24) The Transfer
One of the running themes throughout the Thundercats is the villains’ inability to work together, and The Thundercats’ teamwork is what makes the difference (of course one could argue that the Sword of Omens plays a bigger role in their success, lol) We see it all the time in the series. Every single one of The Mutants has gone out on his own to seek enough power to take over Third Earth. And in later episodes with The Lunataks, Luna even says that the major flaw the Lunataks have is that they can’t work together. In this particular story, “The Transfer”, we see alot of backstabbing and bickering among the villains and it perfectly compliments an exciting story with great action as well. And in the end, it is teamwork that gives the victory to The Thundercats.
An abandoned alien spacecraft approaches Third Earth. No one knows where it came from. We as the audience can only assume that whoever created the ship and sent it off, did so with the intention of disposing of a powerful nuclear reactor contained within it. The Thundercats try to retrieve the reactor with the intention on neutralizing it, fearing that its power could destroy all of Third Earth. Of course Mumm-Ra & The Mutants desire such power for their own gain and work together to steal it from The Thundercats. What ensues is one wild chain of events. Jackalman is charged with sneaking onto the ship and stealing the reactor, but as we see in episodes like “Jackalman’s Rebellion” & “The Mountain”, he is quite power hungry, and when opportunity presents itself, he is willing to seize power for his own gains. So he runs off with the reactor, intending to keep it for himself, but Mumm-Ra chases him, catches him, and they agree to use the power together. But, when they get back to the Pyramid, Mumm-Ra expels Jackalman and takes the reactor for himself. Slithe & Vultureman pursue Mumm-Ra and end up bickering themselves as they argue over whether or not to get the reactor from Mumm-Ra or take down The Thundercats. So in order to keep the reactor, Mumm-Ra must fight off both The Thundercats & The Mutants.
Its just crazy, but it all makes for one of the most entertaining episodes. The excitement comes out of the amount of action involved, but the story is formed out the teamwork vs. singular gains. In sharp contrast to the villains, who are forming alliances & breaking them at every turn, The Thundercats set out on the goal of obtaining the reactor and it requires all of the team to do it. I really like that it wasn’t just Lion-O & the Sword of Omens, but it took the efforts of all the Thundercats to accomplish the mission. In essence Mumm-Ra & The Mutants defeat themselves. If they had kept to their original plan and worked together, they probably would have won. If Jackalman hadn’t run off on his own, The Thundercats wouldn’t have realized that the reactor was gone until it was too late, and if Mumm-Ra hadn’t double crossed The Mutants, he would have had some allies in the final battle to help him.
Speaking of the final battle, it is probably one of the most exciting action sequences in the series. It was so good that Cartoon Network used a good portion of the footage when showing commercials for the show when they aired the series back in 1997. Its easy to see why. It was just awesome. Mumm-Ra scales up his Pyramid with the reactor in his grasp (why he does this is never explained) He gets on top and starts using his magic to attack the Thundercats, who scale up the Pyramid on the Thundertank. Slithe & Vultureman show up in the Flying Machine to attack both parties and are eventually shot down by Mumm-Ra. The T-Cats bail from the Thundertank and use their weapons to attack Mumm-Ra. We get this awesome visual of Panthro & Cheetara blasting their weapons at Mumm-Ra at different sides and Mumm-Ra uses his hands to block both. It looks very cool. With Mumm-Ra distracted, Snarf is able to sneak up to the top of the Pyramid & trip Mumm-Ra, causing both him & the reactor to tumble down as Panthro makes a diving catch for the reactor. The entire scene is just amazing and it captured the excitement that this show was all about.
We see other episodes that are kind of like this one like “Eye of the Beholder” where the villains fight over some object & end up betraying each other, leading to The Thundercats winning out in the end. However, I think this particular adventure pulled it off very well and capped it all off with arguably the best action scenes in all 130 episodes.
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23) The Shifter
“What the f*** is a samoflange!” Its a line that has lived in infamy with the Thundercats fanbase ever since the outtakes of the voice actors’ recording session leaked onto the internet in the mid 90s. Since then, it has become a favorite joke among fans of the series and is quoted quite often. Out of sheer curiosity, I actually looked up the word “Samoflange” to see if it actually exists. The only definition I could find was on the online Urban Dictionary which refers to the word being part of a popular outtake from the Thundercats’ series. Within the context of the episode I’m about to review, I guess we can assume that a samoflange is the accelerator of the Thundertank. But whatever it is, this joke only adds to the comedic factor of the funniest episode in the series, “The Shifter”
Like I said in my review of “Bracelet of Power”, comedy was an important factor in establishing Thundercats as a charming & likable show, just like the action, visuals, and storytelling. Simply put, this episode is full of comedic gold, but none of it seems forced, and it all compliments the story very well. Vultureman yet again has a brilliant invention to take down The Thundercats with The Shifter, which switches the minds & bodies of the two individuals its used on. He believes that the confusion caused by the device will allow The Mutants to overtake Cat’s Lair. Believe it or not, the plan actually almost works as The Mutants are able run amuck in Cat’s Lair, leading to some pretty good action sequences & tense moments. The most notable of which are The Mutants forcing the Thundertank off a cliff & at the end where the switched Lion-O & Wily Kat are unable to use the Sword of Omens individually and have to use it together.
However, its the comedy that shines through here. First of all, how perfect was it when Panthro & Snarf got switched? To hear Snarf’s voice coming out of Panthro was just classic in of itself, and I loved that Panthro had to teach him how to drive the Thundertank. And on the flip side, it was great to see Panthro whip out the nunchucks while in Snarf’s body. And of course, the insanity that occurred at the very end with Vultureman & Monkian getting accidentally switched while on board the Flying Machine, causing all kinds of mayhem, resulting in Slithe (in Jackalman’s body) making the goofiest look of confusion I’ve ever seen. It was all great. And of course there was a nice little running gag with Monkian getting knocked off the bridge at Cat’s Lair.
And since its Thundercats, we get a nice lesson to learn out of the episode too. With Panthro being switched into Snarf’s body, he actually gains a new appreciation for Snarf. And of course all of those who were switched probably gain a new appreciation for their own abilities & powers as being switched either hindered them or just irritated them & made them feel uncomfortable. Basically, appreciate what you have and what you can do, and appreciate what those around you can do.
With all the insanity that happened in this episode, amazingly the concept of the episode didn’t reach its full potential. How far can the Shifter go? I mean could Slithe had been switched out of Jackalman’s body and into Panthro’s? Come to think of it, that probably would have been a better way for Vultureman to use it. He should have just used the Shifter to switch The Mutants into the Thundercats superior bodies. And with Cheetara & Wily Kit absent from the action, we didn’t get any potentially hilarious gender switches, but maybe they figured that was too PG for the show (lol) But in the end, “The Shifter” is a highly entertaining & funny episode and a definite classic must see for fans. And of course, the outtake only makes it funnier!
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21-22) Feliner
Multipart episodes really seem to stand out among animated series from the 1980s. For “He-Man & The Masters of the Universe” I think everybody that was a fan of that show remembers the famous “House of Shokoti” 2 parter. In Transformers, there were many popular multi part adventures including “The Ultimate Doom”, “The Key to Vector Sigma” and even the pilot adventure “More Than Meets the Eye”, and heck with G.I. Joe, the 1st 15 episodes were comprised of 3 mini series. Those episodes really seem to stand out because stretching the story out over several episodes is just a great way to keep audiences hooked. It has become the norm with television these days with entire seasons of shows like 24 & Lost taking up one storyline. With Thundercats, there are quite a few multi part adventures (most of which I’ve already covered on this list) and most of them delivered great & memorable adventures for the Thundercats. With with all the five part miniseries that T-Cats had, there was one lone two part adventure from Season 1 that I feel provided some strong entries.
