The Thundercats Reboot Never Had A Chance

The Thundercats animated series was a staple of 90's animated shows. Beloved by many, the Thundercats were a massive success that not only launched a much sought after toy line, but paved the way for many other shows to follow in its footsteps. After the shows cancellation in 1989, it was hard to say whether or not we'd get new stories of our favorite catlike humanoids. Until 2011, when Thundercats came back with an all new rebooted series. Though it received a lot of backlash from the Thundercats fanbase.
#thundercats #mastersoftheuniverse #nerdstalgic
Written by Dave Baker
Edited by David Sadvari

[@Cruznick06]

I remember how FRUSTRATING it was to try and watch the show as it was airing. The airtime kept being shuffled around and was often very late at night. I had to watch pirated episodes online because I was in college and didn't have access to DVR. It was honestly my dream version of Thundercats and I was so sad it got canceled.

[@georgecoman8448]

Same

[@bradleyjohnson1702]

Exactly. It wasn't "toxic" classic fans refusing to support it, everyone I know loved the show, but you could never pin it down, CN killed the show by moving it around so much.

[@beverlypotter3236]

I hated it aunt was never going to come close tothe original i was a kid when I watched it I'm 47 now

[@beverlypotter3236]

@@georgecoman8448 not me i hated it will never come close to the original I was a kid when I watched it I'm 47 now

[@beverlypotter3236]

@@bradleyjohnson1702 I was never going to support it it was an insult to the original it was never going to be as good I was a kid when I watched it I'm 47 now and can tell you it was nowhere near close

[@matthewsmith2308]

I loved that reboot, I liked how they got the original Lion-O voice actor to play the father and Will Friedle is a great voice actor and was perfect for the new Lion-O

[@erikbihari3625]

Not to mention he's voice is right at home being a wise and powerful king.

[@DragonKingX78]

Another good series ended way too soon.

[@iwasanangryyoungman]

Let's not forget Emmanuelle Chiriqui as Cheetara...

[@cryofpaine]

@@iwasanangryyoungman And Matt Mercer as Tigra. Such great cast. So much great potential lost because of bad timing.

[@stanleed.harold5457]

Epic show. A stabotage and tragedy

[@michelvanderlinden8363]

I was SEETHING when I found out it was cancelled. This show had everything going for it! The animation was great, the voice acting on point, the story was starting STRONG.

[@simonvegas793]

You and me both man, still not over it ha ha!!

[@chesskinge4627]

Just goes to show you how many stupid people that only think they are smart are in charge. Green Lantern the Animated Series was another good show that got foolishly canceled. Why? Because girls were showing a strong interest and there was concern about toy sales suffering. The powers that be could not see that the viewing audience doubled and they could put out novels to increase sales even more.

[@ArthurHILL-xp8bv]

Thundercats season 2 needs more girls names Willa and Nyada sisters with the bow and arrow. Hope the Thundercats season 2 will continue again like the Thundercats season 2 in 1986.

[@DevineFN]

​@@simonvegas793if you don't mind me asking did it ever get to the second season cuz all I can find is s1. It ends on ep 26. And this shit has me hooked. I'm desperate for the s2

[@DevineFN]

​@@ArthurHILL-xp8bvso s2 for the remake never happened?

[@ther3aper561]

The reboot was incredible. The animation and designs were awesome for an updated and more complex show. Real shame it didn't work out

[@NostalgiaMonstr]

Was such a good show, I remember being so surprised at how solid it was, but it only ever aired at like 2:30 in the morning and on an inconsistent schedule! Definitely set up to fail, it was a great property

[@olandir]

Yeah, that's why I thought it failed. It came on at a weird time and I had a hard time finding the episodes. I had no idea there was fan backlash at all. I'm a huge fan of Thundercats and I absolutely LOVED the reboot. It's probably one of the few reboots that was actually done well.

[@vincentvoillot6365]

Yes, big suprise like Tron Uprising, except for one episode toy centric.

[@twodollarking8009]

Pretty sure the 2:30 am was just them RE airing it on Adult swim. If I'm correct I remember it airing around 6 or 7 pm. I think adults swim always started after 8pm or 9. This aired on cartoon network first. Then when it got canceled it re aired on adult swim

[@lamontjones3849]

@@twodollarking8009 yeah when it was airing on Toonami/Adult Swim is when I started watching it.

[@kaiser1963]

on top of the that toys sales were on of the biggest factors in the show getting cancalled the network was still using outdated funding tatics to fund actions shows like "made for toys" to fun the shows when kids dont even play with toys anymore. Same reason young justice, symbionic titan and many more shows got cancelled around this time.

[@GiantButterKnife]

I was in college when this show came out. Between this, Legend of Korra, Green Lanturn, and Young Justice all coming out on Saturday morning, it felt like a real maturing for animated television.

[@zmatthew91]

Facts bro

[@PhillipPerin]

Note: All these shows were butchered by their distributers lmao And now in retrospect each one is lauded and beloved. I mean they were then too but who the fuck listens to the people watching the shows ya know?

[@twodollarking8009]

Cartoon Network was a lot more mature during those times. I miss cn during late 2000, and early 2010

[@mbphilipblack8993]

Yes that era of TV was Siiiiiick but the joke is all of those shows get butchered and ruined by their own production studios.

[@wolfgang6442]

@@twodollarking8009 bro fr like I didn't have cartoon network back then but I still remember seeing those tv spots for some of the shows like clone wars, Ben 10 ultimate alien, generator rex, green lantern, and young justice at my old friends crib were he had it all

[@GarredHATES]

That episode where lion-O befriended a little dude that ages fast broke me and I can never forget it

[@luckyrockmore2796]

Best episode!

[@wantutosigh1117]

Truly an amazing episode.

