Sorry about posting this so late in the day.
Not too long ago, I said that there were a couple of cartoons from the late 1970s/early 1980s that pretty much destroyed Saturday morning cartoons, until the mid-1990s. "Thundarr the Barbarian" was one of them. Set in a mutant populated post-apocalyptic earth 2000 years in the future, it had a cool concept, and a lot of nice design, and was an action show in "The Herculoids"vein. However, for an action show, there wasn't much action. This was the beginning of the no hitting era of cartoons.
How were fight scenes depicted, I hear you ask? In a typical scenario, three lizard men would rush Thundarr, armed with spears. Thundarr would activate his lightsaber and slice the points off the spears. The lizards would drop the now pointless spears and run away. Sometimes they'd get caught in a net. Lame. I think this may have been the last cartoon I actually watched until "Batman the Animated Series."
Along with the lightsabers, another obviously influenced by Star Wars element, was Thundarr's companion Ookla the Mok (depicted here astride his nameless "equort") standing in for Chewbacca the Wookiee.
Thundarr also marks the cut off point in determining which characters will get rendered here in Fun With Scissors. Nothing more recent than Thundarr shall be seen here, no matter how good it may be.
4 comments:
Holy Crap!
That's beautiful.
Me want!
I remember, even as a child, thinking that Thundarr was lame. But I never heard its lameness explained so succinctly. Do you recall the fight scenes from memory or have you seen them recently?
By the way, it's a beautiful rendering.
Your ardent admirer and frequent visitor from lands afar, Felipito Duarte
As always, Felipito, I'm honored when a man of your STATURE graces this land. It's a SMALL world after all. Your insights DWARF all others.
I actually recalled the fight scenes from memory. I haven't seen the show since it debuted 26 years ago.
I have a mind like a steel trap, at least when it comes to inconsequential claptrap like cartoons I watched as a kid.
SOOOO RAD!
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