Lion-O Grows Up
In the beginning, we become aquainted with Third Earth, Lion-O learns how to lead, and the Thundercats discover just how much trouble they can get into.

The Unholy Alliance

For those of you wondering when Mumm-Ra is introduced to the series, wonder no more.  It's in this episode that our favorite spawn of evil makes his first appearance.  Aroused by all the hubub, Mumm-Ra takes a good look at what is happening on Third Earth, summons the mutants, and buries their ship in the Desert of Sinking Sands.  Meanwhile, the Thundercats are starting to explore their new world.  Tygra and Cheetara go off looking for a suitable place to build a new Cat's Lair.  Lion-O goes exploring, is attacked by the mutants, summons the other Thundercats, and only Panthro, the Thunderkittens, and Snarf show up.  What happened to Tygra and Cheetara?  Well, no one is really sure and Lion-O is becomming concerned.  I should point out that we never discover why Tygra and Cheetara don't show up.  It's just one big enigma.  Anyway, due to the mutant's failure, Mumm-Ra decides to take matters into his own hands.  He attacks the Lord of the Thundercats while Lion-O is out looking for Tygra and Cheetara.  But Lion-O is saved because Mumm-Ra sees his reflection in the Claw Shield.  The mummy is rendered powerless and goes flying back to his pyramid.  The other Thundercats come running because they've heard battle cries and see the last of Mumm-Ra as he vanishes into the distance.  (Tygra and Cheetara happen to show up this time.  How nice of them.) Everyone wonders about Mumm-Ra and Tygra reveals he's found the perfect place to build the Lair.

Berbils

Yes, the robotic misfits get their own episode.  Sigh.  Anyway, the Thundercats are doing some salvaging and getting ready to build the new Cat's Lair.  Lion-O and Snarf go exploring (again) and are ambushed by some peace-loving Berbils who tie them up and take them captive.  (Does anyone else see a logical problem with this situation?  Just wondering.)  Anyway, Lion-O meets RoBearBill and explains that he really doesn't want to annihilate the Berbil population and that they should all be friends.  The trusting Berbil takes Lion-O at his word and the Snarf and Lion-O are released.  Hooray.  But don't celebrate just yet, because the Berbils have some enemies.  And it's just Lion-O's luck that these enemies attack now.  The Berbils start blowing these pellets at them to try and drive them off.  Lion-O points out that this is a very ineffective line of defense and the Berbils reply that they're too peace-loving to do anything else.  (Apparently, taking Lion-O and Snarf captive didn't violate any moral ground.)  Lion-O gets indignant that the Berbils can let themselves be overrun and leaps to their defense.  The other Thundercats join in the fun and after the fight, the Berbils express their undying gratitude.  They offer the Thundercats food and propose that they aid in the construction of Cat's Lair.

The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr

This time, the explorers are not Lion-O and Snarf.  No, for a change we start off with Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat.  The Thunderkittens are jumping through the trees and find the Brutemen.  These strange creatures have been enslaved by the mutants and are forced to build Castle Plun-Darr.  Kit and Kat get back to Cat's Lair (after a brief run-in with Monkian) and tell the other Thundercats what's going on.  They decided to investigate and take Panthro's new Thundertank.  The mutants know they're coming, build some defenses, but the Thundertank makes it through.  Yea.  They reach Castle Plun-Darr and Lion-O finds where they've locked up the Brutemen.  Slithe, cunning as always, tosses in a canister of warp gas that turns the meek Brutemen into raging monsters.  They overpower Lion-O, turn on Panthro who's just outside, and make life generally interesting.  But the warp gas wears off before they can destroy Panthro and Slithe tosses in another canister.  But this time, Lion-O is ready for them.  With the Sword, he blows the gas toward the mutants and the mutants run in terror.  The Brutemen are free to go and everyone is happy.  Again.

