Black Sails (2014-2017) Preview

When Starz came into being, most people remember their Spartacus series. To me Starz was the HBO, Cinemax, Showtime of when I was a kid. All their original stuff was borderline, if not full-blown, soft-core porn. I’ve always loved pirates and pirate related stuff. Treasure Island is one of my all-time favorite books from childhood. In 2014, Starz released a Treasure Island related series. Some might call it fan fiction. Black Sails ran from 2014 to 2017 before its cancellation after four seasons. In those four seasons, the series runs 38 episodes.

I remember trying to watch Black Sails at one point, and turned off to it for many reasons. It’s the backstory of the Walrus crew. Captain Flint, “Long” John Silver, and all the rest of those scurvy sea dogs who tried to hijack the Hispaniola to get their share of their own ill-got gains. Well, I need a new series to watch. I’m going to try this one again.

The episodes run close to an hour each. The first season has 8 episodes, and the final three have 10 episodes each. Black Sails ran from January 25, 2014, to April 2, 2017. Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine created the series based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island novel. Nina Heyns, Jonathan Brytus, and Erik Henry produce. Black Sails has a ton of executive producers. Michael Bay. Brad Fuller. Andrew Form. Jonathan Steinberg. Chris Symes. Robert Levine. Michael Chernuchin. Dan Shotz. Brad Caleb Kane. Platinum Dunes and Quaker Moving Pictures handled the production. Cape Town, South Africa, served host as shooting location.

As best as I can guess, this is historical fiction. I guess you can sort of think of this in one way. What if Treasure Island wasn’t fiction, but non-fiction? We have our Treasure Island pirates, but we also have real pirates and pirate hunters. Fiction meets non-fiction. Sounds a little like one of my all-time favorite games, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. I’m not sure what to expect, or if I’ll even like it on my second attempt. It’s best to let a series run, then watch once it’s over. I just hope they knew ahead of time of the cancellation, and wrapped everything up as best they could. I guess I need some rum at some point in the watching.