“Feliner” presents new elements into Thundercats that we had never seen before. Within the opening minute of the episode, we are introduced to both a new Mutant Warrior in Ratar-O and a Planet of Snarfs, one of its inhabitants being Snarf’s nephew, Snarfer. To have that all happen right away is an indicator that this is not going to be the usual Thundercats formula.
Of course I have to talk about Snarfer. I hate him. I don’t hide that fact, and I thought him being introduced to the main cast in Season 2 was nothing short of painful, but in this 2 parter he is bearable. Because of him, we do get to learn more about his Uncle Osbert…I mean Snarf. It was nice to find out a little bit more about Snarf, his race, his family, and even his real name. They also sort of bring up what was covered in “The Crystal Queen” in that Snarf acknowledges that he is getting older and his value to the Thundercats is diminishing, and he figures he might be happier with his nephew on the Planet of Snarfs. Like I said in other episodes, if you don’t like Snarf, you might be put off by having so much coverage for him in these episodes, but unlike “Snarf Takes Up The Challenge” and episodes like it, I think there is more than enough material here to satisfy most T-Cats, even Snarf haters.
That brings me to The Mutants. Boy oh boy did they get an upgrade in this one. First of all, Ratar-O is probably my favorite guest character in the show. I loved the design with the fu manchu mustache & an armor almost like a samurai. I feel silly to admit this, but I have a phobia of rats to the point that if I even see a picture of one, I go almost catatonic, so when I was a kid, I rooted for the Thundercats a little bit more when Ratar-O showed up. I think its a shame that he wasn’t used more. After watching “Feliner” the first time, I actually thought he was going to become a regular and take control of The Mutants permanently. Prior to this, The Mutants had some great schemes & weapons to try and take down the Thundercats, but none of them were ever a good physical match for our feline heroes. It was great to finally get a Mutant General that could take on Lion-O & The Sword of Omens head on, giving us a one on one fight that was a perfect climax to the two parter. There was plenty they could have done with Ratar-O in the future, but unfortunately we only see him again in “Fond Memories” & “Thundercats Ho!” which serve more as reunion episodes rather than realizing the character’s potential. Ratar-O’s commanding presence here is felt not only by the other Mutants, but by the audience as well, and he is certainly memorable.
With Ratar-O taking command of The Mutants, we see a promotion of sorts for Vultureman who obviously brought Ratar-O on board, probably operating behind Slithe’s back. This was one of the early examples of Vultureman going into business for himself as he is in Ratar-O’s good graces. With Ratar-O in charge, he now seems to have authority over Slithe, Monkian, & Jackalman. Vultureman’s independence would be utilized more throughout the series and it became clear that he was a favorite among the writers. As for Slithe, we get a little bit of information on his past as well. We find out that he was actually a cook when serving under Ratar-O, which is interesting as I’d like to know how he rose from the ranks and became a Plun-Darrian commander. Again that is probably something they could have used for future stories, but it never came up again.
In addition to new characters being introduced and backgrounds on existing characters coming into play, we get a lot of new vehicles as well. The Thundercats debut their new spaceship The Feliner (hence the title) which would go onto play a major role in Season 2 when the T-Cats start searching for The Treasure of Thundera. However, until that happens, the Feliner mostly serves as an excuse to write off the Thundercats for an episode, allowing Lion-O to tackle an obstacle on his own (“Good & Ugly”) and even in its debut, we don’t really see it used until the tail end when Snarfer is taken home. However, the vehicles we do take away from these episodes are The Rat Star & The Mu-Tank. The Rat Star is Ratar-O’s Starship that had a spectacular fight with The Thundertank in Part 1, and would go on to be used by The Mutants several more times until its final appearance in “Return of the Thundercubs”. The Mu-Tank, made in Part 2, was an example of trying to make a perfect match up against The Thundertank (like Ratar-O was a perfect match up against Lion-O). We would see that again in “Thundercats Ho!” with The Fist Pounder. Like my feelings on Ratar-O, its a shame that the Mu-Tank was never used again because it provided The Mutants with a powerful weapon & and a way to face the Thundertank on equal footing. But again, we do get a great sequence as the two tanks battle it out. With these amazing battles & the duel between Lion-O & Ratar-O, “Feliner” definitely delivers as a great action story.
My only real knock on the entire two parter was the inclusion of Mumm-Ra in Part 2, which felt like a waste. Mumm-Ra is a great villain, and I would have loved to have seen how Ratar-O would act towards Mumm-Ra, or even how the other Mutants would act now that they have Ratar-O to hide behind, but all we see Mumm-Ra do here is steal the Mega Condenser (which the T-Cats need from the Rat Star to complete the Feliner), lose it, and then fly away. If they weren’t going to have Mumm-Ra interact with Ratar-O & The Mutants or serve any real purpose to the story, it probably would have been best to leave him out. It feels wrong for Mumm-Ra to be filler material, but that’s what he was here.
“Feliner” delivers in many ways. It is two very strong episodes that provides a ton of action, gives us some background on Snarf & Slithe, features a fantastic guest villain, and introduces new aspects of the Thundercats mythology that were unknown to us before. This two parter is just great fun and collectively makes for one of the best Thundercats stories ever.
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20) Excalibur
Mumm-Ra’s trials & tribulations in dealing with the Sword of Omens was quite the Herculean task for him. He tried to capture it (“Pumm-Ra”) and it turns out it doesn’t work for evil beings. He tried capturing it and getting someone good to use it (“Garden of Delights”), but that blew up in his face. He tried to get rid of it by going to the extreme of throwing it into a Black Hole (“Sword in a Hole”) and Lion-O still got it back. On some occasions, Mumm-Ra tried to utilize a blade that could rival the Sword of Omens’ power. We saw this in “The Thunder Cutter” & he found his perfect weapon when he gained ownership of The Sword of Plun-Darr in the “Thundercubs” miniseries. However, one early example of Mumm-Ra’s desire to find a sword that could take down Thundera’s legendary blade was “Excalibur”, an episode that combined the Thundercats’ universe with elements of the stories of King Arthur with successful results.
Combining mythologies is risky business because it could cause a departure from the norm so great that it turns the fans off, but here it provides us with a very different episode from the norm and we see a situation where the Sword of Omens gets a real run for its money. The early portion of the episode is of Mumm-Ra being told the legend of King Arthur and his mighty sword, Excalibur. Now given Mumm-Ra’s knowledge & the amount of time he has survived on Third Earth, I find it difficult to believe that he doesn’t already know the Legend of King Arthur, but to have the story told to the audience was nice to see anyway. The story of King Arthur is one of the greatest & most recognizable legends ever, so its familiarity, even with children, makes this one of the most memorable episodes in the series.
Mumm-Ra’s plan in this episode was simple, yet very effective and believable. He doesn’t try to use Excalibur to over power Lion-O & he doesn’t ambush him in the woods or something. He actually goes to Cat’s Lair (disguised as King Arthur) and offers his hand in friendship. Once inside the Liar, he does everything in his power to get under the Young Thundercat Lord’s skin in an attempt to goad him into a sword fight. Its the same situation that kids would experience on a playground. Everybody gets told at a really young age to just walk away if somebody is picking on you or challenging you to a fight. Heck, that is still the case in adulthood if you’ve ever confronted a rowdy fellow at a bar. Deep down, most of us know that the right thing to do is to just walk away, but anger & pride almost always take over in those situations. It was appropriate for Lion-O to make the wrong decision & accept Mumm-Ra’s challenge to a duel, and was easily one of Lion-O’s biggest mistakes. I also thought it was interesting how Panthro & even the level headed Tygra seemed to support Lion-O’s decision, but Cheetara was the only one that pointed out he was wrong. The situation Lion-O gets himself into is an example of stubbornness & man’s pride gone too far, and the sensible female character is the only one that notices the mistake. It is not until after the battle that Lion-O accepts that he was wrong and decides he “has a long way to go” on his path of maturity. This kind of learning experience is part of what made Lion-O such a great character as unlike other heroes like He-Man & Optimus Prime, we see the leader of the good guys falter & learn from his mistakes, making him much easier to identify with.
