589 replies to this topic

[Pooki]

Inspired by a post in the ‘Shows No One Remembers But Me’ thread, I came to look and see if there was a Thundercats thread, only to find there wasn't any sign of one, so I thought I'd start one up.

This was one of my favourite shows as a kid. It's weird but one of my favourite things about it was the music - not just the theme tune (which was brilliantly 80s and guitar solo-y), but the incidental music too. I remember Cheetara had her own theme that was very fanfare-y at the beginning announcing when she was running to the rescue. She was my favourite character.

I was always torn on Snarf though - could never quite decide whether he/she(?) was annoying or not.

Also, do any Queer Eye For The Straight Guy viewers wonder like me if the title sequence where the guys get the call and look up and freeze is a shout-out to Thundercats? The similarity struck me the moment I first saw it.

[Mysteris]

LOL!

I remember this show from Cartoon Network. I think my favorite characters were Panthro and Mumm-ra, mostly because Panthro could always come up with some solution to fix all the innumerable fuck-ups. I guess I liked Mumm-ra because he was evil, but he answered to higher powers, and I hadn't encountered that in shows before to that point. Plus his sword and his transformation sequence were all cool.

I think Snarf and the kids were the most annoying for me, though I could never make out what the hell the teddy bears were saying either.

[SuperMonkey26]

I didn't like Snarf too much either,but compared to his nephew, Snarfer, Snarf could have been my favorite... Snarfer was SO frickin annoying!

My favorite was Tygra and Mumm-ra (and his dog)... I just thought they were the coolest, of course if I think about it, all the grown up Thundercats were pretty cool. But was anyone else pissed when they changed Tygra and Cheetara for Lynx-O, Bengali and Pumayra?? I hated them!! AND the Lunatacs!! blegh...

[skyegazer]

Snarf was pretty annoying, but, so was Lion-o in those first eps. Remeber how in the early episodes Lion-o had the mind of a child? :lol that was hilarious. He was so stupid and naive. Snarf was actually his Babysitter.

My favorite was Panthro, Tygra...pretty much all the good guys I thought were cool. I remeber having a crush on Wilie Kit and for some reason, my brother and I decided Panthro was Black. Tygro was cool becuse he had magic (or mental powers, I don't remember?). Lynx-O, I thought was cool cuase he was blind and could do that Vulcan move were you pinch someone and put them to sleep...and wasn't there a guy with a wheel on his chest? and a sexy ice chick who had a thing for Lion-o?

I still love that theme song. The animation actually still holds up (I used to think it was anime). But, Silverhawks kinda paled in comparison, with it's Guitar guns and giant tuning forks.

My favorite was Tygra and Mumm-ra (and his dog)...

lol "Ma-Mutt."

Edited by skyegazer, May 21, 2004 @ 2:20 PM.

[ShadowDenizen]

I love this show! My favrote ep? "Safari Joe". My friends and I still] yell out "Safari Joe never misses!" at random.

Because we're 12. And geeks.

I still have all the eps on tape, and it still holds up surprisingly well. (Except for the Berbils. Stupid Ewok wannebe's.)

Edited by ShadowDenizen, May 21, 2004 @ 3:07 PM.

[NumberSix]

Yeah, I thought Panthro was definitely the 'black' Thundercat. He was also voiced by Earle Hyman, who played Bill Cosby's dad on The Cosby Show.

[The 2nd Evil]

I loved Mum-Ra (The ever living!)

I used to watch the show on Cartoon Network.

Such a good show.

[Readster]

I was a big Chetara fan. Guess she was my first cartoon crush as a kid. I was a big fan of Rataro and later the Lunatacs on the show. But you could never go wrong with Mum-ra and I was so happy when when the Ancient Spirits of Evil started becoming more involved in the end seasons. Though I wish their oppisites with Mum-rama would of been explained.

[Zerowing]

I sorta liked Thundercats. My beef was I thought Lion-O was a bit of a doofus, and I always found Mumm-Ra to be very annoying rather than villainous.

But I did like Panthro. (total baddass) and Cheetara (hot-hot!)

