THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 1 – SECRET OF THE BLACK PEARL (1980)

THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 1  – SECRET OF THE BLACK PEARL (1980)

One of the greatest things about this series is that it is basically a combination of STAR WARS, MAD MAX and CONAN THE BARBARIAN. Literally anything can happen and pretty much does. Of all the 70’s and 80’s cartoons that came out, THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN for me at least was the ground-breaking epitome of all that was mind-blowing about Saturday Mornings. When this show came on, I was glued to my then black and white 12” inch TV. So naturally when this came out on DVD I bought it almost immediately. I do wish there were more episodes in this series and that it had lasted longer, but we got what we got and it’s worth celebrating.

The first episode in the DVD set is “Secret Of The Black Pearl” so I am going in order based on that. In this one a wizard named Gemini (who has one normal face and one evil face with a spinning head) has a horde of rat-men trying to find a black pearl for him. The pearl is given to Thundarr, Ookla and  Ariel to transport out of a forest full of terrors. They are then supposed to deliver it to humans living in the ruins of Manhattan. We also find out that Gemini also has an army of knights that can fly helicopters helping him. Yep, that is the kind of stuff going on in this damn series.

For those that don’t know Thundarr is just a sometimes reasonable barbarian in an un-reasonable world full of magic, super science and sorcery.

Ariel is a powerful princess sorcerous, but Thundarr isn’t pissed at her because she’s awesome and uses her powers for good. She’s also a TON smarter than Thundarr.

Ookla is a  Mok. You can basically look at him like you would Chewbacca from the STAR WARS series only he’s quite a bit stronger. He can throw cars and such.

This episode has one of the cooler villains in the series. It also features the “Statue Of Liberty” with a flame-throwing torch so there’s that. This episode provides little background as to why Thundarr is so hell bent on riding through a dangerous forest at night, and doesn’t give any background to the group of people they are helping. Writing wise it’s pretty basic, but that isn’t really a strong point in this series overall.  Thundarr at one point says he must face about 50 rat-men alone? The line not only doesn’t make any sense, it assumes Ariel couldn’t just paralyze them all in seconds on her own.

Fact – Arial learns most of what she knows about the old-world in her step father’s library.

Bonus Fact – It takes Thundarr like 2 minutes to figure out how to fly a helicopter. Ookla on the other hand can’t figure it out.

Best Line – “Demon dogs!” – Thundarr (this is one of the things Thundarr says all the time).

For me this one gets a 5 out of 7. Great villain, imagination and action, but the writing is very bland.  

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF FILMWAYS TELEVISION AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.

A look around at the series... 

THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 2 – HARVEST OF DOOM
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 3 – MINDOCK THE MIND MENACE
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 4 – RAIDERS OF THE ABYSS
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN : EPISODE 5 – TREASURE OF THE MOKS
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN : EPISODE 6 – ATTACK OF THE AMAZON WOMEN

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