Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
The
Pirates of Dark Water was created by then Hanna-Barbera
CEO David
Kirschner. The series was set on the alien planet of Mer, which
was comprised of 20 seas and varied lands on islands that were constantly being
destroyed and created by the planet. The planet one day became besieged by Dark
Water; a semi-sentient, domineering force that rose up from the planet’s crust
and engulfed whatever it touched. The only thing that could reverse the flow of
Dark Water and restore the planet to its former glory were the lost Thirteen
Treasures of Rule: mystical stones that were used to keep Dark Water from
rising.
Map of Mer.
The quest for the Treasures fell on
17-year-old Ren (George Newbern). Ren was the prince of the once
technologically advanced city of Octopon, now in ruins because of the Dark
Water. His father, King Primus (Peter Renaday),
set out to find the Treasures shortly after Ren was born and left him in the
care of the lighthouse keepers with his identity hidden to protect him from
threats. Primus wound up the prisoner of the evil pirate Bloth (Brock Peters),
who sought the Treasures in order to take control of Dark Water and rule the
planet with it. Primus escaped and was rescued by Ren, to whom he passed his
mission to before he died. Ren tracked the Treasures through the amulet he wore
around his neck, and used the half sword his father gave him as a weapon.
Ioz, Niddler, Ren and Tula.
Joining Ren on his quest was the
monkey-bird Niddler (Roddy McDowall & Frank Welker) from the Island of
Pandawa, who saved Ren’s life and became a loyal companion (despite being
somewhat selfish and child-like); Tula (Jodi Benson), an ecomancer and warrior
from the island of Andorus; and Ioz (Hector Elizondo & Jim Cummings), a
mercenary from the island of Tayhoj who never shied away from an opportunity to
make some money. Together they sailed on The
Wraith, a ship Ioz stole that was imbued with the life-force of the
mystical trees from which it was built. The
Wraith’s original owner, Joat (Andre Stojka),
was set to have a larger role in the series but was dramatically reduced. The
crew often received help and information from gamehouse owner Zoolie (Dick Gautier),
who worked at one of the ports.
Ren and Bloth change bodies.
Ren’s primary foe was Bloth and his
crew on The Maelstrom, a massive and
deadly warship built from the carcasses of leviathans. Bloth’s crew consisted
of Mantus (Peter Cullen), his second-in-command and calculating strategist;
Konk (Tim Curry), who lost his leg to Bloth’s pet Constrictus and was the only
one to ever survive an encounter; and The Lugg Brothers (Earl Boen and Welker),
two dimwits who assisted Konk. But, Ren also faced the threat of The Dark
Dweller (Welker), the evil creature that created Dark Water. He was served by
Morpho (also Welker), leader of his Dark Disciples who was an alchemist
researching Dark Water before the Dark Dweller transformed him. Morpho served
as a liaison between the Dark Dweller and Bloth.
The Maelstrom crew concept art.
The
Pirates of Dark Water was one of Hanna-Barbera’s few attempts at a serious,
straightforward fantasy series. As such, Hanna-Barbera recruited animation
houses that could provide high-end animation not usually seen on regular
television. Fil-Cartoons
provided most of the art for the show, with additional animation rendered by Big Star Enterprises
and Kennedy
Cartoons. Episodes were constructed in a serial fashion, with
each leading right into the next, and contained a subtle message about ecology.
The
show actually began as a five-episode mini-series entitled simply Dark Water. It debuted on Fox Kids
on February 25, 1991 before moving to ABC
for its full series order as The Pirates
of Dark Water on September 7th. The original five episodes were
re-aired for the first month with some animation tweaks before the all-new
episodes began in October. In that time, McDowall had left the show as he was
refused a higher salary. Welker took over his role of Niddler, having already
been proving the sound effects for the character. The new episodes were also
slightly lighter in tone than the original five, although it still retained its
overall seriousness. The series’ music was composed by Thomas Chase
and Steve
Rucker. Sean
Roche penned the series’ bible, but only wrote one episode
himself. The rest of the show was written by Lane Raichert,
Bill Matheny,
Kristina Luckey,
Laren Bright,
Peter Lawrence,
Matthew Malach,
Glenn Leopold,
David Ehrman,
Sam Graham,
Chris Hubbell,
Michael Maurer,
Brian T. Gaughan,
Kim Costalupes
and Mark
Kavanaugh.
