Pirates of Dark Water Rewatch: A Drop of Darkness

Episode 7: A Drop of Darkness

Original Airdate: October 26, 1991

Written By: Laren Bright and Kristina Luckey

Directed By: Don Lusk, Paul Sommer (Supervising Direction – Ray Patterson)

The crew of the Wraith stands at the gunwale in choppy seas, waiting for Ren to return from below the water. He returns just as Ioz is prepared to dive after him and just as Tula is sensing “something”. Ren has located the Fourth Treasure of Rule, hidden beneath the waves! It’s a pretty bauble and everyone has to have a moment holding it to remark on its beauty and size. Friendly insults and barbs are traded until Tula gets a bad feeling and subsequently spots Dark Water. A sharply turned ship has Niddler drop the treasure, where it bounces about deck. Ren and Tula try to catch it, almost losing it overboard until Ren makes a heroic leap to save it.

A shadow crosses the deck of the Wraith from a balloon flying overhead, which stops above the Dark Water. A pilot drops a bucket in an attempt to retrieve some of the evil stuff and is almost pulled down as the Dark Water drags it in. The balloon is then assaulted by the far-reaching Dark Water, grabbing at the basket and reaching for the pilot.

Ren asks Niddler to help, which he reluctantly agrees to. The Dark Water is particularly difficult, with Niddler needing help himself when he gets tangled in the lines of the balloon. Ren uses a weapon to free the monkeybird, who then saves the pilot just as the Dark Water pulls the balloon under.

The pilot, an alchemist named Cray, introduces herself and explains she’s using the Dark Water in her experiments. In meeting Ren, she calls him ‘Primus’ and is overly excited to discover he’s a son of the king. The Maelstrom arrives to interrupt the discovery of how Cray knows Primus, which upsets Ren, as someone should have been on watch. Cray offers to help, pouring a liquid into the sea, from which a fog erupts, covering the Wraith’s escape from the Maelstrom. Cray offers sanctuary at her citadel, an austere castle on a tiny rock island.

Inside, the crew is amazed at the size of the rooms and furnishings. Tula is suspicious of Cray and her reasons for being so nice and Ren demands information on her history with his father when she appears with food. Cray tells Ren and the others that she was Primus’ favorite courtier until he met Ren’s mother. Cray flew into a rage, never to return to the court of Octopon, eking out a living at her citadel in solitude.

Later, at dinner, Cray continues to explain her need for Dark Water in her experiments, which doesn’t sit well with Tula. Ioz also has little desire to get mixed up with the stuff, until an extremely large offer of gold has him and Niddler doing spit-takes. Ren turns her down repeatedly, as he finds taking money to retrieve such an evil substance distasteful. Cray stalks off in a huff when her final offer is rebuked. Tula senses trouble from the alchemist and Ren ignores her.

Cray monologues to a locket with a picture of Primus in her private chambers. It’s becoming fairly obvious that Cray has an obsessive complex, particularly towards Primus. She’s also obviously setting up some naughty plan, which plays out rather quickly.

The boys are all sleeping in one room, Tula in another. Cray creeps in and ignites a bowl of leaves next to Tula, who wakes, only to pass out from the fumes. In the morning, Ren and the others cannot wake her, and Cray tells them if they get her the Dark Water she needs, she’ll give the antidote over. Ren is amazed at the way Cray is treating him and his friends, though she has no difficulty telling him he’s suffering for the sins of the father. A bucket made of leviathan skin is given as a receptacle for the Dark Water and the group needs to be quick; the longer Tula is out the harder it is to revive her.

Niddler is used as a distraction for the Dark Water, armed with the Fourth Treasure, so Ren can haul in a bucketful of the stuff. As they get underway to return to the citadel, the Maelstrom surprises and swallows the tiny Wraith into its maw.

Bloth’s pirates board the Wraith, though they are fought off. Konk is ordered to flush the Wraith out when Ren uses the Dark Water to scare off Bloth, which works effectively. With enough of the stuff left to bring to Cray, the heroes return to revive Tula. Cray exits to mix her alchemical concoction, using a single drop of the stuff to finish her potion. She ecstatically imbibes the mixture, speedily growing younger as the seconds tick. She’s excited with her new, younger exterior, believing she can relive her past with Ren in the place of Primus.

Tula is reawakened by Ioz and Ren, who runs off to fetch water for her. The reinvigorated Cray stalls him in the halls, though he doesn’t immediately recognize the alchemist. As he does, Cray comes onto Ren full bore, pledging to marry him as it’s their destiny. Ren is distressed and finally takes offense when Cray calls him Primus.

Returning to his friends, Ren tells them of the problems with Cray. She enters the room, shocking the others with her new look, while Ren attempts reasoning with her. Cray isn’t capable of being reasoned with at this point, wherein she pops a smoke pellet, distracting Ren enough to steal the Treasures of Rule and locking everyone in the room.