As for the fight itself, it was terrific. The set up was exactly like a medieval joust that people would probably see in old movies set in the medieval time period. Having these cultural elements injected into the episode was perfect. In the end, it all boils down to a battle of swords as both Excalibur & The Sword of Omens take on lives of their own and begin to fight each other. It’s really weird to watch to swords clash with each other without fighters holding them, but for some reason, it just works. In one of the most shocking moments in the series, Excalibur actually defeats the Sword of Omens and stabs the Eye of Thundera, which takes away the Thundercats’ powers. That’s right. Mumm-Ra actually won. I thought that was a gutsy move, and a great one because it only made Lion-O’s mistake that much greater. It is only through the intervention of Merlin that Mumm-Ra is driven off, the Sword of Omens is restored, & Excalibur is taken away. In the end, Mumm-Ra is defeated, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like a victory for The Thundercats, and even Lion-O seems to feel that way when he turns down Merlin’s offer to take ownership of Excalibur.
This is one of those episodes that is can’t miss for Thundercats’ fans. Its very basic in its story, but the elements of a different culture and mythology being fit in so well with what we know as the Thundercats’ Universe makes this one a classic.
19) The Thunder Cutter
I’ve already talked about how the strength of a guest character can really make or break an episode. In my opinion, a strong guest character is part of what made episodes like “Feliner”, “Mongor”, “Safari Joe”, “The Ghost Warrior”, & “Sword in a Hole” enjoyable entries into the series. However, a majority of the best guest appearances come from strong villains. There are those guest appearances made by heroic allies of the Thundercats. Some of them were memorable like Mandora, The Snowman, & Wizz-Ra. Others were not, like Mumm-Rana & Kudi. However, one such heroic character is so memorable that he is one of the most popular characters in the entire series, and that is the samurai warrior Hachiman, whose debut episode “The Thunder Cutter” I am obviously covering today.
Like “Excalibur”, this episode combines the Thundercats’ universe with a completely different culture that is grounded in real Earth history. In his quest to find a rival for the Sword of Omens, Mumm-Ra summons the Samurai Hachiman in order to attack Lion-O and defeat the Sword of Omens. Driven by the strict Bushido Code of Honor, Hachiman searches for Lion-O, believing Mumm-Ra’s lies that Lion-O & The Thundercats are evil. On the surface, it seems as if Mumm-Ra has selected the perfect opponent for Lion-O as Hachiman is an unrivaled swordsman, and the episode does a great job of building anticipation for the eventual meeting between the two warriors. They eventually meet over a large pit called “The Four Day Drop” and not even knowing he’s found Lion-O, Hachiman immediately gets into a heated confrontation with the young lord over who should pass the bridge first. This once again plays into Lion-O’s stubbornness and in this instance he’s found an equally stubborn person that will allow the situation to escalate. Its amazing how tense the entire sequence of events is. Between the bridge collapsing & them almost drawing their swords on each other, its very easy to forget that they actually never fight each other as like the Sword of Omens, Hachiman’s sword The Thunder Cutter can not be used to fight someone that is not evil at heart. Lion-O & Hachiman’s alliance is formed out of mutual respect for their individual codes of honor and not through testing each other by strength & sword skills.
This adventure goes in a different direction after Hachiman & Lion-O join forces. It almost feels like a two parter within itself and I feel that actually kind of adds to the appeal as so much is going on, but the story never collapses under the weight of it. Once Lion-O & Hachiman have formed a partnership, they are ambushed by The Mutants, but defeat them, and take Slithe prisoner to the Warrior Maidens. This leads to Mumm-Ra summoning a Ninja Warrior to lead a Mutant assault on the Tree Top Kingdom. The Ninja provides a perfect match against Hachiman during the battle and once again presents a different element to the show that we aren’t used to seeing. With a samurai, a ninja, & even the inclusion of the Warrior Maidens, this whole episode feels like one giant clash of cultures with the main heroes & villains on Third Earth and it makes for a very interesting viewing experience.
Another guest character gets to spread her wings here as the Warrior Maiden Nayda, sister of Queen Willa, plays a key role in going along with Lion-O to the Tree Top Kingdom & meeting Hachiman along with him. Again, like “Excalibur” it takes the female character to point out the stupidity of the two warriors having to resort to fighting each other to settle their differences. We also see Nayda form a sibling like bond with Lion-O, which is enhanced by Hachiman calling her Lion-O’s “Little Sister” And Hachiman develops a bond with her as well as he is obviously grateful for her saving his life & almost takes on the role of her protector in order to repay the debt. Nayda would go onto to have another significant role in the often overlooked “Out of Sight”, but it was nice to see that she has something to offer both as a character & in tight situations, as normally it would be Willa who was the main focus when the Warrior Maidens were around.
There are a few minor nitpicks with the episode. Most notably is the trek that Lion-O & Nayda have to make to the Tree Top Kingdom in order to deliver the new warning system made by Panthro, which they say will take a long time. This begs the question why didn’t they just take the Thundetank? And going back to other episodes like “Trouble With Time” or “The Fireballs of Plun-Darr” it never seemed to take that long for a Thundercat to get to the Tree Top Kingdom on foot. At the end battle, the Thundertank shows up rather quickly, so what reason was there for Lion-O to not take the Thundertank in the first place? I also felt like the battle between Hachiman & The Ninja was slightly anti climactic as Hachiman cuts through the Ninja and then he disappears. Hachiman obviously didn’t kill him because we heard him say “You can not fight what you can not see” implying that he was invisible, but then he never shows up again. I guess he decided to just run away. But like I said, minor mishaps in an otherwise exciting episode.
Between a strong new guest character in Hachiman, his interactions with Lion-O, the different elements that are introduced, & just the overall excitement of the story, this makes for one of the most memorable episodes in the entire series, and considering it was packaged on VHS with the amazing classic “The Ghost Warrior” it was one that I watched quite often in my youth, and one that provides great memories.
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18 - Sixth Sense
One of the most memorable aspects of Cheetara’s character is her sixth sense which she uses throughout the course of the show to either gain information (“The Ghost Warrior”) or as a warning when one of the Thundercats are in trouble. In this aptly titled episode, Cheetara once again uses her special gift to help someone, this time a miniature alien spacecraft of unknown origin, and when Cheetara becomes mentally linked with it, it proves to be a dangerous & near deadly experience for her, which makes this episode one worth checking out.
We see Cheetara take on almost a dual role as both a hero & the damsel in distress. She links up with the alien spacecraft via her Sixth Sense in order to keep it functioning, but at the same time, she feels all the pain & suffering that it does, so the Thundercats have to find a way to save her. And of course, things only get more complicated when The Mutants steal the control unit on the craft. We never do really find out what the spacecraft is exactly or where its from. Is it a spaceship for either a tiny life form or maybe an entire race? Or is it a robotic entity onto itself? In the end it really doesn’t matter, as the real story comes out of the danger that Cheetara puts herself into just to help the extraterrestrial life. I thought that Cheetara deciding to stay bonded to the spacecraft in order to help it was a great show of selflessness on her part, and again, only adds to her character & what she brought to the show whenever she was used in a major role. And I think the amount of danger she was put into really drove the story well as it truly felt like her life was on the line, and it really added a sense of urgency to the Thundercat’s mission. But in the end, it is Cheetara who ultimately saves the day by taking full control of the craft & turning its power on The Mutants, ultimately making her the hero of the story.
