The story for Pirates of Dark Water takes place on the alien world of Mer. Besides its two moons, the most distinguishing characteristic of Mer would be the twenty different seas that comprise it. Scattered throughout these bodies of water are small islands where various intelligent life has developed. With so much water - and so little land - nautical travel is naturally the largest means of transportation. Unfortunately the planets oceans are being devoured by dark water. Dark water is a black, oil like substance that aggressively attacks anything it comes into contact with, including boats. Spreading like a cancer throughout the planet, its only a matter of time before all of Mer becomes enveloped in this deadly liquid. The worlds one hope lies in Ren, prince of Octopon. Together with his unlikely, but loyal crew of misfits, Ren must track down the 13 treasures of Rule. Only with their power can the Dark Dweller (the source of Dark Water) be destroyed and balance restored.
One of the Pirates of Dark Water's greatest strengths is the premise described above. Though not groundbreaking it is very well conceived and completely engaging, especially for an older action/adventure show. As for the writing itself, the series has its ups and downs, mostly due to shifts in tone. While some of the stories featured nefarious threats and a good balance of action and humor, other episodes were just so childish and immature they didn't even feel like they were a part of the same show. One particularly bad instance of this can be found in the episode "Little Leviathan". In the story Ren and his crew help a baby leviathan (who sounds just like Uni from Dungeons and Dragons) that has been caught in dark water. Once rescued the creature becomes smitten with its saviors and begins to follow them, comedic hijinks then ensue. Compare this to an episode like "The Dark Disciples" which featured a dark - almost "Thundarr the Barbarian" like story - and you'll see just how uneven the viewing experience was at times. Shifts in tone weren't isolated to just the stories either. Visually speaking, episodes like "The Little Leviathan" portrayed creatures as wide-eyed cartoonish scamps, like something out of a My Little Pony cartoon and nothing like the rest of the show (I'll have more to say about his later). I can't say for sure, but I believe the reason this happened was because the show fell into a bit of a middle world timing wise. Taking place after the horrendously tame 80's action/adventure cartoons but before Batman the Animated series, Pirates of Dark Water appears to have been pulled in two different directions. One was dumbed down and child friendly, the other darker and more serious. Still I really like the show's core story which was conceptually excellent and populated with great characters. Pirates of Dark Water had all the right ingredients, it just didn't always use them correctly.
Having just mentioned that Pirates of Dark Water features great characters, now seems like a good time to talk about the shows cast. Starting with the good guys we have Ren, Ioz, Tula and Niddler. Ren is the show's central character and he readily fits the "young hero on a quest to save the world" archetype. Though perhaps a little cliché, Ren does work nicely as both the voice of reason necessary to keep his crew together, as well as the driving force needed to keep them on task. But while I thought Ren was merely manageable, I found Ioz to be loads of fun. Gruff, pragmatic, treasure obsessed and an absolute chauvinist, Ioz can always be counted on to make greedy and inappropriate comments. Though these characteristics may seem negative, Ioz's failings provide a nice counterbalance to the noble nature of Ren and his quest, plus he's unflappably loyal. Tula is the lone female crew member and she is kind of a cross between Ioz and Ren. While she shares many of the core values of Ren she is more than willing to steal or even "betray" a couple comrades for her own purposes. There are only two actual betrayals by Tula - one at the beginning of the series and one at the end - and both times it's made very clear that Tula is either pretending to betray her crew mates or heavily conflicted about it. Still the fact that Tula's allegiance is so questionable makes her a very interesting character to watch. Tula does have a couple other roles in the show as well. One of these happens early in the series when Tula discovers that she is an ecomancer, a person capable of communing with nature and bending certain aspects of it to her will (kind of like a hippy wizard). The other is that she is a quasi love interest for Ren. Though the show never really gets too romantic (thankfully) it is clear that Ren and Tula are meant to play out the standard action/adventure romance seen so often in the genre. Niddler is the shows comedic relief. Unlike the rest of the crew Niddler is not human but instead a Monkeybird (basically a cross between and monkey and an bird, duh). When he's not flying people around from place to place, Niddler spends most his time complaining about how hungry he is or gorging on mengamellons, a monkeybirds favorite fruit. While I don't really care for Niddler I will admit that he makes a far better sidekick than your average action/adventure animal, plus he actually feels like a part of the team. Besides, he's not half as annoying as Snarf from the Thundercats.
From a villainous perspective, there are numerous antagonists in Pirates of Dark Water. That said, the only regulars worth mentioning are the Pirate Lord Bloth and his most persistent crony Conk. Conk is a very small man who excels at the art of surviving. No matter how dire the circumstance Conk always finds a way out, a good skill to have when you work for a ruthless pirate like Bloth. As for Bloth himself, he would be the physical antithesis of Conk. A massive man both in stature and girth (the guy is probably a foot taller than anyone else in the show) Bloth is as strong as an ox and has a very intimidating presence. Once again I like how the Pirates of Dark Water cast balances itself out. With Conk you have a very unimpressive and comical villain whose limited vocabulary is only matched by his limited intelligence. With Bloth however, you get a much more physically menacing and frighting opponent who speaks with an intelligent - almost british - accent, thus he appears more sophisticated than his lackeys. I have to say that while both Bloth and Conk may not be overly original, they still manage to be very interesting, something your average villain from the time period wasn't. It's this kind of depth that really sets Pirates of Dark Waters characters apart. The cast not only plays well off of one another they all have history, a past that you want to see explored. Too bad the show ended before we ever got to see it.
