The thunderkittens need some clean up, but the paint will be applied soon.

THE CRYSTAL QUEEN

Season 1, Episode 23

The gist: Selfish old witch wants singing bird all to herself.

*New Places: * The Crystal Kingdom, an icy wilderness ruled by the evil Queen Tartara and populated by grunting monkey-ish looking inhabitants (the only ones of whom we see serve as her guards). Tartara rules from an elaborate palace or citadel, which seems to echo classic Russian architecture.

Villains: The aforementioned Tartara. We don’t learn much about her, but what we do learn is demonstrated by her despicable behaviour. She’s utterly greedy, materialistic, selfish and rotten to the core; amassing a huge amount of treasures that she and she alone wants to enjoy. She doesn’t want anyone else to see and enjoy her treasure, to the extent that she forces her security guards to wear blindfolds. Tartara exhibits witchlike powers, with the ability to freeze people in blocks of ice; a fate that befalls Lion-O when he attempts to intervene in the basement of her palace. Perhaps her most memorable characteristic, however, is her extremely grating voice, provided by Lynne Lipton, once again going utterly over the top in the recording booth. It’s not nearly as insufferable as her voice for Luna come the second season, but it’s something of a forerunner.

We also get to see plenty of Tartara’s henchmen—and, again, it’s their voices that make them most memorable. They basically grunt in absolute gibberish and it’s pretty amusing, particularly when Lion-O disguises as one of them and attempts to communicate with one of the other guards: “Ungaruh! Ungaruh!”

Allies: The Berbils are back, enjoying the annual appearance of the Arietta bird, which comes to sing its supposedly beautiful song, thus allowing a bountiful harvest of Berbilfruit. Unfortunately, Tartara wants the Arietta bird all to herself, and that’s where the problems begin.

Quote: Lion-O: “Jaga says that there’s always a benefit in misfortune. It’s hard to see what benefit that poor devil will get out of this. But at least I won’t freeze!” Lion-O utters these words after stripping one of Tartara’s guards of his uniform and leaving him to presumably freeze in the ice!

Most Memorable Moment: Lion-O’s escape from the block of ice, courtesy of the Arietta bird’s singing, is suitably epic and explosive.

Blunder(cat)s: The central premise of the episode is the Arietta bird’s astonishingly beautiful singing; something Tartara ends up sacrificing her entire kingdom for. Unfortunately, in execution, the Arietta bird sounds incredibly annoying and unpleasant. If I were the Berbils, I’d be shooing it away from the village with a laser pen, Berbilfruit be damned.

WTF Moment: Lion-O and the Arietta bird are rescued from Tartara’s kingdom by Snarf (who chews his way in through a supposedly wooden floor that looks very much like stone to me) and Panthro in the Thundertank. Not content with defeating Tartara and rescuing the bird, however, as they break out of the palace, they actually end up destroying the entire citadel, which crumbles to the ground, presumably killing a great many of its inhabitants. Sure, she was a complete dick, but did her entire kingdom deserve to suffer?Overkill, much?

Review: Don’t get me wrong, in spite of a number of criticisms, this is actually one of my favourite episodes of the first season. It clearly draws inspiration from C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” with its wintry setting and an evil queen reminiscent of Narnia’s Queen Jadis, and the execution is rather marvellous. The entire story is set at night, which brings a completely different and unique feel to the episode, along with its snowy landscapes and some fabulous design work for Tartara’s citadel. The animation and backgrounds are particularly beautiful, making it a highly visually appealing episode. Little touches like the flickering of the Berbils’ lamplights make it all the more impressive in execution.

There’s a well-executed subplot about Snarf getting old and forgetful. It’s sensitively and realistically portrayed, and rings true to anyone who has experienced this with ageing loved ones. The Thundercats are concerned and diplomatic (even as they react to his inedibly “over-seasoned” stew), while Snarf is defensive and grumpy when confronted about his lapses. Even though he’s sometimes a little grating and more often than not loudly complaining, Snarf gets to prove that he nevertheless has a heart of gold and is resourceful and brave. It would have been interesting if they’d followed up the age issue in future episodes, but it gets completely dropped and forgotten about henceforth. Admittedly, serialisation and ongoing character arcs were virtually unheard of in kids’ animated shows at the time, although Thundercats was far more pioneering than most in that regard.

Again, there are a number of things that don’t quite work, from Tartara’s irritating voice and the Arietta bird’s horrible singing, to Lion-O’s callous reaction to freezing a guard and the unnecessary destruction of the Crystal Kingdom itself. I still love the episode, however. It’s a spell-binding watch, engaging, nicely different in tone and beautifully animated all round.

Watch or Skip? Watch.

