I'm not a die-hand fan of the original Thundercats (1985-89); it's a show I enjoyed casually as a kid, tried to revisit as an adult, and wondered why I ever kind of liked it in the first place. So while you'd think I'd be the last person to review this 2011 series reboot (for lack of a better word), I'm also not biased against it due to rose-colored nostalgia glasses. Either way, this 2011 version was more of a "blink-and-you-missed-it" attempt to restart the franchise; it was cancelled after just one season of 26 episodes, dumped onto DVD in three separate volumes (called "Books") over the course of a year, and pretty much forgotten about. It's pretty much doomed to stay in the shadow of the original series, which ran for four seasons before being eclipsed by popular upstarts like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

the franchise, it's impossible to draw a detailed comparison between the original series and this attempted relaunch (besides, I'd imagine anyone halfway interested has already made their own). But the familiar faces are all here: Lion-O, Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro, WilyKit and WilyKat, Snarf, plus the dastardly Mumm-Ra and his henchmen. It's still basically good vs. evil and how both teams work together to fight the opposition, but this relaunch seems to focus more on serialized cinematic storytelling than episodic adventures. From the team's initial formation to the search for the Book of Omens, the use of magical weapons like the Swords of Omens and Plun-Darr, the 'Cats quest to unite all of Third Earth's species, and each side's attempt to secure three stones of power, there's a lot going on here.

Also working in the series' favor is its terrific visual style: produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the production's clean lines, stylized color palettes and relatively smooth animation offer a strong atmosphere that helps bring its world to life. This series isn't exactly non-stop action, but things heat up quickly at times and battle sequences are expertly framed, well-paced and easy to follow. Voice acting duties are handled by the likes of Will Friedle (as Lion-O, and veteran of Batman Beyond), Matthew Mercer (as Tygra, Naruto Shippuden), Emmanuelle Chriqui (as Cheetara, Vampire Princess Miyu), Kevin Michael Richardson (as Panthro and Lynx-O, and the voice of Shredder on Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot), Robin Atkin Downes (as Mumm-Ra and Addicus, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Michael McKean (Vultaire, with too many voice and acting credits to name), and more. So even with the series' handicaps in mind (especially its early cancellation, which ends on a cliffhanger), Thundercats is still fun while it lasts.

Either way, those who shelled out for the barebones DVD "Books" will rightly approach Warner Archives' new Blu-ray collection with a mixture of joy and frustration, unless they've already made up their minds. After all, this two-disc release offers nothing more than a high definition port of existing material that, considering the paltry one-year window since the final DVD release, should've been offered to fans the first time around. There still aren't any bonus features included, either: we just get a better looking (and better sounding) version of the existing 26 episodes in a plain-wrap package...but at less than $25 for just over nine hours of animation, at least it won't break the bank.

Episode Summaries (via Wikipedia)

Thundercats is a really good-looking series and thus perfectly suited for Blu-ray. These 1080p transfers are framed at the show's original 1.78:1 aspect ratio and serve up a strong amount of image detail, rich colors, deep black levels, and excellent shadow detail. Not surprisingly, the recent digital source material works to its advantage, ensuring a clean and razor-sharp image that, thankfully, hasn't been heavily tinkered with during post-production or ruined by edge enhancement or poor encoding. The only mild program---and it's not only common, but practically expected with most recent animated releases---is a small amount of banding at times, but this is typically part of the source material and not a fault of the disc itself. Either way, Thundercats looks really terrific in high definition...and though the DVDs looked great in their own right, this represents a solid (but not quite night and day) improvement.

The audio is presented in DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio...unlike the majority of Warner Bros.' catalog releases, which usually settle for lossy Dolby Digital tracks. Either way, what's here sounds terrific and there's an expected (but again, not substantial) bump in quality over the DVDs' Dolby 2.0 surround tracks. Not surprisingly, this front-loaded presentation serves up clear dialogue that's balanced well with music cues and effects, and sporadic amounts of channel separation and low end give action-oriented scenes quite a bit of punch. I've heard that the show's source material is actually 5.0...but since it's never been offered that way on home video, it's impossible to speak with any real authority. What we get simply sounds...pretty good, bordering on excellent. Optional English subtitles are included.

I'll be honest, I enjoyed this short-lived 2011 revival of Thundercats more than the original series...but depending on your nostalgia level or age demographic, you might not agree. The series' saga-based storytelling is both its greatest asset and biggest handicap: these 26 episodes play pretty well as a unit (especially via home video marathon viewing), but it's an all-or-nothing endeavor and the show's early cancellation leaves plenty of loose ends dangling. For what it is, Thundercats is enjoyable entertainment for kids of all ages, although Warner Bros.' home video release schedule will prove frustrating for die-hard fans who already bought those DVDs a year or two ago. It's nice to finally have this series in high definition, but the leap in quality isn't that dramatic and the complete lack of new (read: any) bonus features doesn't help matters either. Mildly Recommended, but slightly more so for first-time buyers.