Spotted Online – Thundarr Under the Microscope of Time
Wanna have some fun? Yeah, I thought so. Especially when you know that the fun involves a look at Thundarr the Barbarian and the concept art behind the show. This post at Branded in the 80s is all you need to keep entertained for far too long . . . reading the post will likely sending you searching the web for more info on the series.
Thundarr the Barbarian is one of those shows that I haven’t seen since it was on TV back in the early eighties, so I’ve no idea how it holds up to time. I still love the idea behind the show, and the opening still excites me, but I’m worried that actually watching an episode today would ruin it all for me.
You know, if I worked in comic publishing I’d totally be trying to score a Thundarr the Barbarian license. I suspect that a Thundarr comic series would do quite well today. And how much more time before a studio starts work on a live action Thundarr the Barbarian movie?
Thanks for posting this. I was reminiscing about Thundarr recently.
I’ll nominate Jonny Quest as a cartoon best left to memory. My girlfriend and I both loved it as kids (we’re in our late 30s now), but we tried watching one episode and were horrified. I don’t remember the whole plot, but they were infiltrating some Chinese criminal organization in a swamp somewhere. Race Bannon takes out a guard and then pretends to be the guard on the radio, in a terrible, racist Chinese accent (think Krusty doing his ‘me so solly’ bit). And then, all I could think was, “Why would this Chinese guard be talking on the radio in English?”
Thundarr was one of my very favorite cartoons when I was a kid I watched them recently on Boomerang and they really don’t hold up to the test of time all that well, but darn if I don’t still love ’em! I’m a huge Jonny Quest fan as well.
i must say i loooove Thundarr and it’s some good entertainment. also along for the cheapness of its production it is pretty solid and i love that it’s a going-on-adventure – so all episodes make on whole story. i’ve seen all episodes last year and i kinda estimated the Kirby influence on here but knew already that Toth gots his hands in here. Now i know it’s the combination of both of my heroes it makes it even more better! I can just imagine that the difference between the concepts and the final show is so huge that all the concepts are sooo much Kirby’s , at that time, most recent works like Kamandi (the rat people) and New Gods (Gemini). Thundarr is really a cool animation epsiode and really like the vibe of it. Maybe because i’m a huge fan of Buck Rogers as well?
Man… you ain’t kidding… Buck Rogers rules.
About Thundarr: when I was a kid that show freaked me right the heck out– it was easily the most disturbing thing I had seen up until that point. The episode where the guy turned into a mutant with the snake hands or whatever? NO WAY! That messed my Saturday all up. I usually hate rehashes of old cartoons, but I’d love to see what a modern day animator would do with the show… it’s a great idea that really could work with the right factors in place!
Thundarr recently camed on the Boomerang channel, so I set up my DVR to record all of them. They’re still a lot of fun, in a real cheesy kind of way, but I think the premise still holds up quite well. Just because I was underwhelmed with the artwork and dialogue as an adult doesn’t mean that Thundarr has been ruined for me in any way.
I love Thundarr. I think it still holds up quite well. MUCH MUCH better than He-Man. There was almost a new Thundarr a few years ago. I did a post about it a while back: http://www.infinitehollywood.com/2010/02/thundarr-that-almost-was.html
@Newton Gimmick: I think Tad Stones was stoned when he came up with the idea. Ugh. I wanna see Bruce Timm’s treatment!!!