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Warner
has assembled a Variety of Thundarr episodes, all of
which are archived in simple DVD menus that may not sit
well with collectors. They look like they were made with
a more advanced Nero than with actual artistic
consideration in mind. Nevertheless if you're willing to
ignore that fault, "Thundarr The Barbarian: The Complete
Series" is a crown jewel for most fantasy animation
buffs who are in the market for more He-Man wannabes and
his trusty stock superheroes. Set in the futuristic
Earth of 1994, Thundarr is a man who became a hero and
sword wielding warrior when a meteor turned the planet
in to a wasteland filled with monsters, warlocks, and
dangerous beings all of whom are battled by Thundarr and
his friends Ariel, the beautiful mystic, and his trusty
bow and arrow wielding sidekick Ookla the Mok, the
warrior who looks mysteriously like Chewbacca and
presents the same personality even growling and grunting
whenever communicating with his leader.
In
spite of the obvious derivations and nods to prior
franchises, "Thundarr" is not as goofy as He-Man was in
its prime and lacking in the camp value, offering up a
more stern and rich sense of mythology and adventure
with the Ruby Spears cartoon providing up rigid but
simplistic and colorful animation style and entertaining
action adventures where Thundarr and his friends happen
upon helpless villagers and wasteland survivors who need
their help from the variety of villains and menaces in
the new world, and they're never hesitant to defend them
against evil fighting motorcycle riding giant mice,
swamp monsters, and laser zapping robots while venturing
in to the depths of this futuristic world of 1994. The
landscape is a healthy mixture of futuristic robots and
weapons mixed with medieval devices and elements.
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| "Thundarr" while
inevitably being compared to He-Man is much more of
a post-apocalyptic warrior who duels against wicked
villains all the while running across old world
trinkets and fossils. The final showdown in the
climax of the first episode occurs at the Statue of
Liberty, their safeland is Manhattan, at one point
Thundarr and friends happen in to an abandoned
subway where Ariel explains to him what a movie
poster is, and she also takes some time to explain
what a motorcycle is. Of course the giant mice
riding it is never the strange aspect to Thundarr.
This comes as a most surprising series to me since
I'm one who always dismissed Thundarr as a stock
eighties hero, but there's much more to him than a
character mold that looks shockingly similar to
Prince Adam. The series has a sleek sense of
imagination and manages to build a very interesting
world that has been destroyed by the apocalypse and
is just a breeding land for pure evil as Thundarr
struggles to fight against them and keep order
paired with his magical light saber--er--sword
called "The Sun Sword." I'm quite surprised
Hollywood has yet to adapt "Thundarr" in to a PG-13
fantasy epic, as this series is ripe with material
for a full fledged franchise enlisting elements and
influences from Star Wars, Conan, and He-Man while
also appealing to the post-apocalyptic sentiment
that is most popular with modern audiences. While I
do mock it in some instances, "Thundarr" is a much
better series than many will remember armed with
imagination, creativity, a complex setting, and
action that many will enjoy going in to. While this
could have managed some special features with talks
featuring the creators and the obvious influences
from pop culture, this is a DVD set that collectors
will want to indulge in. |
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