The comments in the “Season 2 Order” thread about the quality of the series’ animation got me thinking … which episodes of the series do you remember as being the most well-done in terms of animation? Whether it was just overall good, or had some particularly memorable sequences … What are the standouts?
“Turmagar the Tuska” is one that really sticks in my memory. I don’t recall the entire episode blowing me away, but the whole “Technopede” sequence at the end is just killer.
“Out of Sight,” the “invisible Tigra/Nada” episode, I recall as being very slick. The opening sequence, with the Mutants attacking the Treetop Kingdom, is a highlight.
The Wiz-Ra episode … (I’m bad with titles … “Doomgaze”?) has some great moments.
“The Micrits” is a solid one, particularly during Lion-O’s big rescue towards the end.
The very beginning of “Fond Memories,” with Mumm-Ra, is cool. Of all the times we were shown Mumm-Ra transforming in reverse, from muscled-villain back into mummy, the one at the start of “Fond Memories” has got to be the most well-animated one.
It looks to me like the first season especially was animated by teams since there are various handfuls of episodes that have similiar animation styles. I say “team” only because I don’t think an individual could crank out the quality of animation Thundercats demanded on a tight schedule. For example, “The Doomgaze”, “Feliner- Part One”, “The Trial of Speed”, “The Time Capsule” and some others are clearly animated in a particular style (the best style, in my opinion). Another example is “The Demolisher”, “Good and Ugly”, “The Trial of Mind Power” and “The Trial of Evil” among others were animated by a team that seemed to produce lesser quality animation. Then there were some where multiple teams seemed to work to get an episode finished like “Mechanical Plague”. I mentioned in another thread that the animation seemed to become more consistent in the following seasons, especially following “Thundercubs!” . Then there were some episodes that seemed to stand alone - I believe “Turmegar The Tuska” never had any episodes that matched it’s style. In the second season, “Psych Out” is another example. I am curious if we have any information regarding exactly how the episodes were produced over at Pacific Animation Corp.? I own a copy of Hear The Roar - I should consult it.
But to remain on topic, the first batch of episodes I mentioned above I believe are beautifully animated. I also agree with “Turmegar - The Tuska” being fantastically animated, especially at the climactic battle. I’ve also always thought that “Out of Sight” was animated very well (just look at how realistic the Warrior Maiden’s bows and arrows are when firing). Ocean Doot, you picked out some great moments.
I would also add “Sword in a Hole” as having fantastic animation. The same “team” seemed to produce the first episode of “Thundercats Ho!”. “Doomgaze” gets a special mention for the moment when the rock gives-way while Snarf is walking on it. It looks really scary for him!
I completely agree with this statement. I love the syle in these episodes. When I think of Thundercats, this is how it looks in my head. This level animation lives up to the awesome intro sequence.
This is one my favourites, probably top two. I love ‘Excalibur’ too, it might not be as pretty as some of the others, but it’s very well directed.
Everything looks awesome compared to ‘Sixth Sense’!
For me, “Exodus,” “The Unholy Alliance,” “The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr,” “Trouble with Time,” “Pumm-Ra,” and “The Ghost Warrior” stand out as having great animation.
‘‘Turmagar The Tuska’’ also stands out in my mind as one of the best from a technical standpoint.
I always loved the beautiful background art in ‘‘Berbils’’.
All this talk of teams animating certain episodes got me thinking. Is it consistent that certain teams did Lion-Os eyebrows in red and other teams in black. I know they were somewhat back and forth between the two but never noticed if in these groups of similar animation if they were the same.
A very good observation! I think that the first 30 or so episodes from season 1 had superb animation (barring a few off ones). Towards the end of the season, the quality went down a bit. The episodes that you mentioned as well as “The Superpower Potion”, “Trouble with ThunderKittens”, “Mumm-Rana” had very choppy animation as well as poor drawings.
That does make sense. I know I’ve heard of other animated shows where multiple teams of animators were working in parallel, so that the studio could be animating multiple episodes simultaneously. I’d be surprised if you weren’t correct that “Thundercats” Season One was done in this way.
