Episode 10: King Niddler
Original Airdate: November 16, 1991
Written By: Glenn Leopold
Directed By: Don Lusk, Paul Sommer (Supervising Direction,
Ray Patterson)
Wild, rough seas are causing difficulty with the compass, as
it isn’t able to accurately point to the next treasure. Niddler is unhappy,
kvetching loudly about the lack of food, ever increasing danger and his perceived
poor treatment aboard the Wraith. Once the ship is settled a bit, the compass
points into a fog bank, and the ship is steered into it when Konk is spotted
chasing them on a dagron. Once in the fog, Tula notices something odd about it,
confirmed when ropes begin breaking. It’s stekafog, a nasty occurrence that
causes anything within it to dissolve!
The Wraith starts coming apart and things seem extremely
dire when the wheel comes off in Ren’s hands. Niddler douses himself with a
bucket of water, claiming his feathers are burning and Ioz plunges his sword
into the steering axel to regain control of the rudder. Konk falls from his
dagron as his harness snaps in the stekafog, freeing the Wraith from pursuit.
With the ship back under control, Ren spots a clearing in
the fog and anchors in it. The crew then sees an island hidden behind the fog,
where the next treasure is revealed to be. Sailing to it through the remaining
stekafog isn’t an option, so they choose to use the sailglider, the part of the
ship that incorporates the entirety of the mainsail, released from the jointed
moorings. Ioz orders Niddler around a bit more, causing more tension with the
monkeybird. Niddler flies after the sailglider, a poorly conceptualized part of
the ship that Ioz, Tula and Ren hang from with nothing more than their hands.
Considering Ren’s use of a smaller glider in THE BEAST AND THE BELL, this one
just doesn’t seem to work and is wholly less believable. Niddler flies off,
seeing a minga melon grove, his stomach overpowering the need to gain the next
Treasure of Rule.
Konk has made it to the island’s beach and sees Niddler,
then Ren and the others. The sailglider crashes into the forest, ropes having
been weakened by the stekafog. The crew figures that they’ll have to rebuild,
not only for their ship, but to reach the treasure, which is at the peak of the
island’s mountain.
Niddler is finally happy, gorging himself on an abundance of
minga melons. As he relaxes, contemplating how many he should keep for the
others, he is surrounded by the island natives, the Mobo. Even Niddler notices
that the Mobo look identical to monkeybirds, though with stunted, tiny wings. They are annoyed that Niddler has taken the
melons without asking and as attempts to fly away, the Mobo ensnare him in
nets. The Mobo remark on Niddler’s ability to fly and some are more impressed
than others.
Meanwhile, Ioz finishes a new sailglider with Ren as Konk watches
from nearby rushes. Tula can’t see where Niddler is from her perch on a tree
bough, but she does see the minga grove. As they all prepare to head out on their
new glider, Konk makes an attempt to take the compass but is distracted by a
peeking Mobo. Ioz discovers Konk, who tries to warn the others about being
surrounded, and is ignored. The Mobo blow purple gas from shells onto everyone,
sending them all into unconsciousness.
All are awoken in a hut at the Mobo village, informed they
will all be brought before the Mobo king. A palanquin is brought to the village
center and the crew is requested to kneel before the king. Ioz refuses until
threatened and all are amazed to discover Niddler is the king. An elderly Mobo
called Grandfather explains to all that Niddler has been expected in
foretelling on the Mobo Scrolls, which Ioz scoffs at, not willing to play
subject to the monkeybird. Tula decides to do the opposite and asks King Niddler
if he’d be so kind as to free his friends. King Niddler complies happily,
pleased to be giving orders rather than taking them. Niddler even frees Konk,
though the pirate gets to be Niddler’s houseboy, rather than free to roam. The
heroes then leave King Niddler to his subjects and continue their search for
the treasure, thinking the crown and power may have gone to their friend’s
head. At least one of the Mobo is thinking the same, though Grandfather and a
female Mobo, Zena, are convinced Niddler is the one to free Mobo Island from
the curse of the feryx.
