read a lot about pirates

google up brethren of the coast
finding out buccaneers (pirates attacking spanish) and pirates and privateers all have common things but are not quite the same but again cross over with meaning
maybe why where I lived they still hate the spaniards :)

for sure the links are correct about election and stuff women did have rolls and some were in certain positions of importance etc... some blended in some did not but were there own person
one thing about the island I was on and from history one of the old salty guys said it best something like
sure a man can hit his women but he better make it good cause she will come back twice as hard and vicious and in our past women could be vicious beyond belief so you best just go along with it

the island also the men sat around outside a lot and gossiped the most over women was good to be there when i was before it became to touristy and got to see and meet some of the older folks etc....



I like the show but its going along the lines of vikings IMHO starting to go stray to what it should be and making the characters to much of being a character and over doing it ? but still enjoy it

brushy bill
03-22-15, 19:16
Horrible series. Esp Hannah New's character, whose sole claim to fame is an ability to work the "f" bomb into every sentence. I wish I had back the time I spent watching it.

Cincinnatus
03-22-15, 20:18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governance_in_18th-century_piracy#Roles_and_duties_on_a_pirate_ship

The captain was elected by all the men in the crew and could be replaced by a majority vote by the same. Cowardly or brutal captains were quickly voted out of their position. Captains were expected to be skilled and dependable seamen. They were also expected to be bold and decisive leaders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_piracy

The first level on which pirates and women interacted was through purely business affairs. We often see, in times of war and other hardship that calls upon the entirety of the male population, that women often step up to work the jobs their fathers, husbands, and sons left behind. This was no less the case during the Golden Age of piracy, when many men were forced to set sail for economic reasons.[7] Many women, as a result, took up important jobs previously filled by men. They were allowed to trade, own ships, and work as retailers. Often they were innkeepers or the heads of alehouses. Some laws in seaside towns were even written to allow widows to keep their husbands' responsibilities and property. This was important, as alehouses and other such establishments were spots where pirates congregated and traded with each other and with the people onshore. As heads of these establishments, women had a considerable amount of freedom in business. They boarded and fed pirates, bought illegally pirated goods, acted as pawnbrokers for pirates, and even gave out loans, something many men, let alone women, were cautious of in that time period. In this way, women dealt with pirates and came into possession of pirate goods.[7] When authorities came looking to arrest their clients for piracy, these women even sheltered them from harm.

On the third, final, and most intimate level of interaction, women interacted with male pirates by becoming pirates themselves. This seems surprising for quite a few reasons. First, there are very few female pirates documented by name, and the information on them is often shady and filled with speculation and flourishes rather than facts. In addition to this, pirates did not let women on their ships very often. There were not many conveniences of technology on pirate ships, and not many women were up to the physically demanding tasks the crew had to do. In fact, there were not many men who were up to it, either. Women were also often regarded as bad luck among pirates, and it was feared that arguments would break out between the male members of the crew about them. On many ships, women, young boys, and even different acts such as gambling were prohibited by the ship's contract that the crew all signed.[7] Also, many women on pirate ships did not identify themselves as such. Anne Bonny, for example, dressed and acted as a man while on Captain Calico Jack's ship.[7] She and Mary Read, another female pirate, are often credited with this act as if they had been creative and innovative in their cross-dressing. However, that was not the case. Many women dressed as men during this time period, in an effort to take advantage of the many rights, privileges, and freedoms that were exclusive to men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny

In October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a "King's ship", a sloop captained by Jonathan Barnet under a commission from the Governor of Jamaica. Most of Rackham's pirates put up little resistance as many of them were too drunk to fight; other sources indicate it was at night and most of them were asleep. However, Read and Bonny fought fiercely and managed to hold off Barnet's troops for a short time.

I stand corrected.
I honestly had never read of these things and was dubious. Everything I had ever read of piracy was from the royal navy side. Women, contrary to what the militant feminists would have you believe, did have lives, property, and influence before the 1960s; but I had thought, again, wrongly, that the pirate world at least was a man's world exclusively.
This definitely increases the veracity of the show and my ability to enjoy it.
I do wish they would increase the amount of nautical terminology, but I understand it could be off-putting to a modern audience.

Ned Christiansen
03-22-15, 20:54
I'm into pirates as much as the next guy, maybe a little more. I'll give it a try.

Anyone who's on a pirate binge should absolutely read Under The Black Flag by David Cordingly and keep track of the Whydah display, a traveling exhibit of artifacts from the one true, known, American-waters pirate shipwreck (Cap'n Bellamy's). It's making the rounds of museums around the country, I saw it in Milwaukee a year and a half ago, great stuff. They may have two separate displays, not sure.

It so happens that the wreck site was under a test-firing range for the Navy in the '40's. One of the most interesting pieces on exhibit was a piece if eight, coral co-encrusted with..... a .50 BMG slug.

mkmckinley
03-22-15, 22:02
I watched it, it's pretty good and my wife likes it too.

SteyrAUG
03-22-15, 22:09
I stand corrected.
I honestly had never read of these things and was dubious. Everything I had ever read of piracy was from the royal navy side. Women, contrary to what the militant feminists would have you believe, did have lives, property, and influence before the 1960s; but I had thought, again, wrongly, that the pirate world at least was a man's world exclusively.
This definitely increases the veracity of the show and my ability to enjoy it.
I do wish they would increase the amount of nautical terminology, but I understand it could be off-putting to a modern audience.

Don't feel bad. I didn't know half of that stuff until you prompted me to look it up. I recognized the name Anne Bonny from the show as significant, but didn't know a lot about her. Given the series Spartacus, I assumed they would strive for a certain level of authenticity and not simply start making crap up.

