Since I brought up Spartakus earlier I’m going to have to continue my aquatic adventures with The Pirates of Dark Water. This show came on at a very trying time in my life and much like video games I used cartoons as a measure of escape. I think the network that was going to run the miniseries was hyping it up and I couldn’t wait for it. When it first aired I just turned 13 so I could have been at the edge of the target demographic because the story had elements to appeal to older kids. This was at least year before Batman the Animated Series came out so there was not much in the way of animation that dealt with darker themes, unless you were ahead of the curve and got into anime via VHS. While it dealt with heavier subject matters it didn’t have that film noir quality that Batman would bring. The Pirates of Dark Water was Hanna-Barbera’s version of a Disney animation. The colors were bright and vivid and didn’t have that blocky style that I usually associated with Hanna-Barbera.
Since it came out in the winter it made me long for my sun filled vacations down at the Jersey Shore and I’d breathe in the saltwater air. For a kid with Irish and Swedish ancestry I would manage to get these golden tans and my hair would get lighter so I saw Ren as an older version of me. An inexperienced kid with destiny on his shoulders. Since I was shortest kid in my class many times the size difference between him and the villain, Bloth, added to the connection. Having a blob like creature devouring the planet is always plus in my book.