Thundercats:A Scientific Analysis
Tracy Butler and Seth C. Triggs


Preface
Many people have become fans of the widely popular cartoon known as ThunderCats. The wholesome premise, the sometimes outstanding artwork, and the imaginative, yet somewhat realistic plots contriublte to a general enjoyability of this show. In fact, this show has inspired some of its fans to write their own stories based upon the show.
However, as good as the show is, there is an inordinate amount of scientific inaccuracy within it. For example, the show's characters routinely violate the laws of physics, among other things. This makes it increasingly difficult to write beleivable fanfiction.
In this document, we hope to bring to light some of the problems, and offer a possible explanation. However, since there is less than adequate material to base any claims on, all problems are constructed as pure theory.
Note: All temporal claims dealing with Third Earth assume that Third Earth is present-day Earth.

1. Temporal (Time) Problems
1.1 Mumm-ra and Grune's purported ages
In various episodes, Mumm-ra is claimed to be an Egyptian mummy-priest, apparently from the period of time when the Pyramids were constructed (circa 2000 B.C.). His age is sometimes suggested to be 2000 years in quite a few episodes. Therefore, if Mumm-ra is actually an Egyptian mummy-priest, and is 2000 years old, then that means that the Thundercats universe exists around 1A.D. Since there are robot bears with freewill, and space travel, we can logically assume that either Mumm-ra's age has been miscalculated, and/or he is not an Egyptian mummy-priest.
Corroborating this statement is the fact that around 1A.D. there were a few large human societies, including the Romans. Certainly these groups should have shown up.
Hower, Mumm-ra has fought Wiz-ra, apparently in Ancient Egypt. Since it is said that Wizz-ra can only resurface every 7000 years, Mumm-ra could be at least 7000 years old. Mumm-Ra's age is -never- directly stated only vaguely hinted at; in fact the best indication is that Mumm-Ra is at least 7,000 years old.  This age is based on Mumm-Ra's telling of his last battle with Wiz-Ra.  This battle resulted in Wiz-Ra being sent to the 7th dimension which, of course, Wiz-Ra can only escape from once every 7000 years. This would then prove that Mumm-Ra himself must be at least that old and is likely even older.1

However, it is not really likely that this period of time (given that any sort of genetic engineering would have surfaced around the present day, leaving only about 2000-3000 years to both produce a new genetic strain, and then move that new race to a far-flung planet in the next galaxy, with warp drive and such not being feasible.

Then, we have the problem of Grune (the Ghost warrior)'s age. In the episode Ghost Warrior, it is stated clearly several times that Grune terrorized people centuries ago (making him hundreds of years old). Also, Jaga fought Grune, and, they were once friends. We shall now set some ages for time reference:

Jaga (who fought Grune at one time).......±60
..............(when fighting Grune)....±45-50
Claudus and Jaga are the same age, by the way...

To disprove that Grune actually terrorized people centuries before the time of the Thundercats, we should compare the features of Jaga and Grune, who fought at one time. Jaga was already showing signs of aging (gray hair, etc.), while Grune was still shockingly young. In fact, Grune would appear to be around 30 years old.
What confuses this entire point is that the current Thundercats have no recollection of Grune, even though Grune apparently fought Jaga in their time (logically, then the eldest Thundercats, Lynx-O, Tygra, Panthro, and Cheetara should know at least of Grune).
Therefore, Grune has been the victim of a miscalculation of age. With the evidence before us, there should be no way that Grune could live hundreds of years (especially when he was a mortal being up until his exportion to Third Earth). If Grune were hundreds of years old, that would make Jaga hundreds of years old, as well as Claudus (who is the same age as Jaga). Claudus then would logically not be able to father Lion-O.

