Trade Winds (1993)

A forbidden love affair blossoms on the gorgeous Caribbean island of St. Martin in this juicy tale of two feuding families vying for control of the island. Family patriach Cristof Philips (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) attempts to bring the Philips and Sommers families together, but tempers flare when sparks fly between hunky island adventurer Ocean Sommers (Michael McLafferty, General Hospital) and exotic beauty Maxine Philips (Michael Michele, E.R.) newly engaged to another man. Maxine's family warns her: "This Ocean has a riptide and he will drag you under!," but nothing can stop her from running out in a hurricane for a secret, rain-soaked night of passion! Tensions grow when Ocean is accused of murdering Maxine#s brother Chris in a scuba-diving mission for a cursed treasure, while her fiance is determined to see Ocean behind bars for the rest of his life. Now Maxine will do anything -make any sacrifice - as chaos erupts when the shocking truth behind Chris' death and long-hidden family secrets are revealed.

 No, I have not bought this set yet, however ...
I think the network that aired this miniseries was ABC and not NBC. I was furious when they would not show the final episode. Instead they showed two pilots for sitcoms that failed (predictably, "Cafe American" and "The Mommies," both of which were incredibly STUPID!). Because ABC pulled this on us, I refused to watch that network for years and I seldom watch ABC to this day - so THERE! I don't think I have missed anything either! I bought the book hoping to find out how the story ended, but that turned out just to be a "prequel" rather than a retelling of the story shown on TV. I hope now to see the final episode. Don't tell me how it ends! September 8, 2007

 StarMariner
I really liked this series. I found it every bit as good as Dynasty or Dallas and don't understand why it never stayed on air. It has the perfect formula, passion, romance, intrigue and rivalry between two wealthy families--the Philips and Sommers. It is a great continuation of the book Trade Winds by Janet Quinn Harkin. May 22, 2006

 The Mystery is finally over
Well, I've been checking in periodically to see what others have to say about this miniseries but no one has clocked in yet so I guess I'll be the first (only?) one.

If I recall this correctly, back in 1992 NBC had the idea to make a weekly television show that was comprised of a series of short, unrelated miniseries. Kind of a 'romance theater' sort of thing. Audiences would never have to commit to more than five or six weeks to see a whole story; and if one of the miniseries was particularly popular it could easily serve as a pilot and be made into it's own series.

Well first up was "Trade Winds" a six-hour drama with all the typical mini-series ingredients: beautiful young people, venerable older actors (Efram Zimblast Jr. in this case) forbidden love, vengeful villains, fueding familes, an exotic locale, a grand hotel setting, catfights, a mysterious murder, a lost treasure, a curse, courtroom dramatics etc. It was all cheesy and predictable in a guilty-pleasure 'Dynasty' way.

The problem was that hardly anyone watched. In fact, the ratings tanked so badly that NBC yanked the show before showing the sixth and final hour. So those of us who watched this 13 years ago never found out who killed Chris, what happened to the treasure, who ended up owning the hotel, if the young lovers ended up together, if the hero ever got out of jail etc. (actually I believe after a flood of complaints NBC did eventually air the final hour but it was on a Sunday afternoon at 3pm with almost no advanced warning and was still preempted by local channels in some instances in favor of local programing).

Anyway, had the entire mini-series been shown it would have just been another wannabe Dallas/Dynasty that failed and would have been quickly forgotten. However, due to the fact that the finale was never shown, it has always stuck in my mind and become something of a legend in the annals of cheesy TV movies. I had never experienced such a thing before...to be shown all but the final hour of a movie...a final hour where all is revealed no less. For years now, everytime I would see an actor who was in this show in some other series, I would always be reminded of "Trade Winds" and wonder...hey how did that story ever end up?...

Well now, to those hapless few (very few apparently) who stuck with the show for those 5 weeks way back in 1992, NOW you can finally can find out what happened! (And then will quickly forget about it I'm sure :)) The mini-series was obviously a pilot for a future series that never materialized so some story threads are still left hanging, but the main ones are basically settled.

The DVD has no extras, but, hey, I never thought I'd ever see this released on DVD at all so it was fun to see. It's nicely packaged with all episodes on two one-sided discs. There are some nice publicity shots in the little inside insert sheet too.

And PS: For those who care, (don't worry, this is not a spoiler) the murderer's revelation was actually quite a surprise! I didn't see it coming. That's something for a show like this! Oh and the two people on the DVD cover are not the two Romeo/Juliette lovers. That's the girl alright, but the guy pictured is actually the antagonist who trys to breaks them apart (!) I don't think the package designer watched the movie when he chose that photograph. One last indignity to be endured by the little mini-series that got shafted. March 31, 2005

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