Pirates of Darkwater

Ships

• The Wraith – A ship originally owned by the pirate Joat and later stolen by Ioz for Ren from the Janda-Town docks. The ship features a unique, dynamic mainsail designed to rotate to slow the vessel, act as a parachute, or detach entirely to function as a large glider. According to the show's original production Series Bible, the ship was constructed using lumber from mystical trees on a remote island; the wood retains the life-force of those trees, giving the vessel a seemingly sentient or haunted quality.^[3]
• The Maelstrom – Bloth's massive and deadly warship. It is built from the bleached carcasses of leviathans and resembles a gargantuan floating fossil. Below the main deck sits a labyrinth of passageways, sewer lines, holding cells, and slaves' quarters. The dreaded Constrictus lives in the bowels of this death vessel.^[3]

Heroes

• Ren (voiced by George Newbern) – The prince of the once-grand kingdom of Octopon and the main protagonist of the series. Ren was raised by a lighthouse keeper on the outskirts of his homeland, unaware of his destiny and heritage. He wields the broken sword that belonged to his father in its whole form.
• Niddler (voiced by Roddy McDowall in the miniseries, Frank Welker in the TV series) – A monkey-bird who once belonged to Bloth until he escaped by aiding Ren's escape from the pirate captain. He hails from the island of Pandawa. Niddler is usually depicted as a little greedy and constantly ravenous for food, his favorite food being minga melons, but he likes Ren and his ability to fly often comes in handy.
• Tula (voiced by Jodi Benson) – Tula is an ecomancer with the ability to control the elements and biological life, both sentient and non-sentient, as well as a natural affinity towards nature and animals. She is headstrong and often flusters Ioz. Tula is introduced as being a simple barmaid, but she stows aboard Ren and Ioz's ship, claiming she "wanted to get away from the drudgery of life on land".
• Ioz (voiced by Héctor Elizondo^[4]) – A rogue and pirate who joins up with Ren initially for the promise of treasure. Throughout the seasons, his character matures and he becomes fond of Ren and his idealism, evolving into a protective brotherly figure to him and often risking his life for Ren and the quest for the Treasures.

Recurring characters

• Zoolie (voiced by Dick Gautier) – A jolly, redheaded rogue who runs a gamehouse in Janda-Town.
• Teron (voiced by Dan O'Herlihy) – An ecomancer who sprouts roots from his body to replenish himself while away from his homeland, Andorus. Bloth uses his power for evil, in turn exhausting the local environment and its positive life energy. Tula has great respect for him as an ecomancer and brings him back to Andorus to heal the island of the Dark Water. Teron also helps Tula adjust to her new powers as an ecomancer when they first manifest.

Villains

• Bloth (voiced by Brock Peters) – The pirate captain of the feared pirate ship Maelstrom and one of the primary antagonists of the series. Bloth is after the Thirteen Treasures of Rule to gain control of the Dark Water. He destroyed Primus's fleet seventeen years prior to the timeline of the show and captured Primus and his aide Avagon, though the seven captains accompanying Primus were able to escape with the Treasures. Bloth has since been hunting them obsessively and destroying every remnant of the House of Primus just as obsessively.
  • Constrictus - A worm-like creature who lives in the bowels of the Maelstrom. Anyone who displeases Bloth gets thrown to the Constrictus.
  • Mantus (voiced by Peter Cullen) – Bloth's second-in-command with long limbs, hands, and feet and insectoid-like traits. He offers his cool and calculating personality as a battle strategist for Bloth's fleet.
  • Konk (voiced by Tim Curry) – A pirate who works for Bloth. He lost his right leg thanks to a close encounter with the Constrictus. For a long time, Konk was the only one to ever survive being thrown to the monster. Although not particularly smart, Konk possesses more bluster than most of Bloth's crew and is always trying to win Bloth's praise.
  • The Lugg Brothers (voiced by Earl Boen and Frank Welker) – Two huge, dimwitted super-strong siblings who are members of Bloth's crew.
• The Dark Dweller (voiced by Frank Welker) – One of the primary antagonists of the series. The Dark Dweller is a powerful, evil creature that created the Dark Water. He had the Treasures originally scattered because their power is the only thing capable of opposing him and his evil master plan to swallow Mer in Dark Water.
  • Morpho (voiced by Neil Ross) – A servant of the Dark Dweller and the leader of his worshippers, the Dark Disciples. He joins forces with Bloth and serves as the above-water liaison for the Dark Dweller, so that they can aid each other in their mutual goal of killing Ren and his friends, though they have two very different goals for the Compass and Treasures. Morpho was once an alchemist until he was captured by the Dark Dweller and transformed into a chimeric form resembling a variety of sea creatures.
  • Joat (voiced by Andre Stojka) – A pirate and the previous owner of the Wraith, which was stolen by Ioz. He uses his metal claw in place of his left hand mercilessly in battle.

Series overview

Miniseries (1991)

Season 1 (1991)

ABC reaired the miniseries from September 14,^[5] to October 12, 1991, before premiering new episodes.

Season 2 (1992–93)

Additional voices

• René Auberjonois
• Michael Bell
• Roscoe Lee Browne
• Darlene Carr
• Philip L. Clarke
• Regis Cordic as Primus
• Jim Cummings as Jargus (in "Break Up"), Skorian
• Keene Curtis as Garen (in "The Collection")
• Barry Dennen
• Paul Eiding
• Harlan Ellison
• Richard Erdman
• Robert Foxworth
• Linda Gary
• Dick Gautier as Zoolie
• Ellen Geer
• Dorian Harewood
• Allan Lurie
• Tress MacNeille as Queen Malu
• Kenneth Mars
• Nan Martin
• Julie McWhirter
• Candi Milo as Solia
• Kate Mulgrew
• Dan O'Herlihy as Teron
• Jan Rabson
• Peter Renaday
• John Rhys-Davies
• Neil Ross as Morpho
• Stanley Ralph Ross
• Michael Rye
• Pepe Serna
• Andre Stojka as Joat
• Les Tremayne
• Jessica Walter as Avalon
• Paul Williams

Overseas animation studios

• Fil-Cartoons, Inc., Manila, Philippines
• Tama Production Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan (episodes 1–2, 5)
• Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan (episode 3–4)
• Mr. Big Cartoons, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (episode 3–4)

Other studios

• Madhouse, Inc., Tokyo, Japan
• Big Star Enterprise, Inc., Seoul, South Korea
• Kennedy Cartoons
  • Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Manila, Philippines

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD on August 31, 2010.^[8][9]

Comics

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.^[14] 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.^[15]

Video games

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 Iguana Entertainment, 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.^[16]

Cartoon Network interstitials

The show was parodied in one of a series of early interstitials on Cartoon Network. These commercials featured a "viewer's" question and Cartoon Network's comical take on the "answer". In Pirates' case, it was on the "unaired episodes". Cartoon Network claimed to have the episodes on tape and promised to air them, instead showing footage of a cat lapping milk, suggesting that someone taped over the only copy of what would have been the nonexistent episodes.