The ThunderCats are set for a comeback with Entertainment Weekly reporting that the Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation are bringing the anamorphic felines back for a new series in 2019.
Along with Transformers and He-Man, ThunderCats was one of the most iconic cartoons of the 1980s, lasting 130 episodes for four seasons. The original show was created by Leonard Starr and the centered on a group of humanoid cats who flee their dying planet and crash on Third Earth where they do battle with the evil Mumm-Ra and Mutants of Plun-Darr. The ThunderCats are led by Lion-O, the Lord of the Thundercats, who has matured in body but not in mind: the problems of a heredity monarchy.
The show has been rebooted by Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. Animation in 2011 which reimaged the series being on a planet filled with various anamorphic animals and made Lion-O into a teenager. It was a series that had a long, continuous story about Lion-O and companions traveling the world as they look to defeat Mumm-Ra’s forces. It was a well-received show and I argue a superior show but it only lasted one season.
The new season ThunderCats Roar returns to the Third Earth setting but is clearly leaning towards comedy as evident by the announcement trailer. The art style is simplistic and the final bit footage shows that the action could be frantic and kinetic. However, the show seems similar to another Cartoon Network show, Teen Titans Go! which turned a popular action-adventure series into a comedy show and has been derided by fans of the original. Even the title (ThunderCats Roar) is similar to Teen Titans Go. Cartoon Network sadly has a history of canceling critically well-received shows like Teen Titans, Young Justice and the aforementioned ThunderCats (2011) and their schedule in America is a constant marathon of Teen Titans Go!
The series is produced by Victor Courtright who has previously worked as a writer and animated on the critically derided Pickle and Peanut and the voice cast includes Max Mittelman (the American dub of One Punch Man), Erica Lindbeck (Avengers Assemble), Patrick Seitz (Fairy Tales) and Chris Jai Alex (Star Wars: Battlefront II).
As someone who grew up on the original show and enjoyed the reboot this third version of the Thundercats already looks disappointing. The trailer has a massive dislikes to likes ratio on Youtube.
