“It’s high adventure on the high seas” at least that’s what the opening keeps saying when Pirates of Dark Water starts. When Prince Ren learns from his long lost father that there are 13 hidden treasures nothing will stop Prince Ren from going out on the 20 seas to find them. That nothing includes all the pirates out in those seas that are out on the hunt for the treasure and for Prince Ren. The main enemy is Lord Bloth, the very evil pirate that is seeking out the treasures for himself. With his friends along for the search out in the waters of the 20 seas, Prince Ren finds ways of escaping the clutch of the pirates while he searches for the 13 Treasures of Rule.

The Pirates of Dark Water came out in 1991, a time when cartoons were still just cartoons and not computer generated shows. The art is easily seen that it’s done in the typical style of the cartoons from the 80’s. This don’t hurt the show any, in fact it’s the one thing that I liked the most about the show. I’m always amazed at how much talent has to be had to be able to draw so many images to create a cartoon like this. There’s detail everywhere in this show that makes it fun to watch.

Though story itself I wasn’t sure on at all times. I know why Lord Bloth is looking for all the treasures, he’s a evil pirate that’s greedy. But since the treasures were already hidden, and hidden well enough where only one person knew the locations and he died, then why go searching for them in the first place? Sure I know it makes for a show but there could have been a different reason for Prince Ren to go searching for the treasures, at least it would make sense. At any rate, there’s no lacking for “high adventure” in Pirates of Black Water.

Throughout the series, there’s all kinds of fighting out on pirate ships, in caves, having other creatures like a bird monkey looking thing that talks help and fight in battles. Though what shocked me was the amount of violence in the cartoon. With the very first episode there was a person thrown to his death by being ate by some sort of creature, then there was this dragon looking creature that was helping but not for long since he was also killed, and even the hero of the show starts off by getting his ship in an illegal manner. It could be that I’ve become accustomed to the cartoons of today where they have been toned down so much that there’s no real violence at all in them. With Pirates of Dark Water there’s good guys that are just bad guys that’s not as bad as the main bad guys.

Characters steal, kill, rob, and do all that a pirate can in a cartoon. Aside from the amount of violence in the show I wasn’t too taken by anything else about the show. The plots where the same old routine with the bad guy after good guy, bad guy seems to be winning, then out of nowhere the good guy wins. What Pirates of Dark Water has going for it is all the different creatures and the different world that the show takes place on. Not to mention that the show does have a look that is not seen in cartoons of today so it’s unique or as some people like to say, retro. Pirates of Dark Water is an interesting show to watch with some strange characters and kept my attention like most new cartoons don’t.