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.
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.
@@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
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
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
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.
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
on top of the that toys sales were on of the biggest factors in the show getting cancalled the network was still using outdated funding tatics to fund actions shows like "made for toys" to fun the shows when kids dont even play with toys anymore.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.
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.
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.
Thundercats season 2 needs more the 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.
@@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
Half the episodes were boring, and things like Lion-O fighting with Tigra over Cheetara was just cringe. Romance just isn't needed in such shows. They're about adventure.
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.
It had 2 good episodes. The first one, and the one where they show how the ancestors of the Thundercats arrived on Third Earth. There are also some okay ones... And some that are completely useless filler.
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.
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 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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
@@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?
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.
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."
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.
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.
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).
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.
@@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.
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.
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.
We're not really looking to be lectured by cartoons, and the whole thing about who would get Cheetara made for pointless infighting in the core group. It's supposed to be a group of mature, good characters, who do the right thing, and go on adventures. Not a group of misfits that barely respect or trust each other. If the Thundercats have a conflict, they should just talk it out.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
I wanted to see this show but it wasn't on air on open TV back then and i did not have cable... yet i already had access to internet in a pre youtube era... weird point in time and i never got to see it even though it was one of my favorite shows as a kid..
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.
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.
@@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.
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.☹️
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. 😼🗡⚡😒
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.
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)
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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!
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
This video is filled with misinformation, assumptions, and an inability to provide examples of what's being said. LORD this is bad. "Toxic fans". Get a grip.
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.
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.
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.
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
@@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.
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).
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.
The only part of the show I didn't like, was the love triangle between Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara. It felt far too forced and cringe. Especially on top of the 'heir rivalry' between Lion-O and Tigra, each trying to prove they are the better choice to be the new King. I think it would have been better to have Lion-O NOT be interested in Cheetara, and focus on trying to be the King/leader (and trying to set a good example for Wilykit and Wilykat), with Tygra still trying to one-up him but causing strife juggling his relationship with Cheetara, making him realize that maybe he didn't really want to be King after-all. Or have him be a douche and have Cheetara leave him. One or the other. And the abrupt, hormonally driven crush Lion-O had on Pumyra was gag-inducing from the get-go. REALLY should have re-thought that, especially with his recent revelation that he wasn't in any sort of good position to have a relationship anyway. The show was mostly good, but those core plotlines really dragged it back. Honestly, I think it would have made a better story if Lion-O was in fact better than Tygra at everything, but just never cared to show it. Keep in mind, the series started off showing Lion-O's interest in lost technology, and how he though it was very important to learn about it. But his father the King, his brother, and pretty much the whole kingdom is all like; "What? Technology? Pffft, don't waste you time with that fictional garbage". And surprise surprise, Lion-O turns out to be completely right when Mumm-Ra invades with a tech-powered lizard army. That was Lion-O's one and only big win in the series. It would have been more interesting to have Lion-O be that one 'crazy' person no one ever listens to, but always turns out to be right in the end. It would have made a more interesting story if Lion-O genuinely didn't care about being King, and just told Tygra; "Hey, you want it, take it. And all the over-stressed, overly-complicated problems that come with it!" Then Tygra would find out that, yeah, being a non-entity King of a kingdom that no longer exists in a world that hated the royal family, isn't so great.
This show was the first time I ever heard of Thundercats and my brothers and I would get up every morning as kids to watch every episode, then it just disappeared never knew what happened until I got older and found out about cancelling shows haha
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.
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.
I watched re-runs of Thundercats when I was a kid and I was hyped when I saw the announcement of a reboot at ComicCon. I still have my free bag with the promotional art for it! It really didn’t disappoint. What did though was the airtime. It was always in the evening but never set for the same time. I heard that there was a lot planned for season 2 that we’ll just straight up never get to see. I remember seeing a few streaming services teasing picking it up to continue it but no one ever did. It seriously needed a better company to air it.
