Line #75 Literature/SinbadTheSailor


1	%%
2	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16858495180.99022900
3	%% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
4	%%
5	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sinbad1.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[WesternAnimation/PopeyeTheSailorMeetsSindbadTheSailor Who's the most phenomenal, extraordinary fellow?]]'']]
7
8	''Sinbad the Sailor'' is an outcome report about an IntrepidMerchant who goes on seven high risk business ventures to open new trade routes to oversea markets, only to have unforeseen complications create areas of opportunity for his [[GuileHero negotiating skills]] to create mutually beneficial outcomes.
9
10	Or at least, that would be the modern interpretation of Sinbad. This Middle Eastern fable is a collection of stories told in a manner similar to the ''[[Literature/ArabianNights Thousand And One Nights]]''; Sinbad (or Hinbad) the Porter stops to rest outside the mansion of Sinbad the merchant, and laments that for chance he missed out on the amazing riches of the latter, which he won very easily. However, [[ExactEavesdropping who should hear him]] but Sinbad the Sailor? Rather than be angry at his jealousy, he invites the porter to dine with him and regales him for seven consecutive nights with the tales of his fortunes and misfortunes, adventures and perils, giving him a hundred gold coins at the end of each.
11
12	The tales of Sinbad the Sailor were originally independent of the ''Thousand and One Nights''. Antoine Galland [[CanonImmigrant added Sinbad]] to the ''Nights'' when compiling his 18th-century French translation, which was the first translation into any European language, and which introduced the ''Nights'' to European culture. The "Sinbad" stories have since become closely associated with the ''Thousand and One Nights'' and are usually included in ''Nights'' translations. The original Arabic name is most closely transliterated as "Sindbad"; this is how it's spelled in the famous Richard Burton translation and the 2008 Lyons translation. Despite this, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS "Sinbad" without a D]] has become the most common form in English, and some scholars have jokingly (or not) suggested it's because of the inadvertent pun on "sin" and "bad". Note that there are two radically different versions of Sinbad's seventh voyage (one where he spends a long period in a city of intermittently winged men, the other where he's enslaved and encounters an ElephantGraveyard); some translations include both.
13
14	Despite being commonly called "the Sailor," Sinbad is a merchant and a ship-owner, and has adventures in places reached by sailing, but is not himself a sailor of any sort; at most, he occasionally improvises rafts for emergency travel. Some translations call him something like "Sindbad of the Sea", which might be more accurate.
15
16	Sinbad has proven a popular figure in the cinema and on TV, where, however, his adventures have generally had little connection with his original ''1,001 Nights'' version.
17
18	Not to be confused with Franchise/{{Popeye}} The Sailor, though they did "costar" in ''WesternAnimation/PopeyeTheSailorMeetsSindbadTheSailor'', sort of. Also not to be confused with {{Creator/Sinbad}} the comedian.
19
20	----
21	!!Tropes used in the Seven Voyages:
22
23	* AesopAmnesia: Whenever Sinbad gets in a really bad spot on one of his journeys he regrets leaving home and wishes he hadn't taken a risky sea voyage. After he finally does get home, he gets bored and winds up going to sea again.
24	* ArabianNightsDays: The baseline setting.
25	* CityOfGold: Sinbad gets to visit some very wealthy kingdoms, though none of them really hit the peak version of the trope.
26	* CombatPragmatist: Sinbad's "fighting style" consists mainly of sneak attacking vulnerable enemies.
27	* DisproportionateReward: Perhaps filtered by ValuesDissonance, but the rich kings and other rulers in Sinbad's tale do seem to enjoy lavishing him with presents and riches just for being an interesting guy. They may be flaunting their wealth to a foreigner there, of course.
28	* DoomMagnet: Sindbad is unlucky, very unlucky. However, his shipmates tend to be a lot unluckier -- at least Sindbad always survives. Most of the stories involve him becoming the sole survivor of some terrible cataclysm, or [[EverybodysDeadDave begin that way]]. Then it gets worse. ''Then'' he gets rich(er). Then he goes out on more adventures and ''does it again!''
29	* DwindlingParty: Sinbad tends to be the lone survivor of a lot of his tales.
30	* FramingDevice: Sinbad tells his stories to Sinbad the Porter over several dinners.
31	* GuileHero: Only rarely does Sinbad ever need to use violence to escape his predicaments.
32	* TheHomewardJourney: Every time he goes off on an adventure, Sinbad eventually gets homesick and looks for a ship heading back to Baghdad.
33	* IntrepidMerchant: Sinbad's schtick. He does seem to have a gift for trading.