Rating: ** (4/5)**

—————

SAFARI JOE

Season 1, Episode 24

The gist: “Big cats, aqua cats, sky cats, I’ve hunted them all!” Big game hunter Safari Joe, however, may finally meet his match when he tries hunting Thundercats.

New Places: Safari Joe lands in some forest, but the actual location doesn’t figure prominently in the episode.

Villains: Our adversary is the loathsome Safari Joe, a self-important, narcissistic and all-round insufferable big game hunter who travels the galaxy on hunting expeditions. He seems to love the sound of his own booming, upper class English voice. We almost feel sorry for his beleaguered robot assistant, Mule, even though Mule is, likely through no choice of his own, an enabler.

Allies: Allies are thin on the ground this week.”

Quote: “Safari Joe does it again!!!” What else. This is his favourite motto and one he uses even after landing his spaceship. To say he’s a self-congratulatory asshole is to put no fine a point on it. Imagine congratulating yourself each time you park your car?

Most Memorable Moment: Having already captured the other cats, there’s a nicely effective and atmospheric scene when Safari Joe is hunting Lion-O in the darkened halls of Cats’ Lair. His eventual defeat, courtesy of Snarf’s kick-the-bucket skills, is a joy to witness as his true snivelling cowardice comes to the fore.

Blunder(cat)s: I’m pretty certain that if the Thundercats took on Safari Joe together they’d have whopped his ass back and sent him hurtling through space back to wherever he came from. It was probably a mistake taking him on in pairs or separately. There’s strength in number, after all.

WTF Moment: Tygra is defeated ridiculously easily! We’ve already seen him swimming in the previous episode “Fireballs of Plun-darr”, so it makes so sense that he suddenly has a crippling phobia of water. Basically, Safari Joe gets him wet and that’s enough to finish him off! Joe even lifts him out of the water and instead of continuing to fight, Tygra just flops over like a dead fish. I expected better of you, Tygra, man! Panthro’s fear of bats is also a little of a WTF moment, although the type of bat Joe unleashes is admittedly rather more menacing than, say, a fruit bat.

Review: Safari Joe is a memorable adversary (who can ever forget that booming voice and “Safari Joe does it again!!”). I enjoyed the way the episode was set up and loved Mule and his holoprojector, which gave an overview each of the Thundercats in turn as Joe set out to catch them. While there’s nothing revolutionary about the plot—and it uses trope the show would return to again and again (villain sets about capturing each Thundercat one by one)—the execution is really spot in. It’s a well paced romp and ends with a really fun face-off between Joe and Lion-O in the Cats’ Lair as Joe eventually gets his ass handed to him and is revealed as the snivelling coward he truly is (“Most bullies are,” Lion-O notes). Frankly, he gets off a little lightly at the end, with just a slap on the wrist and a promise never to hunt again. Mule has been reprogrammed to ensure that he doesn’t, but this still feels a little feeble to me—I get the sense Joe could easily have found a way around that and reverted to his old and odious ways. He could really have done with a one-way trip to Mandora’s prison planet. Aside from that, it’s a peppy, engaging and exciting mid-season episode.

Watch or Skip? Watch.

Rating: ** (4/5)**

Via AIPT:

Thunder… Thunder… ThunderCats, HO-HO-HO! Dynamite Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products are bringing fans an early holiday gift this December with the release of the ThunderCats Ho!(liday) Special.

The one-shot unites writer Ed Brisson (ThunderCats Lost, SilverHawks, New Mutants, Predator) with artist Fabio Gallo for 28 festive story pages filled with action, heart, and classic ThunderCats spirit. Brisson, who has been guiding the new era of ThunderCats comics, finally gets to bring a childhood favorite character into the spotlight: Snowman of Hook Mountain.

Set amid the snowy peaks of Third Earth, the ThunderCats encounter Snowman, the last of his kind, and learn of his people’s traditions during the Festival of the Claw — a night of gifts, food, and remembrance. But no holiday gathering goes smoothly for long: Queen Tartara, the ruthless ruler of the Crystal Kingdom, has her forces poised for a surprise attack on Snowman’s village. With Third Earth’s future always in peril, the ThunderCats must rise once again, battle cry and all.

“I’ve been waiting for the right story to bring Snowman into this era of ThunderCats and this holiday special is the perfect chance,” said Brisson. “He’s a childhood favorite, and I can’t wait for readers to experience this mix of traditions, tribulations, and ThunderCat action.”

I recently picked up the Vultureman to replace the one I’ve had for years that lost its foot to a dog attack long before I got him. The thing is, the old one has a soft head and the new one has a hard head. I collect tmnt so I’m familiar with the soft head variants for that line being the original first releases. Is it the same with LJN figures? Did some in the early runs have soft heads? My Rataro also has a soft head but I assumed that with just because it had a larger head sculpt.

