My take on the whole series. Ep by ep.
[hide]The Sword of Omens-Opening pilot, brilliantly done. Everything I wanted from the reboot. Old Lion-O cameo was great.
Ancient Spirits of Evil-Opening pilot, brilliantly done. Everything I wanted from the reboot. Tho Mum-Ra powered down significantly later.
Ramlak Rising-perhaps a bit too early for the Moby Fick desire for revenge? Okay episode.
Song of the Petalars- Fantastic episode, interesting premise. Handled a little oddly in how the petelars always aged off camera, but great premise. And hey, competant, multi-designed lizards!
Old Friends- They made a samoflange joke. A sign of true fans. It would have been nice if Panthro had remained gruff and somewhat unbeliving for a while, to create a little tension for a while. Tigra had already calmed down by now too.
Journey to the Tower of Omens-Everyone got to do something, nice group effort. An example of how to balance the entire large team pretty perfectly.
Legacy-Not sure if we reeeally needed an outer space origin story for all of the show… this probably should have waited and been revealed the same time as the creation of the swords. Not a bad episode though. But giving away the big armor power up and details this early? Eh.
The Duelist and the Drifter- Filler, but fantastic filler. Probably my favorite episode of the new show. Both of the title characters were great in this, and Lion learned something.
Berbils-Well, it was... berbils. Requisite shout out to the old show.
Sight Beyond Sight
The Forest Of Magi Oar-Fillerish, but Paper warriors were cool.
Into The Astral Plane
Between Brothers-These four episodes all kind of tied together into one story. The elephants were cool, and Kat's music playing, and Panthro showing down against Grune, but... I dunno that it needed to be a four parter. (Granted, the paper warriors were sort of seperate.) In the course of a long running 52 episode series, this would be fine. But in the context of a 26 episode series, they could have easily trimmed this down to two episodes.[/hide]
And then, Cartoon network was a bunch of idiots and hiatused the show for several months, (while randomly mixing in reruns to drag out that first 13) and changed the timeslot and it lost all momentum…
[hide]New Alliances-Exciting at the time to get the other generals, but since ultimately after this episode, they did NOTHING, and were easily foddered in the finale… it was a complete waste of a setup. Basically a useless filler episode in the end. Could have been a two minute intro in any other episode. Cuttable.
Trials of Lion-O, Part 1
Trials of Lion-O, Part 2-Well, Lion-O ultimately didn't learn much, foddered the new evil generals horribly, Tigra acted like an idiot, and well... it was basically a recreation of a story from the old show... But at least it was only two parts this time instead of five... and actually made more sense.
I'd say it was cuttable filler, but really, it did take the old show premise of a five parter and basically kept it intact in a much shorter time, so its fine. Mystical spirit journey to save your life works far better than arbitrary nonsensical right of passage 65 episodes in. And Lion-O beating Cheetarah in a race actually makes sense when there was a maze and flying involved, compared to the old show that just said "Lion-O tried really hard and Cheetarah uhm.... got tired and ran out of speed eventually.
Native Son-Excellent character develping Tygra episode.
Survival of the Fittest-Kit and Kat need to learn a lesson! That they already know! Couple nice character bits, (They have other siblings?) but... Absolute filler, total waste of time.
The Pit-Introduced Pumyra. And since she stuck around, it was worthwhile. Given the reveal of the final episode, I'd be curious to rewatch this streak of episodes and look for hints, but... I'm not sure they were playing entirely fair. Also began the Kit and Kat subplot, which was a... really awkward split.
Curse of Ratilla
Birth of the Blades-Basically a two parter. Uhm. Stuff happened. But it probably could have been a single episode. Or Pumyra could have turned traitor then instead of later to pretty much the exact same effect.
The Forever Bag-Should have played after the pit, before the rescue mission. Complete tonal whiplash that killed all dramatic buildup. At least they kept the bag.
Recipe for Disaster-Complete filler, lackluster ending, and the entire cast acting out of character. Total cuttable filler.
The Soul Sever-Interesting idea, but... three episodes before the end, not dealing with Mumra having the sword? out of place. Would have been better early in the season. Also dealt with some ideas that a kid show just couldn't deal with... certainly not in the time allowed. Cuttable filler.
What Lies Above, Part 1
What Lies Above, Part 2-Decent story, but not good as a series ender. So many things unresolved, and last second side switches. Bird people were cool, and new Vultureman was interesting till his sudden heel turn. Pumyra being a stupid idiot throughout didn't help, but I guess she's evil, so that explains her stupidity in the first half. I dunno. [/hide]
So, all in all? Well. Its incomplete. The first half was mostly good, but they suffer from some real pacing issues, and some episodes should have fallen in other spots. Character personalities shifted by the episode.
Snarf and the thunderkittens were far, far better than their original versions. Tigra actually had a personality. Lion-O varied from episode to episode, but was mostly okay. Cheetarah and Panthro weren't all that different from the old show, but they never really shined either. Mum-Ra, while more competant than the old show… lacked something. I think the theme music. Somehow regularly summoning the ancient spirits of evil just isn't the same without the reused animation and music cue.
I do wish the character theme musics had remained intact. That was one of the best parts of the old show, and this one lacked those defining motifs. I know they couldn't ever compete with the old theme song, but... they could have actually reused the internal instrumentals.
If this were known in advance to be only a 26 episode series, there were five or six episodes I would have EASILY cut with no hesitation in favor of plot stuff, (mostly from the second half) and a few others I would have just combined... but would have all been okay if the series ends up finishing. A second season would even out most of these problems, make the squandered episodes seem less.... squandered. Nothing completely misguided like the Gargoyles world tour, but pacing was a definite issue compared to the series length.
The show tried, and succeeded in a lot of areas, to be true to the old show and update it. Animation was always gorgeous. Fight scenes were generally meh. But as someone else noted earlier, when other shows like Avatar or Young Justice (or any number of anime) handle their overall seasonal pacing, character personalities and arcs better and more consistently.... this is ultimately just an okay show amidst several other much better ones. A couple years ago, or even during a certain part of the 90's, the exact same show would possibly be a standout, but for now?
Well, it was probably the best Thundercats update we could fairly ask for.
I also blame CN for the complete loss of momentum and enthusiasm. That huge break and timeslot change did NOT do it favors.