Ookla

Real Name: Ookla

Identity/Class: Terrestrial humanoid feline species (Mok)

Occupation: Barbarian warrior, wanderer, former gladiator, slave

Affiliations: Thundarr the Barbarian, Princess Ariel, Tyron, Tai, Arak, Tye, Chief Oblach, the Mok Tribes, the Amazon Women, Shara the Barbarian, Merlek the Sorcerer, Yeek, the Women of Prophecy (Maya, Cinda, Valerie Storm), Thorac

Enemies: Sabien, Gemini (aka Janus), Raiders of the Abyss, Garth, Morag, Captain Kordon and the River Pirates, General Zoa, Mindok, Zebron, the Brotherhood of Night, Striya, Sholow, Simius, the Stalker from the Stars, Kublai, Zogar, Crom, Judag, Skullus, Sarott, Vortak, Circe, the Hawkmen, the Silicoids, Vashtarr, Lord Argoth, Yando, Korb, Artemus, the Man-Apes, the Carocs, the Desert People, the Groundlings, the Little People

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Ookla the Mok

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout 3394 A.D. Earth, centered around North America

First Appearance: Thundarr the Barbarian, "Secret of the Black Pearl" (first aired on October 4th, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: Ookla is a member of the Mok species, a leonine mutant race that possesses superhuman strength that far exceeds normal humanoids. He can rip up trees to wield as a makeshift club with little difficulty. He can also leap extraordinary distances and is capable of withstanding enormous punishment with little or no effect. Ookla is a powerful physical brawler, relying on his physical strength and power rather than any skill or agility to defeat his opponents. Ookla is also fully capable of understanding human language although he is apparently unable to speak it. As a Mok, Ookla as a racial fear and hatred of water.

Ookla also possesses exceptional wilderness survival skills and is a skilled rider, although he typically uses a mount known as an equort which is a mutated quadruped species that bears a vague resemblance to a horse. Ookla is a competent archer who wields a bow along with arrows that when they strike their target, discharges a powerful stun effect that knocks the target unconscious momentarily.

History: In 1994, a runaway planet hurtled out of the depths of space and passed between the Earth and the Moon. The titanic forces unleashed by this rogue planetoid shattered the Moon; causing massive seismic upheavals ranging from huge sinkholes, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes and tidal waves, and stripped away a large portion of the atmosphere of the Earth, exposing the planet to massive levels of solar and cosmic radiations and destroying civilization.

Two thousand years later, Earth had descended into brutal savagery. Mutants and bizarre creatures roamed the planet; the remnants of human civilization cowered in pitiful enclaves while powerful wizard tyrants reigned over pocket kingdoms through a bizarre hybrid of super-science and sorcery.

Among the various mutant races that emerged in this new era are the Moks, a leonine species that lived in tribes ruled by a Chief. A member of this species, Ookla was captured and pressed into slavery by the Dark Sorcerer Sabien, becoming a gladiator, fighting for entertainment. While doing this he met and encountered a fellow gladiator and slave known as Thundarr. They were ultimately freed by the Princess Ariel, Sabien's stepdaughter, and Ookla decided to remain with his new found friends as they journeyed the devastated Earth of 3394 A.D. Often finding and assisting those in need, Ookla lended his prodigious strength and the occasional fist in the cause of justice against all manner of petty tyrants, eerie monstrosities, and hostile mutant species.

Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, the creator of Howard the Duck, and Alex Toth, the designer of Space Ghost. Ookla was voiced by Henry Corden.

Ookla was a last minute addition to the series which was supposed to focus on Thundarr and Princess Ariel. ABC network executives insisted on including a sidekick and Ookla was born. Steve Gerber was stumped on the name for the character whom he never wanted and was discussing this problem with a friend of his when they walked past the University of California, Los Angeles' campus and his friend jokingly suggested naming the character "UCLA". Gerber took the suggestion to heart, phonetically taking the acronym into Ookla.

Thanks to Michael Higuchi for the above profile.

CLARIFICATIONS:Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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