Sinbad, ep 4 - July 29

This episode centers around Nala (yes, as in "Lion King", BTW), as she has to confront Death, as in person. Maybe purposefully, maybe it was just luck, but Mr. Invincible (the Grim Reaper's latest pseudonym), played by Timothy Spall, was the most annoying - and disgusting - character on Sinbad so far, and that includes Razia's Water-thieves.

(BTW, does anyone know if she'll be coming back? Odds are in her favor, I feel.)

Okay, in this incarnation, Death is rot and deterioration, more like Pestilence than Death, if you want to go all Revelation. (Well, maybe they like to share or something.) Is that bad or not?

The answer, of course, lies within the audience. As the last quarter of this episode shows, Mr. Invincible ("Anicetus" in Greek) can be very stylish and a real ladies man, since he wants Nala to himself... personally. As in an a personal manifestation, an avatar if you will. Gives the whole "bride of death" thing a whole new meaning.

And Nala? What about her? Well, in this episode she let go of her dead father's memory and became a woman, rather than a girl. Seriously, if we're to go into deeper symbolism, a woman's marriage means her becoming a woman socially as opposed to biologically/chronologically, as she moves from her father's house to her husband's. In this case, of course, the groom was death and Nala's bridal house - the bottom of the sea (Davy Jones says "Hi" and reminds Mr. Invincible that his lease for the Flying Dutchman is X dinari by the hour), but Sinbad crashed the wedding and prevented Nala from marrying death, leaving the groom with just Nala's father (literally, because the man/zombie is already dead - the sea monster has eaten him back in ep 1, remember?), thus freeing Nala from her father's ghost (or zombie, whatever), making her a free woman in a modern sense instead. Gosh, I wonder what the connotations here can be and will we find anyone for Gunnar, by the end of the season as well? Maybe Razia, if she's alive (let's leave Mr. Invincible out of this), but she's probably too slutty for Gunnar's taste...but who knows? Maybe that's how he likes them.

After the (failed) wedding, of course, comes the rain - the sign of rebirth. It revitalizes everyone, even the prone cook, making one wonder once more - what's up with him? Is he the spirit of the ship - he specifically called the ship 'his' throughout the episode? If so... there's still the question of what did he do to the Water-thieves and the merchant's girl from the previous episodes - turned them into household items, maybe? Or maybe he's also a man-eater and has fed them to Sinbad and co. yet. Either way, the up-coming episodes may reveal more yet.

Finally, the Akbari subplot. Taryn is back in Akbari's good graces, winding him further and being wound by him in return. Yes, the Amir has good reasons to keep Taryn away from his brother - they just aren't good for each other. Of course, the Amir's own support for Akbari has yet to amount to anything, so Taryn, with her finally locating Sinbad and his ship, is actually one step up from the Amir.

...Of course, now that Sinbad is found, what will Akbari and Taryn do to him? He's quite out of Basra's jurisdiction, and the Amir may not sent his soldiers on a fool's quest on Taryn's - or even Akbari's - say-so. But again, this all will be revealed in the upcoming episodes - maybe.

In conclusion, then, I can safely say that this was a very dramatic and tense episode with some great acting done by all, especially Timothy Spall. The fact that the CGI were relatively minor in this episode amounts to it being great as well. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes won't disappoint us either.

Sinbad, ep 3 - July 22

This episode of "Sinbad" takes a dip into surreal, plot-wise.

Start with the main message: friends stick together, through thick and thin. It goes like this: Rina robs the others and runs away into the desert, leaving Anwar to gamble with their ship. The ship is lost, Sinbad and the others have to go into the magical casino and win it back. They do it - Sinbad rescuing his crew in the process again - and everything is fine and jolly again. Oh, and the ship's cook may be something of a cannibal and feeding the others human meat, but more about that later.

I do not particularly enjoy picking plot holes, but here... they're unavoidable, as always. Starting with the ship race to the middle of nowhere, the episode plot just grew too twisted for my tolerance.

Let's go to the "middle of nowhere". Apparently, it's actually between Basra and Beirut; Beirut is the capital city of the modern Lebanon, and on the other side of Middle East (well, the portion that's located between the Mediterrean and the Caspian seas). How exactly did Sinbad's vessel get there? There's no Suez channel in the Middle Ages. Sure, it makes perfect sense for the modern TV series, since it's was made on the island of Malta that's not that far from Beirut on ship, but in the Ottoman epoch, getting from from Basrah to Beirut on ship was months, far too longer than on land! What is the time frame for "Sinbad", anyways?

