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THUNDERCATS
Thundercats

Original title: Thundercats
Author:
Rankin / Bass, Ted Wolf
Characters:
Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara, Tygra, Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat, Snarfer and Snarf, Jaga, Mumm-Ra
Production: Rankin / Bass
Directed by: Katsuhito Akiyama, Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass
Country: United States
Year: January 23 1985
Broadcast in Italy: 1986
Gender: Fantasy
Episodes: 130
Duration: 22 minutes
Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old

The Thundercats cartoons were broadcast for the first time on Rai Due from 1985 to 1990. Produced by the American Rankin-Bass Productions, in collaboration with the Pacific Animation Corporation, the series consists of 130 episodes of 22 minutes each and is inspired by to a series of fantasy toys, featuring warriors with a similar appearance to anthropomorphic felines.

The story begins with the destruction of the ThunderCats headquarters, which resides on the distant planet of Thundera. The ThunderCats team aboard the Thunderians spaceship, gathers to defend their only heir Lion-O, a twelve-year-old boy, and to reveal to him the secrets of the Eye of Thundera, embedded in the hilt of the mythical sword of clairvoyance. ThundercatsPossession of the Eye of Thundera is also coveted by the evil mutants, united in a diabolical alliance with Mum-Raa, the ageless black priest of the first land, archenemy and persecutor of the Thundercats. During a battle their spaceship is seriously damaged, therefore they decide to head towards the nearest and hospitable solar system and commanded by the wise Jaga, they arrive on the third earth. Here Jaga dies due to his age and efforts from the long journey, however he will reappear in the form of a spirit, guiding Lion-O with his precious teachings. The same Lion -O, when he gets off the spaceship, is no longer a boy of 12, but a man of about thirty, leader of the group. Despite his strength and agility, he still does not have much experience, which he will acquire in the course of his adventures. Even the mutants, will soon arrive in the third land in the hope of taking over the Eye of Thundera. ThundercatsHere the Thundercats will strive to fight for justice, truth, honesty and loyalty and defend the weak from evil mutants. In later episodes, the Mumm-Ra reconstructs the magical planet of Thundera to take possession of the sword of Plun-Darr (once held by the Rattila of Plun-Darr). He also plots to locate Thundera's treasure, guarded by the ThunderCats. Finally returning to the new Thundera to rebuild their society, the ThunderCats conduct a council of guardians on the third earth, to ensure the peace of the people on that planet. In addition to Lion-O, the Thundercats are composed of Cheetara, very fast as a cheetah and also equipped with a sort of sixth sense, which announces the danger. ThundercatsCheetara fights using the battlestaff, a stick that can stretch and retract. Panthro is strong as a panther and is the mechanic and pilot of the spaceship, he fights using her sticks tied by a chain (nunchaku). Agile as a tiger Tygra is the engineer of the group and is also able to enter people's minds. WilyKit and WilyKat are twin brothers (boy and girl) as smart as a cat, and they use different tricks and fighting strategies. Finally we find the cute meowing cat Snarf, the group's mascot. When Lion-O finds himself in a dangerous situation, he points his sword into the sky, which projects the symbol of the thundercats and allows all of its members to join in the battle, against the evil mutants of Mum-Raa..
The series became a comic published by Marvel and later by Wildstorm.

Warner Bros. has announced that production has begun on a CGI animated CGI feature film by the Thundercats, based on the script by Paul Sopocy and will be produced by Spring Creek.

