Our Flag Means Death sidebar
I was already planning on writing about Our Flag Means Death and its comparisons to Monkey Island but since the announcement of a new game dropped I’m probably going to be writing more about Monkey Island than the pirate TV show.
Though the pirate TV show is doing just fine. It’s already reached cult-level status and is now one of HBO Max’s most popular shows (available in New Zealand on Neon).
The show is created by David Jenkins and stars fellow Kiwi, Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate. While it is an ensemble cast making up Stede’s crew of pirates, eventually Taika Waititi makes an appearance on the show as Blackbeard and the main story really centres on their relationship.
By the last few episodes, I had grown to love this quirky little show set on a fake ship on a sound stage surrounded by green screens. Bit of a backhanded compliment, sorry. But it did take me out of it until I got more invested in the characters.
While watching Our Flag Means Death I couldn’t help but see similarities to the classic adventure game series; Monkey Island.
Firstly, it’s a comedy about pirates. Check.
The lead character is a wannabe pirate. Check.
He uses wits more than brawn. Check.
He’s blonde. Check.
He is entangled with a fearsome pirate with a bushy black beard. Check and check.
What doesn’t match up?
Stede Bonnet was an actual man known as the Gentleman Pirate. Guybrush Threepwood sure lines up with him in more than just appearance. Perhaps Ron took some inspiration from him.
Blackbeard was of course also an actual person. While Monkey Island has the villain LeChuck, he is more intent on stealing Guybrush’s love, Elaine Marley, rather than Blackbeard being more on side with Stede.
Now all this would be damning but there’s no supernatural component. No voodoo, ghosts or undead pirates. And the mysterious Monkey Island, it’s in the name after all.
Ron Gilbert had previously said The Secret of Monkey Island was inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Of course, we got those many Disney movies. The first couple of films were pretty good with wacky humour reminiscent of the games. It all went downhill after that. But as he said on his blog, really, Ron’s main inspiration was the Tim Powers novel, On Stranger Tides, which features characters Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. The ride was more inspiration for the ‘ambience’.
So it looks like that’s where the similarities come in, by possibly sharing the same source of inspiration or just the real-life characters. Besides the humour, there’s no clear link back to Monkey Island. Perhaps they’re saving that for a second season.
I went to Ron Gilbert’s Twitter to see if he had commented on the show. Nothing.
Ron’s tradition every year on April Fools’ Day is that he makes it clear his blog is 100% April Fools’ Day free. But this year, on 1 April he said there was a new Monkey Island coming. That put us in an unusual predicament. Would Ron Gilbert break his 18-year streak of telling it straight on April Fools only to go and lie to our faces? Well, we didn’t have to wait long.
A few days later a trailer was released for Return to Monkey Island, a canonical follow up to the original two Monkey Island games created by Ron Gilbert, and written and designed by Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer. Unfortunately, it looks like Tim Schafer is not involved, as he is boss of a now Microsoft-owned games studio, Double Fine.
A brief history of Monkey Island
The Secret of Monkey Island is a point-and-click adventure game. These games came about from the text adventure genre, games like Zork where you had to type in commands such as “Open mailbox”. Now, these adventure games could show illustrated backgrounds where you could select verbs and the objects or characters you wanted to interact with on-screen.
In the game, you play as Guybrush Threepwood arriving on Mêlée Island™ (the TM is written in the dialogue) and declaring “I want to be a pirate!” (hence the newsletter title), undertaking some trials from the island’s pirate leaders, falling in love with the island’s governor, Elaine Marley, before she is kidnapped by the ghost pirate LeChuck and taken to Monkey Island. All pretty straightforward.
What made The Secret of Monkey Island special was the irreverent humour. Puzzles often had silly solutions. And while there was combat in the game, sword battles were won by firing off insults.
My history with the series
It was in my teens in the early 2000s I discovered Monkey Island. By this point, the series that was released on floppy disks, was well and truly out of print and what one called ‘abandonware’, requiring an emulator to run. ScummVM was the emulator of choice for LucasArts point-and-click adventure games. So I pirated the pirate game.
But Ron isn’t without a wink and a nod. When he put out the Kickstarter for Thimbleweed Park, this was one of the tiers available:
"I pirated Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island when I was a kid and I feel bad!" This reward tier instantly absolves you of all guilt and includes the Thimbleweed Park game. All subsequent tiers also include guilt absolution.
These days you can purchase Special Editions of the first two games with new graphics and voiceover. Because it’s built on top of the old SCUMM programming language you can easily switch back to the old graphics at any time with a press of a button.
At college, I wouldn’t shut up about Monkey Island to the only person who would listen, my best friend. As a socially anxious kid just wanting to be accepted by the world, Monkey Island was my entire personality. To this day The Secret of Monkey Island remains in my top ten games of all time.
