Thundera Returns
Getting slightly ambitious, Mumm-Ra reforms the planet Thundera and it's soon a free-for-all in a search for the lost Treasure of Thundera that contains the secrets to the Thundercats' powers.

Thundercubs! Part 2

Thundercubs! Part 3

Thundercubs! Part 4

Thundercubs! Part 5

The Chain of Loyalty

Crystal Canyon

This was a very hard episode for me to rank as I am a die-hard Tygra fan and Tygra is not given the best material in this episode. To be honest, it’s really not a good episode for any of the characters, but the conflict is a unique one for the Thundercats. For the first time, they’re faced with dissension from within. That being the case, I couldn’t act on my first instinct and give this a low ranking. So I’ve compromised and this thing is now an average episode, though it’s probably a great episode if you don’t care about the characters involved and a horrible episode if you do. With that out of the way, let’s summarize. Lion-O is monitoring in Cat’s Lair and catches part of a Lunatac transmission. Alluro and Chilla are talking about how they’ve hidden the Treasure of Thundera in the Crystal Canyon. Confused, Lion-O decides to investigate. He gets Snarf, Lynx-O, and Tygra to go with him in the Thunderstrike because everyone else is on New Thundera. As they fly, Lynx-O starts telling them about the Keystone. What’s that? Snarf wonders the same thing, and Lynx-O explains that the Keystone is the source of pure energy. How does Lynx-O know this? Well, that particular question is never answered and so we are left to ponder it on our own while Chilla and Alluro suddenly show up. They use the crystal walls to make reflections of themselves and for some really odd reason, Lynx-O can’t tell the reflections from the real Lunatacs. Lynx-O is just full of unexplained phenomena today. Anyway, the Thunderstrike starts blasting anyway, but Alluro steps up to the challenge and with one blast, manages to knock out the Thunderstrike’s propulsion. It goes crashing to the ground. Confident that they’ve done something important, Alluro and Chilla leave. Anyway, Tygra was thrown from the Thunderstrike in the crash and he now gets up, though he’s having trouble walking. Moving toward the Thunderstrike, he finds Lynx-O who is completely unable to stand. Tygra now looks for Lion-O and Snarf. He finds them unconscious and hanging from one of the Thunderstrike’s pods. Our favorite tiger manages to haul both Snarf and Lion-O down to Lynx-O, and Snarf seems to be fine but Lion-O is dying. Lynx-O tells Tygra that the Keystone is the only way to save Lion-O now, so Tygra and Snarf set off down the canyon in search of Lynx-O’s rock. It takes a while and Tygra saves both himself and Snarf from a slight cave-in, but they eventually find it. Tygra is the one to grab it (Snarf is unconscious again) and something strange begins to happen. Tygra is completely healed and he finds himself full of energy and power. Snarf wakes up and urges Tygra to hurry back to Lion-O. Tygra realizes he’s completely forgotten about the lion, grabs Snarf, and races back. As expected, the Keystone heals Lion-O, heals Lynx-O, and as we’re all celebrating, Jaga shows up. Stupid ghost. Anyway, Jaga warns Lion-O about the powers of the Keystone and Lion-O knocks it out of Lynx-O’s hand. Tygra, though, has some doubts about this action and retrieves the rock despite Lion-O’s orders. He uses it to repair the Thunderstrike and the Thundercats go home, though Lion-O now has some misgivings. It’s business as usual for a while until Tygra starts changing. Lynx-O and Lion-O approach him about it, but Tygra defends himself, saying he was a shy child but now feels like he can do anything. He asks if Lion-O is a slave to the Sword of Omens (yes) and then compares the Keystone to the Sword. Nothing Lion-O or Lynx-O says can persuade Tygra that the Keystone is bad and the tiger grows weaker and weaker and weaker. It all comes to a head when Alluro starts making trouble and the three Thundercats (minus Snarf) go off to confront him. Alluro manages to get the Keystone away from Tygra and Tygra collapses, desperate for the Keystone’s power. Alluro easily hypnotizes Lion-O and Lynx-O, leaving a rather pathetic Tygra behind. Lion-O isn’t about to surrender so easily, though, and manages to get up the Cat Signal. Somehow, seeing this heals Tygra of his addiction and also restores his strength. Good ol’ Stripes defeats Alluro and destroys the Keystone. Life is good, the addiction is cured, and everyone is happy again. Interesting episode. Not one of my favorites, but there are some good points.