This, TMNT 2003 and MOTU 2002 where my go to versions their respective properties from an Adult's eye. I hope this goes the way of Young Justice and gets a continuation... and Green Lantern CGI too.
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.
Everything I watched of this series was really solid. The pilot and first few episodes were excellent, and arguably better than the CN He-Man reboot, which was itself pretty good. What a shame.
Maybe I was simply too young to be super attached to the original Thundercats(although I did watch plenty of the reruns as a young kid) considering I was still only 15 when Thundercats 2011 aired, but I'm still really sad that it didn't get to have the full 52 episodes it was planned to have. At the time I was going through a phase where I felt a lot of western animation was aiming a bit too young for me, but I wasn't that interested in typical adult cartoons either(stuff like Family Guy or American Dad), so Thundercats was one of the rare cartoons that really struck a chord with me at the time and that I was genuinely excited to see new episodes of.
Growing up on Comedy Central, Adult Swim, Fox, and more ( all stuff I was too young for ), while still having an interest in Toon Disney/Jetix now Disney XD, Nicktoons DC and Marvel animation it was the perfect Middle Ground of serious cartoon fun unfortunately at the tail end of the action adventure cartoon era I still remember telling my mom about the premiere, watching it in my room, even though I had never seen the show outside of Robot Chicken skits Good times...
I still think it was a garbage idea to make Lion-O and Tygra brothers. Like, "Ooo let's make a ThunderCats reboot but dark and gritty. Okay. How are we gonna do that? Oh! I know, let's fall back on the most cliche story telling trope imaginable of two brothers, one illegitimate, fighting over the crown and also a woman. That'll really tickle their berries!" Come ON. That's 'I am 14 and this is deep shit'. You can tell a good, dark, mature story and keep the original group dynamic and cohesion. If you can't you're not even a good FANFICTION writer, let alone a good fucking showrunner.
I think they could have suffered less backlash if they made this a continuation of the original series set many generations later. The opening of the first episode set the stage for it until they statured mentioning character names.
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.
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.
Same
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.
I hated it aunt was never going to come close tothe original i was a kid when I watched it I'm 47 now
@@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
@@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
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
Not to mention he's voice is right at home being a wise and powerful king.
Another good series ended way too soon.
Let's not forget Emmanuelle Chiriqui as Cheetara...
@@iwasanangryyoungman And Matt Mercer as Tigra. Such great cast. So much great potential lost because of bad timing.
Epic show. A stabotage and tragedy
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
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.
Yes, big suprise like Tron Uprising, except for one episode toy centric.
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
@@twodollarking8009 yeah when it was airing on Toonami/Adult Swim is when I started watching it.
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.
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.
You and me both man, still not over it ha ha!!
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.
Thundercats season 2 needs more the 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.
@@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
@@ArthurHILL-xp8bvso s2 for the remake never happened?
The reboot was incredible. The animation and designs were awesome for an updated and more complex show. Real shame it didn't work out
Half the episodes were boring, and things like Lion-O fighting with Tigra over Cheetara was just cringe.
Romance just isn't needed in such shows. They're about adventure.
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.
Let me guess. Song of the petallars?
@@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ I was gonna comment the same thing.😅 That episode really is something special.
It had 2 good episodes. The first one, and the one where they show how the ancestors of the Thundercats arrived on Third Earth.
There are also some okay ones... And some that are completely useless filler.
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.
Facts bro
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?
Cartoon Network was a lot more mature during those times. I miss cn during late 2000, and early 2010
Yes that era of TV was Siiiiiick but the joke is all of those shows get butchered and ruined by their own production studios.
@@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
this is one of the most heartbreaking and unique case studies in animation history
Indeed.
It's also not accurate
@@madestmadhatter Yeah. This analysis exaggerated the backlash and ignored the influence of Lego Chima in its cancellation
@@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ok , you mean that Thundercats influenced Lego chima 😱
@@ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗΣΛΑΧΑΝΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ of course they ignore Chima Lego in all this lmao.
