Timestamps: 0:00 Hanna Barbera Cartoons: Yay or Nay 1:18 The Pirates of Dark Water: A Brief Retrospective 3:45 The Dark Water 8:40 The Leviathan 9:39 The Constrictus 11:06 The Galquin 11:46 The Blight 12:33 Kiroptus 13:31 Worldbuilding and Creature Design 15:03 Gaziers 15:18 Coagulons, the Nycra and Octopuckers 16:09 Darva Worms 16:42 Amphosites, Glowfish and Cohol Vines 17:44 Finish
@@Land_Far_Away Swat Kats, Pirates of Dark Water and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest make a trinity of criminally underrated and underappreciated action cartoons that deserved better.
I saw some episodes of Pirates of Dark Water well past it's cancellation and it actually left enough of an impact that it's inspired original creatures and even entire original fantasy ideas. I need to hunt this series down and watch it thoroughly.
Pirates of Dark Water and Swat Kats were two awesome amazing Hannah Barbera shows that added darker themes to their stories, and carried on Jonny Quest tradition of villains receiving a grim and dire consequence!
Yesss, Swat Kats is another awesome cartoon I grew up watching. I have it on a DVD. It still awaits some sort of recap on my side. And yeah, awesome villains was definitely an important factor that made these shows so great. Hannah Barbera was on a roll in the 90s, prior to being sold to Warner Bros.
@@Land_Far_AwaySwat Kats is coming back it's just that the creators are taking her time because you got to remember animation is expensive and it takes a long time why do you think invincible season 2 almost took 2 years to come out
Thank you! I would like to do more on Pirates of Dark Water. It was an awesome show and it still holds up! Nowadays you rarely see even attempts to do something original, to create a new franchise. Pirates of Dark Water was namely that. Sure, it had its obvious sources of influence, but so did Star Wars.
I can imagine... When I watched it after 15+ years I felt like I'm in nostalgia heaven. So many great memories watching this series as a kid and then reenacting them...
Yeah, Pirates of Dark Water was quite an multimedia project (comparable to Shadows of the Empire): there was the TV series, a comic, a SNES game, an RPG, and a lot of merch, including action figures. Sadly, the plug was pulled on the whole thing. A comic book continuation is a great idea though!
@@Land_Far_Away sure man, time is precious! just keep it in mind, I mean I found your channel by googling "pirates of dark water lore" so other people must also be interested in that gem! shame it has so little coverage ;( still time is precious, I wish you get more of it eventually!
Cray (or what the dark water did to her) and Kiroptus traumatized me when I was a kid! Still, this show was amazing in every way. Definitely wish it had a proper ending. I think the last episode was The Living Treasure? And that's no way to end this show. That at least should have been a mid-season finale.
Oh yeah, the show was scary at times! To be honest though, that's probably one of the reasons why I gravitated towards it as a kid. Quality shows canceled too soon, without a proper ending, are a special kind of sad.
100% agree with you, friend! It's such a shame when you think how the whole point of this show was to collect 13 treasures, but in the end they managed to get only 8. Also, something I didn't point out in my video. How fun it was that the crew needed to use different tactics to collect these treasures. It was far from the generic "kill X and I will give you the artefact" scenario.
Thank you for your comment! As a general rule of life, I like sharing with people things I love and bring me joy. I bought my DVD for a fair price on Ebay, so it's still possible to find. Sadly, I don't expect this show appearing on HBO Max anytime soon.
@@shadowleon659they claim that they're going to bring Swat Kats back but it's taking too long because they're taking your time on the animation cuz you got to remember animation is expensive and the creators of the show they still own the rights to Swat Kats Warner Brothers only owns the rights to the animated series from 1993
@@Land_Far_Away i guess jonny quest too... those shows never really made it to europe in the 90s when i was watching saturday morning cartoons ^^ the comic should be also quite great - has one of my fav writers william messner-loeb if you're into comics too
This show essentially did the same thing what George Lucas did: took a bunch of beloved sources of inspirations, mixed them all together, and the result was a unique product of love and references with a unique spin to it.
One other great and underrated Hanna Barbara production that got overlooked was Last of the Curlews. Its basically a tv movie about the journey of one of the last Eskimo Curlew birds as it migrates to North America, finds a mate and generally just tires to survive in spite if the the perilous obstacles. It’s defiantly unique compared to other Hanna Barbara productions. It’s a lot more serious and has a more suspenseful and tragic tone. With themes of existential loneliness, with the curlew being the last of a near extinct species, and commentary on modern man’s impact on wildlife. Particularly when it comes to game hunting. The film almost reminded me of a lower budget Watership Down. The film’s not perfect by any means, there are a few instances of looped/recycled animation and scenes that drag on a bit too long, but these are minor flaws in what’s probably one of HB’s more serious and tragic, yet impactful animations I’ve ever seen. Highly recommend if that’s your thing!
I do remember that show, and I liked it very much when it came out, despite being an adult at the time. It reminded me of Star Wars and I was a huge Star Wars fan at the time. Kudos for making the video!
