''DarkStalkers'' (also known as ''DarkStalkers: The Animated Series'') is an American children's animated television series produced by

Graz Entertainment Graz Entertainment is an American licensing and distribution company, run by Jim and Stephanie Graziano, which obtains and provides programming and licensing rights for children's television animation. They currently control ''Z Blade'', ''The Attic ...

and aired in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

from September to December 1995. The cartoon is loosely based on the Capcom fighting game '' Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors''. It ran for one season of thirteen episodes.

Plot

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 is a fictional antiheroine character and the female protagonist in Capcom's '' Darkstalkers'' series. Having debuted in 1994's '' Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors'', she has since appeared in every game in the series and in various related media ...

, who became a villain descended from

Morgan le Fay Morgan le Fay (, meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan ''n''a, Morgain ''a/e Morg ''a''ne, Morgant ''e Morge ''i''n, and Morgue ''inamong other names and spellings ( cy, Morgên y Dylwythen Deg, kw, Morgen an Spyrys), is a ...

, and served alongside

Demitri Maximoff is a fictional character in Capcom's '' Darkstalkers'' series. Making his first appearance in '' Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors'' in 1994, he is the series' male protagonist. Appearances In video games Demitri is a mighty Romanian vampire lo ...

(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 The name Felicia derives from the Latin adjective '' felix'', meaning "happy, lucky", though in the neuter plural form ''felicia'' it literally means "happy things" and often occurred in the phrase ''tempora felicia'', "happy times". The sense o ...

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

. According to a June 1995 news article in '' GamePro'', the show would "star Bobby Bridges ater renamed Harry Grimoire a kid who befriends the game's supernatural cast of characters and sets out to prevent an alien invasion." 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 ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

'' sensation of the 80s."

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 Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the publicat ...

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. Rachel Jagielski of

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. It publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. History The ''VentureBeat'' company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall, ...

commented, "The plot is bad. But even more offensive than that is the shoddy animation." 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, PNinserted the most idiotic band of video game character doppelgangers that you could imagine." 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." 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."

References

External links

''Darkstalkers''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{TV series based on Arthurian legends 1990s American animated television series 1995 American television series debuts 1995 American television series endings American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American television shows based on video games Animated series based on video games Darkstalkers Television series based on Arthurian legend Works based on Capcom video games English-language television shows ADV Films