Trouble With Time

This episode introduces the Warrior Maidens.  Monkian is dispatched to catch a Warrior Maiden so the mutants can have a house keeper.  He grabs Nayda who yells for Willa.  Willa comes to the rescue and Monkian runs off.  Willa and Nayda discuss the newcomers to Third Earth and vow to take their land back.  Meanwhile, Lion-o steals the Thundertank and takes it for a brief joy ride.  Panthro stops him and comments that they're running low on Thundrillium, their fuel source.  The Thundercats head out to search for some more Thundrillium.  Lion-O meets Willa as he goes searching and has a brief conversation with her.  Meanwhile, Tygra has wandered into the Cave of Time.  This cave has a nasty habit of aging people, and Tygra finds himself turning very old.  The Sword of Omens warns Lion-O, but Lion-O is suddenly surrounded by the mutants.  Willa to the rescue.  She also tells Lion-O about the Cave of Time and insists that no one has ever escaped.  Lion-O calls the othe Thundercats and Cheetara is sent in to pull Tygra out, who is too weak to crawl out on his own.  Using her super speed, Cheetara finds Tygra and brings him out, but the Thundercats are faced with a new problem.  Tygra is about 90 years old now.  (That's only my estimate.  Please don't quote me on that.)  Willa tells the Thundercats about the Geyser of Life that is guarded by the Winged Water Snakes.  Lion-O and Cheetara distract the snakes while Panthro gets Tygra to the water's edge.  Tygra wades into the geyser and becomes young again.  Hooray.  Tygra is back to normal.  And the Thundercats have found some valuable allies in the Warrior Maidens.

Pumm-Ra

Cheetara is out jogging in the beginning of this episode.  (Tygra clocks her at 30 seconds for the mile.  This would mean that she's running at 120 miles per hour.  Just thought you might want to know.  For those of you outside the U.S., that's 193 kilomters per hour.  Fast.  Very fast.)  She's captured by the mutants who take her to Mumm-Ra.  Mumm-Ra becomes Pumm-Ra and tells Cheetara that he freed her from Slithe.  Cheetara takes him back to Cat's Lair and the Thundercats hold a council to decide if they should let Pumm-Ra stay.  This is where Tygra reveals that he is head of the Thundercat council.  Go Tygra.  Anyway, they give Pumm-Ra a week's probation to prove himself.  To start things off on the right foot, Pumm-Ra steals the Sword of Omens during the night.  The next day, the Thundercats head out and leave Lion-O and Snarf home with Pumm-Ra.  Pumm-Ra reveals that he has stolen the Sword, but the Sword backfires on him and sends up the Thundercat signal.  The other Thundercats come racing back, but Pumm-Ra has sealed himself inside Cat's Lair.  Oops.  And another thing.  The Thunderkittens are suddenly missing.  But no one notices, so I suppose this is okay.  Anyway, Tygra gets into the Lair through the power exhaust, Lion-O uses the Sword to get the others into the Lair, and they all end up in the control room where Tygra has managed to subdue Pumm-Ra.  Pumm-Ra jerks free and reveals himself to be Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living.   Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  Um, anyway, he leaves and the Thundercats are once again left to wonder about Mumm-Ra.

The Terror of Hammerhand

In this episode, we meet the Beserkers.  They run around saying "beserk."  So much for intelligent villains.  Anyway, these guys see a young unicorn and decide it looks like dinner.  Unfortunately, Snarf happens to be in the area.  When the Beserkers start throwing nets around, Snarf gets in the way, frees the baby unicorn, and gets caught himself.  The Beserkers consider eating Snarf (we all cross our fingers) but decide he looks too weird to eat.  So Snarf becomes a beast of burden.  In the meantime, Lion-O finds a unicorn that has become trapped by some giant tree monster.  Being the kind and generous Lord of the Thundercats that he is, Lion-O frees the unicorn, fights the tree monster, and a giant crow grabs the Sword of Omens.  This is a little unexpected for both Lion-O and the audience.  But the unicorn gives Lion-O a ring in gratitude and gets him up on the crow's back.  So Lion-O gets his Sword back.  Yea.  Eventually, Lion-O ends up meeting the unicorn keepers who threaten (in a very non-threatening voice) to cast an evil spell over Lion-O.  But Lion-O wins their trust.  Go Lion-O.  And suddenly, the Beserkers show up with Snarf packing all their luggage.  Whoops.  Snarf makes a run for Lion-O and makes it to freedom, but after a brief battle, Snarf gets caught again and so does the baby unicorn.  (Anybody else see a pattern here?)  The Beserkers ship out to sea, Lion-O swims after them, gets caught in a whirl pool, and is saved by the ring the unicorn gave him.  Anyway, eventually he catches up with the Beserkers and after yet another battle, Lion-O, Snarf, and the baby unicorn all end up in the water with the Beserkers ready to destroy them.  So Lion-O calls the Thundercats.  Panthro and Cheetara to the rescue.  Panthro reveals that the Thundertank can now travel across water and Lion-O, Snarf, and the unicorn are all rescued.  The Beserker ship sinks and eventually, all is happiness.

