The History of The Pirates of Dark Water: An Ambitious & Expensive Failure
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 19 дек 2018
- The Pirates of Dark Water limped through 2 short seasons in the early 1990's before being cancelled in the middle of the story.
But this wasn't just another quickly thrown together cash-in. With a well-known cast and a well-known producer Pirates of Dark Water was supposed to be a media juggernaut that turn out to be barely a blip on the radar.
Help the channel continue to grow by checking out our Patreon: / toygalaxy
Follow Dan on Instagram:
/ toygalaxy
Toy Galaxy
P.O. box 3976
Manchester, NH 03105-3976
Business Inquiries:
toygalaxytv@gmail.com
/ toygalaxytv
/ toygalaxytv
www.teepublic.com/user/toygal... 
Развлечения
Not going to lie, I was crushed when this series was axed. I loved it.
I think Bloth was one of the greatest villains in all of animation. Interesting fact is that Bloth was brilliantly voiced by terrific actor Brock Peters, who played Tom Robinson in "To Kill a Mockingbird".
Me too!
It was abruptly cancelled after 21 episodes
agreed. solid writing, world-building, and potential
Same here I liked the show and the toys
In an alternate timeline; Hanna Barbera ended up beating Disney in the war for family entertainment dominance, and we all went to go see Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom co-star in "Pirates of Dark Water: Curse of the Black Tide."
Does this alternate timeline have HB buy Marvel and Star Wars and create good movies everyone loves?
That's EPIC!!! And Geoffrey Rush would have made a good Bloth I think. And Keira Knightly as Tula? I can see it working.
Granted I love the Pirates movies, still I really want Dark Water to make a well deserved comeback!
Whooa!!! If only this happened i would trade one testicle for this to be real. That would be such a better world to live in without Disney's evil empire that has enveloped the world so subtly we could never see it happening until it was too l late and yet we still know not the extent of the devastation that is yet to be seen. But HB aint nothing to scoff at im sure hes got some dark history
a pathetic attempt to come even close to the original cartoon. it;s so much less imaginative
A better world
I was a little girl when I first watched the series and I was so enamored with it. It was adventurous and dramatic. I would jump around the room re-enacting scenes, lol. I loved it.
I agree, out of all cartoons back then this is the one I always looked forward to. Where it ended was such a setup for a good direction.
You and I would **definitely** had been friends back in the day.
Same! I just loved the whole world around the story! Also, I loved Ioz. He was such a scoundrel! 😁
You rule.
Me to, I couldn’t wait for the next episode I never understood why they canceled it until now.
I'm 34 and not knowing how everything ends still haunts me to this day. The bad thing is the art style might be hard to replicate. They would have to start fresh at episode 1 and try not to screw it up
There were comic books. But I dont recall if they gave the story a proper ending or not.
They'd have to recreate using a different art style, probably stylized cg
@@Native_Creation eeesh, please no, please only use cg to enhance hand drawn, hand drawn or even screen drawn just looks and feels so much better. There is no reason to make it look like reboot 2022
Read or watch One piece. It’s loosely based off of this.
I'm 35 and still miss the cartoons of our childhood. From Bobby's world, bonkers, Johnny Quest, Scooby Doo, ect.
Whenever i mention Pirates of Dark Water no one has any idea what I'm talking about. I don't recall having any of the toys but i do remember it was one of my favorite shows as a kid.
I loved the cartoon. Wasn’t impressed with the toys. Same with Conan the Adventurer. Loved it he cartoon. The toys were disappointing😕
I think I caught every single episode, but never even saw the toys at that new-fangled wal-mart place that moved into town around that time. It's one of the series, like Spiral Zone and Exo-Squad (J. Michael Strazinski wasn't actually involved in this one, he was making Babylon 5 by this time) that I really wanted some kind of novel or something to finish the story after the series got dumped off the air.
@@liljenborg2517 Me Too! Ren was the only action figure that I got out of the whole line and I really liked him. I wanted to get more, but sadly I never did. Still I had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and others to entertain me. I keep thinking that if the show had a comic book or a novel like you suggested to finish off the story it would be great. A lot of fun cartoons from my childhood never got the proper ending they deserved.
