User reviews

I grew up watching the original Thundercats. I was very nervous when I heard about the reboot. Thankfully, after watching a few episodes of the new Thundercats, I am happy that the story, characters and the overall direction is pretty solid and does nothing to ruin it's great predecessor. It is time for a new generation to enjoy these awesome characters and I believe they are in safe hands. It is still worth watching the original series if you are a new fan. Every character from the original series will eventually appear here and most of their back-stories has been fleshed out while still staying true to the source material. If the rest of the seasons are as good as the first then it is safe to say that this show will continue to win more fans and attract a wider audience. Personally, i would like to see more humor in the show. In many ways, the new Lion-O is more relatable and I think younger audience members will immediately feel a strong connection and start looking up to him. All in all a very good animated series that is definitely worth watching.

We are desperate for good, nostalgic shows right now and if the creators could bring this show back, keeping it intact with the same tone and characters, I have no doubt it would be a huge hit now!

Thundercats was originally conceived in 1983 but didn't hit the screens until 1985/86, it fittingly became a cult TV hit, it was faster paced and sleeker than He-Man and fairs slightly better in retrospective, spawning a tonne of merchandising like it's counterpart. An update or film version have been arguably long overdue.

There's no talking Snarf in the latest version but the major difference with the Thundercats 2011 is the setting, there's no 3rd earth, it's Thundera, that is in a Planet of the Apes sort way with flashbacks throughout. There's glimpses of Star Wars, Stargate and other sci-fi, but it borrows from the best. The characters dynamics, look and their relationships have been slightly tweaked. The mains given a more mature edge that allows exploration of conflicting divergences. Those familiar with the original will recognise new incarnations of reworked sub characters usually the antagonists.

Thundercats 2011 is reminiscent of He-man more so than its 1985 predecessor due to Thundera's Eternia-like feel and borrows from plenty from the recent Lord of the Rings trilogy especially in look during battle scenes including the civilians going underground. That aside, the animation, stories and dialogue are extremely entertaining and there are plenty of nods to the original series. It also includes a cameo from the original Lion-o voice actor Larry Kenney.

However, don't be mistaken it is different and not in a bad way, strikingly the episodes are very emotionally charged even more so than the original series. There are a few main characters that are omitted in the first fistful of episodes but that's not to say then may not grace the screen in later outings.

To really enjoy Thundercats 2011 most will have to put aside the cartoon they fell in love with. This is a darker distinctly styled incarnation yet thankfully it stays true to the original spirit of the Thundercats.

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 :)

I first would like to thank WB Animation studios for Producing such a rich and wonderful season of my beloved childhood heroes. If you are a true Thundercat fan you will enjoy this series. It is with great sadness to report that Cartoon Network has canceled this wonderful series. We can blame the Cartoon Giant for this one. With a horrible time slot and push for shows like adventure time, Cartoon network really had no idea who the target audience was. Only after the show was canceled it aired on the late night Toonami. Well.... The ratings speak for itself. This show is awesome. It is a shame that Cartoon Network did not see this from the beginning. I guess the toy sales really cant be pushed on Toonami and Cartoon network only cares about money and not their viewers.

This was a truly epic remake of the 1980s megahit, ThunderCats. Was number one in its timeslot among the coveted 18-34 year old demographic.

The show respected the source material yet brought its own personality and updated the content for a modern audience. There was a much more plot driven focus here with long story arcs that carried a lot of weight.

The creative team behind the show made the destruction of Thundera a much more personal, visceral event. Rather than emulate the main device of the original series, where Lion-O wakes up in the body of a man and the mind of a child, this series explores the sudden responsibility thrown on the teenage Lion-O and the loss of his home city and Father Claudus (voiced by the original series voice actor, Larry Kenney).

There is a sibling rivalry between Lion-O and Tygra that carries over into their relationships with Cheetara. Mumm-Ra is cast as much more powerful villain and heads roll!

