Snarf

(Thundercats, 1985-1986, syndicated)

Saccharine characters are often added to action-oriented cartoons, because parents think little kids will be scared without them. Strange: I don't know why a kid who was scared of Mumm-Ra would suddenly not be scared when looking at Snarf, though that was apparently the concept here. I say "apparently," because I can't see any other reason for Snarf at all.

The truth is: Thundercats would've been just fine without Snarf. Sure, Lion-O was supposedly just a cub when he left his feline-run world of Thundera, though that's no reason to introduce his "nurse maid," Snarf; a strange little kitty alien who looked like a mutant cross between a troll, a rat, and a cat (yikes!). Now fully grown up, Lion-O had little or no use for Snarf at all. The same could be said of the series as a whole.

It didn't help that Snarf was totally out of sync with the rest of the "Thundercats" mythos. If lions and tigers and panthers evolved into intelligent, man-sized people on some alien world, why would "snarfs" be so small, fat, and stupid? It made no sense. Likewise for the nurse maid angle; Snarf was a coward, and quite frankly, a clumsy oaf. Who hired this guy as the nurse maid to the heir to the royal throne? You might as well have protected Lion-O with a guinea pig.

As it was for Lisa Simpson, there is one crowning moment of annoyance with this character, that just begged me to put Snarf on the list. There's this one (otherwise) cool episode "Lion-O's Anointment Second Day," where Lion-O is challenged to a race by Cheetara. If he loses this race, he is stripped of his title as Lord of the Thundercats. Just when this race reached a very effective fever pitch, Snarf ruins the moment by screeching in his Elmo-from-Sesame-Street voice: "He's gaining! He's not giving up!" Yeah, no duh. Thanks for ruining the moment, oh kitty rat-troll-thing, you.

On to Worst Character, # 8: 0-Stupid-0

<<<back