Thundarr the Barbarian
Entry updated 27 April 2026. Tagged: TV.
US animated tv series (1980-1981). Ruby-Spears Productions for ABC. Created by Steve Gerber. Producer Jerry Eisenberg. Character designs by Alex Toth and Jack Kirby. Directors include Charles A Nichols, John Kimball, and Rudy Larriva. Writers include Buzz Dixon, Mark Evanier, Steve Gerber, Martin Pasko, Roy Thomas, and Christopher Vane. Voiced by Robert Ridgely, Nellie Bellflower, and Henry Corden. Music by Dean Elliott. 21 22-minute episodes. Colour.
Thundarr the Barbarian is set in a Far Future, approximately two thousand years after a rogue Comet passes between Earth and Moon in 1994, shattering the latter and causing a Disaster that reshapes human civilization. This Post-Holocaust world is ruled by Mutants, wizards and Mad Scientists (see also Secret Masters), who possess occult Magic as well as access to salvaged pre-catastrophe technologies; unmodified humans, whose civilization has regressed to pre-modern times, are threatened by extinction from mutated fauna (see Monsters) and new humanoid species such as rat-like Groundlings, reptilian Carocs or Vampire-like Morag's Raiders. The partially submerged or overgrown, but recognizable, ruined landmarks of mostly North American cities, such as the iconic Statue of Liberty (see New York; Ruined Earth; Ruins and Futurity), serve as memorable backdrops.
The central trio of protagonists comprises the titular Thundarr (Ridgely), a warrior of exceptional physical prowess; Princess Ariel (Bellflower), a skilled sorceress who serves as the group's brains; and Ookla the Mok (Corden), a leonine, largely nonverbal humanoid of great strength. The three travel on horseback through an episodic series of encounters in which a malevolent Villain – typically combining magic with Robots or other technological remnants of the old world – threatens a local human population.
Thundarr draws on the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom, Robert E Howard's Conan the Barbarian and almost certainly Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion sequences in a world of "savagery, super science, and sorcery", action venues discussed under Science and Sorcery, Sword and Sorcery, Science Fantasy and Planetary Romance; Thundarr transposes these materials onto an explicitly American post-apocalyptic landscape. Thundarr's own primary Weapon, the Sunsword, is a hilt that projects an energy blade, in a nod to variously named Moorcockian swords from the mid 1960s, as well as the light-sabres of Star Wars (1977); Ookla the Mock bears a clear visual resemblance to Chewbacca from the same film. Visually and thematically, the show shares elements with earlier Post-Holocaust television such as Planet of the Apes (1974), and even more with the animated Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975), and the post-apocalyptic Science Fantasy setting of the animated film Wizards (1977). In turn, its optimistic, American emphasis on the ability of wandering heroes to restore justice probably influenced the near-contemporary cartoon, Blackstar (1981), featuring an astronaut-turned-barbarian, and the more famous He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985), which also reuses many of its tropes.
The visual designs were by major Comics artists Jack Kirby, whose post-apocalyptic comic Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth (1972) was also a likely influence, and Alex Toth, who gave Thundarr a more distinct and well-executed style than the later He-Man. But despite decent writing and good ratings, the series suffered from a premature launch, before its planned Toy action figurine merchandise was ready; in the end, only a colouring book and a single Board Game were released. Unsupported by cash flow from merchandise, which would save He-Man, Thundarr was cancelled when ABC/Paramount allocated its timeslot for another show they (wrongly) thought would do better. Whitman Comics (see Gold Key Comics) planned to publish a comic book with scripts by John David Warner and art by Winslow Mortimer; an early draft with script and art was completed but never published due to Whitman's going out of the comics business, and can be considered lost media. Later sequels were considered but never realized until 2026, when a prequel comic series was published by Dynamite Entertainment, written by Jason Aaron with art by Kewber Baal. The complete series was released on DVD in 2010 and on Blu-ray in 2021.
Like many other animated works of its time with innovative settings, Thundarr the Barbarian has enjoyed a modest cult following. In the sf context it is notable as one of the first instances of the Post-Holocaust Ruined Earth theme appearing in Western animated Children's SF: an influential contribution to the late twentieth-century visual Science Fantasy megatext (see SF Megatext), as a vehicle through which many young viewers in the 1980s and 1990s were first introduced to a number of related tropes. [PKo]
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