Excalibur
- Studio
- Rankin-Bass Productions, Pacific Animation Corporation
- Distributor
- Telepictures Corporation
Synopsis
The Ancient spirits of evil show Mumm-Ra the story of King Arthur, and explain to him that the strongest sword that ever existed was Excalibur, Arthur's weapon. Mumm-Ra disguises himself as Arthur, and returns to lake where the lady of the lake guards the sword. Fooled by his disguise, the lady gives Mumm-Ra Excalibur. The disguised Mumm-Ra challenges Lion-O to a dual, and Lion-O foolishly accept the challenge. The sword clash, and Excalibur is victorious. The eye of Thundera is split in two, and the ThunderCats become powerless. Merlin, Arthur's teacher and a famous magician stops Mumm-Ra from destroying the ThunderCats, and restores the eye to its original state.
Characters
Lion-O, JackalMan, Cheetara, Wilykit, Luna, Queen Luna, Tygra, Wilykat, Monkian, Panthro, Red-Eye, Hammer-Hand, Captain Cracker, Grune The Destroyer, Mongor, Mumm-Ra, Tug-mug, Amok, Snarf, Slythe
Credits
Producing
- Producer
- Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr (Executive Producers)
- Supervising Producers
- Peter Bakalian, Lee Dannacher
Writing
- Writer
- Peter Lawrence
- Head Writer
- Leonard Starr
- Based on Characters Created By
- Ted Wolf
- Script Supervisor
- Peter Lawrence
Voices
- Voice
- Larry Kenney (Lion-O, JackalMan), Lynne Lipton (Cheetara, Wilykit, Luna, Queen Luna), Peter Newman (Tygra, Wilykat, Monkian), Earl Hyman (Panthro, Red-Eye, Hammer-Hand, Captain Cracker, Grune The Destroyer, Mongor), Bob McFadden (Snarf, Slythe), Earl Hammond (Mumm-Ra, Tug-mug, Amok)
Music
- Music
- Bernard Hoffer
Animation
- Animator
- Tsugu Kubo, Minoru Nishida, Katsuhito Akiyama, Akihiko Takahashi, Yukimatsu Ito, Yuji Yatabe, Kazafumi Nomura (Pacific Animation Corporation)
Art Department
- Secondary Character Design
- Jim Meskimen
Visual Effects
- Effects
- Peter Cannarozzi
Production Management
- In Charge of Production
- Masaki Iizuka
- Production Staff
- Tony Giovanniello, Matthew Malach, Connie Long, Heather Winters
Crew
- Project Development
- Leisure Concepts
- Psychological Consultant
- Robert Kuisis
- Recording Staff
- John Curcio (Dialogue), Michael Farrow (Music), Tom Perkins (Editorial), Larry Franke (Editorial)
Companies and other credits
- Project Development: Inc
Production notes
ThunderCats was first marketed in 1983, but the series was not released until two years later.
The services of psychologist Robert Kuisis, Ph.D. were retained to ensure that ThunderCats offered children moral guidance. Dr. Kuisis reviewed each episode throughout production; as well, he offered comments on each show in a "Synopses and Morals" booklet given to TV stations.
"The anime style was introduced into the design to allow our Japanese animators to inject some of their creativity," recalled executive producer Arthur Rankin, Jr.
The services of psychologist Robert Kuisis, Ph.D. were retained to ensure that ThunderCats offered children moral guidance. Dr. Kuisis reviewed each episode throughout production; as well, he offered comments on each show in a "Synopses and Morals" booklet given to TV stations.
"The anime style was introduced into the design to allow our Japanese animators to inject some of their creativity," recalled executive producer Arthur Rankin, Jr.