I think I’ve seen a cute kitten

Student: Graziano, Eleonora

In the 80’s, there were many television shows that children watched and enjoyed. Particularly, there was one that never failed to amuse them and keep them hushed for half an hour: Thundercats. The Thundercats abandon Thundera, the planet where they live, just before it is destroyed. Barely a few Thunderans remain. They set course for the nearest planet and they design a fortress there. Mumm-Ra who is the embodiment of evil, in companionship of the Mutants, becomes a constant threat for the Thundercats. But, the Thundercats’ leader (Lion-O) along with his weapon, the “Sword of Omens”, helps his friends survive.

This show was an original and dynamic series that was impossible to dislike. These heroic human-feline-like creatures fight against the evil forces with a fierce sense of companionship. Furthermore, the best bit about the series is that it had friendship as the central part of its adventures and it adopted many of the motifs predominant in cartoons at that time.

What’s good about this show is that all the events that take place in each episode are all related to the main idea in the series: the team members must trust each other to fight their enemies. The world that surrounds them must be explored but they must lighten their curiosity cautiously by working together. Every episode has a clear sense of friendship which is the main lesson the audience would get from the series. As in real life, what the characters find in the relationship with their friends is loyalty, comprehension, mutual interests, generosity and honesty which are the true values of friendship.

Taking into account the motifs which were predominant in cartoons in the 80’s, we could find that hidden symbolism was established at that time all through many series such as Thundercats, G.I. Joe, He-Man and others. The hidden symbolism is found through make-believe creatures, magical super powers, enchantments and astrological prediction. Thundercats are super heroes with a mythology theme. Motifs are symbolic and keep appearing to reinforce the main themes in the story. It felt like you were getting educated while watching it.

For instance, Lion-O in Thundercats owns ‘The Sword of Omens’ which makes him more powerful. Whereas in He-Man, Prince Adam has a sword (the Grayskull Sword) that magically transforms him from an ordinary man into He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe. As in Thundercats, the plot revolves around the noble forces battling against malicious creatures. These series allowed large, muscular characters and they also began to focus on advertising towards young children. Of course, from a business point of view, it was all to publicize toy lines

To be fair with the rest of the cartoons from that time, such as He-Man, Mazinger Z or G.I. Joe, we can’t say that Thundercats was the best of them but it was one of the most striking television cartoons ever. Thundercats was a great show with amazing characters and outstanding episodes. It was about the lessons each of the Thundercats, or we, learned along the way more than whom defeats whom. People who grew up in the 80’s would remember coming home from school and sitting down in front of the TV watching Thundercats and having so much fun. After all, “Thundercats are (still) on the move, Thundercats are (still) loose”.