The Tower of Traps

Apparently, someone noticed that the Thunderkittens were decidedly lacking in screen time, so here's their big chance to star.  But Wiley Kit was really the only one starring.  Anyway, Kit and Kat are out making maps for Tygra when they hear a struggle.  Thunderkittens to the rescue.  They find a Wollo who's been robbed by some flying creatures.  The Wollo is rather upset that he's now lost a gift for a bride, so the Thunderkittens take off after the robbers.  They find a large castle and try to find a way in.  Kit wanders off without any luck and wanders back to find her brother missing.  Initially thinking it's an irresponsible joke, Kit finally gets worried and starts shouting for him.  Lion-O shows up, having been warned by the Sword, and together, they find a trap door that gets them in.  But still no sign of Wiley Kat.  However, they do hear his voice.  Kat claims he's locked at the top of the tower, so Kit and Lion-O set out to find him.  After a few mishaps, the two become separated and have to take different routes to the top.  Lion-O meets giant monsters, Kit meets deadly lasers, but justice triumphs.  Kit and Lion-O make it to the top and find Kat.  They also find a huge treasure chamber and one very dead baron.  This is a little puzzling, because there's still no sign of the robbers who were apparently robbing for this dead baron.  And the room seals itself up, so there's no way out.  Or is there?  Yes, there is.  Lion-O gets Kit and Kat out through the roof.  This is fine until the gargoyles on the roof start coming to life and attacking them.  Lion-O calls the other Thundercats who get to the roof via grappling hooks and together, they win.  (Okay, who didn't see that one coming?)  Oh, and one more bonus.  Kit and Kat find the bride's present, and they get it to the Wollo village in time for the wedding.  Aw.  How sweet.

The Garden of Delights

This episode is a little problematic for Tygra fans.  It's also a little problematic for anyone who enjoys a coherent plot line.  Oh well.  On to the summary.  There are a number of earthquakes shaking up Third Earth and Tygra goes out to investigate.  He is surprised by a giant worm.  He recovers quickly and wraps his whip around the worm.  Unfortunately, this is a very large worm and it pulls Tygra underground.  It also leaves a trial of glittering ooze. (I don't know how else to describe it.)  Tygra meets up with some molemen who take him by surprise and tie him up, but the worm comes and they race back to their little molepeople places, wherever those may be.  Tygra manages to get the ropes off and continues to follow the worm's trail of glittering ooze.  He rounds a turn and finds...a garden.  What?!  Well, that's what Tygra thinks.  He also finds this little creature called Silky who offers him some fruit.  Still confused, Tygra first refuses but something very odd is going on and he can't seem to leave.  Silky continues to pressure him and Tygra eventually takes a bite.  Abruptly, he's flying through the air and thoroughly enjoying himself.  Then he wakes up and discovers that, well, everything is gone.  Except there's more glittering ooze.  So he follows it and finds Silky yet again.  And this time, he asks for the fruit.  Silky gives a very familiar laugh and turns into Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living.  Now under Mumm-Ra's control, Tygra steals the Sword of Omens and Mumm-Ra gives it to Willa in the hopes that she will help him conquer Third Earth.  Willa holds the Sword to her face and Sight Beyond Sight shows her what's been going on.  This is where the plot gets confusing.  She tells Mumm-Ra that she saw herself as Queen Willa of Third Earth.  Mumm-Ra laughs hysterically and the Warrior Maidens capture the Thundercats.  From their dungeon, Panthro uses a flying camera to see Willa and Mumm-Ra plotting together with Tygra in the background asking Silky for more fruit.  Mumm-Ra decides to execute Lion-O and gets them all assembled for the occaision.  The Thundercats don't take this too well, but they're all tied up and can do nothing.  And here's where things get really confusing.  Tygra suddenly stands up (this time, he's tied up with the rest of the Thundercats) and tells Mumm-Ra to get out of town.  Willa throws Lion-O the Sword while the other Thundercats free themselves.  When did Tygra defeat Mumm-Ra's spell, when did he have time to plan anything with Willa, and why did Willa go along with Mumm-Ra in the first place?  Anyway, Mumm-Ra is defeated again and the Thundercats all forgive Tygra, saying he wasn't himself when he stole the Sword of Omens and all's well that ends well.

