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00:00The 1980s were a great decade for children's animated shows. We had He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man and so many more exciting shows with original concepts.
00:18For me, the most entertaining of them all was Thundercats. Cat-like humanoids trying to establish a colony on Third Earth after their planet Thundera was destroyed, had to deal with not just the mutants on Third Earth but their nemesis Mumra.
00:34Since the 1980s there have been a lot of attempts at resurrecting the franchise but nothing seems to give Thundercats the popularity the original show had.
00:41One of these attempt with Thundercats The Return, a sequel to the Thundercats miniseries Reclaiming Thundera, which had ended with Lion-O killing Groon and entering the Book of Omens to train for a period of five years.
00:54The sequel was so dark that many accused it of ruining their childhood. Is there any basis to these claims? Let's find out.
01:02A new Thundera. We start in a dark nook of Thundera where Snarf, at the brink of insanity, speaks to the Book of Omens.
01:10He tells the Book that since he found the key, he can go in and bring back Lion-O.
01:15He then responds as if the Book asked him to leave Lion-O be, and tells it that it needs to return to Thundera to see what has happened.
01:22He argues with the Book, which cannot speak by the way, that Lion-O will recognise him as his friend.
01:28He throws the Book away in anger, reassuring himself that Lion-O probably has a reason for being gone so long.
01:34He then rushes to the Book, apologising for hurting it.
01:37The Book has been his only friend for the past few years, so he promises not to throw it again, and asks it to understand that Thundera needs Lion-O as he is their king.
01:46Telling the Book that only Lion-O could save Thundera, he uses the key and enters the Book.
01:52Inside the Book, Lion-O fiercely battles two warriors and defeats them with ease.
01:57When Snarf sees Lion-O, he hugs him with a lot of love, which throws Lion-O off as he thinks he's been only gone since the day before.
02:04Snarf explains that it's been five years since he's entered the Book.
02:07Lion-O is in disbelief as time is supposed to be at a standstill inside the Book, but Snarf tells him that it might be the doing of Mum-Ra.
02:15He also updates Lion-O on everything that has happened since he's entered the Book.
02:19Panthro was ruling in Lion-O's stead, and everything seemed to be going well, as many refugees had returned.
02:26The city had been built, and their civilisation had been established.
02:29They even had a state-of-art mining operation, would have made sure there was enough Thundrillium for years to come.
02:36But this happiness and peace would not last long.
02:39A year later, Mum-Ra returned.
02:41He hadn't really gone anywhere, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
02:45Thundera was caught off guard, as they hadn't really formed a new military thinking they wouldn't need one.
02:50Why would anyone ever think that?
02:52Needless to say, Mum-Ra and his mutant army had laid waste to the city.
02:57Thundarians had fought valiantly, but lost.
03:00Hundreds of thousands of Thundarians were either killed or enslaved.
03:03Some disappeared, never to be heard from again.
03:05Mum-Ra wanted to make an example out of Panthro, and reserved him for the harshest punishment when he refused to serve Mum-Ra.
03:12No wonder Snarf had lost it.
03:15Snarf was not given much attention, as he had never posed that much of a threat anyway.
03:19Mum-Ra wanted to snuff out Lion-O too, but he could not find the Book, as Panthro had entrusted it with Snarf.
03:25So he had asked Slithe, his lizard general, to destroy the Key.
03:29The Key was way too powerful for Slithe to destroy it, so he threw it away in a place he thought no one would find it.
03:35But clever Snarf had found it, and freed his king.
03:38Lion-O had a hard time believing it, but he trusts Snarf and blames himself for Thundera's downfall.
03:43Knowing that he has no time for a pity party, Lion-O returns to Thundera with Snarf.
03:48Neither Thundera nor Mum-Ra was as Lion-O remembered.
03:51Mum-Ra had remade Thundera in his own image, replacing the cat imagery with himself and Mah-Mut.
03:57Snarf reminds him that there were no Thundercats anymore, only Lion-O.
04:01But Lion-O points out that he still has Snarf's loyalty.
04:04And the Thundercats might have been beaten, broken and scattered all across the kingdom, but they were still the Thundercats.
04:09Once the team was back together, they would have enough strength to fight back.
04:13Snarf isn't hopeful at all, because he knows that they are the minority now.
