Length: twelve 45-minute episodes (alas, it only lasted one season)
Where to Find It: In the US, at least, it's free to watch on CWSeed. However, it was originally a Sky TV series, so it might be on different services in the UK.
What It's About In an alternate, magical Ancient Arabia, a (hot) street rat type, named Sinbad accidentally kills the heir to the kingdom. Not only is the king's out for revenge, but also Sinbad's grandmother casts a curse on him. The curse says that if he spends more than a day and night on land, the collar he wears will kill him. So, he runs off to sea, where he meets a motley crew of (other hot) people. They have a lot of adventures of the week, while dealing with the overarching issues of Sinbad's past. It's a 'misfits form found family on the high seas'!
Random Delightful Details • Naveen Andrews plays the king's evil brother. He is frequently shirtless and wearing a lot of kohl eyeliner. This alone is worth the price of admission. He is obsessed with Sinbad and has a lot of interesting sexual tension with a sorceress. • Did I mention that Sinbad wears a collar? That starts choking him to death all the time? It's amazing. • Sinbad keeps getting kidnapped and dubconned into sex. • The rest of the characters are really fun to hang out with (and also gorgeous, in deliciously diverse and interesting ways—no generic CW hotties here). Everyone is a woobie with some OTT backstory. The ensemble creates a great team. You've got the street rat, the pickpocket, the muscle, the scientist, the princess, and the cook. They start out very wary of one another, not wanting to be stuck together, and sometimes even backstabbing one another. But by the end, they're all ride or die about one another. • Lots of "on a boat" tropes and imagery (ex. looking at the stars, getting stuck in storms, racing other ships), if you're as into that as I am. • The scenery is gorgeous. They filmed the whole show in Malta, on beautiful blue water and in pretty abandoned beaches and coves. • There are some fantastic guest stars (British character actors likely bribed by free trips to Malta).
The Request Sinbad/Gunnar is a great (non-canon) ship. The actors have fantastic chemistry and the characters are constantly eye-fucking or dramatically rescuing one another. Gunnar is an ex-Viking mercenary who is haunted by the violent horrors of his past. He is now a merchant, and wants to be a better person, but he fears that he'll never escape the killer he once was. There's something about Sinbad that makes him stick around (even at cost to himself). My heart!
In Short It's not, like, a good show. The plots of the week don't make a ton of sense and are often resolved via deus ex machinas. But the cast has SO much chemistry, and really manage to sell this nonsense. The whole thing is so attractive to look at… it's just fun and pleasant overall. I find myself rewatching it all the time because it puts me in a good mood.
Just in case you want to see the hotness, I'm talking about the guy on the far left and the guy on the far right (though Anwar, in the middle, is also ADORABLE).
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Sinbad (TV)
Medium: Live action TV
Length: twelve 45-minute episodes (alas, it only lasted one season)
Where to Find It: In the US, at least, it's free to watch on CWSeed. However, it was originally a Sky TV series, so it might be on different services in the UK.
What It's About
In an alternate, magical Ancient Arabia, a (hot) street rat type, named Sinbad accidentally kills the heir to the kingdom. Not only is the king's out for revenge, but also Sinbad's grandmother casts a curse on him. The curse says that if he spends more than a day and night on land, the collar he wears will kill him. So, he runs off to sea, where he meets a motley crew of (other hot) people. They have a lot of adventures of the week, while dealing with the overarching issues of Sinbad's past. It's a 'misfits form found family on the high seas'!
Random Delightful Details
• Naveen Andrews plays the king's evil brother. He is frequently shirtless and wearing a lot of kohl eyeliner. This alone is worth the price of admission. He is obsessed with Sinbad and has a lot of interesting sexual tension with a sorceress.
• Did I mention that Sinbad wears a collar? That starts choking him to death all the time? It's amazing.
• Sinbad keeps getting kidnapped and dubconned into sex.
• The rest of the characters are really fun to hang out with (and also gorgeous, in deliciously diverse and interesting ways—no generic CW hotties here). Everyone is a woobie with some OTT backstory. The ensemble creates a great team. You've got the street rat, the pickpocket, the muscle, the scientist, the princess, and the cook. They start out very wary of one another, not wanting to be stuck together, and sometimes even backstabbing one another. But by the end, they're all ride or die about one another.
• Lots of "on a boat" tropes and imagery (ex. looking at the stars, getting stuck in storms, racing other ships), if you're as into that as I am.
• The scenery is gorgeous. They filmed the whole show in Malta, on beautiful blue water and in pretty abandoned beaches and coves.
• There are some fantastic guest stars (British character actors likely bribed by free trips to Malta).
The Request
Sinbad/Gunnar is a great (non-canon) ship. The actors have fantastic chemistry and the characters are constantly eye-fucking or dramatically rescuing one another. Gunnar is an ex-Viking mercenary who is haunted by the violent horrors of his past. He is now a merchant, and wants to be a better person, but he fears that he'll never escape the killer he once was. There's something about Sinbad that makes him stick around (even at cost to himself). My heart!
In Short
It's not, like, a good show. The plots of the week don't make a ton of sense and are often resolved via deus ex machinas. But the cast has SO much chemistry, and really manage to sell this nonsense. The whole thing is so attractive to look at… it's just fun and pleasant overall. I find myself rewatching it all the time because it puts me in a good mood.
Just in case you want to see the hotness, I'm talking about the guy on the far left and the guy on the far right (though Anwar, in the middle, is also ADORABLE).