The Conan the Adventurer Cartoon

One of the very things that had been part of my childhood was Conan the Adventurer. It was also this show that ended me in curiosity that made me watch the adult Conan the Barbarian film (which came first before this show) and say, "Hey what the?" The whole series was meant to be kid-friendly but to introduce children to the literature of Robert E. Howard? Not a very smart move and some parents complained that their children ended up watching the much adult rated films thinking it was also kid-friendly. In fact, I even heard legends of how He-Man was supposed to be a Conan cartoon but the adult content caused Filmation to withdraw the whole idea.

In fact, Conan's pretty different. Although he's a hot-headed, impulsive, short-attention spanned character, he's a kind and caring character with almost Herculean strength being able to break metal chains. Also, he isn't a womanizing wanderer but rather he sticks to his relationship with Jezmine (who is loosely based on Valeria) and he also has a high degree of morality. His background has pretty changed that instead of losing his family for good to the Snake Cult attack, well they just turn to living stone and he's an adult when it happens. The heroes are less bad-ass like for example Snagg is less violent than Subotai. However Greywolf is far better than Akiro the wizard. Of course expect no adult scenes between Conan and Jezmine.

The Snake Cult... well it just got lousy but what do you expect? Well they do attack Conan's village but hardly have they really been shown to kill people. What the? Well again it's a child's show so you can't have them doing what they do in the literature or in the movie. You can't expect to see the Snake Cult's kitchen in this show where the serpent men prepare newly butchered humans and cook them into human soup or serpent women dressed in skimpy outfits to entertain the serpent men before Conan kicks their asses. The serpent men are never killed, just sent away but in a real battle, Conan would really kill those guys!

The cult leader Wrath-Amon (based on Thoth-Amon and the movie version of Thulsa Doom) is evil but not as evil as James Earl Jones' portrays of Thulsa Doom. He of course was later revealed to be a gilla monster given intelligence by the previous leader only known as Ram-Amon (who sounds like Destro in G.I.Joe). I kind of thought that he was better than Skeletor in He-Man (who was seemingly based on Conan's comic version of Thulsa Doom) but he just can't beat out the movie version of Thulsa Doom. However it's a nice touch to see Wrath-Amon actually interact with his god Set whom the Snake Cult worships.

And there were some "brutal" elements too. Well you have battles that rather end quickly or near beheading but never one. I think the most ridiculous has to be the "cannibalism" part. Episode four featured Zula caught by the cannibals of Darfur yet they haven't eaten him yet. And one thing was just crazy- the cannibals here don't butcher their food- they simply put them into the pot whole. Sigh they didn't even bother to check whether or not Conan and Zula were dead or not. Instead, their food beat them up. LOL.  Or perhaps another what bothers me is the snakemen.  So you can't have Conan butchering the serpent men can you?  Instead, when the snakemen are struck with Star Metal, all it does to them is to send them INTO THE ABYSS rather than having them massacred in battle.

Besides, the battles were just as lame as the other ones, even when Set appears, there isn't much carnage. Come on? Does the release of the Snake Cult's god suppose to mean more danger? Instead, most of the people come out safely. I have to even think about it how Wrath-Amon's fate is even unknown. After a huge battle with Conan, Wrath-Amon was just reverted back to a gilla monster rather than being given a fitting end of being killed by the sword. The final battle with Set wasn't that satisfying either. Okay Set doesn't die but still, the whole battle could have been more intense than just that.

Besides the whole show itself can be a major disappointment to any diehard Robert E. Howard fan. If you're a true Conan fan, this isn't for you. Sigh, only if this cartoon would have been an Anime, I think it would be a little more violent.

Eventually it was succeeded by a much less successful season known as Conan and the Young Warriors where its main antagonist was Sulinara who was a pretty lame witch.  Too bad the Mesimira concept was never explored fully.

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