Oh yes, it definitely was inspired by Star Wars, but it wasn't a rip-off. That's the way to do it. I re-watched the show in my 30s and I think it still holds up. It's very imaginative.
Thank you very much, kind sir! I guess we grew up watching similar things. Yesss, Pirates of Dark Water was an awesome show and it still holds up. Given the positive response to my video and a prospect of having a lot of fun re-watching the show once again, I will definitely put the project on my shortlist.
Thanks for sharing! What do you write? When it comes to an animated series actually inspiring me to do something creative with my life, I think The Pirates of Dark Water is the one. I loved many animated shows but this one was really special. I actually tried to write a novel about pirates when I was 10 or so...
@@Land_Far_Away I started out with fantasy but lately been branching out to alternate history - with fantasy elements. I'm still unpublished but I'm already querying. ✍
That's the way to go! I wish you the best of luck. I remember reading a novel in the alternate history genre about what would happen if the assasination attempt on the "famous Austrian painter" in 1944 was successful, and how would that affect WW2. Fun stuff. What period of history interests you? In the end, I've never written anything plot-driven. Only academic papers, essays, reviews, did many interviews with musicians...
I grew up in Poland, but since then I've been moving around. I'm based in Ireland now. Well, back in the 90s we did get Cartoon Network, but only the original English version. That was a great language opportunity for me. I still joke that most of my knowledge of English can be traced back to the days of watching cartoons. Cartoon Newtork fully dubbed in Polish didn't come around until mid-2000s (I think), but by then I stopped watching it. Anyway, it's really cool that despite growing up in a completely different, just recently post-communist environment than my Western friends and colleagues, I'm still able to connect with them because we all grew up watching the same cartoons. That part of our childhood experience we do share. How about you? Where are you from?
Yeah, both series were definitely canceled way too soon. Although The Real Adventures had around 50 episodes, while Pirates... just 21. Oh yesss, Ezekiel Rage was both cool and tragic. Easily one of the best cartoon villains.
I would love to see more Pirates of Dark Water. episodes from you. I discovered this show the day it aired as I just happened to be home sick strep throat and have loved it ever since.
Thank you for your kind words! And for sharing your story. This channel is currently struggling a bit because of RUclips but I most likely get to work on new videos, including ones about Pirates of Dark Water. It's such a gem of a show...
@Land_Far_Away I wrote a whole discussion post about this show for an environmental communication class I took. Our professor asked us what shows from our childhood made us think about environmental issues. Pirates of Dark Water was the first one that came to mind.
As for similarities between Pirates of Dark Water and Star Wars, Ren carries his father's sword everywhere, while the Maelstrom is bascially a Star Destroyer.
wow, making a Tree look devilish, they managed to do it... cool stuff... we cannot underestimate the achievements from Masters of the Universe (He-Man) I was recently watching some episodes because my wife is a huge fan of the cartoon (in our household we don't waste time watching circus news or crime shows, cartoons just fine in the background...) and I was very impressed by the amount of lore and diversity of characters in that cartoon, for such a "toy selling cashgrab" I consider it a very well made product, there are several different factions in the story, very few loose ends that I could notice... very impressive for such a kid's cartoon that I overlooked in the past
There was a D&D-like RPG game based on The Pirates of Dark Water, but I hear it wasn't very good. Its mechanics were to blame, not the world itself. Google it and you will find free manuals in PDF.
I ran a freeform campaign based in Pirates of Dark Water with some friends once. Can confirm it was easy to make awesome. Since the show's canon had a convenient fetch quest to repurpose and lots of details from the setting that could be reused, that let us focus on everything else that's important for a plot to work! Turned out great.
It was a great one! Amusingly enough, I remember that back in the 1990s the pirate theme was considered to be somewhat cursed. Many tried to tackle it in various forms of media, but usually the ending product was lackluster.
For me the worst thing about old Hanna Barbera cartoons was the laugh track. But you know what? Many of these cartoons were aired abroad without the laugh track! Probably for technical reasons (dubbing), but it worked out great anyways. It made them way more enjoyable.
Why is it “humorous” that he’s named Ren? It’s like the bird Wren. Many pirates in fiction are named or nicknamed after birds, a certain modern Captain comes to mind 🕊️, as well as a classic brought to life by Erol Flynn. Jack Sparrow and the Seahawk.
I remember reading "Treasure Island" in translation. At one point the translator added a note commenting namely on the etymology of pirates' nicknames. You're definitely right! Oh, my comment is such a nerdy one. I just find really weird how many Rens there currently are in Star Wars: Kylo Ren, Sabine Wren, Kybo Ren (from the "Droids" cartoon), the Knights of Ren, plus Rey also sounds similar. So it was a bit funny to me to find another Ren in this show.
wow great video. pirate of dark water was my favorite show in the 90s i grew up watching the series. it's funny that pirate of dark water never made a live action movie.i mean Disney made million of money off of pirate of the Caribbean. why not pirate of dark waters by wbd they should take a another shot at it again maybe one day
Thank you for your comment and kind words! I loved this show as well. You are right. This IP would make for a great live action movie, maybe even franchise. It's owned by Warner Bros. They could give Disney run for their money, especially since Pirates of the Caribbean is a dead franchise, and their attempts to revive it are IMO doomed to fail.
