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''Thundarr the Barbarian'' was a Saturday Morning Animated cartoon show, produced by Ruby-Spears Productions . It was broadcast during the early 1980s . CONCEPT AND CHARACTERS Twenty-one half-hour episodes were produced by Ruby-Spears Productions -- an independent animation house formed by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, the uncredited co-creators of Scooby-Doo -- from October 1980 to September 1982 , when the show went off the air. The show ran on the ABC Network . Reruns of the program appeared on NBC 's Saturday morning lineup in 1983 . The show was set in a future (at the time of production) Post-apocalyptic Wasteland divided into kingdoms or territories--the majority of which are ruled by Wizards --and whose Ruins typically featured recognizable geographical features from the United States , such as Mount Rushmore , New York City , or Washington, DC . Other episodes with recognizable settings are located in Central America , while one is in London . Another notable feature of this future Earth is that the Moon is now in two pieces, though both pieces still orbit in close proximity to one another, and seem to orbit at roughly the same height as the intact Moon once did. The shattered moon and the ruins of the former human civilization were supposedly caused by the passage of a comet between the Earth and the Moon, which, from scenes shown in the opening sequence, caused radical changes in the Earth's climate, geography, and tidal effects, the latter presumably because of the damage to the Moon. However, by the time period in which the series is set, the Earth and Moon seem to have settled into a new balance. In this setting, Thundarr, a muscular warrior, and his companions Princess Ariel (who was a formidable sorceress) and the Wookiee -like ''' Ookla The Mok ''' battled evil Wizard s who combined magical spells with technologies from the pre-catastrophe world. Further '' Star Wars '' influences can be seen in Thundarr's weapon of choice, the "Sun Sword", which projects a blade-like beam of energy when activated, and can be deactivated so that it is only a Hilt . The Sun Sword is magically linked to Thundarr and as such, only he can use it. Bob Ridgely was Thundarr's Voice Actor , frequently uttering such pronouncements as "Demon dogs!" and "Lords of Light!". Princess Ariel was played by Nellie Bellflower . Henry Corden was Ookla. Comic book writer-artist ''), the main characters were in fact designed by fellow comic book writer-artist Alex Toth , who also designed the popular character Space Ghost for Saturday morning television. Toth, however, was unavailable to continue working on the show, so most of the wizards and other Villain s and secondary characters that appear on the show were designed by Kirby. He was brought onto the show at the recommendation of Gerber and comics and animation veteran Mark Evanier, who realized that the same imagination that produced Kamandi could contribute signifcantly to the series. Indeed, the evil wizard Gemini, the only repeating villain on the show, resembles Darkseid , an infamous Kirby villain. The show itself was actually the creation of comic writer Steve Gerber , creator of Marvel Comics' Howard The Duck . The name ''Ookla'' actually comes from UCLA . Gerber and friend Martin Pasko were having dinner in the Westwood area one night during the time Gerber was writing the bible for the series. Gerber commented to Pasko that he hadn't yet decided upon a name for the Wookiee-like character the network insisted be added to the series, over Gerber's objections. As the two walked past the gate to the UCLA campus, Pasko quipped, "Why don't you call him 'Ucla'?" Pasko later became one of several screenwriters also known for their work in comics, such as Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, to contribute to the show. After writing several scripts, singly and in collaboration with Gerber, Pasko became a story editor on the second season. Other writers included Buzz Dixon and Mark Jones. The opening narration to the show is as follows: ''The year: 1994 . From out of space comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! Man's civilization is cast in ruin!'' EPISODES AND LOCATIONS Season 1 (1980-1981)
Season 2 (1981-1982)
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