[@sweetoil2952]

I think that one and The Duelist and the Drifter are my favorite episodes; they’re the ones that I think of when I think of this show

[@JohnDoe-cj4gn]

YES. Very much yes :(

[@Carson256]

Shid I cried

[@playfulpanthress]

I’m an eighties kid. I HATE that Hollywood keeps trying (and failing) to reboot my childhood. Looking at the abomination that they did to Voltron on Netflix. But I LOVED THIS!! The story, the animation, the designs the drama… I loved everything! They had me crying for Emrick in “Song of the Petalars” 01/04. That was a beautiful episode that hit hard because I was in my thirties and learning that time stops for no one. I will be forever angry that this show was taken away so early! I think any og fans were stupidly short sighted to hate this one out of the gate. If they would sit down and actually watch the original show, they’d realize all they really remember is the opening and playing with the toys. Cause oof, I tried rewatching the old show, and I couldn’t. It’s SO BORING! Kids are smarter today than we were at their age. I think this 2011 Thundercats show balanced fun and serious extremely well. It harkens back to movies and tv made for families. It might have mature themes, but a family could talk about it after and learn from it. I miss that. And I can’t stress enough how important the storyline about whom Cheetara would choose romantically is for kids and young adults. Even older adults can learn: Never assume you know how someone feels. Talk to them. And LISTEN to what they say. An amazing show that should be a mandatory watch before someone takes an older property to reboot.

[@MegaRayland]

One of the few times a ‘reboot’ was done not only respecting the source material but actually improving upon it.

[@blakenelson4158]

and the thunder cat purists helped kill it.

[@onba7726]

@@blakenelson4158 Did they? No TC fan I knew disliked it, but I do keep my social media circle small. Still I think there had to be a crowd sampling problems for the company to think it was badly received. Also, wasn't this the time before rating cites like Rotten Tomato became popular? How did they gadget popularity to begin with?

[@MorinehtarTheBlue]

I remember it coming out. Being relatively well recieved. But some of the details like Tigra being related to Lion-O and such seeming odd and not as respectful as the show actually was. It wasn't so much hate as not actually watching it. You can't rightly hate something without understanding it first. With old fans like my self it was more of an indifference and a failure to connect. We never really saw it unlike the visceral hate that comes from watching any reboots in movies and television that have missed the point. And the sheer number of those have made most people leery of embracing reboots today.

[@wakkaseta8351]

And the Thundercats fandom did what fandoms do best and complained. I still remember people complaining that it was too "anime".

[@Paradox-es3bl]

I think it changed too much and I'm not a purist. I barely remember the original. I just think, adaptations always change too much and alienate their fans. And Lion-o especially should've still been the kid in the adult's body type of thing. It's just a little too much different all at once. They could kept most of the changes aside from that, and still had the darker themes and stuff. Also, he just kinda looks dumb, imo. And so does She-ra. Although her design is pretty much a straight upgrade, it still somehow kinda looks dumb. Idk, I'm bad with words in general and failed art in 2nd and 7th grade so I can't really explain why not how to fix it... but honestly she probably just needs like a 1% tweak and her design would be great... but it just isn't quite there. And both those characters kinda NEED to LOOK GOOD, imo. And I think a big part of it is that although the show mostly DOES NOT look "dumbed down" like Teen Titans Go! and so many others (Ben 10, etc.)... I feel like Lion-O did kinda end up looking a bit "dumbed down" somehow. Like maybe they were going to dumb down the show at some point in like PRE-pre-production, but then someone smart was like, "But how about we DON'T do that?" but they adapted THAT Lion-O design for this show instead of the original. So it almost works but has traces of the dumbing down. Idk. Regardless... I think it was almost like a cake that needs a sprinkling of salt, and you're out of salt, but you're like, "Why would a cake need salt?" So instead of running to the store to get some, you just bake it without salt... and then you're like, "This is almost perfect, but it's missing SOMETHING... oh yeah. That like spoonful of salt for this 10lb cake, I thought was way too little to even be noticed? That's exactly what it needs."

[@PhoenixStriker1]

The fact that despite only seeing one episode of the Thundercats reboot as a child, I still remember that episode and found myself thinking about the story to this day really goes to show how well written the show was. It’s a shame it wasn’t finished.

[@user-mx4is4fx3c]

Let me guess. Song of the petallars?

[@wantutosigh1117]

@@user-mx4is4fx3c I was gonna comment the same thing.😅 That episode really is something special.

[@balgus82]

A couple of points. Lion-O was always going to be the heir. Tygra was adopted. As soon as Lion-O was born he was immediately the heir. They also kept switching the time slots. First they had it on Friday nights. Then super early on Saturdays. And then there was a HUGE delay with the second half of the season. We waited months and months without any news or dates on when it would continue. And there should be a mention that the final nail on the coffin was actually the show Chima. It was basically a "lego-ish" Tcats knockoff which was cheaper to make. CN dumped TC for Chima. This was basically confirmed by the show's art director Dan Norton.

[@dimwarlock]

Oh, wow... So, when this was airing, I was just over my "I'm a big boy and don't watch cartoons" phase, but Thundercats wasn's airing in my country, I never even knew it was a thing until I started to rely more on the internet and it was already cancelled... but Chima was spammed relentlessly and I didn't even liked the look. This is all just sad.

[@returnedtomonkey8886]

Since I saw the first time, I knew Chima was a knock off of Thundercats.

[@louong93]

Tygra and the rest of the Thundercats supposed to be mentor to Liono.

