7.7/1084 votes#1 - Flood Warning
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/1/1998
When the Thornberrys are forced to spend the night in the middle of the savanna, Eliza seizes the opportunity to go hunting with a pride of lions--only to discover that Debbie is about to become a midnight snack!
Director: Steve Ressel
Writer: Tom Stern
7.4/1055 votes#2 - Dinner With Darwin
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/3/1998
Annoyed with Eliza, Darwin sets off into the jungle to prove he still has his natural instincts. After a scary night in the jungle, he stumbles upon an empty shack and hides out. When the family who lives in the shack returns to find Darwin in their home, they couldn't be more pleased with their new guest. It's up to Eliza to save the oblivious Darwin from becoming the next family dinner!
Director: Steve Ressel
Writer: Steve Skrovan
7.4/1055 votes#3 - Bad Company
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/8/1998
A swarm of mysterious prankster marmosets overrun the Thornberrry camp, and it's up to Eliza to beat them at their own game.
Director: Steve Ressel
Writer: Leslie Rasmussen
7.6/1054 votes#4 - Gold Fever
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 9/10/1998
When Eliza and Debbie discover an old treasure map on the Galapagos Islands, they set out to claim their ""riches."" Once the gold is discovered, however, greed sets in and the girls begin an all-out battle of trickery to get the gold away from each other. They battle continues all the way down to the last coin, until they accidentally lose all the gold in a fiery lava pit.
Director: Anthony Bell
Writer: Adam Beechen
7.4/1057 votes#5 - Matadi or Bust
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 9/15/1998
When Eliza, Darwin and Donnie are flung from a Matadi-bound barge and stranded on the banks of the Congo river, they must traverse the cliffs and crags of mountainous Zaire in order to catch up with her family.
Director: Sylvia Keulen
Writer: Carolyn Omine
7.3/1051 votes#6 - Temple of Eliza
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 9/17/1998
When Eliza discovers a secret temple, a group of jaguars believe that she is their long lost queen. Thrilled with her new royal position, Eliza gets in over her head and must escape the avenging jaguars.
Director: Peter Avanzino
Writer: Barbara Herndon, Jill Gorey
7.5/1052 votes#7 - Vacant Lot
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 9/22/1998
As animals flee their homes and run for their lives, Eliza discovers that Kip and Biederman are destroying part of the rainforest. In an all-out war against the evil duo, Eliza must convince the animals that with everybody's help, they can stop the destruction and save the forest.
Director: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: Monica Piper
7.7/1060 votes#8 - Only Child
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 10/1/1998
Eliza's imagination gets the best of her when she thinks a local teenage girl is actually a dolphin who's trying to abduct her sister, Debbie, into a watery world.
Director: Anthony Bell
Writer: Kate Boutilier
6.9/10123 votes#9 - Iron Curtain
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 10/6/1998
Eliza busts a young elephant out of a Kenyan game preserve, only to face predators and poachers who are out to get them.
Director: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: Mark Palmer
7.3/1051 votes#10 - Valley Girls
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 10/13/1998
Eliza and Debbie's combined bungling sends the commvee careening down a mountain, where it lies mired in the mud. They come face to face with a menacing-looking, but quirky tribe of silverback gorillas, and they must work together to ""unstick"" the van.
Director: Anthony Bell
Writer: David Regal
7.5/1047 votes#11 - Naimina Enkiyio
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 10/22/1998
Challenging an ancient Maasai legend, Eliza marches into a ""haunted"" forest to prove her bravery. Now, with night falling, Eliza must place her trust in the mysterious legends of the Maasai in order to find her way safely through the dark forest.
Director: Peter Avanzino
Writer: Mark Steen
7.4/1064 votes#12 - Blood Sisters
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 10/27/1998
With Nigel and Marianne off exploring bat caves, Eliza and Debbie are left at the ""eerie"" residence of colleague Dr. Renfield. Eliza becomes bent on spooking Debbie, but when her imagination gets the best of her the tables are slowly turned. By the time their parents return, the girls are convinced that the absent-minded Renfield is a vampire out to get them!