The Wraith concept art.
While
the show was a success with older audiences, it didn’t quite reach the younger
audiences coveted by the networks to justify the high production costs the
series generated. ABC opted to not renew the series for a second season after
its initial 13 episodes aired. During this period, Turner Broadcasting
was in the process of acquiring Hanna-Barbera and their executives wanted the
studio to focus more on their own ideas. Kirschner and producer Cosmo Anzilotti pushed
to keep the series going. FOX
picked the series back up and a second season of 8 episodes was aired as part
of the syndicated Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.
Ren and his half sword.
Unfortunately,
the final nail in the coffin for the show came when Fil-Cartoons experienced
difficulty in animating the final four episodes of the series. As a result,
Hanna-Barbera was unable to meet their airdate deadlines and the series was
cancelled in November of 1992. The final episodes wouldn’t air until 6 months
later in May, leaving a total of eight of the Treasures found. By that time,
most of the show’s crew was working on the production of SWAT
Katsand
Anzilotti had moved on to Captain
Planet and the Planeteers.
Jayne
Barbera also lost her position as the executive in charge of
production as a result of the blunder, replaced by Catherine Winder
for all productions following the failed prime-time co-production Capitol
Critters.
Fans of Pirates have always wondered if there was any chance for a
resolution to the storyline. When the series aired on Cartoon Network,
the network played to these questions during one of their comical commercial
bumper segments. They claimed to have a tape of the “unaired episodes” of the
show and proceeded to perform a psyche-out with footage of a kitten lapping
milk as if someone had “taped” over the episodes. There has also been fan
speculation that Kirschner’s film, Titan
A.E.,
shared
so many similarities to Pirates that
it could be viewed as Kirschner’s attempt to finish the story. With fans having
succeeded in getting the show released to DVD, and with constant reboots and
revivals of long-dormant franchises, a completion to the story may still be a
remote, but not necessarily improbable, possibility.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“The
Quest” (2/25/91) – Rescuing a man who claims he’s his father, Ren is set on a
quest to recover the thirteen treasures of Rule along with Niddler, Ioz and
Tula.
“Dishonor”
(2/26/91) – Escaping Bloth in a cave leads Ren and the crew to be captured by
Atani warriors.
“Break
Up” (2/27/91) – Following the stolen compass and treasure leads the crew to
Pandawa, where Niddler’s people are in the middle of fighting for their
independence.
“Betrayal”
(2/28/91) – Ren and Niddler end up captured by Bloth, and Ren meets one of his
father’s most trusted captains.
“Victory”
(3/1/91) – The crew tries to escape from Bloth and recover the first treasure.
“Andorus”
(10/12/91) - A supply run is interrupted by Bloth and the crew escapes to
Andorus, where they learn that Tula is an ecomancer.
“A
Drop of Darkness” (10/26/91) – Rescuing an acquaintance of Ren’s father leads
to trouble as she puts a spell on Tula to force them to give her Dark Water for
her potion.
“The
Beast and the Bell” (11/2/91) – Ren’s vision from his father telling him to
ring a bell to destroy the Dark Water turns out to be a trick to free the evil
Keroptus from his prison.
“Panacea”
(11/9/91) – The crew’s guide for the next treasure plays both sides and helps
Bloth as well.
“King
Niddler” (11/16/91) – Niddler ends up the king to a tribe of non-flying monkey
birds and it falls on him to defeat a dangerous creature.
“The
Collection” (11/23/91) – While trying to rescue Ioz, the crew ends up part of a
wizard’s shrunken ship collection.
“The
Little Leviathan” (11/30/91) – Ren rescues a baby leviathan who imprints on
him, but they and Ioz end up captured by Bloth.
“The
Dark Dweller” (12/7/91) – Ren takes the treasures and enters the realm of the
Dark Dweller to free Tula from the Dark Water.
Season 2:
“The
Dark Disciples” (11/8/92) – The Wraith must pull into port for repairs, but the
nearest one is the port of Octopon overrun by servants of the Dark Dweller.
