Pirates!

Matt deMille

New member
I'm not sure if such a thread has been started here before. If there has, just let me know. But if not . . .

Among my many interests are pirates, both fictional and historical. Anybody want to share thoughts on pirates?

To get it started, just curious if anybody here has had the chance to go diving at the sunken Port Royal, and what was it like?
 
Pirates never really existed. It was just a ploy by aliens in ancient times so that hipster kids of today could have a group of people to idolize as if they were Gods.

I should know-- I was abducted by pirates and held for ransom. It's really traumatizing-- they kept singing about their rum and threatening to take my Johnson. I'm kind of attached to it.
 

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Is it going to be impossible now for Matt to have a normal conversation without everyone piling on and being dicks?
 

HovitosKing

Well-known member
Lance Quazar said:
Is it going to be impossible now for Matt to have a normal conversation without everyone piling on and being dicks?

You shouldn't mock someone who has been abducted. It's not funny once it's over.
 

Gear

New member
RRRR!!

I'll drown myself in the discography of Ween before I'll surrender myself to BLOODY Yahoo! Music and iPods!!

Haste we shall raid Best Buy!!
 

Sharkey

Guest
Pirates are like ancient aliens. They travel to places where they're feared, raping and pillaging. They abduct people too!
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Did a post get mysteriously deleted? Either the Invisible Hand is at work here or the mods are doing some house cleaning.

Pirates are cool. Especially space pirates.

Star Wars inspired, or even Alice Cooper inspired:

Out of the blue came a kill-crazy crew
Whose motto was stomp on the weak
With bones in their hair
They was hungry as bears
And their leader was King of the freaks
They was... Space Pirates
The lowest scum of the yellow sun
They was... Space Pirates
Sack a galaxy just for fun
(fire away)
Well now, out of the blue came this wolf pack who knew
That the name of the game was to hate
Perverts and pimps followed one-legged gimps
They was bow legged bastards of fate
They was... Space Pirates
Skulls lie white on the martian sands
They was... Space Pirates
Empires ransom in their hands
(people were scared)
Out of the blue came this mind-blowing zoo
A collection of mutated crud
Death on their hips
There was foam on their lips
And behind them a shadow of blood
They was... Space Pirates
Broken bodies and twisted minds
They was... Space Pirates
Screaming nightmares left behind
Out of the blue came a kill-crazy crew
Whose motto was stomp on the weak
Bones in their hair
They was hungry as bears
And their leader was King of the freaks
They was... Space Pirates
The lowest scum of the yellow sun
They was... Space Pirates
Sack a galaxy just for fun

(Alice Cooper, "Space Pirates")
 

adventure_al

New member
I was into pirates long before Jonny Depp an co. brought them into the current cool.

I remember seeing an excellent pirate exhibition in Edinburgh as a kid. Scotland suprisingly (or unsuprisingly!? :p) has alot of pirate connections.

Always found them fascinating. I find the historical aspects interesting and naturally the whole romantic treasure hunting aspect is a great image.

The likes of Swiss Family Robinson was a favourite as a child as well as the stories of Sandokhan. (I have family who moved to malaysia who used to send me books and video cassettes. Think an Asian pirate with similiar stories to Sinbad without the mythology)
 

Montana Smith

Active member
adventure_al said:
I was into pirates long before Jonny Depp an co. brought them into the current cool.

I remember seeing an excellent pirate exhibition in Edinburgh as a kid. Scotland suprisingly (or unsuprisingly!? :p) has alot of pirate connections.

Always found them fascinating. I find the historical aspects interesting and naturally the whole romantic treasure hunting aspect is a great image.

The likes of Swiss Family Robinson was a favourite as a child as well as the stories of Sandokhan. (I have family who moved to malaysia who used to send me books and video cassettes. Think an Asian pirate with similiar stories to Sinbad without the mythology)

Did you ever have the Ladybird book of Pirates as a child?

Ladybird books were excellent educators for young minds, and I was an avid reader from an early age. Before I could read there were the pictures - I still vividly remember the picture of Edward Teach/Blackbeard with the lit fuses tied to his beard. It was then that I realized pirates were dangerous and fearsome, and had little to with silly old Captain Pugwash!

51AOg9siV7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 

adventure_al

New member
I had a few books but not that one specifically.

Pugwash was a classic! Although it was never a real favourite of mine as a child.

Cutthroat Island is one of the best Pirate films to be made in recent times, although it has few rivals.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
ResidentAlien said:
As long as he comes into every other topic he sees and throws it off topic with his bull****? Then yes...
Then no. Acting like a dick because somebody else acts like a dick does not make one an excused dick. Just the regular kind.
 

Matt deMille

New member
adventure_al said:
I was into pirates long before Jonny Depp an co. brought them into the current cool.

I remember seeing an excellent pirate exhibition in Edinburgh as a kid. Scotland suprisingly (or unsuprisingly!? :p) has alot of pirate connections.

Always found them fascinating. I find the historical aspects interesting and naturally the whole romantic treasure hunting aspect is a great image.

The likes of Swiss Family Robinson was a favourite as a child as well as the stories of Sandokhan. (I have family who moved to malaysia who used to send me books and video cassettes. Think an Asian pirate with similiar stories to Sinbad without the mythology)

Likewise. I was certainly glad to see Depp & co. bring pirates back into the mainstream, but there's a lot of great pirate stuff to enjoy prior to Sparrow's arrival.