04:17And many of the mutant army still served Mum-Ra as slave masters and foot soldiers.
04:22Mum-Ra had grown powerful during the time too.
04:25Lion-O, ever the optimist, asks Snarf to hold on to hope and faith like he had in the past few years.
04:31And though it was not to be easy, Lion-O had trained for the better part of the last five years.
04:36So he could put up a strong fight against Mum-Ra.
04:39He reminds Snarf that he's no longer a prince, but the Lord of the Thundercats, hell-bent on leading his people to victory with no mercy for Mum-Ra.
04:47He asks the powerful Sword of Omens to show him where Panthro is, and the mysterious sword delivers, showing Panthro working in the mines.
04:56He asks Snarf to lead him to the mines.
04:58Meanwhile, in a pyramid not far away, Mum-Ra celebrates the arrival of Lion-O, as he would finally have a challenge.
05:04He claps to summon his slaves to help him prepare to take on Lion-O, and I nearly gasped out loud,
05:10and these slaves none other than Wily-Kit and Wily-Cat, now no longer Kitten.
05:16A long-awaited reunion.
05:18While Lion-O enters the Cat's Lair to find a cloak, Snarf refuses to go in as he's traumatized by what happened to Bengali there.
05:25I can only assume Bengali died in the fight against Mum-Ra.
05:28Inside the Cat's Lair, Lion-O sees a skeleton hanging on the entrance with a warning written in blood to anyone who dares oppose Mum-Ra.
05:35When he returns, Snarf laments the state of the Thundarians, saying that the dead are the lucky ones as they don't have to suffer.
05:41Lion-O asks him if he's ready to put an end to their suffering, and the two leave for the mine.
05:46The mines were guarded by two mutant soldiers.
05:48As soon as Lion-O shows himself, one of them quivers in surprise while the other attacks him.
05:53Within seconds, Lion-O snaps his neck and kills him.
05:56He then asks the other guard to tell him where he is.
05:58The guard pretends not to know what Lion-O is talking about, but Lion-O threatens to give him the same fate as his colleague
06:04if he doesn't answer.
06:05The terrified guard tells him that Panthro was in the hardest detail at the bottom of the third shaft.
06:10As mercy, Lion-O only knocks him out and takes Snarf inside, hurrying in to make sure Mum-Ra doesn't catch a whiff of him.
06:16It might be too late for that as Mum-Ra has been keeping an eye on Lion-O through his magical cauldron.
06:21He asks Wily-Kit to fetch his dog so they can watch the moment when Lion-O meets Panthro.
06:26The ancient spirits of evil chastise Mum-Ra for letting Lion-O win, but Mum-Ra shuts them by reminding them that they serve him and not the way round.
06:35He also threatens to give them the same fate as their brother.
06:38They dare question him.
06:39He explains himself, though, telling him that he's not letting Lion-O win, but merely toying with him.
06:44He just wanted Lion-O to think he had any chance of defeating Rum-Ra before crushing all his hopes.
06:49Just then, Wily-Kit returns with Mum-Ra, but Mum-Ra is angry that she took so long and punishes her with his magic.
06:55As Wily-Kit writhes in pain, he returns to his scheduled programming.
06:59In the mines, Lion-O sends Snarf to draw the guard towards him and with his iconic battle cry,
07:05THUNDER CARTS! HO!
07:07He kills the guards.
07:08Panthro sheds a tear as Lion-O breaks the chains binding him and tells him that he never gives up hope.
07:14Lion-O hands Panthro his nunchucks with a reminder they had to fight their way out.
07:18One of the enslaved Thundarians in the mines asks Lion-O to leave with no worries,
07:22as he and the rest of the Thundarians there would sure make and take care of the guards.
07:26Though Lion-O does not want to leave them there, the Thundarian reminds him that this is the perfect cover,
07:31as Mum-Ra would think Panthro's escape is a minor riot, pun fully intended.
07:35If he figures out it's a full-blown rebellion, they might have a bigger problem.
07:39Lion-O promises a day when Thundera is free again and hurries out with Snarf and Panthro.
07:44Snarf asks Lion-O not to forget that many there had willingly sacrificed their lives for him.
07:50Lion-O guarantees he won't as he plans to rally up the Thundercats to kill Mum-Ra once and for all.
