Pirates of Dark Water Rewatch: The Little Leviathan

Episode 12: The Little Leviathan

Original Airdate: November 30, 1991

Written By: Glenn Leopold and David Ehrman

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

Prepare yourself for the tale that Pirates of Dark Water fans arguably find as the worst of the series. Enjoy as the rewatch delves into episode 12…

The Maelstrom chases the Wraith through choppy seas and windy conditions at close quarters. The Wraith has a damaged sail, causing its poor speed. Konk has prepped a three-eyed sucker critter to launch at the Wraith, while the heroes feel they need to lighten weight on their ship. Konk fires the creature from a catapult but it’s intercepted by a leaping leviathan, which pulls the Maelstrom off course from its chase. Bloth orders the dagrons released to continue the chase, though they aren’t able to locate the Wraith, now hiding in a cove at a nearby island.

Ren and the others watch from the deck of their ship as the dagrons fly away, but their calm is interrupted by the sharp cries of a creature deeper in the cove. Cue the opening credits to THE LITTLE LEVIATHAN.

The cries continue until Tula brings a light closer to the area, revealing – surprise! – a baby leviathan. Niddler asks Tula to “ecomance it away”, which she claims to have difficulty with, as it’s an infant and upset. Ren discovers the little leviathan to be surrounded by Dark Water and it’s likely in trouble. As leviathan hide is the only known resistant to Dark Water, it’s in no immediate danger, but won’t survive forever. Ioz has no qualms about allowing it to perish, then using the remaining hide to repair the sail or sell for good coin. Ren, on the other hand, isn’t so cold, laughing Ioz off. He ropes the leviathan and winches it free from the Dark Water, where the baby critter then comes to the side of the Wraith and bark happily at Ren. When Ren calls it ‘cute’ and strokes it like a puppy, Ioz and Niddler are incredulously stunned. Niddler is duly unimpressed when Ren feeds the baby some of his melons, and is additionally annoyed when he’s dunked in the water on a melon rescue attempt.

The Wraith needs to repair a sail, so a forage to the island is needed to gather vines. Ren jumps on “Baby’s” back and charges for shore, to the chagrin of the others. “Baby” ends up being a great help as he’s able to lift Ren to the treetops and gather vines. Even so, Ioz and Niddler are upset about having the leviathan around and even Tula is reticent. Spotting the approaching Maelstrom as he’s up high, Ren orders everyone to hide to avoid being noticed.

Konk scans the island with a telescope, but only gets a slap from Bloth as he claims that the trees are watching him when he sees “Baby.” Mantus sends out the dagrons to net fish, as the ships stores are low.

Ioz tries to get “Baby” to hide, so Ren decides they should all return to the Wraith. Everyone discusses what should be done with the leviathan. Tula believes it should be let go, Ioz wants to kill it for the hide and Ren wants to keep it as a pet, if not help it find its parents. To foreshadow the next scene, Ren speaks the old adage “how much trouble can it be?”

The sail is repaired, but “Baby” has eaten the remaining vine and Niddler’s melons, putting Ioz and the monkeybird more on edge. Tula steers the Wraith from her hiding place as “Baby” watches a school of fish from the aft of the ship. Ioz pushes “Baby” overboard and tells Ren that he must have jumped in after the fish. “Baby” returns, slightly perturbed, as the compass starts to glow. Ren holds it out to get a heading, enamoring “Baby” enough that the little leviathan grabs the magical bauble, diving into the sea with it. Ioz throws a fit, more so when “Baby” reappears with the compass chain lodged in his tooth. Ioz tries to grab it while Ren attempts to calm “Baby” and they’re both carried off by the freaked out critter. ‘How much trouble’ indeed.

“Baby”, still upset, swims right into one of the Maelstrom’s fishing nets. His cries attract the dagron riders, who pick the net up and return to the pirate ship. The catch is dumped into one of the ship’s holds, where Ren is able to retrieve the compass. Ioz starts to climb out of the hold but a concerned Ren can’t leave his new pet behind. Their argument is cut short when Bloth and some of the crew appear at the top of the hold – captured, once again.

Hauled out of the hold, Bloth takes possession of the compass and “Baby”, tossing Ren and Ioz into the constrictus pit. Both are able to climb away from Bloth’s pet, hacking a hole in a rotted bulkhead. “Baby” throws off his captors, headed for the pit, bumping Konk in on the way.  Konk catches the edge before tumbling in as “Baby’s” cries attract the attention of the constrictus. It launches itself up, but it isn’t clear if it’s more interested in the leviathan or Konk! A frightened “Baby” breaks off, trying to escape the Maelstrom’s crew, who recapture him and lock him back in the hold. Ioz and Ren escape the constrictus pit through the hole they’ve made as Bloth uses the compass to get a heading to the next Treasure of Rule.