I have a fondness for The Curse of Monkey Island which had a Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic and I did get my hands on a reprint version. None of the original team was involved but it did bear Dominic Armato’s initial involvement with the series going forward, the voice actor for our hero, Guybrush Threepwood
People don’t often talk about Guybrush’s first venture into full 3D, with Escape From Monkey Island. I have this one on disc and although it’s been a while since I played it, it all came about at the same time for me with the rest of the Monkey Islands. And just between you and me, it may have been my first Monkey Island game. Don’t tell Ron.
Back in my reviewing days, I reviewed The Telltale Games episodic series, Tales of Monkey Island. It wasn’t great and far from what the series used to be but I tried to meet it at its level, another Telltale game set in the Monkey Island universe.
It was the last PC game I bought on disc. I didn’t even end up using the discs as the episodes were downloadable. But I had that urge to own that physical box as I had missed the boat on the previous games. I still have the box for Tim Schafer’s Grim Fandango which I hunted down on Trade Me.
My Monkey Island fandom culminated in 2013 when I attended the first Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Melbourne, where Ron Gilbert presented a keynote called “Storytime with Ron Gilbert,” speaking on game development and the creative process. I don’t remember a word of what he said but I remember feeling inspired. I may need to watch it again.
What I’m hoping for
The series is announced for 2022. My biggest hope is that it comes soon and is not pushed back to next year like so many other titles have been. Published by Devolver Digital, which publishes a great roster of indies. Also in collaboration with George-Lucas-founded LucasFilm Games (previously known as LucasArts).
Ron Gilbert’s latest foray in development was Thimbleweed Park, a classic point-and-click adventure game; pixels, verbs and all. It was more Maniac Mansion than Monkey Island, Ron’s first game, but I think it showed that our Ron still has the chops.
I honestly wouldn’t mind if it was just Monkey Island 2 again with new puzzles but really I’m open to wherever he may take it. I’m hoping they add a classic pixel art mode. And the verbs, you can’t forget the verbs. Okay. Fine. So we probably have to include some of the new developments to games in the last 30 years and that might mean scrapping the verbs. I’ll have to make peace with the fact this will be more reboot than sequel.
What you can do right now: Fair Pay Agreements
The Fair Pay Agreements Bill is now open for submissions until May 19th. Fair Pay Agreements means setting minimum terms for pay and working conditions across industries. Australia’s Modern Awards system does this and New Zealand has lagged behind ever since the Employment Contracts Act came into law in 1991.
The Bill doesn’t even require people to belong to a union to benefit from a collective agreement. As I work for the public service I benefit from belonging to a union and being covered by a collective agreement, but in many other industries, workers do not have this. Jobs such as supermarket workers, cleaners, social workers and early childhood teachers.
While the title for the video above says the opposite, it’s tongue-in-cheek, performed brilliantly by Robbie Nicol as a bad boss. I recommend you show your support for Fair Pay Agreements and put the case forward that contractors should be included.
Action: Make a submission
The Together campaign website advises you to tell your personal story about your experience in work and suggests some prompts.
What I’m watching: Abandonment Issues
Abandonment Issues started airing last week on Fridays, hosted by comedian James Mustapic. Similar to his series on The Spinoff, Repressed Memories, James delves back into New Zealand’s pop culture past, a past most people have moved on from.
The first episode is about the first season of New Zealand Idol, and what happened to the two finalists; Ben Lummis and Michael Murphy. In the second ep he covers New Zealand mediums including his beef with Sensing Murder’s Sue Nicholson.
I just can’t get enough of James’ deadpan humour and commitment to the bit. He’s a life raft through these awkward interactions with kiwi celebrities of times long gone.
Recommended reads
In a similar vein to Fair Pay Agreements, we also have the Income Insurance Scheme on the cards. While it has much to be desired in terms of covering our most vulnerable, Anna McMartin dives deep into the policy and New Zealand’s history with unemployment in her SubStack with the clever name, The End is Naenae.
David Farrier has been covering stories on megachurches, including Hillsong and City Impact. In this new piece, he has also been speaking to ex-members from Arise Church, where young interns were exploited for their services and even paying for the privilege. I used to attend their youth nights around 15 years ago, some church services and the odd conference when it was starting to get big. Proof again that megachurches can be more business than spiritual connection.
New to streaming
New to Disney+
No Exit - a thriller filmed in Auckland, recreating the Sierra Nevada in California. A blizzard strands a bunch of strangers at a rest stop. Thrills ensue, one guesses.
Fresh - a comedy thriller about a woman dating a man with dark tendencies. I’ve stayed away from much online discussion until I get a chance to watch it. Like Promising Young Woman, this is probably one you want to go into blind.
New to Prime Video
Master - a horror led by Regina Hall, set at a New England university believed to be haunted, where three Black women navigate privilege and perhaps, ghosts?
If you enjoyed this newsletter, feed it to a three-headed monkey.
Michael.