Thought the episode was quite good in general, some nice action in there (little squeel of pleasure when Tygra did his thing!). Mixed feelings about the villains.
Was I the only one who was hoping that Tygra and Panthro would also get powered up versions of their weapons from the bird at the end? I know Cheetara’s staff completely broke, but they did show both Panthro and Tygra losing their weapons during battle as well. Would have been epic to get the Bolowhip and Numchucks imbued with some magic (fially get some fire from Tygra’s whip!!)
Very interesting to get the rivalry over Cheetara made so ‘out in the open’, though guess it was just a matter of time. Panthro is def not on the scene there but I could go with the idea she doesn’t pick either of them. (though as you might suspect, I’m 100% on team Tygra )
You and I have the same idea about the striped one and I sincerity hope soon Tygra’s insecurities come to light for those who its not as obvious to maybe he won’t be dismissed so easily as an arrogant jerk/bully afterwards, besides I kind of want to see him vulnerable. People who talk a big game usually do it to convince themselves as much as those around them of their value. I LOVE that this Tygra seems to be channeling a bit of the old Tygra at times, he’s definitely not shy like him, but insecure definitely. I have an older brother who’s the hero type and seemingly perfect but I’ve seen major insecurity issues with him my whole life, I always think of him automatically when watching Tygra on screen.
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That being said, Snips character design creeped me out, don’t know why…
I have to agree with optimus, there are some episodes that ive liked, the first two parter, petalars, the flashback episode…seeing the driller…but these last 3 or so episodes just havent been great…think of this, imagine if that berbil hunter would have been safari joe, or the forest be inhabited by mongor, or that duelist sword fighter be hatchiman, now that would have made the episodes epic…im just tired of seeing episode after episode and always end up thinking (and reading on these posts)…“it was ok”, " it was better than last weeks" “they improved on some stuff” “where are the memorable villains?” “bring back mummra” and lately some people even posted that it was a bit boring. fans have waited nearly 30 years for this remake, non of it should be boring…i wanna see an episode and say “wow that was awesome , loved it, loved the villains they brought in” i want epic episodes and classic villains.
Of course i agree. They are not great but still not bad at all. We don’t know if we will see those characters again, if we do i would give them a soild 3/5 if not, then a 2.
For me this was a highlander II… I’m just going to pretend this episode was never made.
The eastern characters were so out of place that it hurt watching.
The paper magic, the anime characters, the paper factory, the huge paint brush… it was all so very wrong in the Thundercats universe.
They really stretched it with Hachi-Man in the old series, but at least Hachi-Man felt like he belonged to the same cartoon. Also they made it quite apparent that he was from a place far away.
If they massacre the series like this, they might as well throw in some fraggles and builder bob.
I like that the Cats did show concern over the Wood Forgers cutting down trees when they first saw the mill. And since they were trying to protect the forest, it would make sense that the Wood Forgers wouldn’t want to cut down too many trees. They only cut down what they thought was necessary, but the Wood Forgers weren’t able to see that it was too much, and their need for more power was misguided.
I find it interesting that Zig, the episode’s villain, was the one to give Lion-O advice on perspective. They believed that in order to do good, some sacrifices had to be made. That’s the lesson Zig was trying to teach Lion-O about perspective. And then it turns out that it’s different. From Zig’s perspective, he thinks he’s right and doing what is necessary. And I think that the Wood Forgers really do believe that Viragor and the spirits are evil, probably because they did not bother to communicate with Viragor and negotiate. Zig was probably too stubborn.
The more I think about this episode, the better I think it is. I think there’s a lot more to this series than some people are giving it credit for. Let’s not be too hasty in judging these episodes, or else we could miss a lot. This was not merely a shallow episode where the new allies turn out to be evil. This had other themes, like how someone with good intentions can go so far that they end up doing more harm. It was also about Lion-O learning not to just think of himself. It wasn’t because him the Sword of Omens wasn’t responding, it was because of whom he was fighting. Lion-O had to consider the context and circumstances around him, before he could use the Sword again, not what he thought was wrong with himself.
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Are the Wood Forgers’ appearance and abilities were the only reason you can give for hating this episode? They really bother you that much that nothing else about the episode matters?
"Before we even got started we mapped out an entire beginning, middle and end for the ThunderCats story we wanted to tell,"Jelenic revealed. “We sort of broke that down into 13-episode arcs that we tackled one at a time. So we have the first thirteen and the next thirteen all plotted out and that’s about as far as we’ve gotten. And in between that we tell one-off stories that don’t necessarily involve the larger arc but they help develop the characters and fill in the mythology of the world itself. And there are a lot of character plots.” - http://tv.ign.com/articles/118/1181091p1.html
I’m sure ya’ll have read this, but maybe just something to be keeping in mind while watching. Yeah, it has its hiccups, but for what we got with the characters themselves- that was satisfying enough for me. And I was unable to re-watch the OS completely. Because I was laughing so hard. At parts not intended to be humorous.