That brings us to the subplot, of the team of the Amir+Lard Akbari+Taryn. In the previous episode, both the Amir and Taryn promised Akbari help, and... the Amir sent his soldiers to arrest Sinbad's remaining family; these stalwart men took their time long enough for Sinbad's friend to warn the family, and they went into hiding or fled - and the Amir, who rules Basra, has apparently been unable to locate a pair of women (one is old, the other appears to be slightly crazy and incapable of fending for herself) at all.

Taryn, meanwhile, had promised Akbari her help, and it consists of a potion. That's right; she had plenty of time, and all she created was a potion that allowed Akbari to see Sinbad...only the casino's magician prevented Akbari from doing so - twice - and now Taryn has to flee Basra instead. Hate to be captain Obvious, but now what? The show's premise made Taryn sound like one of the main villians, and right now... she's not. And if she's not, then what is her game in all of this? Well, the following episodes will explain it, hopefully.

Back to the main plot. Make no mistake, as far as the plot went, the casino was wonderful, but the setting was positively surreal - it was more like the modern version of Mammon's domain from "The Pilgrim's Process" rather than anything out of "Arabian Nights"; the costumes, starting with the Abdul Fahid the rich merchant, were more like those of NYC's high society than anything out of the Ottoman era. Why? What's the point? A social critique or something? I just don't get it... but the plot more than just made up for the setting's bizarreness.

Rina's role in the plot, however, was something else. She actually infiltrated the casino to rescue somebody's husband, just as Sinbad had rescued Anwar and the others. Somehow, this failed to happen on-screen (and how was Rina to tackle the casino's formidable mage, undoubtedly given to the twins as a part of their deal with Cthulhu and other Elder Gods?), and all we ended was the rest of the S-team badmouthing "lady Samar" to her face (fully deserved), and for Marama Corlett ("Rina") to wear make-up that is really unflattering to her complexion (sorry, Marama).

Finally, we have the cook. Just what did he do to Fahim's servant girl? The same thing he did to the two Water-thieves from the previous episodes - apparently made them disappear with a trace. I'm reasonably sure that he isn't converting them into meals for the rest of the crew, but after the latest plot twists - who knows?

So. Several plot twists and inconsistencies vs. brilliant acting of the main cast in the "casino". Way to go, main cast!

Re: Roc (02)

And a bit more about Roc the giant bird. Basically, in the canon of the “Arabian nights” it is nothing more than a giant eagle or a hawk, whose wings overshadow the sun and who feeds on elephants, cattle, giant snakes and so on. There is not much monstrous about the Roc, then, other than its size. Roc is an uttermost – well, one of the uttermost – manifestation of humans’ ancestral primate fear of the diurnal birds of prey that hunted our ancestors (fact that is supported by the fossils), nothing more. In Harryhausen’s Sinbad movies the Roc was just a “random encounter”, a monster that Sinbad and his crew had to defeat. In Sinbad 2012, the Roc is actually turning to be a helpful and intelligent ally to Sinbad, after he frees the giant bird from Razia’s chains. Score 1 for the new Sinbad show and for the new and improved (as hard as it is to believe) Roc!

Re: Sinbad 2012, ep 2 (01)

Today's episode main themes were captivity and team work. Sinbad is held captive by his grandmother's curse, he and his crew are being held captive by Razia and her Water-thieves, and the Roc is being held captive by Razia as well. Razia is shown opposing to Sinbad in terms of leadership, since apparently in her authoritarian way she needs the Water-thieves to be important. Uh, no. Even without Razia's leadership the Water-thieves will still be a problem to the nearby ships - they don't appear to be turning into anglers and farmers as soon as Razia's son is slain and she is dethroned. They may be less organized, but it takes the brute physical strength of a Roc to save Sinbad and his crew.

Sinbad and his crew... Supposedly, in the middle of this crisis, they learned teamwork, and Rina, apparently, isn't just a pickpocket, but a member of the WWF, unlike Anwar, who couldn't be sounding more like Connor Temple if he didn't try. Why, his relationship with Rina is sort of like Connor and Abby's, where it's the girl, who's the brawn and the common sense. At least, not to add insult to injury, Rina isn't blond.

Back to team work. The quintet learned to act together? Well, sort of. After all, when the fat is in the fire, all people try to work together; you need a special sort of hatred to keep them apart and at each others throats at the moment of need, and this doesn't appear to be the case here.

These philosophical issues, however, take a second place to the fact that night and day seem to be jumping like crazy in the new Sinbad-verse. Yes, undoubtedly, the show's producers are using CGI to make the times of the day (pun intended), but did they have to make them jump like crazy? I have no idea.