I too assumed a lot of things based upon feminist indoctrination of the past. Maybe we should all vote to put Anne Bonny on that $20 bill. That would be a hilarious outcome.

Cincinnatus
03-22-15, 22:18
I too assumed a lot of things based upon feminist indoctrination of the past. Maybe we should all vote to put Anne Bonny on that $20 bill. That would be a hilarious outcome.

Very hilarious.:D
As for my prior assumptions:
32336
"It is plain that the weight of evidence is grrrreatly against me."

Cincinnatus
03-22-15, 23:03
I'm into pirates as much as the next guy, maybe a little more. I'll give it a try.

Anyone who's on a pirate binge should absolutely read Under The Black Flag by David Cordingly and keep track of the Whydah display, a traveling exhibit of artifacts from the one true, known, American-waters pirate shipwreck (Cap'n Bellamy's). It's making the rounds of museums around the country, I saw it in Milwaukee a year and a half ago, great stuff. They may have two separate displays, not sure.

It so happens that the wreck site was under a test-firing range for the Navy in the '40's. One of the most interesting pieces on exhibit was a piece if eight, coral co-encrusted with..... a .50 BMG slug.

I always appreciate Ned's contributions to any discussions.
That sounds like a book I need to read. That exhibit sounds pretty good, too.

Whiskey_Bravo
03-22-15, 23:44
WTF. Black Sails and Vikings only available on the DVD service. It's been about 4 years since I have been on their DVD plan.

gun71530
03-23-15, 00:12
WTF. Black Sails and Vikings only available on the DVD service. It's been about 4 years since I have been on their DVD plan.

Vikings is in Hulu.

SteyrAUG
03-23-15, 00:28
WTF. Black Sails and Vikings only available on the DVD service. It's been about 4 years since I have been on their DVD plan.

I think that is when I went DVD only.

KalashniKEV
03-23-15, 10:37
Interesting characters, well developed storyline, great writers.

OMG... are you serious?

I forced myself to watch about 4 episodes just to see if it would get good and I was bored to tears.

There's so many great things they could have done with the storyline- built multiple layers like Spartacus, had more graphic violence, better looking ladies/ more prostitutes... I mean, just "pirate talk" could have been a good hook to hold the viewers interest.

Just think about all the hilarious and quotable pseudo-old-timey lines from Rome, Spartacus, GoT... none of them in Black Sails.

It left me feeling like I should write for STARZ.

SteyrAUG
03-23-15, 14:00
OMG... are you serious?

I forced myself to watch about 4 episodes just to see if it would get good and I was bored to tears.

There's so many great things they could have done with the storyline- built multiple layers like Spartacus, had more graphic violence, better looking ladies/ more prostitutes... I mean, just "pirate talk" could have been a good hook to hold the viewers interest.

Just think about all the hilarious and quotable pseudo-old-timey lines from Rome, Spartacus, GoT... none of them in Black Sails.

It left me feeling like I should write for STARZ.

Maybe I just don't know enough pirate lingo. I dug it. I'm really enjoying it.

JulyAZ
03-23-15, 14:14
Maybe I just don't know enough pirate lingo. I dug it. I'm really enjoying it.

All in all I think a lot of us are spoiled with shows now. There has been some great shows in the last decade that leaves us demanding more and more. So perhaps Black sails isn't as bad as some of us think, the bar is just set a lot higher.

Spartacus was a great show, amazing in fact, that to have a show like this follow it up left a bad taste in out mouths.

But as much as this show bored me Da Vincis Demons was much worst, and I was sad to hear Camelot was cancelled after one season.

After the first season of Black Sails I couldn't justify paying for Starz anymore after Spatacus went off the air for the programming they had to offer.

Edit: I did have high hopes for this series when the initial reports of its base story and developmental details when they were released but as with anything Michael Bay is attached too, I was once again disappointed with the out come.

Honu
03-23-15, 15:42
problem is no other pirate shows on ? so its better than nothing
I like it for pirates but do wish it was not quite so hollywood studio type stuff I do think sadly they need to sensationalize it to the point way past reality and IMHO that sadly ruins it big time


if you ever played video games the huge joke was basically they just copied assassins creed black flag especially the beach scenes which are identical


the one old bar dance hall place I used to go used to serve bumboo (bumbo) :)
want the original pirate drink :)

SteyrAUG
03-23-15, 16:54
All in all I think a lot of us are spoiled with shows now. There has been some great shows in the last decade that leaves us demanding more and more. So perhaps Black sails isn't as bad as some of us think, the bar is just set a lot higher.

Spartacus was a great show, amazing in fact, that to have a show like this follow it up left a bad taste in out mouths.

But as much as this show bored me Da Vincis Demons was much worst, and I was sad to hear Camelot was cancelled after one season.

After the first season of Black Sails I couldn't justify paying for Starz anymore after Spatacus went off the air for the programming they had to offer.

Edit: I did have high hopes for this series when the initial reports of its base story and developmental details when they were released but as with anything Michael Bay is attached too, I was once again disappointed with the out come.

I wanted to like Camelot and Eva Green did her best to make it happen, but everyone else was so weak, especially Jamie Bower.

As for Michael Bay, thankfully he's just the EP (the guy paying the bills) and not the director or Black Sails could have been a true disaster.

But yeah, I get what you are saying. Honestly starting with Band of Brothers, the bar for premium movie channel series has gotten incredibly high.

Even with Spartacus there was a marked difference between season one and two, and season three was just awful.

Averageman
03-24-15, 08:25
The irony is that the British Navy and Parliament policies were the cause of the rise of Pirates. They having such strong numbers should not be lost on those who are now looking for a strong central government.
Once you start press gangs and begin pulling free men off of ships and essentially turning them in to slaves on your own ships, some are going to lash out against their Masters.
Kind of like our tax code?