Even though I already knew who the bad guys were, I enjoyed this episode a lot. The animation was wonderful and the environmental theme was nicely done as was Lion-O’s learning to see the big picture. I was waiting for Lion-O to say the Sword of Omens refuses to fight against good; the OS Lion-O learned that too when he first tried to duel Hachiman and the Sword refused to let him unsheathe it, and when it shrank back to its small size when Lion-O tried to use it against the giant rock guardians on New Thundera. It’s fun watching the Kittens tease Snarf, and I enjoyed Panthro’s remark of, “The trouble with ghosts is that you can’t punch them in the face”. The Wood Forgers’ transformation tricks with their sheets of paper reminded me of Yu-Gi-Oh, where their points-cards did similar tricks.
I did notice what others here at TCL saw – a school with no students! Where were they? Or did Zig just make them up to make the Cats think this really was a school?
The fight sequences were well handled. It was a bit unnerving to watch Gami’s dragon fling Tygra so hard that he rolled across the courtyard, crashed against a wall, and lay motionless. I thought he was unconscious until, to my surprise, he was up and at 'em 15 seconds later! :eek:
Where did WilyKat get that magic rope to tie up Snips in this episode and trip the Giantor in the “Berbils” story? If that’s his chief weapon, then WilyKit should be able to do more with her flute than simply play it; she did use it to mesmerize that fatcat Thunderian at the festival honoring Grune and I’m surprised that they don’t have her doing it against the baddies.
But speaking of weapons, it was lovely that Viragor presented Cheetara with a new staff to replace the one he had broken. Since he said it came from the oldest tree in Magi Oar Forest and was endowed with ancient magic, I have no doubt we’ll be seeing it behave like the one the OS Cheetara had.
“Now,” Lion-o said, “let’s go get that (spirit) stone.” But what will the Cats find when they return to the Village of the Elephant People?
And, oh yes, he and Tygra do have to settle that Cheetara issue between them.
Ummm, there were non-western influences in the OS. Besides hachiman, there was Baron Karnor, a local robber baron who was supposed to have been from the area the Tcats live in the past. Karnor’s body in the tower was wearing Samurai Armor. The Crystal queen’s soldiers were dressed like cossacks. Mumm-ra and Wizz-ra were both Egpytian influanced- definitely not european. The Snowman of Hook mountian had a defnitely non-european accent,And they dealt with spirits and other such things in the old series as well.
When they do these things it’s important to not break the suspension of disbelief. I watch quite some anime as well, so I know the little chubby guy, the oversized tools, the paper magic is extremely connected with the eastern drawing style. Thus it feels like they pasted in characters from another universe, sort of like aliens in highlander. Doing this is like pasting in fraggles or marvel heroes… I love fraggles and marvel… you just don’t get to push them together without breaking the suspension of disbelief.
I am curious as to what powers you guys are referring to in the OS? In the NS she has already demonstrated that the Staff can grow from a hand held Stick and that she can pole vault with it. Really it htnik Growth was the only power it used to have. Of course I could be wrong so feel free to fill in any blanks I might be missing here.
I think the new staff will behave the same (growth) but might also get more of a punch now and perhaps glow a bit but that is all. I think they might try to use it as some sort of key or Recognition piece. It did have that little symbol on it. Other than that… ohhhh I just realized this new staff could be the key to unlocking her 6th sense… Their is a thought for you. “Staff of Viragor give me the 6th Sense” OK I am just going to let that be as I just went to a very bad and ugly place.:o;):rolleyes:
OS Cheetara could also shoot lasers with her staff, and I think it could multiply or something.
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Or maybe the creators of the new series want to make their own show, and they think these non-western influences belong in their universe?
I find it pretty frustrating that so many fans of the original series can’t accept things that aren’t directly connected to the OS. Maybe the new Thundercats isn’t for you?
That episode was great. It had a Final Fantasy feel to it, with the giant bird-like creature, the cool fight sequences and weapons upgrades at the end. (Cheetara’s staff, Lion-O being able to use SBS)
Maybe there wasn’t enough time or budget to throw in a bunch of students for the school. They were probably off camera having a drunken frat party or something. I figure it’s like the X-men where only a few of the older ones do the fighting.
Another great episode,but I would like some non-Lion-o/Panthro character developement episodes and “what are the villians doing” episodes. Plus were did Wily Kat get his string/rope thing that I have seen in the last two episodes?
the OS had giant mechanical frogs, robot space pirates, unicorns, samurai, king arthor, cyborg vikings,sharks with spider legs, mummies, etc. etc.
almost nothing, imo, is out of place in thundercats. and considering wallows, micrits, petalars, silky, and berbils I don’t even think fraggles would be out of place on Third Earth.
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