September 1, 2011

Although I’ve meant to, I haven’t really covered on this blog yet just how much adoration I have for cartoons and franchises from the 80’s. My Little Pony is definitely a big one, and its current popularity is something that I just enjoy to bits. Hasbro’s other franchises such as Jem & the Holograms and Lady Lovely Locks are some other favorites, although I am only just too young to have caught them when they were aired on television and now make up for having missed them by watching episodes online when I can. c:

So anyway, when things I loved as a kid resurface, I like to take notice. Even if just to nod and say, “Oh, so that’s what Rainbow Brite looks like now. Interesting.”

Thundercats is one of those things that I definitely remember watching as a kid and I know all of the characters’ names. I could hum the tune of the theme song for you and maybe even recite some of the lyrics (okay, maybe just the line “Thunder thunder thunder Thundercats!”). But if you asked me the plot of any one episode that I remember, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. XD So, I guess Thundercats is a show that I was vaguely familiar with, but it wasn’t one of my very favorites and I don’t remember many precise details.

A Thundercats reboot is six episodes deep at the time of me writing this, and I learned of its existance around last weekend. (Not watching television tends to leave one on the external side of the loop.) The retro cartoon buff in me wanted to check out how Thundercats had changed and I was quick to do a search and sniff out the relevant results.

Impression the first: Wow, this looks pretty animesque.

I can deal with this, though. As long as it’s animated well, I don’t consider animesque an immediate turn-off.

An immediate plus: the characters are all pretty recognizable from their original designs, and for the most part I like the updates that have taken place. For example, the male characters now wear pants. This is great. I think the only character whose design I dislike is Cheetarah’s – somehow she ended up with less clothing than her previous iteration and I am just not digging her longer, more tame hair. Lion-O looks great though – he’s got the same wild mane of his predecessor, the sharpened nails, the vertical-slitted eyes, and the coloration of his skin (fur?) and armor is all properly procured from the original design.

Upon learning that the new series is airing on Cartoon Network, I navigate to CN’s page of video clips for the show and sit back to watch some footage. This is the part where my idle curiosity turns into intrigue. I find myself thinking that this… actually looks pretty cool.

That big guy, Claudus? He’s voiced by the original actor that played Lion-O back in the old cartoon. Also, that is some EXCELLENT (and accurate!) homage to the “sight beyond sight” skit, which is sharp and clear in my memory’s eye despite how I might not remember much else about the old cartoon. Can anyone reading this disagree?

So yeah. I’ve hunted down and watched the six existing episodes of this so far, and I can say I’m enjoying it. I can’t say that I’m loving it to pieces or that I’m a die-hard fan, or that I plan on spending cash on the inevitable toy line (My Little Pony is an entirely different story). But the show is doing just what its purpose is, which is to provide entertainment. I’m entertained. It’s still early in the game and my opinion may still change, but I’m going at this with an open mind and I’m not clouded by nostalgia (okay, maybe juuuuuuuuuuust a little).

May blog about this more in the future. We’ll see if my interest stays hooked.

Afterthought:
I’m toying with the idea of sharing full-episode videos here and then writing a little feature sharing my thoughts on it (calling out specific scenes that I thought were cool, or funny, or poorly-scripted, or w/e). This is something I was going to do once Season 2 of Friendship is Magic started, but maybe I can use Thundercats (or Thundercats 2011 as the reboot is widely referred to) to test the waters and see if such entries would be well-received.

The next episode airs tomorrow, and if I like it I think I’ll go ahead and do a featurette on it. Let’s see. c:

Update:
If you hadn’t noticed, I didn’t do that featurette after all. XD I don’t think Thundercats really fits with the whole super-cute-and-sweet theme I’ve got going on this blog. Plus, I’m not totally in love with it so I probably wouldn’t like writing articles about it every week anyway. Any further Thundercats talk on my part will probably stick to my Tumblr. xp