The Starz premium cable channel has a new big-budget original series, Black Sails, which appears to be intended as a gritty, realistic look at piracy in the early 1700s in the pirate’s haven of New Providence in the Bahamas.  In terms of plot and characters, Black Sails is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure novel for children, Treasure Island.  Black Sails is, however, not for young viewers. The violence and the sex are considerably more explicit  than anything hinted at in Stevenson’s novel which was originally serialized in the children’s magazine,Young Folks in 1881. Surprisingly, or on second thought perhaps not so, the original Treasure Island is more engaging and scarier than Black Sails.

Early on, we meet John Silver, not yet Long John, sans parrot and with all appendages intact.  He is sailing on a merchant ship which is captured by Captain Flint, who is in search of a vast treasure. (In Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the plot turns on finding where Captain Flint buried his treasure.)  John Silver joins up with the pirates and meets Billy Bones, who will also play a cameo role in Stevenson’s novel.  The historical pirates Jack Rackham, Mary Bonney and Captain Charles Vane also make an appearance. Bonney seems equal parts prostitute and assassin and has a really great hat.  Rackham, unaccountably, wears what appear to be 18th century sunglasses, if such things existed in the period.  There is also a merchant’s daughter, who acts as a both fence for stolen goods and as tavern keeper and also has a lesbian tryst with one of the prostitutes. (This would be one of the parts which differ most greatly from the children’s classic.)

So, is Black Sails any good?  As far as the nautical and sailing aspects of the story, it is a bit of a mess. In the opening scene, rather than closing with the merchantman, the pirates stand off and batter the ship with gun fire.   After the pirates have done considerable damage, the captain of the merchantman shouts, “Fall back!”   Fall back?  Say what?  To where? Everyone barricades themselves into the what appears to be the fo’c’s’le, allowing the pirates to board unopposed and for themselves to be trapped. Anyway, you get the idea. A complete mess.

The productions values ashore are good — just the right amount of dirt and filth in a pretty standard pirate-town set. They did build one large ship set and use video game quality sailing ships for all the other ships.  OK, but not great.

And the characters? Don’t look for depth. Black Sails feels like a cross between the Starz series Spartacus and HBO’s Game of Thrones, though without the depth of story-line or characterization of Thrones.  There is brutal violence, a bit of nudity and sex, and a bare bones (perhaps skull and cross bones) quest for treasure.  After watching Episode One, did I feel a desire to watch Episode Two?  Not particularly.  But do not take my word for it.  Episode One is available online. The full episode is available on Youtube by clicking here. The Youtube version has the nude bits and some of the violence blurred out. Episode One is also available in an unpixelated version on the Starz website by clicking here.