The Pirates of Dark Water (TV series)
- This article is about the TV series. For other uses, see The Pirates of Dark Water.
| The Pirates of Dark Water | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Created by | David Kirschner |
| Network | Fox Kids ABC |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Original release | February 25, 1991—May 23, 1993 |
| Run time | 22 minutes |
| Starring | George Newbern Jodi Benson Hector Elizondo Roddy McDowell Frank Welker Brock Peters Tim Curry |
| Executive producer(s) | David Kirschner Paul Sabella Mark Young |
| Producer(s) | John Dorman Cos Anzilotti |
| Music composed by | Tom Chase Steve Rucker |
| Writer(s) | Lane Raichert Mark Young Kelly Ward Glenn Leopold |
| Director(s) | Don Lusk Gordon Hunt (voices) |
| Animation director(s) | Joanna Romersa Allen Wilzbach Joan Drake Robert Alvarez Shinich Yoshikawa Masaru Tonokouchi Kiyotaka Kantake Katsuhisa Yamada Takuya Noda |
The Pirates of Dark Water is an American animated action fantasy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera for Fox Kids' Saturday morning block as a five-part mini-series called Dark Water,[1] before moving to ABC as a full series. It ran from 1991 to 1993, airing 21 episodes that spanned two seasons.
The entire series has been released on DVD.
Production
Development
Music
The music was composed by the Tom Chase and Steve Rucker. The director music production was Bodie Chandler.
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | February 25, 1991 |
1x02
|
February 26, 1991 |
1x03
|
February 27, 1991 |
1x04
|
February 28, 1991 |
1x05
|
March 1, 1991 |
1x06
|
October 19, 1991 |
| 1x07 | October 26, 1991 |
| 1x08 | November 2, 1991 |
1x09
|
November 9, 1991 |
| 1x10 | November 16, 1991 |
| 1x11 | November 23, 1991 |
| 1x12 | November 30, 1991 |
| 1x13 | December 7, 1991 |
| 2x01 | November 8, 1992 |
| 2x02 | November 15, 1992 |
| 2x03 | November 22, 1992 |
| 2x04 | November 29, 1992 |
| 2x05 | May 2, 1993 |
| 2x06 | May 9, 1993 |
| 2x07 | May 16, 1993 |
| 2x08 | May 23, 1993 |
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: February 25, 1991 on Fox Kids
- United Kingdom and Ireland: September 4, 1991 at 6:15 pm on The Movie Channel (as the five-part The Saga Begins); April 7, 1992 at 4:35 pm on BBC 1
Cast
- George Newbern as Ren
- Jodi Benson as Tula
- Hector Elizondo as Ioz
- Roddy McDowell (miniseries) and Frank Welker (series) as Niddler
- Brock Peters as Bloth
- Tim Curry as Konk
Merchandise
Home media
In late 1991, Turner Home Entertainment released the five-part miniseries on VHS as The Saga Begins, and followed this with a Laserdisc in early 1992. In 1993, they released two further VHSes called Andorus and The Beast and the Bell, with each containing two episodes.
On August 31, 2010, Warner Archive Collection released the entire series together on DVD.
Reading material
To coincide with ABC premiere of the miniseries, Marvel Comics turned it into a six-issue limited series from September 3, 1991 to February 25, 1992, before extending it to include their own original three-part story from March 24 to May 26.
Toys
Hasbro released action figures of Ren, Niddler, Ioz, Bloth, Zoolie, Konk, Mantus, and Joat, as well as a playset of the Wraith ship.
Video games
In 1994, when the series had already finished, Sunsoft published two different style of video games for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.
Critical reception
References
- ^ Lipton, Lauren (February 24, 1991). "Of, By and for the Children: Hanna-Barbera's 5-part 'Dark Water' stirs the Magical Mind on Fox". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
