The Pirates of Dark Water

Just to clarify a few things...What became "The Pirates of Dark Water" originally aired as the mini-series "Dark Water". It lasted one week and ran in the after-school slot on Fox starting on a Monday and finishing on the following Friday. This was during what I like to call "the golden era" of Fox. (The Simpsons, In Living Color, etc.) Anyway, here on IMDb it credits Roddy McDowall as the voice of Niddler for all 21 episodes of the series. This isn't correct. He was actually the voice of Niddler for the original mini-series and NOT for the ensuing series. His voice, in my opinion, was way cooler than that contributed by Frank Welker. (Sorry Frank) Welker's whinier version of the Niddler voice was dubbed onto the five original episodes when it was released for Saturday morning television. A lot of people didn't come to know the series until its Saturday morning incarnation and, therefore, never had the pleasure of hearing McDowall's Niddler. I remember being extremely disappointed watching the series and hearing a different, less cultivated voice. It really changed the character completely. Unfortunately, none of the uploads that I've encountered on the internet are of the original mini-series. Also, as of January 2009, it seems that the great fan site piratesofdarkwater.net is now regrettably defunct.

This was a great show!!

On first glance, it may seem a bit dorky and juvenile.

However, if one actually watches all the episodes in order, they have a good story to tell.

If you can ignore the blatant morality imposed on all American cartoons [can never kill the bad guy, even if he just tried to kill you for the 10th time], then this is a REALLY good cartoon. Serialized and everything.

The story continues from one episode to the next, yet abruptly stops without any conclusion. That is a real letdown and disappointment. Even Cartoon Network has commented on this in a humour commercial.

No doubts, the adventures, the friendship, the fights and the noble purpoise are the basic virtues of this special, from drawings to stories, serie, reminding the emotions of childhood in admirable manner, being dark and hopefull and real well crafted. The end, yes, unfortunatelly it is missing. But the memories about heroes are real great.

This show was fantastic!!! I watched when I was five, and it is the best animated show in cartoon history. I think the reason that the cartoon was so good is because it was the first animated series that show a form of plot that continued throughout the episodes. The characters were very well developed and the story line was outstanding, then again, I love almost all fantasy stories. The story was original, and it was sooooo good. Even thought the show was amazing, the series was never finished, there are only 21 episodes in all. Also it is not aired anymore, except on Boomerang and Australian Cartoon Network, so not every one can watch it. I wish the series would be finished, and released on DVD. If you search the web, using Pirates of Dark Water, then many fan bases will pop up, and you can find a link on some of the sites to petition for PoDW's release commercially!!!! Again, this is the best cartoon I have ever seen, and it is the only one that my mom would actually watch with me!

"The Pirates of Dark Water" has to be one of the most overlooked animated shows ever. It is so much fun, unique and very original. Sadly, the show got axed before the story had resolved fully, so it was a real shame that something so good ended feeling incomplete. That said, I liked the idea of the plot, and the episode ideas revolving around it. Dark water threatening to take over the world, and a hero seeking to retrieve the magical items used to prevent it, that is quite an intriguing concept. The music is wonderful and the episodes are full of adventure, humour and even swashbuckling. The scripts were surprisingly mature and has some good morals. 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 I feel was unfairly treated. It is better than a vast majority of the animated shows airing now. 10/10 Bethany Cox