And of course I have to talk about this one scene. Its probably the part of the episode that people remember the most, but it doesn’t come in until the tail end and only lasts for a few seconds. Upon being fully repaired and separated from Cheetara’s mind, the ship offers thanks to the Thundercats and goes back into space. However, it doesn’t leave until it makes a slight nudge to Lion-O to go after Cheetara, creating a bit of a comedic & awkward moment. The closest to a romantic subplot that ever came out of Thundercats were this episode and “Secret of the Ice King” when the Ice King’s story was revealed. As breif as it was, it was kind of interesting that they planted the seeds for a Cheetara/Lion-O relationship, and if you think about it, its actually kind of a shame that they didn’t run with it. I mean, Cheetara was like a mother figure to the young Lion-O, and now he’s the all grown up Lord of the Thundercats & in a position of leadership that can’t have any distractions, so there were all kinds of issues and problems that could have arisen out of them getting together. But alas, it was nice that at least for a breif moment they decided to play with the idea of going down that path.
This is clearly Cheetara’s episode, but I have to point out The Mutants who shine as well, especially Monkian & Vultureman. Up to this point, we haven’t seen much of Vultureman as a character and basically just saw him as an inventor for The Mutants. This is the first time we see any kind of discernible character traits out of him. Ultimately Vultureman would spread his wings (no pun intended) and become the most independent of The Mutants, but here we see him as at the very least, a step above the others in wanting to make scientific discoveries and showing a great appreciation for the technology of the spacecraft. The other Mutants are weary of the ship, especially Monkian, who displays such recklessness towards the alien craft that he nearly destroys out in fits of anger. This contrast to Vultureman provides some interesting interactions between the two. Monkian was usually used as comedy relief, and would have his big starring role in “Monkian’s Bargain” but I feel like this was probably his best episode at least as a character. “Monkian’s Bargain” was good, but I also feel like any one of the Mutants could have been plugged into that role and it would have been no different.
Cheetara’s sixth sense would play a role in the series again (most notably in “Telepathy Beam”) and for the most part, episodes centered around Cheetara tend to be very strong, and “Sixth Sense” was no exception.
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17) Pumm-Ra
Following “The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr” the main introductory phase of the series was done. All the main heroes, villains, and all of their weapons & bases had been established. So now it was time for the series to kick into gear and start delivering the goods. Mumm-Ra’s first major scheme against the Thundercats involved his ability to shape shift & take on a form that the Thundercats would welcome into their home. When it was all said and done, “Pumm-Ra” was definitely an early gem of the series.
In “Berbils” we discover that Mumm-Ra has the power of metamorphosis, but in “Pumm-Ra” we see him use this skill to deceive the Thundercats. This would come into play many times throughout the series. This however is the only time we see Mumm-Ra take the form of someone that, as far as we know, doesn’t exist in. This form is Pumm-Ra, a Thundarian survivor. We see Mumm-Ra put on a very convincing disguise, and after putting on an act to make it seem like he saved Cheetara from The Mutants, its easy to see why the Thundercats (particularly Lion-O) are willing to trust him initially.
But what really makes the episode all worth it is the moment where Pumm-Ra steals the Sword of Omens and does the Thundercat’s Call, hoping to use the Sword’s power for his own. It is at this moment that the Sword’s power unleashes a giant storm that turns against Pumm-Ra, forcing him to relinquish the Sword. In “The Unholy Alliance” Jaga tells Lion-O that the Sword can not be used to obey an evil command, but here we see what happens when a powerfully evil force tries to use the Sword, and we even get a warning from Jaga saying that if the sword is used for evil, that person shall “Know the Wrath of Jaga” All I have to say about that is “Wow, that’s awesome” but then it is all topped off with the Thundercats having to fight off The Mutants’ who have stolen the Thundertank. BUT THEN they have to break into the Cat’s Lair to catch Pumm-Ra who is using their own security devices against them. And then they finally corner Pumm-Ra in the control room, forcing him to reveal himself as Mumm-Ra the Everliving to all of the Thundercats for the first time (except for Lion-O who already fought him once) Phew!!! The 2nd half of the episode is just nonstop action, which contrasts with the 1st half, which is all a great set up for it all, and it combines well to make an exciting episode.
One aspect of this episode I feel I have to point out is the presence of Jaga. Unless he was a central element of the plot, Jaga would normally only show up in one breif scene to give Lion-O advice. But in “Pumm-Ra” we see Jaga show up a total of three times to steer Lion-O in the right direction. I remember seeing this as a kid and thinking “Man, Lion-O’s really screwing up in this one” but I thought that was a great example of how much Lion-O needs to learn before he is a fully developed Lord of the Thundercats.
I do have a few minor notes about this episode that I’d like to point out. When he transforms, Mumm-Ra says “Spirits of Evil, Transform this Ancient Body to Mumm-Ra The Everliving” an interesting variation from the normal line used to initiate the transformation. Mumm-Ra’s transformation sequence would have several variants throughout the course of the show, but this is the only time where the famous line was altered. Also, when Pumm-Ra summons the Giant Moth creature to attack Panthro, did anybody else think it looked like Mothra??? Any Godzilla fans out there reading this? lol.
There are a couple of problems here and there (man The Mutants really fixed the Thundertank quick didn’t they?) But this episode to me was the one that really kicked the show off into its episodic format and got the ball rolling with Mumm-Ra & The Mutants’ schemes to defeat the Thundercats. The first five episodes (Exodus to Trouble with Time) were all about introducing locations & characters, and there would certainly be more of that throughout the show, but “Pumm-Ra” stands out to me as the first truly action oriented Thundercats’ story and one of the most memorable.
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16) Jackalman’s Rebellion
Any of The Mutants trying to break free & go into business for themselves was a common idea used throughout the series. Monkian did it in “Monkian’s Bargain”, and Vultureman might as well have made a career out of it. But then there is Jackalman. Now most people remember him for being the most cowardly when it came to the four Mutants. But in addition to his cowardliness, he was also very power hungry as we see in episodes like “The Mountain” & “The Transfer”. When opportunity arises, Jackalman is more than willing to seize the chance for greater power away from the other Mutants. And today’s episode on the countdown “Jackalman’s Rebellion” is his shining moment.
Interestingly, the episode starts off with The Mutants in pursuit of Jackalman who has stolen Vultureman’s Flying Machine. (A useless tidbit here, but this is the only time we see Vultureman pilot the Nosediver) Anyway, like the Thundercats, we don’t really know what caused Jackalman to do this and never find out. But as we find out later in the episode when he reveals that he salvaged the Varicannon from the Rat Star, its obvious he’s been planning this rebellion for a while. On his side are his new troops The Mole Master & The Driller, a character most fans will remember from his appearance in “Spitting Image”. I liked Jackalman going to Third Earth villains to build his own army, and it would have been cool if he’d gotten a few more. Maybe he could have gotten some of the evil races of Third Earth like Trollogs & Crabmen on his side. Its actually such a good idea for him to make allies with other evil forces on Third Earth, it makes one wonder why The Mutants had never thought of that themselves. I mean the Thundercats made allies with The Snowman, The Unicorn Guardians, The Berbils, & The Warrior Maidens while The Mutants sort of stayed secluded in Castle Plun-Darr. Actually, if Jackalman hadn’t been selfish & decided to tell The Mutants of his idea to join up with Mole Master, Driller, and other potential evil forces of Third Earth, the combined power might have been enough to overthrow the Thundercats. But again, this all ties into the running theme that its the Thundercats’ teamwork that usually makes the difference and the villains’ selfish nature is their downfall.
Now calling himself General Jackalman, he steals more of The Mutants’ equipment and takes his men on a rampage throughout Third Earth. I also liked that they slightly changed Jackalman’s outfit to suit his role as “General”. But a new attitude came with the new look. To see this side of Jackalman was nice change of pace, and it was also great to see how much planning Jackalman had put into his scheme and how dedicated he was to it. We even see him give Lion-O a run for his money in a one on one confrontation. In the end, his cowardly nature came out, but at first, it seemed like he had real confidence that he could pull it off. The climax of the episode is pretty exciting with Tygra & Cheetara having to take on The Driller & Molemaster respectively while Lion-O has to face Jackalman, and eventually The Mutants who have returned to take a shot at Lion-O. The whole episode is pretty action packed with The Mutants’ dogfight at the very beginning and the T-Cats having to battle Jackalman’s Army & The Mutants at the end. All this action makes for a very exciting & fast paced episode that is so enjoyable, it goes by rather quick.
