The Pirates Of Dark Water is a forgotten gem from the early 1990s. The Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise helped resurrect the pirate genre on the big screen, which had been essentially dead for decades. Costly bombs like Cutthroat Island suggested audiences weren't interested in seafaring tales, and at one point Disney mulled producing Pirates Of The Caribbean as a straight to video affair with either Cary Elwes or Christopher Walken playing Jack Sparrow. They eventually took the gamble on a splashy big-budget version, which paid off; the movies have grossed a combined $4.5 billion worldwide.

Outside of Cutthroat Island or Muppets Treasure Island, the 1990s was a quiet era for anything related to pirates, but it was a golden era of great animated shows. This includes the likes of Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and Rugrats, but one show that rarely - if ever - gets brought up is The Pirates Of Dark Water. Created by Child's Play producer David Kirschner, the show was originally conceived as a miniseries dubbed Dark Water. The show is set on Mer, a planet being consumed by a sentient substance called Dark Water, and Mer's prince Ren must unite a misfit crew to sail around its oceans and collect the treasures that will stop the Dark Water for good.

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The Pirates Of Dark Water was produced by Hanna-Barbera (Scooby-Doo), who extended its run following the initial success of Dark Water and felt it could be a rich new franchise. The world of Mer featured expansive lore and was filled with various kingdoms and weird monsters. The show was also a little darker than even Batman: The Animated Series, with a couple of episodes featuring character deaths. The Pirates Of Dark Water even featured name actors, with Tim Curry (IT), Peter Cullen, and Roddy McDowall voicing characters, though the latter was replaced by Frank Welker following the miniseries.

The Pirates of Dark Water video cover with Ren, Tula, and Ioz

The Pirates Of Dark Water spawned merchandise like games for the SNES and Genesis, toys and a comic series. On the surface, it should have been a huge success, as it received good reviews and was given a major promotional push. Sadly, it was also a pricey show to produce and following production delays, it was cancelled after the end of season two. This also meant the story was never finished, as five treasures remained uncollected by Ren and his crew.

The Pirates Of Dark Water has a robust cult following to this day and was one of the best adventure shows of its era, with surprisingly strong writing and a beautifully designed world. It just didn't capture the audience it needed to keep the ship afloat, but in an era of surprise reboots like DuckTales, maybe there's hope of Ren and co sailing again someday.

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