Thundercats footage.

When I saw the art for the New Thundercats series about a year ago, I instantly facepalmed. Gone was the classic 80s cartoon style, replaced by cookie cutter anime-esque artwork found in shows like Ben10.

However, having seen this clip I have to say it might not be as bad as I thought, and in fact, could be an improvement.

For one thing, Snarf doesn't speak anymore- Thank you, Jesus! I liked Snarf as a pet, rather than whiny nursemaid. He still retains the skittishness and desire to avoid danger that the original does, but that comes from hanging out with Lion-O who seems to like danger.

Lion-O is an improvement. It is easy to dismiss his new look as some emo Naruto knock-off but by making him a young man? cat? as opposed to the manchild (due to the stasis tube he was in malfunctioning) he was in the original, the series changes the dynamic between the characters in interesting ways. Witness his first reaction when he meets Cheetara.

The series makes Tygra his brother- possibly adoptive since Lion-O and his father don't have any tiger characteristics. Also, Tygra is older but not the heir to the throne. A few things he said in the clip indicate (to me, at least) that he might be jealous of Lion-O, and this could lead to some interesting storylines down the line.

By starting on Thundera, it gives the characters a bigger backstory, even the mutants, who we didn't see much of apart from a scene of two lizards in stocks. The Thunderans also seem to be none too tolerant of other species which should lead to some interesting storylines at least, and at least raise the mutants beyond ineffectual villains for the week.

I wasn't so sure about Wilykat and Wilykit having tails, but apart from that, I thought this new series had potential. Hopefully, a new generation will like it just as much as we liked the old one, but hopefully us 80s kids will give it a chance too.