[@princeblackelf4265]

I am an old school mega fan that embraced the reboot at the time, I loved every thing about it, the costume and character design changes never bothered me, In fact I loved them. It gave the characters a depth that they really needed. It respected the original in every way whilst remixing things in to their own version. I actually had no idea the old fan base rejected it at the time. CN kept changing the time slot and not telling anybody making it so hard to catch episodes. I had to tell my DVR at the time to just record it whenever it aired

[@The3rdTurd]

It seems to have been the typical shenanigans of that worthless network... certain shows get screwed over by them constantly moving it around the schedule, which seems like *intentional* sabotage, imo. A more blatant example of this was the 2002 version of He-Man. This is one of the reasons I came to despise that network over the years.

[@highvoltage1842]

Lol why would it need depth? Not everything needs to be complex and dark for people to love it, specially if we're talking about a series for kids.

[@wantutosigh1117]

@@highvoltage1842 I like depth in my content.👍

[@highvoltage1842]

@@wantutosigh1117 if you think this show had depth, you never saw something with real depth.

[@wantutosigh1117]

@@highvoltage1842 what a silly comment.

[@dankbudew4830]

My father grew up watching the 80s cartoon and he was actually excited about the reboot and watched it with me. He loved it and was upset it got cancelled.

[@jeffreywilliams8499]

Me too

[@ericstaples7220]

It's cool to know he could enjoy it, despite it being different from the original.

[@silverstrike5904]

I don't blame him

[@cifsu]

Bro same with my dad!

[@highvoltage1842]

I grew up watching the 80s cartoon, i was excited to see the reboot and it was boring. I don't love it or hate it, it's just meh.

[@madhukarg8052]

this is one of the most heartbreaking and unique case studies in animation history

[@dreamguardian8320]

Indeed.

[@madestmadhatter]

It's also not accurate

[@user-mx4is4fx3c]

@@madestmadhatter Yeah. This analysis exaggerated the backlash and ignored the influence of Lego Chima in its cancellation

[@madhukarg8052]

@@user-mx4is4fx3c ok , you mean that Thundercats influenced Lego chima 😱

[@killeryhiltons8499]

@@user-mx4is4fx3c of course they ignore Chima Lego in all this lmao.

[@victortorres2145]

I don’t know if I agree with what you’re saying about this reboot. OG Thundercat fans loved this show. It was on Cartoon Network and this aired during that period where Cartoon Network would green light a project and then cancel it after 2 seasons so they can make money just just airing those seasons over and over. They did it with a lot of other shows killing off something that was building up so well!!! Young Justice was another one they axed after 2 seasons and we were lucky to get some more seasons yeeeeeeearrrrs after thanks to the fans! Maybe one day we’ll get lucky and they can continue this rebooted story so we can see how it ends. So far, Voltron has had the best comeback!

[@magivenderstudios]

Yikes and voltron legendary defender fell down the flight of stairs

[@juanrodriguez9971]

I adored that show at the time, but was so hard to watch due to terrible schedules, or even no schedule at all, I always found it weird how people disliked it at the time having only one argument, "the intro of the original was better", which I agreed with, but that was literally the only thing better from the original. I miss this show so much, so glad I uploaded it somewhere else (is in Spanish, no English subtitles).

[@ritamiller1852]

​@Kristopher Prime p

[@naturalist4life396]

I agree with the complaint about the intro, but from what I can tell, every reboot goes through a cycle of the fans hating it for not being the original and then liking it when it goes away. While I can agree that some reboots deserve it for being terrible, I find myself baffled when it happens to shows like this one.

[@juanrodriguez9971]

@@naturalist4life396 I wouldn't say "every reboot" goes through that cycle, I can see the examples of what you say in stuff like all TMNT reboots, Thundercats 2011 and Ben 10 Omniverse having that treatment, but I can think of way more reboots that are hated and no matter how much time passes will still be hated like PPG 2016, Thundercats Roar, Ben 10 2016 and Fairly Odder Parents; on the opposite side we have examples that create fear when announced but are released and loved by all, like DuckTales 2017, Voltron and Shera. And don't make me start with Scooby Doo which is more like "Oh look, a new series has been released, let's watch it" and be or not surprised.

[@naturalist4life396]

@@juanrodriguez9971 You have a good point, although I did agree some reboots were terrible.

[@qxujevozaeni1240]

Cartoon Network shows from around that time aired sporadically & were marketed poorly. CN & WB doomed their own shows from the start. Same thing happened to Korra on Nickelodeon. Not long afterwards, CN invested more into shows with simpler animation & simpler stories like Teen Titans Go, Justice League Action, etc.

[@overlordofthepies]

That show just dropped off the face of the earth. It is a huge shame, I saw it as it came out and it was really solid - the odd wonky filler episode, but overall a really excellent job and it improved as it progressed. Good voice acting too! If I recall correctly WB/CN did a TERRIBLE job advertising it too, hardly anyone seemed to know it was airing.

[@Paranitis]

Nobody knew it was airing because CN also has this habit of just moving its shows around without telling anyone.

[@KamiAnimeS1]

@@Paranitis Toy sales baby because of advertisin

[@Oraerilla]

This is first I’m hearing of it

[@BrianZuma]

Do y’all know how to watch the rest today I can’t find it never got to finish

[@crosswiz6]

I'm surprised there aren't any video games of it. This would be a DOPE video game

[@muhammadhaider7687]

This series breaks my heart. It was beautiful. It could have been another clone wars, avatar the last airbender, batman the animated series. It felt like game of thrones for kids. But easily enjoyed and taken seriously by adults as well. I still mourn it's loss. There is a 2 hour soundcloud interview with the creator where he talks about where they were going to go with the story and the characters.

[@khiclark31]

I remember hearing about how the show would've been finished we really missed something great😔

[@SonicUnleasher1]

This show was heavily underrated, V/Acting was smooth, animation was fluid, plot was solid and it absorbed you the more you watched it. The scheduling was ass though so watching it was troublesome when I finished classes for the day. I wish they kept it going though and I wish it could make a comeback like Samurai Jack S5. Let it mature with the audience up to the very end

[@pepergirl001]

It's a shame it was cancelled. Recently rewatched it on Hulu and it was as amazing as I remember. It also reignited my anger at it being cancelled.

