The cartoons of the 1980s had something for everyone. Even the shows geared towards younger children (Muppet Babies, Garfield and Friends, The Smurfs, and — not animated, but no less whimsical — Pee Wee’s Playhouse) still had sophisticated humor and plot lines that adults could appreciate.
Another recurring theme was weird concepts or metaphysical themes — the hidden horrors of ’80s cartoons. Okay, I wouldn’t quite say they’re “horrors,” but there sure were a lot of esoteric gems tucked inside.
You had Skeletor running around looking like a Technicolor grim reaper, ancient curses were weekly plot lines, and occult symbolism was covertly (or blatantly, in some cases) nestled into kiddie fare — despite the Moral Majority policing media for even the faintest whiff of indecency.
Fast forward to today and FCC rules are far looser. Yet, cartoons are aggressively segmented, removing anything that could be even remotely triggering or too complex for neatly categorized age groups. But for those of us who were fortunate enough to grow up during the Golden Age of Syndicated Cartoons, we were regularly exposed to weird and wonderful world-building. Even if it was just a ploy to sell toys.
Let’s take a look back at some of the arcane aspects of ’80s cartoons and what lurks in those brightly-colored animation cells.
Thundercats: Mumm-Ra and the Ancient Spirits of Steroids
Thundercats revolved around a tribe of anthropomorphic cats from the planet Thundera and their adventures in the new world of Third Earth. Their leader, Lion-O, was frequently visited by the ghostly presence of his deceased spiritual mentor, Jaga the Wise, who hooked him up with the mystical Sword of Omens to do battle with evil in myriad forms.
The looming presence of evil in Thundercats was embodied by Mumm-Ra, a creature of indeterminate species who lived in an Egyptian-style black pyramid tomb on Third Earth. Was he a human? A cat? A demon? Who the hell knows!
As a kid, I wasn’t creeped out so much by jacked, swole Mumm-Ra. However, Mumm-Ra’s decayed form was a lot scarier. Skinny with pale blue skin peeking from layers of filthy bandages, Mumm-Ra would slink from his sarcophagus to call upon “ancient spirits of eeeeevil” to supply him with metaphysical tren and transform him into the muscle-bound Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living.
While it didn’t immediately register when I was a kid, this dude was a fucking reanimated corpse. That’s right, ’80s kids! We had grudge-holding cadavers running around, performing incantations, and showing us the darker side of Egyptian ceremonial magick. What a time to be alive!
Mumm-Ra had a reflecting pool in his tomb, surrounded by statues that looked strikingly similar to ancient Egyptian gods. While I could never get a clear picture of the shadowy statuary in Mumm-Ra’s crypt in the cartoon, a closer look at the LJN Mumm-Ra’s tomb play set showed large crocodile- and bull-like figures that served as decor.
The toy statuary is slightly goofy looking in order to make them more kid-friendly. (Because who wants to play with something that terrifies you?) However, they seem to take inspiration from croc-o-gods like the ferocious Sobek and Ammit, the Eater of Souls in the Egyptian underworld. The bull seems to correspond to Apis, a bull god associated with power and rebirth — relevant themes when we’re talking about the Thundercats’ nemesis. (Let’s also take a moment to note the irony that Mumm-Ra’s sworn enemies were cats, while the ancient Egyptians revered felines.)
Mumm-Ra was pretty formidable in his ‘roided-up form — ready to take the stage in the Classic Physique portion of Third Earth’s Olympia competition. However, like every good villain, he had an Achilles heel. If Mumm-Ra saw his reflection, he’d transform back into his decrepit mummy form, rendering him powerless and sending him shrieking back to his pyramid. The writers really did their homework, giving Mumm-Ra a means of defeat that puts him on par with demons who cannot bear to see their own reflection. This piece of lore also turns up in Constantine, with Keanu Reeves’ character using a mirror to exorcise a girl.
Sure, they later softened Mumm-Ra up a bit by giving him a derpy bulldog companion named Ma-Mutt, but this dude was the standard bearer of scary in terms of ’80s cartoons.
He-Man: Skeletons, Sorceresses, and Snake Men! Oh, My!
The 1980s Filmation cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe also took a page out of Egyptian lore in addition to tossing occult-flavored references into the mix. The premise involved Adam, a wimpy Eternian prince who transforms into a super-jacked hero with a lifetime supply of Tan-in-a-Can thanks to a special sword. (Wow, that sounds pretty phallic when I type that out!)
One of the few people who know Prince Adam’s secret identity is the winged Sorceress, who cribs a lot of her look from the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis. Like Isis, the Sorceress is a serene, protective, maternal figure with wings and a falcon headdress (a nice nod to the Egyptian god Horus, Isis’s son). While it didn’t hit me as a kid, it’s now clear as day. Even her blue, orange, and white color palette feels right at home on a wall chock full of hieroglyphics, not to mention making the action figure version of the Sorceress super appealing to kids. The Sorceress’s Egyptian motif was later amplified even further in the 2002 Cartoon Network remake of He-Man.