Mandora: Evil Chaser

The Ghost Warrior

Oooo, a spooky episode.  Kind of.  We begin with two Bolkins wandering around a tomb.   They move a big slab to see if there’s treasure and out comes a scary ghost.  The Bolkins recognize him as Grune the Destroyer, a one-toothed Thunderian sabretooth from legends.  The Bolkins run away and Grune starts wandering around Third Earth.  He finds Cat’s Lair and decides to suck it dry of Thundrillium.  The cats are all gathered in the control room to monitor a nasty storm outside.  But when strange things start happening (like mysteriously opening doors and poltergeist affects) they begin to wonder what’s going on.  The gauges indicate that Thundrillium is being drained, but though Tygra and Panthro both try, neither one can halt it.  Then Grune appears and decides to have a little more fun by throwing things at Cheetara and turning the kittens’ weapons against them.  After that, he takes off and starts terrorizing the countryside.  The locals come to Cat’s Lair and appeal to Lion-O and Tygra for help.  They mention that Grune is after Fire Rocks and Tygra realizes that the Fire Rocks are probably Thundranium, the substance that weakens Thundercats.  Cheetara goes into a psychic trance to try and discover Grune’s origins.  And they’re good ones.  He was a Thundercat who fought with Jaga (and he had two teeth, then), but turned against the Code of Thundera.  Jaga defeated his old friend and sent him into exile.  Grune ended up on Third Earth and eventually died.  (Just how long ago did this happen and how old is Jaga?)  Anyway, trance over, Cheetara collapses from the strain, and the Lair starts shaking.  Grune’s back.  The Thundercats race outside to see Grune now armed with a Thundranium forged mace.  Lion-O calls Jaga to battle his ancient foe, Grune is thrilled with the prospect, and they begin to fight.  But with the Thundranium mace, Jaga starts to weaken.  Strangely enough, Grune doesn’t.  Oh well.  Lion-O channels his strength to Jaga and the dead Thundercat is able to defeat the ex-Thundercat.  Yea.  The Thundercats are saved once again.
 

The Doom-Gaze

Lord of the Snows

The Spaceship Beneath the Sands

I like this episode.  Overall, it’s well-written, and it focuses more on the mutants than the Thundercats.  It’s a pleasant change of pace.  On to the summary!  Monkian, Jackalman and Slithe are lying in wait for a Tabot. (No, I’m not sure that I spelled that correctly.)  When the Tabot comes by, they steal his money purse.  The poor Tabot (who looks something like a pig but not really) squeals for help.  About a mile away, Cheetara and Tygra are out doing something and hear the commotion.  They both take off to assist. The mutants send the unhappy Tabot on his way and hide in a convenient bush.  When Cheetara and Tygra arrive, the mutants drop a really sticky net on them.  Meanwhile, at Cat’s Lair, the Sword goes off and Lion-O, Panthro, and Snarf are off to the rescue.  The mutants have come out to gloat over their captives when they hear the Thundertank.  The crafty mutants jump back into the bushes, but Panthro and Lion-O sense a trap.  Using the Thundertank’s jaws, the manage to cut Cheetara and Tygra loose.  The poor mutants try to attack, but the Thundercats defeat them.  Back at Castle Plun-Darr, they decide that if they were given access to their technology, they could overpower the Thundercats.  So they head out for Mumm-Ra’s pyramid.  Slithe the con-artist convinces Mumm-Ra to raise their ship from the Desert of Sinking Sands.  Salvaging most of their equipment, the mutants head back to Castle Plun-Darr with it.  Back at Cat’s Lair, Cheetara is trying to get the sticky net stuff off herself and Tygra when the Lair starts shaking.  Panthro figures out the mutants now have two Skycutters and a Nosediver and the Lair is under attack.  He and Lion-O head out in the Thundertank to take care of the Nosediver while the others are left to deal with the Skycutters.  The Nosediver (piloted by Slithe) decides to take a swim, so Panthro follows.  Unfortunately, the Thundertank lands on its back and gets stuck in an underwater ravine.  Lion-O calls the other Thundercats, but the Skycutters have followed the Thundertank and he and Panthro have to take refuge in the water again.  Using a variety of tricks, the other Thundercats take care of the Skycutters, but Panthro and Lion-O are still stuck with the Thundertank underwater.  Well, Slithe to the rescue.  On one of his firing runs, he passes close enough to the Thundertank for Lion-O to experience a stroke of genius.  The lion fires a grappling line at Slithe’s Nosediver and the Nosediver pulls the Thundertank free.  Hooray.  The Thundercats win.  Well, Mumm-Ra isn’t too happy with the mutants for this defeat and demands that they allow him to bury their technology again.  But showing some surprising backbone, Slithe refuses and the mutants keep their technology.