I have to Completely agree with you... Nice avatar, LOL.
Were there not ComicBooks of this, though?!? I recall having a ColoringBook, as a kid.
Such a shame that this show was cut short. I loved it so much.
This show was purest trash. There was no possible ending and no progress was ever made.
@@mickware5289 Sorry you disliked it enough to make a reply to a comment on a RUclips video about it. That sucks, man.
@@mickware5289 Compared to current popular anime that's a stupid remark.
Dam I was hoping that it had a conclusion
I know... It was by far my favorite show in cartoon network. I loved it more than captain planet or thunder cats.
"The treasure's no good to a dead man!" I thought this was the most badass line ever and bold. Mentioning death in an advertisement for kids toys. crazy. I loved this show.
I still remember when looney toons smoked.
I remember when this aired I always got really frustrated that they only got so far in finding the treasures. I never realized that the series was cancelled, and just thought that I had the bad luck of missing episodes. After watching this, I had such a flashback and realization of what finally happened back then.
Thank you for this. This cartoon is partly responsible for my career as a professional artist. I dedicated 4 years of high school to creating my own PDW inspired world that culminated in the sculpting of over 10 masks of my own characters that I hung in the stairwell of my bedroom hall and painted their bodies and a background around them. I had over 100 drawings and other things...it was the most in depth thing I had ever attempted - largely inspired by this wonderful wonderful show. Now I'm the artist-in-residence at the Troll Hole Museum, home of the Guiness world record worlds largest troll doll collection, I teach college art classes, and do a lot of freelance. PDW was a HUGE inspiration to me. Thank you SO much for covering them!
Burnt Marshwiggle Studio that's amazing! I love where creatives types draw inspiration from 👍🏻🙂
@@jamesooten3659 i wish! 😄 what it did teach me is how to commit to an idea and how to work within a creative framework. It taught me how to develop an idea - how to comb through old ideas of the past, how to choose what to keep and what to throw away, and how to make something original in the midst of something, for lack of a better term, archetypel (i dont know if that's a word, but i'm claiming it). Plus...is was quite simply a really fun creative place to play that belonged to me. It combined wizard and mad scientists, lego pirate ships and star wars, bohemian hair styles and friends that cared about each other, the diverse cultural designa if the world, and some completely ridiculous ideas into one world that made sense to me. As the old writers saying goes, try to say something about the universe and you'll hit a brick wall, say something about a brick wall and you might say something about the universe.
@@jamesooten3659 also, that's AWESOME that it was so inspiring to you too! That makes me really happy
You can suggest shows and movies to netflix to add.
Burnt Marshwiggle Studio interesting.
This show, Mighty Max, and Gargoyles were 90s best. All 3 had a continuing story.
Exo squad
Batman the Animated Series.
shinmusashi44 did mighty max ever end or just got cancelled. Not sure what happened. I watched it religiously then it just stopped. Not sure if I grew up or the show cancelled. Lmk. Thanks.
And yet these shows didn’t have a proper ending.
@@Yamiyamzzzzzzz It had an ending...kinda. It's a loop ending. The last episode makes them time travel to the first episode to repeat everything over. Thats the simple version of what happened.
This show still holds up, not having an ending has been haunting me for most of my life now
The first time I ever heard of a pomegranate was in this show and back then I thought it was a fictional fruit.
Same here, altho I feel like that may have been from Conan the Adventurer... maybe there were two cartoon birds obsessed with pomegrantes?
NerdNewsToday No, Niddler from PDW was obsessed with Minga Melons, the Phoenix from the Conan cartoon was the pomegranate lover.
Ditto. Every time I see the fruit, guess were my mind goes.
me too.
yessss so true. This cartoon inspired me to try a pomegranate thinking it was an amazing fruit... it's ok
What breaks my heart the most was that we never did get an ending to it, and that the series may forever be in limbo. I waited for every Saturday to watch each part, because it had everything adventure, drama, pirates, and a wonderfully thought out world.
Remember seeing the pilot episode if this. The animation was very Don Bluth like. My young mind was truly impressed by the depth of the story, and how it was not wrapped up in the 30 minute time slot. Testament to the writing ad to how the story is still with me years later. Cheers, -J.O.
