![]() Like so many 1980s animated fantasies, it showcases a lot of variety and imagination, and not much depth. (At least until ThunderCats’ final era, when the action moved to space.) The backdrop is an entire galaxy, where the SilverHawks face off against a wide variety of weird schemes. SilverHawks always felt much more thematically chaotic, and like it took place in a far larger setting. The original 1980s ThunderCats had a strong backbone in its core Egyptian theme: The villain is a mummy who lives in a pyramid, the heroes are cat-people, and the subsidiary villains are humanoid versions of animals that feature prominently in Egyptian mythology, including jackals, crocodiles, vultures, and monkeys. Much like ThunderCats, the show focused on the heroes’ found-family team dynamics and cooperation as they went up against a deep rogues’ gallery of adversaries themed around animals, robots, music, and a lot more. SilverHawks centers on a group of cyborg space cops, “partly metal, partly real,” fighting the transforming alien mob boss called Mon*Star. It could also serve to build a more compelling and fully realized world around what was initially a fairly shallow setup. For tweens who can handle this level of intensity, though, there are some decent takeaways in Lion-O's commitment to his own value system and the heroes' willingness to set aside their differences, rely on each other's strengths, and work as a team for the common goal of survival.But just as the 2011 ThunderCats reboot elaborated on the original series’ fantasy setting and added intrigue and deeper character relationships and motivations, a modern SilverHawks reboot has a lot of potential. ![]() There's no gore, but palpable danger lurks around every corner, and the villains are a pretty scary bunch. Parents' main concern with ThunderCats will be its violent content, since the combat scenes can get intense, and death by explosions, weapons, and hand-to-hand fighting occur on a regular basis. ![]() ![]() Good and evil, sibling rivalry, and personal responsibility are major themes in this high-adventure cartoon, which has the potential for cross-generational appeal. The story picks up approximately where the old series left off, taking a few small liberties with characterizations (Tygra is now Lion-O's adopted brother, and Snarf doesn't talk, for instance) to improve on the original, but sticking closely enough to its predecessor to maintain continuity. THUNDERCATS is a reimagining of the '80s cartoon of the same name, and now-adult fans with fond memories of the original will revel in how the new animation revives their favorite characters. Did the cats bring this on themselves? What kind of future is Lion-O fighting for? Younger kids will probably miss all of this, and just latch on to the cats as the obvious good guys but it really raises interesting questions for older kids. But he never seems to question his right to the throne when the time comes, though it is implied that he would be a more enlightened king if he still had a kingdom. Lion-O rebels against this when he saves two lizard prisoners from being lynched by the cat citizens of Thundera, and in his friendship with a dog who supplies him with ancient technological artifacts. The cats' religious order (of which Cheetara is a warrior/acolyte) supports and defends the king, and does not seem to question the existing order. There seem to be implications of a race/caste system underlying their society. Do the cats rule at the expense of other species? (The lizards, who become the recurring bad guys on the trail of our heroes, insist that they are fighting for their own liberation.) Also, the royal family are lions, so Lion-O inherits the crown instead of his adopted brother, who is a different species. For kids old enough to analyze these things, there is a lot to talk about in the backstory established in the pilot.
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