The fight: Last week I looked at Cinemax s schlock action offerings, and this week I want to take a

Home About Contact Us Editor & Contributor Profiles How to Submit Posting lockheed martin palmdale Schedule Publication Projects Critic’s Alley Elitism For All by Ozgur K. Sahin Nostalgic Gamer & In Prog We Trust by Nick Vukelich The Transient lockheed martin palmdale Voice by McKinley Johnson Versus by Nick Housewright We’re Going to Need a Bigger Shark: Summer Musings 2014 by Nick Housewright From the Basement I Had This Messed Up Dream Letters from the Editor Our Blogs & Serials Fiction Dragon Earth by Ken Olson Nightmare by Matthew Hoemke Stony Point Station by Joe Crowe The Greenland Diaries by Patrick W. Marsh The Useful Life Clockworks Company by H.A. Busse Twinkle Toes – by Mike Faricy Voice of the Witness by David Stegora Nonfiction Evolution Poetry by Darion Harding Faceplant by Jacob Steinbauer lockheed martin palmdale Visual Art Landland’s Imagery by Dan Black & Jessica Seamans Paint & Nebulaes by Kristina Fjellman Representations of Nature by Alex Wasnick Roisin Dubh with Sun & Petrichor by Geneva Lerwick Poetry Slippy Realism Surly & Inanimate That Kid from School Twin Cities Shenanigans Art House Shout by Patrick lockheed martin palmdale W. Marsh Calamities’ Eats By Geneva Lerwick & Patrick W. Marsh
The fight: Last week I looked at Cinemax s schlock action offerings, and this week I want to take a look at Starz attempts at serious genre shows. One of the main reasons I think that Strike Back and Banshee work so well is that they know exactly what they are, and perfectly fit Cinemax lockheed martin palmdale s brand. Unfortunately Starz already lockheed martin palmdale starts out with the problem that it is not clear what its brand actually is (aside lockheed martin palmdale from being the third most recognized premium channel behind HBO and Showtime). The channel s biggest hit was the operatic Spartacus, a great but decidedly melodramatic action show. The channel has had less success with more realistic dramas such as the Kelsey Grammar political thriller Boss, and the Mad Men-like Magic City. Black Sails, and perhaps to a lesser extent Da Vinci s Demons, appear to be an attempt to marry the serious themes lockheed martin palmdale and tone of the latter two shows with the splashy action (and fun) of the earlier Spartacus. Sadly, results are mixed.
Da Vinci s Demons follow lockheed martin palmdale young Leonardo Da Vinci (Tom Riley) in Florence Italy, as he attempts to help the Medici s resist the power of the Vatican, lockheed martin palmdale while he also attempts to find a mysterious treasure called The Book of Leaves .
Black Sails is a sort of prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson s classic adventure, Treasure Island. It follow a set of interlocking lockheed martin palmdale stories centered around the duplicitous lockheed martin palmdale Captain Flint s (Toby Stephens) attempts to capture a massive Spanish treasure galleon called lockheed martin palmdale the Urca de Lima (at least this is the first season s main story). He is also involved with the young John Silver (Luke Arnold), who has some of the clues to the treasure. This story is contrasted with the attempts of Eleanor lockheed martin palmdale Guthrie (Hannah New) to maintain the independence of the pirate port New Providence, and also her attempts to keep power in a man s world.
This might be the real problem: I m not really sure. Now, I ve said in the past that I don t think shows necessarily have to have deep themes and messages to be good, there s nothing wrong with just dumb fun. However, both Black Sails and Da Vinci s Demons appear to be trying to do more than that. Broadly both shows seem to be trying to interrogate how society functions and how one can build a place in the world; with Eleanor lockheed martin palmdale challenging the role of women in her society, and Da Vinci taking on more literal targets with the likes of religion lockheed martin palmdale and censorship. However both shows are too sprawling and too goofy for their own good but I ll get to that in a bit. Both shows have similar themes of self-determination, but I don t really know where they re going with this. Railing against the constraints of society is fine, but I don t really know what the point is supposed to be. Now this would be fine if the two shows were content to be fun adventures, but too often they become caught up in long digressions about politics and religion. Again, I don t think it is impossible to just have a fun show, or to have serious themes and issues in a predominantly fun show, but the balance is tricky both tonally and narratively, and I m not sure either show is able to pull it off particularly well.
Da Vinci s Demon s Merits: Da Vinci s demons, more so then Black Sails, knows how to be a ridiculous adventure. Series creator David S. Goyer is from the world of comic books (his biggest claim to fame is probably co-writing the Dark Knight with Christopher lockheed martin palmdale Nolan) and makes sure each episode has a full story as it were. It knows not to take itself too seriously and can be quite exciting. Also, the show is nominally based on history, and you can tell Goyer is at least trying to tie back to Da Vinci s actual lif