Hi there,
Does anyone know why here in the UK we didnt get season 2, other than a video release of Thundercats Ho!
Basically, there was some sort of attempt to censor ThunderCats and other 80’s cartoons in the United Kingdom that people within the media industry felt were unsuitable for children. This went to the lengths of deleting scenes where Panthro uses nunchucks as this was suggested to inspire children to use them - as strange as that sounds. They missed out an airing of one episode for (I believe) unknown reasons and, along with not airing episodes because of this ‘censorship’, they just didn’t air them anymore.
It’s an utter shame because I discovered ThunderCats via the BBC and it seemed to be gone as quickly as they aired. They turned ‘Ninja Turtles’ into ‘Hero Turtles’ - no ninja’s, no. Not allowed. 
To be honest… season 2 was utter rubbish for the most part as it turned into a bit of a farce. It became more hilarious because it was horrible than hilarious because it was cheesy yet entertaining. My favourite line is still: “SNARF.. I’VE… GOT CRAMP!” 
Chris here…
I actually disagree with Nick that the absence of ThunderCats’ season 2 on UK TV screens was due to censorship (more on that in a moment) - I think it was more to do with the different way of presenting children’s programming here in the UK.
In the US, ThunderCats would air 5 days a week, and so one season of 65 episodes would last 13 weeks (5 episodes x 13 weeks = 65 episodes). In the UK, children’s shows were normally shown 1 episode per week, and so a run of 26 episodes would provide 6 months’ worth of programming.
When ThunderCats first aired in the UK in 1987, the BBC only broadcast the first half of season 1 - the second half of season 1 wasn’t shown until 1990, when it was unveiled as a “new series” (the first half of season 1 having been re-run twice by this point)! :eek:
So, I think the real reason why we never got season 2 was because the BBC didn’t feel they needed to buy the rights to broadcast the second season, because they had enough episodes to fill what they needed. 
Nowadays, cartoons on UK TV are broadcast in a format that much closer resembles the broadcasting habits of the US, particularly on satellite TV channels such as Cartoon Network and the like. So, if ThunderCats were being shown now, the irony is that we’d get all the episodes.
Getting back to Nick’s issue of censorship - the arrival of the Ninja (“Hero”) Turtles in the UK did change the BBC’s attitude towards ThunderCats, and in fact the second half of season 1 was edited when it was broadcast to remove some of Panthro’s nunchuku action! 
And yes, Nick is spot on, there was one episode from season 1 that was never broadcast in the UK, entitled “The Transfer” - the episode features a lot of nunchuku action from Panthro, and IMO it was probably decided that it couldn’t be cut without causing the episode to run too short of its timeslot.
Thank goodness that in the UK we’ve since received every single episode of ThunderCats on official DVD, and in gorgeous PAL quality - proof that, had the BBC decided to buy them, a set of PAL masters did exist for season 2!
Take care…
That is right on the money. If you ask the BBC, they will put it down to wanting to provide a variety of shows for kids. Why spend more on more episodes when you can repeat what you already bought. By the time Fond Memories has aired, a lot of kids would have forgotten what happened in Exodus. Remember that they didn’t air all Ninja Turtles either 
I believe it was Sky One that aired the latter Turtles eps. Talking of TMNT, I’ve just got the UK 3-disc set of the original series and it’s SO STRANGE seeing it as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Yeah I remember you and I coming to this conclusion a few years back. Interestingly enough I believe I have some programs that cover both the Thundercats and TMNT censorship somewhere…
Also while on the subject I’ve recently learned that Tom And Jerry cartoons have now been butchered due to political correctness! Jeez, these were CARTOONS created years back. Leave them alone!
They do look too good for NTSC transfers, so it’s likely they were from PAL prints. Guessing season 2 did air back in the day, in some countries that use the PAL format…