WesternAnimation An 80's Classic
ThunderCats is by far my favorite 80's cartoon, having watched it on Toonami in the mid-90s. Nostalgia Filter aside, while the storytelling was nothing spectacular, this series did raise the bar on aesthetic presentation and art design. The series is a limitless sci-fi and Fantasy Kitchen Sink full of imagination.
First and foremost is the visuals. The intro is one of the greatest of the decade, able to perfectly introduce each character with nonstop action in a slick Japanese anime style to the sound of an incredibly catchy and rocking theme song. It's too bad the actual animation in the show is not as good, but the designs more than make up for that. The look is a sort of blend between 80's anime, American comics, and fantasy book illustrations, very much like Rankin Bass's previous animated adaptation of The Hobbit and The Last Unicorn. The designs are quite detailed, with wavy hair and fur, claws, facial features, and intricate backgrounds. They really make ThunderCats stand out from the likes of more generic looking 80's cartoons, except for the similar body builds of the Cats.
The series falters when it comes to the plot, like many other cartoons of the time. While there are running arcs throughout the 130 episodes, such as Lion-O's trials, the new Thundercats, and the treasures of Thundera, there are a great deal of episodes merely there to teach a lesson of the week to fill air time. Plot holes and inconsistencies and Ass Pulls abound, and at times some episodes premises make very, very little sense. However, there are the occasional diamonds, and the series offers some legitimately awesome moments here and there. My favorite is Lion-O's trial against Cheetara.
As far as characters, they sty mostly flat, but are mostly likeable and fill their roles. Lion-O goes through some development as he grows into a king. Panthro is very cool and always great to watch, and Snarf isn't so bad as his reputation makes him. The rest of the Cats mostly just fill their roles and not much beyond besides a few occasions. Same goes for the Mutants. Last but not least, Mumm-Ra is an amazingly hammy villain that steals the show whenever he shows up.
Overall, if you can get past the cheesy formulas and some of the more dumb elements, ThunderCats is a great cartoon and worth checking out for some nostalgic Saturday morning cartoon action and fun.
WesternAnimation Has a lot of potential, but is mostly slow and unimpressive
Just finished watching Thundercats and all of its 130 episodes. What can I say about this show other than... it's a show that has little to no reason for existing other than to sell toys to very impressionable little kids.
It's true that most cartoons are made to sell toys to little kids, but Thundercats are painfully so. I can name at least a dozen of shows that try to have some quality of writing beyond "It's a kids' show and kids are stupid." To put it mildly, its writing is extremely poor and inconsistent.
The Thundercats are the sole survivors of their race and are forced to adapt to a new home, while being hunted down by a group of sadistic barbarians and a physical devil. The main character, Lion-O, is a kid trapped in an adults' body, forced to grow up against his will into a mature leader.
This all sounds extremely exciting, doesn't it? Problem is, the show never bothers to explore any of that. None of the characters seem to suffer any kind of emotional distress over their race being annihilated, or hold any grudge against the Mutants, who are directly responsible for their planet's destruction and who try to murder them on a constant basis.
Our heroes, the Thundercats, all have the exciting personality of a cardboard cutout, never displaying any single trace of a character other than "Me is hero, me must help others and save the planet from evil, good always prevails!"
The villains, despite having crossed the Moral Event Horizon in the backstory, are all treated like incompetent buffoons. Mumm-Ra himself is very lame, having no connection to the heroes and usually being defeated by his own reflection or doing something abysmally stupid like interrupting the Mutants from winning because he feels only he is allowed to be a bad guy.
Every episode plays out the exact same way: Mumm-Ra comes up with a new plan to defeat the heroes, the plan works, Lion-O whips out The Sword of Omens, shouts out "Thunder... Thunder... Thundercats... HO!" and everything is magically fixed. They tell kids the moral of the episode and they all laugh, the end.
After a while, it becomes a chore to watch this thing. There are no stakes, no tension, you just know the Thundercats will prevail because The Sword of Omens can and will reverse whatever happens in an episode.
In my opinion, the show should have ended on Season 3's finale, "The Last Day", which felt like an actual conclusion to its story. Alas, it was then dragged out for another season, which left the show with no proper conclusion and me feeling like I wasted my time watching it.
Admittedly, despite being a very dull show, it does have a heart and lots of potential. I just wish the writers actually cared about developing its story and its characters, rather than relying mostly on random plots of the week that rarely amounted to anything.
In the end, this felt more frustrating to watch than fun. I would give it no more than 6 out of 10, and that's me being generous.