ThunderCats (Original Series): Season Two, Volume One
Featuring action-packed adventures from the Third Earth, the legend of the ThunderCats and their struggle to defeat the evil Mumm-Ra continues in ThunderCats: The Complete Second Season, Volume 1. Included in the collection are the multi-episode sagas ThunderCats Ho!, Mumm-Ra Lives and ThunderCubs, along with 15 other standalone episodes that continue the mythology of this classic animated series. After a hopeful end to Mumm-Ra, the ThunderCats imagine they can live on their planet in peace; yet they are in for a dreadful surprise. Not only is Mumm-Ra alive, and more intent on destroying the Cats than ever, but the ThunderCats fearsome enemies the Luna-Taks of Plun-Darr are released from the lava pits where they were have been entombed. Will Lion-Os wits and his Sword of Omens be enough to protect them?
Amazon.com The epic Thundercats saga comes to a close with volume 1 of the top-rated Rankin-Bass animated series' second and final season. As with the premier season, the storylines in season 2 are nothing short of epic and filled with momentous changes, most immediate and notable being the decision to deliver the season in several multi-part episodes. First up is the five-parter "Thundercats Ho!" which brings aboard three new Thunderians who also survived the destruction of the T-cats' home planet and landed on Third Earth; Lion-O and the others battle the evil Mumm-Ra to save their companions, and the struggle ends with what appears to be the destruction of Mumm-Ra. But of course, the villain persists, and with the help of his henchman Ma-Mutt, revives for a second five-parter (titled, appropriately enough, "Mumm-Ra Lives!"), and unleashes a new horde of sinister monsters--the Luna-tacks--who prove more formidable than any of Mumm-ra's previous mutant armies (so powerful, in fact, that one damages the Sword of Omens). "Mumm-Ra Lives!" also serves as an introduction to another new face in the Thundercats family: Snarfer, nephew to longtime comic relief Snarf. Fifteen stand-alone adventures follow before the last of the multi-parters for the set, "Thundercubs," in which several of the heroes are turned into youthful versions of themselves. Four more individual episodes round out the set, but an additional 30 were produced before the series came to a close in 1986. Quality-wise, the episodes are full-frame and presented in Dolby Digital mono, but lack the remastering that some fans may have hoped for. Extras are somewhat more irreverent this time around: there's a nine-minute featurette on the series' composer, Bernie Hoffner, who is interviewed along with several producers, as well as the pop band the Rembrandts (best known for performing the theme for Friends), who are also seen banging out a power-pop version of the Thundercats theme. Hoffner also gets his own "video," in which he provides a solo take on the song. --Paul Gaita
