I have to admit, at first the animation seemed a little too current for Thundercats. Once I got over it, the show really grew on me.The slow introduction of the original characters, and the deep, evolving storyline kept me hooked until the last episode. There's much more continuity than the original series, and to be honest, when stacked up against the original this one is actually more interesting to watch. I was looking forward to seeing Lion-O grow into a Mature, wise leader but it looks like the show might be cancelled after season 1.Unfortunately the animation is not quite abstract enough for today's youth as the heads of the characters don't look like squares, or weird triangles, and the bodies are not made of weird shapes. That's really too bad because I saw a lot of potential for this series.

To be honest , I never watched the original thundercats except for a couple of episodes . and I thought it was corny - and that silly idea wouldn't work nowdays . but I gave it a shot , and this remake not only topped all my expectations . it became one of my favorite animated shows of all time . (up there with TMNT (2003) The Jackie Chan adventures , and even Avatar : The last airbender . just to name some)it's really in line with them in terms of quality and charm . not only that , but it even easily beats most of the real "anime" out there . and I think this combo of American writing and voice acting with Asian artstyle and animation is just proved as a great choice again . So , lets break this show down :Artstyle - some may disagree with me but as an artist myself I find it very beautiful , it's colorful and easy on the eye . but it's detailed enough to be taken seriously . the designs have a modern touch to them and fit the fantasy environment well . and the characters have a lot more ...well , character than the original ones - who looked like your cardboard superheroes. Animation - every episode so far was animated without laziness , with fluid character movement in every degree possible . and amazing action scenes . the quality is as good as something you would expect from a movie . and I just hope the animators realize they put that as a standard for the show and will never get lazy .Story - Although I'm yet sure to where this show is heading at , so far the plot lines were good . every episode was pretty epic , and even the fillers were pretty good (the main problem with most "anime") they dealed with serious conflicts . there was a good amount of character development , background stories , and relationships building . and the dialogue was believable - as in , they feel like real people that you can connect with . the only problem I can think of is that every episode is so packed with things that it's sometimes rushed , and has some "holes" in the sequence of things so it could fit into this short time .Music - the music is fantastic , other than not having a theme song (which kinda sucks). but thats no biggy at all , the show is entertaining to watch to both old and young and it saddens me how people who can't let go of their nostalgia give this excellent show a bad name and drive it to cancellation. I hope that it will live up to it's planned amount of episodes because I just can't wait to the next one - CN got themselves an addict :)

When I was a kid, I was pretty big into Japanese animation, though it was mostly the butchered American cuts that were imported in the late 70s through mid 80s for TV syndication (Voltron, Battle of the Planets, etc). Along with that, I was also a big fan of Thundarr the Barbarian, Thundercats, Dungeons & Dragons, and Galaxy Rangers, which took most of their inspiration from Western comic books. All of them were flawed -- some worse than others -- but, overall, I think they were able to generally overcome their flaws and establish very strong tropes in their respective genres. In particular, the plots were generally pretty throw-away. For example, in Voltron, Thundarr, and Thundercats, most episodes ended with the exact same Deus Ex Machina, a magic sword. It's easy to overlook such things as a kid, especially when what's really drawing you are the characters, the art, the themes explored, and the creative ideas.This reboot of Thundercats avoids some of the pitfalls of the classic 1980s cartoons -- especially, the horrible Deus Ex Machina endings, though it plays the whole MacGuffin angle pretty straight. The original series was very didactic, with an important lesson that Lion-O learned every episode. It wasn't very subtle, either. That carries over into this new series, with the same lack of subtlety. Arguably, it's even more overt, though the lessons are weaved into somewhat interesting stories. The lessons learned in this new version are a jumbled, eclectic mix, ranging from the authoritarian "family values" of the 80s D&D cartoon ("never go against the group", "never complain, whine, or express doubt in leaders", "know your place in the social hierarchy", "optimists/idealists are always right; pessimists/cynics are always wrong"), while also incorporating some degree of liberal/libertarian principles, such as individualism, non-conformity, and anti-imperialism. Of course, none of the characters are non-conformist enough to be outside societal norms, such as being gay or rejecting traditional gender roles. In particular, the men are heroic, over-the-top beefcake, and the women, while competent and confident, exist mainly as sexy love interests (and fan service). Certainly, it could have been much, much worse -- Cheetara never once needs to be rescued by the men -- but it's still a slight bit disappointing, for all their talk of individuality and non-conformism.The writing is a bit uneven, while the art is quite good. In both areas, however, they take time out to hit every single cliché imaginable. At one point, Lion-O and Mum-Ra both form exoskeletons and rush at each other, like some cheap anime from the 90s. Lion-O also has the most stereotypical spiky anime hair ever, as if he were designed by some weeaboo fanboy who'd never seen any anime except cheap Dragonball Z ripoffs. Obviously, I'm not really a big fan of the art style, though it's quite good for what it is. Despite how clichéd and derivative it is, it looks as though it had quite a lot of money put into it. It's too bad that more time and effort wasn't put into the writing, though the series is capable of some surprisingly good episodes (with the Petalars as a particular stand-out, probably better than any of the original episodes). Besides the Petalars, the writing often struck me as ham-fisted, stereotypical and clichéd, though much of that is certainly due to the fact that it's a kids' cartoon. These aren't really known for subtlety or being particularly deep. However, there's an admirable amount of grey morality present, and the show never actually patronizes its audience by dumbing things down for them. The Thundarian empire, for example, is portrayed as being a bit fascist, having degenerated into an authoritarian, brutal state that sees mercy as weakness. It's not Shakespeare, but few things truly are. For a kids' cartoon, that's pretty good.Despite what some people may say, this series really isn't aimed at adults. It's pretty obvious that it's squarely aimed at kids, much like the original series, though I wouldn't say that young adults are all that far outside of its demographic. I enjoyed the original series as a teenager, and I'm sure that there's a lot here that a teen or college kid could like, as well. I'm a bit perplexed as to what 35 and 40 year old fans of this show are seeing, but they apparently do exist. The power of nostalgia is undeniably strong, and I'd probably be willing to overlook many cheesy, campy aspects of the original series if I were to watch it again now, but I have no such emotional ties to this new series. Judged entirely on its own merits, I'd say that it's an above-average kids' cartoon, but that's about it.

The other characters and creatures of Third Earth are coming. in the Thundercats fourms, there is a review with one of the animators discussing how he redesigned Jackalman from elements of the original series.The writing and animation is clearly the best of any reboot of a series that I have seen. I just hope Cartoon Network doesn't start worrying about production costs and decide to cheapen it or cut it altogether for financial reasons. Cartoon Network NEEDS to keep a few top name series on their schedule. They killed off He-man, Transformers (My favorite being Beast Wars), and they only seem to be able to handle a single series or two of a popular third party show before they kill it with some in house material nobody really wants to watch.Enjoy it while it lasts because Cartoon Network is really only about the numbers, so you might want to try to get people to watch.