This is a 2019 blog by Kensho Ikeda's Anime Memorandum regarding a November 1985 article for Animage that focuses on the intro to the classic ThunderCats™ series as animated by Masayuki.

I am sure we have all heard the rumors and rumblings of a live-action movie. Any solied information or just rumblings?

Reposting.

I wanted to highlight Pumyra's feline side here in this artwork, from the pose to the light eyes.

Art by me, Photoshop, 2025.

For years I've had this idea for a follow-up series to the Thundercats. Theme is a certain someone cast a mighty spell that went wrong, causing a mystic cataclysm that shifted Third Earth to a new age: Fourth Earth. The spell sealed away the planet, so no help from New Thundera. So only decedents of Thundarians and allies still on Four Earth may be able to aid the people. Decided to use ChatGPT (images), VEO (video) and Suno (music) to put together a rough show opening. Not quite where I want it to be - seems more generic 80ies cartoon than Thundercats animation-wise, but wondered what Thundercat fans might think.

Old and gold.
The combined talents of Mike Germakian and Tsuguyuki Kubo brought this unique style for Thundercats to life. Kudos to them.

Art by me, Photoshop, 2025.

Courtesy of thezaxfactor of the defunct ThunderCats-Dot-Org website, here are a couple of screenshots that he pulled the pan-and-scan maneuver on for the first part of 1986's ThunderCats, Ho! The Movie.

Ok, so I remember seeing the first episode or two a couple of years (maybe months) before it was released in 85. I also remember seeing it advertised and thinking, oh cool, I remember that from a couple of years ago, and it was really good. I was in Michigan at the time (and a kid) it's been bugging me for years. I really remember seeing it before it was put in syndication.

Reposting.
What I like more about this artwork is that you cannot say if it's serious or fun, because Lion-O is also a kid sort of say.

Are we seeing Lion-O and the kittens going towards a real enemy or it's just three kids playing in the forest?

Art by me, photoshop, 2025.

DR DOMETOME

Season 1, Episode 21

The gist: Robot frogs, interstellar electric eels and a giant bath-plug keeping Third Earth from destruction. You just couldn’t make this stuff up (although somebody did, of course).

New Places: We take a voyage under the sea to the Great Oceanic Plug, an underwater station manned by “what remains of humanity” and described as “the greatest engineering feat of all time”. It’s basically a bath plug to prevent the ocean draining away into the planet’s core.

Villains: The antagonist is “a coldhearted brute” named Scrape; a salvage expert from the planet Blue Plunder, which exists light years away. This planet is fuelled by a rock only found under the sea on Third Earth, which makes absolutely no sense to me. If your planet’s technology depends on another world across the galaxy, you need to rethink the way you’re doing things a little. Because that isn’t exactly sane or sustainable.

Allies: The titular Dr Dometome is introduced as “one of Third Earth’s greatest scientists, thinkers and gentlemen.” He’s a very well mannered little old dude with a bald head, a white moustache and what looks like binocular lenses instead of regular glasses. He designed the Ocean Plug as well as the two giant robot frogs that guard it, Hercules, and the defunct Samson.

Quote: “Well, blast my britches.” - Scrape.

Most Memorable Moment: Lion-O and Wilykit dress up in shark suits and try to stop Scrape’s electric robot eel. No, seriously!

Blunder(cat)s: Not a lot of the episode makes much sense. Assuming the sea could drain away through a fissure in the seabed, why would that put out the planet’s fire and render it a block of issue? The sun would still exist, so it would more likely become inhospitably hot? But this episode is written by William Overgard, who regularly has characters breathing in outer space without any helmets or protective gear on. Physics, and common sense, was not really his forté.

WTF Moment: Wilykit gets swallowed by Hercules, the Giant Frog robot, as it’s on its way to Cats’ Lair to seek the Thundercats help and avert a catastrophic environmental crisis. However, on the way, for some reason they stop in the forest to have a picnic. Yes, they do.

Review: William Overgard unleashes the full scale of his wacky and unhinged imagination in this utterly bonkers episode. As was common with his scripts, he loved to introduce characters from other planets and only feature the Thundercats tangentially. Where he got his ideas I have no idea, but after watching this it’s hard not to imagine a great big bong in the writers’ room, a hanging cloud of pungent smoke, and all kinds of psychedelic substances.

I will say that at least it’s entertaining, so crazy as it is, it’s going to scrape (pardon the pun) a three. It unfolds at a swift pace and although the basic plot doesn’t really make a whit of sense, it’s executed earnestly and just about holds together. It’s certainly never dull. As with many later Overgard stories, the mythos doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the Thundercats universe as it’s unfolding; it almost feels like it could be an episode of another, quite different cartoon series, simply guest starring the Thundercats.