1From Bruce Grubb
1.2 Failure of the ThunderKittens to age in the 5+ years spent on Third Earth
This one is especially puzzling to fanfiction writers and viewers of the show alike. Logically, the Thundercats spent at least 5 years on Third Earth. Since the Thunderkittens were older than Lion-O before the great exodus, and Lion-O was about 8-10 years old (this is determined by taking the figure of 18 years from the anointment trials, and subtracting the 10 years Lion-O aged in his suspension capsule), so the Thunderkittens were at least 9-11 years old. This means that by the time that they leave Third Earth [The Last Day], the Thunderkittens should be at least 14-16 years old. This is the period of rapid development known as puberty. Therefore, there should have also been a rapid development of their bodies, as well as secondary sex characteristics (most notably, the development of breasts for Wilykit). Yet, this did not happen.
This is probably the result of a "cartoon character" syndrome, where the characters do not noticeably age, unless essential to a mini-plot (as in episodes dealing with the Cave of Time). However, this makes it very difficult to write beleivable fanfics.

1.3 Lion-O's mysterious aging in the suspension capsule [Exodus]
This one has puzzled a lot of fanfiction writers, and viewers of the show. How is it that Lion-O aged so dramatically, while his companions did not noticeably age? There are two major possibilities:
a. Jaga purposely did not include enough suspension gas within Lion-O's capsule, so that Lion-O could age and be old enought to lead the Thundercats on Third Earth.
b. The suspension capsule malfunctioned, and caused some gas to leak out, not allowing Lion-O to slow down his aging.
As far as we can tell, these may be the only two logical explanations of the aging. Adding to this problem is the fact that there is a lot of confusion regarding Lion-O's age. The Toonami (Cartoon Network) bumpers give his age as 24, yet since he was 8-10 when Thundera exploded, and roughly 5 years were spent on Third Earth (plus the 10 in suspension), that would make Lion-O about 23.

1.4 The Mutants' vs. the Thundercats' arrival times on Third Earth [Exodus]
The Mutants are clearly shown attacking the Thundercats before the destruction of Third Earth (and, in fact, boarded the royal cruiser in an ill-fated attempt to steal the Sword of Omens). After the Thundercats enter suspension, Lion-O mysteriously ages (see section 1.3) and Jaga dies from old age, they land on Third Earth where the SAME mutants attack them, without any aging whatsoever. From this, it would seem that the Mutants can cover vast amounts of distance without suspension (for an idea of how far apart Thundera and Third Earth are, see section 2.1). This is highly unlikely. One suggestion might be that many of the mutants are cloned somewhat or share the same characteristics.

1.5 Hammerhand's Resurrection
Hammerhand and the other Berzerkers died at the end of the episode "The Terror of Hammerhand" and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.  This is strenghtened by the fact that Mumm-Ra summons Hammerhand's ghost to possess the Panthro clone's body in the later episode "Spitting Image".  However, somewhere between then and some later episodes, like the "Thundercats HO!" miniseries and "Together We Stand", the Berzerkers are present and definately alive, yet these episodes also definately take place after the ghost episode.  The only explanation I can think of is that they did not actually die, and what we witnessed in "Spitting Image" was astral projection of some sort, and not actual ghostliness.

1.6 Problems with Hachi-man
Hachi-man was originally introduced in The Thunder-Cutter as a Samurai that Mumm-Ra summoned from Third Earth's distant past.  In Hachi-man's Honor, according to Jaga, Hachi-man is sentback to his own time.  So how did Hachi-man return to the present to play his role in The Jade Dragon?

