I met the news that they were rebooting Thundercats with mixed feelings. There have been so many craptacular reboots of a lot of my favorite childhood memories over the years, and I wasn’t eager to add this to the list. Though I knew even back then that the dialogue was stilted and weird and that the plots didn’t always make tremendous sense, the amount of sheer style and awesome that show could dish out was more than my 9 year old brain could comprehend. The theme alone made it special. I’m not sure, but I think it was the first thing that ever melted my face off.
Then I saw the preview, and I was blown away. I saw mutants laying siege to what appeared to be a city surrounding the Cat’s Lair. I saw Cheetara kicking ass. I saw style, and what looked like it could turn into substance. I wasn’t sure what to make of the new younger-looking Lion-O, but 2003′s pretty-good reboot of He-Man taught me that maybe they do these things for a reason. You know, so Prince Adam doesn’t have to “transform” into He-Man simply by taking off his bright pink outfit. For the first time, I started to wonder if this might not be a bad idea.
I watched the series premiere of the new Thundercats tonight, and I am pleasantly surprised to say that I am blown away. They’ve rearranged things a bit. Lion-O and Tygra are now brothers with a kind of unhealthy rivalry going on. Snarf doesn’t talk anymore, which I’m not sure if I like or not. They’re still on Thundera, no travelling to Third Earth and hanging out with Ro-Bear Berbils to eat candyfruit (yet). The dialogue seems to have been patched up quite a bit, and the plot was a little formulaic (which is not a problem because it was a classic formula I love). Cheetara’s character has been expanded a little bit, and when they got to that part in the story I may have squealed a little bit.
Probably my favorite thing about the new series is that they brought back Larry Kenney (the original Lion-O) to be King Claudus – Lion-O’s dad. They even have him doing the “THUNDERCATS, HO!” thing right before he starts kicking mutant ass with the Sword of Omens (okay I definitely squealed a little bit at this). I wasn’t sure about the new Lion-O’s voice acting at first, but when he does his thing with the Sword of Omens…. well, I’m not embarassed to say I got chills. They kept the sounds. They even kept some of the poses. The spirit is there.
As a fan of the original series, I can definitely recommend the reboot. Honestly, with such a strong start the only thing I’m worried about is the series continuing to be this awesome. One thing that gives me hope is that most of the major characters from the old series were touched on, but there were several that just made cameos (leaving lots of room for good character development). The new show seems to like character development, understands that style is what makes the Thundercats special, and respectfully tips its hat often to its source material.
It may even turn out better than the original. There’s a scary thought that ought to get me plenty of hate mail.
From what I understand, they are already on Third Earth. Thundara is a kingdom on the Third Earth. When my friend and I saw Linxo we both shouted his name!
When Claudus said “Thundercats! Ho!” We also squealed like kids. The purr of the eye of thundara just was so great. The sound of the sword springing to life as Lino-o called it out was great. I recognized the voice as the guy who played Terry from Batman Beyond.
The voice for Tigra was close to sounding like the original Tigra but not all overacting like the original which is a plus.
I love the rivalry the brothers have, and soon the romantic triangle will get good as well with the hints they threw out there. THey make it feel like all the thundarians are dead but I think they were scattered to the four winds and need the new king to rise up to lead them back.
This was definitely a great reboot.
MAY be better than the original? It already IS better than the original. It’s a coherent story that doesn’t pander to 8 year olds. It looks like it’s something adults and kids alike are going to enjoy. It’s animation style is a bit anime and a bit western. And there literally wasn’t anything about it I didn’t like.
I loved the original but I think I was just a BIT too old for it at the time. It felt too comedic. Too much like it was for kids younger than I was. Somehow I don’t feel too old for this one. I only wish I could watch all season at once. Waiting week to week irritates the hell out of me.
The original survives only on nostaligia ( and a kicka$$ themesong! ). But to watch most episodes now is almost intolerable. They. all. talk. like. Shatner.
The reboot? Hell yeah it’s good. More relevant subject matter too.
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