Lords of Light!

Thundarr the Barbarian: The Complete Series from the Warner Bros. Archives Collection, available exclusively at http://www.wbshop.com/. From the back cover:

"Man's civilization is cast in ruin when a runaway planet speeds between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn from the ashes with a savage landscape, strange creatures, and a primitive sense of justice. But one man fights to spread peace throughout the land: he is Thundarr the Barbarian..."

Those of you who are cartoon geeks like me remember this series, probably with some fondness; straight-up adventure cartoons are and always have been a rarity, and Thundarr was a great one for the average five-year old proto-geek to discover on Saturday morning (which is what I was in 1980, when it premiered). One of the very few cartoons to feature a post-apocalyptic setting, Thundarr combined elements of science-fiction and fantasy to great effect, and sported character designs by such greats as Alex Toth and Jack Kirby. I've debated just how much of the actual episode content I should review here, and come to the conclusion that such a review is pointless; if you didn't enjoy the series when it first came out, or you aren't currently under 12, I really doubt you'll enjoy this series much. It was made when television cartoons were still considered entirely the province of children and the writing, while imaginative and energetic, keeps that firmly in mind. Still, if you can still see cartoons through the eyes of your inner 9 year old, then you'll love this series.

This collection, as mentioned above, is an exclusive from the Warner Bros. Store, as part of the Warner Bros. Archive line, a line I applaud WB for creating. The idea behind it is to take properties that have a limited customer appeal, that might be only of interest to collectors or, let's face it, geeks like you and me, and release them on a limited basis, exclusively through their online store. The packaging for Thundarr, while well made, is stripped down and utilitarian. The cover art looks like the kind of image you'd find on a bootleg at a comic book convention, and there are no special features at all on any of the four discs. It would have been nice if WB had included the mini-documentary on the creation of Thundarr that they included on their Saturday Morning Cartoons:1980's collection, but again, this is a collection without bells and whistles of any kind. These aren't complaints on my part; if on-line exclusive, no frills productions are what's necessary to get the more obscure stuff on the market then I'm all for it. One bone of contention though; the discs can only be played on a "play-only" device, which is to say they cannot be played on any machine on which they might possibly be copied. I have no issue with WB protecting their material, but they don't inform the consumer about this anywhere on their site. I have no interest in pirating exclusive WB DVDs, but I play most of my geeky cartoons on my computer in my office, so as to spare my wife the horror of my absolute geekiness. A little warning would have been nice.

One other point, and this one not so minor: WB tags Thundarr as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection. Thundarr the Barbarian was produced by Ruby-Spears, not Hanna-Barbera. For those of you who don't know, Joe Ruby and Ken Spears got their start as sound engineers, and later writers, for Hanna-Barbera. Their credits for that company are many, among them the creation and production of Scooby-Doo, Where are You? They started their own production company in the late '70's, giving us such fare as Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mr.T and the T-Force, and the first post-Crisis Superman cartoon, as well as many of the animated offerings for ABC's Afterschool Special (which, oddly, aired on Saturday mornings). Given that their names are prominently listed as producers in the credits of every episode in the series, one has to wonder at the error. Credit where credit is due, after all.

In short, if you loved Thundarr the Barbarian, then you're in luck! Hop on the ol' interwebs and pick yourself up a copy. I can't wait to see what other geek-candy the Warner Bros. Archives'll release next. Oh hey, they've just come out with a Pirates of Dark Water collection! Awesome sauce!
Intro video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAobPugvsk





Ryan Here.

I thought I would add to this awesome post from Rob.

For those Thundarr the Barbarian Freaks out there, you may be interested in this.

In 1982, Milton Bradley published;  Thundarr the Barbarian Game (the exact title)
This actually illustrates just how bad the 80's were for American board games.  This stands as one of the most laughable games from the era, due to the fact that it has nothing to do with the theme of the show.   I can't imagine it would be that hard to design a passable game for something with such a beloved license.









And we might as well cast the Thundarr the Barbarian movie;

Thundarr:

Alexander Skarsgarde   •    Scott Speedman  •   Micheal C. Hall

Princess Ariel: 

Natalie Portman   •   Krsiten Kreuk   •   Aishwarya-Rai

Ookla the Mok: 

Anyone really.