@@Land_Far_Away Wonderful! The Pirates of Dark Water was an old favorite of mine as a child, and it is a real pity that the series was canceled before it got a proper conclusion.
It was an exceptional show! When it comes to an animated series actually inspiring me to do something creative with my life, I think The Pirates of Dark Water is the one. I loved many animated shows but this one has a special place in my heart.
Exactly! Plus, add to that: storytelling obviously influenced by the Hero's journey, skillful worldbuilding, a lot of imagination. Just like the Star Wars Universe, the world of The Pirates of Dark Water invited you in and made you want to live there and go on adventures.
I wanted to do a video on the episode, "A drop of darkness. But I don't know where you found the episodes and what application you used to record without getting strike.
The more discussion of The Pirates of Dark Water the merrier. This series was released on DVD back in a day. You can still find it on Amazon and Ebay. This is where I take footage from. I use Wondershare Filmora 9 for editing. If you want to avoid strikes, you need to cut... a lot. I never use clips longer than 7 seconds (they're usually shorter). Sometimes I will repeat same footage few times is a row, reverse it, or slow it down to 50%. That usually does the trick. Also, avoid original audio as much as possible. Hope this helps! Good luck on you video.
@@Land_Far_Away I don’t have a disc reader on my laptop. I also have the dvd as a gift from my sister, many years ago! lol sweet! So did you download it or just capture it?
Neighter do I, but I bought an external disk player. It's a useful little thing. So much of my archive is still on DVD-Rs. I use Bandicam to capture footage. Sometimes the audio gets messed up that way, but like I said, I usually mute videos anyway, for copyright reasons.
These are my top 10 favorite cartoons from the 90s 1. The bots master 2. The Swat Kats 3. Rocko's modern Life 4. Monkey magic 5. The adventures of Tin Tin 1991 6. Sailor Moon 7. The lion hearts 8. Digimon 9. Sabrina the animated series 10. Pepper Ann
@@Land_Far_Away the reason I got canceled was because of Ted Turner he claimed the show was too violent and the other reason I got canceled cuz it was over budget
I didn't know that, but I can believe both arguments. It was action-packed, had great animation, and... some really scary stuff in it. Funny how The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest was canceled for the same reason(s). It definitely was a violent and very expensive show with all the CGI sequences, even long portions of episodes set in Quest World. It's telling that the portrayal of Quest World would deteriorate badly in season 2.
I watched scooby doo in the early 80’s as a kid and I loved the laugh track. Comparing The Pirates of Dark Water to Dtar Wars is a pretty big stretch.Ren’s dad was no Darth Vader. A lot of forcing similarities to other shows.
I myself never liked the laugh track. It felt so out of place, especially for the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You, which was otherwise quite dark. Luckily, most dubbed versions were devoid of the laugh track. I'm not claiming that The Pirates of Dark Water was just like Star Wars. The show was really original. Most of the time when I mention Star Wars in my video, I mean it as a complement - both IPs had great worldbuilding. However, it's pretty clear to me that Star Wars - A New Hope more than any other episode - was an important source of inspiration for Pirates, but the show had good enough crew behind itself to avoid simply copying Star Wars.
Afraid that Kiroptus fact is wrong. I checked the IMDB for Pirates of Dark Water. No mention of Mark Hamill. I believe, that's another Frank Welker voice, often used for monsters of the week on Scooby Doo. That said, great that you're bringing attention to this spectacular but easily missed show. A shame that Hanna Barberra, oft users of poorly created and rushed material, decided to go all-out once, and it failed completely. I guess we can blame capitalism for not always rewarding excellent creativity.
My bad then. This voice sounded to me quite like Megatron but few sources claim that it was Mark Hamill doing the voice. But you're right, the ending credits don't mention Hamill either. It's such a shame than whenever Hanna Barbera tried to do something unique and high-value, they would fail, ex. Pirates of Dark Water and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.
It’s a she never finished the series. I wonder if they would’ve added some other story elements like war of the rings such as reforging his father sword in later arcs.
I'm sure they would. Had they been interested only in pushing forward the main plot, we would have gotten a complete series. There weren't that many treasures to find after all. But they started to branch off pretty early on, introducing cool side stories and so on.
It's just a joke, and a reference to the episode of Friends with Joey's Japanese commercial for blue lipstick. It's actually funny how Bloth's crew would call him blue-lips behind his back, as evidenced in the episode "The Soul Stealer".
I own this show on DVD and it's still great. I just wish the show got to finish properly instead of being aborted early for mysterious reasons (money related probably). Comics or something would also be acceptable but more of the show would be best. Instead we got nothing.
Hear, hear! I have that DVD as well. It's my prized posession. I'm really happy that this show at least was released on home video, unlike many other forgotten cartoons of the past. And yes, it's such a shame that the show got cancelled. It had huge potential. Most likely it was a money issue, just like with The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Swat Kats. It was a dark period for Hanna Barbera. Eventually they got sold to Warner Bros.