Ren, Ioz and Tula fly their glider towards the top of the
mountain, trying to avoid the stekafog that clouds the pinnacle. Stress from
maneuvers cause it to come apart, crashing to the forest below. Ioz and Tula
are able to make it to an outcrop, but Ren barely manages to catch a jutting
rock, hanging precariously. Tula uses her ecomantic powers to grow some roots,
allowing Ren to climb back to the others. Even so, the entire outcropping
collapses beneath our heroes, leaving them all hanging for dear life.
King Niddler is shaken from his throne to the floor of his
hut. Zena tells him that it isn’t an earthquake but the feryx, awakening from
its yearly hibernation. The feryx, he is told, is a fearsome creature that
preys upon the Mobo and it’s his duty as king to defeat it. Niddler is a bit
trepidatious over his needing to defeat a monster, but is willing to go along
as it’s still sleeping and is given a magic feather from Grandfather Mobo to
touch it with, thereby ridding the island of it.
Flying after eating so many minga melons proves to be
difficult for King Niddler. He ascends with much strain on himself. He also
notices and avoids the stekafog around the mountain as he complains the entire
way. He locates the “smelly cave” he was told to look for and enters, finding
the feryx snoozing. Although he does try to get the feather onto the feryx, it
wakes and spits smoke at the king of the Mobo, who escapes in abject fear. King
Niddler returns to the Mobo village, unwilling to return to fight the feryx and
its stekabreath. Called a coward, Niddler chooses to quit being their king and
flies off without his crown and without the magical feather. Zena chases after,
feather in hand, pleading with him, still believing he’s the Mobo king.
Apparently able to save themselves from falling, the others
continue their climb up Mobo Mountain, hampered by the stekafog and
disintegrating rocks. Tula uses her powers again, this time creating an updraft
of air to blow enough of the stekafog away to allow them to pass. Pleased with
the progress, they continue towards their goal.
Niddler takes a breather, allowing Zena to catch up to him
and beg again for his help. Niddler finally tells Zena he’s no king, just a
monkeybird with a large appetite. She then asks Niddler to fly her to the feryx
lair and let her do what he won’t. He continues to refuse as the shadow of the
feryx passes them from above, headed to attack the Mobo village. The Mobo have
holes dug in the ground as defense from the feryx, diving into them when it
comes near. Niddler and Zena see a fellow Mobo helping Grandfather into a hut
to flee from the feryx, though the creature blasts the hut with stekabreath,
collapsing the roof. Zena rushes to the village with Niddler chasing after,
trying to keep her from becoming feryx food. Zena gets to the hut, finding
Grandfather unhurt in the wreckage. He is pleased to see Niddler has returned,
as no Mobo have been taken this time. While not all are supportive of Niddler,
he is once again asked to help the Mobo and defeat the feryx.
During the fracas, Konk finds time to escape, discovering
the wreckage of the sailglider. He starts his repairs in the hope of escaping
Mobo Island.
Near the mountaintop, Ren’s compass points to a cave and thereby
the treasure. Everyone enters the cave, remarking on the smell and sheer amount
of bones lying about. Unknowingly, they’ve stumbled on the lair of the feryx
and after retrieving the treasure, are just about to leave as it returns from
the attack on Mobo Village. The feryx, seen in its entirety for the first time,
looks to be a winged meerkat of immense proportions. It quickly sniffs out the
hiding intruders, attacking Ioz with stekabreath, destroying his sword.
Everyone retreats to the back of the cave, trying to keep from being scratched
by the claws of the feryx.
Niddler flies to the top of Mobo Mountain with Zena, who
carries the enchanted feather. Niddler continues to claim he won’t enter the
cave and they land outside, as the feryx continues to assail the others within.
Ren tells Ioz and Tula to get ready to run while he distracts the monster.
Outside, Zena enters the cave bravely, armed with the feather. The feryx smells
her and turns, knocking her to the floor and blowing the feather from her hand.
