I was quite excited by this. I thought Sinbad would lend itself well to TV. I do find it very watchable and will finish the series, although I am constantly reminded of its faults:The acting and directing are poor. The acting is hammy and overblown and brings to mind old BBC series' from the late 80s and 90s. The fight scenes are laughable and the action sequences look cheap and badly done. Not at all convincing. Think cheap Bollywood without any special effects or cables making people fly.This is VERY 'family'. The BBC Radio 4 accents, the tame fight scenes, the overly simple plots...it's so...mild......and incredible shallow. The characters are all out of the BBC 1992 hero scrap book and they have no depth at all. The plots are all very simple, poorly written and with really bad endings. Like they were written on the bus on the way to filming.It is a watchable series, especially while you're doing something else! I have it on while I'm working to be honest. Whenever I watch it properly I am constantly reminded that I'm watching a very low budget, poorly done programme that is in a totally different league to big budget shows.

Why do I always have to think about Hercules or Xena while watching Sindbad? I think it is because they have many things in common. Easy understandable, not all-to deep stories, nice shooting-locations, not to bad special-effects but bad wardrobe, makeup and hairstyle. Please give me a break. Some of the wardrobe and Hairstyles at this show seem to be right out of the 21st century. I was almost laughing when I saw the Indiana-Jones hat on that bounty-hunter. I don't want to talk about the scene in the casino... That was too bad. Yes I have to agree with another review I have read before. There is totally missing a very attractive female counterpart for Sindbad in this show. I really liked the shooting-locations. Very convincing. The acting is not bad, but also not outstanding. The dialogs are sometimes a bit flat. I really hope that there will be a second season. Why I give 9 stars? I think this show is entertaining and I like to be entertained.

I'm a big fan of the fantasy genre and I grew up with the Sinbad movies featuring Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion work, so I have a massive inclination to like anything like this.But...This is just reaching beyond its ability to deliver. Production values are reasonable, but acting and story lines are just woeful. There is terrible CGI all over the place and Sinbad's "I cannot spend more than a day on land" amulet is an awful macguffin designed to drive tension in certain episodes.They meant well, but they aren't delivering. Will there be a second season? We will have to see. But they need to do some work if it is to last much longer.

I am catching up with the first series DVD box and am thoroughly enjoying every minute! Yes it does have the odd historical inaccuracy (as does 'Downton' with its use of the phrase 'big girl's blouse'!) and it reminds me of the BBC TV version of Robin Hood or Merlin for that matter. It tells a story - often with a moral - and tells it excitingly and colourfully. I am glad I bought the box. It is carrying me through the dark winter evenings and the cast - especially the leads - are very pleasant to watch! Their relationships and interplay are successfully portrayed and the effects are well done (for an understandably limited budget) and do not detract from the action - as they almost invariably do in movie blockbusters. For a family audience this is beautifully executed. Well done HBO - another success!