The Pirates of Dark Water

Ren, the son of the dying King Primus of Octopon, sails around the alien world of Mer on a ship called the Wraith, searching for the "Thirteen Treasures of Rule". The treasures are prophesied to save Octopon and Mer from the threat of Dark Water, an all-consuming black liquid that has taken over the seas. His loyal crew of misfits that help Ren on his journey are the ecomancer Tula, a monkey-bird Niddler, and the treasure-hungry pirate Ioz. Ren's opponent in his quest is the pirate Bloth of the warship the Maelstrom, who will stop at nothing to get the treasures and control the Dark Water himself.[1]

David Kirschner, the president and chief executive officer of Hanna-Barbera, created the series based on an idea he had when he was a child, inspired by "the works of Robert Louis Stevenson and the pictures of Howard Pyle and N.C. Wyeth". The original five-episode miniseries was "the most expensive animated project" Hanna-Barbera had taken on up to that time, with each half-hour episode costing US$500,000. Each half-hour episode consisted of 12,000 cels, double the number "of a typical Saturday morning cartoon series".[1]

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.[3] 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, consisting of 13 episodes, aired on ABC. The second season, consisting of the last 8 episodes, 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.[4]

On August 31, 2010, Warner Archive released The Pirates of Dark Water: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.[5][6]

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."[7] Collider called it one of the 14 greatest kids cartoons of the 1990s as well as a property worthy of resurrection.[8][9] Screen Rant said the show "has a robust cult following to this day and was one of the best adventure shows of its era, with surprisingly strong writing and a beautifully designed world."[10]

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 released for the Super NES and Sega Genesis platforms, both published by Sunsoft. The Super NES version is a side-scrolling beat 'em up, co-developed by Japanese and American staff members, where players can choose to play as Ren, Tula or Ioz and proceed to fight Bloth's gang. Up to two players can play simultaneously. 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 Genesis version, developed by Team Iguana (later known as Acclaim Studios Austin), is a side scrolling platform game with role-playing elements. A Pirates of Dark Water role-playing game was released in 1994 but had a limited production run.

• The Pirates of Dark Water at IMDb
• The Pirates of Dark Water at epguides.com