Mantus and Konk arrive on their dagrons, having spotted the Wraith at dock. In a brief exchange, Cray refuses to give up Ren and the treasures, offering instead a bargain to be brought to Bloth. The pirate king is dumbstruck by the bargain, but agrees to it for his own purposes. He is to marry Ren and Cray.

Ioz picks the lock on the door, opening it to the sight of Bloth on the opposite side. Brought as witnesses and prisoners to a decked-out hall, the pirates of the Maelstrom wait to also watch the farce. Mantus walks the bride down the aisle, where she begins to turn dark across her hair and skin. As Cray lifts her veil, Ren remarks on her condition, which has her run from the hall. Bloth chases Cray as the pirates guard our heroes. Cray tries to reverse her condition and is interrupted by an angry Bloth. He destroys her potions and mixes, ruining her hopes of salvaging whatever is happening to her. She quickly begins deteriorating and falls to the floor. Bloth erupts in anger and returns to the hall to kill Ren, though Cray creates one last reaction from her chemicals before she collapses.

Bubbles of various size float about the citadel, created by Cray. They start exploding around the structure, freeing the prisoners as the pirates flee to save themselves. Walls and roof start falling in. Ren heads to save Cray and the others return to the Wraith. Ren finds Cray on the floor of her lab, melting ever more quickly than before. She hands Ren her marriage bouquet, apologizing for her inability to let go of the past. Ren exits through a window after she turns into a steamy puddle of black goo before the ceiling caves in.

Ren lands on the Wraith after his Errol Flynn leap from the citadel, which is pulling away from a rapidly disintegrating citadel. The island finally mushroom clouds and disappears beneath the water. Ren is not surprised to have recovered the Treasures of Rule, hidden in the bouquet. Cue music.

Noy Jitat! Not much new in the way of language for A DROP OF DARKNESS. A single noy jitat and a couple of chongo longos, that’s the extent of it. Ren does make a remark on the Mists of Malgar, whatever they may be.

Mutant Scum – No new creatures this episode. Ren does use what looks to be a sand dollar to fire in a crossbow when saving Niddler, which is kind of neat. Mostly, it’s the Dark Water that makes up the strange, here.

When do We Get to Eat? Niddler is completely unhappy to even be considered to help out when Dark Water is near. He repeats such through the episode and yet does not hesitate when Cray is about to be swallowed by the attacking Dark Water. Is he cowardly or more than that? Either way, he’s still a hungry bird. He’s also as greedy for money as Ioz is, which is fun to see.

It’s All in the Art – There isn’t much new to see for episode 7. A bit more of the inner workings of the Maelstrom are seen and the design of Cray’s citadel is quite amazing. Cray’s deterioration due to the Dark Water potion is something different, too. It’s either extremely bad animation or extremely experimental. I leave it to you to figure it out, I’m still out on it. Either way, it’s still bizarre and gruesome.

Hello and Goodbye – To the incredibly warped Cray. You’ll never see her again and honestly? It’s not a bad thing. Likely voiced by Darleen Carr (I have no confirmation on that, though), she’s definitely a villain you really don’t feel sorry for at the end, which says something for the writing here.

The first of what will be many message-driven stories, A DROP OF DARKNESS does quite a bit for what it can in a half-hour. This is the first time Ren’s mother is seen, much less any mention made of her. It’s the first lengthy view of Octopon at its heyday. Other than previously seen ecomancy, it’s the first time magic is used in any form. It’s the first real focus on the evils of Dark Water, though they’re still extremely vague. My recollection of the episode that it was good, if heavy handed. My rewatch view retains that belief, adding this for an adjective: brutal. This one really doesn’t hold back on how completely obsessed Cray is, and it isn’t pretty. Ren is naïve and truly out of his league with the complexities of this one and it only benefits him that Bloth is there to eliminate her from any future plots.

Cray’s melting into goo is brutal. Bloth’s cold-hearted elimination of her is brutal, as is his disinterest in what’s happening to her. The writers handling of the subject matter is equally brutal, as it pulls no punches in even trying to make anyone but Ren sympathetic. Obsessive/compulsive behavior isn’t a topic easy to get across to the kiddies and this one likely pushes the boundaries of the definition of such. The bright and shiny “sail into sunset” ending of the story does nothing but enforce the hideous reality of the overall topic, particularly in retrospection. A DROP OF DARKNESS is just plain mean and I like it. It’s a breakthrough episode, especially in knowing that the general themes of the program were softened to gain a younger audience, after the initial five episodes were produced. I’m laying out a solid 3½ minga melons for episode 7. The only detractors here are the lack of the main characters being involved as it focuses more on Cray and her psychosis. A fine story, even as brutally mean as it is.