Pirates: Adventures in Art is a Canadian preschool-oriented All-CGI Cartoon from DHX Media (now WildBrain) that aired on CBC in 2010 for 2 seasons of 44 episodes. The series seeks to teach children about the different types of arts and crafts from around the world.
The series follows the adventures of a band of pirates. The crew is composed of artistically-minded captain Leonardo (Joseph Motiki), the young princess-turned-pirate Cleo (Tajja Isen), Spanish-speaking lizard and first mate Fresco Del Gecko (Carlos Díaz), and the ship's undead cook Skelly (James Rankin). Together, this crafty crew prowls the seas not for buried treasure, but art! For you see, the evil Queen Conformia (Jayne Eastwood) has banned the creative arts all over the world, due to her hatred for them. Now, it's up to the pirates to discover and restore the arts lost in all the communities under Queen Conformia's rule while also avoiding the machinations of Admiral Krank (also James Rankin) as he pursues them under the queen's orders.
Tropes of the series
- All-CGI Cartoon
- Big Bad: Queen Conformia. Her hatred of art and banning of it is what prompts the pirates to go on their adventures, and she in turn sends Admiral Krank to stop them. She also stole the rightful throne from Princess Cleo, forcing her to flee and become a pirate.
- Big Book Of Everything: The Encyclopedia Artifactorium, which the pirates use to learn about the different types of art they are introduced to. It was the book that taught Cleo art, and she escaped with it after Queen Conformia took over the throne.
- The Captain: Captain Leonardo, who was sailing the seas with Fresco Del Gecko and Skelly long before Cleo joined his pirate crew.
- Culture Police: Queen Conformia banned all forms of art simply For the Evulz.
- Dem Bones: Skelly, as his name suggests, is the animated skeleton of a pirate. He doesn't join the other pirates on their adventures most of the time and takes care of the ship while they're away.
- The Dragon: Admiral Krank is this to Queen Conformia, although he's also the one the pirates have to deal with the most frequently.
- Edutainment Show: Teaches kids about various types of arts and crafts.
- Expository Theme Tune: The show's intro and theme song explain the backstory behind the series' premise.
- Gloomy Gray: Buildings and ships associated with Queen Conformia and Admiral Krank are all dull grays with angular designs to them to emphasize the discouragement and hatred of creativity that defines the show's villains.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Queen Conformia is a bitter and cold-hearted old woman who despises anything beautiful, imaginative, and colorful. She seized the throne from the artistically-minded Cleo in order to ban all art in the world because of how she much she hated it.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Fresco Del Gecko frequently peppers his speech with Spanish phrases, and speaks in a noticeable Spanish accent.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Fresco Del Gecko, the first mate of the pirate crew, is a talking lizard.
- Once per Episode: Every episode features a musical number.
- Pirate: Obviously! The main characters are a gang of buccaneers who search for art so they may restore the medium in a world where it has been banned by Queen Conformia.
- Pirate Girl: Princess Cleo used to be an art-loving monarch until Queen Conformia overthrew her and banned all art, forcing her to become a pirate instead.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: None of the Pirates ever engage in stealing.
- Strictly Formula: The show follows a very simple formula in most episodes. The pirates arrive on an island, where they learn about a certain form of art and perform a musical number about it. Queen Conformia learns of their location and sends Admiral Krank after them. The pirates find out Admiral Krank is coming and devise a plan to escape him using the type of art they learned about. Krank is thwarted and the pirates get away to their ship. Finally, the pirates reprise the episode's song while Queen Conformia swears she'll get them next time.
- Surveillance Drone: Queen Conformia's crow-bots watch the pirates' movements, allowing her to direct Admiral Krank to wherever they are for capture.
