Thundercats

[School of Everything Else 2016]

This one has been a long time coming. Maybe the most significant animated series of my childhood, Thundercats (1985) was, for me, age 6, the promise of adventure. Seven cat-people escape the doomed planet of Thundera and find a new home in the lush, expansive new world of Third Earth. But then never bargained on their old enemies, the mutants pursuing them and forming an unholy alliance with this new planet's ancient demon priest, Mumm-Ra. 

When you go back and investigate aged 36 however, it's a creaky, ponderous, derivative, bloodless, tension-free grab-bag of embarrassing dialogue, ridiculous over the top performances and tropes that were worn into the ground a decade or two ago. 

I've got so much better TV to watch, animated series' have reached unforeseen heights of excellence... so why do I still love Thundercats?

And in 2011 when a new series was attempted and sank without trace after an unsatisfying ending that suggested a much larger story-line, why did I love that too? 

It's not just nostalgia, there's more to both of these shows. Allow me and Sharon and Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst to elucidate for you. We framed this so that fans of the show, people who hated the show and those who have never had the dubious pleasure of watching it could all enjoy our podcast. 

In the second section we discuss Mumm-Ra's motivation, some unanswerable questions and our favourite episodes.