1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time. Let us now turn our 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: attention to the chief antagonist all of the ThunderCats cartoon franchise, 7 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: mum Raw. Between and nine eighty nine, the original ThunderCats 8 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,479 Speaker 1: show ran for a hundred and thirty episodes, chronicling the 9 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: struggle between the titular ThunderCats and the undying mummified sorcerer 10 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: mum Raw for control of the planet New Thunder Era. 11 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: The ThunderCats are, of course, cat people who display the 12 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: features of various feline species, and our masters of both 13 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: high technology and martial warfare. Mum Raw is a mummified, 14 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: desiccated living corpse who serves the ancient spirits of evil 15 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: from his black pyramid. He must return to his sarcophagus 16 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: to recharge, but may also transform in a full blown 17 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: hinge in sequence into the towering muscular warrior dubbed mum 18 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 1: Raw the Ever Living, He was quite honestly perfect, a 19 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: villain almost too awesome for the show he emerged from. Yet, 20 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: even as a child, in the back of my mind, 21 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: I always wondered if mum Ra was a cat or not. 22 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: The thunder Cats are, of course cat human hybrids, and 23 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:42,320 Speaker 1: it's hard to deny that Mumra himself is not essentially 24 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: all of the same species. We see this in his 25 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: feline facial features especially. But while each thundercat is patterned 26 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: after a particular terrestrial feline species, what is mum Ra. 27 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: For starters, His blue gray skin is reminiscent of the 28 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: Russian blue cat breed. However, he is hairless, which instantly 29 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: brings to mind the hairless Sphinx cat breed, which was 30 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: a nineteen sixties product of selective breeding by humans. Both 31 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: of these are domestic. Meanwhile, with the ThunderCats, Jaga is 32 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: part jaguar, Lion Oh is part lion, Pantherro is part panther, 33 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: Tiger is part tiger, Chitara is cheetah, Willie Cat and 34 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: Willie Kit are both wild cats, and so forth. Is 35 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: Mamra alone seemingly linked to domesticated cats To some extent, 36 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: This might seem counterintuitive, because clearly this is Mamra we're 37 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: talking about. He is the most dangerous and powerful of 38 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: them all. Why would he be linked to the common 39 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: house cat. Well, the domesticated cat is a rather powerful species. 40 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: We have to admit that while it has not lived 41 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: alongside humans as long as the loyal dog, they have 42 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: still lurked, hunted, and slept in our domestic shadows for 43 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: thousands upon thousands of years. During that time, these cats 44 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: have spread around the world to every continent except Antarctica, 45 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: though they have visited, and I am told they did 46 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,680 Speaker 1: not like it. Domestic cats have proven themselves rather destructive 47 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: as well. They are voracious predators, driving multiple species to 48 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: extinction and posing a continuing threat to birds, especially In fact, 49 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: according to the University of Texas at Austin Biodiversity Center, 50 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: the numbers are pretty staggering. They write that in the 51 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: u s alone, free arranging domestic cats kill one point 52 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: three to four billion birds every year, and they kill 53 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: six point three to twenty two point three billion mammals annually. Amphibians, reptiles, 54 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: and insects are also impacted. So, yes, our domestic cats 55 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: are cute, they're amusing, but they're also destroyers and in 56 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: this perhaps they fitting likeness for Mum Ra. Now, there 57 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: is some discussion on to what extent cats may have 58 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: domesticated themselves in our shadow, and certainly cats do not 59 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: see to see us as a master's in the same 60 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: way that dogs too. But it brings me back to 61 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: the ancient spirits of evil that Mumra serves on the show. 62 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: They're represented by a bore, a vulture, a crocodile, and 63 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: an ox, and they might well be thought of as 64 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: great old ones and extra dimensional monster gods. But if 65 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: Mumra is a domestic cat, then perhaps we humans are 66 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: the ancient spirits of evil, the true enemy of the 67 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: various animal human hybrids that populate the ThunderCats universe. In closing, 68 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:38,839 Speaker 1: I should also point out that yes, essentially Mumra is 69 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: a mummified cat, so he is linked to the actual 70 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: ancient Egyptian practice of mummifying cats, a practice that in short, 71 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: had connections both to the cat headed god Bastet, as 72 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: well as their fascination with an affection for the animals 73 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: in question. Cats have traveled with us everywhere, so why 74 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: not into the fee old of reads as well. Tune 75 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. 76 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact at Stuff 77 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your 78 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: Mind is production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts 79 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 80 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.