The Pirates of Dark Water

The Pirates of Dark Water

Title screen.
Genre Action
Adventure
Fantasy
Format Animated Series
Created by David Kirschner
Starring George Newbern as Prince Ren
Voices of Jodi Benson
Earl Boen
Peter Cullen
Jim Cummings
Tim Curry
Héctor Elizondo
Brock Peters
Frank Welker
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 21
Production
Running time 30 min.
Production company(s) Hanna-Barbera
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel ABC (Season 1)
First-run syndication (Season 2)
Original run February 25, 1991 – May 23, 1993

The Pirates of Dark Water is a fantasy animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1991.

Contents

Premise

The alien world of Mer is being devoured by an evil substance known as Dark Water. Only Ren, a young prince, can stop it by finding the lost Thirteen Treasures of Rule. His loyal crew of misfits that help in his journey are an ecomancer (Tula), a monkey-bird (Niddler), and a treasure hungry pirate (Ioz). The evil pirate lord, Bloth, will stop at nothing to get the treasures for himself and provides many obstacles for Ren and his crew.

Network television run

The show first premiered on Fox Kids in early 1991 as a five-part mini-series titled Dark Water. Following a number of animation tweaks and other changes by Hanna-Barbera, those episodes were rebroadcast later in 1991 as the first five episodes of the regular series. Most notably, the original mini-series featured the voice of Roddy McDowall as Niddler, whereas in the revised version, the character was voiced by Frank Welker. The first season aired on ABC, while the second season aired in first-run syndication as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.

The series was never completed, ending abruptly after 21 episodes with only eight of the thirteen treasures collected.

Characters

Heroes

Villains

Ships

Mer

Mer is a world very different from Earth, with a variety of its own creatures with varying degrees of intelligence, such as the monkey-bird and the leviathan. The world has twenty seas, and most of the crew's stops are made at islands. Parts of Mer are continually in flux, like a river of spiked rocks that rises out of the ocean in the first episode and appears to defy physics (none of the characters are bewildered by the spectacle aside from its danger), but whether this is the Dark Water's doing or just the nature of the geologically hyperactive planet is unknown.

Octopon was once the greatest city on Mer, referred to as "the jewel in the crown of Mer" by Ioz in episode 14, though it lies in ruin until Ren collects the first seven Treasures. It is then partially restored. Octopon seems to have been centuries ahead of the current technological state of Mer, although it is probable that civilization is continually in decline due to the Dark Water oozing from the planet's core.

Episodes

# Title Airdate Written by Summary
1 The Quest February 25, 1991 Lane Raichert, Mark Young, Kelly Ward

Ren discovers that he is the son of a (now deseased) king Primus. He escapes Bloth with a new friend Niddler and they travel to a ship port. There they befriend a pirate Ioz and a runaway girl Tula.

2 Dishonour February 26, 1991 Lane Raichert, Mark Young, Kelly Ward
3 Break Up February 27, 1991 Lane Raichert, Bill Matheny
4 Betrayal February 28, 1991 Lane Raichert, Bill Matheny
5 Victory March 1, 1991 Kristina Luckey, Laren Bright
6 Andorus October 19, 1991 Peter Lawrence, Laren Bright, Kristina Luckey
7 A Drop of Darkness October 26, 1991 Laren Bright, Kristina Luckey
8 The Beast and the Bell November 2, 1991 Matthew Malach, Bill Matheny
9 Panacea November 9, 1991 Sean Roche
10 King Niddler November 16, 1991 Glenn Leopold

Niddler is supposed to be a king to a tribe of non-flying monkey birds. What he doesn't know, however is that he is also the only hope of defeating a giant dangerous creature, which he can't do...

11 The Collection November 23, 1991 David Ehrman

The crew encounter a wizard who "collects" ships by shrinking them. While trying to save Ioz they are shrunk as well and left stuck in a glass bottle.

12 The Little Leviathan November 30, 1991 Glenn Leopold, David Ehrman

Ren saves a baby leviathan and a bond is born. However, both leviathan, Ren and Ioz are taken captives by Bloth.

13 The Darkdweller December 7, 1991 Sam Graham, Chris Hubbell
14 The Dark Disciples November 8, 1992 Glenn Leopold
15 The Ghost Pirates November 15, 1992 (Teleplay by Kristina Luckey) (Story by David Ehrman)

Blinded by greed Ioz tries to steal a tresure from a seemingly deserted ship. Unfortunately, it appears that the ship is full of ghosts, who want to make Ioz one of them.

16 The Dagron Master November 22, 1992 Michael Maurer

While washed ashore Ren and Niddler encounter "the dagron master". He helps them to find one of the treasures, but in the middle of journey Ren becomes one of the reptiles.

17 The Game Players of Undaar November 29, 1992 Brian T. Gaughan, Glenn Leopold
18 The Pandawa Plague May 2, 1993 Kristina Luckey (Story by Glenn Leopold, Kristina Luckey)
19 Sister of the Sword May 9, 1993 Glenn Leopold
20 The Soul Stealer May 16, 1993 Glenn Leopold
21 The Living Treasure May 23, 1993 Kim Costalupes, Mark Kavanaugh, Glenn Leopold

DVD release

On August 31, 2010, Warner Bros. released The Pirates of Dark Water: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US.[1]

Other media

In November 1991, Marvel Comics produced a comic book series based on the show. Originally intended as a six-part limited series, it was extended to nine issues to include a three part original story.

A series of action figures based on the characters from the show was also produced. The toyline consisted of Ren, Niddler, Ioz, Zoolie, Bloth, Konk, Mantus, Joat, and the Wraith.

Pirates of Dark Water video games were also released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis systems. The Super Nintendo version was a "beat 'em up similar to Final Fight, with a slow but strong character (Ioz), a fast but weak character (Tula), and a well-balanced character (Ren). Each character has a life-draining Desperation Attack (spinning kick for Ren, ecomancer energy for Tula, and spinning punch for Ioz) and the ability to block - something not common in games of this genre. The Sega version was a side scrolling platform game with RPG elements.

A Pirates of Dark Water role-playing game was released in 1994, but had a limited production run.

Cartoon Network interstitials

Reception

The Pirates of Dark Water was reviewed favorably in The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide, which contrasted it with other cartoons from the same period, noting that it was "...serious, well-written, and had a certain amount of craft in its character animation and watercolor backgrounds."[2]

References

  1. ^ http://www.wbshop.com/Pirates-of-Dark-Water-The-Complete-Series/1000161863,default,pd.html
  2. ^ The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide. Sasquatch Books. 2004. pp. 526. ISBN 1570614156. 

External links