Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! ThunderCats! HOOOOOO!!!!

Pretty good start to the new version of the Thundercats. I'm a minor fan of the original series, although I know it hasn't aged that well (although they always had cool weapons and mecha design), but so far the reboot looks like it has a lot of potential. The animation is particularly good (I think a Japanese studio did the art, so that might be why its good quality), and I like the fantasy set-up of the world. Not to mention getting the original voice actor as the father. Too bad we didn't get to see Mumm-ra's battle form, I'm not even sure we saw his symbol except on Grune's new armor (and its usually covered by his beard), but when we do it should be impressive. Lion-O's an interesting character, the young impetus prince type, somewhat out of step with the rest of the kingdom, but that might be a good thing since he's more open-minded than the rest. At least he's not the seriously flawed cliche most main characters are these days, I get so tired of jerks as main characters.

If you can, I suggest you watch the first 10 minutes, its somewhat important as it is our first introduction to Lion-O, as well as his first meeting with Cheetara. Although its kind of annoying that despite having commercials for this premiere playing for several weeks there are no replays, not that night or even on Saturday or this week, they're just moving onto the next episode next Friday. I'm hoping this series will run for a while, but... I seriously doubt most networks have the ability to recognize quality series these days (either that or the more stupid stuff is more popular for cheaper budgets, not sure which is more depressing). I hope this series lasts a while, I'll be following it while it lasts, especially with most of CN's other Friday stuff on break (not that most of it was all that great anymore either).

They've got the basic cast set-up (mostly), and a quest, looking forward to seeing the rest of their world (especially since the Thunderans themselves seem pretty ignorant about what's beyond the city walls). Looking forward to seeing what direction the heroes will take next week.

 

I loved this one. One thing I might've changed... because it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine:

*In the tunnels at the end*

Jaga. "Now, go!"

Lion-O. "Okay!" *Grabs Jaga and slings him over his shoulders* "But since you're the only one with any knowledge of how to reach the Book of Omens, and you're too weak to protest and I just held my father's dying body in my arms and would prefer a little less guilt, you're coming with me!"

And yes, I know that would never happen, but dammit it would've been cool!

 

I know Thundercats, but I'm not really a fan. I think the look of the new series is a bit too 'anime', but I liked it fine. The best thing about it is probably the animation quality, which is impressive.

I'm not really feeling the story or characters though. Lion-O and the others just seem to be slapped together, it feels like the creators of the show care more about the sleek designs than characterization (I kinda miss the Lion-O afro). But I only saw the premiere, so things could change.

 

I really liked the Moby Dick allegory in the second episode, as obvious as it was. I really like how the show has begun, and since CN has only aired the first two episodes, I'm not making any judgements on the kids yet, they're bound to have more backstory that hasn't been explored yet.

I very much hope that Panthro eventually shows up at some point.

 

Hm, the second episode was weaker than the premiere, though that's not surprising. I liked how Lion-O seemed more open-minded than most of the cat people in the first episode, but here he's mostly a jerk. Although I agreed with him about there being no rush to find the Book of Omens, its been lost for centuries, what's another few months/years? Of course there probably will be a reason to rush to find it now (poor Jaga, he had it easy as a ghost in the original compared to here), not to mention probably some big picture involving the Sword, Book and Mumm-Ra.

I'm liking the Thunderkittens- cute, but very sly and mischievous, like when they let that cook fatten them up then distracted him and ran off once they had their fill. Not to mention beautiful opening scene, of basically the five of them being the last ones left in the ruined kingdom (reminds me of many a fantasy series and/or RPG which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Although the lizards sure packed up and left fast, but guess they weren't planning to occupy Thundera in the first place, they just wanted revenge and conquest.

Hopefully now that we've had the obligatory "main character as a jerk" episode, he won't be that bad for the rest of the season.

 

Yeah, it as kind of a strange episode. The part about Thundercats never retreating is kind of stupid- we've seen the "brave heroes on the run from a big army" thing many times (Avatar (the good cartoon series of course) for instance). It really did feel like an anime, although the short life thing was kind of... touching, sorta, but kind of weird too. And yeah, the flashback was kind of long since... well, a flashback is supposed to be the highlights, but then considering how short his life was, guess there are nothing but highlights.