-From Bruce Grubb
2. Distance/Transit problems
2.1 Disparate amount of time necessary to travel between Third Earth and New Thundera between first and last seasons
In the first episode, [Exodus], the Thundercats had to use suspension capsules to reach Third Earth, because of the great distance involved. Since Third Earth is our earth, in the Milky Way galaxy, and the nearest galaxy is Andromeda (M31), at 2 million Light Years.  It is not known nor can it be determined how long it took to reach Third Earth, but it was expressed that it took years, meaning that the Thundercats were traveling at around or greater than the speed of light (297 600 km/s).
In that episode, Panthro comments that due to damage caused by the Mutants, the royal cruiser could not reach its target galaxy (the Milky Way). Even at Star Trek: The Next Generationwarp 10 (10 000 X the speed of light), that is a 300 year trip.
However, after the episode Feliner, and the invention/appearance of the megacondenser, the time required to travel through space decreased dramatically. In fact, great distances seemed to be able to be covered in a matter of hours.
During the Thundercubs / Return to Thundera series, the Thundercats could quickly travel between New Thundera and Third Earth. Since no amount of time was given, we shall assume it takes 6 hours to travel between planets (this is assumed, because the Thundercats do not use suspension capsules, and very few supplies are brought along.
New Thundera should be located at the same place as Old Thundera, in the Andromeda galaxy.) Therefore, New Thundera is about 2 million or more light years from Third Earth.

6 hours is 1/1460th of a year.
So 2,000,000 LY trip in 6 hours is 2,000,000/(1/1460) = 2,000,000 X 1460 = 2,920,000,000 or 2.920 X 109 times the speed of light or about warp 233 in ST:NG terms.

That should be patently improbable, since the energy required to create enough power to provide that propulsion would be quite enormous. We have to work with the principle of conservation of energy, and we need energy to make energy. There is probably not enough energy in existence to create that amount of power. But again, this is all in theory.

--Revised by Bruce Grubb

Patrick Schulz writes:

Speaking on the Distance problem between Thundera/New Thundera and Third Earth, I must say that it is possible, but not probable.

A wormhole (The linking of the quantum singularities at the core of black holes) could explain the extremely short time range.  This need never be shown on the show, because if such a wormhole existed, and a ship traveling Warp 6 (In ST:TNG Terms) entered it, the wormhole would be torn appart by the subspacial shockwave of a ship at high warp passing through.  The ship would make it out the other side, but the passage behind them would rupture, destroying the link and creating a blast wave that would destroy the ship in question, if it did not immediately kick to Warp 9.5 to clear the estimated 2.5 light year range of the blast in time.

Another explanation is that the show is set so far forward in time that this section of the multiverse (Our crystal sphere of existence) has begun the collapse section of it's galactic oscillation.  This is also not really a good explanation, because if it closed that quickly in 5 years, so that a trip could take only a few hours or days (The trip could be as long as 4 days with the supplies they show.), the entropic nature of matter would have intensified, and universal breakdown might have started.  At Warp 7, a trip of four days would take them a short distance from the galactic border.  Now, in theory, they could be using another wormhole, but even then, it would seem that they would show that.

The ship could be using a quantum charge to generate a "Quantum slipstream" where travel is decidedly faster than warp flight. However, the stresses and unique look of the "slipstream" would be more than noticeable.

One final possibility is that they are at a point in space-time that the galaxies are now above each other.  Leaving the galactic plane, and taking a curved flight path could account for the time differences. The first path was straight, while the second path was a parabolic curve. (Like an ICBM flight path.) which hopped through the universal void. See ASCII Figure below.



       Galaxy 2 (Andromeda)

                 )

                  )

                   )

                     )

                       )

                          )

                     Galaxy 1 (Milky Way)



This could be more of their path. This path, at ST:TNG Warp speeds, is possible, and could be very short, but the noticable difference of the volume of space around them would be markedly different from the show.

[Oh, and as a note, warp travel (Travel faster than c) is possible through the warping of subspace.  There is a small theoretical area of physics, warp physics, which combines astrophysics and quantum mechanics.  However, since it is still all theory (We cannot at this time generate enough power for even Warp .5) there is little study of it.]