I'd truly loved watching *_Pirates Of Dark Water_* on *ABC Saturday Morning Cartoons,* after *_Land Of The Lost,_* before *_The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show_* starts at 10 A.M or 11 A.M. Since I'd truly was 8, at Miami on stationed Channel 10 *#WPLG**.* It's absolutely epically proportion. And if I'd truly were a Heroic time traveling autism person, I'd truly go back to 1993, & ST🛑P the cancelation on my favorite program like *_The Pirates Of Dark Water._*
Well I never this show existed because I knew Batman TAS had a mature content but I have seen other shows having dark stuff like Mighty Max, TMNT 2003 and Godzilla the series just to name a few
Oh yeah, cartoons used to be way darker. Not only 30 years ago, but even 10 years ago. I didn't watch Mighty Max, and I was never really into TMNT, but Godzilla I do remember. Thanks for your suggestions.
I appreciate your comment. Not everyone is gifted with a pleasant voice. I used to provide my own voiceover and more people would complain. So it is what it is. My talents lie elsewhere.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Timestamps:
0:00 Hanna Barbera Cartoons: Yay or Nay
1:18 The Pirates of Dark Water: A Brief Retrospective
3:45 The Dark Water
8:40 The Leviathan
9:39 The Constrictus
11:06 The Galquin
11:46 The Blight
12:33 Kiroptus
13:31 Worldbuilding and Creature Design
15:03 Gaziers
15:18 Coagulons, the Nycra and Octopuckers
16:09 Darva Worms
16:42 Amphosites, Glowfish and Cohol Vines
17:44 Finish
The Pirates of Dark Water was such an exceptional show on every level!
My point exactly! Easily among my top 3 of all time!
I mean it's a solid piece but the animation coulda been better. A couple episodes show some serious line tearing. Super sad cause it deserved more
Too bad, the ratings didn’t show it.
Pirates of Dark Water is a beyond underrated and underappreciated action adventure cartoon that deserved better.
100% agree with you! So let's keep the memory of the show alive.
@@Land_Far_Away Swat Kats, Pirates of Dark Water and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest make a trinity of criminally underrated and underappreciated action cartoons that deserved better.
@@shadowleon659 I loved each and everyone of those! Thank god I can still find them online to keep watching.
I saw some episodes of Pirates of Dark Water well past it's cancellation and it actually left enough of an impact that it's inspired original creatures and even entire original fantasy ideas. I need to hunt this series down and watch it thoroughly.
You won't be disappointed! It holds up. You can still find the series on DVD.
Pirates of Dark Water and Swat Kats were two awesome amazing Hannah Barbera shows that added darker themes to their stories, and carried on Jonny Quest tradition of villains receiving a grim and dire consequence!
Yesss, Swat Kats is another awesome cartoon I grew up watching. I have it on a DVD. It still awaits some sort of recap on my side. And yeah, awesome villains was definitely an important factor that made these shows so great. Hannah Barbera was on a roll in the 90s, prior to being sold to Warner Bros.
@@Land_Far_AwaySwat Kats is coming back it's just that the creators are taking her time because you got to remember animation is expensive and it takes a long time why do you think invincible season 2 almost took 2 years to come out
This is probably the tv show and one of the main reasons that made me work at ships and take education as an engine Officer i was born 1989
Wow, that's a great story! Congrats.
I love Pirates of Dark water! Please consider doing any number of videos you want on the subject! I will totally be watching them😊
Thank you! I would like to do more on Pirates of Dark Water. It was an awesome show and it still holds up! Nowadays you rarely see even attempts to do something original, to create a new franchise. Pirates of Dark Water was namely that. Sure, it had its obvious sources of influence, but so did Star Wars.
3:10 "I might delve into a comprehensive review slash retrospective of the entire show."
Yes please.
Thank's for commenting. I have this idea on my list of upcoming projects.
@@Land_Far_Away Cool! This show was one of my favorites growing up, and I have never forgotten it.
@@Joshuazx Same here! I was realy eager to find it and rewatch it again. And it does hold up!
I watched this amazing series in Guatemala oh my goodness it bring memories
I can imagine... When I watched it after 15+ years I felt like I'm in nostalgia heaven. So many great memories watching this series as a kid and then reenacting them...
Kinda wish Pirates of the Dark Waters would continue as a comic book series, canonically take place after the series finale's cliffhanger.
Yeah, Pirates of Dark Water was quite an multimedia project (comparable to Shadows of the Empire): there was the TV series, a comic, a SNES game, an RPG, and a lot of merch, including action figures. Sadly, the plug was pulled on the whole thing. A comic book continuation is a great idea though!
I had totally forgotten about this show. Please, more on it, this was amazing!
I would like to do more on it. It was a great show, and it holds up nicely.
I really wish you'd make an episode by episode review of this thing. It's such a marvelous show, killed way too early
Man, I would love to, this project is on my list, but currently I'm really struggling with a lack of time. Still, it is a good idea.