The Time Capsule

The Fireballs of Castle Plun-Darr

THIS is a GREAT episode!  One of my favorites!  We start off with Tygra charging toward an enflamed Tree Top Kingdom.  Willa tackles him before she realizes who he is, but Tygra throws her off and demands to know what’s going on.  She explains that fireballs have been slamming into the forest since early morning.  At that point, Monkian flies in on a Skycutter and tries to take the two out, but Tygra knocks him off the vehicle with his whip.  Willa and Tygra decide the mutants must be behind this and journey to Castle Plun-Darr to check it out.  Back at Cat’s Lair, Lion-O is disturbed and feels that something is wrong.  But Panthro assures Lion-O that Tygra is just out on a scouting mission.  Meanwhile, Tygra and Willa have reached Castle Plun-Darr.  It’s now night, but they can’t get in through the main entrance.  It’s guarded by the fireball launcher that was attacking the Tree Top Kingdom.  Tygra throws his whip across the first moat and they tight-rope walk over.  After that, Tygra leaves Willa outside to fend for herself while he turns invisible and dives into the second moat looking for an intake pipe.  Slithe gets suspicious when he catches Tygra turning invisible out the corner of his eye and checks the moat.  The moat is infused with phosphorus and is sticking to Tygra, but the Thundercat doesn’t know it.  Monkian and Slithe decide to send in a Nosediver to chew Tygra up.  Tygra avoids it and finds his intake pipe, his whip slips off but he keeps going, and he discovers that the way is blocked by a grate.  Tygra turns around only to have bars slam down in front of him.  He’s trapped in the pipe underwater.  Whoops.  The mutants leave him in there long enough to knock him out, then they take the Thundercat up to the top tower and strap him down to a device they call the Four Winds.  Basically, it will tear the Thundercat apart.  This is a problem.  Slithe attaches a solar mirror to the Four Winds and explains that when the sun strikes the mirror, the machine will turn on.  Execution at dawn.  Meanwhile, Willa has found Tygra’s bolo whip floating in the moat, but she can’t decide what to do.  Fortunately, Lion-O is still awake.  He hasn’t slept because he’s been worrying about Tygra.  What a great pal.  The Sword goes off (finally) and Lion-O hears Tygra calling to him through the Sword.  Neat trick.  Anyway, Lion-O takes off for Castle Plun-Darr and meets up with Willa who tells him everything she knows.  Which isn’t much.  The two use Tygra’s whip to get across the second moat and Willa produces a spider named Bushy who produces a line to get them up the walls of Castle Plun-Darr.  Slithe and Monkian see them and send out the guards.  Oh, and the sun is starting to rise, too.  There are some neat scenes with Tygra and the sun creeping into the room.  Tygra is not a happy camper.  Anyway, just as the sun hits the solar mirror, Lion-O and Willa jump into the room and destroy the machine.  Lion-O unchains a very relieved tiger and the tiger shows his thanks by promptly throwing two attacking mutants out the tower’s window. Definitely not a happy kitty.  Lion-O, Willa, and Tygra race through Castle Plun-Darr, Tygra kicks major mutant trash as they go, they find the fireball launcher, but the mutants are right behind them.  They seal themselves in the room and prepare to fight off the mutants, all the while wonder how they’ll destroy the fireball launcher and make it to safety at the same time.  So Lion-O does what he should have done before ever running off to Castle Plun-Darr.  He calls the other Thundercats.  They get there just in time and launch a line up to the room where Tygra, Willa, and Lion-O are holed up.  Lion-O and Willa slide down, Tygra stays long enough to make sure the mutants who are blasting away at the escaping trio destroy the machine with their own guns, and then he slides out to safety as Castle Plun-Darr explodes behind him.  GO TYGRA!!!  (Okay, so I like this episode a little too much.)

