Speculations on Thunderian society....

Cartoons ThunderCats (2011)
1

Hey, the new guy here again. I just finished watching the trailer for the new T-cats show again for the thirteenth time, and i’ve been wondering/ speculating on certain things from the trailer that may give clues to Thunderian society in this new show. And I began to speculate over some of what we saw. Mind you, this is just all wild, wild speculation, and could turn out to be totally wrong.

First off, I noticed the three leaders, Clawdus, Jaga, and Grune. Now, I know Lion-o’s father is obviously lord of the Thundercats, but I beganto wonder about the other two. Now, judging from Jaga’s shrunken muscluature compared to the thunderian warriors, and the staff he carries, I’m wondering if he is not some kind of Priest/Shaman/ Royal Vizier role this time around, and was never lord of the Thundercats in this continuity, and never wielded the sword of Omens. This would make sense, given that the throne seems to be heriditary, and would also tie in to Jaga’s Obi-wan-esque spirit guide role after his death.

As to Grune, judging by his appearance in the trailer, and his overseeing of the slaves, I wonder if he’s not some kind of Thunderian general/military leader this time around, who is somehow corupted by/ serving Mum-ra behind the scenes. Which brings up a darker note in my speculations… from what we’ve seen in the Trailer, might thunderian Society be corrupt in this continuity?

Notice the Mutant Slaves, and the Mutant Lizard-man in the Stocks in the One shot with Tygra. Might the Mutants be a mistreated slave/servant underclass benteath the Thunderians? If so, it gives the mutants a good reason to be at war with the thundercats, and to even have a hand in destroying thundera. Adding weight to this corruption in Thunderian society theory is the appearent Thunderian Revolt going on in the certain scenes in the Trailer.

I was wondering if the Royal court might be Corrupt, and Grune is blinding Cladus to what’s happening- and what has happened- in thunderian society? The brief Scene where Jaga is appeartly ofering counsel to young Lion-o… I wonder if Jaga has been a mentor to Lion-o, and managed to steer him Clear of the attitudes of the Royal court. Might that scene where Lion-o is fighting his own father NOT be only a training session?

Again, this is all just silly speculation, and is probably totally wrong. But I cannot help but wonder…

2

Oh, I think it’s fun to speculate though! After all, we’ve got months and months to go yet until we get to see the real thing, so what else are we going to do?

You have some good ideas there. My thoughts originally were that the Grune/Mutant Slave scenes are from later on in the series, but again, my speculation isn’t any more right than yours.

I’ve been trying to figure out why the Thunderians are revolting too… I mean where are times when they seem quite happy with the leadership: The “party” to honor Grune and the arena scene to name a couple. Why would a general population that seems happy with their leadership in these areas suddenly become angered to the point of open revolt later?

My (wild speculation) theory is that everything is pretty much okay. But Grune starts to get greedy for more power. He may even be related to Claudius, sort of the Scar to Claudius Mufasa. Claudius collaborates with the back guys (Mumm-ra?) and the mutants and does some really bad things. The general population gets so angry that they take it out on all mutants and basically want to stone 'em all. The leadership tries to protect the mutants from mob punishment, but things continue to escalate and get out of hand.

3

Speculate away!:smiley: It’s going to be very interesting to learn more about Thundera’s society, history and culture in the new show; something we never really got in the old one, and was something that I had always wanted to see.

I’m not averse either to the idea that Thundera’s government could be somehow corrupt. Any government, no matter how good and idealistic, is always going to have some corruption in it. Even in the old show, we had Baron Tass in the episode “Well of Doubt.” So even there, we saw that not all Thunderians were adherent followers of the code.

I can easily imagine Jaga here being a viceroy or advisor of some sort, and Grune being a general or war hero. He might even be the one secretly leading the reptilians in revolt as part of an attempt at a coup, and that might also be the reason why he might throw his lot in with Mumm-Ra, who might be promising him great power in exchange for his fealty (if you look closely at the pictures of his new action figure, you’ll notice Grune displays Mumm-Ra’s symbol on his chest: the twin intertwined serpents).

Grune’s betrayal might also be what contributes ultimately to the destruction of Thundera here, and would give it much more weight than simply have it blow up at the very beginning with reasons that weren’t explained until much later. Also it would sort of remind me of Baltar’s betrayal which led to the destruction of the Colonies by the Cylons in both versions of Battlestar Galactica (There’s that comparison again! What’s with me?)

4

Some good ideas! In the original series I never thought of Jaga as a previous ‘lord of the thundercats’ but more of a military general or steward due to claudius’ blindness.
In ‘Ghost warrior’ Lion-O shouts “Jaga your sword of omens awaits you” but I think this could be better linked to him being the ‘protector’ of the sword/eye of thundera.
That last bit about him being the ‘protector’ could fit in with the new series as well, as Jaga is the 1 to throw back the cloth covering the sword in the trailer, as if to present it to Claudius/Lion-O. Perhaps it was Jaga’s ancestor who forged the sword or made/got the eye of thundera and he’s the hereditory keeper/protector.

So yeah in the new 1, Jaga looks to weak to be a general, so I’ll go with royal advisor or mentor to the prince.
Grune certainly looks military/warrior, and as he gets greedy for power I think strikes a deal with mis-treated mutants to free an ancient evil (Mumm-Ra) and over throw the current royalty/command. Mumm-Ra could even be the 1 to suggest to Grune to cause a peasant revolt to help defeat Claudius.

I like the idea of Lion-o fighting Claudius in a serious dispute rather than training, would make it a lot more epic!

5

I think this is the best way to go with Jaga, afterall he is known as ‘Jaga The Wise’ in the old cartoon. I think his role will be defined much better in the new series, by the look of these brief scenes with him.

