Home 9 Movies & Television 9 Movies/TV Q-U 9 Thundarr the Barbarian (1980-1981) 9 Thundarr the Barbarian: Fortress of Fear (S2E2, 1981)

Thundarr the Barbarian

S2E2: Fortress of Fear

Thundarr and crew work to free slaves while the wizard of a thousand eyes sets his sights on Ariel for his bride.

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Cast

Robert Ridgely

Thundarr

Nellie Bellflower

Princess Ariel

Henry Corden

Ookla the Mok

Dick Tufeld

Narrator

Keye Luke

Additional Voices

Stacey Keach Sr.

Additional Voices

Joan Van Ark

Additional Voices

Shep Menken

Additional Voices

Alan Oppenheimer

Additional Voices

Julie McWhirter

Additional Voices

Episode Synopsis

As Thundarr and crew ride through a gorge next to a river, they watch for ambushes only to find a human laying near the water, barely alive. The man warns them to go back. Ariel recognizes that word Vanow, which is one of the seven citadels of sorcery, and is run by Lord Argoth, the “wizard of a thousand eyes.” Ariel believes the patrol will be searching for this escaped slave.

In a heartbeat, the patrol appears in a flying ship and shines a spotlight on them all. A number of Machine Men (Metaloids)  fly down from the ship to capture the slave. The Metaloids capture Ookla and Ariel before shackling Thundarr and using a tractor beam to lift them all into the hold of the shift. They even capture their horses, conveniently. The Machine Men tell the wizard they have recaptured the slave and a troublesome barbarian.

Inside the citadel, a slave master zaps Thundarr as Ookla tries to help. The slave master warns him that one more blast will kill Thundarr so Ariel pleads with Ookla to stop attacking. 

Two snake women grab Ariel and tell her they are taking her to Lord Argoth to be his bride.

Meanwhile, in the slave quarters, they are thrown into the courtyard with the rest of the slaves. One admonishes Olan, the escaped slave, and Thundarr comments that he and Ookla have already escaped one citadel and plan to escape this one as well.

At the palace, the snake women ready Ariel for a meeting with Lord Argoth. He appears and unmasks himself, showing multiple eyes around his head. He has her hands bound in chains so she cannot work her sorcery.

Thundarr and Olan and Ookla are in a machine factory, assembling Metaloids. Olan tells Thundarr that circuits must be put into them to activate them, and that is done at Argoth’s palace. A guard hears them talking and blasts Olan with his laser beam. Thundarr throws the hammer he was using to secure bolts in the Metaloid bodies at the guard and knocks the laser flashlight from his hand. He then kicks his butt as Ookla takes out more guards. They tell Olan to ready his people for escape. He and Ookla are going to the palace.

They wear the Metaloid bodies to sneak into the palace while the snake-people soldiers try to find them. The conveyor belt takes them into the palace where they destroy from Metaloids and grab a weapon to defend themsleves. Interestingly, throughout all of this, Thundarr has his Sun Sword on his wrist, even though it was taken by a Metaloid when they were captured.

A Metaloid sounds the alarm and Thundarr and Ookla bust into Ariel’s room. Ookla frees her from her chains as Argoth appears. He even has eyes on his hands. He takes them out easily, but Thundarr is still standing. Argoth has the Sun Sword, and blasts at Thundarr with his laser eyes. Thundarr grabs a tray and reflects the beam up at the dome, which causes it to crash down on everyone. He grabs the Sun Sword from Argoth and Ariel makes a solid walkway of magic for them to escape the collapsing palace.

Thundarr and team head to the slave quarters to free the humans. They beat up the guards and cut open the doors. The slaves cheer and leave with Thundarr.

The slaves point them to The Forbidden Jungle, saying even Argoth will not follow them there. Of course, that’s where they go.

At the palace ruins, Argoth is freed by a soldier. He tells the wizard that Thundarr is heading to the Forbidden Jungle. It appears the jungle has the ability to leech power from any sorcerer inside of it, making their powers useless. While his will be useless, so will Ariel’s. He picks up a glowing stone and calls for the beast of the Forbidden Jungle, a cycloptic ape. He tells the cyclops to kill Thundarr and bring Ariel to him.

In the jungle, Ariel is feeling week. Suddenly they are all attacked by some feral monkey-cat creatures. Ariel tries to use her magic, but it fails. Thundarr scares them off with his Sun Sword and decides they must get out of the jungle by dawn.

As they ride off and the slaves follow on foot, the cyclops pulls trees apart to watch them. It’s a giant!

They rest at the La Brea Tar Pits. The cyclops, known to Thundarr as “one eye,” appears and attacks. It tosses a couple of slaves onto a bunch of dinosaur bones and grabs Ariel. It takes her away as Thundarr creates a lasso from vines to save the slaves in the tar pit.

He and Ookla go after Ariel and attack the creature until it drops her and rolls away down a cliffside. They had back to the slaves to lead them to safety.

Argoth attacks, believing he can kill them before his power is drained. As he attacks, his powers fade and Thundarr knocks him into the tar pit. He sinks and Ariel is not sure if he could have survived it or not.

Olan swears to build a city there in the Jungle. Thundarr and crew ride!