I want a dark water movie already!
(N a thundar movie too)
I was born ninety 90z I totally agree with you
It took 3 years to get 21 episodes? Sounds like Venture Brothers.
And now in true ironic fashion venture brothers has been canceled before it got a true proper ending.
Though most likely it'll go somewhere and finally get an ending.
My fave kids show. I watched every episode when it was on TV, thinking I must've missed the initial run and wanting to see the ending. Great plots, chracters, and setting.
I'd LOVE to have Netflix do a take of this show. The art direction and aesthetic of the show were pretty haunting and really left an impression on me as a kid. Shame they never finished the story. I'd love to have some Figuarts style figures of these characters.
It would be great for Netflix since they like to cancel stuff after one season.
Nice... it's burns because it's so true.
The DreamWorks team behind the new Voltron has done magic, I wonder if this could be pitched to them at all.
Yeah just like the new She-Ra... NOT
Honestly, I hope Netflix stays away from my childhood memories at this point. This show was originally canceled becuase it was "to mature" for Saturday Morning cartoons, which were only for "small children"
After the debacle that is the new She-ra, which I admit old She-ra and He-man weren't really on my favorites list tbh, but I would really hate to see the crew of pirates that captured my imagination as a young boy "get woke" and be used as another PC wrongthink bludgeoning tool.
This was a good show; Kind of hearkened back to Thundarr... Hanna Barbera had always made some good fantasy cartoons for some reason! With Pirates of the Caribbean making pirate stuff so popular, Dark Water was truly ahead of it's time.
And Galtar the Golden Lance. Great Hanna Barberaian animation.
Thundarr...I was so into that series. I’d love to see a modern take on it.
Thundarr was a great concept for sure.
@@TyyTheFlyGuy No wonder why, after all it was Jack Kirby who wrote the lore of that cartoon´s world and made most of the characters designs
I always loved this show and feel incomplete somehow that it was never finished. Always wanted to see Ren compete his sword, get all the treasures of rule, defeat Bloth and battle the evil behind dark water. Oh well; at least we have the Genesis game that has some sort of abridged version of what would have been a finale.
I feel the same way! The Genesis game was a little solace to a major disappointment.
@@Nepthu I actually knew someone who owned the game and I wanted to play it, but he never let me have it. Such a shame as this was a good series.
This was my all-time favorite cartoon as a child...and forever afterward. I threw a fit if my dad forgot to record it. Literally my biggest heartache as a TV addicted child that they never FINISHED THE DANG THING. 😭😭😭
Thanks for kicking me right in the 10 year old me feelings. I do miss this show. It really was ahead of it's time with the story telling and the overall epicness!
Agreed. I loved it. Great characters and some bits were quite dark for a kid's shows.
My life’s purpose is to find the remaining Treasures of Rule
I'm ready to set sail when you are, Mark.
Let’s do this!!!
I remember Pirates of Dark Water and Swat Kats being my favourite "obscure" and short lived cartoons from my childhood.
I wish the both of them would get some sort of reboot.
Omg Swat Kats... hell yeah
Me too, but it wouldn't be the same as the old classics.
I loved my parents. They had a mutual joy of cartoons. As early as I can remember they greatly enjoyed cartoon specials, Saturday morning cartoons and theatrically released animated films. They would always take me to see a cartoon or inform me of a special on TV, even when I had outgrown such fare. After college i would find myself becoming more like them and enjoying cartoons again.
In their 60s they were drawn to the occasional cartoon. I recalled one Thanksgiving they told me how they loved the Pirates of Dark Water. They took deep pleasure in the story and humor of the cartoon. Sadly, it ended on a cliffhanger, a common occurrence in those days. They were slightly heartbroken that they would never see Ren reclaim his throne or save the world from the Dark Water.🥺.
Check out a show called Primal. It's a Gendy Tartakovski creation. He did Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack and Clone Wars. Primal is very brutal, no dialogue.
My favourite cartoon ever...still remember when I got the wraith for Christmas 🎄
I was too invested in this show. It was so dark and very depressing. It was the first cartoon that I looked forward to every week. Too bad they cancelled it.
