Mandora - The Evil Chaser

Mandora - The Evil Chaser
Original Airdate:	September 20, 1985
Season	1
Episode Order Count	10
Episode Number:	010
Episode Crew
Written By:	William Overgard
Chronology
Previous Episode	The Garden of Delights
Next Episode	The Ghost Warrior

Mandora - The Evil Chaser is the tenth episode of the original Thundercats series.

Premise

Lion-O helps Mandora, an interstellar police officer, apprehend three of the worst criminals in the galaxy after he accidentally releases them.

Summary

While taking a walk through a field of long dried grass, Lion-O and Snarf come across what appears to be a giant blue metal container. Hearing voices coming from within it and thinking that someone inside might need help, Lion-O opens the pod, ignoring Snarf and the prominent "DANGER" warning written on the container.and ends up releasing the three captives inside it who immediately disappear in the grassy field but not before one of them, Quick Pick, steals the Sword of Omens and Snarf's Secret Coin Purse. Lion-O and Snarf try desperately to search for him in the grassy field but in vain.

They are startled by the arrival of Mandora, of the Interplanetary Control Force, on her Electro Charger. She is extremely annoyed and berates Lion-O for releasing three of the galaxy's most wanted evil-doers. She had left them there until they could be transported to the Gray Penal Planet. She then demands that Lion-O and Snarf help her apprehend the escaped prisoners as they are familiar with the surrounding areas. Lion-O agrees as this may be his only way to get the sword back and the three of them zoom of on the space bike.

Meanwhile, one of the escapees, Plutar, has made his way to the Living Ooze. He and the ooze decide to team up to take down the evil chaser. Mandora, Lion-O and Snarf arrive shortly and as Mandora tries to land on the thin riverbank next to the ooze, the anthropomorphic slime drags the trio and their vehicle towards itself and they become trapped in the ooze. However, Mandora manages to free herself and fires her "Enzyme catalyzer" at the ooze, immediately dissolving it. Plutar tries to attack her from behind but Mandora zaps him as well. Mandora then takes Plutar back to the cell sled on her Electro Charger while Lion-O and Snarf wait for her to return.

As soon as Mandora leaves, Lion-O hears the roaring of a motor which turns out to be Burnout, the second escapee, charging towards an unsuspecting grazing deer. Lion-O rescues the defenseless animal by rolling a giant boulder in the path of Burnout. The mechanical monster now turns his attention towards Lion-O and charges him. At that moment, Mandora arrives and she and the young lord manage to subdue Burnout. This time it is Lion-O's turn to take the prisoner to the holding cell while Mandora tries to locate Quick-Pick using a tracking device. She activates another tracker on her bike, which will help Lion-O to locate her.

While hot on Quick-Pick's trail, Mandora gets captured by Mudhogs and taken underground. There she finds Quick-Pick who is also one of their prisoners. When Lion-O arrives, he too is captured and tied by the hogs. He notices that the King of the Mudhogs has the Sword of Omens and Snarf's Coin Purse around his belt. Quick-Pick uses a distraction to steal the sword from the king and throws it towards Lion-O who loses no time in summoning his friends. The ThundereCats arrive shortly in the ThunderTank and Panthro uses the vehicles intense headlights to scare off the Mudhogs.

Moral

Snarf: "Remember what curiosity did to the cat".

Characters

• Burnout (1st appearance)
• Cheetara
• Lion-O
• Living Ooze (1st appearance)
• Mandora (1st appearance)
• Panthro
• Plutar (1st appearance)
• Quick Pick (1st appearance)
• Snarf
• Tygra
• Wilykat
• Wilykit
• MudHogs
  • Mudhog King (1st appearance)

Vehicles

• Sledge Cell
• Electro-charger
• ThunderTank

Locations

• River of Despair
• Cats Lair

Trivia

• This episode introduces us to the character of Quick Pick, one of the three villains hunted down by Lion-O, Snarf and Mandora. Quick Pick would later return as a reformed character in the episode "Mandora and the Pirates", a rare example of a ThunderCats villain changing his ways! The episode was also penned by William Overgard and would also mark the second appearance of Mandora, thus making the episode something of a sequel to this one.
• Snarf makes a reference to Thunderian currency when he mentions his "Tricentennial Thundera Half Dollars" and his "Lucky Jaga Penny" which were in his coin purse.
• Mandora refers to soap as an "ancient formula" indicating that Third Earth is our Earth but many centuries in the future.
• Quick Pick would appear again later in Mandora and the Pirates.

Animation Mistakes and/or Technical Glitches

• In the scene where Mandora is introducing herself, the black circle in the center of her helmet's side spikes is absent.

• Near the end when Lion-O says to Quick-Pick, "That is no ordinary sword you stole from me friend", the light colored patches surrounding his eyes are missing.

Inconsistencies/Continuity Errors and/or Goofs/Oddities

• Snarf's Secret Coin Purse has never appeared or even been mentioned in any previous or future episodes except this one. Also Snarf taking it with him while he and Lion-O are wandering outside makes no sense as he certainly would not be able to use the currency contained within the purse in any way. It would seem that the purse was nothing more than a "MacGuffin" in this story.

Quotes

Living Ooze: A curse on all that is green and clear, bright and white!"

Lion-O: What is *in* that gun?
Mandora: An ancient formula, now a closely-guarded secret. It used to be called "soap".

Mandora: Hop on. I'll give you a crash-course.
Snarf: It'll be a crash course, all right.

Mandora: What could you expect from an inexperienced oaf and a fuzzy shrimp?

Gallery

Living Ooze

Burnout

Plutar

Quick Pick and Lion-O

Quick Pick