作者落水了！倘若罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森看到罗伯特·墨菲对这部经典《金银岛》的新改编，他会纳闷是谁篡夺了——或者说绑架了——他的故事。这位苏格兰作家肯定会惊讶地看到大卫·奥耶洛沃饰演长约翰·西尔弗，这是这部六集剧集为数不多的创新之一，尽管奥耶洛沃的表演像啃硬饼干一样嚼碎了场面。但墨菲从本博海军上将客栈到弗林特船长埋藏的黄金，途中偏离原著太多，以至于列举他忠于原著的时刻反而更容易。
Author overboard! Had Robert Louis Stevenson seen Robert Murphy’s new adaptation of the venerable “Treasure Island,” he’d be wondering who commandeered—or perhaps kidnapped—his story. The Scottish writer would certainly have been surprised to see David Oyelowo playing Long John Silver, which is one of the six-part series’ better innovations, despite Mr. Oyelowo chewing the scenery like hardtack. But there are so many diversions taken by Mr. Murphy, in getting from the Admiral Benbow Inn to Captain Flint’s buried gold, that it is almost easier to cite the moments when he stays on course.
史蒂文森原本想写一个男孩的痛快海盗冒险，在此过程中确立了海盗故事的许多标配元素——坏血病恶棍、被遗弃的水手、未知岛屿、肩上的鹦鹉。还有地图上标记藏宝地点的“X”，像弗林特这样的海狗会在杀光全船人、自己也死掉前把赃物藏在那里，留下船员像伊斯帕尼奥拉号船舱里的老鼠一样四处乱窜。
Stevenson intended the story to be a boy’s rollicking pirate adventure, and along the way it established much of what have become the standard-issue accessories of the buccaneer tale—scurvy knaves, marooned sailors, uncharted islands, parrots on shoulders. Also, the X that marks the spot on the map where a seagoing dog like Flint would hide his plunder before killing all hands, dying himself, and leaving his crew to scramble like the rats in the hold of the Hispaniola.