And then after all of that, the lesson of the day is "there is always hope" which leads to... a suicidal charge against an army? If they had been cornered and then Lion-O had still kept faith and charged into there, that's one thing, but this was a bit more... odd, and yeah it would make their father proud but Lion-O's father wasn't quite the nicest person either. Oh well, mainly it was set-up for an awesome intro- Panthro in a kickass Thundertank! A heavily armed Thundertank! Doesn't look like he quite recognizes them yet but it is dark. A minor quibble but I kind of wish the technology angle would be pushed more. In the intro, technology was just a legend, but by now Tygra's easily wielding a gun and even last episode a flying ship was no big deal.

 

Yeah, that was an.. unexpected story (singing flower people?), but I thought it was the best thing in the show so far. I still think the characters need more establishment, the switching attitudes of Lion-O seem too random from episode to episode. And Cheetara and the two kids are just there, hardly doing anything. Did they need to have the team come together so soon?

I know it's sill early in the series, but I really hope they do something more with these characters, build relationships, give backstory, etc. Lion-O's friendship with Emeric was genuinely touching, but why not do that kind of story first with the characters who are supposed to be his friends/comrades?

 

Panthro and the Thundertank!!!

I'm enjoying this one. IMO, so much better than the 80s series.

 

I just caught up on the new series tonight while the boards were down. I have to say to don't hate it. The kittens are by far my favorites so far. They remind me of me and my brothers when we were kids. I wasn't blown away by the series so far but I am gonna give it a go for the rest of the season.

 

Yeah, the Mumm-Ra tank was awesome. Kind of funny that typically Mumm-Ra has seemed supernatural (his long-awaited transformation, his shapeshifting, etc., but now he's driving around in his own cool tank (wonder if they'll make a toy out of it) and looks like that was his war room long ago. The animation and mecha design for this show has been fantastic, but the details are... kind of weak. Like they said Jaga's clues have led them to that random spot, yet, what clues? Jaga gave them one cryptic phrase (at the foot of the setting sun or something like that), and it hasn't been mentioned since the premiere. Not to mention, if Jaga knew where it was, then what was the point of sending Panthro and Grune out at all? Especially if the book was meant to stay hidden.

Still, nice to see everyone contribute to getting past the traps. Superspeed seems to be a cleric thing, which is good since they had a cleric with them. Although they got past the lock kind of easy (and I was reminded of Harry Potter for a moment with all those keys), and the kids were kind of stupid to just reach for the gold in a death trap, not to mention letting Panthro drown (someone couldn't hold him up?). It all worked out, I'm just nitpicking (like how last week after they broke into the mine, Cheetara only grabbed one tiny Thundranium crystal).

Mumm-ra's flashback was the most interesting part for me. Another planet?! Interplanetary travel wasn't anything unusual in the original, but here? Not to mention seeing Thunderians working for Mumm-ra, traveling in space fleets and such. And looks like that was where the Eye of Thundera came from.

Not surprised at the twist at the end, I wasn't expecting answers that easily. What's next, find the Key of Thundera?

 

Well, that was certainly an epic episode. The only downside is the other Thundercats didn't even get one line this episode, but oh well, at least since this episode focused on the past we got more answers, as well as the new direction for the series. Though I'm really reminded of some old RPGs, but that's kind of the nature of these quest shows- find one thing, then go find something else. And the designs are just awesome, although there's one object where I liked the original '80s version more than the current one (but the space pyramid was cool).

And talk about big battles. The original series took a few seasons to build up to a Sword of Omens vs. Sword of Plundarr duel, but here we already got one. Not to mention Mumm-ra and Leo/Lion-O getting really cool battle armors (yeah, this almost counts as an anime already). Although I personally prefer the original snake/feather theme of the Sword of Plun-darr, but this one is pretty cool too. And we finally find out why Mumm-ra claims the Eye of Thundera as his, although really they just stole it from someone else. Kind of funny that we only see two cats in on the rebellion, but they were the higher up ones so they probably knew once Mumm-ra had ultimate power, their position was in trouble too. And glad Lion-O didn't have to stumble through fitting into his ancestor's life. And nice they remembered that whole cats vs. other animals theme that was prominent in the premiere but not so much since (good luck getting any of them to negotiate now though). Huh, so four stones, and Lion-O has one, the Eye of Thundera. Wonder where the other three ended up. Random theory- there were a few very powerful swords in the original series, wonder how many more will show up in the reboot.

 

Didn't Leo claim at least one of the other stones on his gauntlet? I mean, there are jems on the gauntlet...