Pirates have become a big ticket item in the entertainment world longer than we can remember. With output like Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and Black Sails introducing fresh new takes on the swashbucklers, anime’s One Piece is bringing far more fans into the high seas. Netflix is planning to release the second season of the Straw Hats’ live-action adventures next month, though this is far from the only pirate event to celebrate. Thirty-five years ago, a series aired that predated the quest of Monkey D. Luffy to become the King of the Pirates, and a sequel series has never arrived.
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The Pirates of Dark Water premiered in 1991, presenting a unique Saturday morning cartoon that became a hit for multiple reasons. Its story focuses on its main character, Ren, as he assembles his own ship of outcasts to stop an advancing “dark water,” a terrifying black liquid that threatens to overtake the world. Needing to claim the “Thirteen Treasures of Rule” to end the dark water’s movement across the globe, Ren has to fight both supernatural threats and the pirate captain Bloth to save the world. The animated series did run for two seasons, but unfortunately, the story never resolved its plot, meaning that Ren’s journey never received a proper conclusion. Still, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate The Pirates of Dark Water thirty-five years later.
Why Did The Pirates of Dark Water End?
One of the major elements that made The Pirates of Dark Water was its slick animation and ground-breaking storytelling, with both being far above many of the other Saturday morning cartoons of this era. Ren’s tale was a darker one than most, with Hanna Barbera shelling out serious cash to bring this story to life. In fact, when the animated show first debuted as a mini-series, the production house stated that it was the most expensive project they had ever made in its long history. Every installment was reported to cost half a million dollars, with each episode containing 12,000 animation cels, doubling many other animated series at the time.
Despite the money pushed to make this project a reality, The Pirates of Dark Water wasn’t able to see as much in terms of return on investment. To date, neither a sequel series to wrap up its original story nor a reboot has been confirmed, which is a shame. If you haven’t had the chance to check out Ren’s adventure on the ship dubbed the Wraith, both seasons are available to stream for free on Tubi. With many animated franchises receiving revivals to major success, never say never when it comes to this Hanna-Barbera classic.
Why The Pirates of Dark Water Deserves a Reboot
So why is now the perfect time to bring back this Hanna-Barbera series? As mentioned to kick off this article, now is a great time for pirate media, with Luffy and the Straw Hats helping to propel high-seas action thanks to Netflix and Crunchyroll. What would work so well about bringing back Ren is that it could work as either a reboot, sequel, or both as there is plenty of territory that was not explored in the first and only two seasons. The Pirates of Dark Water might not have been successful enough to warrant a third season, but it did receive comics, a video game, and other ancillary material following its debut.
In terms of revivals from the animated world that have seen success, you need to look no further than the likes of King of the Hill, The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, and Avatar: The Last Airbender to see that resurrected series can be big business for studios. The Pirates of Dark Water creates a lush, ocean-based environment that deserves to have new life breathed into it, even thirty-five years following its premiere.
What do you think of this major milestone for The Pirates of Dark Water? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme -
Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
A photo of the Retrovolt Arcade taken in 2017, showing several classic arcade cabinets and stools.
