Thundercats Roar is a Warner Bros. animated series developed by Victor Courtwright and Marly Halpern-Graser. The show revolves around the survivors of Thundera, a blow up planet, as they crashland on another planet, Third Earth. They attempt to make a home here, while also fighting the forces of evil that roam in their planet. This film is the 3rd iteration of the Thundercats franchise, which dates back to 1985. However, this iteration serves to be a more animated take on the show. 

Thundercats Roar was announced back in May 2018, along with a teaser trailer on the Warner Bros Youtube channel. But soon after the announcement, it recieve a lot of backlash, with the main complaints being that it was another comedic reboot of an action show and how it is similar to Teen Titans Go!, another reboot that gets heavy criticism. It also sparked this term for modern cartoons called the “Calarts” style and the argument that Western Animation is dead because of it. This was coined back in 2010 by The Ren and Stimpy Show creator, John K. when talking about animators using Disney style (Ex. The Iron Giant). This style is now used for modern western cartoons. There is still more talk surrounding this announcement, with topics including how it caused one of the co-developers to private his Twitter account or how it actually caused a school shooting threat on the Calarts college.

Nevertheless, the series was to be released in September 2019. Unfortunately, that day never came. Instead it was released on the CN app on January 11, 2020, with the actual series being released on the network on February 22,2020. Currently, Thundercats Roar currently  has 28 episodes on the air.

Thundercats Roar was created as a  parody of the original Thundercats, so the story is similar , just more comedic.  As a team, they feel like a family and have great chemistry. Individually, they have their strengths and weaknesses.Lion-O is the team leader of the Thundercats. Although some may find him  annoying, I believe he is simply naïve. Since he hasn’t matured yet, he acts like a child, similar to the original Lion-O. Tygra is the bookworm of the group. Tygra in this version is much more memorable than the character in the original version. Cheethra is the fastest member in the group. She also has a huge ego. In my perspective,  she has a more defined purpose in this version. Panthro  is the brain and muscle of the group. Personally, I loved this version because his personality is so simple, yet still memorable.Snarf is both a pet and a robot in this version. It is great that the writers do not try to get out of an unresolved problem with Snarf, and instead let him help with their missions. Wyldcat and Wildkat are the kids of the group. There is not much to say about them, as they have not heavily contributed to the plot.  

 The writing in Thundercats Roar is mediocre, especially during the first bundle of episodes. This is mainly because some of their jokes took forever to get the point or the joke was extended longer than it had to be. On the other hand, the animation is fairly good. While nothing spectacular, it is pleasant for what it is.   The pacing is average.The current pacing is better than that of the earlier episodes, where the pacing was very fast and gave no scene a chance to fully play out.

My overall score of Thundercats Roar is a 7/10. They achieve some things the original Thundercats wasn’t able to succeed in, like the animation and characters, but I feel what’s holding the show back is the writing. While I know that many people may not take an interest in the reboot, it is worth giving it a chance. I would recommend it to the people who want a fun , good-hearted cartoon. It is available on the Cartoon Network app, On Demand, and Cartoon Network.