The Darkest Epic.

I can't blame Hanna-Barbera for trying with "The Pirates Of Dark Water." After all, it was a great epic about a seafaring hero in search of treasure, and villains who also wanted what he was after.

Ren was a handsome, heroic prince who traversed a dangerous sea in search of thirteen artifacts. He and his crew were up against not only a band of pirates, but the sea itself, which seemed to have a mind of its own. A familiar plot, but these adventures didn't take place on Earth. The setting was Planet Mer.

I noticed that the animation for both the miniseries and the regular series was considerably different from traditional H-B animation. I concluded this was necessary, since the show was never meant to be cartoony. But I also found it difficult to follow. Still, I felt that like others before it, it was cancelled prematurely, and should have begun and ended on ABC, instead of starting out on Fox, moving to ABC, and concluding on "The Funtastic World Of Hanna-Barbera." It also let people down by not having a satisfying conclusion. Ren and company never completed their quest. So no one will ever know if all thirteen artifacts were ever found. But at least H-B began to rebound from their slump with with this remarkable epic adventure.

Trivia Question 8: How many of the treasures were found before the show was cancelled?

Answer: Eight.

Another really early childhood memory for me. The only thing I truly remember about this cartoon is the monkey bird Niddler--which at one point I needed help identifying in the mystery cartoon section because I really could not place him any where--and had no idea what cartoon he was from. I also have a vague memory of an episode called "King Niddler" which of course revolved around the monkey bird.

I never thought they rounded up all 13 ghosts--but maybe that was just me--then again they never made a gigantic anouncement that they did.
Also in the original miniseries of the Pirates of Dark Water--Roddy McDowall voiced Niddler.