Telepathy Beam

In this episode, several very important things happen. We get to see a truly unique combination of villains, we see all the Thundercats dealing with serious problems, and we are treated to a very good Cheetara character introspection.  Let’s begin the review! Alluro and Vultureman have teamed up and are creating a new weapon in Castle Plun-Darr. What makes this interesting is that it appears to be voluntary cooperation, which could be a real problem for the Thundercats. Up until now, they only had to survive until their enemies turned against each other. And this new machine could be a big challenge. It’s going to tap into Cheetara’s sixth sense (which has been used against her once before) and enable Alluro and Vultureman to give her images. Meanwhile, the Thundercats have sent Pumyra and Bengali off to Thundera on a scouting mission. After their departure, Cheetara is overcome with an impression that the Berbils are in serious danger. She and Lion-O take off in the Thunderclaw, prepared to kick some mutant trash and are rather perturbed when they get there and…nothing’s wrong. Cheetara is especially confused because the image she received was more vivid than anything she’s experienced before. Lion-O is trying to comfort her when she gets yet another image. This one is in the Tree Top Kingdom. So off the two go, but like the Berbil village, nothing is wrong. Now happening at the same time, Panthro is cruising around in the Thundertank and stops because some weird deer creature is standing in the road. (This deer creature has been hypnotized by Alluro and is serving as a roadblock.) Anyway, Panthro uses the Thunder Horn to try and get the animal to move. The Thunder Horn sounds like a small bicycle horn, but this is the episode’s one big fault, so it’s okay. Panthro gets out of the Tank so he can lead the deer off the road and that’s when the Lunatacs strike in a great combination of TugMug, Alluro, Luna, and Amok. Terrific fight scene, too! Meanwhile, Cheetara’s sixth sense picks this up while she’s still in the Tree Top Kingdom, but having been wrong twice that day, she decides to dismiss the vision. Bad choice, because Panthro ultimately loses. He is taken to Skytomb and ordered to upgrade the engines so that Skytomb can journey to New Thundera. Meanwhile, at Cat’s Lair, Lion-O, the Thunderkittens, and Cheetara are trying to figure out what’s been happening when Tygra bursts in and reports that the Thundertank is abandoned and Panthro has vanished. Cheetara realizes her vision was probably right, but at this time, Vultureman decides to send her yet another present. Cheetara sees Panthro on Hook Mountain, the Black Pyramid, and Castle Plun-Darr. Having nothing else to fall back on, Lion-O sends the kittens to the mountain, Tygra to the castle, and he goes to the pyramid. Cheetara asks what she should do and Lion-O stops, stammers, and tells her to remain at the Lair in case the Feliner gets in trouble. Well, they might have needed Cheetara’s help. Chilla catches the Thunderkittens on Hook Mountain, RedEye catches Tygra at Castle Plun-Darr and in yet another example of unusual teamwork, Mumm-Ra, the ASOE, Amok, and Luna combine to catch Lion-O in the pyramid. Meanwhile, the Feliner has lost power around Thundera and is starting to crash. Lynx-O tells Cheetara to send them a beam of power from the Lair’s Thundrillium packs, but Cheetara is so flustered that she can’t remember the code to enter and Lynx-O has to tell her. They manage to save the Feliner, but the mission to Thundera has to be aborted. Lynx-O asks what’s wrong and Cheetara tells him the story. In the meantime at Castle Plun-Darr, Vultureman is taking advantage of Cheetara’s frustrations and sending her all kinds of horrible images of the other Thundercats being captured, killed, etc. Lynx-O ultimately catches the vulture’s signals through the Braille board, but by this time, it might be too late. Cheetara is beginning to go insane. Lynx-O gives her a really great pep talk about focusing and listening with your heart, so Cheetara gives it a try. She concentrates, talks to herself, and ultimately turns into a big blue fireball filled with telekinetic power. With her power, she gets the Sword of Omens into the hand of an unconscious Lion-O, gets Panthro out of Alluro’s trance, destroys the telepathy beam, and destroys Skytomb’s engines. Lion-O sends up the Thundercat signal after freeing himself, Tygra, and the Thunderkittens from their cage and the Feliner on its way back from New Thundera sees it and dives in to the rescue. The Lunatacs have no choice but to retreat. Later, when everyone’s back at the Lair, Cheetara tells them that she won’t be weakened by her sixth sense anymore, though she still can’t control it. Great episode. Truly original and filled with character development.