I have to question the final scene though as Snarf & The Thunderkittens watch Jackalman go groveling back to The Mutants. How did they get a camera into Castle Plun-Darr? Was it one of those flying ones that Panthro used in “Mechanical Plague”? The tendency is to close the show with the Thundercats winding down after their victory, but I would have much rather had the entire final scene staged in Castle Plun-Darr and show Jackalman begging to be let back in.
The plot itself is very straightforward, but sometimes the best material can come out of something very basic, and that is the case here. Basically this episode is standard “T-Cats vs. The Mutants” affair, but what makes it stand out is that Jackalman takes on new allies & goes against The Mutants, providing a very memorable & exciting show. This is clearly Jackalman’s show here as he gets to have his day in the sun and separate himself from the other Mutants a role normally reserved for Vultureman. With great action & a great premise, this is a unique episode that is can’t miss.
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Oh man, Top 15…Almost done!
15) All That Glitters
The Sword of Omens is the most import artifact in the Thundercat’s mythology. It is the source of their power, the tool that Lion-O uses to help him achieve his goals, and at times, even a moral compass that recognizes the good & evil in those near by. But there were those few occasions throughout the show where the Sword of Omens was broken or the Eye of Thundera shattered. By my count it happened six times, but none were more memorable than the very first time it happened in “All That Glitters” where it seemed like Mumm-Ra had come up with an unbeatable master plan. (And for the record, the times the sword or eye were broken were this episode, Excalibur, Mumm-Ra Lives Part II, Thunderscope, Return to Thundera Part II, & The Heritage)
Mumm-Ra’s plan to destroy the Sword of Omens seemed completely full proof. His disguise as the troll “Gregory Gregian” was very deceptive and easily one of his best disguises in the series. Normally, we would see Mumm-Ra take the form he plans on using to fool the Thundercats, but here we don’t, and I think that makes his plan even more effective because in addition to Lion-O & Tygra, he fools us as well. Gregory was such a friendly & silly character that it was near impossible to suspect that he was Mumm-Ra executing a much larger plan. His plan was too initiate the Curse of Balthaz, which states that if the Sword of Omens is used to attack a Thundercat, then the sword will be broken, and only the terrible heat of starfire can reforge it. Now it is never required to fix the sword in this extreme manner again, but considering this time it was caused by a curse, that is probably the loophole around that. And this episode is alot like the Anointment Trials where Lion-O actually has to perform a task without the Sword of Omens, and that makes things more interesting right off the bat. With Lion-O losing the sword and then having to go into a volcano’s heart to fix it really adds a sense of drama & hopelessness to Lion-O’s situation. Even in the end when the sword is reforged, they still have to get it out of the hands of The Inflamer, who keeps it so the Thundercats will give him more gold.
One of the major themes in Season 1 is Lion-O’s growing experience and how he learns from his mistakes. Well here, he clearly makes his biggest mistake, and even Jaga, who normally just gives him advice to steer him in the right direction, seems to show up to scold him. Lion-O’s shame takes over as he feels the need to sacrifice himself in order to reforge the sword in the heart of a volcano. Its understandable that Lion-O would want to make up for his own mishap, but its also easy to recognize that going into the volcano headstrong is an even worse mistake. If he had taken the time to plan out a way to fix the Sword, he would have found out about The Inflamer & realized how easy it would have been for the Thundertank to get to the heart of the volcano. This whole episode displays Lion-O’s faults in a huge way, but in the end, he is redeemed by his show of bravery and how he helps the Thundercats escape The Inflamer. At this point, he still has a long way to go, but at least his ability to recognize his errors and his sheer bravery makes him a respectable character all the same.
The extent of Mumm-Ra’s plan is fully realized when it is revealed that he had The Mutants attack The Inflamer in order to drain his powers and prevent him from being able to help the Thundercats. The only thing that can restore him is bathing in molten gold, and it is only because of Cheetara saving a small supply of gold at Cat’s Lair that they are about to rejuvenate him while they save Lion-O. Cheetara has come up in this countdown alot, but she really did play a major role mainly because her status as a female character allowed for many roles that Panthro & Tygra could not fill. Her saving some of the gold when Panthro was ready to throw it out is a sign of her feminine quality of being able to appreciate objects (or in this case, a metal) that are beautiful even if they don’t have a practical use, and that is what saves the day, essentially making her the true hero of the episode once again.
Getting back to The Inflamer, I thought he was a very interesting and unique character. We see him again, oddly enough as a demon on the path to Mumm-Ra’s Pyramid in “Lion-O’s Annointment Trials Day 5: The Trial of Evil” but I think its safe to say this is the appearance he’ll be remember for. In addition to him looking impressive & having the ability to manipulate fire, he has an interesting character to him. He’s not really a villain or a hero. He’s a mercenary that acts only for whoever is willing to pay for his services. This is a trait we would see later with Captain Shiner who has admirable qualities, but is still a mercenary at heart. One can also draw comparrisons between The Inflamer & The Driller as both of them offer their services in exchange for a material that they need to survive. Another guest character that shows some value here is Ro-Bear Bill, and the Ro-Bear Berbils as a whole really. Usually, we have only seen the Berbils acts as the supplier of the Thundercats’ tools & food, but here we see them as the Thundercats’ link to Third Earth and their source of information. They tell the Thundercats about gold, the Caves of Trolls & Giants, and Ro-Bear Bill takes them to The Inflamer. Its an interesting role for the Berbils and it makes them seem even more useful to the Thundercats (despite their ridiculous nature, lol).
Who would have thought that an episode that started off with The Thundercats debating the value of gold & Lion-O & Snarf helping out a troll could wind up being one of the most memorable in the series. Between the Sword of Omens being broken & the drama that ensued, this one lives on as a definite classic.
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14) Trouble With Time
All the popular animated series of the 1980s have that handful of episodes that everybody remembers. From Transformers to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I’m sure I could go people that watched those shows, mention specific episodes and they’d know what I was talking about. If I went up to a He-Man fan and said “Remember the one where He-Man & Skeletor had to join forces to fight off a bunch of plants” they’d know I was talking about “Evilseed” Thundercats is definitely the same way. I’ve covered a handful already, but there are definitely a list of episodes that I’m sure everybody T-Cat fans remembers seeing as a kid. And I am willing to bet that if there is one episode that T-Cat fans remember the most its “The one where Tygra got old” or “Trouble With Time”
The episode is very basic in story as the Thundercats go in search of Thundrillium to power the Lair. Lion-O encounters The Mutants & The Warrior Maidens, while Tygra gets trapped in the magical Cave of Time which ages him close to the point of death & decay. Everything about this episode is simplistic, but threatening the life of one of the main characters so early in the series makes this one stand out. In the end Tygra is saved by Cheetara (oh man, there’s that name again!) and Willa lead the Thundercats to the Geyser of Life which restores Tygra to his proper age. On two occasions, The Warrior Maidens prevent Lion-O & The Thundercats from being attacked by The Mutants. I know I already argued that “Mumm-Rana’s Belt” was probably the most female driven episode in the series, but I think you can make a strong case for this one as well with Cheetara & The Warrior Maidens playing such huge roles.