- from Patrick Schulz

2.2 Hook Mountain Avalanche [Secret of the Ice King]
Hook Mountain is an isolated, hook-shaped snowmountain located on Third Earth. In the episode Secret of the Ice King, the top of the mountain was destroyed by an energy blast, setting off an avalanche. Given the scale of Snow-knight's castle to the rest of the mountain, the mountain logically could not have been more than 300 m in height.Hook Mountain Avalanche Diagram Nevertheless, when the avalanche formed, it spread outward from the mountain, crossing several different biomes (environmental areas), including a tropical forest, a savannah (where Cats' Lair is located), an agricultural field, and a desert. (figure 1) The snow seemed to travel a great distance, one of over 500 km.
This is due to a law of physical geography that states that different biomes cannot exist side-by side in a confined area, except where there are high mountains (when different climates exist on one mountain because of the changes in altitudde and the accompanying chages in temperature and rainfall). Therefore, there is no way that the avalanche could have traveled such a distance.
Furthermore, there should not have been enough snow on the mountain to provide an avalanche of that volume. The avalanche seemed to cover at least 500 000 km2 of land!
Also, the friction from the ground (figure 2, c) should have stopped the avalanche even before the 10 km mark. That is because the friction would cause snow to stick in one place, eventually thinning out the load (a). Yet, this avalanche behaved like a glacier, still containing a steep leading edge (b) as it stopped. Figure two shows how the avalanche should behave.  A true avalanche should have a gradual slope until its termination. (figure 2).

3. Physical/Biological problems
3.1 Respiration in space (as well as the apparent presence of air pressure)Comparative Pressures of Space and Thundercats
This problem has been a constant one with Thundercats, especially within the later episodes. For example, Hachi-man and Mandora are able to breathe in space. Not only are they able to breathe in space, but they are also able to venture into space without breathing apparatus or pressurized suits. Since space is a vacuum, and there is pressure from the blood and fluids of any creature, then anybody venturing into space should experience internal boiling, and the rupture of capillaries and small blood vessels. This is because of the lack of air pressure. Assigning the value of 1 atmosphere (6.8 kg/cm2) to a living organism, and the value of 0 atmospheres to space, the following relationship can be ascertained in the accompanying diagram. And, of course, an aerobic (air-breathing) creature cannot survive where there is no air, hence, a vacuum. Death in this case would be either by suffocation or the bends.

-Revised by Bruce Grubb
3.1a Gravity in Space
In a number of episodes dealing with space (most notably Mandora and the Pirates, Side Swipe, Exile Isle, etc)., several characters are shown falling in space, towards a common plane usually towards the bottom of the screen. One particularly extreme example occurs in Return to Thundera 4, where Captain Bragg falls from space for what is likely at least 1000 km, into the atmosphere of Third Earth. Bragg was also tied up without a spacesuit, meaning that he should also have suffocated or worse. Of course, all of this appearance of gravity suggests a common plane in outer space to which all objects gravitate, which would logically then cause all objects in the universe to lie along a single plane.
Suffice it to say, that this is patently impossible.

3.2 Lion-O being able to walk inside a volcano [All That Glitters]
This incident also showed that Thundercats hve a resistance to intense heat. By studying the flow of heat in a volcano, we can determine that as soon as Lion-O entered the side vent of the volcano, he would have been burned beyond recognition by the heat from the volcano, which is undoubtedly over 2500°C.
Lion-O walked into the central magma chamber, of all places, and actually climbed out through the top!! Since heat travels upwards, Lion-O should have been blasted with the most intense heat from the volcano, and consequently burned beyond recognition. Nevertheless, Lion-O was able to function quite well, and was able to move in the volcano's core.Diagram of Heat Flow of a Volcano

3.3 The Luna-tacs being encased in lava for many years, and surviving.
This is very hard to believe, because if one is encased within lava, there will be no more oxygen. Besides that, the Luna-tacs would be incinerated completely from the intense heat. This one does not take much to dispute.