[@icystorm9968]

I literally LOVED this show. It's so nostalgic and maybe its because i never saw the original but this has a certain charm to it and will always hold a special place in my heart.

[@LemurMaster]

I'm confused. If you haven't seen the original, just what are you nostalgic for?

[@icystorm9968]

@@LemurMaster i used to watch this after coming home from school, it's my first year of college now.

[@Zach476]

@@LemurMaster the reboot is a decade old now

[@cryofpaine]

I did see the original as a kid, and this had the perfect blend of nostalgia and freshness. It's very much like the new He-Man and She-Ra reboots, and I think that if they brought it back now, it would be a hit.

[@JazzNazz1]

@@cryofpaine yeah I used to watch the original and I loved this show more then the original basically because it had connected storyline

[@Redrobin27]

At 06:56 you can hear his frustration like it's a reddit argument LMAO

[@SEELE-ONE]

I loved that reboot! Mumm-Ra’s introduction was epic!

[@jawofajackass4047]

What irritates me the most about this show ending far too early is how it was about to tie in Silverhawks and Tigersharks into one big universe but I think the main reason it ended was because the toys didn't sell but I hope it does make a comeback and stick to this storyline

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

I actually don't want anything to continue or be revived with the current landscape of activists shoehorning "messages" into fiction.

[@JWard-sp7wt]

​@@SergioLeonardoCornejo I agree, if they do it now, it would be awful.

[@PrincessAshley972]

It cant continue, it was written off in taxes years ago

[@Vivi_9]

@@SergioLeonardoCornejo you're grossly exaggerating how often this happens and like many others just sound butthurt at the prospect of inclusivity.

[@majorharlock5304]

@@SergioLeonardoCornejo fiction has always had messages. You're just boring. cry about it.

[@AnarchyintheUK1]

You could tell the VA loved doing this show too. Matthew Mercer and Will Friedle talk about it a fair bit when they do stuff together.

[@balgus82]

Friedle and Mercer were both huge fans of the original show when they were kids. This was one of their dream jobs if I'm not mistaken.

[@kerrygligorovic9758]

I do liked the Thundercats 2011's design characters especially Lion-o as a teenager, it's just the story is all messed up and it's not actally related to the original series from the 8o's. The writer and directers suddenly decided to abandon this series as a cliffhanger rather to continue and complete the whole series because of running out of money issue. They could have try to improved the series to make it sound like the original series and the characters but I guess they never though this through before the series was released. 😼🗡⚡😒

[@emeraldcoastarcher]

I don't think people liked the love triangle aspect, and the constant will they won't they story the writers tried to push. I believe people wanted something a bit more traditional when it came to character interactions and romances between members of the Thundercats, and less CW writing style.

[@MIGBMWLOVER]

exactly.

[@gigiizzy5651]

I liked it. The guture of the Cat race was depending on that loge triangle.

[@watcherofwatchers]

As a fan of the original Thundercats, I loved this new iteration. I had no complaints.

[@jaredgarcia8638]

Better than Roar, that's for sure

[@kagato3]

As far as I can remember there was little fan backlash on the 2011 reboot unlike Roar which a lot of fans hate. Most old school fans liked the designs and maybe a bit of grumbling on the back story changes. I think the one most didn't like was Pumyra being a full on villain.

[@dreammaker4761]

También como fanático de los originales Thundercats, esta versión me gustó mucho...

[@madestmadhatter]

Every fan I've ever talked to liked this show and actively watched it/tried to watch it, because they were constantly changing the time slot of this episodic show, a lot of us got left behind.

[@mr.sinjin-smyth]

As a teen in the 1990s, I saw re-rurns of the 1980s Thundercats every now and then, and while I did enjoy them... they didn't really leave a lasting impression on me. So I have minimal nostalgia for such. When the 2011 Reboot aired a few times, i didn't pay much attention to such and was just slightly surprised upon knowing it got cancelled. When comparing based on just animation and art styles, 2011 reboot looks much better than 1980s original (especially reboot Cheetara).

[@DivineRedwood]

Loved the show, but you are right, "finding" it and "sharing" it was challenging. The reach just wasn't there. As a viewer, YOU had to go look for it, assuming you even knew it existed. It kept jumping around channels and times.

[@walters9620]

and then the last batch of episodes were run at 6 am. No listing change or anything.

[@evenhartwick4422]

This is also the era when Cartoon Network was just phasing out action cartoons in general on their channel. even things they had the license to like Pokemon were only relegated to being aired like once a week on saturday mornings to the point where pokemon just straight up pulled their license. does Cartoon Network even have any action cartoons anymore? seems like everything is just a wacky goofball comedy. i blame Cartoon network themselves for its failure they never gave any action shows any good time slots. maybe the toy sales might have done better if they allowed people to actually see the darn thing

[@Nighttale233]

@@evenhartwick4422 Cartoon network has probably one of the biggest downfalls of all time.

[@madestmadhatter]

This is what irritated me about this video, dude obviously had a bone to pick with the old fans and started from the conclusion that they were at fault but CN freaking killed it.

[@dramallamarama5300]

This show was honestly so awesome and it was always an absolute nightmare trying to keep up with the airing schedule. I ended up watching the second half of the series mostly online, since I could never catch it on tv.

[@dakinglip]

The reboot was absolutely fantastic and the story it was telling felt so much like a good movie. If this had been released around the time of the Voltron remake (another fantastic darker adaptation) this would have been an absolute smash hit. The timing just was so unfortunate

[@samuelenomanna8403]

I liked this show a lot. Sad it went away.

[@theirishpotato6588]

Same. I loved the art

[@dreamguardian8320]

Indeed. Almost as sad as when the Tell Tale Game company went out of business, cancelling many good video games.

