Ah, Pirates of Dark Water. What a frickin awesome title and great concept. I loved this show as a kid and even now, I adore the concept of a swash buckling fantasy adventure. It was sort of a precursor to Gargoyles in that it had an ongoing story, serious threats, evolving characters and a darker theme than many cartoons of the time.Jabroniville wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 8:31 pm
THE PIRATES OF DARK WATER:
Created By: Hanna-Barbera
Era: 1991-92
One thing you've got to give Hanna-Barbera is that when they created a fantasy world, they didn't just lazily copy Tolkien, Howard or Dungeons and Dragons. The world of Mer was it's own unique setting with a lot of crazy concepts, none as horrifying as the notion of the Dark Water itself. Sailing is already a perilous thing, but the idea of these sentient, evil pools of darkness that will randomly appear to consume entire ships was some solid nightmare fuel. The fact that enough of the stuff could gather and devour ISLANDS whole took it to the next level. Add to that creates like the Constrictus and how grotesque a lot of characters looked, and it definitely wasn't for the faint of heart.
It's a shame the series never got a proper conclusion or a re-make, as it had some very fun ideas. Sadly, I don't know that I'd trust a lot of modern creators to do the franchise justice. Pirates of Dark Water had a darker theme, but there was still fun, optimism and swashbuckling adventure. Yeah, the world was in a dark place, but the heroes were working their butts off to save it, and they had a real chance of doing so. The art style was unique, the world felt like it was this vast place that everyone was exploring, I've got a real urge to rewatch this series now.