Review by mjwalser

"The Privateers" never made it past the filming of the pilot episode. It had promise, but the low budget of the producers really showed through in that pilot. There was no musical score other than the opening/closing theme, and no real sound effects. The interior sets were very basic, and had a somewhat last-minute look to them (sorry Joe). The outer space shots, all mid-grade CGI, weren't bad, and the concept of the pirate ship's "boarding beam" was kinda nifty, although the ship itself was clearly based on the design of a modern high-performance speedboat scaled up to look like a multi-deck ship.

As for the acting... well, Karl Urban did great, there is no denying that. One is left with the impression that Urban takes every acting gig quite seriously, and always gives the best performance he can. Walter Koenig, on the other hand, really showed his age in this. He wasn't bad, but neither was he particularly memorable. Frankly, he looked like he really didn't want to be there, and had perhaps been snookered by his agent.

If the show had been blessed with a bigger budget, it really could have become quite popular... although seeing how eager the powers that be are to cancel good sci-fi shows like "Firefly" and "Farscape", who knows how long this one would have lasted anyway.