Jake and the Never Land Pirates

A few years back, pirate musical legend Skip Henderson’s own music was featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. And now score two for the pirate community as Loren Hoskins and Kevin Hendrickson of Captain Bogg&Salty will be creating the music underscore for a new Disney TV animation, Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Hendrickson is of course a (if not THE) true pirate-core pioneer, and Hoskins is the incredible talent behind Captain Bogg himself. To see the two working on a pirate cartoon – JOY!!!

Oh, and Disney, since you’re hiring pirate folk of late you’ll be pleased to know that I’m available. I have no musical or artistic talent to speak of, but folks seem to like me anyways. Some folks.

More info on the Magic Kingdom’s Pirate’s League – LaughingPlace.com: Disney World, Disneyland and More.

Aye, so if you don’t have the nerve or wherewithall to become a pirate on your own, Disney is soon to be offering the wee ones pirate makeovers. [read more »]

SFGate: Daily Dish : Efron Denies ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Rumor.

“Honestly, at this time it’s just a rumor.”

That sounds forboding to me. “At this time…” means that it’s not entirely a rumor. It hints that Disney and Zac Efron of High School Musical have been talking about bringing him aboard the PotC francise, and says to me that Disney is circulating these rumors to determine whether they lead to good buzz or bad buzz.

Efron is already part of the Disney family, as is Pirates of the Caribbean. Young kids probably love him, so naturally Disney would think they could use this to their marketing advantage. To me, this is exactly the sort of misguided demographic pandering that Disney is all too capable of. Never mind a script, never mind the creative process – just determine whether they can guss Efron up in pirate garb, slap the image on a pillowcase, and sell it to pre-teen girls.

10 ways to make sure Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 gets it right – Den of Geek.

Yes, so the news – only rumors and (misguided) wishful thinking to this point – is now official. According to multiple media sources, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is now definitely in the works. Rather than linking a slobbering fanboy article I thought this one more appropriate: 10 helpful suggestion to ensure PotC 4 does not suck. Disney, we know, is capable of great things – great successes, and great failures alike. And being as they clearly did some things very badly in the second two films I sincerely hope they’ve learned something from their mis-steps. But sadly, it’s difficult to convince myself that Disney is moving forward with PotC4 because they feel they actually have a new story worth telling, rather than simply trying dredge up a few more bucks from this franchise. Which is fine – I’ve no beef with capitolism. I do, however, have a beef with lame ass pirate movies.

Orlando Sentinel – Pirates of the Caribbean Beach Resort on Tourism Central Florida

“Walt Disney World has unveiled a rendering and a few details of some retheming and renovations in the works for Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort — theming it after the hugely-popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride/movies/games franchise.”

I wanna go now! The picutre really says it all. And while the boat-shaped beds might be a little silly, I mean, C’mon!!! They just better have decent rum in the hotel bar (isn’t Disney known for it’s stellar liquor selections?)

IGN: Privateering Added to Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Eyup, now you can be a privateer when playing Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Which I suppose means you can stop pillaging as you please in favor of only pillaging the enemies of the King, and also give him a cut of the profits. In exchange you get a nifty title – sounds great to me.

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www.piratesonline.com

Let’s face it, most of us don’t live the sort of lives that allow us to indulge our love of piracy – we don’t own sloops with cannons, we can’t walk around our neighborhoods with swords strapped to our hips, and so on. This is where Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMO) are such a wonderful modern creation. For those not familiar with the concept, an MMO is essentially an online world where you create a character and do whatever it is you wish you could be doing in real life. For people like us, this usually means looting and pillaging.

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean Online is a relatively young MMO – it’s only been live for a few months and is still growing and developing to best suit the desires of its players. In it, you create a pirate character – male or female – and customize their look to suit your tastes. The characters are a little cartoony, with the menfolk being rather burely and the girls leaning towards the cutesy, but this works well enough considering that the game itself is a bit fantastic and cartoony, rather than attempting to mimick reality outright. [read more »]

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It’s a gross over-generalization, but sometimes it seems there are only two opinions regarding the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies. If you’re a critic, you hate it. If you’re a movie goer, you love it. And that’s that.

As in all things, the truth lies somewhere in between. I won’t rehash my thoughts on the second flick, Dead Man’s Chest. Suffice to say I enjoyed it – more or less. But it wasn’t remotely in the same league as Curse of the Black Pearl, and was burdened with many flaws that could have been easily avoided.

So on to At World’s End. No surprise, it picks up shortly after Dead Man’s Chest left off – Jack’s lost to the world, Norrington is an Admiral for the East India Company, and Turner, Swann, and friends are on a trek to rescue Jack from Davy Jones’ Locker. The opening scene, featuring Lord Beckett’s efforts to purge the caribbean of pirates via mass executions, is troubling and haunting. And it’s also surprisingly brutal, which brings up a point I’d like to address: Kids will see this flick. I know it’s PG-13, and I know that all the commercials highlight this fact and suggest it may not be suitable for the youngins. But in this way Disney is being completely disingenious. They can tout that this isn’t a kid’s flick all they want, but when they turn around and sell Jack Sparrow action figures, Jack Sparrow pajamas, Jack Sparrow bubble bath (I’m not kidding) and so on – don’t try and tell me they don’t intend for kids to see this movie. [read more »]

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Everyone knows Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, and everyone knows (whether they know it or not) Robert Newton’s Long John Silver. But somewhere between these two signature pirates Disney gave us a third, lesser known, scalliwagg who nontheless deserves a place amongst the notable breathren, that being Peter Ustinov’s Captain Blackbeard.

In the 1968 film Blackbeard’s Ghost, we’re introduced to a somewhat softer, more rotund variant of the dread captain than we’re given to expect, but one that’s still as rumswilling and swaggerly as any before or since. The plot, in essence, is the ghost of Blackbeard discovers that he can be seen by only one person, that being the new track coach of the local college. Together, they get on each others’ nerves while trying to find a way to save Blackbeard’s descendents (a troupe of little old ladies who’ve turned his ship into a touristy bed&breakfast) from a bank forclosure. All told, it’s really pretty typical 60′s Disney fair [read more »]

Rating:
Robert Newton has his fans, and it’s no wonder. His portrayal of Long John Silver in Disney’s Treasure Island did more to define the role of a “pirate” than any character before or since. True, Jack Sparrow has made a tremendous impact, and may be seen to surpass Long John as the true pirate stereotype in the years to come. But for now, Robert Newton is still the king.

With this in mind, one might expect the television series “The Adventures of Long John Silver” – all six episodes starring Robert Newton in his signature role – to be a true classic gem. And for Newton’s fans, it may well be. Each episode prominently features Newton retackling his interpretation of Silver with every bit of gusto he can muster – and this makes these shows worth watching. But each episode also features dreadfully predictable writing, cliche plot points (Long John saves the orphan’s Christmas??? Crikey!), and many scenes that are downright painful (The not-so-attractive Miss Purity flirting heavily with an even less attractive one-eared pirate is difficult to bear, to say the least.) [read more »]