Director: Peter Avanzino, Carol Millican
Writer: Tom Stern
7.5/1050 votes#13 - Eliza-cology
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 11/5/1998
Eliza's good-natured intentions of assisting a struggling bird in getting food set off a chain reaction of destruction within the ecological system. It's up to her to retrace her steps and undo all of her actions while some animals face near extinction.
Director: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: David Regal
7.4/1043 votes#14 - Flight of the Donnie
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 11/17/1998
Eliza and Debbie must take over Marianne's duties when she is sick. Debbie goes with Nigel to shoot footage of a condor and Eliza must care for Donnie. Covered with feathers from a pillow, Donnie is snatched up by the condor and Eliza and Darwin must rescue him and help the condor find her real baby. In return for the favor, the condors stay on a tree branch so Debbie can get footage of them.
Director: Steve Ressel
Writer: John Requa, Glenn Ficarra
7.4/1089 votes#15 - Lost and Foundation
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 3/16/1999
When the girls discover that their parents have mistakenly taken embarrassing home movies to an awards banquet, they join forces in order to save face. Their cross-island trip turns into a race against time in order to beat their parents to the podium and stop the world from seeing them at bath time.
Director: Sylvia Keulen
Writer: Kate Boutilier
7.4/1052 votes#16 - Nigel Knows Best
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 3/18/1999
Hungry for adventure, Eliza convinces her mother that she should take a llama over the Andean pass, meeting her family on the other side of the mountain. However, she is disappointed when her safety-conscious father commandeers the lead. Along the journey, her frustration builds as each attempt to explore is foiled by her father's watchful eye. Finally Eliza gains new respect for her father's resourceful manner, when he saves her life.
Director: Sylvia Keulen
Writer: Kate Boutilier
7.3/1043 votes#17 - The Great Bangaboo
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 3/23/1999
When Eliza discovers that a local performer claims he can talk to animals she believes she's found a soul mate. Eliza must enlist the help of some very ""urban"" animals to sneak into the sideshow and meet ""The Great Bangaboo.""
Director: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: David Regal
7.3/1044 votes#18 - Rumble in the Jungle
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 3/25/1999
Eliza convinces a group of baboon-like apes to stand up to their legendary adversaries--""The Others."" Darwin, meanwhile, has met an almost identical group of apes with an identical problem. As Eliza and Darwin lead their separate groups into battle, they suddenly find themselves face-to-face--in an all out war! Now it's up to Eliza to quickly find a way avert the battle and teach the apes to get along.
Director: Anthony Bell, Becky Bristow
Writer: John Derevlany
7.3/1043 votes#19 - The Dragon and the Professor
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 3/30/1999
Eliza will stop at nothing to get a look at the gigantic, fierce Komodo dragon that lives on the Southeast Asian islands. Her plans are halted by the unexpected arrival of her home-schooling teacher who forces her to ""hit the books."" Eliza plays a dangerous game of hooky that could cost her her ""Comvee way of life.""
Director: Steve Ressel
Writer: Barbara Herndon, Jill Gorey
7.3/1051 votes#20 - Born to Be Wild
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 4/1/1999
When Eliza sneaks out ahead of her parents in order to find a rare Sumatran rhino, she discovers that to expose his life would only lead extinction of the species. Now instead of taking the prized rhino to her parents, she must try to keep them from filming it. And the bad news is, Nigel's already on its trail!
Director: Peter Avanzino, Carol Millican
Writer: Elin Hampton, David Fury
The Best Episodes of The Wild Thornberrys Season 1
Every episode of The Wild Thornberrys Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Wild Thornberrys Season 1!
Travel the world with the Thornberrys and come face-to-face with blue sheep in Nepal, emus in Australia, marmots in Pakistan, flash floods in Siberia, Egyptian...
Genres:AnimationComedyAction & AdventureKidsFamily
Network:Nickelodeon
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Flood Warning" is the best rated episode of "The Wild Thornberrys" season 1. It scored 7.7/10 based on 84 votes. Directed by Steve Ressel and written by Tom Stern, it aired on 9/1/1998. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Dinner With Darwin".