07:56THE BLAME GAME AND TWO MORE THUNDERCATS
07:59As shackled Wily-Kit helps Mum-Ra bathe, he wonders what Lion-O would think if he saw her that way.
08:05Though she was treated better as Mum-Ra's concubine, it also felt more traitorous and like Chitara,
08:11who had demanded to be placed in the mines.
08:13He theorizes that Lion-O would be ashamed to learn that Wily-Kit hadn't even tried to escape,
08:18and that all she could do was stare in anger.
08:20After his bath, he calls for Wily-Cat, who bandages him up once again.
08:24Mum-Ra is joyous as he could not wait to see Lion-O's reaction to how badly Chitara has been treated,
08:30and how much she hated Lion-O.
08:32He wonders if Chitara would kill Lion-O, as she blamed everything that happened on him.
08:37He considers taking her as his slave after everything was done with, as she would be more of a challenge than Wily-Kit,
08:43giving him greater satisfaction when she broke.
08:46In a fort, Vulture-Man struggles to figure out the Bostaff and the Bolo-Whip.
08:51He asks Tigra to share how it would work, but Tigra tells him it would only work for Thundarian.
08:56A guard standing behind him is angered by his snarky reply and whips him.
09:00Vulture-Man is fed up with living under Mum-Ra, eating his table scraps like his lapdog,
09:06and feels he's not much better off than the Thundarians.
09:09Slithe asks him to suck it up, as they aren't going anywhere soon.
09:13Though Slithe too wanted to go home, he knew he didn't stand a chance against Mum-Ra,
09:18and wished he had defeated him when they were still on Third Earth.
09:21Nearby, Munkian leers at Chitara, who was chained to a pillar.
09:25Outside, Lion-O hesitates to attack, as he is not sure whether his fellow Thundercats are inside,
09:30as the Eye of Thundera could not see inside.
09:33When Snarf confirms, he walks in through the front door, as the guards there did not know he was back,
09:37and used Snarf as a distraction.
09:39Inside, Vulture-Man tries to get information on how to use the magic whip from Chitara,
09:44but she refuses to indulge him, and spits at him inside.
09:47Angered, Vulture-Man raises a staff to kill her, but Slithe pulls it away,
09:52as she wouldn't be of any help if she was dead.
09:54Slithe respects Chitara, as she's strong and doesn't break under any pressure.
09:58He wishes his men would be that way too, but he was a leader of cowards.
10:03Maybe to remind her of how alone she really is, Slithe tells her that her boyfriend Panthro has escaped.
10:09Suddenly, Snarf arrives, distracting them all while Lion-O frees Tigra.
10:13Tigra, now armed with his whip, attacks the guards and defeats them all.
10:17Panthro breaks the chains with sheer power.
10:19Lion-O greets her, but Chitara lands a resounding slap on his face before walking out.
10:24Tigra doesn't blame Lion-O, but clearly there are others who do.
10:27He tells his leader not to worry, and time would heal all wounds.
10:31Back at Mum-Ra's pyramid, Mum-Ra cackles in glee, knowing Chitara's hate and anger hurts Lion-O more than Mum-Ra's sword ever would.
10:39But that doesn't mean that he would spare Lion-O the sting of his sword.
10:42Wily-Cat then asks Mum-Ra whether all he had to do was lead the Thundercats into the pyramid in exchange for his and his sister's freedom.
10:49As long as the Thundercats think they were surprising him, Mum-Ra tells him that he and Wily-Kit were free.
10:55As my heart dropped, Wily-Kit agreed to betray his clan.
10:59Why would you do that, cub?
11:02Wily-Cat had been so beaten in his life that he was sure the Thundercats were not going to succeed.
11:07His logic was that, through his betrayal, at least he and his sister would be spared.
11:11Though faulty, this is the logic of someone who probably tortured and had to see his sister tortured every single day for nearly five years.
11:18I can't blame him for what he's about to do.
11:20Knowing that the others would not believe he escaped without a fight, Wily-Cat gives himself scars on his face, chest and shoulder before entering the cat's lair where the others were hiding.
11:29Mum-Ra asks Wily-Kit if she would forgive him and taunts her that it wasn't even hard to turn him as he betrayed the people without the slightest hesitation.
11:38This was too much even for Wily-Kit and she attacks him and he uses his magic to subdue her quickly, reminding her of a place as his slave.
