Rimmi's Cartoon Opening Challenge #11

Today's...This month's cartoon is Thundarr the Barbarian. I didn't see this show until it aired on Cartoon Network, or TNT, or something. I would say that it's an obvious rip off of He-Man, but I just cheated and found out that it's not true. More later.



Our intro starts with a lightsabre firing up. Only they're not allowed to call it that. Besides, the lightsabres were shaped like rods while this thing is shaped like a blade, so shut up! The camera pulls back to reveal Prince Adam, Teela with a tan, and the baby of the Cowardly Lion and Chewbacca. By the way, the pose that the woman is doing in this photo? All women do that when they stand up. As far as I know.



The next scene shows the premise of the show. Some comet passed by the earth and a large golf ball and things go bad. The clouds disappear and the golf ball cracks in two. This causes the civilizations of the earth to be destroyed the day after tomorrow. Did I mention that this took place in 1994? What was the deal with all the predictions of doom in the 90s. Bill Clinton was very lucky because all he had to do was show up and he seemed good due to the lack of armageddons.




The narrator tells us that earth is reborn 2000 years later. What?! Do you mean it took man 2000 years to rebuild after a long dark age? That's what I'm guessing he meant. Anyway, the moon is still fractured in the sky 2000 years later, even if that makes no sense. I guess magic holds it there. Anyway, we see some futuristic Jetson homes. They're not located in the sky, which means that this is still a bad future.

Hilariously, the narrator tells us that there's super science in the future. He says this JUST as a sorceror makes a dragon appear out of nowhere. Yep, science invented magic. The future world of 3994 sucks because mankind is enslaved to savage monsters, so we need a hero or something. Enter He-darr. He breaks his chains, just like his action figure probably does. Take that, lizard monsters! Thundarr hangs out with Princess Ariel the magician and Ookla the Mok, who finds a car that looks great after two milennium.




The narrator tells us that it will take Thundarr's strength, courage, and fabulous sun sword to get from episode to episode. We see Ariel deflect some magic, because she's a girl and girls are always white mages who can only heal and defend. Meanwhile, Ookla totally freaks out and lets out a great scream as he kicks something. It would be great if you could assign the scream to your delete key. The short intro ends as Thundarr offers more proof that he stole from Star Wars by making lightsabre sounds with his sun sword.


I was surprised to learn that this series predated He-Man. But in my defense, both of these series are stealing from the fantasy movies of the early 80s, so it's not like He-Man ripped off Thundarr so much as it ripped off Conan.

Here's the wiki entry. Nothing really stands out, except for the fact that our heroes apparently travel huge distances on horses. Maybe Princess Teela used her magic while offscreen.

I will admit one thing. 1994 was a really sucky year. At least for me. Maybe civilization really did end.

Seriously, girls always stand with there arms outward and their legs like they're action figures. Prove me wrong.