Simple enough thread, but I thought it be fun to see what people say.
What are your five favorite and least favorite episodes of the new T-Cats thus far?
Starting with the Bottom Five:
5) Legacy = It wasn’t a bad episode and actually, it was a necessary one. There were still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the backstory between Mumm-Ra and the T-Cats and this one answered all the questions. It was interesting and actually gave us answers I wasn’t fully expecting. At the end of the day though, it was all basically a glorified history lesson and a pointer for The T-Cats’ mission and not much else.
4-3) The Trials of Lion-O Parts 1-2 = Not a bad two parter, but I think it suffered from the fact that it was just a two parter. I think if it had been three, it would have felt less rushed and they could have expanded the premise a little bit more. This is one of the few things this new series has done that actually feels less epic than its OS counterpart, and that doesn’t feel right. [B]
- Ramlak Rising = [/B]I actually got a little worried about the series after seeing this one. The Pilot went great and I was hyped, but then it gets followed up with a blatant Moby Dick inspired tale. It just felt like a weak first step from the epic start that we got. The best part was the creepy scene at the end with Mumm-Ra torturing Jaga as it was the only thing that really called back to the Pilot. Fortunately, things picked up in a big way after this one.
[B] - Sight Beyond Sight [/B]= This one really suffered from the filler bug as it didn’t really offer much of anything in terms of story. It was basically just Lion-O learning yet another lesson, which we’d already gotten more effectively in other episodes, and I just found it to be a very unmemorable episode. The best parts were The Thunderkittens bonding with the Elephants.
Top Five Favorites:
5) Old Friends = Panthro is officially brought into the team and his rivalry with Grune is set up, explained, and highlighted in dramatic fashion. Panthro’s awesomeness made this one a treat for me and they threw in some other goodies like The Driller.
4) Journey to the Tower of Omens = This one was probably the best display of The Thundercats as a team. Everybody played a part in finding & getting to the Tower (even Snarf). They all played to their strengths and as a team they were able to accomplish their goal. I really liked that set up and of course the ending was awesome with The T-Cats battling Mumm-Ra for the first time.
3) Between Brothers = This one really did feel like a Season finale of sorts, though I guess we could call it the start of the midseason break. It was pretty epic. I loved Mumm-Ra playing puppetmaster by playing Tygra & Lion-O against each other in the Astral Plane. I loved the ongoing battle with the Lizards which ended with The Elephants stepping in, and of course I loved Panthro Vs. Grune finally taking place and with a sense of finality when it was done. The stakes were high, there were consequences to the outcomes, and it was just a really fun episode overall.
2) Song of the Pedalars = This one shocked me at how good it was. They took what I thought was going to be a really cutesy and annoying story and actually made it an emotional, inspiring, and in some ways, heartbreaking episode. Learning the value of life from someone who is only around for a short (VERY short) amount of time was a hard message to pull off, but I was amazed at how delicately they pulled it off and how real it felt. It was so sad because by the end, I really did like Emrick and I KNEW what was going to become of him by the episodes end. Aside from the gushy stuff though, this one was Slythe’s coming out party as he got to take the spotlight as lead villain and was simply cold blooded & cruel. Just the way I like them. And also, we got the debuts of Panthro and The Thundertank at the tail end which capped it off nicely.
1) Native Son = With so many unanswered questions about Tygra, to get blasted with it all in one episode made this one a must see when I read the previews. And I am not going to lie, his story is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen and alot of the puzzle pieces with Tygra’s character just went snap right there. But unlike Legacy which was all about history, this one had an on going present story with Lion-O & Tygra stumbling onto the Tiger Clan and getting to meet his biological father. Parts of it were heartbreaking and I loved that Lion-O was the levelheaded one for a change, showing that he did grow some from his Trials. And of course the whole Shadow Demon predicament and how it ties to the Tigers was really fascinating too. I also really appreciate the bonding moment between Tygra & Lion-O at the end which, not going to lie, brought a tear to my eye. It was just a beautiful episode, and really demonstrates all the strengths of the new show.