@@Land_Far_Away sure man, time is precious! just keep it in mind, I mean I found your channel by googling "pirates of dark water lore" so other people must also be interested in that gem! shame it has so little coverage ;( still time is precious, I wish you get more of it eventually!
Сердце радуется, когда осознаешь, что ты не единственный поклонник великолепного, но совсем забытого мультика!
Cray (or what the dark water did to her) and Kiroptus traumatized me when I was a kid!
Still, this show was amazing in every way. Definitely wish it had a proper ending.
I think the last episode was The Living Treasure? And that's no way to end this show. That at least should have been a mid-season finale.
Oh yeah, the show was scary at times! To be honest though, that's probably one of the reasons why I gravitated towards it as a kid.
Quality shows canceled too soon, without a proper ending, are a special kind of sad.
It was a tragedy this show was not allowed to tell it's full story. A Better show has rarely been seen since.
100% agree with you, friend! It's such a shame when you think how the whole point of this show was to collect 13 treasures, but in the end they managed to get only 8.
Also, something I didn't point out in my video. How fun it was that the crew needed to use different tactics to collect these treasures. It was far from the generic "kill X and I will give you the artefact" scenario.
I grew up watching this show. It was fantastic and I wish I owned what little they produced on DVD or something. Thank you for making this video!
Also! The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest was another fantastic show I couldn't get enough of.
We're of the same mind!
Thank you for your comment! As a general rule of life, I like sharing with people things I love and bring me joy.
I bought my DVD for a fair price on Ebay, so it's still possible to find. Sadly, I don't expect this show appearing on HBO Max anytime soon.
One of those shows that deserved more like swat Kats
100% agree with you! I really liked that show as well.
Swat Kats is beyond underrated.
@shadowleon659 it's the reason so many millennials are furries
@@shadowleon659they claim that they're going to bring Swat Kats back but it's taking too long because they're taking your time on the animation cuz you got to remember animation is expensive and the creators of the show they still own the rights to Swat Kats Warner Brothers only owns the rights to the animated series from 1993
This looks like something i would enjoy to watch a ton. Thx
You're welcome. It's not too late, friend.
@@Land_Far_Away i guess jonny quest too... those shows never really made it to europe in the 90s when i was watching saturday morning cartoons ^^ the comic should be also quite great - has one of my fav writers william messner-loeb if you're into comics too
@@florianneumann9441 I'm not really into comics, but I will give that one a try. Thanks for your tips!
love this show, so sad it got it's run cut short, would have been a great epic!
So true... Let's spread the love for this show though.
right! it desreves a reboot! and finally!@@Land_Far_Away
I love 90s animation! I used to watch Pirates on Cartoon Network.
Same here!
I love this show, deserved better, deserves a blu ray release.
Yesss... These old DVDs will run out eventually. Plus some extra footage would be nice.
Such fond memories form when I was a kid in the early 90’s this show had so much Dark Sun and Conan vibes to it.
This show essentially did the same thing what George Lucas did: took a bunch of beloved sources of inspirations, mixed them all together, and the result was a unique product of love and references with a unique spin to it.
One other great and underrated Hanna Barbara production that got overlooked was Last of the Curlews. Its basically a tv movie about the journey of one of the last Eskimo Curlew birds as it migrates to North America, finds a mate and generally just tires to survive in spite if the the perilous obstacles.
It’s defiantly unique compared to other Hanna Barbara productions. It’s a lot more serious and has a more suspenseful and tragic tone. With themes of existential loneliness, with the curlew being the last of a near extinct species, and commentary on modern man’s impact on wildlife. Particularly when it comes to game hunting. The film almost reminded me of a lower budget Watership Down.
The film’s not perfect by any means, there are a few instances of looped/recycled animation and scenes that drag on a bit too long, but these are minor flaws in what’s probably one of HB’s more serious and tragic, yet impactful animations I’ve ever seen. Highly recommend if that’s your thing!
Thanks for sharing. I've never heard of Last of the Curlews but I guess it was before my time. I will check it.
I do remember that show, and I liked it very much when it came out, despite being an adult at the time. It reminded me of Star Wars and I was a huge Star Wars fan at the time. Kudos for making the video!
Oh yes, it definitely was inspired by Star Wars, but it wasn't a rip-off. That's the way to do it. I re-watched the show in my 30s and I think it still holds up. It's very imaginative.
Love
Love
Love
Love this show. All time fave 🏴☠️
You speak the truth! This show needs more exposure, maybe even a revival.
@@Land_Far_Away I would support a revival…but fear it would be handled poorly. But worth the risk!
Basically an eldritch inspired cartoon with references to real world pollution. I miss this show so much
It was a blast! Such a shame it never became a franchise, despite Hanna-Barbera's best efforts. Still, hopefully we won't ever get a reboot.
Yeeeees!! I just found this channel and it is a RUclips gem! Please do a full review of Pirates of Dark Water!!!