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!
Yikes and voltron legendary defender fell down the flight of stairs
That episode where lion-O befriended a little dude that ages fast broke me and I can never forget it
Best episode!
Truly an amazing episode.
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
YES. Very much yes :(
Shid I cried
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.
Me too
It's cool to know he could enjoy it, despite it being different from the original.
I don't blame him
Bro same with my dad!
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.
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.
Nobody knew it was airing because CN also has this habit of just moving its shows around without telling anyone.
@@Paranitis Toy sales baby because of advertisin
This is first I’m hearing of it
Do y’all know how to watch the rest today I can’t find it never got to finish
I'm surprised there aren't any video games of it. This would be a DOPE video game
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.
I remember hearing about how the show would've been finished we really missed something great😔
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.
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.
Since I saw the first time, I knew Chima was a knock off of Thundercats.
Tygra and the rest of the Thundercats supposed to be mentor to Liono.
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
One of the few times a ‘reboot’ was done not only respecting the source material but actually improving upon it.
and the thunder cat purists helped kill it.
@@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?
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.
And the Thundercats fandom did what fandoms do best and complained. I still remember people complaining that it was too "anime".
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."
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.
I'm confused. If you haven't seen the original, just what are you nostalgic for?
@@LemurMaster i used to watch this after coming home from school, it's my first year of college now.
@@LemurMaster the reboot is a decade old now
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.
@@cryofpaine yeah I used to watch the original and I loved this show more then the original basically because it had connected storyline
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.
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).
@Kristopher Prime p
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.
@@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.
@@juanrodriguez9971 You have a good point, although I did agree some reboots were terrible.
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.
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.
We're not really looking to be lectured by cartoons, and the whole thing about who would get Cheetara made for pointless infighting in the core group.
It's supposed to be a group of mature, good characters, who do the right thing, and go on adventures.
Not a group of misfits that barely respect or trust each other.
If the Thundercats have a conflict, they should just talk it out.
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.
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.
I liked this show a lot. Sad it went away.
Same. I loved the art
Indeed. Almost as sad as when the Tell Tale Game company went out of business, cancelling many good video games.
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.
@@axx012 2002 He-Man was much better than Revelation.
@@dreamguardian8320 of course
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
I actually don't want anything to continue or be revived with the current landscape of activists shoehorning "messages" into fiction.
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo I agree, if they do it now, it would be awful.
It cant continue, it was written off in taxes years ago
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo you're grossly exaggerating how often this happens and like many others just sound butthurt at the prospect of inclusivity.
@@SergioLeonardoCornejo fiction has always had messages. You're just boring. cry about it.
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.
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
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.
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.
@@highvoltage1842 I like depth in my content.👍
@@wantutosigh1117 if you think this show had depth, you never saw something with real depth.
@@highvoltage1842 what a silly comment.
As a fan of the original Thundercats, I loved this new iteration. I had no complaints.
Better than Roar, that's for sure
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.
También como fanático de los originales Thundercats, esta versión me gustó mucho...
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.
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).
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.
and then the last batch of episodes were run at 6 am. No listing change or anything.
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
@@evenhartwick4422 Cartoon network has probably one of the biggest downfalls of all time.
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.
At 06:56 you can hear his frustration like it's a reddit argument LMAO
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.
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.
I love the reboot. It should have lasted longer it was one of the best animated series of the 2010s
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.
Perhaps Netflix can give the reboot a second chance.
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.
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.
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".
Also hated how Panthro just looked like the animated version of Hell Boy.
thank you
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!
I legit remember watching this show as a Kid and growing up and wondering where this went? It looked Nice
I wanted to see this show but it wasn't on air on open TV back then and i did not have cable... yet i already had access to internet in a pre youtube era... weird point in time and i never got to see it even though it was one of my favorite shows as a kid..
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.
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.
@@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.
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.
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.☹️
This show was amazing and I still remember watching the premiere with my wife. I fucking loved it and it deserved better.
