Anyone else watching Sky One's Sinbad on Sunday evenings? No, I didn't think so. It's one of those shows that I really want to like (it's Sinbad, after all!) but it's so vanilla and devoid of charm that you wonder if it was created by committee or a computer program.
After three weeks of uninspired stories (with the latest plunging off in to Xena-like anarchronisms - but not in a good way) I've given up. I can't say if it's the bland storylines or Sinbad's politically correct (one from column A, one from column B, one from Column C) crew (this may actually be period accurate, I don't know much about the make-up of Middle Eastern sailing crews), but it simply doesn't grab me like a Sinbad story should.
I also don't think the artificial curse that Sinbad has been put under (that he can only spend a day on land before he is choked to death by his magical necklace) really adds anything to the story. This gimmick has already grown old after a couple of episodes of seeing poor Elliot Knight (Sinbad) gurn as he just manages to slip back on board his ship at the last possible moment.
The scenery is stunning, from the wide blue seascapes and sprawling ancient cities to the computer-generated ruins, and even the occasional monster certainly spices things up. However the show meanders under an overwhelming cloud of indecision as of it can't quite decide what it's supposed to be.
I can't help but wonder if part of the problem is British television's habit of taking itself too seriously - especially when it comes to fantasy.
The British attitude tends to be - these days - one of polite self-deprecating, embarrassment towards the fantastic.
Just look at Doctor Who under Steven Moffat: the bulk of The Doctor's adventures revolve around contemporary Earth and he is always accompanied by contemporary Earthling companions - where's the 21st Century Leela, Susan or Romana?
Even K9 is kept shut away in a cupboard in Bannerman Road and Matt Smith's Doctor can veer beyond an homage to Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor towards Fizbo The Clown.
But then you have to ask: if you're not going to do fantasy "properly", if you can't buy in to it, why do it at all?
And, of course, the answer comes up: money! Everyone is after a slice of the Doctor Who and Game Of Thrones bandwagon.
But Sinbad doesn't have the serial momentum of Doctor Who or the simple excellence of Game Of Thrones (it's pretty much redundant to even mention Sinbad and Game Of Thrones of these shows in the same breath as you couldn't find more diametrically different fantasy shows).
At its best, Sinbad is comparable with the weaker elements of the first season of Merlin - and, to be fair, that show came on in leaps and bounds and is now one of my favourites. However, I was never so bored with Merlin that I actually gave up watching as I have with Sinbad.
This is such a shame as Sinbad is one of the all-time great adventure characters and you'd really think in this day-and-age you couldn't fail with such an all-action, all-encompassing franchise (just look at Ray Harryhausen's timeless classics to see how to do Sinbad right). But Sky has, quite spectacularly.
I really must check out my DVDs of the Canadian Adventures of Sinbad serial, which ran for two seasons, to see how it stands up in comparison.
The necklace thing sounds extraordinarily dumb. It's like they made a show along the lines of Hercules and Xena, but forgot to make it good.
ReplyDeleteA large part of the show's problem is that it doesn't know what it wants to be!
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