True Pirates of the Caribbean

[Iron Jon]

For anybody interested, on Wednesday at 8am and 2pm there will be a 2 hour show on the History Channel titled "The True Pirates of the Caribbean". I don't know if it's new or not but I've already set my Tivo to record it...

- from their website-

"Blackbeard. Anne Bonny. Henry Jennings. Calico Jack. Henry Morgan. Black Bart Roberts. During the mid to late 17th and early 18th centuries, they were feared criminals. The Caribbean was their domain, the parade of treasure and cargo to Europe their target. The origins of Caribbean piracy began when Columbus made landfall in the Bahamas. Two years later, the Pope granted Spain the exclusive right to the Caribbean and most of the New World. The Spanish reaped an immense fortune in gold and silver, but with a price. England, France, and Holland all desired a portion of this wealth and each established Caribbean bases and used privateers--private sailors fighting for profit--to protect their interests and steal Spanish treasure. The line between privateering and piracy became blurred. We'll examine this Golden Age of Piracy and the true stories of the infamous pirates, how they operated, and their successes and failures in this dark and deadly profession."

[the Royaliste]

I don't get cable,but..if it's 'True Carribean Pirates', it's fair..Done in the 2005-06 winter, it follows 'Under the Black Flag' for borrowed text and script. As small budget pirate stuff goes, it's a fair portrayal. Quite a few characters known to the pub involved. I enjoyed some involvement, but didn't personally care for the actor that did the Blackbeard role.Either personally, or his acting job. We have better 'Blackbeard' types in my estimation, but he came from England with the director. We own it on DVD, and it seems to get a lot of mileage around here. It received a lot of catcalls due to repeated use of extras, but heck, remember..cheap..ALso, I think if we didn't know many of the characters, it wouldn't seem quite so obvious.. Enjoy, as even a bad pirate flick is better than no pirate flick,eh?

[hurricane]

It's OK, but pretty low budget and there are several blatant inaccuracies I know of in the Henry Morgan segments. Plus the guy they had play him didn't have any of the characteristics of Morgan so I couldn't get my arms around his performance beyond the errors. I don't know much about the other pieces - I'm not on all of the characters nor can I comment on them. If you don't know anything about these folks, it's a good show. But it's like Pyracy 101.

-- Hurricane

[Red Bess]

It's hardly perfect, but IMHO it's worth watching, and worth recommending to anyone who needs a Pyracy 101, as Hurricane says.

As far as I can tell, the Anne Bonny and Mary Read portion is fairly accurate. I liked the women who portrayed them, even if the woman who portrayed Anne seemed a bit petite for the part.

Another program that's worth watching (if it comes on again) is "Modern Marvels: Pirate Tech" on the Discovery Channel. I think it was produced around the same time and focuses on weapons, etc. Another good "Intro to Pyracy" program.