Animation Domination: ThunderCats

The planet of Thundera is dying and the inhabitants (cat-like humanoids) are escaping their dying world in a fleet of spaceships.  Unfortunately, the enemy of the Thunderians, the Mutants of Plun-Darr, attack and destroy most of the fleet fleeing the planet, leaving the flagship in hopes of acquiring the Sword of Omens, a mystical artifact that holds great power.  Aboard the vessel are, Jaga (Earl Hammond), based on a jaguarundi; Panthro (Earle Hyman) based on a panther, Tygra (Peter Newman), based on a tiger; Cheetara (Lynne Lipton), based on a cheetah; WilyKit (Lynne Lipton) and WilyKat (Peter Newman), young siblings based on wildcats; Snarf (Bob McFadden), not really based on any known cat; and finally, the young lord of the Thundercats, Lion-O (Larry Kenney), based on the lion.  The ship carrying them is damaged and can not make the voyage to their new destination, instead they travel to Third Earth, which will take much longer to reach so the crew go into suspended animation while their current leader, greatest warrior and wisest of all the Thunderians, Jaga, remains to pilot the ship to their new home, but he does not survive the journey and dies of old age.  When they land and the other ThunderCats emerge from hibernation, Lion-O’s capsule malfunctioned and only slowed down his aging instead of stopping it, making him a child in an adult’s body.  The survivors build a new home on Third Earth, but soon the Mutants find them, and their arrival awakens Mumm-Ra an ancient Egyptian like villain also after the Sword of Omens and the Eye of Thundera, which is its source of power. Mumm-Ra uses his magic and the Mutants in a continuous effort to get the power and remain the ultimate ruler of Third Earth. And so begins the epic tales of adventure along with some words of wisdom and moral lessons, as Lion-O learns to take his place as a leader.

ThunderCats ran for four seasons Starting in January of 1985 and was produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment. Created by Ted “Tobin” Wolf, with the animation provided by Japanese company Pacific Animation Corporation. The series included a large cast of characters, but oddly enough a very small cast, with six primary actors doing all the voices on the first season and two additional actors being brought in for the remaining three seasons. The show primarily was episodic, but the series did keep a certain continuity and there were several mini-story arcs that lasted several episodes. Over the four-season run and a total of 130 episodes, the team grows, moves and evolves and becomes much more than what they started as.

This is one of those iconic television cartoons that has embedded itself into pop culture.  I was getting to the age where most guys grew out of cartoons, and while this is true, to a point for me, I still very much enjoyed ThunderCats. The stories were simple and usually could boil down to good vs. evil, but there were some wonderful moral lessons that were taught each week and some good themes that were addressed in such a way that kids weren’t necessarily aware that they were being taught a lesson. The animation was excellent with well-drawn action and fight sequences and the small vocal cast was well chosen.  The show has been rebooted twice, with a 2011 series and a less serious show called ThunderCats Roar in 2020, both were produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on the Cartoon Network. A movie was also planned in 2004, but never got greenlit. The 1980s series in my opinion remains the quintessential version and will forever be one of my favorite cartoons of all time.