11:46He then asks her to direct her ire towards her brother, as it was his choice and was actually enjoying following every one of Mum-Ra's orders to the tea.
11:55Calling her Kitten as creepily as possible, Mum-Ra tells her that he hadn't turned her brother evil, but merely nurtured the evil that was already in him.
12:03He wonders if he could have gotten Wily-Cat to sell off his sister, but that would have to wait for later as the cauldron shows Lion-O and his friends again.
12:11Lion-O wonders what happened to Wily-Kit and Wily-Cat, as the Eye of Fundera did not show them to him.
12:16Tiger tells him to consider that they might be Mum-Ra's pyramid.
12:20Chitara begins the blame game soon after, asking him why he didn't return for so long.
12:24But Lion-O reminds her that he has no idea how time was going outside the book, and that it was her fault for not fetching him even after so long had passed.
12:32With a loud punch, Chitara reminds him that he had asked them not to use the key.
12:37Snarf, surprisingly, is the voice of reason amidst the chaos, as he reminds everyone that they have bigger fish to fry.
12:44They had no time to fight amongst themselves and to assign blame as they now need to focus on taking out Mum-Ra.
12:50Lion-O accepts the blame for everything and knows that he can't change the past, but he can stop Mum-Ra.
12:56For that, he needed all the help he could get and didn't do it alone.
13:00Tiger is glad that he finally understands it and asks him the plan.
13:03Just then, Wily-Cat stumbles in, warning everyone that they are not safe.
13:08He urges them to rescue Wily-Kit, offering to take them to the pyramid through the way he escaped.
13:13While Panthro breaks his shackles, Wily-Cat pushes them to attack right away, as Mum-Ra sleeps during the day, and that's the only time he is vulnerable.
13:20Tiger tries to slow him down, but Wily-Kit pretends all hyped up to finally having the chance to take down Mum-Ra.
13:26Tired of being cautious, Chitara agrees with Wily-Cat's plan, and Lion-O rallies to take the fight to Mum-Ra.
13:32What I don't understand is that Wily-Cat did not show the slightest hint of surprise when he saw Lion-O, which should have been a dead giveaway.
13:39Panthro cried, Tiger sighed, and Chitara punched. They were all shocked to see Lion-O.
13:44Come on, Thundercats! Be smarter!
13:46Back to the story. Mum-Ra is glad of Wily-Cat's flawless betrayal, and guides his generals inside the magic cauldron.
13:53He commands the ancient spirits of evil to bestow his generals with ever-living power, so they could destroy the Thundercats.
13:59Meanwhile, Wily-Cat leads them through the drainage and into the pyramid.
14:03The Thundercats take down the reptilian guards in there without breaking a sweat, and easily enter the room Mum-Ra was in.
14:09As soon as Wily-Cat sees Mum-Ra by the cauldron, holding a chain that leash Wily-Kit he lunges at him.
14:14Panthro tries to stop him, as he and Lion-O would lead the attack.
14:18Mum-Ra calls him an ignorant fool for thinking he attacked, and tells Panthro and Wily-Cat just returned to his master.
14:25Wily-Cat asks Mum-Ra to release him and his sister, but as anyone would have expected, Mum-Ra laughs in his face.
14:30He is an evil undead wizard man. You thought he would keep his promise?
14:35Mum-Ra reminds Wily-Cat that he's the villain who eradicated his entire species, and he just saw Wily-Cat betray without batting an eye, so he didn't trust him.
14:43Sheetara uses the distraction to attack, but Mum-Ra throws her at the wall with his magic.
14:47To make sure Wily-Cat didn't come back to haunt him, Mum-Ra threw him into the bubbling magic cauldron.
14:52Mum-Ra then addressed the Thundercats, asking them not to blame Wily-Cat.
14:56It was Mum-Ra who had set things in motion years ago, and if they needed to blame someone, they didn't need to look further than their arrogant and stupid ruler.
15:04Mum-Ra's generals, who had been marinating in the magic cauldron, rise to attack than when Wily-Cat mourns her dead twin.
15:13The final standoff.
15:14As the fight between the generals and the Thundercats is bound to get super messy, Mum-Ra pulls Wily-Kit by her leash, telling her there's no need for his kitten to watch the carnage.