Thank you very much, kind sir! I guess we grew up watching similar things. Yesss, Pirates of Dark Water was an awesome show and it still holds up. Given the positive response to my video and a prospect of having a lot of fun re-watching the show once again, I will definitely put the project on my shortlist.
5:28 this whole scene scarred me for life as a child. 30 years later and I have rediscovered how terrifying it was.
Same here! Thank you for sharing your memories.
This remains my absolute favorite animated series. It was also one of my earliest inspirations to become a writer in the first place. 🏴☠🏴☠
Thanks for sharing! What do you write?
When it comes to an animated series actually inspiring me to do something creative with my life, I think The Pirates of Dark Water is the one. I loved many animated shows but this one was really special. I actually tried to write a novel about pirates when I was 10 or so...
@@Land_Far_Away I started out with fantasy but lately been branching out to alternate history - with fantasy elements. I'm still unpublished but I'm already querying. ✍
That's the way to go! I wish you the best of luck.
I remember reading a novel in the alternate history genre about what would happen if the assasination attempt on the "famous Austrian painter" in 1944 was successful, and how would that affect WW2. Fun stuff. What period of history interests you?
In the end, I've never written anything plot-driven. Only academic papers, essays, reviews, did many interviews with musicians...
Crazy imagination!
My point exactly!
Wow! My three favorite tv shows when i was a kid are the same as yours. It would be a dream to drink a beer with you!
Pleasure would be all mine, friend!
@@Land_Far_Away where are you based if I may? Curious to know more about your childhood and how cartoon network aired in your country
I grew up in Poland, but since then I've been moving around. I'm based in Ireland now.
Well, back in the 90s we did get Cartoon Network, but only the original English version. That was a great language opportunity for me. I still joke that most of my knowledge of English can be traced back to the days of watching cartoons. Cartoon Newtork fully dubbed in Polish didn't come around until mid-2000s (I think), but by then I stopped watching it.
Anyway, it's really cool that despite growing up in a completely different, just recently post-communist environment than my Western friends and colleagues, I'm still able to connect with them because we all grew up watching the same cartoons. That part of our childhood experience we do share.
How about you? Where are you from?
Did the series ever become completed? If I recall Cartoon Network never aired all the episodes, at least not during my childhood.
Unfortunately, no. There never was a conclusion to the show. It got canceled about midway. Ren and his crew found only 7 treasures out of 13.
@@Land_Far_Away Ah, shame. Same thing happened with The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. A real bummer as Ezekiel Rage is one of the best villains.
Yeah, both series were definitely canceled way too soon. Although The Real Adventures had around 50 episodes, while Pirates... just 21.
Oh yesss, Ezekiel Rage was both cool and tragic. Easily one of the best cartoon villains.
I would love to see more Pirates of Dark Water. episodes from you. I discovered this show the day it aired as I just happened to be home sick strep throat and have loved it ever since.
Thank you for your kind words! And for sharing your story. This channel is currently struggling a bit because of RUclips but I most likely get to work on new videos, including ones about Pirates of Dark Water. It's such a gem of a show...
@Land_Far_Away I wrote a whole discussion post about this show for an environmental communication class I took. Our professor asked us what shows from our childhood made us think about environmental issues. Pirates of Dark Water was the first one that came to mind.
That's a great choice! Much better than the oh-so-obvious "Captain Planet" (which I did watch but didn't enjoy even as a kid).
Niddler had a different va in the mini series
True that. Some voiceover artists changed later.
@@Land_Far_Away both were good though
@@zoidboy1569 These older shows had amazing voiceover artists.
7:45 Love the Futurama references!
Surprisingly, there are several!
As for similarities between Pirates of Dark Water and Star Wars, Ren carries his father's sword everywhere, while the Maelstrom is bascially a Star Destroyer.
Good point!
wow, making a Tree look devilish, they managed to do it... cool stuff... we cannot underestimate the achievements from Masters of the Universe (He-Man) I was recently watching some episodes because my wife is a huge fan of the cartoon (in our household we don't waste time watching circus news or crime shows, cartoons just fine in the background...) and I was very impressed by the amount of lore and diversity of characters in that cartoon, for such a "toy selling cashgrab" I consider it a very well made product, there are several different factions in the story, very few loose ends that I could notice... very impressive for such a kid's cartoon that I overlooked in the past
My thoughts exactly! These old shows took a lot of creativity and imagination.
Also, your household sounds like an awesome place. Cheers.
Yeah I’m curious about this series so yes a full review please
I will add that idea to my list of projects to work on. Thanks for your vote.
@@Land_Far_Away your welcome
a good DM could make an awesome campaign with this world as a base
There was a D&D-like RPG game based on The Pirates of Dark Water, but I hear it wasn't very good. Its mechanics were to blame, not the world itself. Google it and you will find free manuals in PDF.
I ran a freeform campaign based in Pirates of Dark Water with some friends once. Can confirm it was easy to make awesome. Since the show's canon had a convenient fetch quest to repurpose and lots of details from the setting that could be reused, that let us focus on everything else that's important for a plot to work! Turned out great.
