MovieChat Forums > Thundercats (1985) Discussion > Why did...

Why did...

posted 16 years ago by GreatWhiteApeofBarsoom
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the writers have to make the Thundercats so damn invincible? It's clear from the beginning the villains they face are uberbadasses, yet the Thundercats quickly dispatch the villains' plans in about two minutes at the end of each show. Often the resolutions came across as just sophomoric too--eg, Lion-O's just happening to travel back in time (with no explanation) to the point where he can find out how to beat the Mutant machine attacking the Thundercats. Just for the record, even if he did manage to stop the thing that way, all the weight coming down on him would have turned him into a pancake, something they pretty much ignored in the episode. Then in two episodes, Mumm-Ra has the Thundercats on the ropes. What happens? Why, the Ancient Spirits of Evil--how convenient his own allies should block him from victory--prevent him from crushing the Thundercats. Once they do this from jealousy because of some orb. Once they do it just apparently out of whim because he didn't take the Thundercats out fast enough. Maybe even more annoyingly, in the episode arc where the Thundercats have returned to Thundera, Mumm-Ra is about to destroy the planet again with that hypnotized woman at the planet's core, and rather than give some climactic clash, the screenwriters have Lion-O effortlessly stop things with the Sword of Omens. The laziness of such an ending is jawdropping. I know it's just a cartoon for preteens, but I find when I try to watch the episodes now, I just can't. The slapdash writing and with-one-bound-Jack-was-free episode wrapups just gall me. Even worse, they keep the show from rising above being just typical of its kind.

[–] dvillaverde-1 16 years ago

I understand what you mean. On Most of the episodes, the Thundercats managed to defeat their opponents very easy like you said 2 minutes before the show ends.

But the episode that i personally think that the Thundercats were not quite succesfull afterall was "The Last Day" in which Mumm-Ra was given a last chance to get rid of the cats. I think that´s the one that you mentioned. If you think about it, Mumm-ra was able to beat all main thundercats easily including Lion-o, and was beating Lion-o at the end if it's not because of the time ending. Lion-o never beat Mumm-ra and the Ancient Spirits of Evil were the ones that destroyed him.

Furthermore, Mumm-ra practically destroyed The Tower of Omens and cause good damaged to Cat's lair. So i don't grant that victory to the Thundercats in my book! they were lucky!

[–] LiamABC 16 years ago

You do make a point - of course, it's mainly the later series where it gets cringeworthy like that. The first series holds up all right for the most part, but there are admittedly a few iffy moments in it, like "Tight Squeeze" - how come, when Lion-O summons them, Panthro and Cheetara suddenly manage to break free of their bonds, which had been impossible to do a moment before? Likewise, in "Monkian's Bargain", they all burst out of those confining spheres when he summons them. Based on that logic, Tygra should have been able to crawl out of the Cave Of Time without any help in "Trouble With Time"!

That's why I've praised "Mongor" and "Safari Joe" - when Lion-O summons the others, they can't come because they can't escape their bonds. Also, "Divide And Conquer" is a bit more even in its approach, in that when Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara and the Kittens are individually trapped, only Panthro and Cheetara need rescuing by other people. The Kittens free themselves, and Tygra recues himself, and indeed it's Tygra and not Lion-O who rescues Cheetara. Lion-O rescues Panthro with the help of the others.

It's also worth mentioning "The Wolfrat" for the same reason. They're shrunk to the size of mice, and Tygra has to work on a potion to restore them, which he does. He restores himself, then Lion-O, then the others. Now, if that episode had been in a later season, one summoning cry on the Sword of Omens would have had them all back to normal size before you could say Jack Robinson. But as it was, it was handled to reasonable effect.

But don't get me started on how in "Thundercubs", they have to go into the Cave Of Time at the end to be restored to their normal ages (and curiously all stay in there for the exact same time, that can't be right!), but in "Return Of The Thundercubs", one summoning cry restores them just like that . . .