3.4 Pumyra's ability to drain a flood of lava, etc.
This is one of the more puzzling plotholes of the show. In Mummrana's Belt, Pumyra crossed a desert of lava geysers. When some erupted, filling the desert floor with lava, Pumyra climbed to safety onto a rock column (which did not melt, obviously). Pumyra then drained the lava back below the surface by hurling one of her explosive marbles at the ground. We shall now use a diagram to show how this should not be possible.Diagram of Lava Geyser Desert
Referring back to section 3.2, we all know that heat travels upwards. Therefore, Pumyra should have also been incinerated when she first encountered the lava. And even if she wasn't above the lava, there is a field of intense heat surrounding hot lava, which would certainly be fatal.
From point P in the diagram, Pumyra hurled an explosive marble at the ground, which created a hole in which the lava drained back down. This is patently impossible, because the lava emerged from a hole in the ground, suggesting a magma chamber underneath!! Therefore, creating another hole would do nothing to stop the flow of lava, and would in fact increase the flow sometimes. Needless to say, it was quite awkward to see this. Basically, lava cannot be drained by a hole in the ground.

3.5 The Thundercats' lack of genitalia and nipples
This is the show's first ever plothole...the Thundercats appear nude in the first episode [Exodus]. And, they seem to be missing certain objects common to both humans and cats (from which Thundercats are descended)...external genitalia and nipples.
This aberration is shown in a few choice shots, including a nude Cheetara and Lion-O. Of course, all creatures have genitalia, so obviously they are hidden for reasons of modesty. (The entire reason is explained in the Weird Stories Flame Page.) Some have postulated that the genitalia are hidden inside a sheath, while the nipples are covered with thick fur. The nipple theory can hold water, but a sheath should be visible, which means that the artists drawing the characters were too modest to show the genitalia. Needless to say, the Thundercats were never really shown naked again.

3.6 Grune's Thundranium Immunity
It is established in Ghost Warrior that Thundercats (and in Thundercats Ho! and other episodes, all Thunderians) become weak when they handle Thundranium. Why then, does Grune, who was both a Thunderian and even a Thundercat while he was alive, forge a club out of Thundranium. He says that it is to weaken his Thundercat enemies, but since he's Thunderian, wouldn't it weaken him as well? One could argue that Grune might be immune to the
effects of Thundranium because he's a ghost. If this is the case, however, why is it that Jaga, who is a ghost as well, is weakened by Grune's Thundranium club while Grune himself is not?

3.7 Warrior Maidens
The series shows us in many episodes that the Warrior Maidens of the Tree Top Kingdom is a society comprised of women only. Nowhere does it ever show a man among them. In fact, there are only two human men that appear on Third Earth to my knowledge: Dr. Dometone and Safari Joe, neither of which meet the Warrior Maidens anyway. So how do the Warrior Maidens reproduce without men? It is possible that their society has men living with them but in a
very submissive role, perhaps to the point of being domestic slaves who are not allowed out of the house and are used basically only for reproductive purposes. It is also possible that the Warrior Maidens reproduce with males of other tribes of humans (not shown on the show) and send their male children to live with them, or kill them.

3.8 Chilla
A walking biology plothole: Two points we'd like to make about Chilla.

3.9 Snarf's ability to eat wood
In the episode Crystal Queen, it is established by Snarf's tunneling scene, that snarfs can not only chew wood, but digest it as well. This cannot be, since snarfs carry characteristics of cats, which cannot digest wood. Snarf's other characteristics, including his shedding, purring, and cat-like screeching, plus human/cat-like teeth, further reinforce this fact. Therefore, wood would actually poison Snarf. With this, the scene in Crystal Queen was wrong, unless Snarf possessed some extraordinary chemical reaction within his body which would allow him to digest such inedible matter.

3.10 Absence of spots on Jaguar Thunderians
The two Jaguar Thunderians we see (Jaga and Jaguara) have no evidence of spots on their bodies.  However, if the theory that thunderians are evolved cats with human essence (by this, I mean that, for some reason, Human genes intergrated with Cat genes) is true, then Thunderians evolved from the spotted jaguar should have spots at least somewhere on their bodys.  My guess is that a group of Jaguars seperated from the clan of pure Jaguars and mixed with Lion Thunderians, forming a new clan.  As of now, we have yet to see pure, spotted Jaguars.

