On Friday night, Cartoon Network fires up “ThunderCats,” its satisfying update of the 1985-’90 animated classic about feline humanoids fighting to survive on a desolate planet against incredible odds – and against an aggressively hammy performance by the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra.
As beloved as the original’s awesomely implausible plot and iconic Rankin/Bass animation were, the show may be most remembered for birthing one of the most ridiculous and irritating cartoon characters television has ever known: Snarf.
In stark contrast to his young charge, Lion-O, the unflappable and bipedal alpha ThunderCat, this vexing nursemaid sidekick was merely a whiny fur-blob who padded around on all fours and dished out no end of shout-outs to himself.