I mentioned earlier that Pirates of Dark Water never got a proper ending. I say this because - unlike other action/adventure shows of the time period - Pirates of Dark Water had a very finite goal built into its premise, finding the 13 treasures of Rule. Unfortunately only 8 of these treasures were found before the show's premature cancellation, therefore any viewer who invested interest into seeing Ren's quest completed left the show feeling unfulfilled. This is very unfortunate because the show clearly squandered numerous episodes with filler, episodes that could have been put to better use had the producers known that the series would only finish with twenty-one installments. Though frustrating, you can't really blame the studio or producers for this negative outcome. After all if the show had been successful, filler would have been needed to maximize its earning potential. As it stands though we are left hanging with no resolution whatsoever. A far too common occurrence in entertainment.
Visually the Pirates of Dark Water is both excellent and flawed in its execution. What I mean is that while the show has fantastic production design, on model characters and occasionally good animation, it also sports inconsistent creature design, poor choreography and awkward movement. Let's start with the production design. The world of Mer looks great. The warm color pallet - consisting mostly of reds and oranges - has a very unique and exotic feel about it. Characters also look nice, whether it's the beautiful gypsy-like appearance of Tula or the grotesque - almost fish-like - visage of Bloth, the design work for each character is spot on. But while the the world of Mer - and its inhabitants - feature a mature and appropriately alien appearance, the show would sometimes stray into "caricature land". On more than one occasion - the most obvious being the aforementioned "Little Leviathan" episode - Pirates of Dark Water would create silly, and/or childlike creatures with really big eyes and overly expressive mouths. This was in stark contrast to the more realistic and often fearsome looking creatures that inhabited the world of Mer, thus these one-off characters didn't feel like they belonged. Sadly, this inconsistent creature design mars otherwise excellent art direction and makes for an inconsistent viewing experience. Doubly frustrating is the fact that visual representations like this are exactly the kind of things that make people roll their eyes and spout off nonsense like "cartoons are just for kids". Pirates of Dark Water is the kind of show that's supposed to debunk that kind of talk, not reinforce it.
As for the animation itself, Pirates of Dark Water varies between mediocre and good. The first five episodes look solid (probably the best in the series) with a couple of scenes standing out as excellent (please keep in mind that I'm grading on a curve, this show does not come close to today's action/adventure standards). After that the animation became more mundane and awkward. Most of the fight choreography was stiff and unconvincing, things like running always looked awkward and a lot of the staging suffered from a lack of creativity. On the positive side the show maintained a consistent appearance. Even great shows like Batman the Animated series bore shifts in character models and animation styles depending on the studios that worked on them. Luckily Pirates of Dark Water was able to avoid this (for the most part anyway). Though I would have to rank Pirates of Dark Water as one of the better looking shows from its time period, most of the success stems from its design and not its animation (which really isn't that much better than other 80s action/adventure shows). If I had to choose a phrase to sum up my feelings about the show's visuals it would be "average execution of beautiful concepts".
In regards to voice acting Pirates of Dark Water had to navigate some tricky water. Rooted heavily in pirate culture, the show could have easily fell into various pirate clichés. I can just imagine heavily accented "aarrrs" and "iiiieee" being thrown around haphazardly - like some Scooby-Doo villain - while Bloth tells Ren to walk the plank (shudder). Thankfully none of these things happen, instead Pirates of Dark Water nails its voice casting perfectly and provides the actors with unique dialog designed exclusively for the show. I'll start with the actors. Just about all the main characters in Pirates of Dark Water feature superb voice work. George Newbern nails the youthful determination of Ren with ease. Jodi Benson sounds exactly how Tula appears, headstrong and sexy. Ioz was voiced by two different actors, Hector Elizondo in season one and Jim Cummings in season two. Surprisingly enough I didn't even notice the difference with both actors gruff portrayal of Ioz being spot on. Best of all would have to be Brock Peters work on Bloth though. With a maniacally twisted accent Peters really digs into his dialog with gusto and creates a villain that can be both scary or funny depending on what the situation calls for. Personally I think this is one of the best sounding action/adventure shows done prior to 1993.
Complementing the superb voice acting is some surprisingly creative dialog. Though not brilliantly written, the dialog from Pirates of Dark Water does feature some original expressions created specifically for the show. My favorites would have be the oft used "Noy Jitat" and its shorted version "Jitatin", I also liked "Jongo-longo". Besides just sounding cool these phrases serve as a subtle reminder that the world we're watching is an alien one, that and they allowed the characters to curse (after all they are pirates). This clever replacement of swear words is a trick used often in science fiction/fantasy shows, after all censors can't tell you something is vulgar if the word isn't even real.
The Pirates of Dark Water is one of those shows that possess great foundational elements, but not so great execution. While the core story, characters, production design and voice acting all shine brightly - even after 20 years - the animation and writing feel tarnished and dated. Couple this with the dissatisfaction born from an incomplete story and you can't help but feel frustrated. Yet what I truly want isn't a proper ending to this show, I want an entirely new series. With so many 80's cartoons getting rebooted as of late (upcoming GI Joe, Thundercats and Voltron) I would love to see Pirates of Dark Water get a fresh start. Something a little darker (but not too dark) with a more focused narrative and far less compromise. Now that Johnny Depp has made pirates popular again - and higher action/adventure standards are the norm - I feel that Pirates of Dark Water would stand a real chance of making a comeback, that or it could get cancelled prematurely again and piss-off a whole new generation of fans. Anyway if you would like to watch Pirates of Dark Water (and you should), you can pick up the 4-disc, manufacture on demand, set from the Warner Archive here. It contains all 21 episodes, but no special features or picture restoration. Still, this is - most likely - the best copy of the series currently in existence, so fans of the show should not hesitate to purchase.
