ThunderCats: "Exodus" - The Lost Intro

A vivid memory for many ThunderCats fans is the first time that we saw the ThunderCats pilot. This pilot was available in two forms: broadcast as an hour-long special featuring “Exodus” and “The Unholy Alliance” edited together, and also as an official home video release featuring “Exodus”, “The Unholy Alliance”, “Berbils” and “The Slaves of Castle Plun-Darr”.

Whichever version of the pilot we saw, one of the most striking aspects of it was a special 1 minute 45 second introductory sequence, introducing the audience to the series’ main characters and to the show’s concept. This sequence (dubbed “The Lost Intro”, due to its absence from the stand-alone episode version of “Exodus”) has never been officially released, and so consequently a lot of fans haven’t seen it for many years. We’re proud to be able to present it to you here at ThunderCats.org!

Click on the video below (embedded from our YouTube channel) to view The Lost Intro!

Note: This is the version of the intro that was released on UK home video, and features different footage when introducing Panthro to the footage seen in the U.S. version!

A lot of fans were disappointed that The Lost Intro was absent from the ThunderCats DVD boxed sets released by Warner Bros. The reason for its absence is that the DVDs were authored from broadcast masters, and The Lost Intro was sadly never part of the stand-alone version of “Exodus” that was broadcast in syndication. It was only ever part of the ThunderCats pilot.

Narrated by the great Earl Hammond, The Lost Intro is exciting for a great many reasons, the most obvious one being its comparative rarity when compared to the episodes themselves. Another reason is because this intro actually marks the first appearance of many sequences of animation (such as Lion-O looking through the crossbars of the Sword of Omens asking for “Sight Beyond Sight”) that would go on to become recurring footage for the remainder of the series. Also, the intro features several sequences of animation that were never actually used in full as part of any other episode, although several of them were utilized in “Lion-O’s Anointment First Day: The Trial of Strength”.

We hope that you enjoy this exciting look at a piece of ThunderCats history!

Check out more scenes cut from the pilot version of “Exodus” here.