“The
Ghost Pirates” (11/15/92) – Ioz steals a treasure from a deserted ship and ends
up targeted by its ghostly inhabitants.
“The
Dagron Master” (11/22/92) – While shipwrecked Ren and Niddler are led to a
treasure by a being they encounter, but it turns out to be a trap and Ren is
turned into a reptile.
“The
Game Players of Undaar” (11/29/92) – Ren and Bloth are captured and chained
together, made to compete in the deadly games of two strange creatures.
“The
Pandawa Plague” (5/2/93) – Niddler is called on to defend the egg of the future
Pandawa queen from a deadly plague.
“Sister
of the Sword” (5/9/93) – After they refuse to help her treasure hunt on a
dangerous island, Ioz’s sister Solia steals the crew’s gold and compass and
gets Konk to help her.
“The
Soul Stealer” (5/16/93) – After learning only Ren is destined to gather the
treasures, Bloth switches bodies with Ren and puts Konk in Niddler’s.
“The
Living Treasure” (5/23/93) – Tula tricks a tribe of Amazon warriors into
accepting her so she can free the crew and protect a little creature they want
to kill.
Since its first publication in 1837,
Hans
Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The
Little Mermaid,
has
been adapted into countless stage plays, films and animated efforts. Walt Disney
desired to be amongst that number as early as the 1930s.
Kay Nielson concept art for Disney's abandoned initial attempt.
Disney first toyed with the idea of
adapting The Little Mermaid as part
of a package film featuring vignettes of various Andersen tales. Development on
the film began shortly after work was completed on Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs,
but
it ended up being abandoned in favor of another Andersen tale: The
Ugly Duckling.
In
1985, Ron
Clements, instructed to find new story ideas for Disney’s next animated
release, had discovered the fairy tale while browsing through a bookstore and
presented a treatment to then-Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Katzenberg initially passed on the idea, feeling it was too similar to the
in-development television film Splash,
Too, but
changed his mind the next day; feeling that after Disney’s recent lackluster
movie slate and the fact they hadn’t introduced a new princess since 1959, The Little Mermaid offered up some new
possibilities.
Concept art of the Sea Witch and the Little Mermaid.
Clements and John Musker
expanded Clements’ initial idea, eliminating the Mermaid’s grandmother as a
character and giving a larger role to her father and the evil Sea Witch.
Development was stalled for a time as the studio focused their attention on Who
Framed Roger Rabbitand
Oliver & Company. When it resumed,
songwriter Howard Ashman
became involved and suggested changing the minor character of Clarence, an
English-butler crab, into a Jamaican and shifting the musical style to match.
Katzenberg, Clements, Musker and Ashman revised the story to become a musical,
and Ashman teamed-up with Alan
Menken to score the film.
Sebastian watches as Ariel resuscitates the prince.
The Little Mermaid was
marked as Disney’s next major release, and the most animation resources of any
Disney film in decades was dedicated towards its production. The underwater
setting alone required a tremendous amount of special effects not seen since Fantasiain 1940. It was
also the first Disney film in years to use live actors as references for
character motions; with Sherri
Stoner and Joshua
Finkel standing in for the leads in key scenes with recorded
audio playback guiding them. It would also be the last Disney film to use
traditionally hand-painted cels, the multiplane camera, and many of the
standard optical effects as computers began to play a greater role in film
production.
Ariel and Flounder study her latest human artifact.
While
the heroine was based on the original fairy tale character, Clements deemed her
too tragic and essentially created an all-new one in Ariel. Jodi Benson, traditionally
a stage actress, was cast in the role because Clements and Musker felt it
important that the same person could also perform the songs. Ariel was designed
by Glen Keane using
a combination of his wife, rising young star Alyssa
Milano, and Stoner. Footage of astronaut Sally
Ride
in space provided inspiration for the movement of Ariel’s hair underwater, as
did submerging Stoner in a pool. Ariel’s red hair was disputed against by
executives who wanted her to be blonde, but the filmmakers fought for it on the
basis that it was easier to darken with shading than yellow, better contrasted
with her tail (which was a special green they created and named “ariel”), and
that they already had a blonde mermaid in Splash.
Scuttle gives Ariel a fork and incorrectly explains its use.