Black hell, that scene with Cray traumatized me as a kid more than any cartoon ever did.
I got ya! It was such a memorable show. Weird how it's so rarely discussed.
Love the series
It was a great one! Amusingly enough, I remember that back in the 1990s the pirate theme was considered to be somewhat cursed. Many tried to tackle it in various forms of media, but usually the ending product was lackluster.
I remember bits a pieces of this show but what I do remember is the water was damn scary.
Oh yes, from a writing/animation standpoint, that's quite an achievement!
For me the worst thing about old Hanna Barbera cartoons was the laugh track. But you know what? Many of these cartoons were aired abroad without the laugh track! Probably for technical reasons (dubbing), but it worked out great anyways. It made them way more enjoyable.
Good job.
Well, it was a great show.
Why is it “humorous” that he’s named Ren? It’s like the bird Wren. Many pirates in fiction are named or nicknamed after birds, a certain modern Captain comes to mind 🕊️, as well as a classic brought to life by Erol Flynn. Jack Sparrow and the Seahawk.
I remember reading "Treasure Island" in translation. At one point the translator added a note commenting namely on the etymology of pirates' nicknames. You're definitely right!
Oh, my comment is such a nerdy one. I just find really weird how many Rens there currently are in Star Wars: Kylo Ren, Sabine Wren, Kybo Ren (from the "Droids" cartoon), the Knights of Ren, plus Rey also sounds similar. So it was a bit funny to me to find another Ren in this show.
We’re all nerds together sweetheart lol, I always said “Peace through Geek!” No war was ever started in the name of nerdom.😁👍🏼♥️🤓
You got my subscription
Thank you! Much appreciated.
wow great video. pirate of dark water was my favorite show in the 90s i grew up watching the series. it's funny that pirate of dark water never made a live action movie.i mean Disney made million of money off of pirate of the Caribbean. why not pirate of dark waters by wbd they should take a another shot at it again maybe one day
Thank you for your comment and kind words! I loved this show as well.
You are right. This IP would make for a great live action movie, maybe even franchise. It's owned by Warner Bros. They could give Disney run for their money, especially since Pirates of the Caribbean is a dead franchise, and their attempts to revive it are IMO doomed to fail.
I do hope you make a comprehensive review slash retrospective of the entire show, as that would be amazing.
Thank you! It's on the list of projects I want to give a shot if time allows.
@@Land_Far_Away Wonderful! The Pirates of Dark Water was an old favorite of mine as a child, and it is a real pity that the series was canceled before it got a proper conclusion.
It was an exceptional show! When it comes to an animated series actually inspiring me to do something creative with my life, I think The Pirates of Dark Water is the one. I loved many animated shows but this one has a special place in my heart.
@@Land_Far_Away I mean, it's fantasy + pirates, how can you really go wrong with such a concept?
Exactly! Plus, add to that: storytelling obviously influenced by the Hero's journey, skillful worldbuilding, a lot of imagination. Just like the Star Wars Universe, the world of The Pirates of Dark Water invited you in and made you want to live there and go on adventures.
I wanted to do a video on the episode, "A drop of darkness. But I don't know where you found the episodes and what application you used to record without getting strike.
The more discussion of The Pirates of Dark Water the merrier.
This series was released on DVD back in a day. You can still find it on Amazon and Ebay. This is where I take footage from.
I use Wondershare Filmora 9 for editing. If you want to avoid strikes, you need to cut... a lot. I never use clips longer than 7 seconds (they're usually shorter). Sometimes I will repeat same footage few times is a row, reverse it, or slow it down to 50%. That usually does the trick. Also, avoid original audio as much as possible.
Hope this helps! Good luck on you video.
@@Land_Far_Away I don’t have a disc reader on my laptop. I also have the dvd as a gift from my sister, many years ago! lol sweet! So did you download it or just capture it?
Neighter do I, but I bought an external disk player. It's a useful little thing. So much of my archive is still on DVD-Rs.
I use Bandicam to capture footage. Sometimes the audio gets messed up that way, but like I said, I usually mute videos anyway, for copyright reasons.
This was a glorious time for Hanna Barbera cartoons where they threw everything and the kitchen sink into these productions
100% agree! They had classics on their hands.
You forgot to mention Dagrons which Leviathans eat.
I didn't. I'm just not really a fan of them. Although it's interesting how in the later part of the series, we get a more sympathetic look at them.
These are my top 10 favorite cartoons from the 90s
1. The bots master
2. The Swat Kats
3. Rocko's modern Life
4. Monkey magic
5. The adventures of Tin Tin 1991
6. Sailor Moon
7. The lion hearts
8. Digimon
9. Sabrina the animated series
10. Pepper Ann
That's a great list! Swat Kats is one that I haven't talked about on the channel, but I loved it as a kid.
@@Land_Far_Away the reason I got canceled was because of Ted Turner he claimed the show was too violent and the other reason I got canceled cuz it was over budget
I didn't know that, but I can believe both arguments. It was action-packed, had great animation, and... some really scary stuff in it.