Exile Isle

Key of Thundera

Return of the Thundercubs

The Formula

Locket of Lies

This would be one of the best episodes if weren’t for the fact that at the end, the Eye of Thundera provides an easy escape.  But it’s still a great episode.  Mumm-Ra is getting sneaky in his secret hideout on Thundera.  He plants a fake piece of the Treasure of Thundera (it’s called the Locket of Lies) and Snarf Oswald and Snarf Egbert find it.  They call Third Earth and Lion-O, Panthro, Tygra, and Cheetara take off for Thundera.  When they get to Thundera and discover the locket, they find the lights on its sides always point in the same direction.  So they decide to follow the locket.  Snarf Egbert and Oswald tag along for the ride, but they slow everyone down and eventually tell the Thundercats to on ahead and they’ll catch up.  The Thundercats find some ruins and the locket seems to go crazy.  They decide they must be at the place, but before they can do anything, the floor beneath them opens up and they fall into a deep pit.  Oh, and they hear Mumm-Ra laughing on the way down.  A little unnerved, Lion-O sends his clawline up and the four Thundercats start crawling out.  Oh, and here is one of my favorite moments in the entire series.  Lion-O gets to the top of the line, pokes his head out of the hole, and finds Mumm-Ra holding the end of the line with a big grin.  The expression on Lion-O’s face is classic and Mumm-Ra releases the line.  The four Thundercats tumble back down into the pit and Mumm-Ra has a little more fun with them before causing a slab of stone to slide over the opening.  Our favorite mummy takes off and leaves the Thundercats with this parting remark: “You’ll be trapped in there for all eternity if you don’t try to escape.”  The Thundercats get up and Tygra tries to figure out what Mumm-Ra means.  Panthro could care less and fires a stream of energy from his nunchucks at the ceiling.  But as soon as he does, the walls and ceiling start closing in.  There is a collective pause on the part of the Thundercats and then Lion-O fires the Sword of Omens at the ceiling.  It does nothing, but the walls and ceiling close in even more.  Tygra decides that if they try to escape, their room will just get smaller and smaller.  For once, the Thundercats can’t get themselves out of trouble.  Meanwhile, Snarf Oswald and Egbert are down the trail from the Thundercats and are arguing.  They stop following the Thundercats and start fighting.  Whoops.  Back in the pit, Lion-O manages to get on the ceiling where there is a small opening with bars across it.  He starts pulling on the bars and the ceiling starts to lower.  Cheetara whips out her staff and tries to brace the ceiling.  Tygra gets his whip out sends up a stiff line to help.  And it does help for a while, but not long enough.  The walls are beginning to close in.  Panthro fires two streams of energy at the walls on either side of him.  But slowly and steadily, they’re losing.  The staff snaps, the whip breaks, and Panthro’s nunchucks backfire.  All four Thundercats are trying to brace against something, but it looks helpless.  And this is where the great episode flops.  Jaga appears and tells Lion-O to use the Eye of Thundera.  Confused but willing to try anything, Lion-O ducks down so he can raise the Sword of Omens and yells the famous “Thunder—Thunder—Thunder—Thundercats Ho!”  Everyone’s eyes light up, the Eye of Thundera draws its strength from the Thundercats, and the ceiling breaks apart.  About this time, Snarf Oswald and Egbert show up and apologize for not coming sooner.  Oh, and Mumm-Ra gets really mad that this plan has failed.  Overall, a great episode until the end where the Eye of Thundera becomes a scapegoat.

