Animation Domination: Thundarr the Barbarian

In 1994, a runaway planet hurdled between the Earth and the Moon which caused mass destruction and nearly wiped out all life on the planet.  Two-thousand years later, the Earth is now a wasteland full of mutated creatures, powerful wizards and sorceresses and last vestiges of humans trying to survive.  The world is split into kingdoms and territories mainly ruled over by evil wizards who use their powers, combined with the relics from the “Old Earth” to control and oppress the survivors.  Thundarr (voiced by Robert Ridgely) along with his companions Ookla the Mok (Henry Corden) and Princess Ariel (Nellie Bellflower) fight these tyrants and do their best to make this brave new world a safer place to live.  Thundarr and Ookla were once captives of the wizard Sabian, Ariel’s stepfather.  Ariel freed the pair and gave Thundarr his “sun sword”, a powerful weapon which is magically bound to Thundarr, so only he can use it.  Princess Ariel learned of “Old Earth” from her stepfathers’ library, becoming the guide of the team, teaching them about the ruined cities and relics they come across on their journeys.

The series premiered on October 4^, 1980, and ran for two seasons as part of ABCs Saturday morning cartoon lineup and then was re-run in 1983 on NBC. The show was created by comic book writer Steve Gerber and animators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.  Gerber is known for creating Marvel’s Howard and his work on books like Man-Thing and Omega the Unknown as well as several other Marvel titles.  Joe Ruby and Ken Spears also created the Scooby-Doo franchise.  The show intentionally used elements of Star Wars, like the Sun Sword, which is very much a “lightsaber” and Ookla the Mok which is an equivalent to Chewbacca.  The studios required there to be a “Wookie like” character which Steve Gerber did not want to include but did so at their behest.  He was having a hard time finding the right name for the character.  Then, one night, while Gerber was walking past UCLA with his friend Martin Pasko, Pasko suggested the name Oo-Clah, the phonetic pronunciation of UCLA. Even though the series got high ratings, the studio decided to cancel it to free-up the time slot for a different cartoon.

I was almost eleven when the Thundarr the Barbarian started and instantly fell in love with the show.  The sword and sorcery essence of the production mixed with the post-apocalyptic setting really appealed to me. Even now, having rewatched the first episode, I very much enjoyed it.  Its dialogue is juvenile and the stories simple and formulaic. There are some adult themes that are touched on, like many cartoons of their time, almost as a primer for children, preparing them for things later in life.  But the themes aren’t really explored deeply, just barely touching the surface. There was just something fun and exciting in the characters and the way they were portrayed and even now, I really wish I had a sun sword!