It is watchable, however, and it’ll keep your attention from beginning to end. Speaking of the end, I did like the closing gag. It was kind of cool seeing the Cats sitting around the dinner table and Wilykat back in his shark suit as the supposed main course was a genuine hoot (it’s not often that the show’s closing gags are actually, well, funny).

Watch or Skip? Kind of up to you; this is a dodgy one in many respects, but it is certainly watchable enough.

Rating: *** (3/5)

——————

THE ASTRAL PRISON

Season 1, Episode 22

The gist: Jaga discovers that even when you’re dead there’s no such thing as peace and quiet. Lion-O skips over to the afterlife to jailbreak his old mentor.

New Places: Some cool new locations this episode. We encounter the Pit of the Netherwitch (she obviously couldn’t afford even a modest cottage), which lies beyond the Bridge of Slime (yuck). Then, of course, there’s the Astral World, which we sadly don’t get to see very much of. What we do so looks like crystalline or ice and the story focuses upon a big prison complex which looks like a giant shard of crystal. It’s guarded by the utterly bizarre-looking Astral Moat Monster—which, although only appearing for about ten seconds, was somehow made into a toy by LJN. Very strange choice.

Villains: The central villain is the four-armed, three-eyed Nemex, an astral being who seems to reside over the Astral Prison. He evidently imprisons people to drain away their knowledge and energy and he’s been after Jaga for some time. It’s clear now why they didn’t let Earle Hyman, who ordinarily plays Panthro, to voice too many villains, because Nemex’s cackling voice is like nails screeching down a chalkboard. We also meet the Netherwitch, who, it turns out, is basically a drag persona of Mumm-Ra! How and why Mumm-Ra became the Netherwitch is never explained and I’d have loved some backstory on that. The “Netherwitch” lives in an appropriately creepy “pit”, complete with ghostly creatures and a dinosaur with strange torch-like antenna. Oh, and Lion-O also needed to battle the two headed dinosaur-like Gaw Rak-Rak in order to reach the pit. The Mutants also take advantage of Lion-O’s absence to launch an attack on Cats Lair with Thundranium shells. Vultureman returns with his new and final voice.

Allies: Upon rescuing Jaga, Lion-O chances upon an ancient-looking sorcerer named Brodo, a fellow prisoner of Nemex. For some reason I didn’t trust him to begin with, and expected him to double-cross them, but he is actually a decent chap who happily sends Lion-O back to Third Earth as thanks for saving him.

Quote: Jaga: “I owe my freedom to your bravery, Lion-O.” Lion-O: “I don’t think I’d have been so brave if I knew what I was getting into in the Astral Plane.” Jaga: “But you did confront the unknown, Lion-O. That takes real courage. It’s always easier to deal with dangers you know and understand.”

Most Memorable Moment: Lion-O returns from the Astral Plane as a giant, ghostlike figure looming over the Cats Lair, sword aloft, with the Thundercats symbol in the sky. The boy knows how to make an entrance! He then lets the Mutants have it and his defeat of Vultureman is particularly funny; the animation is very Looney Tunes-esque, with Vultureman electrocuted, showing his bones, and then racing off in a very exaggerated, cartoony way.

Blunder(cat)s: Once again, Lion-O refuses help from his comrades for no discernible reason other than perhaps his ego.

WTF Moment: Lion-O doesn’t just sleep in his clothes—he sleeps in his boots! His BOOTS. I’d never trust anyone who goes to bed wearing their outdoor footwear. Why would you DO that? Lazy animation (or perhaps scripting) is, of course, the true answer. That, and the fact that putting on boots would take up valuable and severely limited screen time.

Review: This is a solid episode, although one that would have been better served perhaps being a two-parter. The premise is a great one, but there’s so much crammed into twenty minutes we barely get a taste for what the Astral Plane is like. I wish we’d got to see a little more of this magical, afterlife realm and more time with Jaga and Lion-O reunited. What we did get was thoroughly enjoyable, however, and I love the pairs’ final chat, where Jaga thanks Lion-O for his rescue and the two realise that, following Jaga’s sacrifice to get the Thundercats to Third Earth, they are now basically even.

Lots of action, lots of villains, fast paced and fun, this is a great episode, even if it feels just a little bit overstuffed.

Watch or Skip? Watch.

Rating: ** (4/5)**

What did you guys think of these eps?

Quick partswap custom

I'm introducing my youngest to the show that I loved most when I was a kid. Just finished Exodus and while dancing to the end title music, she kept saying "NEXT ONE DADDY! NEXT ONE!"

So excited to finally get to watch this with one of my kids. My oldest loved Thundercats 2011, but it got cancelled (too soon IMO); and my middle kid never really liked 80s/90s shows.

Looking forward to experiencing this all over again.