34	* IsleOfGiantHorrors: The title character often ends up on one of these during his travels, including one where a [[GiantFlyer Roc bird]] nests, and another inhabited by a man-eating giant (who's basically an {{Expy}} of Polyphemus from ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' and gets defeated [[EyeScream in a similar manner]]).
35	* MrViceGuy: Sinbad is a lot like Scrooge [=McDuck=], ambitious ([[AmbitionIsEvil but not evil]], ValuesDissonance not withstanding) and out to make a buck. (He does also suffer from a lot of wanderlust.) In fact, by the end he's one of the richest men in Baghdad.
36	* NonActionGuy: Despite the modern habit of portraying him as a [[{{Swashbuckler}} swashbuckling hero]] (just look at the page image), like a lot of 1,001 Nights heroes Sindbad is more of an explorer and businessman than a fighter and primarily [[GuileHero uses his cunning]] to find ways to ''avoid'' conflict. When he ''is'' forced to fight, it's as a last resort, he isn't particularly good at it, and he rarely does so in a very action packed or heroic way -- typically, [[GoodIsNotNice he springs upon his enemies when they are vulnerable and beats them down before they can react.]]
37	* OceanOfAdventure: Sinbad is a merchant who undertakes seven long journeys across the Indian Ocean. During his travels, he encounters terrible monsters and cannibals, travels to distant and wondrous places, and is shipwrecked or left stranded with a certain regularity, but always manages to use his wits to escape and return to Baghdad laden with riches.
38	* OneSteveLimit: Notably averted when Sinbad the Porter attracts the attention of Sinbad the Sailor, who proceeds to tell the porter of his seven voyages.
39	* SoleSurvivor: Often Sinbad's status by the mid-point of a story.
40	* StrictlyFormula: Sinbad gets wanderlust (or, in some of the earlier voyages, broke), goes off on a trading expedition, gets shipwrecked or stranded, runs afoul of some sort of monster, meets up with a king who showers him with wealth and favors, and finally finds his way back to Baghdad.
41	* WalkingTheEarth: Well, more like sailing the ocean, but still.
42
43	!!Tropes used in the First Voyage:
44	* ThatsNoMoon: The sailors mistake the giant sea creature for an island.
45	* TurtleIsland: The sleeping giant whale[=/=]fish has a forest growing on it.
46
47	!!Tropes used in the Second Voyage:
48	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Sinbad lands in a valley full of snakes ... ''giant'' snakes.
49	* GiantFlyer: The Roc ("Rukh").
50	* TheGreatSerpent: The valley's filled with gigantic snakes which can swallow humans in a single gulp.
51	* ThatsNoMoon: Sinbad mistakes the Roc's egg for a white dome, and looks for a door.
52
53	!!Tropes used in the Third Voyage:
54	* {{Expy}}: The giant is a fairly obvious one to Polyphemus the Cyclops in Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''[[Literature/TheOdyssey Odyssey]]''
55	* EyeScream: Sinbad and the other sailors blind the giant with two red-hot iron spits with which the monster has been kebabing and roasting the ship's company.
56	* GiantMook: The giant.
57	* GoForTheEye: The way to take out something that's basically too big to kill.
58	* TheGreatSerpent: In an OutOfTheFryingPan moment, Sinbad and a couple of his companions managed to escape the giants' isle to another nearby island, only to realize it's the home of a gargantuan serpent. Sinbad managed to escape up a tree, but his remaining comrades quickly become snake dinner.
59	* ImAHumanitarian: Mmm. Mmm. Sailors!
60
61	!!Tropes used in the Fourth Voyage:
62	* CapturedByCannibals: Sinbad just keeps walking into this sort of thing, doesn't he? Though actually, this time round, he's smarter about it than his companions; he refuses to eat the herb offered to them while the others are too hungry to be suspicious, and so doesn't fall into the same stupor.
63	* DarkerAndEdgier: We get more cannibalism, but this time the victims are essentially lobotomized, treated as livestock and deliberately fattened up. Later on Sinbad is entombed alive, and resorts to murdering others who suffer the same fate in order to take their food and survive a little longer.
64	* GraveRobbing[=/=]SerialKiller: After escaping from the tombs, Sinbad periodically returns, murders whoever else was thrown in there alive, and takes their stuff.
65	* LotusEaterMachine: Well, plain old "Lotuses" anyway. The cannibals make their captives docile with an herb to fatten them up.
66	* TogetherInDeath: The bad kind. The kingdom Sinbad ends up living in for a while has a custom that when one member of a married couple dies, the surviving spouse will be entombed with them (and obviously won't survive for much longer after that).
67
68	!!Tropes used in the Fifth Voyage:
69	* CantHoldHisLiquor: Sinbad's homebrew makes the Old Man of the Sea fall off his back, and then he kills him.
