The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage

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The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage was a Disney-produced television series broadcast in the United States by NBC that followed the story of Black Jack Savage (played by Steven Williams), the ghost of a legendary 17th century Caribbean pirate who teams up with Barry Tarberry (played by Daniel Hugh-Kelly), a crooked Wall Street con-artist who has escaped trial by coming to the Caribbean. Eternally damned, both of them discover that they need to save 100 souls to compensate for the damage done by their sinful lives.

Unfortunately, any time Black Jack tries to leave the safety of his castle haunt on San Pietro Island, he is fair game for the Snarks (who can transport Jack to Hell through an entrance at the base of the tree where he was originally hanged). Tarberry has his own difficulties dodging the government agents sent to extradite him back to the United States to stand trial for his crimes. Other characters on San Pietro include the corrupt governor-general, Abel Vasquez (played by Bert Rosario), with whom Tarberry is able to make another deal, and island activist Danielle (played by Roma Downey), who is constantly trying to help protect the locals from the effects of Vasquez's corruption and is not above enlisting Tarberry's help in doing so.

Safety was not guaranteed for Barry Tarberry. For you see, Black Jack Savage had only done this once before. The show follows the misadventures of both Black Jack and his human counterpart as they team up to dodge the law, both supernatural and secular, to make their 100 soul quota and thus win their way to salvation.

A regular part of each and every episode was an appearance of the high tech powerboat, the Blackbird, which was a waterborne counterpart to KITT of NBC's Knight Rider fame. The origin of the Blackbird was never clearly presented other than having some quasi-mystical connection to the ghost of the departed but lamenting pirate.

This show originated as a TV-movie. The program originally aired in 1991, but lasted less than one season. The series was officially entitled Disney Presents The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage.