Growing up a child of the 80's, I've enjoyed many great cartoons from He-man and Transformers to Voltron and G.I.Joe. As I got older these cartoons got lost in the pages of cartoon history. Over the years people have tried bring back some of these cartoons, remakes, reboots, movies, you name it. Some were good, others were poor. So when I heard a new Thundercats animated series was to be released on Cartoon Network, I literally jumped out of my skin with excitement! As the premier date came closer however I got a little skeptical as I remembered some of the poorer cartoon remakes (He-Man Masters of the Universe 2 season run comes to mind) So I was afraid this new Thundercats series would follow that same path. What I got, an amazing reboot that tells a good story, and pays good homage to the original.

Unlike it's 1985 counterpart, which the Thundercats are aliens who land on 3rd earth after their home world of Thundera blows up, This series starts off with with the Thundercats civilization already in place and in control over the other beings on the planet, who are looked down upon as being inferior. The Lord of the Thundercats Claudus (Voiced by none other than Lion-O from the original series) wants his son Lion-O to take on more important princely duties to better prepare him to one day take over Thundera. But Lion-O seems to have his head in the clouds as all he cares about is mythological technology, leading to some wanting Tygra to become the new heir to the thrown (Tygra serves as Lion-O's older/adopted brother in the series) But the Thundercats reign of power and control comes to an abrupt end as the Lizard men led by Slythe attacks with an army equipped with Technology. To make matters worse is behind it all is the ancient spirit of evil Mum-Ra! The kingdom destroyed, and the Thundercats now virtually extinct, Lion-O must rally the few surviving members to help him find the ancient book of omens and try to defeat their evil foes.

The re-envisioning of many of the characters are well done. Many I find more like able than their original counter parts, with exception of a few. I also enjoyed how the characters have more back story to them and definition to their characters that makes them better developed. Rather than just having a few bad asses who are friends, each member have more detailed backgrounds with flushes them out more. Tygra as mentioned above being Lion-O's adopted brother adds more tension between the two on how to best lead the few survivors, Cheetara is a cleric and deciple of Gaga the wise, Wileykat and Kit orphans who actually act more like children. And Panthro who is the older and experienced general. Though I like the original Cheetara and Panthro more, all the characters are well done, flushed out, and likeable characters.

Two other elements I love about the new story include showing why the Thundercats are enemies with the Lizardmen, and making the obsticals harder to overcome.

In the original series they mention that the mutants are their enemies... why? Just because their mutants that makes them evil? In this one you see more conflicts between what is right and wrong. The Thundercats in general abuse their position as top race and usually mistreat other races below them, thus setting up why the Lizardmen hate them so much. In the premier two lizardmen were put in the stockade where they were mistreated by a mob of thundercats, Lion-O pleaded to Claudus for their release, and Claudus had to weigh the decision to either let them go as a will of good faith, or to keep them prisoner and not show any leniency or signs of weakness to the other races.

Also, in the original series the opposition to the Thundercats were very easy to defeat. You never really see the Thundercats struggle against their foes, and easily dispatch them. In this series the bad guys actually are tough and difficult to defeat. They destroy Thundera, and sevearl times force the Thundercats into a retreat. Tougher bad guys makes it more rewarding for the fans who watch the hero's succeed in the end because the goal is that much tougher to obtain.

I can go on for hours on this topic, but I will save that for another time.

In conclusion, both Thundercats series are really well done and great. The new series is off to a great start and has many elements to it I think surpass the original. I have had many debates, (Some heated) with other fans of the original series who are extremely biased towards this new series. And though this series can go from good to bad in a heartbeat like the 2002 He-Man series did, but for the time being it is an awesome series that I feel does justice to the original property, and has the potential for a nice long run.

FINAL GRADE: Too early to determine, but for the 1 hour Pilot to episode 4, I give the series a B+

TRAILER:
]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enQXITlKRgg