1 9 9 1 (USA)
7 x 60 minute episodes
On the Caribbean island of San Pietro in the 1790s, a pirate named Black Jack Savage (Steven Williams) is hanged. The ghost of Black Jack remains on the island and haunts his former residence, Blackbird Castle.
300 years later in New York City, billionaire Barry Tarberry (Daniel Hugh-Kelly), the owner of Tarberry Enterprises, is arrested for insider trading. While out on bail, Barry gathers his available assets and goes into exile on the island of San Pietro.
There he pays $300,000 to the island’s corrupt governor-general Herve Abel Vasquez (Bert Rosario), for immunity. Abel’s niece, Reya Montegro (Roya Megnot), who runs Vasquez Realty for her uncle, sells Barry the haunted BlackbirdCastle for $1,500,000.
Barry does not believe in the legend of the ghost until he comes face to face with Black Jack. He also discovers he is wanted by the FBI and now broke, since the government seized all his other assets.
The current owner of Blackbird Castle is the only person who can see and hear Black Jack. Barry also learns that Black Jack killed 100 people as a pirate and is now cursed to remain on Earth until he can save an equal number of lives to make up for those he took.
Barry discovers that he is also doomed to spend all of eternity in Hell for his bad deeds and so agrees with the ghost that they will help each other by saving lives, splitting the credit and good karma for each life they save – 51% to Jack, 49% to Barry. It’s the only chance Barry has to save his soul, and it’s Jack’s only chance to find eternal peace.
Stories relate their bumbling efforts to save lives.
Assisting Barry and Jack (but he doesn’t know about Jack) is Logan “FX” Murphy (Steve Hytner), a brilliant scientist who once worked for the Pentagon as a defence specialist. He wears a NASA cap and carries a seven-ton generator in the back of his car to power his various inventions – including ‘The Blackbird’, a high-tech speedboat that Barry uses to battle crime (he hides the boat at a secret dock near the castle).
TRIVIA
Black Jack fears Snarks (ghostly creatures in a different dimension) – “Little Dirt Bags” that will send him to Hell if he leaves the castle. If the Snarks catch Jack, they can transport him to hell by bringing him to the roots of the tree where he was hanged (the roots lead to Hell).
Each episode concluded with the number of lives left to save. At the end of the final episode, “89Lives Left to Save” appeared.
Barry Tarberry
Daniel Hugh-Kelly
Black Jack Savage
Steven Williams
Logan “FX” Murphy
Steve Hytner
Governor-General Herve Abel Vasquez
Bert Rosario
Reya Montegro
Roya Megnot
Danielle St. Clair
Roma Downey
Marla Lance
Mary Kay Adams