Lion-O Thundercats - New series
Lion-O
ï ¿½ Warner Bros. Animation Studio 4 C

Thundercats new animated series of 2011

The new series of the Thundercats, already protagonists of two series broadcast on Rai Due in the distant eighties (between 1985 and 1990), is arriving on television screens; the Thundercats are anthropomorphized felines who fight against the Plu Darr, evil mutants united in alliance with the priest of the first Earth, Mum Ra. This series is noticeably different from those that have already been broadcast, for a variety of reasons. First the setting. In the eighties series, in fact, the Thundercats escaped the destruction of their planet and were attacked by the spaceships of mutants from whose destruction only the "Thunderians", the flagship led by the wise old Jaga, is saved. he manages to arrive on the third Earth and to save his "cubs" heirs of a whole planet. They are the young Lion-O and Cheetara with the appearance of a cheetah, fast as lightning and with a sixth sense that heralds the approach of danger. Then there are Panthro, with the appearance of a panther and very strong, is the mechanic and engineer of the group, Tygra, similar to a tiger, is able to use the mind to understand and enter the minds of others, Wilkit and Wilkat, two cat-like twins and the Snarf mascot. Everyone gradually experiences (thanks also to the guiding spirit of Jaga, very similar to the Jedi Knight) and fight for the defense of the weak, hindering the attempts of Mum Ra and the mutants to take possession of the "Eye of Thundera", a jewel set in the sword of clairvoyance, and of the treasure the Thundercats jealously guard. Up to the fourth series to a return to Thundera, rebuilt by Mum Ra. The series currently on the air, however, is a global remake of the old series, even if it seems a continuation; the story takes place entirely on the home planet Thundara and this is ruled by the Thundercats (who are the royal family of the race that dominates the planet) with a setting very close to our Middle Ages with ideas taken from Eastern civilization.
A final difference is why the Plu Darrs fight against felines: while in the first series their intent was to take possession of the Eye of Thundera, in this series the purpose for which they waged war is much more social, as they claim to the Thundercats the fact of dominating the planet by concentrating on them most of the planet's resources, thus not giving the Plu Darr the possibility of being able to feed their own children properly. The war of the Plu Darr forces the Thundercats (Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro Tygra Wilkit and Wilkat and the Snarf mascot) to embark on a journey that, thanks to the Book of Owen, can allow them to search and find gems that, combined with that of the Sword of Owen (the sword of clairvoyance), may allow the Thundercats to possess such great power that it allows them to defeat Mumm Ra, ally of the lizards, equally interested in finding the gems.

Cheetara Thundercats - New series
Cheetah
ï ¿½ Warner Bros. Animation Studio 4 C

The series consists of 26 episodes (of which we describe only the first four for a short journey within the series) lasting about 24 minutes each, except for the first which has a total duration of more than the hour of transmission; in this episode, entitled "The sword of clairvoyance" there are all the elements characterizing the series: Prince Lion O is instructed by his father, King Claudus, to use the sword of clairvoyance and to the call that it allows; in fact, in case of danger, pointing the sword towards the sky, it projects the symbol of the Thundercats allowing the reunification of the whole group, ready for any battle. In Thundera a state of belligerence reigns between the Thundercats, anthropomorphic felines, and the Plu Darr, bipedal lizards and Lion O, the hereditary prince, learns thanks to Jaga, the master of knowledge, and to his father the power of Owen's sword; in the first part of the episode all the main characters of the series are introduced (except Panthro who will appear only from the fourth episode when he will save the group of Thundecats from certain end) and Thundera is attacked by Lizard, big lizards and totally destroyed, thanks also to the use of technology (such as tanks and bombs) that the Thundercats did not approve of. King Claudus dies, Jaga is imprisoned by Mum Ra in order to indicate the way to the Tower of Clairvoyance where the "Book of Owen" is kept, which according to a legend keeps the secrets of the past, present and future.

