To my joy, none of the worries that I had were a problem with the new Thundercats. From the time that I saw the first previews for the new series I was pleasantly surprised. As I watched the 1 hour debut special and I saw each of the characters show up my immediate response was "Yes!" and occasionally, "Really?! They put Gruun in the first issue, too!?" The shocking moment of the evening, though, was when I said to myself "WHAT!!?? They killed off Panthro in the first episode?! We do not even get to see him?!" Each of the characters were very easily recognizable and each had the familiar feel of the original series.
The new series has done an excellent job of updating the plot and the relationships of the characters within that plot very seamlessly. Even the changes that were made from the original characters (like Tigra and Lion-O being brothers and Wilie-Kit and -Kat beign vagabonds) created a much more dynamic and interesting opportunity for conflict to surface. I also appreciated the simplification of the Thundera portion of the plot. Placing the Cats already on Third-Earth and having an already established conflict with the lizard mutants tightened up the plot and location greatly from the original space-travel idea. It is a refreshing change as well to have appropriate sexual tension between Lion-O and Cheetara (and if you think that it was not there, watch the episode again...) in the show.
Overall, I am very excited for the new series! There are still a lot of great characters to meet and the new conflicts and plot points show great promise for the this reboot!!
