Honestly TOS had a very one-dimensional feel to it until several episodes in. Once the characters were established enough things started to gel.
Likewise this series will need to establish itself more before it will really shine.
I hope so.
The other things I forgot to mention…
Lion-O missed a Thunder. He only said, “Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats Ho” and I noticed that when he did, the Eye of Thundera did not fully open but the closed Cats Eye did appear. An interesting way of doing it but I don’t feel like I really understand what exactly was going on with the sword since this is very different than canon. When he’s not using the sword, the stone is a blank, red circle, it doesn’t even have the closed cats eye like it did in the OS.
I am glad that, despite the toys, Panthro’s nunchuks are still red and blue.
But Panthro has always been about physical strength in the OS so I don’t see why they should change him now, If you want a Thundercat that has wisdom and values other things aside strength then you are looking for Lynx-o or Jaga.
Panthro made it clear that he would follow a strong king when he said “You’ll have my loyalty when you show me you can do more with that sword than just carry it around” so it was only logical that when he saw Lion-o fighting Driller with that power he would change his mind and give Lion-o his loyalty.
I did think it odd that no one ever noticed any warning signs with Grune. Was Panthro so thick that he didn’t think anything of Grune’s comment that he would one day replace Claudus?
I did also like the reference made to Lynx-O which gave us a little more understanding into his character. Now I’m curious to know if he was blind when Claudus made him general of the military.
Merged Post:
OS Panthro’s main thing was strength, but he still had that wisdom. Actually, they all had it except for the kids and Lion-O, though Lion-O gained it more as the show progressed.
One of the main themes of the TOS centered around the fact that Lion-O had to grow up very quickly upon waking up from cryosleep on Third Earth. In this series Lion-O’s whole kingdom has been ripped asunder and likewise he must grow up and learn to command immediately following the death of Claudus.
I did like they showed an Evolution of Panthro and Grune in that they did not always look the same. in fact young Panthro looked allot like the OS Version. then they aged and changed him into the new Series Version.
The previous two episodes were a let down, but this is right back on track now. As good as the first two episodes. Lets hope it continues like this. The samoflange part was brilliant.
Now that’s what I’m talking about! More episodes like this with Classic characters and more information on characters we see for more than one episode!
The only thing I didn’t like is how quickly Panthro seemed to accept Lion-O just for using the sword. I would’ve preferred it if Lion-O did something Panthro advised against, but it turned out to be the right thing to do and humbled Panthro a little. Lion-O, right now, is coming off as a little too much of a brat. Hope he starts learning soon.
Also I wonder…If Claudus had never sent them off to find the Book, would Grune have ever actually tried betraying them?
And another thing, in the flashbacks Panthro never questioned orders saying it wasn’t his place. But now he’s questioning Lion-O. I wonder what made him change his position on questioning things.
P.S. we were promised that we would find out what a Samoflange was! How could they not tell us?! lol
P.P.S. Why did no one ask Panthro, “What is Thundrillium?”
Yeah I did like the younger Panthro look too! But it was such a great episode, I just wanted it to be longer!!!
We are in agreement on that.
I’m guessing it ties into Jaga’s thing in the first ep. 'Only the sword knows if there is a king with in you" (yea I mangled it)
once it was clear the sword accepted him Panthro knew he was worthy.
Whoso Pulleth Out the Sword of the Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England…and Thundera too.
I think they should rename samoflange to “your mom.” That would be so much more funny.
Lion-O: What are you so grumpy about anyway?
Panthro: You’re standing on your mom.
Tygra: What’s your mom anyway?
Yeah, so I’m being a total dork. 
Grune was so on his way towards a coup attempt even without Claudus Mission Even if he had gotten the Promotion it would have only pacified him for only so long. After all you could tell with the line “if you cant earn it then take it.” I mean WTF???
We did find out what a samoflange is. Lion-O Was standing on it… LOL 
I thought the same thing. Why nobody asked what was it and even Lion-o told him he was going to help get more without even wondering what it was. They didnt even asked where he got that word since they had never used or heard of that mineral before.
I figured LionO knows about it from his own fascination with tech. He seemed excited when he mentioned it.
Cheetara on the otherhand reffered to it as ‘this stuff’
Perhaps they have heard of Thundrilium before they just used it for something different. After all it is named after Thundera.
I mean I know Grune would’ve wanted to take over…But without being sent out and finding Mumm-Ra, he might’ve been subdued from lack of backup. One man doesn’t take over a country by himself.
Lion-O asked Panthro if he could help, Panthro stated he needed to find thundrillium because he had depleted it and his Tank wouldn’t run without it. I don’t see why they would have been more curious since he just stated it was a fuel source.
It most definitely would have taken longer but I think he would have found a way perhaps by taking out Claudus and then Lion-O and Tygra only to then seize the throne by stepping in as the next rightful successor. Perhaps he would even try to save tygra as his successor but then Absolute Power corrupts Absolutely so Tygra wouldn’t have ever had a chance.
Also to quote the Rescue Rangers “their is no stopping a motivated hamster”
No, all he said was the Thundertank was out of Thundrillium and now he needed to get more.