1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 2: in time. Let us now turn our attention to the 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 2: chief antagonist of the Thundercat's cartoon franchise, Mumraw. Between nineteen 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 2: eighty five and nineteen eighty nine, the original ThunderCats show 8 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 2: ran for one hundred and thirty episodes, chronicling the struggle 9 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 2: between the titular ThunderCats and the undying mummified sorcerer Mumraw 10 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 2: for control of the planet New Thunder Era. The ThunderCats are, 11 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 2: of course, cat people who display the features of various 12 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 2: feline species and are masters of both high technology and 13 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 2: martial warfare. Mumraw is a mummified, desiccated living corpse who 14 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 2: serves the ancient spirits of evil from his black pyramid. 15 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 2: He must return to his sarcophagus to recharge, but may 16 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 2: also transform in a full blown hingehin sequence into the 17 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 2: towering muscular warrior dubbed Mumraw the Ever Living, He was 18 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 2: quite honestly perfect a villain almost too awesome for the 19 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 2: show he emerged from. Yet, even as a child, in 20 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 2: the back of my mind, I always wondered if Mumraw 21 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,319 Speaker 2: was a cat or not. The ThunderCats are, of course 22 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 2: cat human hybrids, and it's hard to deny that Mamra 23 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 2: himself is not essentially all of the same species. We 24 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 2: see this in his feline facial features especially. But while 25 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 2: each thundercat is patterned after a particular terrestrial feline species, 26 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 2: what is Mamra. For starters, His blue gray skin is 27 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 2: reminiscent of the Russian blue cat breed. However, he is hairless, 28 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 2: which instantly brings to mind the hairless Sphinx cat breed, 29 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 2: which was a nineteen sixties product of selective breeding by humans. 30 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 2: Both of these are domestic. Meanwhile, with the thunder cats, 31 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 2: Jaga is part jaguar, lion O is part lion, Panther 32 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 2: is part panther, Tigra is part tiger, Chitara is a cheetah. 33 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:30,519 Speaker 2: Willi Cat and Willie kit are both wildcats, and so forth. 34 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 2: Is Mamra alone seemingly linked to domesticated cats to some extent. 35 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 2: This might seem counterintuitive, because clearly this is mamra we're 36 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 2: talking about. He is the most dangerous and powerful of 37 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 2: them all. Why would he be linked to the common housecat. Well, 38 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 2: the domesticated cat is a rather powerful species. We have 39 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 2: to admit that while it has not lived alongside humans 40 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 2: as long as the loyal dog, they have still lurked, hunted, 41 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 2: and slept in our domestic shadow for thousands upon thousands 42 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 2: of years. During that time, these cats have spread around 43 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 2: the world to every continent except Antarctica, though they have visited, 44 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 2: and I am told they did not like it. Domestic 45 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 2: cats have proven themselves rather destructive as well. They are 46 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 2: voracious predators, driving multiple species to extinction and posing a 47 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 2: continuing threat to birds especially. In fact, according to the 48 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 2: University of Texas at Austin Biodiversity Center, the numbers are 49 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 2: pretty staggering. They write that in the US alone, free 50 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 2: ranging domestic cats kill one point three to four billion 51 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 2: birds every year, and they kill six point three to 52 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 2: twenty two point three billion mammals annually. Amphibians, reptiles, and 53 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 2: insects are also impacted. So yes, our domestic cats are cute, 54 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 2: they're amusing, but they are also destroyers and in this 55 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 2: perhaps they fitting likeness for mum Raw. Now, there is 56 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 2: some discussion on to what extent cats may have domesticated 57 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 2: themselves in our shadow, and certainly cats do not seem 58 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 2: to see us as a masters in the same way 59 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 2: that dogs two. But it brings me back to the 60 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 2: ancient spirits of evil that Mumrah serves on the show. 61 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 2: They're represented by a bore, a vulture, a crocodile, and 62 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 2: an ox, and they might well be thought of as 63 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 2: great old ones and extra dimensional monster gods. But if 64 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 2: Mamra is a domestic cat, then perhaps we humans are 65 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 2: the ancient spirits of evil, the true enemy of the 66 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 2: various animal human hybrids that populate the thunder Cat's universe. 67 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 2: In closing, I should also point out that yes, essentially 68 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 2: Mamra is a mummified cat, so he is linked to 69 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 2: the actual ancient Egyptian practice of mummifying cats, a practice 70 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 2: that in short, had connections both to the cat headed 71 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 2: god Bastet, as well as their fascination with an affection 72 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 2: for the animals in question. Cats have traveled with us everywhere, 73 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:07,119 Speaker 2: so why not into the feel reads as well. Tune 74 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,799 Speaker 2: in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. 75 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 2: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff 76 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind dot com. 77 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 78 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 79 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.