Newly
created for the film version was the aforementioned crab, Sebastian (Samuel E.
Wright), who served as the royal adviser and composer; Ariel’s best friend,
tropical fish Flounder (Jason
Marin); seagull Scuttle (Buddy Hackett),
who shared his (often incorrect) knowledge about the human world with Ariel, as
well as the nature of the human artifacts she collected; and the Sea Witch’s
eel minions, Flotsam and Jetsam (both Paddi Edwards).
The Little Mermaid opened in theaters on
November 17, 1989. Like the fairy tale on which it was based, it centered on
mermaid princess Ariel of the undersea kingdom of Atlantica who had a strong
interest in the world above the sea. However, her father, King Triton (Kenneth
Mars), forbade interaction between the worlds. That became impossible when she
went to the surface and rescued Prince Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes) whose
ship was destroyed, falling in love with him in the process. The sea witch
Ursula (designed after drag queen Divine,
voiced by Pat Carroll),
tricked Ariel into making a deal to exchange her voice for legs with the
stipulation she must get Eric’s “kiss of true love” to remain human, or else
she becomes Ursula’s property forever. To hedge her bets, Ursula transformed
herself into a beautiful woman with Ariel’s voice and hypnotized Eric into
marrying her. After an exchange of Triton and Eric attacking and defeating
Ursula, Triton relented and let Ariel stay with Eric as a human and they were
finally married.
Initially,
Katzenberg felt that the “girls’ film” would make less at the box office than Oliver & Company, but after it was completed,
he changed his tune and predicted it would be the first animated feature to
make over $100 million. In reality, the film grossed over $84 million, short of
Katzenberg’s revised prediction but significantly more than Oliver. In an atypical move for Disney,
they released the film to home video just six months after its release {the
company had a successful practice of re-releasing their films to theaters every
seven years and feared home media would take away from the additional box
office). The Little Mermaid became
the top-selling title of the year, selling over 7 million copies in the first
month. As a result, Disney would change their home release policy and put films
out soon after the theatrical runs rather than delaying them for years. Mermaid also marked the beginning of the
Disney Renaissance; a period from 1989-1999 where Walt Disney Feature Animation
experienced a creative resurgence in adapting well-known stories that restored
interest in Disney.
Ariel's sisters (from top left): Adella, Alana, Andrina, Aquata, Arista, and Attina.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid chose to serve as a prequel to the movie; focusing on Ariel’s
adventures under the sea. Reprising their roles from the film would be Benson
as Ariel, Wright as Sebastian, Mars as Triton, Carroll as Ursula, Edwards as
Flotsam and Jetsam, and Kimmy
Robertson as Ariel’s sister, Alana; with Edan Gross coming on for Flounder
the first season and Bradley Pierce for seasons 2 and 3, Maurice LaMarche as Scuttle in
season 3, and Jeff Bennet as
Prince Eric for several guest appearances. Ariel’s five other sisters also
appeared, but where they were all voiced by Robertson and Caroline Vasicek, respectively,
each was given a unique voice actress: Sherry Lynn as Adella, Cathy Cavadini as Andrina, Mona Marshall as Aquata, Mary Kay Bergman as Arista, and Kath Soucie as Attina.
The Evil Manta.
Newly
created for the series was orphaned merboy Urchin (Danny Cooksey), a friend of
Ariel’s who joined her on some adventures; Gabriella, a deaf mermaid who
communicated through sign language (based on a 2-year-old named Gabriella
Angelina Bommino, a big fan of The Little Mermaid who
died of leukemia) and with interpretations by octopus friend, Ollie (Gabriel Damon); fun-loving
mermaid Pearl (Cree Summer);
and Spot, an orca calf Ariel helps raise before reuniting him with his family.
While Ursula made a few appearances in the show, a new threat was created
called The Evil Manta (Tim Curry).
Manta sought to destroy Atlantica and was accidentally freed from his centuries-long
imprisonment in an undersea volcano by Ariel. Hans Christian Andersen (Mark Hamill) also appeared once,
needing rescue by Ariel when his submarine ended up stranded and leaking.
Deaf mermaid Gabriella and her friend/interpreter, Ollie.
