Black Sails Season 2 (2015) Review

Well, that’s certainly two different seasons packed into one. Packed into the second season of Black Sails like a cannonball ready to fire. The second season of Black Sails aired on Starz between January 24, 2015, and March 28, 2015, containing 10 episodes. The second verse certainly isn’t the same as the first and certainly isn’t as good overall. Still, the entire season is a middle shelf selection. It starts slow with the first few episodes falling below the middle line and the remainder stay at mid-mast, if not rising above the tide. I wasn’t really into this season until the final few minutes of the fifth episode. The first worth a damn.

Black Sails Season 1 (2014) Review

A series of historical fiction. Fictional characters in a real world with real people. Treasure Island meets Game of Thrones. Welcome to the world, and series, Black Sails. I didn’t know what to expect, and honestly, I didn’t expect much. However, I’m hooked. The first season is amazing, and what a cliffhanger to end the first season. The series doesn’t have episode titles, instead, each episode gets numbered, in order, with Roman numerals. This first season aired at the start of 2014. Eight episodes aired between January 25, 2014, and March 15, 2014. Black Sails started a bit slow, but certainly picked up. Only one episode, the second, I found sub-par. The remaining seven are at least middle shelf or higher. The last episode of the season is the best, with the third episode ranking as my favorite until then. I’m way impressed, and hooked, as they say. The first season of Black Sails is certainly worthy of a spot on the revered and respected fourth shelf.

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.

Silver (2008) Review

Unfortunately, the first book I actually tried to experience reading, and not listening, became a dreaded “DNF.” I don’t think listening would help the situation any, even with the best of narrators. The book in question is just a bad piece of “fan fiction.” Since I was a young boy, I’ve always loved pirates. One of my all-time favorite books? Treasure Island. In his 2008 book, Silver: My Own Tale as Written by Me with a Goodly amount of Murder, and that’s a mouthful of a moniker, Edward Chupack goes into a first-person telling of the final days of “Long” John Silver. Those dreaded “DNFs” go on the bottom shelf. Let me explain.

Treasure Island (1990) Review

As with the original novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, so too the best and most accurate telling put to film. A top-rated, top-shelf, all-time favorite since I was a young boy. That’s 30 years and counting. The 1990 “made-for-tv” version of Treasure Island aired on TNT on January 22, 1990. I was six but remember watching as I’ve always loved pirates. I taped it even on a VHS. My mom probably regretted letting me watch this. This isn’t the cartoonish Disney version from 1950 with Robert Newton. This version is straight from the 1990s. Raw, real, rum drinkin’, goddamnin’, murderin’ thieves. Plus, there’s a few stars in the cast. Christ, I love this film.

Treasure Island (1950) Review

I think for most people my age and older, and perhaps a few years younger, they have a favorite animated and a favorite live action Disney film. One of my favorite live action Disney films is the subject of today’s review. On June 22, 1950, a London world premier witnessed Treasure Island. The film hit stateside theaters on July 29. Treasure Island is an important historical milestone on two fronts. First, it’s Disney’s first completely live action film. Second, it’s the first film version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel in color. I liked this film version as a kid. As an adult watching for the first time in over 25 years, Disney’s Treasure Island is hokey, cartoonish, but a solid third shelf selection.

Treasure Island (1879) Review

I’ve always loved pirates from the time I was a young boy to today. One of my all-time favorite books, from childhood on, is the subject of today’s review. A pirate adventure I’ve read so many times before, and I can’t believe it took me so long to review. Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1879 novel Treasure Island needs no introduction. The overall plot and immortal characters should be no secret. A top-rated, top-shelf selection if ever there was one.

The Pirates

Upon the seas,
We roamed at will
To strike it rich
And find a thrill
Fortune favors
The brave and bold
Of man and myth
Their legends told