Ravage Island

Ravage Island

Production
Episode	2.11
Original Airdate	September 21, 1987
Writer(s)	George Hampton & Mike Moore
Chronology
Previous Episode	Together We Stand
Next Episode	Time Switch
All Episodes	Episode Guide

Ravage Island is an episode from the original series of ThunderCats. Written by George Hampton and Mike Moore, it originally aired on September 21, 1987.

Official Summary

On Ravage Island, Mumm-Ra oversees the Mutants gathering of magic crystals to fuel the Beacon of Ravage Island, a beam of light which has mind-controlling powers. Lion-O and Snarf see the light and investigate its origin. Mumm-Ra directs the beam toward the ThunderCats, and Panthro, Cheetara, and Pumyra fall prey to its spell. Cheetara takes the Feliner, and Panthro and Pumyra take the HoverCat and follow the beam of light to Ravage Island. Lion-O, Snarf, Cheetara, Pumyra and Panthro arrive on the island at the same time, and all but Snarf are entranced by the beam and follow it to its source. Snarf, on the ThunderClaw, returns to the Tower of Omens to seek help. Mumm-Ra and the Mutants overpower the ThunderCats, and entrap them in a cage of light beams. Struggling against the light beams power, a weak Lion-O uses the last of his powers to embed the Sword of Omens in the stone near the cage, so that no one evil will use it. Lynx-O, Bengali, Snarf and Snarfer arrive in the ThunderStrike and are attacked by the Mutants. Lynx-O succeeds in removing the Sword from the stone and giving it a Lion-O; he is able to project the ThunderCats' signal. The power of the Sword frees the ThunderCats from the Beacon's spell, and they defeat Mumm-Ra and the Mutants.

Official Moral

While flying maintenance flights, Lion-O is attracted by a beam of light which turns out to come from a telescope, the Beacon of Ravage Island. The Beacon uses crystals to emit a hypnotic power controlling the mind of those who view it to believe what the bearer of the crystals wants them to believe. Panthro, Cheetara, and Pumyra are irresistibly drawn to the light and they join Lion-O on Ravage Island. All of them fall under the control of Mumm-Ra and the Mutants by means of the crystals and the Sword of Omens is embedded in stone. Snarf, however, who has accompanied Lion-O, is not affected by the spell and takes the ThunderClaw back to the Tower of Omens for help. Lynx-O, whose blindness protects them from the light, plans a rescue mission, employing Ben-Gali to pilot blindfolded and the unaffected Snarf and Snarfer to guide. When the ThunderStrike is hit by the Mutants' weapons, Ben-Gali separates in one pod to divert the Mutants and allow the others to complete the mission. Having removed his blindfold, Ben-Gali falls under the spell of the Beacon and is captured. Lynx-O and the Snarfs continue on, retrieve the Sword of Omens, and bid it to smash the telescope and free the enslaved ThunderCats. Seeing them free, the Mutants retreat to their castle, and a weakened Mumm-Ra to his pyramid.

The spell created by the Beacon of Ravage Island causes its victims to be bound by limits which exist only in their minds. Self-imposed limitations can restrict our lives as well. We may not compete for a prize or try out for a team because we do not think we're good enough. We are willing to settle for a lesser grade in a subject because we don't think we're smart enough to get a higher mark. We don't seek to make friends with someone we want to because we feel that persons won't care about us. The attitudes we carry about ourselves and our abilities will relate to what goals we set and how positively engage in action to meet the goals. Being negative about ourselves and too self-critical leads us never to try. Snarf and Snarfer are not subject to the spell in this episode because, despite misgivings they may have at times, they are creatures who are optimistic. They feel that, if they try and are confident, they will accomplish goals set according to their abilities were even be on their abilities. You can learn from them by refusing to put in our path obstacles created by our own negative thinking and by believing we can accomplish the goals we desire. If we don't expect to succeed in a task, we often will not. The attitude we take toward ourselves, and our abilities, has an impact on the outcome. Both competence and or self-confidence are valuable to us.

Story

With the help of the Mutants, Mumm-Ra is able to locate special hypnotic crystals and use them to power the Beacon of Ravage Island. The Beacon emits hypnotic light rays which mesmerize Lion-O, Panthro, Pumyra, and Cheetara who were testing their vehicles nearby. They are all drawn to the island where they succumb to the Mutant’s powers of suggestion and end up getting imprisoned inside an imaginary cell.

Snarf, who is immune to the Beacon’s rays, flies the ThunderClaw to the Tower of Omens to get help. Together with Lynx-O, Snarfer and a blindfolded Bengali, Snarf heads in the ThunderStrike to Ravage Island. En route they are ambushed by the Mutants in their flying vehicles, and Bengali sacrifices himself to allow his three friends to complete the rescue. As soon as he removes his blindfold, Bengali too falls under the trance of the Beacon, crashes his pod and gets imprisoned as well.

Lynx-O picks up the Sword of Omens and throws it at the Beacon, shattering it to bits. However, because the ThunderCats were under its spell for so long, they still continue to remain in their hypnotic trance. Lion-O then summons all his will power to call the sword to his hand and use it to break the spell over all of the ThunderCats. While Mumm-Ra and the Mutants retreat, the ThunderCats return home where Panthro wastes no time in building some protective goggles for the Cats in case Mumm-Ra ever tries to use the Beacon again.

Characters

Lion-O

Panthro

Cheetara

WilyKit

WilyKat

Lynx-O

Bengali

Pumyra

Snarf

Snarfer

Mumm-Ra

Ma-Mutt

Slithe

Jackalman

Monkian

Vultureman

Vehicles

ThunderClaw

Feliner

ThunderStrike

HoverCat

Flying Machine

SkyCutter

Locations

Ravage Island

Tower of Omens

Trivia

• Tygra is inexplicably absent from this episode.
• Apart from the Snarfs, it appears that Mumm-Ra is also immune to the effects of the Beacon's light.

Media

This episode was released on the following media:

DVD

• Season 2 Volume 1 DVD
• Season 2 DVD
• Seasons 1 & 2 DVD

External Links

• ThunderCats 1985 cartoon series on Wikipedia
• ThunderCats on ThunderCats.org