Cartoon Network made a big mistake cancelling this show.

Reboots are very tricky. On one hand (or paw), what's the point in them if you're just going to do a beat for beat remake of the original? On the other hand, there are essential elements that you simply don't mess with. Getting that balance just right is the key to successfully relaunching a brand or franchise.

Cartoon Network's 2011 reboot is a pretty bold enterprise, radically re-imagining many elements of the Thundercats mythology, changing their personalities and interpersonal relationships, and completely dropping many of the original series' iconic elements. The result, sadly, is a series that feels the need to cut off its nose to spite its face.

The changes here simply don't work. While the new mythology feels like it was thought out more thoroughly beforehand than the original, it's often too cluttered and convoluted for its own good. The characterizations also don't work. For dramatic purposes I understand the need to introduce some conflict amongst the previously "Kumbaya" Thundercats, but what should've lasted a few episodes was dragged out, resulting in characters that just aren't very likable.

Artistically, the anime-influenced animation is handsome and effective, but the new character designs lack the iconic punch of the originals. The same goes with the music. The score is serviceable, but generic, lacking the instantly recognizable leitmotif of Bernard Hoffer's original.

In the end, Thundercats 2.0 just never comes together. It's clear that a lot of time and effort went into it, but the result is a sum less than the total of its parts.

A lot of cartoons we loved and watched in the 80's had one thing in common. They were all designed to sell toys. Seriously GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Silverhawks, He-Man, they were all 22 minute commercials for the toy line. But they had some basic charm to them and let's face it, it wasn't like we had the most discerning taste back then. I managed to track down a couple copies of them and let me tell you they don't hold up like they used to.

But then something happened in the earlier part of this decade and these old favorites were revived and given new life. Some were really well done and others were obvious cash grabs. This one however I liked and I was kinda bummed that it only got one season.

The show is darker, a lot more adult and thank Jaga they changed Snarf into a pet and not a constant whine machine. If there's one thing I seriously hated about the original was Snarf.

There are elements of the late 2000's / early 2010's in the production. A bigger focus on action, some deeper story elements and actual character development. In a sense it took what made the reboot of the Masters of the Universe popular and removed a lot of the childish elements that had plagued it during it's original run.

It's not perfect by any means but it focused on trying to tell a good story instead of just selling toys.

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.

Not quite as great as the original series, which was/is one of the best animated shows of the 80s, but almost there and among some of the better animated shows in the past decade or so. The animation is fluid and detailed, if lacking a little in uniqueness (more of an anime sort of look, not a bad thing though, rather than the painterly one of the original series), and it was really nice to see the character designs updated to styles a little more relevant now. The music has its fair share of beautiful, haunting and rousing themes, the lack of a main theme is a little disappointing but doesn't hurt the show that much. The writing has a little humour in respect to the fun of the original show and is also very thoughtful, while the story lines maintain the fun of the original show while taking a darker approach with themes of racism and slavery. And it does that while respecting the original show but showing more mature and relevant themes and incorporating them with little if any heavy-handedness. The action is also very thrilling, and animated beautifully. The characters are engaging and developed very well, while the story lines are paced in a way that episodes move swiftly room is always left to introduce and develop characters and their relationships. Here the heroes and villains are equally interesting, admittedly in the original series the villains were a little more interesting than the heroes. It was an interesting choice having Snarf mute, and it was a choice that did pay off. The voice acting is very dynamic and suit the characters well without being too stereotypical. All in all, almost as good as the original show and as a re-boot Thundercats(2011) is excellent. 9/10 Bethany Cox

At first watching this, I thought my childhood adoration was fully justified but this feeling did not continue because the pacing in this show is god awful.

As I watched the Ep1, I thought to myself "wow this show is quite good" so I began to watch Ep2 but skipped it because it was just the Ep1 but half the length.

