"The year, 1994. From out of space, comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice. With his companions, Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sun Sword, against the forces of evil. He is Thundarr, the Barbarian!"
In my personal pantheon of Saturday Morning cartoons (subcategory: "adventure") few programs rate higher than 1980's sci-fi-fantasy,
Thundarr The Barbarian, which ran for two seasons on ABC.
As that awesome introduction quoted above says,
Thundarr chronicled the adventures of a brave barbarian warrior (actor
Bob Ridgely, who, around the same time, also gave voice to legendary adventure heroes Tarzan
and Flash Gordon on their respective Filmation animated series) with a lightsaber-like, flaming magic sword; a smart, sexy and sarcastic Asian princess-cum-sorceress (
Nellie Bellflower); and a large, hairy, Wookiee-like anthropoid warrior (
Henry Corden) as they roamed the transformed landscape of a post-Apocalyptic Earth, battling a seemingly-endless procession of power-mad, evil techno-wizards and vicious mutant creatures.
What more could anyone ask of a fantasy adventure cartoon?
Produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, and created by veteran comic book scribe
Steve Gerber (
Man-Thing, Howard the Duck), this action-packed animated fantasy epic featured imaginative (if somewhat formulaic) stories, appealing characters,
great voice acting, and character designs by two of the greatest comic book artists to ever wield a pencil. Thundarr and his friends were visualized by the animation veteran
Alex Toth (
Space Ghost, The Herculoids), while virtually every other character (and vehicle, setting and/or prop) were designed by the legendary
Jack Kirby (
Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur).
While the animation lacks the slick sheen of modern, computer-assisted shows, and is a bit "rough around the edges," it's actually among the best seen on Saturday morning TV at the time, and far more polished than most other Ruby-Spears shows of the same vintage. It's apparent that the studio recognized that they had something good in
Thundarr The Barbarian and put some extra care and attention into it.
The Warner Archives 4-disc, manufactured-on-demand DVD-R set includes all 21 episodes from the show's two seasons, presented in their original 1.33:1 "full-frame" aspect ratio, with Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio. The film elements have not been remastered in any way, and show considerable age-and-neglect-related wear. On some episodes the otherwise bright colors appear faded, and most installments are dusted with specks and other minor damage. Overall, the picture quality is fair-to-good, and, unlike some off-air recordings, the episodes are complete. There are no bonus features included.
For my money,
Thundarr The Barbarian is one of the all-time great fantasy adventure cartoons, with solid, smart scripting, fabulous visuals and a classic hero. Sure, I wish that the bean-counters at Warners had green-lit a fully-restored and remastered, mass-market DVD release, but I'm personally grateful to see it on DVD at all, in an authorized and complete form. If you're a fan, buying the set is a no-brainer; even with its faults, it's far superior to any of the old bootlegs floating around the convention circuit. If you're unfamiliar with
Thundarr, but love Old School adventure animation, you might want to take a chance and order it - I doubt you'll be disappointed.
BUY:
Thundarr The Barbarian (4 Disc)
Thundarr is made of pure awesome, with a side of awesome and a super-sized glass of liquid awesome to wash it down. It's been a major inspiration to me for Gamma World and other post-apocalyptic type RPGs, and I wish we'd see modern video games or MMOs that realized the apocalypse doesn't have to be a boring brown/grey/green mess, but can be bright, colorful, and full of pirates with giant lobster pets!
ReplyDeleteTHUNDARR was an instant favorite on Saturday mornings with me as a boy in 1980. It was better than CONAN THE BARBARIAN because THUNDARR was post-apocalyptic with science-fiction future technology.
ReplyDeleteSGB
Excellent retrospective! I used to love watching this show when I was a kid. To me, it seemed like a funky mashup of ESCAPE FROM NY and CONAN THE BARBARIAN.
ReplyDeleteA group of my buddies and I just watched the first two DVDs during a marathon on Wednesday night. We enjoyed every minute of it and had a lot of good laughs. We even caught a scene where Thundarr is riding a horse and has 3 arms! He had two arms on the reigns and one arm holding up his sunsword. LOL. We also loved watching the villains throw Thundarr into deathtraps, but always managed to throw in his sunsword too so he could escape. As a matter of fact, in one set of scenes he clearly has lost his sunsword, but the animators forgot to remove it from the animation cells. So he still has it showing up on his wrist bracer. But despite the quirkiness and mistakes, it's really a lot of fun to watch and is a must-buy for any fan. My favorite episode has to be Treasure of the Moks. And who can forget the recurring villain Gemini?
ReplyDeleteI always liked the one where the heroes travel back to 'our' time in the 1980's before the catastrophe, but liked even more the 'Frankenstein' episode (forgot the title, as I've not seen these in a few years since watching them on Boomerang), where the bad guys were trying to resurrect a creature from a suspended animation module in the basement of a ruined hospital.
ReplyDeleteOh, I also remember one shot (maybe it was in "Treasure of the Moks," as there were a lot of Moks in the scene), where some old cinema signs were being used for cover/as shields... one sign was for Jaws, the other for Revenge of the Jedi. (Yep, this episode pre-dated the 'Return' title change! Maybe, in keeping with the Star Wars revisionism, someone will go back to Thundarr & 'fix' the sign!)
CR
Did you take the screenshots yourself for this post, Christopher? If so, I commend you on your choice on the one with Thundarr and Princess Ariel. YOU know which one I'm talking about! Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite action adventure cartoon from the 80's. If I were still playing pen & paper RPGs my ideal setting would be based on a combination of Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future to create that mix of fantasy and sci-fi. Man, I loved that show so much as a kid. It still airs on Boomerang but late at night.
ReplyDeleteI've been re-watching my DVR collection (really have to burn them to DVD one of these days, but I'd kind of like to just buy the DVD set instead), and while this show is fun, I'm amazed at how many times Thundarr has to let the bad guys get away because it was against the TV code to show violence--even against enemies that deserved to get their come-uppance. On the other hand, I'm also amazed at what the show actually DID get away with back in the day.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I wonder if anyone ever made a drinking game out of this series. Take a drink every time Thundarr says "Lords of Light!", "Demon Dogs!", or the long shout "Yeaaaaaaaaaaah!" Also, one drink for "Ride!", but three for the more usual "Ariel, Ookla, ride!" Maybe half a drink for anytime that Ariel makes a sarcastic comment while casting a spell to capture bad guys. Trust me, all of these things happen in each episode, and in the case of 'Master of the Stolen Sunsword,' they all occur within the first five minutes or so of the ep, all in a row! (No, I don't recommend drinking if watching the show with your kids, of course! Maybe popping a piece of candy or something to keep it kid-friendly, but not right before bedtime! )
CR
Oh, one more thing I forgot to mention after all this time... Thundarr has to have one of the best theme songs for a Saturday morning cartoon from that era, if not THE best! (Heck, best from ANY decade? Certainly in the Top 5!) I still remember it after all these years--and not just because I'm re-watching the DVR eps. Just the right amount of drama and pacing, and it works both with and without the voice-over narration. Valley of the Dinosaurs & Land of the Lost also had unforgettable theme songs, but I'd have to say that Thundarr beats them both. As for most other Saturday morning cartoons, though I remember the 'toons, I've forgotten the tunes!
ReplyDeleteCR
Desenho clássico da década de 80. Mantida as demais proporções ainda é muito melhor que os desenhos de hoje em termos de personagens, a historia em si. Eu com meus 5 anos anos assistindo Tundarr, hoje um criança na mesma idade ve na TV Bob esponja! O mundo ta perdido.
ReplyDelete