The Kingdom of Thundera will not be the same after an ancient evil rises once again to threaten the world.
What They Say:
The epic story of the struggle to unite Third Earth. After the kingdom of Thundera is attacked by the lizard people, Lion-O leads Tygra, Cheetara and the other heroes on a quest for the Book of Omens and the magic stones of legend. But he’ll have to face villains like Mumm-Ra, the ancient evil sorceror, and Slithe, the dangerous lizard general. Luckily, he has the Sword of Omens and its amazing powers at his disposal
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I grew up on the original ThunderCats back in the day along with a bunch of other shows that were a welcome change from what we had in the 70’s with the Hana Barbera shows that felt dated even when they were new. The revival of ThunderCats has long been percolating and it really gained a lot of attention over the last year as this series came to fruition, especially with Japanese animation company Studio 4C getting involved in all of it. The original was animated out of Japan as well, which made it an easy update here as it had plenty of good material to work with. In a way, this is potentially one of those gateway shows now to bring more anime series to air as it doesn’t hide its origins in the slightest, though some may not remember that, and it pretty much revels in it. It really is the latest anime to arrive on TV and a whole lot of it with the character designs and sets are reminiscent of Naruto: Shippuden to me.
While I have fond memories of enjoying ThunderCats, I don’t actually remember ThunderCats, which makes this fun since it’s only the characters in their base form that I know at this point. This series introduces us to the kingdom of Thundera which is ruled by King Claudius. The royal family is the type that rules well, justly but firmly, and is generally respected across the lands. Within the family, King Claudius is ensuring that the next King of Thundera will be ready when the day comes by having his true heir son, Lion-O, be ready for the task. It’s a difficult thing for him as his older brother, the adopted Tygra, seemingly is able to do anything and everything better than him. Lion-O is a pretty typical late teen type in that he has something to prove, but avoids doing over the top exercises in order to do it. He comes across as a smart kid and is also the only one who is taking seriously the tales about Mumm-ra, the fabled villain of Thundera who is being whispered about as returning to the world.
Lion-O does have something to prove though, as we see him dealing with a pair of Lizards that had been captured and were practically being abused later on by the general populace that came across them. It brings in an element of racism to the show as Lion-O works to protect them against the mob, which does in the end please his father, but it’s also a challenge to his style of rule that has been established for so long. The creatures out there have their own ways, but Lion-O is able to draw people to his side to help out, such as Cheetara, who swoops in to help out. While we know that there will be issues with the Lizards down the line with the return of Mumm-ra to the world, Lion-O’s act of compassion here is one that places an interesting seed into events.
While the capital city has a lot going for it, the world that the ThunderCats inhabit is not one filled with technology, something that Lion-O is fascinated by. To them, it’s essentially sorcery and it’s come home to roost as an attack on the capital commences not muhc later, and it’s a brutal piece with missiles flying everywhere and a simple but effective destruction of something that has survived the ages. It’s a difficult moment for Lion-O as he’s been fascinated by the potential for such technology for most of his life, but the reality of it is brutal with what it does to his home, his people and his life. What makes it worse is that the attack does have a whole lot of Lizards behind it, making it doubly difficult for him to deal with.
While they’re bad enough, it’s interesting to see them add another layer on top of it as one of their own is a betrayer. His return to the capitol after being sent out to find the Book of Omens has him in a position of power because he came across something else instead with a powerful weapon that fits in with his strength. This leads to a really great action sequence as he has to fend off against Claudius while wanting his weapon for himself and the clerics that have joined the fight. There is a bit of a draw to it all as an old friend has been captured and used as a lure, which of course the proper good guys will go after. It may be predictable and follow all the right beats, but it hits them all very well and with enough emotion to make it convincing enough that you’d believe these actions of Claudius. The only time it actually doesn’t work is when he makes the “Thudercats, Ho!” battlecry, but beyond that it’s just very good animated action television.
In Summary:
ThunderCats hits all the right notes with its opening two part episode as it introduces the cast well, the setting is well detailed for what it is and we get some surprising elements included with the issues between the races made clear. While it was all comically simple years ago, it has a bit more nuance here, not much, but enough to help it resonate more as a story. The core concepts are definitely here and it brings it all together very well while mixing things up a good deal as well. The animation is good, the designs are spot on and the show kept me pretty well engaged for the whole hour it ran, leaving me wanting to see more as I want to see how far they’ll go and what kinds of tricks it has up its sleeve as it looks to avoid the decidedly episodic nature of the original. I’m sure plenty of the originalist purists can find their faults, but what I got here gave me the great feeling of the original in its ideas but goes its own way very clearly and with a far more serial approach that I think will serve the series greatly.
Grade: B+