Ren then leaps to the back of the feryx, though he’s tossed off too quickly to
allow the others to escape. Ioz and Tula pick up bones to defend Ren, though
they don’t last long against stekabreath. Niddler moves into the cave to drop a
rock on the tail of the feryx after it picks up Ren, Tula and Ioz in its claws.
A ticked off feryx drops the crew to chase after Niddler, blowing the magic
feather from the cave. Zena calls to Niddler to catch it as drafts blow it
about. Just as he does grab it, a happy feryx nabs Niddler, getting ready to
eat him alive. Niddler touches the feather to the feryx, watching the monster
turn into a tiny weasel. Mighty magic, indeed. Zena hugs her king, as the
treasure in Ren’s hand begins glowing brightly.
Konk suddenly swoops in on the glider, snatching it from Ren and flying
off. The treasure continues to glow brighter, dissolving the stekafog from the
mountain and surroundings. The gem blinds Konk, who drops it and falls from the
glider. Niddler catches the gem and carries Ren to the glider, saving both from
being lost. Konk falls to the water, unfazed.
Returned to the Mobo village, Niddler is asked to take back
the crown. He refuses, placing it on the head of Zena, pronouncing her Queen of
the Mobo. This is heartily accepted. With a hug of congratulations from Tula, her
ecomantic glow surrounds them both, causing Zena’s wings to grow out and
flourish. Shortly after, all the other Mobo have their wings returned to them, which
causes Tula to extrapolate that the stekafog blocked their growth and her
powers gave them the kickstart they needed. Everyone’s happy and all fly back
to the Wraith, treasure number six in hand.
Noy Jitat!
Nothing new again this week, with the lone exception of Konk using the ‘creld-eater’
epitaph. It’s likely I’ve mentioned this insult before, but I don’t recall and
it stands out as a deep insult in a rather insult-less episode.
Mutant Scum – The
most notable critters of KING NIDDLER are the Mobo, the flightless version of
monkeybirds. While it isn’t a shock they regain their wings by the end of the
story, it can be said it is interesting to see how differently they developed
from the monkeybirds seen on Pandawa in BREAK UP. While it’s obvious that much
of their existence is shaped by the feryx, the second creature of interest for
this topic, it isn’t discussed how they got to the island, whether or not they
were there before the feryx, or even if they know that they had wings at any
point beforehand. Considering that the feryx was placed on Mobo Island to guard
the Sixth Treasure of Rule and the treasure itself could destroy the stekafog, it
begs the question of who placed the critter there to begin with. As it had such
a negative impact on the Mobo themselves, you would have to think that it wasn’t
Primus or any of his captains this time.
When Do We Get to
Eat? As a Niddler-centric episode, those that despise his character likely
hated this one. As a Niddler fan, I did not. While he is used to drive a
message/plot that, like most of them, is lost (pleasantly so) in the greater
story. Niddler’s desire for food pushes his personality, for better or worse.
Here it not only acknowledges the weakness of his character, it’s a plot
element for Niddler himself to realize his own fundamental drawbacks. Even
though he whines and moans a ton in King Niddler, he still ends up being the
hero, continuing with the quest after crowning a queen.
KING NIDDLER, while silly at parts and burdened by another
unwanted, unneeded message, is a solid PoDW episode. It allows for the writer
to poke fun at the show (note Ioz’s bitching: “For once, couldn’t they hide it
[the treasure] at the bottom of the mountain?”) and give the viewer a hefty
amount of banter amongst the main characters. The lack of Bloth and the
Maelstrom is only evident here with Konk as the foil for the story. Honestly,
he really isn’t needed and could have been left out as he doesn’t advance the
story at all. With something more to do, it could have been interesting, as he’s
fun to watch fail, or succeed, at times.
I give episode 10 three minga melons on a scale of five. It’s
a solid plot with decent roles for most involved, as well as another treasure
located. Success looms… or does it?
As we are ten episodes into a 21 episode run, we’re nearly
at halfway. I want you all to check out the Warner Archives page, if you haven’t. http://shop.warnerarchive.com/product/pirates+of+dark+water