-From Renee McGrath (Falconater)
3.11 Problem with gold in All that Glitters
Panthro really messed up when he dismissed gold as 'junk'.  Gold is also one of the best natural conductors of electricity.  In fact some computer chips have minute amounts of gold because of this fact.  Gold's inability to corrode also makes it an excellent thing to plate electrical connnectors that will be used in somewhat corrosive enviroments, or that require as good a connection as is possible.
-From Bruce Grubb
3.12 Ancient Spirits of Evil irregularities
In Hair of The Dog, Snarf calls on the Ancient Spirits of Evil's powers to turn himself into Snarf-Ra.  This would have made sense in the first season where the Ancient Spirits of Evil were passive powers that Mumm-Ra called on but make no sense with the later seasons' active Spirits.  Given that the Spirits observe what is going on, why do they grant Snarf their powers so he can take on Mumm-Ra?  It simply does not make sense.
-From Bruce Grubb
 4. Geophysical problems
4.1 Thundera's Reformation
According to the show, Thundera reformed as a result of the magic power of the double-bladed Sword of Plundarr. The magic from this sword (which cannot be larger than 1.5 m in length), apparently has the gravitational pull to reform a planet roughly the size of Earth. And this process did not take millions of years of geologic time, but rather was done in a matter of minutes. Such a rapid collection of matter must undoubtedly cause tremendous heat from the friction. This heat would logically collect at the centre of the planetary mass, however, this was not the case. Also, some very bizarre and illogical aspects of this reformation arise. 4.2 Replacement of the Valley of the Snarfs
After Thundera exploded, it was commonly believed that all except one of the snarfs (Snarf Osbert) perished. This was disproved, by the stunning revelation that the population of the Valley of the Snarfs has somehow escaped Thundera and founded a new home on another planet. (This belief is corroborated by the fact that some snarfs identify their original home as the Valley of the Snarfs.)  Since it was roughly 12-13 years between the episodes Exodus and Feliner (again calculated using Lion-O's age at the Anointment Trials as a basis), one can hardly believe that the snarfs were able to find a new home, and found a community where a college could exist (Snarf College). No actual explanation is given, unfortunately, so that becomes quite a challenge to pinpoint exactly how the snarfs resurfaced upon another planet.

4.3 The Third Earth Ocean Plug
In the episode Dr. Dometone, it is told that a plug exists in the floor of the ocean to prevent the oceans from draining into the interior of the planet, and conceivably putting out the heat within the planet. Several problems arise with this assumption.
Even though oceans comprise 70% of Third Earth's (Earth) surface, in relation to the rest of the planet, they are a mere fraction of the entire planet's mass. Furthermore, the average temperature of 10°C or so for water compared with the average temperature of the molten core of the Earth (2500°C) would instantly vaporize any water coming into contact with the molten mantle. A sufficiently large hole could result in a large steam explosion. Therefore, the proportionately miniscule amount of water present on the earth's surface could not put out the heat within the core.
Secondly, the water would not drain into the hole, because density increases as you descend into the core of the earth, so the water would either remain in place, or would be violently evaporated.
Also, the heat present within the mantle and core of the Earth would melt any artificial plug put above it eventually, if one could be put in over a hole exposing the molten mantle of the Earth. The intense heat and pressure from the mantle would also make construction impossible.
Therefore, a plug in the floor of the ocean to prevent draining is patently impossible.

Conclusion
By outlining some of these plotholes, we have actually raised more questions!! But not only that, we have discovered that certain characters (i.e. Mumm-ra) are actually not as old as they are claimed to be, and that certain creatures in the show have an innate ability to breathe in airless vacuums.
However strange these plotholes may be, the Thundercats cartoon is still one of the most exciting and original concepts out there. And, by finding these plotholes, we can challenge ourselves to find new and better ways to write fanfics based on the show.

Updated 3 February 1999

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