The Terrible Thunderlizards

The Terrible Thunderlizards
The Terrible Thunderlizards title card
Genre	Animated segment
Created by	Savage Steve Holland Bill Kopp
Written by	Savage Steve Holland Bill Kopp Kati Rocky
Directed by	John Halfpenny (1993–95) Jamie Whitney (1995–97)
Starring	Savage Steve Holland Bill Kopp Jason Priestley Corey Feldman Curtis Armstrong Charlie Adler Kurtwood Smith Brad Garrett
Theme music composer	Dee Snider
Composer	Nathan Wang
Country of origin	United States Canada
No. of episodes	36 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Savage Steve Holland
Producers	Patrick Loubert Michael Hirsh Clive A. Smith
Running time	11 minutes
Production companies	Savage Studios Ltd. Nelvana Fox Children's Productions 20th Century Fox Television
Original release
Network	Fox Kids YTV
Release	November 20, 1993 (1993-11-20) – July 28, 1997 (1997-07-28)

The Terrible Thunderlizards is a segment that aired in the United States as part of Eek! Stravaganza on the Fox Kids programming block, and in Canada on YTV.^[1] It aired from November 20, 1993, to July 28, 1997. The series was originally intended as a spin off from Eek! The Cat. The segment was supposed to air at the start of Eek's second season in September 1993, but due to production delays, it began in November. Like Eek!, the segment was also a co-production of Nelvana and Fox Kids in association with Savage Studios Ltd. Dee Snider, from the band Twisted Sister composed the show's theme song.

Ownership of the series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide.^[2][3][4]

The series chronicles the misadventures of a trio of dinosaur mercenaries released from incarceration after they were falsely accused of helping an enemy Thuggosaur in a time of war when they actually found it injured. They are charged by General Galapagos with the task of eliminating two primitive human beings after scientists realize that, if humanity is allowed to multiply, it will mean the end of dinosaur supremacy. Despite their superior size and firepower and the obliviousness of their targets, the mercenaries always fail to kill the humans with comic results. Their usual preferred method of attacking the humans is throwing bombs full of bees, which upon impact would usually then go after the dinosaurs, forcing them to run to water to get away from the bees. Although the mercenaries fail to eliminate the humans, they have better luck in defending Jurassic City from enemies, and are successful in dangerous missions such as rescuing the kidnapped daughter of the president, which might explain why the team is allowed to continue working and not return to prison.^[5]

Doc Tari or "Doc" (voiced by Savage Steve Holland) is the leader of the Thunderlizards team. He is a Parasaurolophus only with a hole in the center of his crest that contains many gadgets such as a buzz-saw and a grappling hook. More often than not, he is the team's most focused member, but is every bit as unfocused as Kutter and Squatt when not chasing the humans or performing missions. Doc, both in voice and mannerisms is a parody of various Arnold Schwarzenegger film characters such as John Matrix from Commando, Dutch from Predator, and with a bit of the Terminator. His catch phrase is "We move!".

Day Z. Kutter or "Kutter" (voiced by Bill Kopp) is the second-in-command of the team. He is a Styracosaurus, although he was mis-addressed as a Triceratops. As his name suggests, he is good with knives, being the master of the knife fight, and wears a skull T-shirt. Kutter is smarter than Squatt but less intelligent than Doc. He is often shown fooling around with Squatt and, at times, requires Doc's quick wit and strength to help him focus.

Bo Diddley Squatt or "Squatt" (voiced by Jason Priestley in 1994-1996, Corey Feldman in 1996-1997) is the third member of the team and their top sniper. He is an Allosaurus. He is the typical "dim-witted clumsy screw-up" character, although in some instances, he has been fairly competent and he presumably has ADHD. His voice and mannerisms appear to be similar to Private Hudson, Bill Paxton's character from the film Aliens. Squatt is often used as the volunteer to assess dangerous situations. His catchphrase involves asking if a particular event would qualify as a "bad thing", to which Kutter or occasionally Doc would respond, "Yes Squatt, that would fit nicely into the bad things category!".

General Galapagos (voiced by Kurtwood Smith) is the boss of the Thunderlizards. He is a green and bad-tempered Tyrannosaurus. He wears a Blue General military uniform with a gold starred blue cap. When humans were starting to become a threat, General Galapagos had Doc, Squatt, and Kutter's prison sentenced commuted so that they can deal with the humans. He oversees the missions of the Terrible Thunderlizards to hunt down the humans but is continually frustrated that they never accomplish their mission. He was the one who foresaw that, given the trio's overall performance, their race is doomed.

Dr. Steggy is a Stegosaurus scientist (voiced by Charlie Adler) who works for the Jurassic City Military. He has a nephew called Huckleberry (voiced by Cam Clarke) who befriends the humans, Bill and Scooter.

Mr. T-Rex is Galapagos's best soldier. He is a Tyrannosaurus who is based on and voiced by Mr. T. Mr. T-Rex is a parody of Mr. T's characters Clubber Lang from Rocky III & B. A. Baracus from The A-Team, even using some of Mr. T's popular catch phrases. His anger frequently gets him into trouble resulting in the Thunderlizards having to save him.