One of my favorite cartoons growing up. Centurions, Pirates. Mighty Max, Thundercats, Duck Tales, and Ronin Warriors.
Mine was SWAT Kats.
I hold this series right up there with D&D as another childhood dream unfulfilled...
I thought this was a great show. The character designs were just so cool to me. I also feel like I rented the game too and enjoyed it.
The inconsistent airing of the episodes definitely killed this show.
But it was awesome when an actual new episode came out ( before the axe that is)...
I'd forgotten all about this show, and now I can fondly remember it. Great video guys - your channel is awesome.
Also: "adaptidid" ... I have to admit, I laughidid.
I'll still get the intro's soundtrack randomly playing in my head all these years later without thinking of the show, which I still enjoyed as an kid.
The Genesis game is one of the great unsung treasures of the 16 bit era (look up the creepy Citadel level, with its hooded skeleton ghost and eerie music). And the show itself was really unique and creative, at least within the pilot episodes' arc. The episodes after that initial lot are heavily dumbed down and not as good. And Frank Welker's Niddler is terribly obnoxious.
But the setting and world building are fantastic. They don't really make cartoons like this anymore, with strange alien fantasy worlds. I mean... there was a pistol in the show that was a lizard in a jar, and when you pulled the trigger the lizard was squeezed and a sleeping gas came out of it. At one point there was a pistol that was literally a squirtgun that fired actual dark water! I mean, come on! I'd love to see a reboot that stayed faithful to the original, darker tone of the initial episodes and expanded on the alien fantasy world building.
I love the PODW Genesis game and still play it every so often. Thanks for being another fan of it!
I played the game as well. It was so much fun!
The Super Nintendo version was a great game too. It was cross between a "Beat'em up" fighting game a side scrolling platformer.
There are very few games that evoke the feeling of exotic adventure and wanderlust as much as the Genesis PoDW. The incredible soundtrack is the main reason why it works so well.
It actually wraps up the story. In the last level, you actually get to descend into the chthonic depths of Mer to the very source of the Darkwater. I'm not gonna spoil it for you, check it out, it's fucking dope.
" Genesis is Skynet"
This was one of those cartoons I really loved back in the day ...and had no idea there was any other merchandise beyond just a show.
Ditto. not sure how these toys flew under my radar as a kid. i was a fan of this cartoon.
Yeah, there being anything more than just the show was news to me as well
Same.. shame it just disappeared.
"Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" was another very underrated 90s cartoon classic with a great toy line!
Although this came out when I was in my 20s, I did find it very well-done and enjoyable.
Ren losing his father and Octopon to the sea was one of the most heartbreaking moments of saudade in animation of the time. I have a dissociative disorder which meant whatever I watched as a child became my reality in the moment, so it was as if it actually happened to me personally.
I loved Pirates of the Dark Water! Thank you for doing this video. As a kid I have fond memories watching this show.
I would be terrorizing the house, playing with my toys, but when this show would come on I would sit on the carpet in front of the TV and just stare silently. Great memories.
I always thought Pirates of Dark water and Captain Planet should have done a crossover. It was around the right time.
Dude! I had all those figures and the ship. I’d forgotten all about it.
I had every single toy
Word,you n me both
Man you hit my RUclips feed a few days ago, and you've been hitting me in the nostalgia feels consistently since.
This is part my favorite show!! Thank you!! I wish they finished it!!
Adaptidid??
I love that cartoon. The Wrath was the coolest looking ship.
The budget in modern terms would be 1 mil to almost 1.6 million staggering in modern day standards. A true gem and gone before it's time. The world building and charecter development was some of the if not best of a animated series. Someone needs to find a way to get it started again, I'll bring the rum!
I'm 37 and I still, nomen omen, treasure this series. I grew up with it and it is associated with plenty of memories I've held dear for years. And from time to time brush upon as it still rocks.
Always the Quest!
This was one of my favourite cartoons I watched as a kid. I was pretty upset when they never finished it. I think it could have been just as memorable as He-Man or Thundercats if they had followed through with it until the end, but sadly we'll never see the end of the journey. :(
It was by far my most favorite show and when I turned into an adult, I looked it up because I wanted to know how it ended... I truly hope that someone will revive this.
