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Leonard Starr Reviewed by Prokopis Email: propanag@hotmail.com  Ding, dong, the wiz is dead. Time to kick back, relax and maybe take up a hobby. Celebrating recent events with old and new 'Cats together, Lion-O is the first to propose a toast to peace and the coming of better days on Thundera. Peace. Now there's a thought most find hard to grasp including Panthro, who's reluctant to believe just yet it's all gonna be roses from here. Still, between Snarf's missing his daily share of warrior action (yeah, I know, I know...), Lynx-O's fortune cookie talkins about the perils of keeping the peace and Cheetara and Tygra counting interesting activities and foes left to deal with daily, or the Kittens' unimaginative rainbow-huggin' visions of prosperity, there's little to bate the levity prevailing in the Lair. Snarf proposes they throw a big feast for all their friends to meet the newbs. The motion approved, the furball rushes off to plan the menu and visit the Berbils' village for provisions. But when Bengali mentions Mumm-Ra, Cheetara's gets a strange feeling she interprets as disbelief of the arch-villain's demise. And that's all it takes to get the Lord all moody once more. Deep in doubt, he retires to his quarters, where a visit from Jaga is anything but comforting to that end. Lion-O wants to believe, but he's reminded that with evil like Mumm-Ra's, no one can be sure. Old coot's got a point and he leaves it at that. Could Mumm-Ra still be alive? A trip to the site of recent destruction removes all doubt. Mumm-Ra has pulled through, but can barely get himself out of the debris - let alone back home - without the aid of his faithful pooch. Beat and in desperate need of rest, it's up to Ma-Mutt to fill in his master's place and literally become him for the immediate future. Convinced, after a quick inspection, that Ma-Mutt should be able to fool the Mutants even as an imperfect Mumm-Ra replica, the withering mummy instructs his hound to what needs to be done for his new plan to get in motion. Meanwhile, back at the Berbil village, Snarf's busy gathering provisions and making an ass of himself at the same time by gulping down a spicy pepper of some kind. But just as his face starts to turn back to its normal tint, Ma-Mutt is spotted flying above them in a hurry to Castle Plun-Darr. Somehow, Snarf decides this is more important than food and takes off to investigate. Arriving unseen to his destination, Ma-Mutt transforms into 'Mumm-Ra' and confronts the Mutants. The sight of the presumed dead mummy is more than enough to ruffle their quiet game of cards and send them crawling and twitching to a corner. 'Mumm-Ra'"s point that he's ever-living is pretty solid though. Outside, Snarf uses a plant's stem to Catapult himself over the castle's moat and manages to get close enough to spy on the happenings inside. What 'Mumm-Ra' wants of the Mutants is for them to find and release the Lunatacs, since they are probably the only ones that can defeat the ThunderCats now. Seems like the Lunatacs of Plun-Darr came to Third Earth long before the Mutants and wreaked considerable havoc on the place, but soon became too cocky and tried to overthrow mummsie as the dominant force of evil. For such insolence Mumm-Ra encased them in molten lava as a more cruel punishment than death, but now he wishes they be released from their fiery prison. The Mutants would rather let them rot, but to 'Mumm-Ra', setting them loose at the 'Cats is worth the risk of releasing them. Besides, he seems pretty confident he can control the Lunatacs and re-entomb them when they've served their purpose, so now trekking to the forbidden territories of Third Earth's Dark Side to find and release them is the Mutants' problem. Having given them something to think about, 'Mumm-Ra' retreats out of sight, changes back to the dog beneath the corpse and takes off. Snarf's puzzled to see him fly off as he heard Mumm-Ra speaking inside, but has soon other problems to worry about first; his clumsy spying just gave away his presence. Before the Mutants can seize him, he jumps into the moat and runs off to inform the others, leaving them no choice but to go after him, lest the 'Cats hear of all this and get in their way again. Lion-O, who at the time is at the Berbil village worried about Snarf, is warned by the sword of his nursemaid's predicament and wisely calls for the cavalry before setting out to help. He soon finds the lil' wretch running for its life from Mutant aircraft fire in the forest and with the whole TCat fleet approaching as well, it is there that the two groups duke it out. With the exception of yet another WilyKat moment of humiliation (being saved by his sister from a freefall plunge), it's mostly smooth sailing for our heroes (aided by the ThunderNewbs as well) and the Mutants are quickly forced to retreat. Back at the Lair, Snarf spills the beans about everything; Mumm-Ra, his new plan, Dark Side and the Lunatacs. Lynx-O remembers having heard of the fearsome raiders from the moons of Plun-Darr who lived before his time, but that's all the insight he can offer on the unknown group. To find out more, he'd have to go to places they've been, touch around and "interpret the information thus gained" with some funky gizmo even Panthro hasn't heard about, called a Braille Board (guess the writing is on the wall after all...). So while Panthro and Tygra will be stuck with the odd geezer trying to whip up advanced hardware from scratch, the rest will be out trying to learn things the detective's way. And if that doesn't work either, they can always give the magic 8-ball at the basement a shot, right? Pumyra and Bengali soon spot the Mutants trying to decide where to enter the Dark Side according to a map 'Mumm-Ra' gave them, but since the felines cannot pass through Firerock Mountain, they return to the Lair to report their findings. There, Lion-O tells the two what little is known to the group about the Dark Side, namely that it's a place no Cat has gone before, since the way to it passes through the Thundranium Pits and Firerock Mountain - both extremely hazardous locations due to natural Thundranium gas emissions. Snarf fears the time to break that rule may be nigh. Having no such concerns, the Mutants press on towards darker grounds, hopefully still going the right way. Surely enough, they spot the amalgamation that is the Lunatacs encased in lava soon after. In the mean time, Cheetara, Snarf and Lion-O take the ThunderTank as close to the Dark Side as they can, hoping to ambush the Mutants on their way out (much good that'll do after the Loonies are set free...). Cheetara believes there's gotta be some other way into that place, but with Lion-O behind the wheel, asking around for directions is clearly not an option. A simple task executed clumsily almost costs the Mutants' collective hides getting torched to a crisp, but with a little luck, Vultureman's "pure genius" plan to channel molten lava towards the islet the Lunatacs are on and melt them free worked in the end. And just so that the ThunderCats can have something to think about, the SoO is kind enough to show Lion-O what the fireworks they see in the distance are really about. The Lunatacs are free! Quick preview of Part 2 concludes the episode.
Oddities: The Fist Pounder was destroyed in the end of the previous adventure when it went off a cliff and into the drink (well, actually it first landed on Hammerhand's ship and then sunk, but anyway). But in this ep, it looks in pristine order with Vultureman riding it on the Mutants' first expedition to the Dark Side while looking for the Lunatacs. Is this a Mk. 2 or what? "Peace, huh? That's gonna take some getting used to." (Panthro) "I don't know how I'm gonna handle being an unemployed warrior." (Snarf) "And turn this whole planet into a marvel of peace and prosperity!" (WilyKat, the neutered) "It's just not possible. Mumm-Ra could NOT have survived." (Lion-O's ponderings, filed in "Long before you Mutants arrived here, the Lunatacs tried to overthrow me. A fatal error of judgement!" (Mumm-Ra) "Make mine, Monkian." (Cheetara, goin' for first pickin's) "This better work Vultureman, or Mumm-Ra will have your beak!" (Slithe) "If you foul up Jackalman, you'll end up as a bath mat in Mumm-Ra's pyramid!" (Slithe) Haha, the Mutants go to the trouble to build themselves a moat but forgot to machete all the darn plants that could be used as snarvenly catapults. I love plot contrivances! comment system disabled temporarily thanks to spam happy assholes!
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