Finally, the Roc. Yes, it's CGI'd, but why does it need horns? It's a bird, it's supposed to be relatively light weight and aerodynamic, and even though it's a magical bird, horns are simply... unnecessary. Plus, it's a force for goodness (at least in this ep), so the horns don't have any metaphorical significance, either.

As for its behavior... yes, the "new" Roc is spot-on: it capsized ships (well, boats), and it gave fair winds, and it's big. Pretty much how it is described in the canon Arabian mythology. Whether or not the new TV series will diverge from this stereotype in the next episodes or not, only time will tell.

So, some philosophical pretensions to fill the dialogue, some CGI of various quality, and a reasonably canonic (and understandable, pardon my English) monster. A rather regular S&S show episode, that.

Re: Sinbad 2012, ep 01

What I have uncovered and concluded, after researching the more obscure terms & facts that appeared in the show.

The Amir was the title of secular Muslim rulers, similar to European Prince and possibly Duke, unlike the Khalif or the Sultan title, which was more analogous to the King.

Basra was the medieval name of modern Al Basrah, which is a southern city of modern Iraq, (yes, that Iraq), located near the coast of the Persian Gulf, hence its nickname “Venice of the Middle East”. Setting sail from it, Sinbad and his new crew should have entered the Persian Gulf, a rather narrow strip of the sea, located between Western Asia (Iran) and the Arabian Peninsula – odds that the seafarers expected to see some land (or other ships) on one side or another, thus to end up seemingly on a vast and empty stretch of the ocean or sea was a shock.

Where they could have end up? Considering how heavily the new series seems to be influenced by Harryhausen-era Sinbad movies, I would say in “Elfland”, populated by the Roc, cannibals and island-sized whales (in the original “Arabian nights” tales), among other creatures and beings. However, if the show will try to adhere to realism, then it is the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, i.e. the Arabian Sea.  

What was the name of the first monster? There was none, but the official site talks about the marids, who, in the “Arabian nights”, were a type of genie that lived in the oceans and seas, but... they were nothing like what the show has shown so far. In the “Arabian nights”, the marids were the most powerful of all the genies, capable of granting wishes, and had personalities, and a civilization of their own. The creature that attacked the ship was, honestly, a version of the “future predators” from another UK TV show – “Primeval”. It even looked like a future predator (whenever it was not just a mass of water instead), and was just as powerful with its only weaknesses being its lack of sight and a nature that was too feral and bloodthirsty to be truly intelligent. Both of these traits were demonstrated by “Primeval’s” future predators in abundance.

Next stop – Razia (implied razor?) and her Water-thieves (cannibals?).

River Monsters - Phantom Assassin

In the last episode of RM of Canada's version of S4, JW returns to Australia to tackle a rare and elusive Glyphis shark, and from the start, problems begin.

JW's problems appear to be technical: there is driftwood in the river that tangles up in the tackle and fishing line; there are other fish, and also freshwater crabs, that eat the bait; and there are the bull sharks and saltwater crocodiles that would eat the bait and the anglers, if they could. In fact, a sizable part of the episode is centered on the saltwater crocodiles and their interactions with people: this episode reconstructs a story where a saltwater crocodile has emerged from the river at night and attacked two tourists in their tent, almost killing one of them in the process. That's just scary.

The other main predator in this episode are the sharks. First, there are the bull sharks, which by now have become a rather established character of RM: JW has about one episode per RM season about those cartilaginous fish so far, including the first episode of this season, BTW. Thus, it is no surprise to the audience to see JW catch several of them in the process of the ep... but there are others.

More precisely, there are other cartilaginous fish - not just the sharks. An Australian sawfish and a whipray both make cameo appearances as river monsters, but it is still the sharks who steal the show.

Well... sort of. In this episode, JW actually goes out to sea to fish for them (for XP, I assume). There, as he first encounters the multitude of sharks that inhabit Australia's coast (and some of them are official man-eaters) and later - the rough and unpredictable coastal ties in King Sound in particular (9 m of water going up and down - that's a lot!), he realizes that the boundaries between the fresh water and the salt are less distinct than he had thought, and that even such sea-based sharks as the mako can come up the river for a while, not just the bull shark and the sawfishes.

But what about the Glyphis shark - the river monster that JW went to catch in this episode? Did he catch it? Yes! It is a rather small and gracile shark, much less intimidating than the bull, for example, but it is a shark that lives primarily in the fresh water, not in the sea, unlike the bull, and as such, this catch of JW deserves points for its rarity, if anything else. After all, size alone does not make a river monster, as the Mekong giant catfish can testify...

S4 of RM had its ups and downs, with some very unequal and different (in quality) episodes. But it has ended on a positive, upbeat note, and so I can safely admit that I have enjoyed watching it, period.