6

In a future story, we’ll show that Thunderians of mixed clan heritage were exploited to the advantage of corrupt and/or greedy nobles.

7

Jaga was referred to as Lord Of the Thundercats by the Ancient Spirits of evil in the episode Jade Dragon. This was supposed to have taken place ‘many centuries ago’ and Jaga was depicted very young then.

We’ve spend many posts on older threads analyzing the feasibility of this incident.

I know it confuses things even further, most fans considered him just Lion-o’s mentor and Claudu’s closest friend.

8

I agree with many of you guy’s ideas, and really wondering what this series might do diffrent from the original. If the mutants are an oppressed slave underclass, it makes thier being enimies of the thundercats more understanable; they are not just world-conquering tyrants, in thier eyes, they are liberators fighting thier opressers. Makes Slithe, Vulterman, Monkian and the reat more interesting than if they were just two-dimensional ‘I want power!’ villians.

Also, someone in another thread was speculating that maybe Thundera doesn’t explode this time, but instead the Thundercats are exiled because of thier stance against the corrupt Thunderian government, and thier part in the Thunderian revolt. I wonder if the premire movie might not take place on thundera, then have Lion-o, Tygra, Cheetara, and the thunderkittens(and also maybe Jaga, if he doesn’t die in the premire movie) leave the planet and go into exile at the end of the premire. Knowing there is a scout named Panthro who has been on wild and savage planet named third earth for many years, they go there and try to eke out an existance in a ‘savage wilderness’ as nobles in exile.

9

That sounds like a very likely scenario, actually! Now that I think of it, I don’t recall the producers saying at any time that Thundera was going to be destroyed. Considering that in the old show the Thundercats went back to it later on anyway (with no explanation of how it re-formed beyond the gyroscope holding it together, I might add), it might as well have not been destroyed at all. So not destroying it in the new show would nicely sidestep the whole issue. Sending them into exile on Third Earth would also be a lot more interesting from a dramatic and character standpoint, and at the same time give an opportunity to delve into the politics of Thundera.

10

I actually would have prefered Jaga to be the stronger one and have Claudus be frail instead. He looks so skinny and weak in the trailer. Thats not what Jaga was in the old series. Sure he was a wise advisor but he was still a warrior.

11

I was thinking that they might go into exile too, but that brings up the question of how Lion-O would be allowed to keep the sword of Omens. My best guess is that Claudus would let him have it as protection, and keep a fake replica for himself.

The other thing that could happen is that somehow there’s a mutant revolt and Thundera is actually taken over by them, which would make the Thundercats have to leave.

12

Well I would say that Lion-O wasn’t “allowed” to keep the sword. The sword knows who its master is and it would stay with Lion-O because he’s the rightful heir.

Also after watching the trailer many times I don’t think that the mob with torches is a revolt. I think that scene had everything to do with those two lizard mutants in the stocks that Lion-O, Cheetara and Tygra were trying to protect.

The Thunderians seem obviously prejudiced against him and probably falsely accused him (or he tried to steal food or something.)

I like the Idea of the exile though. Grune could make his move against Claudis and Lion-O and the other nobels have to run. Protect the heir type of thing. That would be a way to explain them traveling to Third Earth where Panthro is without having to destroy the entire planet.

13

It seems to me that the Thunderians are more like the Roman Empire and the Mutants are the Barbarian hordes. one that would be interesting would be to see a City State type heirarchy to make the mutants more of a formidable enemy. Especially considering all the TCats leaders except old Jaga look jacked.

Give the mutants some brawn themselves and lets watch the madness.

On another note it would be interesting to see it follow the Rome path and split into two with one being the Western Rome many of us know as having fallen while the other could be the Byzantine/Constantinople which didn’t fall until the 15’ishh century. That would be nice.

14

That sounds great Atharun! We should write the scrypts to that show :smiley:

15

Hmmm despite likeing the idea of some sort of banishment or whatever to third Earth, I struggle to see how Claudius wll remain alive as the true lord of the thundercats and prince Lion-O take the sword of omens. Surely the sword would stay with Claudius and he should be able to summon it back to him at any point!
Having said that if they do kill off Claudius I don’t think it’ll be for a while, will we maybe see him get blinded in this new series and renounce the throne???

16

The city state thing could be possible considering we saw the reptillians as slaves. perhaps the “spoils of war” Imagine if Grune was a descendant of a different clan thus leading to his betrayal.

Another reason the city state heirarchy makes sense to me is because of the nature of prides. Lions are known to be part of prides. It would be interesting to see that carry over, hence the social standing of the people.

17

It just hit me that it would make it easier to add walk-on characters that way.

18

Reading the thread about Lion-O’s mother, and having in mind that this time he’s supposed to be brothers with Tygra, something occured to me.

What if, in Thuderian Society, the king (Claudus) have a wife that gives birth to the official royal heir (Lion-O and his mother), but also, being the king, all the Noble Thundercats must be their offspring as well, with one chosen female from each clan in Thundera (or one of each of the most important clans), maybe a virgin or something. I know it’s too far-fetched, and it also would made siblings of all the noble TCs, and maybe even would make them unable to mate in order to keep their noble status and all that, but it’s just an idea. Then all the TCs are siblings, all of them are noble, but only Lion-O is the royal heir.

ETA: only thing I don’t like about this theory (ven being mine lol), is the idea of the noble TCs having to stay virgins, forbidden of falling in love and thus missing a great experience, and neglected of the chance to have their own offsprings.

19

That would definitely add something to the series. :cool:

20

Lion-O might need the Sword of Omens to find the Stones of Power.