And didn't Mumm-Ra have a sister that showed up? She wasn't evil like her brother. She took more of a neutral stance on things. She was an interesting character too.

[Sea]

My best friend and I used to play Thundercats when we were kids and would fight over who got to be Cheetara.

[jolly_roger]

Though I wish their oppisites with Mum-rama would of been explained.

And didn't Mumm-Ra have a sister that showed up? She wasn't evil like her brother.

I seem to recall that Mum-rama (or Mumm-rana, maybe?) was a parallel universe version of Mumm-Ra. She lived in a white pyramid in a verdant field. And she had her own version of Mumm-Ra's transformation spell: "Ancient spirits of good, transform this gentle form into Mumm-Rana, the all-powerful!" Or sumpin' like that. Mind you, I haven't seen this cartoon for twenty years.

I recall being terribly impressed by the animation at the time. It was loads better than any other American TV cartoons. It may have been the start of American studios outsourcing to East Asian shops. (Assuming it was American -- the head writer was Leonard Starr, who was working on the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip at the time -- unless all of the scripts were just English-language adaptations. I dunno.) I can only think of two eps where the animation was noticably sub-par (and the scripts weren't good either) -- "Vultureman's Super-Power Potion" and one about a "fear monster." But mostly it was a high-quality show. I remember an alien in the ep "Good and Ugly" that had a mechanical, non-humanoid head, with different parts that would spin around, and looked like nothing I'd ever seen before, or since.

I didn't like Snarf too much either,but compared to his nephew, Snarfer, Snarf could have been my favorite... Snarfer was SO frickin annoying!

Man, I forgot all about Snarfer! What genius decided that Snarf was such a wonderful character that there needed to be a Scrappy-Doo version of him as well? A friend and I still joke about how Snarf, Aunt Bea, Mrs. Garrett, and Gabby Hayes all have pretty much the same voice. Almost as annoying as the Snarf family: the Ewoks rip-offs, the Robo-Bears.

[Readster]

Love that stuff, I've heard it before, showing that the actors themselves were human.

[Pooki]

Those bloopers are classic! I always wonder whether people making kids' shows are really that well-behaved behind the scenes.

My beef was I thought Lion-O was a bit of a doofus

I agree with this - he was very naïve at times, although I guess that was in character what with the premature aging thing. I always used to hate the times when he'd try and handle things himself without calling the others - the Thundercats call (was there a name for it?) was my favourite part of each show.

I must admit, I don't remember a lot of the newer characters other posters mentioned, like Snarfer and Lynx-O. Were they brought in to sell more toys? I can't believe Cheetara would be replaced!

[Kaboom]

Those bloopers are classic!

Hee! Thank you for posting the link. :-)

Following up on Pooki's post, I lost interest in the show when Cheetara and Tygra was replaced. I would occasionally watch the new eps but I wasn't that impressed with the new characters, especially Snarfer, who brought out actual rage in my with his mere presence. Just when you think Scrappy Doo was freaking annoying, along comes Snarfer...

[Zerowing]

I must admit, I don't remember a lot of the newer characters other posters mentioned, like Snarfer and Lynx-O. Were they brought in to sell more toys? I can't believe Cheetara would be replaced!

Yes they were brought in to sell more toys. But I haven't the foggiest idea why Cheetara or Tygra were cut. Perhaps only to give the new characters more screen time, and thus sell more action figures.

[Skyblade]

Ugh, Silverhawks, here's an idea, let's rip off Battle of the Planets but make it more boring.

At least the Thundercats had personalities I suppose. Very fucked up personalities, mind you. Really, Lion-O got in more trouble then a high schooler with a drug problem. You know, it's a lot like The Smurfs, where Handy was the real leader. Panthro go the most shit most done. And this is while he had no powers, when Cheetarah and Tygra got a boker's dozen between them. On some bizzarre prehistoric world, being able to build complex machinery like that without a trace of industry is impressive. But then again, maybe he simply annexed the Berbils. Think about it, the Thundercats offer their protection to those robot teddy bears, and in return they pay tribute with one of their own. Wow, the Thundercats are the real monsters. All Mumm-Ra did was just howl at solar eclipses.