Funny how The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest was canceled for the same reason(s). It definitely was a violent and very expensive show with all the CGI sequences, even long portions of episodes set in Quest World. It's telling that the portrayal of Quest World would deteriorate badly in season 2.
@@Land_Far_Away you're not going to believe this but they said that show was stuck in development hell for 6 years
Wow! That's literally hell.
It’s a shame this series was never completed. Netflix if you read this pick this series up and finish.
Who knows, maybe the success of One Piece could actually push producers to do more pirate content, for example re-invent this hidden gem.
This had such Conan the Barbarian vibe
Good point! I was focusing more on other franchises for comparison, but you are right.
@@Land_Far_Away Granted it was more along Conan the Adventurer since they were around the same time but man was it a good show,
Hear, hear!
I watched scooby doo in the early 80’s as a kid and I loved the laugh track.
Comparing The Pirates of Dark Water to Dtar Wars is a pretty big stretch.Ren’s dad was no Darth Vader. A lot of forcing similarities to other shows.
I myself never liked the laugh track. It felt so out of place, especially for the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You, which was otherwise quite dark. Luckily, most dubbed versions were devoid of the laugh track.
I'm not claiming that The Pirates of Dark Water was just like Star Wars. The show was really original. Most of the time when I mention Star Wars in my video, I mean it as a complement - both IPs had great worldbuilding.
However, it's pretty clear to me that Star Wars - A New Hope more than any other episode - was an important source of inspiration for Pirates, but the show had good enough crew behind itself to avoid simply copying Star Wars.
Afraid that Kiroptus fact is wrong. I checked the IMDB for Pirates of Dark Water. No mention of Mark Hamill. I believe, that's another Frank Welker voice, often used for monsters of the week on Scooby Doo. That said, great that you're bringing attention to this spectacular but easily missed show. A shame that Hanna Barberra, oft users of poorly created and rushed material, decided to go all-out once, and it failed completely. I guess we can blame capitalism for not always rewarding excellent creativity.
My bad then. This voice sounded to me quite like Megatron but few sources claim that it was Mark Hamill doing the voice. But you're right, the ending credits don't mention Hamill either. It's such a shame than whenever Hanna Barbera tried to do something unique and high-value, they would fail, ex. Pirates of Dark Water and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.
@@Land_Far_Awayyes was frank
It’s a she never finished the series. I wonder if they would’ve added some other story elements like war of the rings such as reforging his father sword in later arcs.
I'm sure they would. Had they been interested only in pushing forward the main plot, we would have gotten a complete series. There weren't that many treasures to find after all. But they started to branch off pretty early on, introducing cool side stories and so on.
They should just redo pirates of the dark water put that into one piece that would be sick and keep it as is nothing weird
I would love to see the story reach its conclusion.
I don’t think he worse lipstick I think was his natural colour
It's just a joke, and a reference to the episode of Friends with Joey's Japanese commercial for blue lipstick.
It's actually funny how Bloth's crew would call him blue-lips behind his back, as evidenced in the episode "The Soul Stealer".
Please do tell us more.
Thanks for commentng. I would like to do more videos on this show, so please be patient.
I own this show on DVD and it's still great. I just wish the show got to finish properly instead of being aborted early for mysterious reasons (money related probably). Comics or something would also be acceptable but more of the show would be best. Instead we got nothing.
Hear, hear! I have that DVD as well. It's my prized posession. I'm really happy that this show at least was released on home video, unlike many other forgotten cartoons of the past. And yes, it's such a shame that the show got cancelled. It had huge potential. Most likely it was a money issue, just like with The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Swat Kats. It was a dark period for Hanna Barbera. Eventually they got sold to Warner Bros.
I'd truly loved watching *_Pirates Of Dark Water_* on *ABC Saturday Morning Cartoons,* after *_Land Of The Lost,_* before *_The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show_* starts at 10 A.M or 11 A.M.
Since I'd truly was 8, at Miami on stationed Channel 10 *#WPLG**.*
It's absolutely epically proportion.
And if I'd truly were a Heroic time traveling autism person, I'd truly go back to 1993, & ST🛑P the cancelation on my favorite program like *_The Pirates Of Dark Water._*
Thanks for sharing! So many great memories.
Well I never this show existed because I knew Batman TAS had a mature content but I have seen other shows having dark stuff like Mighty Max, TMNT 2003 and Godzilla the series just to name a few
Oh yeah, cartoons used to be way darker. Not only 30 years ago, but even 10 years ago. I didn't watch Mighty Max, and I was never really into TMNT, but Godzilla I do remember. Thanks for your suggestions.
@@Land_Far_Away well you should check them out as they are not hard to find
Will do that, thanks again!
Aku...
Americans see Star Wars everywhere, even in a cartoon with pirates...
I'm not American, dude. And these are space pirates.
It's difficult for me to take seriously a discussion of effort and talent when I'm listening to an AI voice.
I appreciate your comment. Not everyone is gifted with a pleasant voice. I used to provide my own voiceover and more people would complain. So it is what it is. My talents lie elsewhere.