Thundarr The Barbarian: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)

Blu-Ray Reviews | Apr 27th, 2021

Thundarr The Barbarian: The Complete Series (Blu-Ray)
Warner Bros. Image used with permission for review purposes.

Starring: Robert Ridgely, Nellie Bellflower, Henry Corden
Written By: Buzz Dixon, Martin Pasko, Mark Evanier, Ted Peterson, Steve Gerber, Christopher Vane
Directed By: Steve Gerber, Joe Ruby, Ken Spears
Studio: Warner Bros. Archive
Buy On Amazon.com

The last time I watched Thundarr the Barbarian, it was reviewing the DVD on this site back in 2010. Now the cult classic animated series from the 80s is available on Blu-Ray this time. So I guess in 10 years from now, I’ll review the 4k version? Fans of 80s cartoons will want to pick this one up!

Thundarr the Barbarian takes place about 2000 years after 1994, and Earth is really different. There’s wizards, weird villains, aliens, etc. Thundarr and his friends, Princess Ariel and Ookla The Mok go on lots of adventures and help people out. They battle mystical and strange people & creatures in this “future” Earth. That’s all you pretty need to know about this series. It’s like Star Wars meets Conan The Barbarian meets Flash Gordon. A mixture of Sci-fi, fantasy and adventure and the reason why it was a fun show back in the day.

Thundarr The Barbarian is pure nostalgia at this point. It’s a nice collectible to own, and put on when you want to relive your childhood. Doesn’t get much better than Saturday Morning Cartoons in the 80s. This show always had a mixture of a few things I liked, but I wouldn’t put it at the top of my favorites for Saturday Morning cartoons. Herculoids, Shirt Tales, Speed Buggy and Laff-A-lympics were my top favorites. Definitely a top 10 favorite though.

I never realized that Thundarr was voiced by Robert Ridgely, who played Boris the Hangman in Blazing Saddles and other movies. Henry Corden voiced Ookla but also Fred Flintstone in the Flintstones after Alan Reed’s death. Corden also did a lot of the other characters on the show as well. Nellie Bellflower, who voiced Princess Ariel went on to voice and act in other things, as well as become a producer for a few Oscar nominated movies.

If you never owned Thundarr on video before and craving some 80s nostalgia, this is a worthy upgrade from the DVD. The quality is noticeably better and worth buying this. There’s one bonus feature called Lords of Light: The Story of Thundarr the Barbarian, which I believe was from another set previously released? The show is a weird one, when I look back at it but it’s still a fun one to put on. I’m surprised Warner Bros hasn’t rebooted this show in some way, even if it was rehashed as an Adult Swim sort of thing like they did for Space Ghost or Sealab. Either way, Thundarr fans will want to own this Blu-Ray set. If you don’t want to own, there’s also the option to stream the series as well.

Features:
Lords of Light: The Story of Thundarr the Barbarian

Video:
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)

Subtitles:
English SDH

Bottom Line: A fun trip down memory lane, 2000 years later on planet Earth.
Running Time: 432 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

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