Nate the Dragon (voiced by Nathan Wang) is a Velociraptor who is a stealth and martial arts expert using uses a Bo staff.

El Gordo is an unusually small Ceratosaurus who is an expert in camouflage and can disappear by sticking a plant in his hat.

Bill and Scooter are the two humans—Homo sapiens, called "mankinds"—that the Thunderlizards try to eliminate so they will never evolve into the humans of today. Both Bill and Scooter wear animal skins (blue for Bill and red for Scooter) somewhat like the ones worn by male characters in The Flintstones, but covering only their right shoulders, and walk in animal skin shoes. While both are aware that the Thunderlizards are trying to kill them, they have no idea why, being unaware of the anti-human prejudice from Dinosaur City. In spite of this, they befriend Huckleberry, who initially wished to keep them as pets, in the episode "Ice Age Capades".

Bill (voiced by Charles Adler) is tall and thin with red hair and is Scooter's ill-tempered partner. He is often used to test drive Scooter's devices often with chaotic, disastrous and painful consequences. Throughout the series, he uses the catch phrase "When does the hurting stop?", usually after one of Scooter's failed and painful experiments. Bill is continually depressed, sometimes almost to the point of psychosis. He has a love-hate relationship with Scooter; while he has been civil toward him at times, and even occasionally protects him, he often gets driven to attempt to kill him after suffering some painful mishap from one of his inventions. While most of the time, the pain that Bill goes through is the cause of Scooter, more often it is Bill's misfortune from his own stupidity, stubbornness and refusal to listen to him. Bill is the target of choice for a particular species of jungle slug that regularly tries to eat him, although it has targeted Scooter on one occasion as well.

Scooter (voiced by Curtis Armstrong) is short, fat and bald with a yellow beard. He is a jolly, overly enthusiastic caveman and inventor and is blissfully unaware of Bill's irritable attitude toward him. He is an eternal optimist seeking world peace and harmony and rarely panics unless being pursued by the Thunderlizards or when Bill attempts to hurt him. His inventions often fail and result in disastrous consequences where Bill is usually the victim, but sometimes his inventions save him and Bill from being hurt by the Thunderlizards or other dangers in the jungle. Unlike Bill, Scooter is willing to find new ways to live and survive in the X-Zone and invent new things, and has developed somewhat of a bond with Babs over their love of inventing, most clearly shown in "The Yawn of Man".

Their relationship is similar to SpongeBob and Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants.

Babs is the first female human and was created by dinosaur scientists using recovered genetic material from Bill and Scooter spliced together, then doubling the X-chromosome to create a female. Her name comes from the acronym for Bio-engineered Animated Biped Specimen (BABS) and she believes strongly in "womankind". The Thunderlizards' goal was to use Babs to entrap the two men for the dinosaurs. But she was more intelligent than them and abandoned her original mission to live alone in the jungle. Babs is aloof and manipulative and was initially repulsed by Scooter and preferred the company of Bill, who was easier to manipulate. She makes occasional future appearances where she comes up with ideas on how to use Bill and Scooter to further her aspirations.

The Thuggosaurs are a race of black-hooded skeletal undead dinosaurs that live in the X-Zone on the outskirts of Jurassic City, which is a frequent target of the Thuggosaurs, who are recurring antagonists in the program. The Thuggosaurs are a parody of the hooded and mutated survivors living in the Forbidden Zone from the films Beneath the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes in their targeting of Ape City. Thuggo (voiced by Brad Garrett in most appearances, understudied by Kurtwood Smith in four episodes) is the diabolical leader of a group of Thuggosaurs. He is a Megalosaurus. His vanity insists he always look good. So Thuggo often spends more time trying to improve his appearance than accomplishing his evil plans, which would mean the end of the Living Dinosaurs once carried out. The Thuggosaurs sometimes have conspiracies that initially appear effective against the dinosaurs, such as kidnapping the president's daughter. Biff is Thuggo's wimpy, flower-loving, second-in-command and is inappropriate to be part of a villainous organization like The Thuggosaurs. Thuggo has an roundish skull-shape with sharp teeth-like bones while Biff has a long snout with bucky teeth and wears a pair of goggles. All other Thuggosaurs share similar features.

The primates are a group of simians who co-exist in the X-Zone like Bill and Scooter, whom they regard as backward and primitive. They are more advanced than the humans, living in condominiums and with an advanced social structure.

• Savage Steve Holland .... Doc (36 episodes) & Additional Voices
• Bill Kopp .... Kutter (36 episodes) & Additional Voices
• Jason Priestley .... Squatt (1993–1996) (30 episodes)
• Corey Feldman .... Squatt (1996–1997) (6 episodes)
• Charlie Adler .... Bill (36 episodes) & Additional Voices
• Curtis Armstrong .... Scooter (36 episodes) & Additional Voices
• Sandy Fox .... Babs
• Kurtwood Smith .... General Galapagos (35 episodes) & Thuggo (understudy for 4 episodes)
• Mr. T .... Mr. T-Rex (3 episodes)
• Brad Garrett .... Thuggo (26 episodes)
• Cam Clarke .... Huckleberry (2 episodes) & Additional Voices
• Elizabeth Daily .... The President's Daughter (1 episode)