ThunderCats: A Brief History
I thought it might be handy to have an 'about' page of sorts, with a convenient series synopsis and history of the show. Obviously, in depth studies of the
eps and characters can be found elsewhere on this site, but it never hurts to have a page that 'cuts to the chase' so to speak. For upcoming news and events,
join the site's related Facebook group. A who's who/what's what list is available in the
ThunderCats Dictionary. Information below is merely meant as a general overview for the fan with renewed interest but whose memory is a bit fuzzy.
Classic Series Premise
In the beginning, the ThunderCats (humanoid cat creatures) - with
Lion-O a mere cub and
Jaga still among the living - must flee their home planet, Thundera, as it self-destructs. Adding to their worries are the troublesome
Mutants of Plundarr (humanoid animal creatures) who desire the power of the coveted Eye of Thundera that lies within the
Sword of Omens, which the noble Thunderians (the
ThunderCats) guard closely. Most of the fleeing Thunderian vessles are destroyed by a Mutant fleet...all but one, the royal Flag Ship. The Mutants do manage to board the damaged ship but are fought off. The ThunderCats aren't out of the woods yet - with their ship disabled they can no longer journey to their original destination and must settle for a closer planet (Third Earth). Worse yet, it's still quite a distance so they all must make the trip in suspension. All but Jaga enter the suspesion capsules for his advanced age diminished his chances of survival, even with the aging process slowed by entering a capsule. Instead, he will pilot their ship as far as he can while the others take to the capsules. Jaga dies en route to Third Earth, and once they crash land, young
Lion-O, the heir to the lordship, emerges from suspension as an adult with a cub's mind. The Mutants have followed the 'Cats to Third Earth and waste no time attacking. Thus begins the ThunderCats' struggle to survive in their new home, as both they and the Mutants settle in. While the ThunderCats make new friends with some natives (
The Berbils,
Warrior Maidens, etc), so do the Mutants with the evil mage
Mumm-Ra.
The first 65 episodes deal with their early adventures on Third Earth as Lion-O learns to lead and grow up while fighting off powerful foes. From the midpoint (roughly the ThunderCats HO! movie) on, the focus is less on Lion-O's growth and eventually on the stuggle for power and returning to the 'Cats reformed home, New Thundera. The second half of the series also introduces new characters: three Thunderians that became ThunderCats (
Pumyra,
Lynx-O, and
Bengali) as well as new enemies in the
Lunataks. Eventually, the Lunataks and Mutants were all but written out (and badly, in "Circus Train") so that it was down to just the ThunderCats vs. Mumm-Ra and whatever evil he could conjur up. Also, the new focus of the ThunderCats became settling New Thundera by calling refugees home (apparently, not ALL the other ships were destroyed in "Exodus") and finding the scattered Treasure of Thundera before Mumm-Ra does. Much to the disappointment of Tygra and Pumyra fans, they were largely left out of the last dozen or so episodes as they were assigned to guard Third Earth and maintain the
Lair there.
The series ended with the episode "Book of Omens" in which the ThunderCats race to place items from the Treasure of Thundera in their proper places around New Thundera in a given time frame or risk being frozen in time forever.
The series never really went into critical details like the origins of the Eye of Thundera, Mumm-Ra, or the like - but some of the comics in the 80s attempted to tackle it (as well as the recent batch of comics with the Origins books). A good book to check out for background info is the
1989 UK-issued Annual. Some fans consider it canon, others don't, but at least it's *something* in the way of an idea concerning what it's really all about.
Smattering of Facts
Then:
- ThunderCats was the brainchild of Ted Wolf (aka Tobin Wolf, 1922-2000 - follow the link, which leads to an external site, for more info on Mr. Wolf). Together with Rankin-Bass and Telepictures, he brought ThunderCats to us in the mid-80s.
- Two episodes - "Exodus" and "Unholy Alliance" - were aired in the U.S. together as a pilot on January 23, 1985. The series kicked off on a regular basis starting with "Berbils" on September 11, 1985.
- There were a total of 130 episodes in all, the last of which ("Book of Omens") aired on December 7, 1986.
- I believe it was later that the show was exported to European countries, given that the product tie-ins like the UK comics were issued for the most part after the series ended in the States.
- It's been debated as to whether ThunderCats is actually anime, given it was done by Pacific Animation. However, unlike other popular 80s cartoons like Voltron, ThunderCats was *not* originally a Japanese series brought to the States and dubbed. It was merely animated there - the stories, voice overs and music were all originally done in the States for American audiences.
Now:
- ThunderCats enjoyed a revival in the late 90s when Cartoon Network showed reruns. Many fan websites, such as Cheezey's ThunderCats Zone, were among the first to crop up on the Web as a result. To my knowledge, there is no real official website for the 'Cats, although Rankin-Bass and Wildstorm do had 'mini-sites' on the topic. See the ThunderLinks page of this site for a current list of fan and "official" sites to visit.
- Somwhere along the line, Warner Brothers (with the Wolf Estate still retaining some rights) acquired the rights to ThunderCats and as a result, Wildstorm (a division of DC Comics) began a new line of comics starring the 'Cats in the early oughts.
- Rumors of movies and new series, beyond the short-lived new show in 2011, have always been around, though those remain largely rumors with no official word on that to date. The French saw a DVD release. The States finally saw WB release a domestic DVD set in August 2005, with hopefully more installments on the way. A UK version is rumored to come out sometime in the spring of 2006.
- Lastly, ThunderCats is also not on the air in the form of reruns on U.S. television that I know of. 80s nostalgia appear to be the only thing fueling interest in the property at the moment.