"The Pirates of Dark Water"

On this day:
At 25th February of 1991, "The Pirates of Dark Water" premiered on ABC. "The Pirates of Dark Water" is an American fantasy animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and created by David Kirschner. 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.

Out of the thousands of cartoons that came out of the 1990's, the short-lived animated series "The Pirates of Dark Water" stood out from all the rest. This was a grand series that was part "Star Wars", part "Thundarr The Barbarian" and part of all of those Errol Flynn swashbuckling films that came out of the 1940's.

"The Pirates of Dark Water" was unique in its own special way, and it basically stood out from all of the other cartoons that were all over the place during the 1990's. It's concept was fairly unique. It tells the story of a young man who was the son of a lighthouse keeper who rescues a stranger foundering in the rocks near his home,and finds out that the man he'd rescued,was an aide to his true father, a great king.

The stranger gives the young man (whose name is Ren) a magical compass crystal that will guided him to a dragon who will showed him that to claim his heritage is to find the Thirteen Treasures of Rule. Trouble ensues when a pirate ship captained by the evil Bloth is also aware of the treasure and will go to the ends of the earth,relentlessly pursing Ren for it and to claim the treasures for himself.

With the help of his companions to aide him on his quest included Ioz,Tula,and Niddler (a monkeybird), Ren and his crew will stop at nothing to find the thirteen treasures, and to stay one step ahead of Bloth and his evil crew.

The quest becomes more urgent with Ren learns that the Dark Water, which is carnivorous form of water that consumes anything it snares which is know to envelope and destroy his world. Only the treasures that Ren seeks can stop it,and any costs before it causes complete chaos throughout.

This series was produced by Hanna-Barbera, who were known for their work with "Yogi Bear", "The Flintstones" and "Scooby-Doo", just to name a few. "The Pirates of Dark Water" didn't last very long. For one it was a expensive show to produce,and due to production costs and failing to meet the airdates, the series was never completed due to low ratings,which still had a great premise.

The series ended abruptly after 21 episodes with only eight of the thirteen treasures collected. The led to the end of a great television show that became one of the best cartoons to ever come out of the 1990's.

One of the reasons why "Pirates of Dark Water" became successful during its run came from its creator and producer David Kirschner along with Mark Young, Glenn Leopold and Paul Sabella, who served as executive producer for this series along with a lot of Hanna Barbera shows that came around during the 1990's and early 2000's.

The animation is amazingly detailed, very vibrant in colour and detailed in character features and backgrounds. And the characters are great, Ren is a very likable hero very like Luke SkyWalker, and Bloth is a great adversary, quite a complex character if you really think about it. And Tula is beautiful.

These characters were brought to life by a terrific voice cast, especially Brock Peters as Bloth who shows a good deal of menace, but also from Jodi Benson, George Newbern, Frank Welker, Hector Elizondo, Jim Cummings and Tim Curry. In conclusion, this is a truly great show, that was unfairly treated. It is better than a vast majority of the animated shows airing now.

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