Thundarr the Barbarian

Director - Steve Gerber (Howard the Duck, Dungeons and Dragons)

Starring - Henry Corden (The Simpsons, Return to the Planet of the Apes), Robert Ridgely (Night Court, DuckTales), Nellie Bellflower (Police Woman, The Last Unicorn)

Release Date - 1980

Genre - Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When I was growing up in the 90s I lived on Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Goosebumps, Ren and Stimpy, Beavis and Butthead, and the tapes I would rent every weekend.  I was a movie junk then and I am now.  When I was in elementary school my uncle gave me a tape of Conan.  This started my obsession for the next few years of fantasy sword and sorcerery flicks.  I was then introduced to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe from my older brother.  The show was long gone by the time I was getting into television and movies but he was able to track down a few tapes for me.  Then one day I found a box of tapes at a yard sale and inside was a few tapes with shows recorded from television.  The box was extremely cheap and my dad bought them for me.  On one of the tapes was maybe 5 minutes of an episode of Thundarr the Barbarian.  This was all I ever saw of the show so when Warner announced the blu release of the complete show on blu I jumped on it.  Horror or not I wanted to see this one and I want to thank them for sending this one over!

     The film takes place on Earth in the year 3994 where the world has been ravaged by a passing meteor in 1994.  The world is a desolate wasteland with areas controlled by wizards.  We follow Thundarr, his friend Ookla, and Princess Ariel as they travel the wastelands fighting for good.

     Fantasy films of the 80s were really their own sub-genre.  Conan the Barbarian, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Beastmaster, and Thundarr the Barbarian along with many more were mindlessly fun.  They were packed with characters that looked like they were ripped from the indie wrestling circuit and tossed into a land of myth and legend.  Thundarr, much like He-Man, has that myth and magic feel mixed with a sci-fi element.  It was extremely fun and one that you will enjoy binge watching.  The voice acting fits the show very well but there was several occasions where the voice cast was a little underwhelming.  In fact, there was a few episodes where the cast was a little monotone which created a bit of an odd, yet unintentionally funny, episode.  The stories for each episode follows the same formula as a lot of the Hanna Barbara episodes for shows like Scooby-Doo and Josie and the Pussy Cats.  We follow the three as they encounter different foes that they must defeat to save the people, or person, of the region that are in danger.  It's a tried and true formula but it works here especially with the string of fun characters and different recognizable settings.  Finally, the animation is similar to the other cartoons of the late 70s and 80s.  The characters are all colorful but the background images are absolutely amazing.  I'm sure these served as inspiration for a lot of the pictures that would later become painted on the side of vans in the mid to late 80s.  Overall, Thundarr the Barbarian is a must see for fans of retro cartoons or fans of the fantasy genre in general.  I had an amazing time binging this show and the blu from Warner looks absolutely amazing.  The downside to this set is the lack of bonus features.