15:23And what a carnage it was! Five whole pages of Thundercats giving the mutant generals their just deserts.
15:29In his chamber, Mum-Ra asks Wily-Kit how it feels to have her brother betray her kingdom, see him killed in front of her eyes, and see her friends one last time before they too meet the same fate as her brother.
15:41Wily-Kit rightfully calls him a bastard, and Mum-Ra replies with a resounding slap.
15:46Now that she was showing some spirit, Mum-Ra realized she was useless to him, and she would just mourn and pout about her dead loved one.
15:52So he decides to free her, with advice not to join her friends if she wanted to live.
15:56Wily-Kit is a Thundercat after all, so she immediately joins the fight.
16:00Mum-Ra then asks his magic cauldron to transform his decaying form into a hulking fight ready body and wait for Lion-O to come to his death.
16:07Outside, Chitara and Wily-Kit team up and smash Monkey and Skull inside while Sly promises to bleed Lion-O as he wasn't allowed to kill him.
16:15That spirit does not last for long as within moments Lion-O throws him in the cauldron and he drowns.
16:20Lion-O asks his friends to manage, and enters Mum-Ra's chamber to get rid of him for good.
16:25Mum-Ra thanks Lion-O as soon as he sees him for allowing him to redecorate Thundera with his vision.
16:30And once he kills Lion-O, he plans to take over the entire universe.
16:33Lion-O promises to vanquish him, just like he vanquished his mutants, but Mum-Ra laughs at this as he knows his generals are all imbeciles.
16:40Mum-Ra didn't care about them, he only cared about Lion-O's sword.
16:44When Lion-O finds that out, he thrusts it to the floor, reminding him that Mum-Ra didn't need it to completely raise Thundera and he won't need it to vanquish Mum-Ra.
16:52With his bare hands, Lion-O attacks and keeps it up for a long time.
16:56And fortunately, Mum-Ra is stronger.
16:58He topples Lion-O and pulls out the sword to kill him.
17:01Panthro jumps in and his punch makes Mum-Ra drop the sword.
17:04He binds Mum-Ra's hands behind his back, allowing Lion-O to punch his chest.
17:09Immediately, Mum-Ra is reduced to ashes and Panthro says the two words everyone said while watching the Stranger Things finale.
17:16That's it?
17:17Lion-O has unfortunate news though.
17:19Mum-Ra would return.
17:21They hadn't killed him yet.
17:22He would return again and again and again until he was weakened enough to die.
17:26Chitara then asks Lion-O if he's learned any lesson today.
17:30His arrogance almost cost them their victory.
17:32She reminds him they were a team and it was not his battle to fight alone.
17:36Tigra adds that the code of Thundera is truth, honour, justice and loyalty.
17:40They were loyal to him and he needed to be loyal to them.
17:44Lion-O apologizes and tells them that whatever happened would always be his fault.
17:48Snarf, the voice of reason, speaks again and asks everyone to stop blaming as all that matters is the task ahead.
17:55Wily-Kit then leads them all outside to liberate the planet.
17:59As they leave, Mum-Ra is resurrected and he makes up his mind to return with more obstacles but for all that he needs is a general.
18:05Not any of the big brawned idiots he now had but someone stronger and cunning.
18:10He intends to train his general to be a wizard like him.
18:12To cast him in his image and someone they would at least expect as they thought he was dead.
18:17Mum-Ra might have lost Wily-Kit but he still had a lot of hopes for Wily-Cat.
18:22Oof, that was insane.
18:25I understand why people think this ruined their childhood though.
18:28One look at the comic would tell you that this is not child friendly.
18:32So many deaths and Wily-Kit is straight up called a concubine.
18:36Though it is super dark, you must admit the story is very captivating.
18:39It makes me want to read more too.
18:41I wonder how Mum-Ra would convince Wily-Cat to be a villain again against his own people when he's not a slave desperate for peace and freedom.
18:48I do think Thundercat's return is underrated and gets a bad rap because of the adult overtones.
18:54But the art is captivating and so is the plot.
18:57It should get the recognition it deserves.
18:59What do you think about the comic book?
19:01Let me know in the comments below.
19:02And if you liked the video, you know what to do, right?
19:05Like, share and subscribe.
19:08We will soon be back with more awesome stuff.
19:11Until there, take care.
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