Episode 061 – Liono’s Anointment Final Day: The Trial of Evil

In which Liono gets a really stupid new outfit.

Oh, good God, I’d forgotten about this anointment business. It’s been ages since we heard about it. Luckily, the episode is good enough to provide a recap, even if it does pretend that we’re following straight on from where the fourth day left off. To complete his trials and achieve anointment, Liono must now defeat his most deadly enemy, and we all know who that is. In case you don’t know who that is, Wilykit is good enough to explain to us that it’s Mumm-Ra.

Liono starts off by making his way to the pyramid, where Jaga’s ghost pops up for a quick chat and to offer his advice, essentially suggesting Liono have a rest before tackling Mumm-Ra. Liono opts to disregard this suggestion, at which Jaga gets really sniffy and fades away making snarky, passive-aggressive remarks.

Jaga: “Well, that’s absolutely fine, Liono, of course, but don’t come crying to me when it all goes wrong.”

Very shortly, Liono comes under attack from the Mutants, who shoot at him with high explosives and inadvertently open up a sealed-off underground passage which leads right into an Ancient Egyptian style temple. There he meets a really angry lynx, who eventually calms down and explains that he’s called Maftat, and that he is a god, but that he has grown weak and feeble because no one has worshiped himself for thousands of years.

Liono’s eyes flick back and forth as he searches for possible escape routes from this obvious loony; spotting a door in the corner, he goes through with all the speed he can muster. He finds himself by an underground river, where luckily there is a freaky boatman waiting to row him along. After a well-staged and atmospheric but ultimately senseless scene, the boatman falls into the water and Liono is left in sole command of the boat, which he uses to punt along into the depths of the pyramid.

Boatman: “You’re nicked.”

As he navigates the river, Liono faces many threats, some of which are unnerving and some of which are just plain stupid. Eventually, he makes his way to Mumm-Ra’s headquarters, where he is attacked by Mumm-Ra in his Everliving format. For quite some time, Mumm-Ra has the upper hand, but soon Liono works out that the source of Mumm-Ra’s power is his sarcophagus. As such, he destroys the sarcophagus, and watches as Mumm-Ra dissolves away into nothingness.

Once he gets outside the pyramid, Liono meets Jaga’s ghost again, who clearly still feels a bit sore about Liono snubbing his advice earlier. Nonetheless, he grudgingly acknowledges that Liono has passed the tests and that his anointment is now complete. Full of joy, Liono returns to the Cats’ Lair, where he puts on a spiffy new red cloak and is crowned Lord of the Thundercats in front of a vast crowd. I don’t know who the hell this vast crowd is made up of, since heretofore the population of Third Earth has been shown to be rather limited; I suspect Panthro and Tigra have had to pay vast sums to a film and TV extras hiring agency.

Liono: “Tell me honestly, chaps: do I look like a bit of a twat in this get-up?”

The end of the episode reveals that Mumm-Ra has not actually died after all, which is none too surprising, since we all know we’ve got another 70 odd episodes of this bollocks to go. Probably he’ll be keeping a low profile for a little while though, otherwise the other Thundercats will realise Liono hasn’t defeated his worst enemy after all and thus deserves to be stripped of his anointment. Here’s hoping.

 

Character checklist

It’s principally the Liono and Mumm-Ra Show, with supporting appearances from Jaga’s ghost, Snarf, Panthro, Cheetara, Tigra, Wilycat, Wilykit, Slythe, Monkian, Jackalman, Maftat, some weirdo of a mole, the freaky boatman, and the entire crowd who inexplicably gathered to witness Liono’s coronation.

 

Insults

Mumm-Ra goes for the tired old “miserable Mutants” at an early stage, and also finds time to describe Liono as a “cub”. Not really worth mentioning, to be honest.

Mumm-Ra: “What’s for tea, lads?”

 

Thundercats Ho or Thundercats No?

It’s mostly a yes; it’s exciting, and the various challenges that Liono faces are varied enough that they don’t get dull. There are some moments which are genuinely well done; when the boatman turns round and reveals that he has no face, for example, it’s honestly rather creepy. In addition, the animators went all out for this one, producing some gorgeous and atmospheric backgrounds, especially towards the beginning as Liono approached the pyramid. The final battle with Mumm-Ra is suitably epic, and it’s easy to believe that Liono has finally triumphed.

If I had to make a criticism – and I do have to, you know me – it’s that some aspects of the episode just seem a little random. The inclusion of Maftat is perhaps the most jarring; it’s a scene that goes on for maybe two minutes, and it feels like it must be going somewhere, or that Maftat will prove to be relevant later. But no: once Liono leaves Maftat’s room, he’s forgotten about. Most Thundercats episodes have scenes of blatant time-wasting, and I’ll admit this Maftat business was more interesting than most, but that perhaps only serves to emphasise how pointless it was. It’s frustrating when a good idea gets introduced only to be dropped almost immediately.

Maftat: “The name’s Maftat, but I only ever get laughed at.”

But that’s just a minor point. On balance, this is a good episode, which serves to round off this story in style. It does feel vaguely like it ought to have been the season finale, but there’s every chance I’m not watching these in the right order, I suppose. Anyway, it’s an important episode that you shouldn’t miss.