This was only the fifth episode in the series, and they were still in the phase of introducing characters & locations. In this episode, we are introduced to key allies of the Thundercats, The Warrior Maidens, specifically Queen Willa & her sister Nayda who are mistrusting of the Thundercats at first, but are won over by their kind & honorable nature. Early on, the Thundercats had to win the trust of their Third Earth allies, and here we get a kingdom of female warriors that would continue to play significant roles throughout Season 1 (and a couple of appearances here & there in Season 2) Keeping in with the introductory motif of the episode, we also get to see a memorable location in The Cave of Time, which would later be used to help restore a Thundercat’s adult age (“Time Switch” “Thundercubs: Part V”) but here we see how dangerous of a location it is. And that danger adds to the value of having allies like The Berbils & The Warrior Maidens who are able to inform the Thundercats about Third Earth and the dangers they may face.
We also get a nice scene early in the episode with Lion-O joyriding in the Thundertank, ultimately losing control of the vehicle and needing Panthro’s help to stop it. Even though it doesn’t really play a role in the plot of the episode, it was the first moment in the series that shows us that deep down, Lion-O is still just a kid. It was hinted at and alluded to in some of the previous episodes, but here we see it front and center, and I thought it was made even better with his line of “Please don’t tell Tygra & Cheetara, ok?” And it kind of shows that he still views Cheetara, Tygra, & Panthro as being authority figures, despite him technically being the leader. I already talked about the next episode “Pumm-Ra” and how Lion-O’s inexperience really showed itself in that episode, and when you take “Trouble with Time” into account, you see just how early in the process of becoming a true leader Lion-O is in. On an interesting note, we also learn in this episode that Lion-O is the only one who can communicate with Jaga’s spirit. Lion-O converses with Jaga infront of Willa, and she is unable to see or here the ghostly Thundercat. But as we would find out much later in the series, Mumm-Ra is capable of seeing Jaga as well, which gives some insight into just how far Mumm-Ra’s power stretches.
“Trouble With Time” is made an engaging story through the danger Tygra is in, and it succeeds in showcasing the Thundercats while also introducing new characters at the same time. Overall, this isn’t a flashy action filled episode, and it isn’t the greatest story ever told, but its simple, effective, and remembered very fondly by most Thundercat fans, making it a definite classic.
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13) Spitting Image
Its a shame I didn’t get this one done prior to Halloween because out of all the Thundercats episodes, this one is definitely the most suiting for that holiday. Mumm-Ra is leaps and bounds one of the scariest villains that animation had to offer at the time, so episodes usually centered around him have a dark & creepy atmosphere to it. With “Spitting Image” we have an episode where his plan includes ghosts, cloning, monsters, and several revelations about his Pyramid that were unknown to us before.
Mumm-Ra’s plan in this episode is to capture Panthro so he can clone him and send the evil double on a destructive tour of Third Earth to get the inhabitants to mistrust the Thundercats. Its actually a very good plan as this early in the series, the trust that the Third Earthlings have of the Thundercats is probably very fragile, which is shown through The Warrior Maidens in “Trouble with Time” & “Garden of Delights”. We actually don’t see much of the Thundercats until Mumm-Ra’s plan is entirely put into motion. Throughout the episode, we actually spend a lot of time in Mumm-Ra’s Pyramid, and that gives the episode a dark atmosphere. At times it feels like a horror movie. We actually see alot more of the Pyramid’s interior than we have seen before. We see two new chambers here including Mumm-Ra’s treasure chamber, and more surprisingly, a laboratory. The set up looks like Frankenstein’s lab, which had to be intended (thankfully they resisted the urge to have Mumm-Ra say “Its alive!”). Now one has to wonder where Mumm-Ra got the technology. Did he salvage it from The Mutant Spaceship? Did Vultureman make it for him? Or heck, considering how much of Earth’s history, literature, & mythology was incorporated into the show, maybe Mumm-Ra stole it from Frankenstein’s lab itself.
One of the key elements that adds the dark tone ot the episode is Panthro’s clone being infused with The Ghost of Hammerhand. This brings about some themes that aren’t often seen in Thundercats. First of all, Mumm-Ra’s always had sort of a satanic edge to him, and one could draw comparisons to this experiment and demonic possession. Another aspect is that we have it confirmed for us that Hammerhand did in fact die following the events of “The Terror of Hammerhand”, and death in a children show, especially during the 80s, was a major taboo. (Now they never explain how Hammerhand was suddenly alive and well in time for “Thundercats Ho!”, but that’s another topic entirely). All that tied in with the creepy nature of how the experiment was performed definitely makes this the darkest episode in the series. The Hammerhand possessed clone’s spread of chaos through Third Earth is also a frightening series of events as they usually show him up against fire & a dark sky as the Third Earth natives run for their lives. The climax of the episode feels like a decent into hell as Panthro battles Hammerhand in a burning forest with both them threatened with being burned to death.
If there was a star Thundercat for this installment, it would clearly be Panthro. Panthro was always featured heavily on the show given his technical know how, supreme fighting capabilities, and just because he was freakin’ cool. However, it was very rare that we would see Panthro be the central good guy of a story as normally that role would be reserved for Lion-O, and on occasion Cheetara, Snarf, & The Thunderkittens. But here, its Panthro’s moment to shine as he is the one that Mumm-Ra chooses to clone. Then he has to use his wits to escape the Bottomless Chasm & do battle with his doppelganger in the fiery forest. And all the while, we see him having to struggle with clearing his good name, and by extension that of the Thundercats as a whole. It would have been nice if they had spent some more time with that part of the story, but when you only have 21 minutes, its hard to fit it all in. But if you’re a big fan of Panthro like I am, this is definitely worth checking out.
Of course one of the most memorable aspects of this episode is the introduction of The Driller. He actually looks like a denizen of Cybertron or something else out of the Transformers universe. I already compared him to The Inflamer in my review of “All That Glitters” in that both characters are mercenaries that work for payment for something that they need in order to survive, and I think that gives him a great motivation rather than just being evil for the sake of being evil. Driller never really played a huge role in the series, and he even disappears from this episode once his objective is complete, but he’s such a unique character visually that his presence usually adds to the episode, and it certainly does here. One of my favorite sequences in “Spitting Image” is the scene where he breaks into Panthro’s bed chamber to kidnap him for Mumm-Ra. Its just a fun little fight scene, and it was also cool that Mumm-Ra got somebody else to do his dirty work for him rather than The Mutants.
"Spitting Image’ is really like no other episode in all 130 Thundercat adventures. Its by far the darkest entry in the series for its tone & plot, and it makes for a very memorable experience.
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12) Telepathy Beam
Wow…ANOTHER Cheetara centered episode??? I’ll just say it right now. Cheetara is awesome! I’ve talked about it already, but I feel like with Cheetara’s position as the strong female heroic character, it opened to door for more possibilities on what to do with her. Teela was the same way in “He-Man & The Masters of the Universe”. Ultimately, Cheetara was a successful & well handled character. In this episode, like “Sixth Sense”, we see Cheetara struggle with her ability to control her mental abilities, but rather than her being the one in danger, we see her have a battle with her own self confidence and her ability to control what she does with her powers.
In this adventure, Vultureman conspires with Alluro to create a device that will plant false images to trigger Cheetara’s Sixth Sense that will make her believe the Thundercats’ friends are under attack. While the Thundercats are off on wild goose chases, The Lunataks can easy ambush them and force Panthro to modify Sky Tomb to make the journey towards New Thundera. The images themselves are quite terrifying as they show The Mutants & The Lunatacs attacking the Thundercats allies in a slave raid. Of course when Cheetara takes Lion-O to investigate, it turns out her visions were wrong, which leads to her having self doubt & loss of confidence. This works into The Lunataks favor as they are able to abduct Panthro without any trouble because Cheetara ignores the vision she has of Panthro being in trouble. And then Vultureman plants false images of Panthro’s fate to hide the trail. Now the images planted in her mind are interesting as they actually manage to get all of the main villains (Mumm-Ra, Mutants, & Lunataks) into the episode. And I have to say that Vultureman & Alluro being the main bad guys of the episode does make for a unique partnership as they combine their skills to make such a powerful & unique weapon to use against Cheetara.
