She doesn’t downplay anything which I feel is a great trait to have for an adviser, let your leader always feel in control. This leads to conflict down the line between him and Tygra. In the beginning episodes of the series she gives Lion-O advice and encouragement, which he interprets as a romantic interest. Proving her worth, she is admitted to the order. She waited outside the building where the clerics meet for days, meeting a young Tygra in the process. She clearly possessed the speed needed, yet according to Jaga lacked the patience needed. Her backstory is that of a young girl who wanted to be a Cleric. Her role is that of an advisory person to Lion-O as Jaga was to King Claudus. Part of the Order of the Clerics, after the fall of Thundera, Cheetara is the last remaining Cleric. This makes his connection with Cheetara more viable as it is something that is his once again. He has lost both his crown and his mother. When she dies giving birth to Lion-O he is devastated. Tygra who was once known as her “Little King” now became her “Little Prince,” since he could no longer inherit the throne. All was well until the queen announced she was pregnant. He sent Tygra away and he ended up as the royal prince. A disease overtook the clan and Tygra’s father made a deal with the Ancient Spirits of Evil to save the clan. Tygra is part of the exiled Tiger Clan that was on the side of Mumm-Ra centuries ago. He has quite the inferiority/superiority complex, which could stem from the fact that he is adopted. He also appears to be very respected in the kingdom. He antagonizes his younger brother and has a great relationship with his father, which Lion-O does not. Here perhaps is the most developed character in the entire show. Yet he can get sidetracked with vengeful thoughts, but is a very patient character. This is simply what it looks like, but Lion-O is one who can appear at times to see the bigger picture. And when he looks through the Sword of Omens and sees a vision of Mumm-Ra, he acts like a teenager when he sees two attractive young women. He’s late to his own right of passage ceremony. At the show’s beginning, it seems that Lion-O doesn’t care for the crown. He’s aloof, doesn’t get along with his father, and is competitive with his brother Tygra. The young Lord of the Thundercats, thrust into leading after terrible events befall their kingdom. Just a warning there is going to be some SPOILERS in here Let’s take a look at the main characters here. This show has a great amount of character depth which really reinforces the need for great storytelling and complex characters. So from the jump we aren’t presented with the Mary Sue’s from the original series. The first episodes show this contention the best when Lion-O attempts to show mercy to two lizards imprisoned for stealing food. So what we have here is a class system put in place by the most powerful of the species. At the show’s opening it appears cats are disliked by other species due to how they are governed by King Claudus, ( voiced by Larry Kenney, the original Lion-O). In this series Thundera is a nation of Third Earth and the Thunderians rule other species. In the original the ThunderCats were refugees from the planet Thundera and escaped it’s destruction and crash landed on Third Earth. The names of the characters are the same but instead of the one-dimensional templates of the original, these cats have quite some depth. Like all really good animated series, it was cancelled before its time despite being packed to the brim with action, drama and diverse and well-written characters. In 2011 a reboot/reimagining of ThunderCats aired. Early episodes and especially later episodes just don’t hold up. I don’t have kids now but when I do I don’t expect them to look at this show the same way I do. It does not translate to younger audiences now and I understand that. However, this really is a program of its era. I have the first season in dvd and always revisit it. Now I grew up with ThunderCats in the 80s and it without a doubt is one of my favorite shows ever. This being the 2011 reimagining of ThunderCats. I now want to take a moment to write up another on my list. I previously wrote up one of the shows on the list, The Spectacular Spider-Man. It was a fun narrowing this down to five quality series that I feel adults would love as well as kids. Inspired by my recent contribution for my good friend Vic over at Vic’s Movie Den I wrote a post recommending 5 Animated Series.
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