Leonard Starr’s return to ThunderCats has the invigorating effect of watching a familiar piece of furniture quietly rearrange the room while you weren’t looking. With “Tower of Traps,” the series is tugged firmly away from the ruts of formula and reminded—almost casually—of how easily it can surprise itself. Starr writes as though he has already mastered the early grammar of the show, emanating a confidence that makes effortlessness look like a moral virtue.
“The Tower of Traps” remains one of the show’s more sinister episodes. As the title suggests, the plot revolves around a succession of perils within a ancient tower unbeknownst to the Thundercats, still scouting their new home planet. An impassable staircase that would be fun for most kids is the first obstacle — well it would be, had one of the younger Thundercat contingent, Wilykat, not be a prisoner being held on the top level of the tower. Each level is not merely inventive but faintly unsettling, with the episode closing on a moment that would have given pause even to the parents of viewers: the revelation that Wilykat’s captor, one Baron Karnor, is in fact a rotting corpse, left decayed in full view. Leonard Starr’s willingness to ask children to look directly at frightening ideas is certainly admirable, bathing an adventure story in a darkness that distinguishes it sharply from its neighbours. As a an episode free of is universe baddies such as Mumm-Ra or even the Mutants, it really stands out.
As does the sight of a topless Lion-O bathing in one of the episode’s opening scenes. It’s an amusing scene used to teach Lion-O - and his young viewers - that pretending to drown really isn’t a fun prank to pull on your nearest and dearest. In this case, loyal Snarf is the victim, and is unamused to the point where he questions how he has brought Lion-O up in his youth. Not that Lion-O experienced a full youth in the first place, which is precisely the point, another example of Starr not letting us forget the premise the show was built upon in the first place.
All these events are counterbalanced effectively with the warmth of the reason for the titular tower to begin with. A subplot involving a Wollo whose carefully crafted wedding gift has been stolen en route to his daughter’s ceremony provides the necessary human counterweight. When the ThunderCats recover the gift, the episode allows itself a moment of uncomplicated kindness, injecting a much-needed feel-good factor and relief from the Tower of Terror. I mean traps. Visually, too, the episode luxuriates in its strengths. Where the previous instalment suggested a recovery in production values, “The Tower of Traps” revels in them, boasting striking backgrounds and energetic direction. As an introduction to ThunderCats, it would be hard to imagine anything more persuasive. This episode is another subjected to a subtle cut in its UK broadcasts and VHS release in the 1980s, with Panthro’s section of the Gargoyle end battle removed and the Thunderkittens’ sequence reduced in speed to keep the original episode runtime.
“Tower of Traps” is the series operating at close to its peak, and Leonard Starr’s skill as a storyteller shines through with an ease that makes it look deceptively simple. The tower may be full of traps, but the real trick is how effortlessly the episode ensnares its audience. Starr would only write six more Thundercats stories for the show, but almost each and every one remain world-building and essential.
Next time: “The Garden of Delights”