It's an entertaining original show on Starz.
It's a prequel for Treasure Island.
Obviously, the story arc can only go so far before they have to leave the playing pieces poised at the end of Black Sails for the beginning of Treasure Island.
What I think they should pitch is filming Treasure Island with the same production crew and cast (at least of the people who live to appear in the Robert Louis Stephens novel.
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Most prequels and sequels to Treasure Island have been wretched. John Drake wrote a trilogy of prequels that even he eventually came to regard as unsatisfactory, because he strayed too far from Stevenson's book. While William Kidd did bury some treasure temporarily while trying to determine his status with the authorities, Flint and the crew of the Walrus were quite openly pirates and would, under normal circumstances, have made a division of the treasure and then mostly spent it in a colossal spree in a friendly port, then back to sea. Long John Silver is noted as unusual in that he saved most of what he acquired, and invested it wisely.
ReplyDeleteStevenson, rather than plotting a voluntary burial of treasure, should simply have had the Walrus blown onto the shores of Treasure Island during a hurricane, with surviving members of the crew making a Bounty-like voyage in an open boat to the nearest safe port. Flint, as the only one with knowledge of the island's coordinates (which he would note incorrectly on the map, with a simple code to reveal the true numbers) would die in Savannah as Stevenson wrote, Billy Bones would take the chart and flee to England, followed by Silver and the rest of the crew.
I've been enjoying it immensely. They've done enough research of the actual history of the time that it's got a good veneer of authenticity.
DeleteThat veneer gives it the same sort of tone that some of my historical role-playing-games had.
Even if it screws up the set up for Treasure Island, it's still a lot of fun to watch.