All that Glitters

This is an interesting episode and it’s something of a milestone for Lion-O.  He shoulders responsibility when it could easily be shared and he goes out on a rather extreme limb for his teammates.  It’s also a pretty good episode for Tygra, too.  Not great, but there are some neat character insights.  Panthro and Tygra are refining some Thundrillium they got off of Hook Mountain from a meteor and Panthro comments about a strange metal that has bonded with the Thundrillium.  He says that Third Earthers call it gold, but he doesn’t see any use for it.  Too soft, too low a melting point, and other strange things.  I happen to know from my brief stint of chemical engineering that gold is an amazing conductor, but Panthro is not up on this.  Oh well.  Cheetara walks by and sees the gold, admires it, and secretly stashes some away.  Panthro and Tygra dump the rest down a ravine.  Meanwhile, Lion-O is out exploring like usual (complete with Snarf) and meets a fellow calling himself Gregory Greggian.  I think.  Anyway, Gregory is a troll and he rides a giant grasshopper.  He tells Lion-O that he’s going through a dark forest and he’s afraid of a thief who prowls there.  Lion-O volunteers to accompany Gregory and protect him.  So off they go.  Well, they’re attacked all right, but it’s not exactly a thief.  It’s Tygra.  But before either Tygra or Lion-O realizes who they’re attacking, Tygra’s whip snaps against the Sword of Omens and breaks it.  Oops.  Gregory laughs a familiar laugh and Mumm-Ra transforms with a triumphant jeer as he flies away.  Lion-O and Tygra compare stories, and Mumm-Ra’s plot was a good one.  He told Lion-O to protect him from the shadow robber and he told Tygra that two thieves would be following him (Lion-O and Snarf) and that Tygra should wait in the forest to catch them.  But aside from simple embarrassment, Lion-O, Tygra, and Snarf have bigger problems.  The Sword is broken and its powers seem to be gone.  Jaga appears and reveals that Lion-O has broken the Sword by using it against another Thundercat.  Lion-O protests by saying he didn’t know it was Tygra and Jaga comes back with a “you acted hastily” reply.  Lion-O admits this and asks Jaga how the Sword can be fixed.  Jaga says that star fire is the only way to fix the Sword and that there is a crashed dwarf star (do you have any idea how massive those things are and what kind of havoc that would play with gravity on Third Earth?!) in a volcano that could do it.  But Jaga also points out that Lion-O would die before he succeeded.  That doesn’t bother Lion-O who takes off for the volcano.  Tygra and Snarf follow.  From about here on out, Tygra has an incredibly guilty look on his face.  Tygra never admits his share of the guilt and Lion-O keeps insisting on taking the blame, but you can sure see the guilt in Tygra’s face.  Anyway, they get to the volcano and Lion-O is adamant about getting inside.  Oh, and he tells Tygra that the tiger will be the next Lord of the Thundercats if Lion-O can’t make it out.  With that, he turns and run inside.  Tygra and Snarf try to follow, but a blast from a heat vent knocks them back and they lose the lion.  So Tygra does something Lion-O would never think of doing.  Tygra goes back for help, realizing he can’t do anything for Lion-O on his own.  The Thundercats pile in the Thundertank (Tygra keeps demanding that they go faster) and they all head for the volcano along with RoBear Bob.  I have no idea where he came from, but he’s along for the ride.  The Berbil tells them about the Enflamor who lives in the volcano.  The Enflamor can withstand the heat and should be able to reforge the Sword.  But when they go looking for the Enflamor, they find him weak and helpless.  The Enflamor blames the mutants and Tygra realizes just how extensive this plan was.  But the Enflamor sees a glitter of hope.  He points to Cheetara’s new necklace she made from some of the gold and says if he bathes in molten gold, he can be revived.  At this point, Panthro and Tygra realize they made a critical error in dumping the gold down a ravine. Cheetara to the rescue!  She reveals that she has saved some gold, so she and Panthro head back to the Lair to get it.  They come back, dump it in a hole, and melt it.  The Enflamor goes in and…and…and… and he disappears.  Frustrated and running out of time, Panthro and Cheetara take the Thundertank into the volcano itself and manage to find Lion-O just as he’s falling into the volcano’s crater.  But Lion-O’s lost the Sword pieces.  About this time, Tygra glances at their puddle of molten gold and the Enflamor pops out as powerful as ever.  He races into the volcano and there’s some rumbling activity.  He then bursts out the top with the reforged Sword of Omens and mocks the Thundercats with it, challenging them to take it back.  So Lion-O does.  And the Thundercats make a break for it.  The Sword is back and everything returns to more or less normal.