By Ep5 something is definitely amiss but what, it dawned on me by Ep8 the episodes should be way longer or just be twice as numerous and the reason for this makes itself obvious in Ep9 at 4:45 when a horrible cut and the whole Ep1 Ep2 thing showed me the episodes were meant to be 40mins not 20mins and this show was ruined by being cut short.

To conclude this show has some deeper moral messages than most kids shows but is let down by the 20min format of normal cartoons. If an uncut version exists it would probably be worth a watch but the show in it's current state is mediocre at best and not entirely worth it.

I remember seeing the original series whilst young and young enough to have a memory of everyone having the thundercats bag, the lunch boxes, the toy swords and if it was more fun to watch then He-Man. Thundercats was big and whilst not new in regards to formula it was a different take on the series given it barely included any humans (with exception to Mumm-Ra who i think was human) with striking character designs and a cool sword chant Thundercats was a shining example of a cartoon made marketable.

Looking at Thundercats (185) via youtube and DVD's you see how dated it has become, the writing unbearable sometimes but still the masculine design of Lion-O, Mumm-Ra and the ancient spirits of evil servant 'Pyron' Both have good designs that could be tuned into any show today.

Nonetheless the idea to make a remake was based on the idea that at the core there was a lot the original show could have offered still and this is what the remake does. It goes further much further into detail.

Thundera is now a Kingdom but the cats have lost the moral good to become more muddled, there is genuine rivalry, even dislike between lion-O and Tygra, Lion-O's father prides on posture and is essentially all pride. Other characters have been polished up quite well including the Lizards who are now a race with a strong background.

And cheetah, er wow, she's not bad looking (I'm I confessing to furry here?!)

The voice acting is strong as is the flow of animation. The show reinvents itself whilst being clever with its source material, the writing is very good also.

This series has a great start and will surely have a great run as well. I can see kids who were my age when I first saw the original series be taken in by this as well.

All together now. THUNDERCATS! HO!

I just finished watching this show. I love this show to the point everything was in depth, well told, and beautifully original to basically say we loved the source material now here's something mind blowing and awesome. This may have lasted one season which is so unjustly but it was 110% better than the 2020 version. I had a couple episodes where I am just blown away by the story and the emotional depth it was taking me to. I actually had moments where I was getting teary eyed. I grew up with the original 80's cartoon and I'm so happy I watched this but saddened by no more episodes after 9 years being cancelled. The creators did great with this show so let's hope for something more from them.

Not sure why it was cancelled. But this was a great adaptation to the origional. I really wish some production company would pick it up and give the fans a few solid seasons it deserves.

I wouldn't call myself a fan of Thundercats, but I've always liked this show. I've always felt sad that it never got a season 2, and after just rewatching it I still feel that way. This show had a shocking amount of potential, from the characters and their dynamics with one another to the overall storyline they had going. I was surprised with the amount of mature themes this show has in it, which may have played into the show ultimately getting cancelled. I enjoyed most of the episodes out of this show, but I do think there is a bit too much filler here, and the second half is much stronger than the first. I can't help but think that this show was about a decade too early, and would've thrived in the modern era of streaming. There is always hope however; shows like Young Justice sometimes get a second chance.

I recently discovered the remake of Thundercats 2011 on HULU. I was completely blown away on how they expanded on the original 1985 version. I was devastated to learn that only one season was made and after researching on why they were cancelled I feel they were Unjustly done by the Cartoon Network. I loved the relationship aspect of Tigra and Cheetara, the way they expanded on the origins of the Sword, and the Stones... Please remake or pick back up from season 1, maybe they could get a deal with Netflix. This completely leaves fans like myself hanging like this. Please make this right...BRING BACK THUNDERCATS 2011.

Only one season?! Please do more!!! One season is definitely not enough. I loved the original and now I love the remake. More please.

This was an amazing adaption to a classic. I truly wish this was still on. The animation is stunning and the storyline is unique and well written. I can't believe it ended after 1 season. This really is a gem!