But enough of the villains & their plan, this is Cheetara’s episode. Like I said, unlike the episode “Sixth Sense” this story doesn’t test Cheetara’s bravery and selflessness, but rather her self confidence. We don’t see her in any kind of physical pain. She just gets flat out embarrassed when she leads Lion-O on two false alarms and gets bombarded with terrible images that conflict each other. Prior to this episode, Cheetara’s sixth sense and her visions were never wrong. Even in episodes like “Lord of the Snows” where she just “had a feeling” she was usually right, so it was great to see her seemingly infallible extra sensory powers be challenged. I also thought it was great that the person she confides in is Lynx-O, another character who has to struggle with his senses everyday (and as we see in “The Mask of Gorgon”, it has backfired on him as well) At times during the series, I thought they really stretched the “Oh Lynx-O is blind, but he can do anything” theme down our throats and at times it got to the point that it came off as preachy. But I really like Lynx-O’s role here as he sort of acts as a Jaga-like figure to Cheetara and is ultimately the one who helps her overcome her lack of self confidence.
Now one could probably dram comparisons to what happens to Cheetara at the hands of Vultureman in this episode and a woman suffering some kind of mental abuse, but I won’t go any further with it than that. However, what really puts this show over the top is at the end where Cheetara realizes the true potential of her powers and unleashes the full fury of her telekinetic abilities to destroy Vultureman’s machine, free the Thundercats from The Lunataks, and disable Sky Tomb’s defenses. Its an amazing show of power that most of us are used to seeing from the Sword of Omens, but for something or somebody else to display such an amazing ability was indeed very cool. Its a really powerful moment that easily ranks right up there as one of the most memorable in the series.
Its obvious that my list has been heavily favored towards Season 1. Heck out of the Top 25, only this and one future episode are from Season 2 (and you can probably figure which one), but this episode was just way too good to overlook. Its Cheetara’s shining moment & just an all around exciting chapter in the Thundercats series.
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11) Return to Thundera
In the early portion of the series, we didn’t find out much about Thundera’s history. All we knew from the earliest episodes was that it was the home world of the Thundercats, they were at odds with The Mutants from Plun-Darr, and the planet blew up. That was basically it. Of course this left the door wide open for the writers to come up with whatever they wanted to do with it. The first major piece of Thundarian history came in “The Ghost Warrior”, but not long after that, we actually get to see bits & pieces of Thundarian culture as Lion-O gets to experience it first hand as an adult.
Interestingly, “Return to Thundera” follows up right where “The Time Capsule” left off with the Thundercats observing the Time Capsule they recovered. While alone on guard duty, Lion-O has a freak accident with the Capsule and is sent back into time to the day that Thundera exploded. What’s worse, Slithe chooses that night to send a Plun-Darrian super weapon, The Warbot, to attack Cat’s Lair, and now the Thundercats are without their leader & the Sword of Omens to protect them. This gives us a nice dual story to follow throughout the episode, one very action oriented, and the other focused more on Lion-O’s personal experience on Thundera. Sometimes doing the dual story doesn’t really work that well as it feels like you are watching two episodes spliced into one (“The Wild Workout” comes to mind) but here both stories are very good in execution and come together well at the end.
Lion-O’s journey to Thundera is not what he probably would have wanted it to be as he is transported to the time right before Thundera’s destruction and he actually gets to witness it for a second time. Skipping ahead to the end for a bit, they never do explain how Lion-O got back to Cat’s Lair exactly, but one can assume that he got transported back because he simply reached the end of the Time Capsule’s records. But back to the story, Lion-O goes to what is probably the Thundarian capital city where he reunites with his father, The Lord of Thundera Claudis, and his pet sabretooth, Kano. This is the heart of the episode as prior to this point, you would have been forgiven if you mistook that Jaga was Lion-O’s father (or grandfather I guess), but here we get to see Lion-O have his first interaction with his father as an adult as he helps him fight off Slithe & Vultureman, who were looking for the plans to The Warbot that Claudis stole. Again, one can only speculate how these events would have played out had Lion-O not interfered. In “The Shadowmaster” we see the Shadowmaster trap Claudis in the Shadow Realm just as Thundera was being destroyed, but for all we know, Claudis may have been killed by Slithe & Vultureman originally. I guess that’s just something to think about. But anyway, to see Lion-O go back home, meet his father again, and even interact with his childhood pet, makes for some great heart warming moments.
Speaking of Claudis, for the few short moments that we see him, I can say that he is a pretty interesting and likable character. He was blinded during some battle against Plun-Darrians, but I think that was done so that Claudis would not realize it was his own son Lion-O that saved him, which to me only adds to the moment where Claudis says that he hopes his son could grow into the brave man that Lion-O is now. Its really a touching moment. We also see that Claudis possesses the same selfless quality that his son has as he willingly stays behind on Thundera to help pilot the Flagship remotely so that Lion-O & The Thundercats can escape in time. In the little bit of time that we spend with Claudis, we see that he was a kind & wise man, and completely fitting to be the Lord of Thundera. In helping his father, Lion-O is rewarded with the plans to the Warbot which once again brings up that theme of the Thundercats’ bravery & willingness to help others leads to them being helped out themselves. And going to another father figure’s of Lion-O, I thought it was interesting that Jaga’s spirit was able to travel with Lion-O back in time to Thundera. He explains that in his sprit form, he is always where Lion-O is, which strengthens the unique bond between the two.
I have to talk about the story with The Warbot’s attack on Cat’s Lair, which was epic. The Mutants are known for getting their tails kicked by The Thundercats almost all the time, but here, they create a weapon so great & powerful, that they don’t even have to show up to Cat’s Lair! They just sat back at Castle Plun-Darr at let The Warbot do its work, and do so very well. The really shocking part about the whole attack was that it actually ripped the head off of Cat’s Lair, and then managed to freeze all the Thundercats inside. Its a really great dramatic moment as it feels like The Mutants actually have them this time, but like in “The Astral Prison”, Lion-O makes a dramatic comeback to free his teammates and then use the power of the Sword of Omens to take down The Warbot. This portion of the story provides alot of action with all kinds of weapons being utilized by Cat’s Lair & The Warbot and it makes for one of the most exciting sequences in the series.
One more tiny thing I have to talk about is Mumm-Ra’s role in this episode. Normally he would probably be the one that would have sent Lion-O into the past, but here he shows up at Castle Plun-Darr as Slithe invited him to witness the destruction at Cat’s Lair by The Warbot. He doesn’t really do anything but observe The Mutants’ plan, but his presence there was interesting. In the earlier episodes, it seemed like Mumm-Ra & The Mutants were more on equal grounds. Sure Mumm-Ra was far more powerful, but he seemed to treat their relationship more as a mutal partnership. Later on, their relationship became much more controlling as Mumm-Ra clearly saw The Mutants as his servents. In this episode, I’m not quite sure how to take Slithe’s willingness to invite Mumm-Ra to enjoy the show. Was he just excited to show Mumm-Ra his brand new toy? Did he want to brag that he would destroy the Thundercats, something Mumm-Ra himself couldn’t do? Was he trying to show Mumm-Ra that he made the right decision in raising their spaceship? I guess we’ll never know for sure, but it is interesting to think about.
With a little bit of Lion-O’s history revealed & the near destruction of Cat’s Lair at The Mutants’ hands, this easily makes for one of the most memorable episodes in the series. It was a great combination of action/adventure & the episode had a great heart it through interactions of Lion-O & Claudis. This is one of those shows that is required viewing for all Thundercats fans.
Next up, The Top 10!!! Based on what I haven’t done yet, you can probably figure out what they are, but it’ll be fun to write them up all the same.
