Secret of the Black Pearl.

Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!

Y'all think 2020 is bad? You must not have been around in '94, when a rogue planet shot between the Earth and Moon, and REALLY screwed things up!

Okay, that was 1994 as envisioned 14 years earlier, giving rise to a post-apocalyptic landscape of monsters, wizards, and other fantastic elements. Not surprisingly for a series produced in the wake of CONAN THE BARBARIAN's success in comic books and the popular culture phenomenon of STAR WARS, this series featured a barbarian with a lightsaber with a wookie companion... Plus a hot, half-naked magic chick for good measure.

The show was produced by Ruby-Spears. A partnership that had previously created SCOOBY-DOO for Hanna-Barbera, and a number of other projects for that studio, DePatie–Freleng, and under their own imprint. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears have both passed away this year. (2020.)

This program got 21 episodes over two production seasons, which is actually pretty good for the era. It might have done more, but the network wanted to focus on animated spin-offs of their prime-time shows instead.

The prospect of Western Civilization being reduced to devastated ruins wasn't new to Saturday Morning TV. We had Filmation's live-action ARK II (which debuted *exactly* 25 years before the 9-11 event, for you conspiracy-minded folks) and a world ruled by damned dirty apes in the 1975 RETURN TO THE PLANET OF THE APES cartoon (covered earlier on this channel at https://www.bitchute.com/video/M3Qr0Smq0jpK/ ).

Yes, Gen X had some inkling of the fragility of the boon of civilization. Unfortunately their Millennial kids and Zoomer grandchildren take it for granted...

Here, from October 1980, is the first episode of THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN.

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