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| National Geographic: Blackbeard - Terror at Sea | 
 enlarge | Actor: Blackbeard-terror At Sea
Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $13.48
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New (31) Used (8) from $4.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 27184
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 88
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARDG75159D
UPC: 727994751595
EAN: 7279947515950
ASIN: B000FC2HRM
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: July 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/11/2006
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 A Tale That is Not Always Accurate... December 30, 2008
*Possible Spoilers Included, and Quite Lengthy. Read at Your Own Risk*
I first rented this from one of the major online rental companies (not sure if I can post their name here or not) and watched it. Having an interest in Pirates and more specifically Blackbeard, I liked what I saw. However when you dig into the history of the man and his exploits you find that some of the information covered is not entirely accurate.
Before I delve into that let's first comment on the film production quality, and what they actually made.
The film itself is as long as one would imagine for any documentary. The acting for the most part is rather solid as are some of the fighting scenes. Having also an interest in swordfighting, I found a few of the fights to appear silly and very "for the camera". I don't think they captured the chaos of the battle in most of the scenes.
You then have this being a made for tv production. So, of course you have your commercial breaks. Unfortunately when making a DVD (I later purchased this from this website) you end up with a lot of recapping. The same scenes end up being played over and over (I think I saw the same sailor fly through the air five or six times).
The actor that plays Blackbeard (James Purefoy) did a fantastic job and I think easily the best on screen depiction of the man. Unfortunately there really is only so much (and it's limited) info on Blackbeard that I would imagine it was hard to accurately portray him. But the way he walks, talks, and acts is how I saw Blackbeard and I think that speaks volumes for the film. In case you don't know who the actor is, he is the same man that plays Julius Caesar in the ROME series on HBO.
So, fantastic production... now let's get into the issues. The first problem I had with this film was that it was lacking a fleet. We know that at some point Blackbeard had as many as four or five ships sailing together. At the time many of the attacks in this film are portrayed, he had at least two. Never however, do we see those two ships. We get the impression that Blackbeard was a solo Pirate with a dozen men under his command when research suggests he had at LEAST 300. I think that discredits the true nature of the Pirate and how he functioned.
We also miss a lot of the important points in the film. We don't get to see the relationship with Hornigold, or Stede Bonnet (Pirate Captains that Blackbeard once served with, or commanded over). We do however get to see some elements (which I venture to wonder how accurate they really are) such as his marriage near the end of the film.
But they did do a decent job with including some of the lore and legends associated with the Pirate (such as his 13 or 14 marriages... and the story about his body swimming around the ship).
All in all I think it was a decent representation of the man. I don't think it's a completely accurate portrayal but for the sake of entertainment I can honestly say it's a fairly good film. I would recommend to anyone that is interested in Blackbeard, to do your research before concluding this film as fact. This film should be a supporting element, not the main focus for any real investigation. For that you might try the book Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, by Angus Kostam. That can also be found here on this website (which is where I purchased it).
 Blackbeard, Terror at Sea December 16, 2008
This is a good depiction of the activities of pirates in colonial America and the Atlantic area.
Blackbeard: As Close As We Will Get! August 12, 2008
I bought this because I am presently obsessed with pirates. I expected the usual workmanlike documentary on Blackbeard, the most notorious pirate. What a surprise! It's almost a real movie! Most of the film is a drama, very movie-like, surprisingly well cast and wonderfully produced with high quality sets, costumes. It was so much better than I expected. While many docu-dramas splice in some dialogue, this runs for many minutes of dramatic scenes that are as good as or better than many made to the purpose dramatic movies. Blackbeard is very beleivable, has real menacing but human presence and the use of the Mate's character as the narrator works very well indeed. The acting is not the wooden line speaking so often found in these sorts of things but beleivable dialogue. This could have actually been expanded to be a feature length historical drama! Blackbeard's portrayal rang true for me and the treatment of his last wife is decidedly adult-cable TV! I want more!
 Entertaining, but... July 20, 2008
I was a little dismayed to learn that this production did not portray the facts as accurately as is possible. The film itself is very good and kept my attention, and after it was over it had interested me enough to want to know more about Blackbeard. So I did some research, and that's when I learned that what I had just seen was not necessarily how it happened...
For one, in this film Blackbeard is shown always operating on his own, on one ship, when in fact he often had a mini-flotilla of three or four vessels. Another surprise was that his famous flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, was run aground in North Carolina (some say intentionally). Somehow the film failed to mention this seemingly important event.
The story is told through the eyes of Israel Hands, Blackbeard's 2nd-in-command. That much is true, for Hands was part of the crew, but the film does not mention that Hands actually captained another ship in Blackbeard's group; furthermore, the film shows Blackbeard deliberately wounding Hands to save him from a coming battle, while the historical account of the incident is that Blackbeard shot at another sailor, missed him, and the bullet found Hands by chance. Blackbeard's reason for shooting? "That if he did not now and then kill one of them, they would forget who he was." This is hardly the same reason for shooting as the film portrays.
Lastly, and rather disturbingly, the film shows Blackbeard bringing his new wife to his ship (after a brief attempt at retirement) and allowing his crew to gang-rape her; the voice-over in the film states "she was never heard from again." While I suppose that a corrupt individual like Blackbeard was certainly capable of such an act, I could find no historical reference or basis for it. In fact, if anything, it appears he was more of a "ladies' man" and, according to author Robert Lee "few pirates treated women or girls with greater respect than he..." Given that, it's puzzling why this film would portray Blackbeard authorizing such a heinous crime.
The sad part is, I really enjoyed the film and thought it was well done. It was only after I did some research that I learned the film does not do the best job in presenting history as it happened. I give it 3 stars for entertainment value, but it loses two for playing "fast and loose" with some of the facts.
National Geographic: Blackbeard - Terror at Sea July 18, 2008
National Geographic: Blackbeard - Terror at Sea is THE BEST DVD I have ever seen on Edward Teach!! I have watched it over and over and over... it is absolutely THE best pirate DVD I have seen to date (besides Disney's POTC movies which are fictional)!! THIS IS A MUST FOR ALL PIRATE FANS!! Kudos to National Geographic for this one!
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