Forgotten TV shows I still like. Except sometimes shows are forgotten for a reason, and they do not live up to your memories. And by “sometimes” I mean 1982’s Pandamonium.

Discussion of the show has to begin with the opening credits sequence. It makes a big deal of introducing our villain, Mondraggor. We learn all about how Mondraggor is a spirit who cannot touch things physically, but he can mind-control humans and affect the weather. Also, Mondraggor is after an object called the Pyramid of Power, which has been shattered and its pieces are all over the world. And then, thrown in like an afterthought, we’re introduced to our heroes, three talking pandas and two human siblings.

Despite the talking panda of it all, this opening promises epic fantasy, with plucky heroes on a scavenger hunt-like quest against an oppressive, Sauron-like villain. The most well-known thing about the show is how it had continuity from episode to episode, a rarity in ‘80s cartoons. As the characters gather more pieces of the pyramid, they gain more magic powers. Then season one ended on a cliffhanger, never to be resolved. It has the air of one of those ‘toons that was smarter than it had any right to be, like the ‘80s Dungeons and Dragons, or Batman: The Animated Series, or Reboot. But then you rewatch it today, and yikes.

The actual show does not live up to the epic fantasy promised in the intro.  This was the first non-Tom and Jerry animation ever produced by MGM Television, and they’re still into the joke-a-minute slapstick style. Chesty is the lead panda, a self-centered blowhard. Timothy is the cowardly one, and Algernon is the dumb one. Any given episode throws these three into a situation and lets them go off. The humans, Peter and Peggy, are dual straight men, always here to remind us about the search for the pyramid and whatever thin plot each episode has.

I’m reminded of the later seasons of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, when viewers tuned in expecting awesome sci-fi martial arts action and instead got goofball slapstick and fourth-wall breaking gags. Case in point is the laugh track, which is constant throughout any given episode. I get it, you want kids to think the show is “legitimate” like a prime time sitcom, but I doubt anyone bought it.  

Other observations:

• Famous radio personality Rick Dees is listed among the voice cast, but his name is small and near the bottom, and he’s not on the show’s IMDb page, so I have no idea what character or characters he played.

• Marvel Production has its logo in the end credits, but, again, I can’t sort out how big their involvement was. The Marvel Wiki has no entry for Pandamonium, just the weird villain Master Pandemonium.

• Oh yeah, the pandas have the ability to combine into a single giant panda called Poppapanda, like they’re Voltron or the Megazord or something. But this is done by two of them standing on the shoulders of the third, and then smooshing their faces together to form a new face from their two halves. It’s… odd.

I do not recommend Pandamonium. This is a show that has no idea what it wants to be. Its fandom must be a small one, because I could only find three episodes on YouTube, one of which has vloggers cracking wise over it. This is a real nothing of a show.

Next: Hawaiian time.

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