The Wraith, chasing after the Maelstrom, has been falling behind, concerning Niddler and Tula. (Apparently the Wraith is only a speed demon when being chased, not when chasing.) Tula ‘senses danger’ again, which turns out to be a herd of leviathans headed directly for them. She turns the ship to run in conjunction with their direction, which works until they pass. A rather large leviathan comes about to the ship and begins acting strangely, worrying Niddler. Tula can’t sense the creature’s intent, so they wait it out.

Bloth pinpoints the location of the next Treasure of Rule, though it’s blocked by Dark Water. He makes a point of prepping the baby leviathan for use in retrieving the treasure.

Ren and Ioz have gotten to the sewerways of the Maelstrom. Ioz teases Ren about the trouble “Baby” has gotten them into. A rush of water has the pair scrambling for a grate in the ceiling, leading them to a new area. “Baby’s” cries are heard, causing Ren to run towards them, Ioz complaining along the way.

Bloth has the little leviathan tethered to one of the inner docks of the Maelstrom. Mantus climbs aboard “Baby” wearing a wetsuit made of leviathan hide. He uses a helm similar to the amphicites seen in THE BEAST AND THE BELL, only larger. The great maw of the Maelstrom opens and Mantus forces “Baby” out, using the compass as a guide to the treasure. Ren grabs a spare amphicite and swims after them before the maw closes.

Tula and Niddler still contend with the leviathan until Tula is able to communicate with it. Discovering it to be “Baby’s” mother, the adult picks up the Wraith and heads off in search of her offspring.

Under the surface of the sea, Mantus looks for the treasure, avoiding the Dark Water that flows from great eruptions and cracks in the sea bed. To his consternation, the compass leads directly to the highest concentration of Dark Water emissions. He’s able to retrieve the treasure and begin his return to the Maelstrom, but not before a sneaky Ren catches “Baby’s” tail and attack. During the melee, Ren loses his mask, allowing Mantus to escape. “Baby” comes to Ren’s rescue, getting him to air in time. Bloth whines at the sight of our hero, who has regained the compass and gained the next treasure. Mantus climbs aboard the pirate vessel just as Ioz pops out of nowhere to put the drop on Bloth and escape over the side. “Baby” swims to Ioz and sets off with both he and Ren. The dagrons are again set loose, who chase after the little leviathan. “Baby” dives under the surface to avoid their assault just as the leviathan herd arrives. They attack the dagrons by leaping high into the air and also slam their tails into the side of the Maelstrom. Bloth retreats from the area, as even his gruesome ship can’t take that kind of punishment.

The leviathan herd celebrates their reunion with the wayward little one as Ren and the others say their good-byes. The end of this deadly dull tale frightens the viewer with the possibility of seeing “Baby” again.

I’m not going to go into any of the fun bits of the rewatch, such as Noy Jitat or Ahoy, Scarpango Pirate. There is so little new in this episode that it makes my scalp itch in annoyance. The flaws in this episode are so great, it makes some of the other weak plots seem like classic literature. Starting at the top, you cringe at the title, knowing exactly where the story is going to go, and you’re not surprised at all by it. This is a formulaic “cute” episode that honestly, would have been ten times better if Tula was the one to be engrossed by the lost leviathan. So much potential was lost in not discovering anything about the leviathans that wasn’t known before. We know their hide is used by sailors and others as being resistant to Dark Water, as has been mentioned in varying episodes. We know they’re supposedly fearsome beasts, as has likewise been mentioned. Why the need to cutesify them, unless it’s a given that the baby is going to return further down the road?

The “Tula senses something” ploy became stale about three episodes back, largely as its only use is to push the story along. There are better ways, particularly with a world as rich as Mer seems to be. Maybe time constraints limited them, but really, folks. Am I the only one to notice that Tula became the equivalent of “hailing frequencies open, sir”?

Regardless of my personal irritation with a story I recall with much less than I have now, there are a few noteworthy instances. Mantus has the dagron riders head out to catch fish for the depleted stores on the Maelstrom, which later becomes the cause of the little leviathan’s inadvertent capture. Mantus also is allowed use of the compass to gain the next treasure, which is very interesting, considering Bloth doesn’t even threaten or cajole Mantus in any way. Nor does the first mate even consider taking off on his own, showing his immense loyalty to the Pirate Lord. I also highly enjoyed the callousness of Ioz, Bloth and the other pirates regarding the hide of the leviathan, which continued to add to their personalities. Even so, the flow of Dark Water from the sea bed is the only really interesting thing in this episode to keep your interest and will be the only distinguishing feature of the story in the future. THE LITTLE LEVIATHAN gains only one half a minga melon; that much largely in the return of Bloth, regardless of his ineffective participation here.

Seven treasures down, how long until the eighth?