Pirates seems to be one of those rare and often overlooked elements of history that is so entertaining, mystical, dramatic and colorful it's tempting to think it's all just made up, or like other elements of history, reworked or exaggerated, but it's not. Actually, quite the reverse. There's so much that's intriguing about pirate lore that it's really been underused by cinema. Books, not so much, thankfully.

I had not heard of Ladybird and Pugwash. I'll have to check this stuff out. Thanks for the heads-up!

Another good book: "On Stranger Tides". Yes, I checked it out due to the pending film, but I was surprised at just how clever and well written it is. I highly recommend reading it before the movie changes the tale (I'm sure the changes will be better for the screen, and work in their own way, though).

Cutthroat Island . . . a very underappreciated movie, if I may say. It certainly had some flaws, but then, what movie doesn't? I think it was just made at the wrong time. If it had come out in the '80s, it would have been a huge hit! It's just whimsical, carefree fun. Beautifully photographed and scored, with great production values. I really do enjoy that movie. Have a few of the film's relics around my apartment, too.

I would love to see some movies about pirates in other waters. Some pirates in the Med or the China Sea could be really cool.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Matt deMille said:
I had not heard of Ladybird and Pugwash. I'll have to check this stuff out. Thanks for the heads-up!

Ladybird books are still going. Throughout their history they've covered just about every subject there is. The format was a picture filling one page, with text filling the facing page. The artwork was often very evocative.

Captain Pugwash was a cheap and cheerful cartoon, of the sort with very little actual animation. An urban myth developed that it included characters named 'Roger the cabin boy', 'Seaman Stains' and 'Master Bates' to give the parents something to laugh about. It did turn out to be a myth - I think!

captain-pugwash-pic-pa-147180168.jpg


The coolest cartoon pirates, though, were these chaps from Asterix:

asterix_pirates.gif



pirates.jpg
 

adventure_al

New member
Matt deMille said:
I had not heard of Ladybird and Pugwash. I'll have to check this stuff out. Thanks for the heads-up!


I would love to see some movies about pirates in other waters. Some pirates in the Med or the China Sea could be really cool.

Ladybird and Pugwash are aimed at children. As such I wouldn't bother looking them up. Regarding your second point you'd be much better looking up Sandokhan. Several books were written based on these tales. As well as a few movies (although these are now very dated).

On the topic of pirates and old movies I've just ordered 'Captain Blood' on DVD (y)
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Matt deMille said:
Pirates seems to be one of those rare and often overlooked elements of history that is so entertaining, mystical, dramatic and colorful it's tempting to think it's all just made up, or like other elements of history, reworked or exaggerated, but it's not. Actually, quite the reverse. There's so much that's intriguing about pirate lore that it's really been underused by cinema.
:confused: There are loads of pirate movies out there...You just need to educate youself some more.:p
adventure_al said:
The likes of Swiss Family Robinson was a favourite as a child as well as the stories of Sandokhan. (I have family who moved to malaysia who used to send me books and video cassettes. Think an Asian pirate with similiar stories to Sinbad without the mythology)
SANDOKAN!(y)

I've been on the hunt for Sandokan movies ever since first hearing about him 15 years ago, to no avail...until now! A few months ago, I stumbled across the Italian (2nd Steeve Reeves movie) "The Pirates of Malaysia a.k.a. Pirates of the Seven Seas" in a local Swiss department store. Bought it immediately and loved it (French dubbed version but I know the language).

Almost all films and TV shows with the character are Italian-made so when I was in Florence a couple of weeks ago I scored by finding a DVD boxed set of the 1976 TV mini-series with Kabir Bedi in a cult video store. 6 more hours of Sandokan to watch (even though it's all in Italian and can only understand every 10th word)! There were 2 more TV series in the '90s with Kabir Bedi reviving the role.

Adventure Al, which ones have you seen? Do you own or have you seen the 1st Steve Reeves movie, "Sandokan the Great"?:confused: That's the one I want to see the most along with "The Two Tigers" from the early '40s where Sandokan tangles with the Thuggee!:eek:
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Stoo said:
:confused: There are loads of pirate movies out there...You just need to educate youself some more.:p
SANDOKAN!(y)

I've been on the hunt for Sandokan movies ever since first hearing about him 15 years ago, to no avail...until now! A few months ago, I stumbled across the Italian (2nd Steeve Reeves movie) "The Pirates of Malaysia a.k.a. Pirates of the Seven Seas" in a local Swiss department store. Bought it immediately and loved it (French dubbed version but I know the language).

Almost all films and TV shows with the character are Italian-made so when I was in Florence a couple of weeks ago I scored by finding a DVD boxed set of the 1976 TV mini-series with Kabir Bedi in a cult video store. 6 more hours of Sandokan to watch (even though it's all in Italian and can only understand every 10th word)! There were 2 more TV series in the '90s with Kabir Bedi reviving the role.

Adventure Al, which ones have you seen? Do you own or have you seen the 1st Steve Reeves movie, "Sandokan the Great"?:confused: That's the one I want to see the most along with "The Two Tigers" from the early '40s where Sandokan tangles with the Thuggee!:eek:

The Raven never ceases to be an eye-opener!

sandokan_riscossa.gif


http://www.rohpress.com/sandokan.htm

sandokan1zm9.jpg


I'm currently working my way through Sir Christopher Frayling's book, Spaghetti Westerns, which references all manner of Italian movies, though the only Italian pirate film I've noticed so far is Pirates of the Black Hawk, "one of the less significant examples of the genre".
 
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