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.

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?).