Tygra Thundercats - New series
Tiger
ï ¿½ Warner Bros. Animation Studio 4 C

In the second episode, “The Ramlak”, Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara bury the king and Lion O swears vengeance and justice for the death of his father and all three set out in search of Mum Ra and Owen's book; along the way they run into two twins, Wilkit and Wilkat, who are joined to the group, and arrive on a beach; however, they are captured by Koinlius Tunar and his crew of fishmen and are saved after fighting a Ramlak, a huge octopus (very similar to the octopus from "Pirates of the Caribbean") who drank all the water, leaving only a sea of ​​sand. Our heroes continue their journey, always having on their heels a Lizard patrol who is looking for them and to try to escape the pursuers, the quintet enters the Brian forest. In this forest they come across the Petalars, little creatures of leaves and petals, who live their lives quickly and Lion-O becomes friends with Emrik, their leader, promising to help them in the search for the road that would take them back to their land from which they were. torn long ago by a large tornado. Emrik saves the quintet from a Lizard attack and thwarts their killing with a prodigious pollen attack. When Emrik dies, as the petals are rescuing themselves from a huge fire set by the Lizards to track down the Thundercats, Lion-O remembers Emrik's life, his act of bravery and the fact that he had not pulled back into danger, even knowing that the forces were remarkably unequal and therefore decides to do battle with the Lizard, assisted by Tygra and Cheetara, since the "thundercats never back away" to the famous cry "Thunderstorms HO !, but while the armored vehicles are encircling them in order to capture them , a huge mysterious vehicle appears that destroys all the tanks and defeats the Lizard. An equally gigantic Thundercats emerges from the vehicle: it is Panthro, the general of the Thundera army, who was given up for dead in the first episode, an expert in military strategy, martial arts (his weapon is the Nunchaka) and skilled warrior who, unlike the other Thundercats, it uses technology. At the end of the episode, a fact happens that will have consequences: Mum Ra, the historical priest enemy of the Thundercats who has captured Jorge, imprisons him in a crystal ball and forces him to reveal to him the road that leads from his pyramid to the " Book of Owen ”. However, it is in the next episode, Thundrillium, that we get a picture of what is happening and why; Panthro in fact, through flashbacks, tells of how he became general of the Thundera army together with Grune and how much the latter aspired to be the General in chief; when King Claudus tells both of them that he would decide to appoint Lynx-O as General, Grune takes it out, even though the king justifies this decision by the fact that he would send the two of them, whom he believed to be the best and most trusted, in a even more important mission: to find the mythical book of Owen. In this quest Grune is plagiarized by a voice that assures him of glory and power and instead of the book they arrive in a pyramid where Grune frees Mum Ra and in the following duel makes Panthro fall into a precipice. From this episode we understand various elements of the story: firstly that Tygra is older than Lion-O (this can be seen from the duel they play as children in front of Panthro and Grune), secondly that it is Grune who unleashes all the events later freeing Mum Ra, who allies himself with the Lizard in the battle that will destroy Thundera. Grune is a refugee in a mountain from which he extracts the Thundrillium that will allow him to be the absolute master of the third earth, but he must escape for the intervention of the Thundercats where Lion-O, with a test of courage that returns his esteem and recognition of Panthro as his king, he defeats a spinning machine that was about to kill everyone.

In the episode "Journey to the Tower of Clairvoyance", the Thundercats manage to get to the base of the high tower at the top of which there is the dome that holds the sacred book of Owen thanks to the use of everyone's skills: Cheetara manages to pass all crossing, thanks to its speed, a tunnel in which there are rotating axes (very similar to those of "Indiana Jones and the Cursed Temple"), the twins manage to force a lock while everyone is hanging on Panthro to avoid ending up on some pointed rods, he manages to save the Thundercats from drowning thanks to his physical abilities that allow him to hold his breath and find an alternative way. Lion-O finally manages to see through Owen's sword the key to enter the tower and Tygra, with his whip, hits the point indicated by Lion-O. Once inside the tower, the Thundercats find themselves in front of Mum Ra who transforms from a withered old mummy into a mighty winged warrior who defeats all the Thundercats one by one and arrives at the top together with Lion-O. After a brief duel he is about to win when Cheetara arrives with the sphere containing Jaga who sacrifices herself in order to save her king and allow him to take the sacred book which, however, to everyone's amazement, is completely white. Lion-O soon discovers that this is not the case because the book is a tech book.

In the episode "The legacy" he enters with his spirit inside the book and meets the spirit of Jaga who shows him the past and how he came to the present making him incarnate in his ancestor Leo who was, in the mists of time, a faithful warrior of Mum Ra who wanted to become the master of the universe by attacking and subduing all animal species of all planets; on one of these the general Tygus, ancestor of Tygra, brings to Mum Ra the stone of war which will then become the "eye of Thundera", with which he would become invincible by setting it inside his sword as he would end up composing the quartet of stones of power. However, Leo has already intercepted the stone by taking it from Commander Tygus, setting it inside his sword, the future sword of Owen, thus engaging in a bloody duel with lightning and lightning bolts with Mum Ra (who turns into a huge warrior); in this way he manages to take one of the stones of Mum Ra's armor in order to transform himself into an armed warrior; at the end of the duel, Leo frees all the hostages but the spaceship they are on (the pyramid of Mum Ra that Panthro and Grun find in their mission) falls on the third earth and while this happens the spirit of Lion-O returns inside the book talking to Jaga and then back inside his body, finding all his friends around, worried about his condition. As time passes Lion-O through some episodes (such as in "the challenge", where he learns to control his mind from the impetuousness) becomes more and more aware of what it means to be King.

The Thundercats are Copyright © Pacific Animation Corporation / Rankin-Bass Productions / Telepictures Corporation and are used here for cognitive and informative purposes.

 

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