[jennifuh]

I loved this show, and I love the thread title. My cousin and I used to sing the theme, but replace "Thundercats" with "Underpants." Ah, youth.

[Kris_AB]

Thundercats Season 1 Volume 1 came out on DVD this week. I bought it Tuesday, the day of release. I was at the mall anyway and was already getting the series Profit on DVD. So caught up in the hype, I couldn't resist. But as always, being one of the early buyers, you run the risk of discovering the defects first. I haven't watched any of the discs yet, there's always the chance that some of these errors won't be on my copies, but here's a report from another fan at TVshowsOnDVD.com's message board:

Paul Pro said:

EXODUS - NOT IN IT'S ORIGINAL PRESENTATION - edited for tv version.

Also doesn't appear to be fully restored. A frame appeared to jump during the first few minutes.

THE UNHOLY ALLIANCE- THE ENTIRE SOUNDTRACK IS MISSING! You hear it in French and Spanish but it's nowhere to be heard in the English track.

THE GHOST WARRIOR - Doesn't appear to be fully restored. Note the "Closed Captioning" logo appears in the opening theme suggesting an inferior TV print was used.

MANDORA, EVIL CHASER - Same problem as Ghost Warrior.

Can anyone confirm any of these abnormalities or did I just get a bad disc(s)?

I can live with EXODUS not being the original (it was somewhat to be expected) but what happened to "The Unholy Alliance?

Skyblade said:

Panthro go the most shit done. And this is while he had no powers, when Cheetarah and Tygra got a baker's dozen between them. On some bizarre prehistoric world, being able to build complex machinery like that without a trace of industry is impressive. But then again, maybe he simply annexed the Berbils. Think about it, the Thundercats offer their protection to those robot teddy bears, and in return they pay tribute with one of their own. Wow, the Thundercats are the real monsters. All Mumm-Ra did was just howl at solar eclipses.

LOL. If Thundercats is the next `80s series to see a revival, hopefully they aim it at an older audience and include that explanation. I'd laugh for days.

[Nflux Forever]

When I was younger, I vaguely remember seeing a robot that made the Thundercats flip upside down. Does anyone know what the deal with that was?

[suntzu]

I totally loved this show, especially when the Berserkers showed up. Listening to Snarf saying "Berserkers! Berserkers!" really cracked me up.

[nicepebbles]

I just saw an ad annoucing this is on DVD. I ran out to the living room to Mr. Nice and was like, "Oh Shit! Guess what is on DVD?" I remember from like K to 3rd grade going to a daycare center where we would watch Thunder Cats and Gem at like 3 everyday. Good times.

[skyegazer]

How far fetched was Liono out running Cheetarah in a race that time. If he could run that fast why didn't he ever do it again?

Speaking of Liono (Lion-O?). I had a friend named Lionel in the first grade and we'd tease him endlessly calling him Liono.

Wait...It's on DVD!!?? How many eps is it? Off to the mall I go.

[fatneck]

the Thundercats call (was there a name for it?) was my favourite part of each show.

Mines, too! I think the voice actor for Lion-O did those scenes with some emotion? I remember an episode where Lion-O was pissed off and it played into his "thundercat shout". I just remember going, "oh, oh, Lion-O is angry!

Anyways, ThunderCats was the bomb!

[Vermicious Knid]

Robot Chicken did a hysterical parody of Thundercats. Snarf got nabbed in the back alley of a Chinese restaurant, and Cheetara and Lion-O lived in a trailer park surrounded by cats.

See the thing that always bugged me was if the ship traveled long enough for Lion-O to grow up, why were Wilykit and Wilycat still the same age?

[Kris_AB]

If I'm remembering right, something went wrong with Lion-O's cryo-pod or whatever it was that he and the rest of the 'cats (minus Jaga) were suspended in. So during their long space trek, he aged while the others stayed the same (and I think that's why Jaga "died" too. He had to stay awake and in the pilot's seat to get their ship to somewhere habitable, and I think he aged to the point where he was finished). I'll have to start watching the DVDs soon to know for sure.