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. 😼🗡⚡😒
2011 Thundercats were and still are BRILLIANT❤
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.
Ironic that you bring that up Michael Jelnic who was the showrunner for Thundercats 2011 was/is also the showrunner for Teen Titans Go
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)
I loved this version so much. I’ve been angry for years at how we won’t see a proper end to this…
Nice to know I'm not the only one who's still not over it lol!!
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.
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
Not the first time a show has been cancelled for literally being too good and sadly won't be the last.
This and symbiotic titan really hurt when they decided to cancel😭
This could have been Avatar good, had it had the chance to grow so many good stories.
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.
This and the old He Man reboot were both incredible.
Amen to that ❤️
Emphasis on the old one, the new one is crap.
@@deuce5546 Do you mean the CGI one or the Kevin Smith one?
@@ryanbauer3680 Kevin Smith's
@@deuce5546 I could see what he was trying to do, but he wasn't being respectful to the source material.
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.
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
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!
They didn't need the pants. They needed some damn pride in their source material.
The original is better.
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.
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.
The pants weren't what it made it good. But I agree with the rest.
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.
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.
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.
It's a shame that this show never got a second season. It was really good. 🐱
Naw it wasn't really good at all!
@@mrg466it was good very good
@@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!
@@mrg466 I respect your opinion the things you hate I might like but that's OK we have choice to like anything
@@Youknowwho407 What did you like about the show?
I just start watching the show and I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t a success. It’s even better then the original.
2:23 - _Captain Marvel_ - thank you for using the Original and most recognized name
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.
Ehhhh, the best? Shows like TMNT 2012, Transformers Animated, and She-ra 2018 I felt were just better.
The Thundercats reboot was gone too soon.
Agreed.
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.
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
I loved that reboot!
Mumm-Ra’s introduction was epic!
Why! This was the best Thundercats. I love this show.i made sure I found every episode. Please 🙏 bring it back. 😭
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.
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
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.
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
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.
if this came out today on Netflix and called "anime adaptation" i'm sure it will have the voice it needed.
This video is filled with misinformation, assumptions, and an inability to provide examples of what's being said. LORD this is bad.
"Toxic fans". Get a grip.
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.
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.
I feel like given a second chance in this day and age it would fucking thrive as a show
Speaking of hard to find: All 26 eps are on Hulu and i’m gonna a go binge it 😂
I rewatched this reboot on Hulu and wished it had a second season. maybe one day it will come back if we give it enough attention
This was the best reboot I've ever seen. Too bad we never got that awesome second season that was planned
Agreed.
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.
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
@@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.
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).
Loved how this show planted seeds to tie in other properties like Silverhawks and Tigersharks. It was a great show and an amazing reboot.
3:22 Did this fool just say CHEETA-RUH instead of CHEE-TAR-UH?!
Blasphemy! 😂
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.
The only part of the show I didn't like, was the love triangle between Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara. It felt far too forced and cringe. Especially on top of the 'heir rivalry' between Lion-O and Tigra, each trying to prove they are the better choice to be the new King. I think it would have been better to have Lion-O NOT be interested in Cheetara, and focus on trying to be the King/leader (and trying to set a good example for Wilykit and Wilykat), with Tygra still trying to one-up him but causing strife juggling his relationship with Cheetara, making him realize that maybe he didn't really want to be King after-all. Or have him be a douche and have Cheetara leave him. One or the other. And the abrupt, hormonally driven crush Lion-O had on Pumyra was gag-inducing from the get-go. REALLY should have re-thought that, especially with his recent revelation that he wasn't in any sort of good position to have a relationship anyway. The show was mostly good, but those core plotlines really dragged it back.