"It's high adventure with the Pirates of Dark Water...", a manly tear was shed
I remember video taping an episode when I went to take my ACT test. I was mentally wiped out afterwards, but still watched my Pirates of Darkwater. I would like to have seen this one completed.
So next on super expensive fails, Skeleton Warriors? It was Playmates baby to not just be the "TMNT Guys" and wow it bombed, despite super great sculpts and characters.
Tony Jackson Biker Mice from Mars was another attempt that tried to get that sweet TMNT cash as well.
@@AC-gb7do I loved BMfM when I was a kid.
@@AC-gb7do
Yeah, like Street Sharks, Biker Mice from Mars was another of a dozen lack-luster loose imitations of the TMNT.
In fact, the only TMNT imitations I've seen that were actually good were Battletoads (the game), and Gargoyles, which let's be honest, was the real TMNT successor. Gargoyles was a hell of a series!
@@JanetStarChild You can argue Teen Titans follows a similar formula to TMNT.
Skeleton Warriors did have awesome designs and sculpts.
Omg this was my favorite show when I was younger. I even had the figures.
And once again Toy Galaxy proves that I watched an obscene amount of TV as a child since they have yet to cover a show that I DIDN'T watch. Thanks and keep up the great work!
When I was small, I had no idea when a show is cancelled. I just assumed the new episodes weren't shown yet, or maybe I missed them. Little did I know......
Own the pilot on VHS, back then I had no way of knowing the box set will be made.
Tim curry did voice work on the mighty max series.
Tim Curry did voice work on every other cartoon show made in the 90s. He is our childhood.
I remember this show, it was great and clearly too good for its time.
My Dad passed away a month ago, and one of our great memories together is our common excitement for this show I bought him the collection last year.
I REMEMBER THIS SHOW! I loved it
In February HB is releasing an animated film to finish 13 ghosts of Scooby Doo (another series from 35 years ago that never had a proper ending). So anything is possible. I'd love for HB to make an animated film with the original cast (sans Brock Peters "Bloth") RIP. To finally finish the story. In the late 90s CN even had a parody commercial claiming the last episodes were "lost" showing instead a cat drinking milk. I didn't find it funny at the time.
No way? First I'm hearing of 13 Ghost of Scooby-Doo?!?!
My favorite of all the Scoobie iterations. (Also my first) off to Google who the heck is brave enough to attempted to imitate the late great immortal Vincent Price...
P.s.
I recall that lil joke on late 90's pre adult swim attempt at humor and "no sir I did not like it".
I loved this show. I was 14 when this came out. I loved this show as it was a great blend of high fantasy and pirate themed adventure. Its world was truly something original to watch and to me a sign of the times as afternoon cartoons were slowly going away by the mid 90's into the early 2000's. As always your videos are what keeps me coming back to RUclips every time. So thanks again for a great video!
Thank you for making this! The cartoon was 1 of my absolute FAVORITE, as a kid.
This video reminded me of when I stole my sister’s Catra doll, cut her hair and named her Tula! Wish they released that Tula figure
An how did your sister react to modifying her Catra?🙃
When she eventually found out she wasn’t happy at all...personally I thought I did a good job 👍
I feel the same. I have everyone but Tula. Sadly, I had to let go of my wraith.
You forgot to mention Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird) who voiced Bloth, the main villain.
Brock Peters was also in a couple of Star Trek movies, and in Galtat and the Golden Lance as Tormak.
Spidrax
Brock Peters also voiced Lucius Fox on “Batman: The Animated Series”.
@@Spidrax Didn't he play Sisko's father on DS9?
Oh, yes. I forget that he passed away a long time ago. I also remember him from Swat Kats, he was in the recurring role of Dark Kat, the criminal mastermind & domestic terrorist.
Brock Peters was also the voice of Tormack on Galtar and the Golden Lance. That show also never had a final episode.
This is one of my all time favorites and was one that my mother actually watched and enjoyed with me!
Loved this show. Thank you for the video. Merry Christmas.
love the channel, may I request micro-machines video, thanks.
Thank you for bringing back long lost memories.
Thank you so much for doing this one. I loved this cartoon and figures as a kid and still do as a big kid!! as always done well.