Bracelet of Power

The Wild Workout

This episode has its good points and bad points. Some of the good points are really good, and some of the bad points are really bad.  And there seem to be more bad than good, but it’s still an interesting episode.  To start it off, Panthro, Snarf, and Lion-O are once again searching for the Treasure of Thundera.  They are forced to set the Feliner down in the Caverns of Cold.  Mumm-Ra, in the meantime, is watching their arrival with baited breath for he has come up with catnip.  Oh boy.  You know this is going to be different already.  He also makes this catnip super cold, so it will freeze them despite their Cat Suits.  Back on Third Earth, the Lunatacs are trying to get Skytomb up and running.  Because the engines are blown, they’re all working out on exercise equipment.  Yes, that’s right.  Exercise equipment.  Sigh.  Anyway, Luna decides it would be much easier of Cheetara did the work for them.  So they catch the cheetah out on her morning jog, take her back to Skytomb, and chain her up to a treadmill.  With some “persuasion” from Alluro, the cheetah starts to run.  Jumping back to Thundera, Lion-O, Panthro, and Snarf are out wandering in the Caverns of Cold when Lion-O and Panthro smell something strange.  Their eyes go funny and they become zombies, pushing Snarf out of the way and mumbling.  Snarf is naturally concerned, but he can’t seem to do anything for them.  Meanwhile, Tygra is getting worried at Cat’s Lair because Cheetara has been missing for too long.  RoBear Bill suddenly comes charging up the steps of Cat’s Lair and claims he saw the Lunatacs carrying Cheetara to Skytomb.  So Tygra and the Thunderkittens take off for the Lunatac fortress. They manage to make it inside, but they don’t make it much further.  They fall down a trapdoor and become prisoners of the Lunatacs.  Well, the Lunatacs are gracious hosts, so they allow Tygra, Kit, and Kat to join Cheetara in her workout.  Tygra gets chained to a rowing machine while the kittens are given the exercise bikes.  Let the aerobic class begin!  Meanwhile, Panthro and Lion-O have found their catnip on Thundera.  Snarf is still trying to get through to them, but it’s too late.  Lion-O moves toward the catnip and as the Sword of Omens goes off, he freezes solid.  This seems to wake Panthro up who jumps to the rescue, but he freezes, too.  Who’s next?  You guessed it.  Snarf turns into a popsicle.  And Mumm-Ra shows up to gloat.  Back on Third Earth, the Thunderkittens are tiring, the Lunatacs are growling, and Cheetara and Tygra are plotting.  The two start working even harder in an attempt to overload Skytomb’s engines and it works.  Skytomb’s electrical systems blow and the massive fortress crashes to the ground.  Back on Thundera, Snarf’s tail has thawed because he was wearing a “tail warmer” and he manages to move the Sword of Omens over to Lion-O.  With the Sword, all things are possible I guess, so Lion-O breaks out, gets Panthro and Snarf free, freezes Ma-Mutt, and has a quick battle with Mumm-Ra.  They win, of course, and head back to Third Earth.  Cheetara, Kit, Kat, and Tygra dig themselves out of the rubble of Skytomb, and meet the others back at Cat’s Lair.  All in all, a rather interesting episode.