[@axx012]

This to me was a sad cancellation just like He-Man the remake 2002 series. Great show with the promise that got let go way too soon. This show even sooner.

[@dreamguardian8320]

@@axx012 2002 He-Man was much better than Revelation.

[@axx012]

@@dreamguardian8320 of course

[@christophergarrett7082]

I love the reboot. It should have lasted longer it was one of the best animated series of the 2010s

[@mahega128]

Can you do one for the “X-Men Evolution” TV series please. I feel like that show is highly underrated. It gave us a pretty modern take of the characters, the character of X23, and more

[@Dehslash9]

Another issue was that people watched it online, on pirated websites. They couldn't get ad revenue. Kids were figuring out they could watch shows at their own convenience since not everyone had a Netflix subscription back then and there were no other streaming services for it. Like you said, the world was changing at that time, and unfortunately with change, some things we love get left behind. As for the toys, one of the artists confirmed CN didn't move it to a time slot that kids watched very often. So the toy sales suffered because of that

[@Monica_bondevik]

I was a 12 year old grieving little girl and the thunder cats reboot was one of the things that kept me going, I adored it to the point my new foster parents (they were actually horrible people) got me the box set of the old series and I just couldn’t get into it so when I moved foster homes I kinda just forgot about it all together as we didn’t have Cartoon Network at my new place with my older but absolutely lovely foster parents. It was so good though.

[@badreality2]

I need to see this, as therapy for why one of the best cartoons released during my lifetime was stripped in its prime, like "Symbionic Titan", "The Venture Bros.", and "Infinite Train".

[@JosephDillman]

3:22 Did this fool just say CHEETA-RUH instead of CHEE-TAR-UH?! Blasphemy! 😂

[@Carson256]

I’m watching it on Hulu rn and I’m a big Thundercats fan born in 92. I love it!! I always thought a reboot would be bad but it’s really good and I’m glad I found it

[@RJ_400]

This and symbiotic titan really hurt when they decided to cancel😭

[@terraceavery4125]

I loved this reboot, because this story was telling the origins of all the characters. I also loved the anime style. This should have been the project that kept going rather than Teen Titans Go.

[@Nightman221k]

Ironic that you bring that up Michael Jelnic who was the showrunner for Thundercats 2011 was/is also the showrunner for Teen Titans Go

[@andreafraustoz]

what's worse is that some fan of another show about a warrior cat (mao mao) doesn't even care about Thundercats, no wonder western animation is so divided (once hates the cutesy one while there don't care about edgy and dark)

[@TimmHenson]

I was lucky enough to meet the art director of this show 11 years before it had a producer and writer and he was already working on the character designs for it in between working on comics. I had always been a big fan of his work and meeting him was no less a thrill than I expected. What I didn't expect was to be invited to draw in his sketchbook and see what he had been cooking up for this. When the trailers started to drop I was shocked to be one of the few people waving a flag for this show. Being abandoned by so many of the supposed 'super-fans' who really wanted this to happen because they were shocked by the improved character designs was disheartening. This experience paints my feelings for new adaptations for shows now. I don't write anything off after its been announced or revealed no matter how it may hit me initially because I've been on both sides. Every couple of years Dan and I still somehow manage to have about 45 minutes to an hour of conversation about life and work and I am never disappointed. If anyone is curious, after Thundercats ended his career has continued to be an unrivaled success and I can guarantee you have not only seen his work, but have probably been both enthralled and blown away. I still buy copies of thundercats 2011 on blu-ray to give to people so they can see it. It ended on a horrible cliff-hanger, but the story arc was excellent.

[@Devonlewis537]

I legit remember watching this show as a Kid and growing up and wondering where this went? It looked Nice

[@lotgc]

Aw man, I remember when this show came out. I was about 9-10 and I remember seeing all the ads for it on CN. I had never heard of Thundercats, but the show looked super cool. Then it came out and... I never saw it, not even a single episode. I guess it was just always on at an inconvenient time. I definitely bet that was a major blow to the show in the long run, and it seems like a lot of other people had that problem too.

[@GwydionAE]

As someone who grew up with the original, I really liked this show. I was sad when I found out it had been cancelled. It had so much potential!

[@x3rohour345]

This show is superior in every way: - gives us much background - leaves out none of the old homages - teaches us how each Cat gains their super powers. - development of relationships - other homages to other franchises (Tigersharks, Silverhawks, etc) - the Cat have pants! Instead of leotards... leo-tards? This show has it all!

[@sirellyn]

They didn't need the pants. They needed some damn pride in their source material.

[@tylerleach8796]

The original is better.

[@fun-with-purpose1436]

Cats don’t need pants. They are muscular and agile. This version felt comparable to anime we’ve seen before. It didn’t stand out as much. Basically it’s just regular people who have cat like faces. Nothing about them felt cat-like. It looked like good anime, but missed the feline agility and look.

[@killeryhiltons8499]

The original was better and their cats … Lion-O old school clothes was better the style looks cool to me and I’m a young adult who saw the original Thundercats in toonami lol, I didn’t like the new Thundercats animation reboot.

[@insertname9736]

The pants weren't what it made it good. But I agree with the rest.

[@revinhatol]

4:49 Tygra sounding the battle cry

[@DuncMcFly]

I grew up with Thundercats. When they rebooted it, I had just finished the Avatar series and was looking for a new show. My mind was blown away by the concept, the execution and the storytelling. I waited for more episodes only to find out it was canceled and it broke my heart. I still wish/hope it's picked up again someday where it left off.