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6-10) Lion-O’s Anointment Trials
I’ve said it before, but Season 1 of Thundercats was basically all about the trials of Lion-O & his maturation into the true Lord of the Thundercats. We see him make mistakes, learn from them, and ultimately become a better leader with each passing lesson that he learns. We also saw examples of Lion-O’s character traits, both good and bad. He was kind, brave, & good at heart, but he was also arrogant, prone to anger, & impetuous. But there comes a time where all of his skills & knowledge have to be truly tested and it was in this mini series that Lion-O was put through the Anointment Trials to test whether or not he was worthy of the title “Lord of the Thundercats”
Lion-O has come of age, and on his birthday (the exact age is never really specified), he is informed by Snarf that he will have to undergo the anointment trials. He is told that he will have to face each Thundercat one by one in specific challenges they have lined up for him and he must do it all without help & completely unarmed meaning he can not use The Sword of Omens. This presents a very unique challenger for Lion-O as not only will he have to face his friends, something that he is greatly opposed to doing at the start of the trials, but without the sword, accomplishing those tasks seem hopeless anyway. The Sword of Omens had bailed Lion-O out of a lot of tight situations before & after the trials, so that right there presents a great dramatic element to the entire miniseries while also showing off Lion-O’s own individual skills & ideas to complete the trials. The Trials themselves are also a great look into the Thundarian Culture & Tradition, something we wouldn’t get to see too much of outside of magical artifacts and a few history lessons. Along the way, Lion-O has to traverse many regions of Third Earth, giving us a nice look at the places the Thundercats have already been to and revealing some locations that are completely new to us as well.
On Day One, Lion-O has to face Panthro in a Trial of Strength. Whoa, way to start things off tough right? What I really liked about Part 1 was that we see some of the childish aspects of Lion-O’s character come out very early on. He’s still very excited for his birthday, completely unaware of what’s going on, and when he finally faces Panthro, he almost refuses to do it, displaying a complete lack of understanding of what the point of the Trials are & what the other Thundercats are really trying to do for him. Also, putting him up against Panthro is a tough challenge in of itself because up to this point we had been led to believe that Panthro was unquestionably the strongest Thundercat. Lion-O wins of course, but as Snarf says at the end, “One down, only four more to go” Overall, Part 1 was a great set up for an entertaining series of episodes to follow.
Day Two, Lion-O faces what I felt was by far the most impossible of the Thundercat Trials. He would have to defeat Cheetara in a Trial of Speed. How in the World could Lion-O possibly win that trial? Cheetara coud beat him going half speed! At least that’s what I thought. But here, Lion-O’s bravery makes the Trial passable, but not necessarily easier as he takes a far more dangerous short cut to give himself a chance against Cheetara. The short cut is filled with various monsters & unfriend Third Earth natives. But the quicker path combined with the fact that Cheetara is unable to maintain her full speed for too long gives Lion-O a fighting chance as he beats her by a hair. I knew that this was going to be an extremely tough challenge for Lion-O and they did a very good job making it seem doable for him without really diminishing Cheetara. But even Lion-O was stunned that he won as he accuses Cheetara of throwing him the race, bringing out an unusual burst of anger from Cheetara. I thought that exchange was great, as it displayed a natural disagreement between the Thundercats, something that was rare in the series. Day Two was also the point where The Mutants decided to get involved, and their presence would prove to be a disruption of the Trials for the remainder of the miniseries.
Day Three, Lion-O must face the Thunderkittens in a Trial of Cunning. After having to face both Panthro & Cheetara, facing the Kittens must have felt like a day off. Its true that the Kittens do feel like a step down from Panthro & Cheetara, but they did some great things to make the challenge seem more imposing as the Trial would take place in the Maze of Infinity where Kit & Kat laid several tricks and traps out for Lion-O. In addition to that, The Mutants followed them all into the maze, once again interferring. We also get introduced to a strange race of Third Earthers that live underground. We never get a name, but I’ve called them The Underdwellers (seems to fit right?) Lion-O earns their trust as they help both him & the Thunderkittens out of the Maze, and Lion-O plays one last trick on the Kittens to win the Trial. This is a fun episode overall, but clearly the easiest of Lion-O’s trials, making it the least remarkable.
Day Four, Lion-O faces Tygra in a Trial of Mind Powers. In Day Two, we were introduced to a limitation in Cheetara’s own unique abilities, but here we are actually informed that Tygra is more powerful than he lets on. He is able to use his mind to create illusions and images to trick Lion-O, making his trek through Hook Mountain even more unbearable. All that combined with the constant presence of The Mutants makes this Trial tough for Lion-O to endure. As a final test that borders on cruelty on Tygra’s part, he forces Lion-O to witness “his greatest fear” which was the Destruction of Thundera (which if you count “Return to Thundera”, this would be the 3rd Time that Lion-O has had to watch his home planet be destroyed) but Lion-O wills his way past Tygra’s illusion and overpowers him to win the Trial. Up to this point, all of Lion-O’s trials have been mostly physical tests, but here he gets tested mentally & emotionally which makes for an even more unique challenge for Lion-O than any of his previous trials.
Day Five, The Trial of Evil: Lion-O must confront & defeat his most dangerous enemy, Mumm-Ra The Everliving. WHAT!!! Now I thought him beating Cheetara in a race is impossible, but to face Mumm-Ra without help AND without The Sword of Omens is just foolish. He doesn’t have a chance. Even the Thundercats themselves seem to recognize this as the start of the episode, even though none of them really want to say it. Mumm-Ra’s presence throughout the 5 parter had been noticeably small, but it was clear that they were building up to something by keeping him in the background. Even though it was never made clear, I think we can assume that Mumm-Ra was the “source” that was giving The Mutants their information to interfere with the Trials. The episode just feels hopeless for Lion-O all the way through, and it doesn’t help that Lion-O does not even accept Jaga’s help. Lion-O truly went in there with nothing. He goes through a gauntlet of demons under Mumm-Ra’s control (including The Inflamer…not sure when he ended up in Mumm-Ra’s employ, but whatever) And even watching it as a kid, I felt like it was all building up to Lion-O’s doom because he just can’t beat Mumm-Ra without the sword. We get the final confrontation between Mumm-Ra & Lion-O, and as expected, Lion-O is almost completely overpowered until Mumm-Ra accidentally damages his Sarcophagus, giving us a great moment where Lion-O realizes Mumm-Ra’s source of power is his casket. In a powerful visual, he hoists up the sarcophagus with Mumm-Ra begging him not to do harm it as Lion-O tosses it into a Cauldron, seemingly destroying Mumm-Ra in the process. Of course as we see at the tail end of the episode, as always “Mumm-Ra Lives!” but it was shocking that Lion-O seemed to actually kill Mumm-Ra to survive the Trial. We also get a touching moment between Jaga & Lion-O as the mentor is the first to congratulate Lion-O for successfully passing all the Anointment Trials. The confrontation between Mumm-Ra & Lion-O makes the entire miniseries worth it as it truly does feel like Lion-O’s toughest challenge and his victory feels like one that is truly earned as he did it without the Sword and without the cheap method of showing Mumm-Ra his reflection.
Covering some of the negatives, I have to wonder why this miniseries was aired out of sequence. Its really a pain on the DVDs to have to go from disc to disc if I want to watch the full five parter. Also, I find it kind of strange that this wasn’t the Season Finale. With Lion-O’s challenges against the Thundercats and a big showdown with Mumm-Ra as the climax, its amazing that this wasn’t saved until the end of the season. It actually works much better as a Season finale than the episode “Fond Memories” does.
Its all capped off with a grand celebration and coronation for Lion-O who truly earns his title of “Lord of the Thundercats” All of his hard work, bravery, & personal growth has paid off. By this point, it truly feels like Lion-O is not a kid anymore, as this miniseries pretty much captures his final steps from childhood to adulthood. Overall, its an exciting miniseries that was unique, well conceived, and an all around exciting miniseries.