Belated grats on 100k subs guys! Well deserved and here's too 200k to come real soon! With this channels production value and content you should have a million subs in no time!
When kids shows could say the word "wench".
They still had plenty of other made up curse words in that show.
...at least I think they were supposed to be curse words.(???)
WENCH IS IN THE DICTIONARY
Beardless Dan Larson I don't know who you are. I don't know what you did with Bearded Dan. I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom or just subscribers, I can tell you I don't have money or influence but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for Toy Collectors like you.
Love the channel as always. Happy Holidays!
😅😄 I was enjoying reminiscing about the Pirates of Dark Water cartoon. Totally missed Dan was missing the bearded. (Someone must have twisted his arm to shave for the holidays or he lost a bet😉)
@@babylonsquared Lol right. I also considered maybe this was pre recorded for the Holidays.
Recently found this channel, enjoying it very much, thanks!
I love your channel, reminds me of my youth and the good times that came with it!
That sucks to hear how this failed. We got such phrases as “Chungo Lungo!”, “No’Sh’tat”, and “Sh’tatin” added to our lexicon of swear surrogates.
I really loved this show and thought it was of a quality that few, if any, other cartoons of the time could match.
Netflix, or some other streaming service, should pick this back up and complete the collection of the 13 Treasures of Rule.
Some how fans need to band together and let it be known that there's a market out there for whoever brings us back our beloved Pirates of Dark Water. I don't know if the crowd fund method is worth a try. Some projects have gotten off the ground that way.
I kind of like the fact that it never got an ending. It's frozen in time now. Ren and the crew are still out there hunting down the treasures as far as I'm concerned. No reboot. I like it just the way it is.
Excellent video!
Just discovered the channel, loving the videos and throw backs to my childhood!
A MASTERPIECE animated series that i absolutely loved growing up with & i had all the action figures & the video that watched non-stop!!!! Love it
This was one of my favorite shows as a kid, and had all the action figures.... Such a great show #piratelove
Great episode Dan
Loved this show! Glad you covered it!
Man I love this show. Just got done re-watching it recently. Sure wish it had been completed.
Great vid! I absolutely loved this show when I was a kid and still do. I have the complete series on dvd and still watch it from time to time. Wish they had completed the series
I've searched for the name of this series for years. Tried to get my friends to remember the name, but no one ever did. "It was pirates and some black or oily water..!?". Gave up years ago and now, a random thing reminded me and a simple google search later led me to conclusion... Huh.
I _loved_ watching this after school when I was younger!
Literally one of my favourite cartoons of all time. It's funny to remember them, and forget that so many were cancelled.
Not only did I love this show growing up, I even had some of the toys! Talk about a blast from the past!
i saw an episode when i was really small, never remembered anything besides the main character entering into a bar, forced to leave his half sword at the entrance and then getting into a fight, and the dark water, but nothing else for ages now, just that memory thinking i made it all up, then i watch this video and i had an eureka moment, it all became clear once i saw the main character
U guys are on such a fuckin roll. I hella love u all n dont even know u. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to Mrs.Toy Galaxy, Producer Greg and of course, our righteous host. Thank u Dan. Solid.
I remember asking people about this my whole life and no one knowing what I was talking about. Thanks for letting me know I wasn’t crazy and made it all up in my head.
The animation seems surprisingly good for the time
This and many other awesome cartoons made my childhood great! Always looking forward to Saturday morning!
Before pirates of the Caribbean, before Black sails we had Pirates of dark water. It truly was an awesome animation.
Adapted-ed....lol. I’m sure no one else will notice.
Always entertaining! Thank you. I enjoyed this show upon its release. Glad to see it still has a following.
Adapteded. At least the hobbitses didn't notice.
I watched this faithfully. Was really disappointed that we never so an ending to the story.
I loved this series so much as a kid, and I still at 33 years old say, "aigitaten monkeybird!" When I cuss.
Ok first off thanks , haven't seen the video yet but thanks ,I loved this show as a kid ,wish there was more content, thanks again
I've been binging channel. So many memories!
This is one of my favorites on Saturday and Sunday mornings! Never finished the season.