70	* DeathFromAbove: What the Rocs do after the sailors eat one of their eggs.
71	* GiantFlyer: Another Roc.
72	* MadeASlave: The Old Man clings to Sinbad's back, can't be shaken off, and rides him around.
73	* MamaBear-PapaWolf: The Roc parents, to the point where they [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge attack Sinbad and his crew]] [[SympathyForTheDevil upon finding out about the death of their child]].
74	* ManiacMonkeys: A feature of life in the City of the Apes.
75	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: See MamaBear-PapaWolf above
76
77	!!Tropes used in the Sixth Voyage:
78	* EverybodysDeadDave: This time around, after a shipwreck, many of Sinbad's companions die around him, of starvation and exposure, leaving him waiting for death. Apparently, he has a ''great'' constitution.
79	* WorthlessYellowRocks: The land of Serendib is so jewel studded it's a massive piece of jewelry.
80
81	!!Tropes used in the Seventh Voyage:
82	* ElephantGraveyard: Sinbad finds one in the variant version.
83	* MadeASlave: In the variant version.
84	* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The inhabitants of the distant city where Sinbad settles for a while turn out to be demons, or at least demon-worshipers.
85	* RevisedEnding: Some versions, such as Burton and Lyons, include the alternate version in which the Caliph sends Sinbad back to Serendib bearing gifts -- in effect, an eighth voyage, especially once things go wrong for Sinbad yet again.
86	* SeaMonster: The enormous fish that threaten Sinbad's ship.
87	* ShapeShifting: The demons[=/=]demon-worshippers change form and grow wings once a month.
88
89	!! Works Featuring Sinbad (Sometimes InNameOnly) Include:
90
91	* 1936 animated film ''WesternAnimation/PopeyeTheSailorMeetsSindbadTheSailor''
92	* 1947 film ''Film/SinbadTheSailor''
93	* 1952 film ''[[Film/{{Sadko}} The Magic Voyage of Sinbad]]'' (Actually a DolledUpInstallment, with the ''Sinbad'' mythos pasted over the Soviet film ''Sadko'', to hide its Russian origins)
94	* 1958-1977 - The ThematicSeries featuring StopMotion creatures and {{Matte Shot}}s by Creator/RayHarryhausen:
95	** ''Film/{{The 7th Voyage of Sinbad}}'' starring Creator/KerwinMatthews.
96	** ''Film/TheGoldenVoyageOfSinbad'' starring John Phillip Law.
97	** ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'' starring Creator/PatrickWayne.
98	*** See also ''{{Pinball/Sinbad}}'', a 1978 [[LicensedPinballTables licensed pinball game]] based on the movie.
99	* 1963 fantasy film ''Film/CaptainSindbad''
100	* 1975 anime ''Anime/ArabianNightsAdventuresOfSinbad'', one of ''Creator/NipponAnimation'''s earliest works.
101	* 1979 cartoon ''The Adventures of Sinbad''
102	* 1989 film ''Film/SinbadOfTheSevenSeas'' starring Creator/LouFerrigno
103	* The 1991 anime, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasDorabianNights'', have Doraemon and friends meeting Sinbad, who turns out to be an elderly RetiredBadass living by himself in his magic palace, right in the middle of the desert.
104	* 1992 BeatEmUp arcade video game, ''VideoGame/ArabianMagic'', have Sinbad (spelled "Sindbad" in-game) as one of the four playable heroes.
105	* 1992 BeatEmUp arcade video game, ''VideoGame/ArabianFight'', features Sinbad as well, but this time spelled "Sinbat"
106	* 1996 Canadian TV show ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSinbad''
107	* 2003 animated film ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas''
108	* 2009 manga ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'', featuring Sinbad as the ruler of the prosperous island nation of Sindria, as well as an adventurer famous for completing seven deadly trials.
109	* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293742 Sinbad Jr.]]'', whose [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP4cf4Zn00E theme]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6_2QbRvM_o song]] describes the hero as "Sinbad the Sailor" (with no Jr.)
110	* ''Series/{{Sinbad}}'': A 2012 British TV series starring newcomer Creator/ElliotKnight as Sinbad, {{curse}}d to never be able to stay on dry land for more than a day after [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killing a man in a fight]].
111	* ''Theatre/TheEighthVoyageOfSindbad'': A former stunt show at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's Islands of Adventure]].
112	* Osprey Publishing have [[http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/large_image.aspx?ID=4172 a volume about Sinbad]] in their "Osprey Adventures" line.
113	* Sinbad even got a TextAdventure spinoff on the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum, ''Sinbad and the Golden Ship''!
114	* ''The Fantastic Voyages Of Sinbad The Sailor''.

Context Literature / SinbadTheSailor