Darkstalkers (TV series)

*Darkstalkers*
Darkstalkers
	A.D. Vision VHS cover art
Genre	Fantasy; Adventure; Comedy;
Based on	Darkstalkers; by Capcom
Developed by	Richard Mueller
Written by	Richard Mueller; Christy Marx; Douglas Booth; Kat Likkel; Brooks Wachtel; Katherine Lawrence
Directed by	Dora Case; J.K. Kim; Sue Peters
Ending theme	"Trouble Man" by Eikichi Yazawa
Composer	William Kevin Anderson
Country of origin	United States; Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producers	Kenzo Tsujimoto; Stephanie Graziano; Jun Aida; Daniel S. Kletzky
Producers	Victor Dal Chele; Gwen Wetzler; Akio Sakai; Takeshi Sekiguchi; Kenzo Tsujimoto
Running time	20 mins
Production companies	Graz Entertainment; Capcom
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	September 30 –; December 30, 1995

DarkStalkers (also known as DarkStalkers: The Animated Series) is an American children's animated television series produced by Graz Entertainment and aired in syndication from September to December 1995. The cartoon is loosely based on the Capcom fighting game Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors.^[1] It ran for one season of thirteen episodes.^[2]

Plot

"Narrator: Supernatural things, magic and sorcery. They're back, from out of the gloom stalk your worst nightmares. Ghouls. Zombies. Werewolves. Vampires. You can't be sure what lurks out there in the darkness of night.
[Singer: We're the Darkstalkers!]
Narrator: Pyron, intergalactic collector of planets, wants the Earth, and he's going to get it even if he has to wake the undead. He summons Demitri, lord of the vampires, to launch a reign of terror to release a plague of monsters and bring humans to their knees. But, other Night Warriors are on the prowl. Monstrous, awesome contenders with bizarre fighting powers. Immortal creatures locked in battle to decide the fate of the world.
[Singer: We're the Darkstalkers!]
Narrator: It's enough to make your blood run cold!"

- opening narration.

As the television series was aimed towards a young audience, the violence and the sexual content present in the games were toned down. In addition, rather than following the complex backstory of the games, the show went for a standard good-vs.-evil plot. Various changes were made to the game characters themselves, most notably Morrigan Aensland, who became a villain descended from Morgan le Fay, and served alongside Demitri Maximoff (who was her rival in the games), under Pyron's command. The main protagonist is an ordinary human boy named Harry Grimoire, a descendant of Merlin created exclusively for the show, with whom Felicia forms a partnership.

Crew

Susan Blu - Voice Director

Episodes

"Out of the Dark" (written by Richard Mueller)
"Donovan's Bane" (written by Christy Marx)
"The Game" (written by Kat Likkel)
"Pyramid Power" (written by Douglas Booth)
"And the Walls Come Tumblin' Down" (written by Brooks Wachtel)
"Ghost Hunter" (written by Katherine Lawrence)
"Little Bigfoot's Last Stand" (written by Kat Likkel)
"My Harry's in the Highlands" (written by Richard Mueller)
"Aliens Keep Out" (written by Katherine Lawrence)
"Samurai's Honor" (written by Christy Marx)
"There's no Business Like Dragon Business" (written by Brooks Wachtel)
"Darkest Before the Dawn" (written by Richard Mueller)
"Everyone's a Critic" (written by Richard Mueller)

Production

The series was co-produced by Capcom USA and Graz Entertainment. According to a June 1995 news article in GamePro, the show would "star Bobby Bridges [later renamed Harry Grimoire], a kid who befriends the game's supernatural cast of characters and sets out to prevent an alien invasion."^[3] Jun Aida, Capcom's director of licensing, said: "With an enormous built-in audience of young arcade players across the nation and a colorful range of fun, but spooky characters who lend themselves so well to animated television, we're confident that Darkstalkers will be a big hit with kids everywhere. This show will make it hip to be scared. ... It's this decade's answer to the popular Ghostbusters sensation of the 80s."^[4]

Reception

The series was received negatively, both as an adaptation and as an animated series, mainly amongst fans who compared the show to the production values of the original games. The games are significantly different from this series, which is aimed at a younger audience. Topless Robot included Harry Grimoire, who "turned Capcom's gorgeously animated fighting game into a cheap, unfunny comedy," on their 2010 list of the 10 worst cartoon kid sidekicks.^[5] Rachel Jagielski of VentureBeat commented, "The plot is bad. But even more offensive than that is the shoddy animation."^[6] Ryan Winterhalter of GamesRadar, in 2014, blamed the "network" (of which, it did not air on any; it was syndicated) in his negative review, opining that the show "takes the characters that fighting gamers know and love and throws them out the window. In their place, [UPN] inserted the most idiotic band of video game character doppelgangers that you could imagine."^[7] The same year, Henry Gilbert of GamesRadar commented, "If you're one of those unfortunate enough to have watched the horrendous Darkstalkers cartoon that aired in the US, you have my sympathies."^[8] Vincent Chiucchi of 411Mania rated it first in his 2008 list of the top five "most shameful" video game cartoons, lambasting it as "the worst video game cartoon in history" while adding, "Everything about this cartoon is horrible. The plot is stupid, the animation is complete garbage, and the dialog is atrocious."^[9]

References

^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 232–233. ISBN 978-1476665993.
^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 146–147. ISBN 978-1538103739.
^ GamePro 71 (June 1995), p. 148.
^ Capcom press release—1995; reprinted on Google Groups. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
^ "The 10 Worst Cartoon Kid Sidekicks". Topless Robot. 2010-11-08. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
^ Jagielski, Rachel (April 4, 2011). "Discovering the Darkstalkers Cartoon". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
^ Winterhalter, Ryan (July 8, 2010). "Five truly horrendous TV shows based on videogames". GamesRadar. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
^ Gilbert, Henry (August 1, 2014). "15 esoteric game-to-anime adaptations worth discovering". GamesRadar. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
^ Chiucchi, Vincent (November 12, 2008). "Hall of Shame: Top 5 Most Shameful Video Game Cartoons". 411Mania.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.