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William Overgard Reviewed by Purrsia  This episode is classic Overgard claptrap if I ever saw it X_x :: sigh :: Control Force's First Class, Force Five officer, Mandora, is "pulling over" a star cruiser in this episode's opening. It's CHiPs in Space, folks! Ol' Ponch would look right at home on her Electrocharger ;) The offense this star cruiser committed? Broken running lights [space underride accidents are up, donche know :: rolls eyes ::], unreadable galaxy tags, and visible radioactive exhaust. The invisible kind must be okay, haha. Anyhow, the ship's captain lets the officer board the ship and seems pretty non-chalant about getting a ticket. This captain, mind you, is a robot pirate complete with a mechanical version of "Polly". He claims to be alone on the ship and Mandora orders him to land on the Grey Prison Planet so the ship can be properly inspected. Meanwhile, Lion-O is sitting at the controls at Cat's Lair and intercepts Mandora's call for clearance to land on the Prison Planet. Doesn't he know eavesdropping on the police band is against the law? hehe. Anyhow, Snarf wanders in and recognizes the ship because of the shape of its galley mimics that of ancient sea-faring ships. He proceeds to explain to Lion-O that the ship is the infamous Jolly Rogers and that it's captain, Cracker, was fated to drift in space in a fixed orbit. An orbit that Officer Mandora was about to break him out of by landing the ship. [Have we noticed yet that in the earlier ep, "Mandora: Evil Chaser", Lion-O's ignorance causes her a headache and now it seems she's about to recipricate? Nevermind that as anal as Mandora is about criminals, why the hell doesn't *she* know about the Jolly Rogers, hmmmmm?]. Lion-O tries to warn her, but Cracker intercepts to gloat and rip the microphone of his ship's intercom out while he's at it. Robotic minions on the Rogers come out of the shadows, and force Mandora to stay on the ship's bridge. This is somewhat fortuitous, because she's able to access the ship's controls and send a signal to her Electrocharger to go pick up Lion-O. It's also nitpicky to note that somehow, the microphone to the intercom is fixed in this scene. Once the ship lands, Cracker proceeds to free the prisoners on the Grey Planet and take over the Prison -- among the prisoners is Kwik Pik, master of pick pockets even without opposable thumbs! Cracker, somehow knowing that Kwik Pik and Mandora are somewhat friends, uses the pick pocket to force Mandora to come out of the safety of the Jolly Rogers. Kwik Pik escapes the grip of the bad guys while Cracker is celebrating the idea of boiling Mandora in oil. Lion-O has arrived on the Planet by now [exposed to the vacuum of space and breathing just fine the whole trip...argh], and thinks he killed one of the prisoners when he struck it with Mandora's vehicle. When he stops to check on the creature, called a Rhinosaurus, he is attacked. Kwik Pik comes on the scene and in a bizarre bull-fight type confrontation, tricks the big oaf into going into a cell. Kwik Pik is more than willing to assume his part is done and get the heck outta there, but Lion-O won't leave without Mandora. It does nothing for the theif's confidence to realize the Sword of Omens won't work on the Prison Planet due to the magnetic field there. I'd be scared too if Lion-O was without his uber-crutch weapon, haha. They meander their way to the Prison cafeteria, where Mandora is hanging precariously over a boiling pot of oil. Me, I would have watched them boil her, all the while snickering, but then, that's why I'm not a smarmy super hero. The door leading in is locked, and Kwik Pik tries to use his skillz to open it. However, he trips the Planet's obit break and nearly kills them all as a result. After narrowly avoiding that disaster, the door opens and our heroes burst in to save Mandora. Luckily, the orbit break fiasco caused the pot of oil to spill, so Lion-O merely has to toss the Sword to cut her free and catch her. The pirates, who started to flee when the planet went crazy, see her being rescued on a monitor and go back to confront them. While Kwik Pik ushers Mandora into the hall to finish untying her wrists, Cracker takes Lion-O prisoner aboard his ship -- the Sword is left behind, however. Cracker takes off and Mandora fears the Lord will never be seen again. Kwik Pik is more than willing to shrug and go on with is life, but Mandora will have none of it! She decides to give close pursuit and takes Kwik Pik with her. As you can imagine, he was about as happy about that development as I am when I see Overgard's name credited to an episode. On the ship, Cracker, in typical blathering-about-his-intentions bad guy style, gloats to Lion-O about how he's going to Third Earth next -- and plans to attack the Thundercats and take over the Lair whilst there. Being bummed that he has no way to warn them is the least of Lion-O's worries when he's ordered to walk the plank. Blindfolded, he's prodded by Cracker to keep walking on the "plank" until he steps off into the endless oblivion of space. Lion-O does indeed step over the edge, but it's not long until Mandora shows up and catches him. Lion-O worries that they won't get to Third Earth in time to warn his friends. That is, until Kwik Pik presents him with the Sword. Yeah, I think we know how this ends! The 'Cats see the signal, and prepare for attack. They capture the bad guys easily when they land. How unexpected! I found it particularly hilarious how bummed Kwik Pik looked when he found out his reward for helping out was to ride around with Mandora on the Electrocharger. LOL! It is here we learn that magnetic fields cripple the Sword's mystic powers. Now all Mumm-Ra needs is a big, fat magnet, hehe! Maybe he can borrow one form Bugs Bunny. PKELL: Mandora's episodes tended to be bad for the most part, but this is one of the better ones. Its not that great by any means, but I think there are enough redeeming factors to give this episode a passing grade. Of course the major problem with the ep is the "Everyone can survive in space" motif that haunted TCats, which was pretty bad.
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- I do like Cracker's character, and do like the idea of a villian taking over an intergalactic prison and setting free all these twisted villians. I really wish they had brought back Burn Out and Plutar from the previous episode, but Kwik Pik was a nice addition to the episode as he pretty much steals the show.
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- Like I said, it isn't a blockbuster classic of the first season, but compared to Cracker's later appearances, its not that bad. Roddy Slyme: This was a great episode, where we saw Mandora make her long awaited return. Captain Cracker was arguably the finest non-regular villain to plague the Thundercats. Phenominal story from a phenominal mind!
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