If you were a child of the 80s then you grew up on a few staples. Saturday mornings probably consisted of you getting up around 8:00 AM grabbing a big bowl of Lucky Charms and parking your keister right in front of the TV. Yes, the 80s were the golden age of television for kids. Sure, I might be biased, but what else can you say about a decade that brought us Thundercats, Transformers, GI-Joe, Voltron, He-Man, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

The only problem with this is that each of these shows yield a great amount of nostalgic value; and that's about it. Going back to check stuff out from our childhood can be borderline painful at times. I can't tell you how many times I've stumbled upon an old Transformers or GI-Joe episode and had to hang my head in shame. Sure they were fun when you were younger, but seeing them again when you're older brings upon the realization that they were nothing more than 30 minute commercials for the newest crap toy from China. Sadly, I have to say that the same statement pretty much holds true for Thundercats.

Don't get me wrong; I loved Thundercats. Heck, even to this day I can still rattle off the laundry list of characters and can cite the theme song word for word. There's just something about revisiting the show now that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. It may have something to do with the terrible voice acting or possibly it's just the cheesy plots. Whatever the reason, this is a series that is reserved for only the most diehard fans to appreciate in its fullest.

Up to this point in the show (being season one), Thundercats has been following the same pattern with the same set of characters. Its popularity was probably the deciding factor in expanding the universe so that more toys could be sold to rugrats all over America. Regardless of marketing ploys or whatnot, one thing was certain; something in the show had to change. When the second season picked up a new group of Thundarians (Bengali, Pumyra, and Lynx-O) was introduced and the series started heading in a different, more refined direction.

Originally a "movie" or sorts, "Thundercats Ho!" was eventually split into five episodes and broadcast as the season's opener. The story felt much more dramatic and focused as a trio of Thundarians was found to be alive on Third Earth. They were transported there in the nick of time (before their planet went kaboom) by a group of RoBears (who we met in the first season). Anyways, Mumm-Ra discovers their presence thanks to a nifty bit of eavesdropping and sets out to capture them. Naturally once Lion-O and company find out about their brethren they quickly run to their aid and try to thwart the evildoer's plot.

"Thundrecats Ho!" was definitely a great way to kick things off for the second season and it's followed immediately buy yet another good five part arc. The tale takes place almost immediately following the first arc and features Mumm-Ra, near death, orchestrating events to yet again bring about the destruction of the Thundercats. He calls in the help of another group of reject bad guys to get the job done. In the interim the Thundercats are trying to build a new tower and Snarf's nephew, Snarfer, drops in to say hi.

From here the series flexes its muscles with the new cast of characters and goes through a slew of standalone episodes. They all range in quality to say the least and in most cases many of these are skippers. Some good ones to keep an eye out for are "Time Switch", "Mumm-Rana's Belt", and "Hachiman's Honor". A few more characters are introduced in these standalone episodes and they are followed by yet another five-part storyline called "ThunderCubs".

To say that the second season of Thundercats helped define the show would be an understatement. The tone changed a little bit and the addition of new characters helped breath life into the franchise. The episodes here are solid proof of that, though to be fair there are nearly equal parts good and bad.

Thundercats is a show that yet again is plagued by terrible dialogue, stiff acting, and sometimes poor animation. I suppose you could argue that it was just a sign of the times for when the show was produced, but that doesn't help the fact that it's plain embarrassing at points. If you have been collecting the show and consider yourself a Thunderfan then picking this set up is a no-brainer. However, if you have felt yourself scorned by going back to visit He-Man and Transformers (like many of us have) then you'll probably want to rent the show first to see how much you can take.

Thundercats is presented with a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio, which is what you'd expect from a cartoon that has hit the twenty year mark. The problem with this release is that Warner Brothers didn't exactly lift the hood to do any fine tuning. That means you can expect to see a ton of grain, shimmer, faded colors, and dirt in the transfer. You could argue that it maintains the nostalgic value of the show and symbolizes its age; but I'd call it laziness. Warner Brothers could have gone in and spruced things up a bit but they didn't. Heck, there aren't even chapter stops so hitting "next chapter" on your remote takes you to the end of the episode.

Thundercats on DVD comes with an audio treatment that is not too dissimilar from the video. That meaning we get the exact original content as it was broadcast twenty years ago, in the glory of English mono. The quality is generally decent for what the presentation is and everything sounds as clear as you'd expect. The audio comes with options for French as well as subtitles for English, French, and Spanish. The problem from the original release (involving missing audio) doesn't seem to be a problem this time around. Overall though the quality for the sound is pretty poor compared to other TV on DVD releases these days.

Throughout the course of releases for the Thundercats the extra features have left something to be desired. Sadly, this time around is no different. On the preview side of things there is a nice little montage of Superman clips advertising the various DVD releases and the trailer for Superman Returns. Fans of Thundercats may recognize the name Bernie Hoffer. There is a nice little feature about him and the music that he composed for the show, which is for some unknown reason bastardized by the Rembrandts. That's right, the Rembrandts. The music video not only features a bad rendition of the theme song but also some terrible green screen effects. It's so out of place and as painful to watch that I'd almost call it insulting.

The second season for the Thundercats kicks things of on a great note. This was a turning point for the show and where the fanbase really took hold. Many of the episodes on this set are great despite the fact that they haven't aged gracefully. The voice acting is still terrible and the aesthetic presentation is the same as it was back in the 80s when the show aired. Warner puts together a relatively disappointing set considering this show deserved to have some re-mastered audio and cleaned up video. Fans of the show will definitely want to pick this set up because it's where things start to get better for Lion-O and the crew.

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