Deep Dive: Pirates of Dark Water

Pirates of Dark Water is an American fantasy adventure that follows young Ren who discovers he is actually a prince, son to dying King Primus of Octopon. He is tasked with finding the "Thirteen Treasures of Rule" that are prophesied to banish the spreading Dark Water and is given a family heirloom necklace, a compass that points the way to each treasure needed save the predominantly water-covered planet Mer and restore the kingdom of Octopon to its former glory. Dark Water used to be called the Crippling and only existed spiritually and emotionally but turned to a sentient living ooze that came from a fissure in the bowles of Mer and floats in the sea consuming everything it touches. Ren assembles a misfit crew of Tula the eco-mancer, a monkey-bird named Niddler, and Ioz the treasure obsessed pirate. They sail aboard their ship the Wraith and have to outwit the fearsome pirate-lord Bloth sailing his warship the Maelstrom, who will stop at nothing to get all thirteen treasures for himself. The planet Mer is in constant flux, with land masses being randomly created and destroyed, filled with fantastic flying creatures, and mysteries to uncover. Unlike our previous deep dive of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, it began as a cartoon from inception. It would see a Saturday morning cartoon, video games, toys, a tabletop RPG, and more.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

The Pirates of Dark Water was created by David Kirschner, who wrote and produced Don Bluth's An American Tail, Titan A.E., and the Child's Play franchise, and was produced by Hanna-Barbera. It aired in 1991 and run for two seasons until 1993. It initially aired on Fox Kids simply titled "Dark Water" as a five part mini-series. It would be rebroadcast and the mini series would be the first five episodes shown on ABC. Season one was 13 episodes with a new voice actor for Niddler, but season two only got 8 episodes, criminally ending before all 13 Treasures of Rule were collected. The original five-episode miniseries was the most expensive animation Hanna-Barbera had ever produced up to that point, with each 30 minute episode costing $500,000 USD. Each half-hour episode consisted of about 12,000 cels, which was double the number of a typical Saturday morning cartoon.

Ren was voiced by George Newbern, known for voicing Superman many times including in Justice League and appearing in Father of the Bride. Tula was voiced by Jodi Benson, best known as the voice of Ariel in the Little Mermaid. Niddler was Frank Welker, the voice of Fred in Scooby Do Where Are You?. Ioz was Héctor Elizondo, who was in Pretty Woman and sitcom Last Man Standing. Bloth was voiced by Brock Peters, well known for his repeating role in various Star Trek series as Starfleet Admiral Cartwright and Sisko's father. Konk, a bumbling, short, fat pirate who works for Bloth is voiced by the great Tim Curry. Other noteable voice actor is Rene Auberjonois, Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, voiced island ruler Garen.

Pirates of Dark Water can be streamed on Archive.org or buy the complete series on DVD on Amazon!

Comic

Marvel Comics made a Pirates of Dark Water comic book from 1991 to 1992 based on the cartoon. It was planned for only 6 issues but ran for 9 and included a 3 issue original story line where Bloth must help Ren who is captured by Salamantha the Sea Witch.

Readable online (via jpg zip file only) on piratesofdarkwater.net.

Video Game

Sunsoft released Pirates of Dark Water games for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis in 1994. However they are entirely different games, though players can choose from Ren, Tula, and Ioz to play in both versions. The SNES version was developed by Sunsoft themselves and is a side-scrolling beat'em up where up to two players can play at once to battle the evil Bloth's forces. Each character has a special attack that comes with a life draining cost, regular and heavy attack, as well as the ability to block, which was unusual for the game type at the time. The game is pretty bland reusing mostly the same enemies on different backgrounds. You collect eight Treasures of Rule and not 13, leaving you in the same place the show did at cancellation. The Sega release is a single player platformer and more story heavy, developed by Team Iguana (later known as Acclaim Studios Austin) with most major characters make an appearance. Niddler was not a playable character in either but was parodied in Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen, as Nibbler the Monkeydog, who loved Monga Melons.

Pirates of Dark Water (Sega) is playable (though poorly) on Archive.org or download it for your favorite emulator (recommended)!

Toy Line

Hasbro released a toy line in 1990 to coincide with the up coming cartoon (of course) consisting of 8 figures and Ren's ship the Wraith. They released Ren, Ioz, Niddler, Zoolie, and bad guys Bloth, Konk, Mantus, and Joat, but oddly no Tula, making is an all male line up. They all had 5 points of articulation, standard for the time. The Wraith had a working catapult and sail that converted into a glider.

TTRPG

The TTRPG was released in 1994 by Mindgames Inc and created by Lee Agosta. It is vaguely based on the 2nd edition of Advanced D&D. It came with a 64 page World Book containing background information, locations and character creation rules, 105 page Creature Sheets which is information and stats for various creature encounters, and a large color map of Mer. There is also a supplemental deck plan of Bloth's ship the Malestrom online. Agosta was not able to finish any other supplements as Hanna-Barbera pulled the licensing. The Dungeon Master is referred to as the MP, or Master Pirate. The RPG offers a little more lore and explanation of the planet Mer.

Both the World Book and Creature Manual can be found on Archive.org or PDFs on piratesofdarkwater.net.

Misc. Gallery

An advertisment and game review from GamePro magazine, Japanese ad, handheld game by Systema, Niddler Halloween costume, and stuffed Niddler.

Pirates of Dark Water was a fun cartoon set in a lush fantasy world that was cancelled before we got to see the end of Ren and crew's story. It's vibrant colors and underlying message of hope were a welcome addition to the '90s Saturday morning line up. Maybe one day we'll see a revival, or even a new comic finishing Ren's story.

Special thanks to piratesofdarkwater.net and MBXfilms on YouTube.

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