[@TheRobotAssassin]

I feel like another problem was that stores over-ordered the first wave of toys in anticipation of the reboot being a bigger hit than it was. Certain figures flew off the shelves, but many of the initial offerings sat and accumulated, clogging up the pegs. Later figures near the line’s end were also very hard to find. And then we later learned about all the cancelled toys planned for the line. The fact is, there were MANY things that contributed to this show’s demise, and it just sucks because I REALLY wanted to see this show have a full run. I liked it and watched each new episode. It was a sad day when I watched the final episode and it ended on a cliffhanger.☹️

[@undeny]

This and the old He Man reboot were both incredible.

[@prateeksharma1902]

Amen to that ❤️

[@deuce5546]

Emphasis on the old one, the new one is crap.

[@ryanbauer3680]

@@deuce5546 Do you mean the CGI one or the Kevin Smith one?

[@deuce5546]

@@ryanbauer3680 Kevin Smith's

[@ryanbauer3680]

@@deuce5546 I could see what he was trying to do, but he wasn't being respectful to the source material.

[@MyViking19]

2011 Thundercats were and still are BRILLIANT❤

[@VXMasterson]

I remember adoring this show as a kid, completely unaware it was a reboot of an older show. I watched it live whenever I could. I wish it got another chance.

[@vernonhampton5863]

I actually did watch every single episode of this reboot and it's still THE best reboot of 80s media. It just had by far the worst timing.

[@tylerleach8796]

Ehhhh, the best? Shows like TMNT 2012, Transformers Animated, and She-ra 2018 I felt were just better.

[@army103]

I loved the original show when I was a kid, but I would agree that the 2011 version is the best incarnation of Thundercats. The reboot kept the spirit of the original show, but also built on its lore and smoothed out many of its rough edges. I feel the same way about the DuckTales reboot.

[@rizon72]

Interesting you mention lore, yet in the original the Thundercats came from another planet. Yet fleeing a dying planet and heading to an unknown planet with new allies and enemies is ignored. There was A LOT of potential there for episodes, allies, enemies, storylines, all ignored for ease of writing. Not sure how the lore was built upon when it was rewritten.

[@stenzel27]

@@rizon72 "built on its lore" does not have to mean "adhered to the original". Adaptations are made of older ip's all the time that keep or discard some elements. YMMV on whether it's for better or worse.

[@tylerleach8796]

Sorry, but no. As someone who watched the 2011 series when I was a kid and watched both iterations just last year…the original series is better.

[@lsg2535]

when i was really young i watched the show and instantly fell in love with it it saddens me that older fans refused to give it a chance when it needed it becuase i really looked for that show even into my teens how disappointing.

[@spike3984]

There is no evidence lion-os' suspension capsule failed. It is explained when Jaga says "even though the suspension capsule slow down the aging process tremendously, some aging DOES take place" which was echoed when lion-o sees he's an adult for the first time.

[@DragonballBlack]

This show was amazing and I still remember watching the premiere with my wife. I fucking loved it and it deserved better.

[@phoenix05892]

The reboot was my first time watching anything Thundercats related and I thought it was an alright show but I still think there was some issues story related. I mainly had 3 issues with the show's story: 1. The Lions oppressing other races. The idea was compelling but it failed because of how the oppressed species were portrayed. As far as we knew, the lions were tyrants who ruled and conquered the other species of Third Earth. So when other species like the lizards join Mumm-Ra, you can kind of understand why they would join him because literally anything else would be better than suffering at the hands of the lions. This goes along with the other species but because all of the leaders speak in the "evil" voice and join Mumm-Ra, who literally calls upon the Spirits of Evil nearly every episode, it makes the conflict just generic good vs evil when there was so much intrigue you could delve in. Moreover, in one episode where the gang meets some magic origami makers, we learn the sword of omens apparently doesn't work against good people which makes literally no sense since we can assume that sword was used in oppressing the other species and we could also assume the sword works for either powerful beings or good beings meaning that Claudus was supposed to be good guy despite also being a tyrant who slaughtered the lizards and was an awful father to Lion-o. 2. The magic. The show suffers the same problems many other shows suffered when they introduced magic. It was so underdeveloped and vague it just ended up solving most of the conflicts in the show with little to no satisfaction. In one episode where Lion-o witness the first ever lion rebelling against Mumm-ra, the first lion ahs the gem of power (the one in the sword of omens) but Mumm-ra has the three other stones but still loses for seemingly no reason. It's stuff like that which made the show anticlimactic at times. 3. The love triangle. The whole time they kept teasing who Cheetara for so long and it was so unbearable. Tygra and Lion-o treat Cheetara has a trophy to be earned instead of a person (and her outfit definitely didn't help). On top of that, Cheetara's whole personality was built around being the love interest. There are many scenes where Lion-o is struggling with some problem (usually with the sword) and with a pep talk from Cheetara, Lion-o solves it. But with the reveal of Tygra and Cheetara's backstory, it recontextualizes those scenes from Cheetara helping Lion-o to Cheetara sexually manipulating Lion-o into doing what she wants. Watch those scenes and you cannot tell me that she didn't know what she was doing. In fact, in one of the scenes they even made some joke about Lion-o's "sword" not working until Cheetara talked to him. After writing this, I'm slowly starting to realize that the show was definitely worse than I thought it was but hey maybe I'm wrong on some of these things.

[@marting1984]

Agreed. I thought the video just gushed over the series with no critical eye whatsoever. And blamed everything else for why it failed. There was even a line where the narrator said that even the "toxic" fans eventually changed their tune and liked the show. How do you even acquire that information?? An odd statement. To say the show was "mature" cause it had some sexual overtones and aggressive fight scenes does not make a show mature.

[@arcadia5886]

No, you're not wrong. This guy is bringing some serious revisionist history and using fans of the original as a scapegoat for its failure. Dude didn't pronounce Cheetara's name right and there were genuine issues with some of the plot that caused people to not like the series.

