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Leonard Starr Reviewed by Purrsia  Lion-O wakes up late and chastises himself for oversleeping -- ThunderCats are always up at first light, doncha know? Then Lion-O gets to suspectin' that the others let him sleep in because it's his birthday. Turns out Lion-O gets a surprise, but not the one he'd been thinking of. Snarf explains, as he sets before Lion-O a mammoth breakfast, that today he has come of age and must be challenged by his friends in a series of trials to prove himself worthy to lead. It seems that, though Lion-O is hereditary Lord of the ThunderCats he must, as generations before had done, prove himself worthy of the title. At first Lion-O balks at the idea of competing with his friends. Then about the time he's okay with the idea, he finds out he must go through the trials without the Sword and Claw Shield. Gasp! No uber-crutch to get Lion-O through such a test? Wow, this is serious... But like the true Smarm Master he is, Lion-O admits he has been cocky about his title at times (Oh reeeeeally? Ahem...), and figures it's about time he put his money where his mouth is. Snarf then made some quip about Lion-O needing to get his foot out of his mouth first. Ok, not really.... Snarf actually hands Lion-O a map of the route he must take in order to meet Panthro. The two of them are to face off against each other by sundown. Lion-O ventures forth and comes across a bunch of Third Earth's most enchanted and funky landmarks. His first obstacle is a rather boring thicket of thorns. I must say, the sadist in me kinda liked seeing him ouch his way through that bramble patch! heh heh . Then, Lion-O almost took himself out of the running by nearly diving into a lake of pure acid. If not for the piece of fruit that fell out of a tree and hit him on the noggin', ThunderCats woulda ended right there! Judging that it would take too long to go around, Lion-O hatches a plot to get the fruit-eating birds to fly him across. His plan succeeds, but not without another near dip in the acid lake. Next, Lion-O wrestles with something in the forest clearing called The Great Void (I thought that was what the gap between Lion-O's ears was called, but ah well). After wriggling free from The Great Void (which looked like a white, transparent Jaba the Hut), Lion-O wanders onto the beach and hears a howling wind. But upon lifting a feather (the one in his cap, perhaps? hahaha), Lion-O detects that there is no wind! Hmmmm.... But when Lion-O rounds the corner, he finds there is indeed a great wind and it's trying to suck him into a menacing looking mountain called The Vortex. After a damn kool wind surfing move atop part of an old fishing boat, Lion-O succeeds in escaping such a windy doom. He's so exhausted from all the weird crap he encountered, Lion-O collapses on the beach. Next thing ya know, 2 giant crabs are on the scene (see what happens when you lie down in strange places, boys and girls??). Lion-O awakes before he becomes pincer fodder, and quickly figures out that the Crabmen are pretty harmless once tricked into falling onto their backs. Finally! Lion-O meets up with Panthro on a hillside above the Wolo Village. After some friendly banter, Panthro challenges Lion-O to hand to hand combat. Lion-O once again whines about not wanting to fight with his friends. Panthro says, "Too bad , ya big sissy," which enrages Lion-O. Much bitch-slapping, spitting, and hair pulling ensues....alright, alright. Not really. Panthro explains to Lion-O that it's been ThunderCat tradition to anoint their Lords in such a fashion. So then the pair start to rumble. The fight looks pretty even until an earthquake causes bigger problems. First, Lion-O nearly disappears into a quake-produced fissure. Panthro laments that he is not allowed to help Lion-O climb out because of the rules of the Trials. Just when Panthro decides "To hell with the rules", Lion-O manages to get out by himself. The quake fun ain't over yet, folks. All that geological shaking loosened a huge boulder which threatens to flatten the Wolo Village. Panthro therefore bravely tries to stop the boulder from rolling downhill, but gets wounded in the process. After Lion-O realizes why Panthro won't let the boulder go, he helps his friend by rolling the boulder enough so that it rolls harmlessly down the opposite side of the hill. Because Lion-O was able to move the boulder when Panthro could not, Panthro figures Lion-O proved himself the stronger of the two. Once Panthro gave his Tcat insignia to Lion-O, the SoO growled to let Snarf and the others back at the Lair know Lion-O had passed the first Trial. "Then it's a stupid Code!" -- Lion-O's mature response when Panthro explained that the Code of the ThunderCats dictates that Lion-O must compete with his friends to be the true Lord of the Tcats. PKELL: Many people seem to think that TCats Ho and Mumm-Ra Lives are the best five parters of the series, but I have to give that honor to the Annointment Trials. My only knock on the overall series is that they were aired out of order for some strange reason. Lion-O acting on his own without the sword was a story that was just begging to be written, and this was the perfect situation to allow that. Panthro's trial being first was a good choice as that is definately a hard start for Lion-O. Part 1 keeps Mumm-Ra and The Mutants out of the action, which is good, as the it allowed for the episode to perfectly establish the five parter. leppardra: "ThuderCats-HO!" is my favorite 5-parter. But I enjoy the 5-part anointment trial story, and Part 1 is my favorite. The rising sun shining on Lion-O as he sleeps is my favorite scene in this whole story (Odd that he sleeps fully clothed). That he knows it's his birthday and guesses that the others let him sleep in as a present is a very nice touch. Another lovely moment follows: Lion-O happily bounds into the dining room, clearly expecting to be showered with happy-birthday wishes - only to be confronted with the anointment trials. Ouch. Yes, he's been cocky about his title, but he recognizes the wisdom behind the trials and goes through with them, even though he has to fight his friends to prove himself. It's a great start to the story. leppardra: And, oh yes, that scene where Lion-O refuses to fight Panthro. His attitude is understandable until he crosses his arms and stubbornly says, "Well, if it (the Code of Thundera) means fighting and competing with my friends, I haven't got what it takes!" He sounds like such a petulant little brat that you want to sock him and yell, "Grow up!" Happily, though, Panthro knocks that out of Lion-O when he turns, says "That's what we're here to find out...fight!", and rushes him. Good old Panthro! You go, dude!
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