Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Thundarr the Barbarian: "Attack of the Amazon Women" (November 8, 1980)

In “Attack of the Amazons,” Thundarr, Ariel and Ookla become involved in a battle involving Amazon warriors and innocent villagers. 

The leader of the Amazons is Strya, a web-fingered wizard and shark-woman from the sea capable of summoning a deadly beast called the Kraken.

As Thundarr and his friends learn, the Amazons and Strya seek a weapon at the bottom of the sea, a nuclear missile from 2000 years earlier, from before the apocalypse….

Amazon women have appeared frequently through cult-TV history, on series as diverse as Wonder Woman and Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century (“Planet of the Amazon Women,”) and this week’s episode of Thundarr the Barbarian (1980 – 1982) features them as well. 

Unfortunately, these legendary, strong women are not treated with tremendous amounts of respect in the teleplay. For instance, when Ookla learns of an army of female warriors, he actually laughs. This point of view doesn’t make a lot of sense given Ookla’s friendship with the powerful Ariel, who is capable of hypnosis, telekinesis, not to mention the manifestation of energy beams and force-fields. 

Ookla’s contempt also doesn’t make sense because he lives in a world 2000 years away from mid-20^th century stereotypes about women. To some extent, the episode recovers by featuring a battle of the female wizards -- Strya vs. Ariel -- but the Ookla giggles are tough to get past.   It’s always weird and off-putting when a writer’s biases make it to air, and stick out like a sore thumb.

If “Attack of the Amazon Women,” doesn’t tread very forward-thinking ground in terms of its narrative, the same can’t be said of the (again) impressive visualizations. The episode is set at the ruins of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The sculptures of the four presidents are damaged -- one chief executive has lost the top of his head -- and stand on the edge of a large sea.

The visuals suggest not only that an earthquake or other disaster has damaged the famous monument, but that the very shape of the sea has been altered too.  It’s intriguing to see Thundarr and his friends at Mount Rushmore, but having absolutely no knowledge of its importance.

Next week: “The Brotherhood of Night.”