Thundarr the Barbarian is an American post-apocalyptic animated series, created by Steve Gerber and produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. The series ran for two seasons on ABC from October 4, 1980, to October 31, 1981, and was rerun on NBC in 1983.

Plot

Thundarr the Barbarian is set in a future (c. 3994) post-apocalyptic wasteland of Earth divided into kingdoms and territories, the majority of which are ruled by wizards, and whose ruins typically feature recognizable geographical features from the United States, such as New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, San Antonio and its Alamo, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Cape Canaveral, and the Grand Canyon. Other episodes with recognizable settings are set outside the United States, and include Mexico and London. Another notable feature of this future Earth is that the Moon was broken in two pieces. The shattered moon and the ruins of the former human civilization were caused by the passage of a comet between the Earth and the Moon in 1994, which, from scenes shown in the opening sequence, caused radical changes in the Earth's climate and geography. However, by the time period in which the series is set, the Earth and Moon seem to have settled into a new physical balance. Earth is reborn with a world of "savagery, super-science, and sorcery" far more chaotic than "Old Earth" (the show's name for the pre-apocalyptic world).

The hero Thundarr (voiced by Robert Ridgely), a muscular warrior, and companions Princess Ariel, a formidable young sorceress, and Ookla the Mok, a mighty lion-like biped, travel the world on horseback, fighting injustice. Their main adversaries are evil wizards who combine magical spells with reanimating technologies from the pre-catastrophe world. Some of these malevolent wizards enlist the service of certain mutant species to do their bidding.

Other enemies include The Brotherhood of Night (a group of werewolves who could transform others into werewolves by their touch), the cosmic Stalker from The Stars (a predatory, malevolent cosmic vampire), and various other mutants. Intelligent humanoid-animal races include the rat-like Groundlings, the crocodile-like Carocs, and talking hawk-like and pig-like mutants. New animals that existed include fire-shooting whales, a giant green snake with a grizzly bear's head, and mutated dragonflies and rabbits.

Thundarr's weapon is the Sunsword that projects a blade-like beam of energy when activated, and can be deactivated so that it is only a hilt. The Sunsword's energy blade can deflect other energy attacks as well as magical ones, can cut through nearly anything, and can disrupt magical spells and effects. The Sunsword is magically linked to Thundarr and as such, only he can use it; however, this link can be disrupted.

Characters

  • Thundarr (voiced by Robert Ridgely) is a barbarian who was once a slave to Sabian until he was freed by Princess Ariel and given the Sunsword which he uses as a weapon in his fight against evil wizards and other villains. Thundarr, along with his friend Ookla, are largely unknowledgeable about the world so they rely on Ariel's guidance.
  • Ookla the Mok (voiced by Henry Corden) is a Mok, a humanoid lion-like creature. In Thundarr the Barbarians backstory, Ookla and Thundarr were enslaved in the court of the wizard Sabian until Ariel helped them escape. As a Mok, Ookla has great strength, and he usually fights by ripping up wreckage and clubbing his enemies with it. On a few occasions, he uses a longbow that fires a type of paralyzing arrow. However, he is also the most likely of the heroes to charge right into an enemy attack and he is also easily enraged by unusual nuisances or threats. Moks dwell in their own territory, ruled by a king; they fear and hate water.
  • Princess Ariel (voiced by Nellie Bellflower) is a powerful sorceress. In the episode "Battle of The Barbarians", it is revealed that Thundarr was once a slave of the evil wizard Sabian before being freed by Princess Ariel. Her most common feats of sorcery involve creating light constructs such as archways and bridges over chasms, exploding spheres, levitating weights, and summoning nets or shields. She can also produce powerful energy blasts, blinding light, and magically reanimate machines. When her wrists are bound together, she cannot work her magic, and is vulnerable to capture.

