In
“Treasure of the Moks,” Thundarr, Ookla and Ariel run afoul of Cordon, a
notorious pirate who leads the gang known as “the River Rats.”
The
River Rats and their leaders have been plundering every village on the river
for weeks, and now a Mok village is imperiled.
To
stop the pirates, Thundarr, Mok and Ariel must attack Cordon’s impressive
pirate ship, a modified U.S. Naval aircraft carrier from the 20th
century…
The
fifth episode of Thundarr the Barbarian, “Treasure of the Moks,” like its
predecessors, is noteworthy primarily for the imaginative visuals it crafts.
In
this case, there’s a fantastic sea-going vessel on display. It’s a pirate ship that is one part wooden
pontoons and one part a contemporary aircraft carrier. The vessel is huge, and the renderings of the
pirate ship do a fantastic job of conveying size. More than that, there is interesting detail
on the ship. Since the deck is flat,
there are tents, castle-ramparts and other “future” structures atop it. It’s like a sea-going village.
Also,
Cordon has armed the aircraft carrier with catapults, instead modern-day
turrets.
At
one point in the episode, Cordon takes the ship into the sea near an ancient
Naval Base, and the episode features visuals of a vast, Sargasso Sea (another
cult-television favorite theme…).
Seeing
vessels as imaginative as Cordon’s ship, I wish we had gotten a line of
Thundarr the Barbarian action figures and vehicles back in 1980. That would have been amazing.
In
terms of series continuity, there are two major points to consider about “Treasure
of the Moks.” First, we meet Ookla’s
people (including a female), but there is little or no discussion why Ookla
began traveling with Thundarr.
Secondly,
we learn in this episode that the sun sword is “locked” to Thundarr’s
hand-signature. Cordon steals it at one
point, but it is useless…the blade doesn’t extend or ignite. This raises the question: was the weapon
built for Thundarr? Or does he merely
know the secret of what, I assume, is a 20th century device.
Next
week: “Attack of the Amazon Women.”
John I am enjoying your reviews of THUNDARR. This series was an impressive Saturday morning show that I always watched as a boy in '80-'81. I consider it to be a perfect Saturday morning post-apocalyptic companion to ARK II and RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES. It would have been wonderful if the live-action ARK II had the budget to roam such fascinating landscapes. Ookla was Thundarr's Chewbaca the Wookie! :)
ReplyDeleteJohn have you ever considered writing a book on the "golden age" of Saturday Morning Television '60s to '80s or '60s to '90s? Children today will never know what Saturday mornings meant to us in the '70s.
SGB
Hi SGB:
DeleteThat is a book I would LOVE to write. It might have to be three volumes though, because there is just so much material to delve into...I have been thinking about a book that covers live action separately, and probably in the 1970s. That way I could look back at Land of the Lost, Monster Squad, Run Joe Run, Ark II, Jason of Star Command, Ark II, etc. Thank you for a great comment!