Honestly, I think it would have made a better story if Lion-O was in fact better than Tygra at everything, but just never cared to show it. Keep in mind, the series started off showing Lion-O's interest in lost technology, and how he though it was very important to learn about it. But his father the King, his brother, and pretty much the whole kingdom is all like; "What? Technology? Pffft, don't waste you time with that fictional garbage". And surprise surprise, Lion-O turns out to be completely right when Mumm-Ra invades with a tech-powered lizard army. That was Lion-O's one and only big win in the series. It would have been more interesting to have Lion-O be that one 'crazy' person no one ever listens to, but always turns out to be right in the end.
It would have made a more interesting story if Lion-O genuinely didn't care about being King, and just told Tygra; "Hey, you want it, take it. And all the over-stressed, overly-complicated problems that come with it!" Then Tygra would find out that, yeah, being a non-entity King of a kingdom that no longer exists in a world that hated the royal family, isn't so great.
This show was the first time I ever heard of Thundercats and my brothers and I would get up every morning as kids to watch every episode, then it just disappeared never knew what happened until I got older and found out about cancelling shows haha
Such a fantastic show. "Song of the Petalars" was so touching, it made me cry.
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.
exactly.
I liked it. The guture of the Cat race was depending on that loge triangle.
While I'm disappointed that the show never got finished, at least it entertained me while it was still with us 😊
Loved this reboot I wish someone could finish this series off
Me too.
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.
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.
I watched re-runs of Thundercats when I was a kid and I was hyped when I saw the announcement of a reboot at ComicCon. I still have my free bag with the promotional art for it! It really didn’t disappoint. What did though was the airtime. It was always in the evening but never set for the same time. I heard that there was a lot planned for season 2 that we’ll just straight up never get to see. I remember seeing a few streaming services teasing picking it up to continue it but no one ever did. It seriously needed a better company to air it.
This is what happens when you mess with shit that was perfect to begin with.
^I agree.
This, TMNT 2003 and MOTU 2002 where my go to versions their respective properties from an Adult's eye. I hope this goes the way of Young Justice and gets a continuation... and Green Lantern CGI too.
I loved watching this series growing up. I actually rewatched this on Hulu months ago. Too bad it never gotten a conclusion :(
Agreed.
this reboot was my guilty pleasure when I was young, but by god how I hated the love triangle
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.
Everything I watched of this series was really solid. The pilot and first few episodes were excellent, and arguably better than the CN He-Man reboot, which was itself pretty good. What a shame.
Maybe I was simply too young to be super attached to the original Thundercats(although I did watch plenty of the reruns as a young kid) considering I was still only 15 when Thundercats 2011 aired, but I'm still really sad that it didn't get to have the full 52 episodes it was planned to have. At the time I was going through a phase where I felt a lot of western animation was aiming a bit too young for me, but I wasn't that interested in typical adult cartoons either(stuff like Family Guy or American Dad), so Thundercats was one of the rare cartoons that really struck a chord with me at the time and that I was genuinely excited to see new episodes of.
Growing up on Comedy Central, Adult Swim, Fox, and more ( all stuff I was too young for ), while still having an interest in Toon Disney/Jetix now Disney XD, Nicktoons DC and Marvel animation it was the perfect Middle Ground of serious cartoon fun unfortunately at the tail end of the action adventure cartoon era
I still remember telling my mom about the premiere, watching it in my room, even though I had never seen the show outside of Robot Chicken skits
Good times...
I still think it was a garbage idea to make Lion-O and Tygra brothers. Like, "Ooo let's make a ThunderCats reboot but dark and gritty. Okay. How are we gonna do that? Oh! I know, let's fall back on the most cliche story telling trope imaginable of two brothers, one illegitimate, fighting over the crown and also a woman. That'll really tickle their berries!" Come ON. That's 'I am 14 and this is deep shit'. You can tell a good, dark, mature story and keep the original group dynamic and cohesion. If you can't you're not even a good FANFICTION writer, let alone a good fucking showrunner.
This
I think they could have suffered less backlash if they made this a continuation of the original series set many generations later. The opening of the first episode set the stage for it until they statured mentioning character names.
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.