Treasure Island is one of my obsessions. I've felt the need to watch every adaptation that comes along: the 1950 version with Robert Newton (and its two sequels), 1972 with Orson Welles, 1986 with Brian Blessed (Return to Treasure Island), 1990 with Charlton Heston, 1996 with Tim Curry (Muppet Treasure Island), 2002 with Brian Murray (Treasure Planet), 2006 with Lance Henriksen (Pirates of Treasure Island), and 2012 with Eddie Izzard. Only a few have fallen through the cracks and I've yet to see them. I've also picked up the half a dozen prequel and sequel books that have been written over the years.
Most of the sequels and prequels have been disappointing because they can never seem to get Long John Silver right. They either make him too much of a villain or (more likely) too much of a hero. The whole point of the character is that he doesn't easily fit into those roles. He simply does whatever is advantageous to him. If doing something horrible is a benefit to him, he's the villain, but he'll turn right around and do something heroic if it'll help him.
Black Sails, thankfully, seems to get that. I was worried that the young pretty-boy version of Silver would be terrible, but the actor and the writers won me over pretty quickly. In the first episode he says to someone, "I have this disease... I see an opportunity, and I take it." That alone makes Black Sails better than most (and probably all) of the other sequels and prequels. Not that it's all about Silver; he's a secondary character here, and that seems to be working out.
I avoided Black Sails when it was airing because the response was lukewarm and I try to steer away from anything with Michael Bay's name on it, but I gave in and picked up the Blu-ray when it came out, and I was pleasantly surprised. (Thankfully, Bay was only a producer and probably had minimal input.) I understand that Season 2 just started airing, but as much as I enjoy the show, I think I'll wait for the Blu-ray instead of streaming it over the laptop or buying digital episodes.
28 Jan 2015, 4:14 pm