[@bretrobinson1590]

You didn't touch on the worst thing. The fact that lego made a deal with them and stabbed them in the back by making lego chima. A show pointed at a younger audience, during that hyadis.

[@blubba818]

I seem to remember really liking this show when it aired. I was neck deep in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Young Justice at this point and was totally happy to get another good show.

[@willy_b_coyote]

The Thundercats reboot was gone too soon.

[@dreamguardian8320]

Agreed.

[@codyeasonBGR]

This could have been Avatar good, had it had the chance to grow so many good stories.

[@j.kylestephens9000]

Loved how this show planted seeds to tie in other properties like Silverhawks and Tigersharks. It was a great show and an amazing reboot.

[@LonnieGCowboys4E]

I remember running home from school at 8 years old (1987) just to watch Thundercats. I lived for it.

[@DrTHasanJohnson]

I loved this version so much. I’ve been angry for years at how we won’t see a proper end to this…

[@simonvegas793]

Nice to know I'm not the only one who's still not over it lol!!

[@PlasticGeek]

I’m a 39 year old fan of the original and when this remake aired, I loved it and watched every episode, and bought every toy, it’s still a huge travesty that it never got finished right as it was getting into the amazing backstory.

[@mvecera]

Such a fantastic show. "Song of the Petalars" was so touching, it made me cry.

[@benefitsog4842]

i was so upset they cancelled this shit man, one of the best cartoons at the time and i fell in love with every aspect of it

[@tayloredwards4968]

It's a shame that this show never got a second season. It was really good. 🐱

[@mrg466]

Naw it wasn't really good at all!

[@Youknowwho407]

​@@mrg466it was good very good

[@mrg466]

@@Youknowwho407 It was garbage, but it's your right to believe it's whatever you like. Furthermore, make no mistake, my pain from watching this show, comes from a man who actually owns the series!

[@Youknowwho407]

@@mrg466 I respect your opinion the things you hate I might like but that's OK we have choice to like anything

[@mrg466]

@@Youknowwho407 What did you like about the show?

[@jacobsunday6561]

That Friday Night of Action block had so many home runs, Gen. Rex, The Clone Wars, Ben 10, etc. I know Stuart Snyder really wanted to keep action on the network but the higher ups weren’t satisfied with the toy sales of everything other than Ben 10. It’s a shame action cartoons have to be dealt that kind of faith back in the days.

[@evenhartwick4422]

it seems like action shows are just completely dead on the network at this point. everything is a wacky goofball comedy. really sucks CN just abandoned the action genera they made some great ones over the years, but hey i guess shows like Teen Titans Go and Gumball are just cheaper to make so they don't need to rely on toy sales as much

[@ProtoMarcus]

2:23 - _Captain Marvel_ - thank you for using the Original and most recognized name

[@VvMythWolfvV]

Captain Marvel wish fulfillment? You mean Shazam? Cheeta-ruh? You mean Chee-tara? Also 7:56...that Cheetara though, damn she is sexy.

[@legofarm13]

I remember setting a recording for this show every week and loving new episodes. Proud of my 12 year old self for recognizing how dope it was at the time. Really bummed it never got a conclusion.

[@ilhamadigunawan5264]

if this came out today on Netflix and called "anime adaptation" i'm sure it will have the voice it needed.

[@Theophanis_Ketipidis]

The only cartoon reboot that I actually liked. Discovered it by accident on youtube 2 years after its release, enjoyed every bit of it and got really buffled when I could not find episode 26. It will remain one of the big why...

[@donpowers6056]

I grew up with the original and thought this version was fantastic! Loved the darker tone and how more in depth they went with everything. Im big with following source material but the changes really were an excellent retelling of the Thundercats story. I so wish they would bring this show back on some streaming service. We can hope!!!

[@abiskywalker4399]

Speaking of hard to find: All 26 eps are on Hulu and i’m gonna a go binge it 😂

[@lamontjones3849]

I was one of those fans that initially dismissed it without ever really giving it a chance. Then they ran it on Toonami on Saturday nights and I watched and fell in love with it.

[@MyPisceanNature]

I watched this religiously at the time. When I was little, my father would get out of class in college and come home and watch Thundercats with me, while he did his homework. It amused me greatly that Cartoon Network was showing the original show while I was in college. I probably annoyed my girlfriend at the time with how much I enjoyed this show. I was quite sad when it was canceled.

[@Lionic-qj9xy]

My mother was (and still is) a Thundercats fan since she watched the original, I watched this version when I was 7-8 years old and I really enjoyed it and we started talking about how cool the universe and the characters are (we still do). It’s a pity that it was cancelled, because if it was this good even if it’s incomplete, just imagine the universe where the series had a proper final.

[@ardent835]

I was more of a Swat Kats guy back in the day

[@NotThatGuy_YepThatGuy]

A fellow member of the Radical Squadron? Well met.

[@adrianlujan4116]

This was the best reboot I've ever seen. Too bad we never got that awesome second season that was planned

[@dreamguardian8320]

Agreed.

[@tylerleach8796]

Considering what was planned for that second season…yeah I think it’s best that it never happened. Cause that second season sounded like an absolute mess.

[@adrianlujan4116]

I don't know. They were going to introduce the tiger sharks, and the silverhawks. As well as you see Lionel turn into a warrior king. I think those elements sounded pretty cool

[@tylerleach8796]

@@adrianlujan4116 They also were gonna cram in all the Thundercats characters they frankly SHOULD have had instead of bringing Tigar Sharks and Silverhawks, have Mumm-Ra rebel against the Ancient Spirits of Evil when, unlike in the original, the Ancient Spirits of Evil were barely even entities here. They weren't going to undo that awful Pummyra twist and instead charge head-on with it, have Lion-O and WileyKit of all characters hook up (despite that not making a single ounce of sense), and were going say frickin SNARF was this immortal being responsible for the creation of the Thundercats (look, 80's Snarf is a character that gets a ton of undeserved hate and I hate that the 2011 series just make him a pet...but the solution isn't to make Snarf basically the Thundercats' god). Yeah, I can honestly say that the second season never happening wasn't a tragedy...but us dodging a bullet.

