Matthew Malach
Reviewed by: Purrsia
Mumm-Ra and the Thundercats all feel something strange in the air that day on New Thundera. Mumm-Ra asks the ASOE for answers, and they explain that soon the five moons of Plun-Darr will align between Third Earth and New Thundera. The celestial event will have the power to change the Thundercats destiny. In fact, they claim it'll cause a draught Mumm-Ra alone will survive.
Sure enough, the eclipse not only causes a hot, dry weather pattern, but all of the water on Thundera dries up - even the wells and other stored supplies at the Lair go dry (and darnit, Snarf can't make Iced ThunderTea!)
Snarf and Panthro head out in the Tank for the Dreary Canal, as there's still a little water left there. Bengali warns them to beware of Izuka, the flying serpent. Snarf notices the swamp of the Laughing Lily Pads hasn't dried up yet, but before they can investigate, the serpent attacks. The attack leaves them all wet as they crash into the Swamp.
They both wonder why the desperate-for-water serpent wouldn't touch the swamp water and soon find out. The lilies in it can attack, and they force Snarf into the water. When he emerges, he's cracking up. Panthro is puzzled why a Snarf who nearly drowned would find his situation so funny, but that's the problem with that water - it causes helpless laughter. Soon Panthro is dragged in and reduced to a laughing mess.
Meanwhile, Bengali and Lion-O are getting ready to move their last water tank from their reserves into the Lair when Izuka attacks the Lair. In the course of the fighting, the tank is broken and the water lost. Furthermore, Izuka has trapped Lion-O and rendered the Lair's defenses useless.
When Bengali calls the Tank for help, he's greeting with a laughing Panthro. It looks as though those two are going to be about as useless as a pair of giggling stoners. It doesn't look good for any of them. However, Lion-O manages to use the Sword to set himself free. He also senses that Izuka means no real harm. Jaga appears to tell Lion-O his hunch is right, that the beast just wants some water. He then tells Lion-O to think - to use his knowledge and the Sword to create water. Lion-O calls upon the Eye to make the skies rain, and so it does. Then he sets off for the caverns of cold to make some of the ice there melt.
Mumm-Ra, annoyed as ever that it's uber-tool to the rescue once again, plans to interfere. So while Panthro and Snarf have managed to at least get the Tank out of the swamp, Mumm-Ra goes to make Lion-O's efforts to melt down some snow caps into a disaster. He starts by damaging the Thunderstrike so that the laser they were using to do a controlled melt goes out of control and melts way more snow and ice than needed. This causes a torrent that Bengali and Lion-O are caught up in.
Things get bad so Lion-O calls up the signal, which also finally breaks Panthro and Snarf out of their fit of giggles. But now they too are swept up in the flood waters. However, they do manage to swim back to the Tank and arrive just in time to save Lion-O from Mumm-Ra's attacks.
They shoot him with the cannon, which is still full of Laughing Lily swamp water. Mumm-Ra tumbles into the flood waters, laughing all the way and sprouting laundry jokes as well. Chalk up another win for the Cats.
This ep had some goofy humor, but it's also part of its charm. If the darn Sword didn't save the day so much in an eye-rolling fashion here, it could have got better marks.
* Script Scans
Panthro: "What's so funny?"
Snarf: (laughing) Nothing much - except I almost drown."
"This water is dangerous, Snarf. We could die of laughter." - Panthro, while laughing it up.
"Whenever he's in a bind, that wretched Thundercat hocus-pocus always pulls his fat out of the fire." - Yes, it seems Mumm-Ra is just as fed up with contrived solutions to the Thundercats' troubles as I am!
When the Tank's cannon would only shoot swamp water -
Snarf: "We can't fight Mumm-Ra with that."
Panthro: "No, but we can do his laundry."
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Captures from Helpless Laughter
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