Spitting Image

Had there been more interaction from other Thundercat characters, I would have given this episode the highest rating.  But even with a cast of Lion-O, Panthro, and Snarf, it’s still a pretty good episode.  Mumm-Ra has this plan to clone Panthro, so he hires the Driller to fetch the Thundercat in question.  During the night, the Driller uses his powerful drilling head to get into Panthro’s room and after a brief fight, Panthro is sprayed with sleep gas and taken prisoner.  Back in Mumm-Ra’s pyramid, this neat little cloning machine makes a duplicate Panthro.  And here’s what I really like about this episode.  The duplicate Panthro needs a life force of its own.  It can’t just come to life by itself.  A rare moment of intelligent thinking by the writers.  Unfortunately, it’s only a moment because Mumm-Ra then summons the ghost of Hammerhand.  Question: When did he die?  And why does he appear later in the series?  Oh well.  Hammerhand gets into the Panthro clone and is sent off to make life hard for the citizens of Third Earth.  In the meantime, Mumm-Ra drops a startled Panthro down a ravine that keeps shooting out energy.  Interesting, but stupid.  Why not just kill him?  Anyway, back at the Lair, Lion-O catches a glimpse of Panthro with Sight Beyond Sight, but the energy in the ravine blocks the power of the Eye.  So they really don’t know where Panthro is.  They’re about to go looking for him when alarms start blaring.  So they split up, with Lion-O and Snarf heading off to look for Panthro.  Panthro, in the meantime, has managed to get himself out of the ravine and pulls himself free just as Lion-O arrives in the Thundertank.  The exhausted Panthro rides shotgun while Lion-O drives off to a Wollo village.  The Wollos get very excited when they see Panthro and accuse him of starting all the fires.  Panthro is completely taken aback, but with the general population so enraged him, Lion-O sends him home in the Thundertank while he sorts things out with the Wollos.  So Panthro goes home and a few seconds later, the fake Panthro shows up.  Lion-O thinks it’s the real one, doesn’t know what to do about it, and calls for help.  Normally, you’d expect all the Thundercats to show up, but nope.  Just Panthro.  So we see Panthro fighting Panthro and it gets kind of interesting for a while, because neither one is giving ground.  Snarf eventually tells Lion-O to use the Sword, as it won’t hurt the real Panthro, so the lion blasts away and Hammerhand’s ghost is vanquished.  Almost.  Hammerhand stops over at Mumm-Ra’s pyramid where Mumm-Ra is preparing to make more Panthro’s from his mold.  Enraged that he didn’t get to destroy more things, Hammerhand merrily destroys Mumm-Ra’s cloning machine.  No more cloning for Mumm-Ra.  Overall, a good episode, but they needed to involve the other Thundercat characters.  More interaction with the fake Panthro would have made this one unbeatable episode.