Like the
film, the series was done as a musical with most episodes featuring a song. Robby Merkin, who helped arrange
songs for the film, worked as the arranger and music producer for the first
season. The series’ music was composed by Dan Foliart, with additional
songs by Silvesher and Silvesher, Tom
Snow, Jack Feldman, Randy Petersen, Kevin Quinn, Anasti and Cameron.
The series’ theme was a combined medley of “Part of Your World”, “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl” from the
film’s soundtrack. Merkin and Steve
Gelfand performed all the songs.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid made its unofficial debut on September 11, 1992 with a half-hour
primetime special: The Little Mermaid: A
Whale of a Tale, written by science-fiction author Peter S. Beagle. Although made by the same group of
people and the new character of Spot would appear later on, the special wasn’t
considered an official part of the show by Disney as it was made under a
separate contract from CBS. The series proper began the next morning,
immediately following the debut of fellow film adaptation Fievel’s American Tails. Because the show was the first
directly based off of a Disney animated feature and one of the few cartoons to
star a strong female character, it received a wide array of media attention.
However, not everyone was pleased with the show; some of the animators who
worked on the film complained both publicly and anonymously ab out it, feeling
the television division should come up with their own ideas.
Ursula, Flotsam and Jetsam.
The
series was renewed for two additional seasons; its third spent as the lead-in
for the next Disney film-based series, Aladdin. Sebastian was also featured in a segment of Marsupilamiduring the second season; however, those segments were set after
the film and had no relation to the Mermaid
series. CBS elected not to renew the show again, and the final episode
aired in November of 1994. The following year, The Disney Channel began
rerunning the series seven days a week, and then once a day with Toon Disney until 2010.
The series again aired on Disney
Junior from the channel’s launch in 2012 until 2014.
Triton vs. The Evil Manta in Marvel's The Little Mermaid #1.
In 1992,
a collection of songs from the first season was released by Walt Disney Records on the album The Little Mermaid: Splash Hits – New Songs
from the Popular TV Series. Between
1993 and 1994, Walt Disney Video released
VHS collections with two episodes each under the title of The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea
Adventures. Each was
subtitled with the name of first episode on the tape. Five were released in the
United States, while seven were released in Australia and New Zealand. “A Whale
of a Tale” was included among the featured episodes, which was never broadcast
again after its initial airing. In 1995, additional collections were released
under the title Disney Princess Collection – Ariel’s Songs
& Storieswith two in the
United States and four in Australia and New Zealand. A new intro was created for
those episodes, and featured the song “Let’s Play Princess” which was shared by
all the videos in the line (the lyrics tailored for the particular princess in
question). While the series as a whole has not yet been released to DVD,
“Message in a Bottle” was featured on Disney
Princes Party Volume 1and
“Wish Upon a Starfish”, “Giggles” and “Ariel’s Treasures” were part of Disney Princess Storiesvolumes 1-3, respectively. The series
was made available for streaming on Amazon Video
and iTunes in Germany and on Netflix in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and
Finland. In 2019, it became one of the launch titles for the streaming service Disney+.
Ariel has
become a permanent part of Disney’s
princess pantheon; being featured in various media—usually with Benson,
Wright and Carroll reprising their respective roles—and merchandising as well
as being represented at various Disney locations. But, her story didn’t end
there. When Disney began making direct-to-video sequels to their biggest
theatrical hits, Ariel was on the receiving end with The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Seain 2000. It featured Ursula’s sister, Morgana (Carroll), looking
for revenge on the royal family of Atlantica through Ariel and Eric’s daughter,
Melody (Tara Strong). In
2008, a prequel film, Ariel’s Beginning, completely
ignored the events of the television series and showed Ariel’s first meeting
with Flounder (Parker Goris),
as well as the restoration of music to the kingdom after Triton (Jim Cummings) blamed it for her
mother’s death. In 2023, The Little Mermaidjoined
the pantheon of Disney live-action remakes to their biggest animated hits with Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, and
Jonah Hauer-King as Eric,
joined by CGI versions of Sebastian (Daveed Diggs), Flounder (Jacob Tremblay) and Scuttle (Awkwafina).
