The BEST episodes of The Wild Thornberrys

Every episode of The Wild Thornberrys ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Wild Thornberrys!

Eliza Thornberry is not your ordinary kid. It's not just because she travels the world in an RV with her parents, Nigel and Marrianne: famous nature show hosts. Eliza also happened to be granted the magical ability to talk with and understand animals. She's now able to talk with animals and help save them from various threats along with her friend Darwin, a chimpanzee who travels with Eliza and her family.

Last Updated: 2/23/2024Network: NickelodeonStatus: Ended
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Thornberry Island
star
9.71
34 votes

#1 - Thornberry Island

Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 9/15/1999

The Thornberrys get stranded on an uncharted island, basking at first in all the beauty and the splendor, but discover soon enough that being marooned isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Directors: Becky Bristow
Writer: David Regal
Watch Now:Amazon
Show Me the Bunny
star
9.71
34 votes

#2 - Show Me the Bunny

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 9/13/1999

After Eliza saves an arctic hare from a determined stoat, she learns that underdogs come in all shapes and sizes.

Directors: Becky Bristow
Writer: Adam Beechen
Watch Now:Amazon
Stick Your Neck Out
star
9.70
33 votes

#3 - Stick Your Neck Out

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/23/1999

Eliza finds a hero in a giraffe who can see distances with his height and warn others of approaching danger. However, to Eliza's dismay, the giraffe leaves the animals for his own needs. Only when Eliza herself is in danger does the giraffe return and realize his selfishness.

Directors: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: Adam Beechen
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Darwin Plays the Palace
star
9.70
33 votes

#4 - Darwin Plays the Palace

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/19/1999

When Eliza gets a hunch that foul play has led to Darwin's disappearance, she sets out to rescue her long lost companion. To her dismay, she finds Darwin has become one of the most popular acts at an Indian palace where a young prince lives. It's up to her to prove to Darwin that friendship runs deeper than the glamour and glitz of showbiz.

Directors: Sylvia Keulen
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Reef Grief
star
9.70
33 votes

#5 - Reef Grief

Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 9/14/1999

Eliza gets in over her head when she assumes responsibilities she can't handle. She is soon forced to don scuba gear and rescue a fumbling Nigel and a tumbling commvee under the dangerous waters of Australia.

Directors: Sylvia Keulen
Watch Now:Amazon
Two's Company
star
9.70
33 votes

#6 - Two's Company

Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 9/7/1999

When Eliza is told that ""Jake"" the turtle is the last one of his kind, she can't just let his species become another name on the extinction list. Enlisting help from other animals, she soon discovers ""Samantha"" and brings the two turtles together--blind date style. Eliza soon realizes that playing the role of cupid is not as easy as it seems.

Directors: Steve Russel
Watch Now:Amazon
On the Right Track
star
9.70
33 votes

#7 - On the Right Track

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 9/2/1999

When the Thornberrys are in Finland for the annual reindeer races, Eliza feels left out. She single-handedly uncovers a plot to sabotage the races, and along with an equally excluded reindeer who didn't make the final cut, helps save the day by playing fair.

Directors: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: David Regal
Watch Now:Amazon
Chew If by Sea
star
9.70
33 votes

#8 - Chew If by Sea

Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/30/1999

When the Thornberrys leave Australia for India, Eliza can't bear to leave her wombat friend, Emily. Even though she is told not to, she brings her along. Now Eliza is constantly forced to re-create Emily's habitat in order to ensure her survival.

Directors: Steve Russel
Writer: Monica Piper
Watch Now:Amazon
Koality and Kuantity
star
9.70
33 votes

#9 - Koality and Kuantity

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/26/1999

The Thornberrys discover that koalas are missing from their native groves. Eliza decides to unravel the mystery only to discover Kip and Biederman masterminding the evil plot. It is now up to her to stop the culprits from wiping out an entire species!

Writer: David Regal
You Ain't Seen Nothin', Yeti
star
9.70
33 votes

#10 - You Ain't Seen Nothin', Yeti

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 9/1/1999

To study and protect the snow leopards from extinction and a construction site that is threatening their survival, Nigel's mentor (thought to be lost for many years) has left civilization to be a yeti. Eliza discovers his identity, helps him fend off the construction workers, and reunites him with her father.

Directors: Carol Millican
Writer: Adam Beechen
Watch Now:Amazon
Rumble in the Jungle
star
9.68
34 votes

#11 - 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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Pal Joey
star
9.68
34 votes

#12 - Pal Joey

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/17/1999

Eliza convinces a mother kangaroo that she can handle the responsibilities of baby-sitting. She quickly learns that this mischievous joey is more than meets the eye. After a close encounter with Tasmanian devils, Eliza is all too happy to relieve her duties and go back to being a kid herself.

Directors: Carol Millicam
Writer: Gene Grillo
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Flight of Donnie
star
9.66
35 votes

#13 - Flight of 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.

Directors: Steve Ressel
Watch Now:Amazon
Rain Dance
star
9.66
35 votes

#14 - Rain Dance

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/18/1999

With the commvee broken down in the desert and no water left to survive, the Thornberrys go through desperate measures to maintain their sanity.

Directors: Sylvia Keulen
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Clash of the Teutons
star
9.65
34 votes

#15 - Clash of the Teutons

Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 8/31/1999

The Thornberrys meet the Fensterkopfs who make false documentaries. The Fensterkopfs' kid lies to Eliza and gets them all stuck on a cliff. After the families barely escape an avalanche, the value of truth is learned by all.

Directors: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: Adam Beechen
Watch Now:Amazon
The Great Bangaboo
star
9.65
34 votes

#16 - 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.""

Directors: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: David Regal
Watch Now:Amazon
Lost and Foundation
star
9.65
34 votes

#17 - 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.

Directors: Sylvia Keulen
Watch Now:Amazon
Polar Opposites
star
9.61
36 votes

#18 - Polar Opposites

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 9/6/1999

When a friendly polar bear is wrongly accused of vicious behavior, Eliza goes to great lengths to keep him from being harmed and learns the value of sticking by a friend in times of trouble.

Directors: Steve Russel
Watch Now:Amazon
Born to Be Wild
star
9.57
37 votes

#19 - 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!

Watch Now:Amazon
Blood Sisters
star
9.54
35 votes

#20 - 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!

Writer: Tom Stern
Watch Now:Amazon
Valley Girls
star
9.51
35 votes

#21 - 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.

Directors: Anthony Bell
Writer: David Regal
Watch Now:Amazon
Eliza-cology
star
9.50
36 votes

#22 - 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.

Directors: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: David Regal
Watch Now:Amazon
Rebel Without a Trunk
star
9.50
36 votes

#23 - Rebel Without a Trunk

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/16/1999

Eliza succumbs to peer pressure from a ""teenage"" elephant, which gets in the way of her closeness with Marianne on an overnight trip.

Directors: Sylvia Keulen
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
No Laughing Matter
star
9.50
34 votes

#24 - No Laughing Matter

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/24/1999

Eliza frees a hyena from captivity, but having never lived in the wild, it doesn't know how to survive. Eliza attempts to teach it, but it seems hopeless--until a wild boar threatens them and the hyena's natural instincts take over.

Writer: David Regal
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Iron Curtain
star
9.49
35 votes

#25 - 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.

Directors: Cathy Malkasian
Writer: Mark Palmer
Watch Now:Amazon