The Thunderscope

The Jade Dragon

The Circus Train

The Last Day

This is arguably Mumm-Ra’s greatest episode. He manages to defeat most of the Thundercats and almost succeeds in destroying them once and for all.  On to the summary! The Ancient Spirits of Evil have had it.  The mutants are gone, the Lunatacs are gone, and the Thundercats are not gone. The old busy bodies give Mumm-Ra one day to rectify the situation or else he will be exiled forever.  Mumm-Ra questions their ability to follow through on this threat, so the ASOE banish Ma-Mutt.  Quite effectively, too.  That cows Mumm-Ra, so he agrees (not that he had much of a choice to begin with) and summons super power from the ASOE.  An earthquake starts up, the pyramid sinks, and Mumm-Ra is looking pretty omnipotent. Meanwhile, Snarf, Panthro, and Lion-O at Cat’s Lair are trying to weather the earthquake while Cheetara, Tygra, and the Thunderkittens do the same at the Tower of Omens.  Lynx-O, Pumyra, Snarfer, and Bengali are flying home from Thundera when they catch the quakes on the scanners. A simulation shows that if the quakes continue, Third Earth will shake itself apart by the end of the day. This is not viewed as a good thing. And besides earthquakes, there are volcanoes, floods, and avalanches to play with. Panthro figures out that this is not a normal thing and Lion-O realizes that Mumm-Ra is behind it all.  So Panthro and Lion-O head out in the Thundertank while Cheetara and Tygra take the Thunderclaw. The Thunderkittens note a concentrated area of volcanic activity and send Cheetara and Tygra to check it out.  Panthro and Lion-O hear the broadcast and decide to follow. As luck would have it, the Thunderclaw gets there first and Cheetara and Tygra come face to face with…Mumm-Ra! But not just any Mumm-Ra.  This Mumm-Ra is HUGE!!! He is large, in charge, and to prove it, he promptly sends the Thunderclaw crashing.  Tygra and Cheetara survive the crash, but Mumm-Ra isn’t through yet.  Another earthquake sends Cheetara sprawling, but Tygra manages to keep his feet.  Out comes the whip, it goes toward Mumm-Ra, the mummy catches it and…waves of energy course back down the whip and Tygra disappears.  Shocked, Cheetara manages to recover and takes on the giant with her staff, but even she isn’t fast enough for the mummy’s blasts.  In a flash of energy, she disappears, too. Panthro and Lion-O drive up just in time to see Cheetara go away and they try to take on Mumm-Ra.  But Mumm-Ra blocks all shots from the Tank and blasts the vehicle over.  Lion-O starts up the Thundercat signal call, but halfway through, Mumm-Ra aims, fires, and Panthro jumps in the way! The panther disappears, Lion-O falls back, and Mumm-Ra summons molten lava to smother the lion. Lion-O manages to the last of the Sword call out and summons a shield, but now he’s trapped in stone and Mumm-Ra is on his way to the Tower of Omens.  Kit and Kat see him coming, realize there’s not a lot they can do to stop him, and hightail it out of there. While they leave on their spaceboards, Mumm-Ra casually destroys the Tower.  Meanwhile, Lynx-O and Snarf are having a rather intense conversation.  The Feliner is still no where near Third Earth, but Lynx-O thinks Snarf can still save the day. (Lynx-O is something of an optimist.) He tells Snarf to take the Key of Thundera and use the Thunderscope to get into the Book of Omens. Armed with the Key, Snarf should be able to convince the Guardian of the Book of Omens to tell the Thundercats how to defeat Mumm-Ra.  Snarf is hesitant (remembering an earlier time when he and Lion-O were trapped in the book) but ultimately faces up to the challenge. The Thunderscope works and Snarf gets into the book, taking with him not only the Key of Thundera but also the Jade Dragon, the Bracelet of Power, the Chain of Loyalty, the Mirror of Truth, and a host of other jewels along with what looks like the Totem of Dera, except it was lost in a swamp so it really shouldn’t be there.  Anyway, back in the real world, Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat have almost made it to the Lair, but Mumm-Ra gets them just before they reach it and they disappear, too. Now we get to see just where all the Thundercats have gone.  Limbo. Well, that’s really the only way to describe it.  It’s just…limbo.  Anyway, they’re all there and Cheetara senses a friend is near, but they don’t know much more than that.  It’s actually more than a friend; it’s Jaga.  Jaga takes the Thundercats with him and appears to Lion-O, who is still stuck in the lava flow.  After a brief discussion, Jaga enters the Sword of Omens with the other Thundercats, taking the Sword’s power up a notch and enabling Lion-O to free himself from the lava.  The Sword takes flight (Lion-O holds on for the ride) and he finds Mumm-Ra beating up Cat’s Lair.  He lands and prepares to do battle, but Snarf suddenly appears in the Eye of Thundera.  Snarf has learned that if Lion-O can survive ‘til the end of the day, Mumm-Ra’s powers will be gone and the ASOE will banish him.  Sensing a ray of hope, Lion-O doesn’t immediately attack but opts to play hard to get.  Mumm-Ra catches on to the game and attacks harder, but he runs out of time.  The ASOE show up and he is banished. Lion-O gets the other Thundercats out of the Sword, the Feliner drifts in late as usual, Lion-O gets Snarf out of the Book of Omens, and they make plans to journey back to Thundera now that Third Earth is free from Mumm-Ra. Pretty good ending for this season. It’s a pity the last season didn’t have anything of this caliber.