Cartoon Commentaries #1 – Thundercats(2011) #7 “Legacy”

She looks like she's eaten some sandwiches and done some armcurls

She looks like she's eaten some sandwiches and done some armcurls

Tonight, me and TV’s Mr. Neil watch Episode 7 of the 2011 reboot of Thundercats!  This is the first pure commentary track episode we’ve done.  Just find a commercial free version of Episode 7, synch with us, and away we go!

Topics Covered
Where’s the damn intro?
The book is the fucking Animus!
Hotter than Cheetara? HELL YEAH
A Rankin-Bass Universe? ehh…
The Space Opera is here! (then gone)
Leo(Liono)’s Toy Form!

13 thoughts on “Cartoon Commentaries #1 – Thundercats(2011) #7 “Legacy”

  1. Hi. New listener here. Loved the show. I was enjoying all the changes they were doing with the Thundercats, I was even enjoying all the Japanese influences. But the power armor transformation really got to me. It wasn’t horrible, but it was too far from the original concept of the characters (like the Japanese version of TMNT). But I’m overall enjoying the animation.

    Unrelated question: is the Third Earth, in this series, Mumm-Ra’s planet of origin? You see, in the next episode, “the duelist and the drifter”, the duelist is a humanoid with the same colors as Mumm-Ra (red eyes and blue-grayish skin), only he’s not a mummy. Is he the same race as Mumm-Ra? Is this a native race of the Third Earth? What do you think? Thanks for the show.

    • I wouldn’t even know where to begin answering any of those questions.

      I will say this, though. As far as influences, there definitely is a Japanese flavor to this series. However, I feel like they’re pulling from more than just the era of the source material. Whether or not this is a good can be debated. The original show was very westernized in its presentation, and this new show may have an even more anime feel than the original had, which is fine.

      On the other hand, the battle armor sequence made me cringe. I kept hearing “Duel Of The Fates” in my head as I was watching it.

  2. Hi guys. New listener. I love this commentary episode. Reminds mystery science theater. I really like the new thundercats series. Some parts can be hit or miss, but I do like the overall take on the story. I think they want to tell an engaging story, but are pressured to sell merchandise as well.

    On the gene pool thing you discussed, I think the cats can give birth to multiple “types” of cats. Just like lion-o and tygra are brothers, but the heir to the throne has to have “lion gene” or something to that effect. Based on that theory and what they have shown, one family can have multiple species of cats if that makes sense. If so, then their population can grow.

    On a tech note, the audio for the cartoon was really low. Maybe that can be recoded on a different device and edited in? Take care. Love the show!

    • Not to overanalyze a cartoon or anything, but that’s not exactly how genetics work. For one thing, there are no genes for “types”. Each type of cat is defined by a range of genes, and there simply isn’t enough room in for all genetic traits to exist in a single individual.

      …but I might be overanalyzing it a bit.

          • Ben, you’ve just refuted creationism.

            Here’s the thing: The moment you acknowledge that one part of the fiction is ridiculous and try to explain it away, you just end up calling attention to everything else that doesn’t work.

            It’s kind of like how Peter Jackson’s King Kong had to (implicitly) acknowledge that Kong is the last survivor of his race by showing the bones of other Kongs on the island. Well, once you take the mythical element out of Kong and make him the member of a species, then other things start calling attention to themselves. How could a gorilla possibly be that big without collapsing under its own weight? What biological pressures would make it that big? Could an ecosystem even support such a creature? Questions like this.

            Or a better example: Midichlorians. Feel that vein in your forehead? That’s rage. We’ve all been there.

            Now, personally, I don’t think Thundercats is anywhere near that bad. I think that they have enough fantasy wrapped into the show that there’s really no need for an explanation as to how these cats are able to exist. For whatever reason, they just do, and as long as they don’t try to explain away this issue, I think it’ll be fine. I mean, I didn’t even notice it until Ben brought it up.

  3. Man, my only gripe with this show was the intro and the lack there of. I like how Ben points it out in his own flavor. Would that be the sign of the times changing with shows now a days or is this just a sign of laziness, I cant tell? Looking forward to more commentary in the future.

    • I don’t think it’s a sign of laziness. I think it might be a sign of ads taking up more time than they used to. There are some shows that run in syndication now where they don’t even run the original opening theme song, and the credits are composited over the last minute or so of the program. The animation is good enough on Thundercats that I don’t think having a regular opening theme sequence would have been a problem if time constraints actually allowed it.

  4. Hey guys long time listener first time poster 🙂 Loving what your doing with these
    commentaries and just the whole podcast in general ,anyways I wouldn’t say I have a big problem with the show just a few small ones that keep turning up like how could a whole planet have technology and one city be left out when you actually see cats outside Thundera which means they must be trading with the outside world or at least pass them on trips outside. Plus was the whole battle armour thing really necessary or was that just to sell toys and I can see the whole Tygra Lion-O thing getting old real fast.The animation is alright but I still think it doesn’t hold a candle to the intro animation of the original well I don’t think many cartoons could Haha! Great show guys keep it up .

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