Another good episode that springs to mind is the (again, sorry, terribly with titles) “Astral Plane” (I think) episode … that ending sequence when Lion-O fades back into existence and starts blasting the mutants as he’s fading in … Great stuff.
Among the worst animated episodes, for me: “Spaceship Beneath the Sands” and “Day One: Trial of Strength.” Which is a bummer because the writing on both episodes is awesome.
I kind of like “Sixth Sense.” It’s off-model for sure, and I wouldn’t have wanted all the episodes to be done in that style … but as a one-timer I think it’s kind of interesting to look at. I kind of like the bizarreness of it.
“Excalibur” seems to have a slightly muted color to it, almost like it’s sepia-toned. Was that deliberate? It always stood out to me as a kid for that reason; kind of made the whole episode seem “darker.”
I can appreciate that you liked the style of “Sixth Sense”, but I personally felt it was sub-par for Thundercats. The only other episode that I think had some of the same style was “Divide and Conquer”, but I’m not positive.
I’ve also noticed the sepia tone. In “Excalibur” it is way too rich for me to think it wasn’t deliberate. However, I’ve also felt that there were a couple of other episodes that have a semblance of that “sepia-like” fade to it. “Catfight” is one example but there it is so light that it feels more like a color-correctness error of some kind. Oh, and “The Mountain” looks like another candidate for it being deliberate. Note that both “The Mountain” and “Excalibur” are among the more “dramatic” episodes. I wonder if the sepia-type filter was chosen to compliment that? We gotta find some the animators to get our questions answered.
I’m loving this topic. I’m impressed with how well versed everyone is in the intricacies of our favorite show!
I tend to prefer the consistency of animation in the later seasons to the variable quality mid-Season One. For me, “ThunderCubs” is the pinnacle, and most of Season Three is just as good. Season Four is a bit off somehow—I think the Cats are drawn with larger or more detailed musculature, and it’s distracting.
In Season Two, “ThunderCats Ho! Part Three” is pretty great. Lots of beautiful backgrounds and iconic sequences—I touched on this in my episode review. “Mask of Gorgon” also has some beautiful sequences, and “Together We Stand” has a unique style and some great moments.
There are some beautiful episodes in Season One, though. “Fireballs of Plun-Darr” springs to mind, and “Feliner” and “Sword in a Hole” for sure. And there’s definitely a set of Season One episodes that just look “correct”, which, the more I think about it, I think just means “consistent with ‘Exodus’ and ‘Unholy Alliance’”. “Trial of Cunning” fits this mold. So does “Spitting Image”.
Episodes that feel dissonant / sub-par, to me at least, include “Berbils”, Terror of Hammerhand", “Tower of Traps”, “Sixth Sense”, Mechanical Plague", “The Trouble with ThunderKittens”, “Secret of the Ice King”, “Superpower Potion”, “Trial of Mind Power”, and “Trial of Evil”. I also find “Trial of Speed” to be quite dissonant, and I don’t particularly like the style, but I recognize its quality.
It’s funny that, in a thread about the best-animated episodes, many of us have been quick to list the ones we think are the worst!
Oh! I also want to add “Book of Omens” as having some of the best animation in the series. I think you can tell the animators went all out to try and make the episode special, at least with the animation.
I still think that the worst animated episode of Thundercats is still at the very least on-par with some of the other popular animated shows of the time. The vast majority of the time, even when episodes of Thundercats are what we would consider “on-par” or average, they were head and shoulders above all other animated TV shows at the time.
I totally agree. Its funny - the first two episodes of Thundercats Ho! are above average, the third part is fantastic, then the last two parts are somewhat below average (for Thundercats). I always wondered if there was planning that went into that or if it was just luck of the draw as far as who animated what part.
Yer right. I guess I always took that as the animators trying to distinguish the “atmosphere” of New Thundera. But it woulda been better had it been consistent.