Production

The series was the creation of comic book writer Steve Gerber. Gerber and friend Martin Pasko were having dinner in the Westwood area one night during the time Gerber was developing the series. Gerber commented to Pasko that he had not yet decided upon a name for the wookiee-like character the network insisted be added to the series, over Gerber's objections. As the two walked past the gate to the UCLA campus, Pasko quipped, "Why not call him Oo-clah?" Pasko later became one of several screenwriters also known for their work in comics, such as Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, to contribute to the show. After writing several scripts, singly and in collaboration with Gerber, Pasko became a story editor on the second season. Other writers included Buzz Dixon and Mark Jones.

Comic book writer-artist Jack Kirby worked on the production design for the show. The main characters were designed by fellow comic book writer-artist Alex Toth. Toth, however, was unavailable to continue working on the show, so most of the wizards and other villains and secondary characters that appear on the show were designed by Kirby. He was brought onto the show at the recommendation of Gerber and Mark Evanier.

Twenty-one half-hour episodes were produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, an animation house formed by former Hanna-Barbera head writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and aired from October 1980 to October 1981 on the ABC network. Despite decent ratings, the show was cancelled, as Paramount wanted to make room in the programming schedule for Laverne & Shirley in the Army. Reruns of Thundarr appeared on NBC's Saturday morning lineup in 1983.

Episodes

Season 1 (1980)

All episodes of season 1 were directed by Rudy Larriva and produced by Jerry Eisenberg.

Season 2 (1981)

All episodes of season 2 were directed by Rudy Larriva and John Kimball, with animation supervision by Milt Gray & Bill Reed.

The series was rebroadcast on Cartoon Network from October 1992 through October 1996. It is now available for online download through Amazon.com.

On September 28, 2010, Warner Archive released Thundarr the Barbarian: The Complete Series to DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. The DVD set is branded as part of the Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection as Thundarr and the other 1978–1991 Ruby-Spears programs were sold to Turner Broadcasting in 1991 alongside Hanna-Barbera by Great American Broadcasting. On April 6, 2021, Warner Archive also released Thundarr the Barbarian: The Complete Series on Blu-ray. Unlike the DVD release, the Blu-ray release restored the Ruby-Spears Productions logo, but the Filmways logo was still removed for the first season (due to being copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera). Despite the fact that Warner was also responsible for a worldwide distribution rights of MGM products in physical home media, in which Filmways are now part of Orion Pictures' library.

Influence

In a November 2017 interview with Revolver, Morbid Angel guitarist Trey Azagthoth stated that the band's new album, Kingdoms Disdained, is based on Thundarr the Barbarian,

There is also a filk band from Buffalo, New York called Ookla the Mok. The series was referenced and was involved in the plot of the third-season episode "One Watson, One Holmes" of the CBS television series Elementary. In Fairlady #3, by Brian Schirmer and Claudia Balboni, the characters Dunkarr, the Barbarian, Ari and Oosk were inspired by the main characters in the series.

Merchandise

Toys

Action figures of the three main characters were released by Toynami in 2003. A board game was released by Milton Bradley Company in 1982.

Comics and books

A Sunday strip illustrated by Jack Kirby was planned, but the project was canceled. Whitman Comics had a Thundarr comic book project with scripts by John David Warner and art by Winslow Mortimer that never went to press. Whitman instead published a coloring book in 1982.

Dynamite Entertainment announced plans in July 2024 for a Thundarr comic debut. The comic book was lanched in February 2026, written by Jason Aaron with art by Kewber Baal and variant covers by Michael Cho, Rob Liefeld, Dan Panosian, Francesco Mattina, Joseph Michael Linsner, Björn Barends, and others.

Analysis

The show's entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes that "Like many other animated works of its time with innovative settings, Thundarr the Barbarian has enjoyed a modest cult following. In the sf context it is notable as one of the first instances of the Post-Holocaust Ruined Earth theme appearing in Western animated Children's SF: an influential contribution to the late twentieth-century visual Science Fantasy [SF megatext], as a vehicle through which many young viewers in the 1980s and 1990s were first introduced to a number of related tropes.".

Notes

References

  • Toonopedia entry