THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 4 – RAIDERS OF THE ABYSS (1980)
Thundarr, Ariel and Ookla have been riding for days looking for a human outpost in the badlands. They end up finding a group of giant bats flying overhead with cloaked riders on a hunt. They do find humans held up in a giant ocean liner that has crashed upon a huge hill. They attempt to help the humans only to find there is a greater menace in the area in the form of an evil wizard named Morag.
The concepts in this one are pretty crazy. The evil wizard steals energy from the humans they kidnap to maintain eternal life. They are basically like uncle Fester looking “energy” vampires. I don’t remember this freaking me out as a kid, but its pretty nuts looking back at this episode for the review. The dialog in this one is better than most but this is a pretty serious episode for its day. It could have almost been the premise for a horror movie. As a kid I always liked shows where the evil was clearly evil and the good was clearly good. The symbolism in this episode makes it pretty damn clear, evil is what we are dealing with and that it deserves a fate in the abyss.
Art wise this one is a slight step down from the previous 3, but it’s not terrible by any means. One thing that I am not sure if was an accidental oversight, but there are several shots where the humans look just over knee high when running past Ariel and Ookla. I am not sure if this was meant to imply they were kids or a completely separate set of smaller humans? The scene is just really strange.
Fact – One of Ariel’s powers is that she can conjure bridges strong enough for her, Thundarr and Ookla to ride their horses and whatever that thing Ookla rides, across just about any stretch of area.
Bonus Fact – Ariel’s magic works perfectly fine underwater, but can be over-ridden by other more powerful magic or potions etc.
Best Line – “Thundarr, you can put me down now!” – Ariel. It seems like Thundarr is trying to carry her somewhere at least once every other episode.
For me this one gets a 4 out of 7. There is nothing really over the top cool in this. Giant flying bats were fairly new, but the rest might have easily landed in the pages of a STRANGE TALES or other horror comic book.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF FILMWAYS TELEVISION AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
A look around the series...
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 1 – SECRET OF THE BLACK PEARL
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 2 – HARVEST OF DOOM
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN: EPISODE 3 – MINDOCK THE MIND MENACE
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN : EPISODE 5 – TREASURE OF THE MOKS
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN : EPISODE 6 – ATTACK OF THE AMAZON WOMEN
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