Thundercats 2011: A Worthy Successor

The 1980s were the era of toy-based animation with Transformers and GI Joe leading the pack. Fantasy and sci-fi were also big with Masters Of The Universe first picking up the ball for that genre combo, but a rival soon appeared in thanks to toy/game creator Ted Wolf which he titled Thundercats. He had the idea of merging anthropomorphic humans and took it to Telepictures who in 1984 made it into one of the most successful franchises ever, which is pretty good considering it was their first animated series. The TV show was originally animated by Topcraft who had just finished production on Nausicaa And The Valley Of The Wind, although the production was handled by Rankin/Bass Productions and had worked with Topcraft on previous animated projects like The Last Unicorn. The later seasons were done by Pacific Animation Corporation who were formed when Topcraft folded while most of the other animators went on to form Studio Ghibli. Despite lasting for four whole seasons which was a rarity in the 80s, the TV series eventually ended even though the toy line for it had long since ceased. Topcraft was eventually bought by Warner Entertainment who held onto the property into 2011.

Warner decided to bring back the franchise in 2011 with Bandai handling the new action figures. Done as the last collaboration between founders Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass before they passed away, Thundercats was part of a new lineup of action/adventure cartoons that were premiering on Warner’s Cartoon Network. The entire remake lasted for a single season of 26 episodes over the span of a year with some good ratings at the beginning, but as Cartoon Network decided to start culling their episodic action shows, Thundercats was among its number. The series almost fell completely due to low toy sales, Lego however stepped in and were going to produce their own line of toys based on the new show, even though Warner’s taking Thundercats off the air prompted Lego to rebrand their toys as Legends Of Chima with reusing many of the character designs for the standard Lego blocky model.

The 2011 Thundercats was a totally new take on the series whereas instead of the Thundercats coming from a doomed planet to Third Earth and battling the evil Mumm-Ra and his Mutants, this new version took place entirely with all the characters on Third Earth. The Thundercats were an entire race of feline humanoids living in the kingdom of Thundera which had been decimated by Mumm-Ra and his reptilian forces thanks to the sabretooth traitor Grune who turned against his own people. Thundera’s king dies leaving behind his two sons Lion-O and Tygra along with the superfast cleric Cheetara and the homeless twins Wilykat and Wilykit all setting out to avenge their people. Lion-O and the others come across lost general Panthro who had survived on his own riding around in an abandoned Thundertank.

The collected team discover that all the animal races on Third Earth were originally enslaved by Mumm-Ra who used them to collect four powerful stones that he would use to take over the universe, each of which would be used on a special gauntlet. So basically, the new Thundercats show borrowed Marvel Comics’ Infinity Gauntlet premise just before the MCU started rolling out their first Avengers movie. Throughout the series, Lion-O earns his place as Thundercat lord while befriending the other animal races who unite to help them prevent Mumm-Ra from gaining the other stones. Along the way, they are joined by Thunderian female Pumyra who was secretly working for Mumm-Ra the whole time. Mumm-Ra does gain one of the stones while Lion-O had two with one more left to be found. However, the second season of the series was never produced.

Season Two would have seen the retrieval of the last stone, Pumyra being transformed into an insect monster, a betrayal by Wily twins, the reveal of original series character Lynx-O, and how Mumm-Ra was responsible for the creation of Snarf’s clan. The Fukushima disaster caused a major financial upheaval in Japan which plummeted the cost of the US dollar which nearly doubled the price of production for each episode. Even though the remake had great ratings in the beginning, the numbers began to sink due to the advent of streaming which was slowly replacing network broadcasting. Combined with low toy sales, Cartoon Network decided to cancel it along with most of their other toy-based programming.

The 2011 remake had a lot going for it. Fans of the original series praised it for carrying on the legacy of the original series, and newcomers found the refreshed anime style appealing. It was developed by Avatar: The Last Airbender animator Ethan Spaulding and Teen Titans Go co-developer Michael Jelenic. The two of them added much new lore to the Thundercats history along with a leap forward in worldbuilding. Overcoming racism also played a large part of the story as in the beginning of the series there is much discrimination between the other animal humanoids which are split up into cats, reptiles, apes, birds, dogs, fish, and more as most of them band together to defeat their common enemy as well as defying inequality.

The new Thundercats show had a stacked cast. Lion-O was voiced by Will Friedle which most would know as Batman Beyond and Ron Stoppable who went on to write a few episodes. Tygra was voiced by Matthew Mercer a few years before he helmed the Critical Role empire, so Thundercats played a big part in a whole new generation discovering Dungeons And Dragons. Snarf was rendered mostly mute in this series but was still voiced by Satomi Korogi who has portrayed several anime critters in Japan including the lead in Chi’s Sweet Home. One of the best is Clancy Brown playing the traitorous Grune who had a way larger role in this show than he did in the original. Pamela Adlon who some would know as the voice Bobby Hill also played a more aggressive version of Pumyra.

Despite all that it had going for it, the 2011 Thundercats had numerous things working against it. The series premiere was epic and set the stage for a sprawling adventure, however there were a good deal of episodes dedicated to side quests which diverted from the main journey. Nearly a fifth of the series is comprised of flashbacks that rammed truckloads of backstory, which is helpful but meandering. Another detraction was that you could tell that if an episode focused primarily on the Thunderkittens that it was ultimately filler. The fact that the series ended with a whole half of the story left to be chronicled is the biggest shame of all.

With talk of a Thundercats movie flickering on and off over the last few decades, then the 2011 series was really one of the best adaptations of the original 80s show outside of the some of the comic book remakes. Cartoon Network’s attempt to rekindle the franchise with the viciously sabotaged Thundercats Roar didn’t help either with any fans by trying to make it appealing to modern day kids while turning it into a spastic spoof of the 80s show like Teen Titans Go in the overused CalArts style. Thundercats 2011 is worth looking up as it is currently streaming on Hulu, but you’ll get the best experience from watching the Blu-Ray set which has the best visual quality and highlights the crisp animation that Studio 4°C Co put such effort into producing.