Even Castle Greyskull — the Sorceress’s home and He-Man’s base of operations — has a mythic feel. It’s one part fortress, one part reliquary, and one part “hall of wisdom.” Castle Greyskull’s aesthetic feels more medieval than ancient Egyptian, calling to mind the Sedlec Ossuary (AKA “The Church of Bones”) in the Czech Republic. No, Castle Greyskull wasn’t grey. Let’s face it. Kids aren’t going to beg their parents for a grey playset. Hence, the marketing wisdom of making it a more colorful shade of green with a cool “jawbridge” entryway. However, there’s some slightly spooky inspiration hiding in its architecture.
That brings us to arguably the biggest occult reference in He-Man, lumbering around in plain sight. He-Man’s adversary, Skeletor, had a fiendish skull face topped by a purple hood. But Skeletor was no mere bag of bones. Nope. That skeletal visage sat atop a muscular blue body that could have given He-Man a run for his D-Bol. Skeletor wasn’t as scary as Mumm-Ra, but probably shared some of his “dietary supplements.” Coupled with a collection of puns and a backstory shrouded in mystery, these factors combined to make Skeletor an intriguing cartoon villain.
That backstory wasn’t fully fleshed (or de-fleshed) out until the 2002 version and the 2021 Kevin Smith-helmed reboot of He-Man. These renditions revealed that Skeletor was the once-great warrior Keldor, who also happens to be He-Man’s shady uncle. (Every family has one.)
However, the scariest thing about the 2002 animated retread wasn’t Skeletor, but rather another villain that popped up in Season 2. The serpentine King Hiss bordered on Cronenberg-style body horror when he peeled off his skin to reveal a mass of slithering snakes underneath. Need even more nightmare fuel? Each of these snakes spoke in unison, giving King Hiss a creepy voice that all but spat “We are legion!” through his many forked tongues.
Oh. Hell. No.
The Smurfs
Who could forget The Smurfs?! These tiny, blue, predominantly male creatures lived in the forest in houses made from hollowed-out mushrooms — giving them a lot in common with Viagra. They frolicked merrily, singing a happy tune all the live-long day. And they also used “Smurf” as noun, an adjective, and a verb: “I love being a Smurf.” “Have a smurfy day!” “I smurfed your mom last night!”
Each Smurf’s name described a key attribute or their function within the community: Baker Smurf made pastries for his blue brethren. Brainy Smurf was the overly-confident quasi-intellectual of the group. Hefty Smurf, keeping with the ’80s fascination with fitness, was Smurf Village’s very own bodybuilder. And of course, there was the wise, warm, and kind Papa Smurf. Kids could easily pinpoint him as the fearless leader since he was the only one who wore a red cap and pants while the rest of the Smurfs wore white.
Yet, as lovable as The Smurfs were, this was the 1980s and the Moral Majority was tits out for Satanic Panic. So, of course there were several pitchfork-bearing groups kvetching that the Smurfs were evil.
As a kid who had a collection of little plastic Smurf figures that littered my room, I was appalled! In my world, nothing could be more wholesome than Smurfs.
As an adult, I love The Smurfs even more for the gleeful subversion that skated just under the censors’ eyes. Were they Satanic? Nah! However, they were old world Pagan-coded, firmly rooted in ancient lore surrounding nature spirits and deities.
In the era of fire-and-brimstone-spouting televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and Jerry Falwell, there was bound to be some blue blowback on these tiny creatures living in harmony. However, Papa Smurf never porked Jessica Hahn behind his wife’s back in a hotel room and had a crying fit about it on TV. Chalk that up as a win for The Smurfs!
One thing that might not have helped the Satanic Panic pitchfork bearers was that the Smurf’s arch enemy Gargamel was a failed alchemist with both a cat named Azrael and an obsession with transmuting the Smurfs into gold. While it probably went over the heads of most folks who don’t have a few Aleister Crowley books on their nightstand, naming your cat after the ancient Angel of Death is definitely a CHOICE. (To be fair, Azrael — the angel of death, not the cat — gets a bad rap. He’s just doing his job, ushering souls to the other side.) It’s also interesting to note that the Smurfs’ pal, Father Time, is an old, bearded man who carries a scythe — like a not-so-Grim-Reaper.
In addition to that reference to Abrahamic religions, The Smurfs had some very Pagan underpinnings evident in minor recurring characters. Many had a magical slant to them, like Mother Nature, Selwyn and Tallulah (the wizard/sorceress equivalent of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton), and the good wizard Homnibus. I’m not totally sure what Homnibus’s gig was was beyond playing chess with Papa Smurf and talking magic shop, but these characters were all part of the broader magical ecology of Smurf Village, standing alongside the good Smurfs as their allies against the evil of Gargamel.
So, while The Smurfs may not have had the same freaky factor that He-Man and Thundercats held, there was still a wink and a nod to ancient nature spirits embedded in their DNA. But who knows? Maybe I just missed the episode where the Smurfs all got together to build a wicker man and shoved Gargamel inside while Pyro Smurf busted out the torches? Hey! Stranger things have happened!
- Skeletor and his cool Havok Staff: Image by jtkim04 from Pixabay
- Caged Smurf: Image by Martaposemuckel
SMURFETTE GANGBANG!