[@mr.sinjin-smyth]

As a teen in the 1990s, I saw re-rurns of the 1980s Thundercats every now and then, and while I did enjoy them... they didn't really leave a lasting impression on me. So I have minimal nostalgia for such. When the 2011 Reboot aired a few times, i didn't pay much attention to such and was just slightly surprised upon knowing it got cancelled. When comparing based on just animation and art styles, 2011 reboot looks much better than 1980s original (especially reboot Cheetara).

[@tamikiajones2815]

Some CLASSICS you just LEAVE ALONE

[@lawrenceriversiii1737]

Why! This was the best Thundercats. I love this show.i made sure I found every episode. Please 🙏 bring it back. 😭

[@BassMatriX]

The frustration in his voice when he says "even though this is what they had been asking for" is palpable.

[@weston407]

you can't please fanboys - remember when DOOM 2016 was coming out? people were shitting all over it like crazy....until they played it and absolutely loved it - it had a rough launch though

[@BassMatriX]

@@weston407 fan boys are the worst. And having finally had a chance to watch this show in its entirety last year, I am extra pissed at all the unresolved plot elements. This was such a good show. The original will always hold a special place in my heart, but the story for this one was just so much more layered.

[@weston407]

@@BassMatriX you know what’s funny? i was a born in 1985 and was like a year or two too young to really appreciate the original show, just like my brother who was born in 1987 and never really cared about TNMT

[@BassMatriX]

@@weston407 I was born in 84, but watched reruns and taped episodes a LOT. 😂

[@uhobme2028]

@@weston407 Constant shit like that is largely why I don't engage with fandom spaces anymore.

[@ljphoenix4341]

I remember this reboot!! Never saw the original, but loved turning on the tv in the morning and watching this show! Such a shame that the series was never able to see it's full potential.

[@edenshii]

This was aired in our country late 80 until early 90s. It was a hit then. Most families don’t have TV, and our family don’t have one too. We just squeeze in a house of a neighbor, literally there were a lot of us. I always wonder why there were no live action for this series.

[@johnnyd3158]

Perhaps Netflix can give the reboot a second chance.

[@franciscocasillas6824]

Maybe start a petition or something to get their attention? They did salvage Lucifer and currently have Bruce Lee's Warrior in stock while monitoring how well the show does to see if a season 4 is worth it.

[@noway6633]

Claudus literally never intended Tygra to have the sword. The Sword of Omens belongs to the King of the Thundercats, and when Lion-O was born, that automatically became him. its almost like you didn't watch the first episode

[@RecklessFire29]

I use this series as a key point when I say "Fans are full of crap". Fans screamed for this, they got it, and yet they let it die, only to prance it's corpse around begging for it to come back after they did so. Well, too bad. It's gone, it's never coming back, and the show that tried to bring some level of interest to it, Thundercats Roar, got roasted, so it's a dead franchise now.

[@LuniNightwind]

Did you also forget the lack of advertisement for the show from CN as well as the constant time slot change they did to the show as well.

[@danielcamacho1913]

I saw the original when it came out. I liked it, but had questions like “Are they wearing something here, or did I just see people naked in a cartoon?” and “How are they breathing in space?” I thought the reboot was AWESOME but didn’t get to see most of it when it came out. Had to watch it on Hulu 10 years later. It was AWESOME. I enjoyed everything right up to the big betrayal, because the traitor had been one of my favorite characters (since the ‘80s). I thought if the resumed the show, surely the story would involve the traitor pulling their head out of their butt and redeeming themselves… Then I heard about how the creators wanted to finish the story, with some big time skips, and doubling down on the traitor, making them more evil and monstrous. Right away I thought “Y’all would’ve lost me with that crap.”

[@aedwardsss]

This show was amazing and well done with a very cool lore. I was pleased with it and felt it honored many of the characters and shed the “sell a weekly toy” framework

[@Player-re9mo]

First episode I saw was the one with the Petalars (flower people), my favorite episode from the entire show. Time is what you make of it. Elmo lived a fulfilling life, despite it being short.

[@thegreenyamo1995]

The perfected marketing formula of cartoons and toy sales going hand in hand was the golden era of 80's Saturday morning and after school cartoon power hours and to a lesser extent the 90's. Sadly in this era of such widespread media options including phones, streaming media etc.. I don't see how this can ever be re-captured. It must be so frustrating to toy marketing execs especially the ones that were around during those decades. The other unfortunate problem in this era of technology is that kids are aging out faster and faster. My 7 year old doesn't play with action figures of any kind. When I was his age, GI Joe, He-man, Transformers, MASK and Voltron all competed for my play time. So happy I was an 80's kid and was part of that era of toy play. It is forever lost ...

[@naturalist4life396]

So the main reasons the show was cancelled were: 1. The network was being stupid. 2. The toys weren't selling. 3. Budget issues 4. The fans hated it because "it wasn't the original" (despite it being exactly what they wanted in the first place 😡)

[@adyenlichtwachter6684]

No one in their right mind hated the new designs. No one that remembers the first series, ever ever think of this one as 'too dark'. Alas, quick-dope anicoms ruled the media as you said. Making super hard to compete vs instantly rewarding simple animations.

[@TheRunawayLuigi]

Cheetara in this show though 👀

[@PlayfulLion]

this was a lot better than the old one. this is sad it didnt make it

[@katiekatm.740]

Me and my brother absolutely ADORED this show when it was coming out. We have the episodes on DVD and I have been rewatching them recently. Tygra is still my favorite character.