The one everyone misdates
ThunderCats Ho! The Movie
Three more Thunderians turn out to have survived, and the rescue that follows was broadcast in America as a two hour television movie before a shorter cut reached British videotape. It is dated 1985, 1986 and 1987 across reference works, and all three years are describing different things.
- Broadcast1 October 1986, US syndication
- UK videotapeNovember 1987
- Runtime91 minutes
- FormatTV movie, then UK VHS
- Built fromThe five part ThunderCats Ho! arc
- WriterLeonard Starr
- DVD or Blu-rayNever released
- StreamingNot available
The story
What happens
Lion-O is haunted by dreams of the Thunderians left behind when Thundera fell. Jaga tells him that three of them survived: Lynx-O, Bengali and Pumyra, picked up by the Berbils and living on Third Earth.
Mumm-Ra reforms the Berserkers under Hammerhand and takes the three prisoner, luring the ThunderCats to Fire Rock Mountain, whose gasses strip a Thunderian of their strength. Lion-O loses the Sword of Omens in an avalanche. Hachiman, under Mumm-Ra’s influence, very nearly kills him.
Jaga arrives with the Star of Thundera after defeating Grune the Destroyer. Mumm-Ra seizes it and it turns on him. The three survivors are anointed as ThunderCats at Cat’s Lair.
Built from
The 5 episodes behind it
Every part has its own page here, with the full synopsis, production notes and screencaps.
The version question
What the tape is missing
The video version is shorter than the five episodes, not longer. Several sequences were cut for the tape, and one of the cuts leaves a hole in the story that the broadcast version does not have.
The defence of the island
The extended battle as the Berserkers storm the Berbil island, with Thunderians and Berbils manning improvised weapons, is mostly gone. It leaves the islanders looking defenceless when they were not.
Lion-O and the Snowman
The confrontation that explains how the Snowman’s lance comes to be broken is cut, so on the tape the lance is simply broken with no cause given.
The Mutants argue
Slithe, Monkian and Jackalman debating whether to defy Mumm-Ra while the Snowman tends to Lion-O.
Ma-Mutt’s introduction
Lion-O’s first meeting with Ma-Mutt at Mumm-Ra’s pyramid.
The Berserkers and the gold
The crew arguing over their shares of Mumm-Ra’s payment.
The nunchaku edit
Panthro’s nunchaku were censored throughout the UK run. In the title sequence the shot was deleted outright rather than replaced, so the UK tape has an abrupt jump partway through the theme.
A correction
Why the year keeps changing
| Date given | What happened then | Who prints it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 October 1986 | US syndicated television premiere, all five parts in a single broadcast | Wikipedia, citing The Pantagraph, 27 September 1986 |
| 10 September 1986 | Air date recorded against the movie entry | TheTVDB |
| November 1987 | UK videotape release on The Video Collection | Sources split between 2 and 16 November |
| 1987 | Title year used by film databases, taken from the tape | Letterboxd, TMDB, JustWatch, Plex |
| 1985 | Listed as the release year, with nothing supporting it | IMDb |
It premiered as a syndicated television movie in the United States on 1 October 1986 and reached UK videotape in November 1987. The 1985 listing appears to be a straightforward error, most likely confusion with Exodus, which is genuinely a 1985 release.
Voices
The cast
- Larry KenneyLion-O, Jackalman
- Earle HymanPanthro, Cruncher
- Earl HammondJaga, Mumm-Ra, Vultureman, Snowman, Hammerhand
- Lynne LiptonCheetara, WilyKit
- Peter NewmanTygra, WilyKat, Bengali, Monkian, Hachiman
- Bob McFaddenLynx-O, Snarf, Slythe, Grune, Ratar-O
- Gerrianne RaphaelPumyra
Where to watch
Out of print since videotape
The feature cut cannot be watched legally anywhere. It was issued on UK videotape in 1987 and has never been reissued on DVD, Blu-ray or any streaming service. The five episodes it was built from are widely available: the 1985 series streams on Hulu, including through the Disney+ bundle, and can be bought on Amazon Video and the Apple TV Store.
Worth knowing
Where the record is shaky
- This is often called the opening arc of season two. It is the 1986 five parter that bridges seasons one and two. The arc that actually opens season two is Mumm-Ra Lives!, broadcast in 1987.
- A persistent fan account holds that the film was planned for cinemas and pulled back to television after other 1986 toy features underperformed. It appears only as uncited database trivia and no reporting from the period supports it.
- A director credit of Katsuhito Akiyama is carried by several databases but does not appear on IMDb. Rankin/Bass series direction was credited to studio staff, so a single director credit for a compiled feature is partly a database convention.
Questions
About ThunderCats Ho!
Is ThunderCats Ho! a real movie?
Yes. It was broadcast in the United States as a single two hour television movie on 1 October 1986 and later released on videotape in Britain. It was never shown in cinemas.
Is ThunderCats Ho! the start of season two?
No, although it is very widely described that way. It is the 1986 five part story that sits between seasons one and two. Season two opens with Mumm-Ra Lives! in 1987, which was also broadcast as a television movie but never released on tape.
Where can I watch ThunderCats Ho! The Movie?
Nowhere, legally, in this cut. It has never been released beyond the 1987 UK videotape. The five episodes it was assembled from are available on Hulu, including through the Disney+ bundle, and to buy from Amazon and Apple TV.
Is the movie the same as the five episodes?
No. The tape is shorter. Several scenes were cut, including most of the defence of the Berbil island and the confrontation that explains how the Snowman’s lance is broken, which leaves a small continuity hole in the video version.
Why do sites list 1985, 1986 and 1987 for this film?
Because they are dating different events. American sources use the 1986 television broadcast, film databases use the 1987 videotape because that was the only version sold as a product, and the 1985 listing on IMDb has no source behind it.