EPISODE GUIDE: Season 1: “What
of a Tale” (9/11/92) – Ariel befriends a baby Orca that was sent away from his
family to save him from poachers. “The
Great Sebastian” (9/12/92) – Sebastian convinces the king to allow him to
negotiate with the Sharkanians, whom he’s deathly afraid of. “Stormy”
(9/19/92) – Ariel rides a wild seahorse and ends up lost in the wilderness. “Urchin”
(9/26/92) – Ariel befriends an orphaned merboy who has become a member of the
Lobster Monster’s gang. “Double
Bubble” (10/3/92) – The Lobster Monster kidnaps the kids Ariel babysits as
ransom for a pearl necklace their mother has. “Message
in a Bottle” (10/10/92) – Ariel, Sebastian and Flounder find a message in a
bottle belonging to a lonely sea dragon. “Charmed”
(10/17/92) – Ariel runs off before her father can see the human bracelet stuck
on her arm, but she ends up trapped in an underwater cave as a result. “Marriage
of Inconvenience” (10/24/92) – Ariel’s friends try to prevent the arranged
marriage Ariel believes is on the horizon. “The
Evil Manta” (10/31/92) – Ariel accidentally frees the Evil Manta who tries to conquer
the kingdom by turning its citizens against each other. “Thingamajigger”
(11/7/92) – Ariel, Sebastian and Flounder try to figure out what a pirate’s
boot is, which Lobster Monster and Evil Manta believe is some kind of weapon
they can use. “Red”
(11/14/92) – Ariel must babysit her father after he’s de-aged by a magic spell. “Beached”
(11/21/92) – Ariel and Arista end up grounded, which puts them in a position to
stop gators from stealing from the treasury. “Trident
True” (11/28/92) – Urchin must steal the king’s trident in order to free Ariel
from a giant octopus in a cave. “Eel-Ectric
City” (12/5/92) – A partying mermaid brings Ariel and Alana to Eel-Ectric City
instead of her house where they were supposed to be going. Season 2: “Resigned
to It” (9/18/93) – Sebastian quits to find a new life for himself while the Red
Tide returns to consume Atlantica. “Calliope
Dreams” (9/25/93) – Triton wants Ariel to play the sea calliope, but she’d
rather play the human harp she found. “Save
the Whale!” (10/2/93) – Ariel must save Sebastian and her whale friend from a
circus. “Against
the Tide” (10/9/93) – Ariel rescues a creature with bad luck that Ursula wants. “Giggles”
(10/16/93) – A blowfish sorcerer casts spells on Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian. “Wish
Upon a Starfish” (10/23/93) – Ariel befriends a deaf mermaid named Gabriela and
they decide to seek out the magical Wishing Starfish to make their dreams come
true. “Tail
of Two Crabs” (10/30/93) – While Ursula plots her latest attack against
Atlantica, Sebastian feels threatened by his old rival Zeus who happens to be
better than him at everything. “Metal
Fish” (11/6/93) – Ariel rescues Hans Christian Andersen when his submarine
becomes damaged and starts to leak. “T’ank
You for Dat, Ariel!” (12/11/93) – Ariel learns magic and uses her powers to
make Sebastian bigger…TOO big! Season 3: “Scuttle”
(9/17/94) – Ariel meets Scuttle and he helps rescue Sebastian from pirates. “King
Crab” (9/24/94) – With his parents coming for a visit, Sebastian must find a
way to pass himself as the king he told them he was. “Island
of Fear” (10/1/94) – A mad scientist takes Sebastian for his sinister
experiments. “Land
of the Dinosaurs” (10/8/94) – Ariel uses the trident to free frozen dinosaurs
she found, but they end up causing havoc in Atlantica. “Heroes”
(10/15/94) – Ariel desires to go on an adventure with the great hero Apollo,
but discovers his reputation is a far cry from reality. “The
Beast Within” (10/22/94) – Flounder becomes a howling hairfish after he’s
bitten by one. “Ariel’s
Treasures” (10/29/94) – Ariel shows Gabriella her latest acquisitions, but a
spell from Ursual causes them to attack living things. “A
Little Evil” (11/26/94) – The Evil Manta returns with his son who wants to be
just like him—at least until he ends up befriending Ariel and attending
merpeople school.
