ThunderCats Roar
ThunderCats Roar is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation for Cartoon Network. The series premiered on February 22, 2020. ThunderCats Roar features an explicitly cartoonish art style with a more lighthearted, comedic tone than previous ThunderCats installments, similar to Teen Titans Go!. The show's premise is similar to the original; the ThunderCats escape their dying homeworld Thundera, only to crash land on Third Earth, facing off against various villains and their evil overlord, Mumm-Ra.
Synopsis
Staying true to the premise of the original series, Lion-O and the ThunderCats—Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara, Wilykat and Wilykit—barely escape the sudden destruction of their homeworld, Thundera, only to crash land on the mysterious and exotic planet of Third Earth. Lion-O, the newly appointed Lord of the ThunderCats, attempts to lead the team as they make this planet their new home. A bizarre host of creatures and villains stand in their way, including the evil Mumm-Ra, Third Earth's wicked ruler who will let nothing, including the ThunderCats, stop his tyrannical reign over the planet.Production
On May 18, 2018, it was announced that a third ThunderCats cartoon, ThunderCats Roar, was in development and was picked up by Cartoon Network. It was originally scheduled to premiere in 2019 but was delayed to 2020. The show's developers are Victor Courtright and Marly Halpern-Graser. Courtright previously worked on the Disney XD series Pickle and Peanut as a writer/storyboard artist and created the Cartoon Network digital series Get 'Em Tommy!. Halpern-Graser previously worked as a writer for various DC Nation Shorts and was co-creator of Disney XD's show Right Now Kapow. The first two episodes were released on the Cartoon Network app on January 10, 2020. ThunderCats Roar premiered on Cartoon Network UK on April 6, 2020. ThunderCats Roar later premiered on Cartoon Network Africa on May 25, 2020.Voice cast and characters
ThunderCats
- Lion-O – A lion-themed Thunderian and the newly-crowned leader of the ThunderCats who still acts like a child.
- Tygra – A tiger-themed Thunderian who is the serious and most mature member of the team. He's a bit of a clean freak.
- Cheetara – A cheetah-themed Thunderian who is the fastest member of the team and a professional athlete.
- Panthro – A panther-themed Thunderian who is the strongest and smartest member of the team.
- WilyKit – A wildcat-themed Thunderian who is one half of the ThunderKittens. She is a tomboy obsessed with fighting and fun in this incarnation.
- WilyKat – A wildcat-themed Thunderian who is one half of the ThunderKittens. He is the more mature twin armed with chemical capsules in this incarnation.
- Snarf - The team's mascot and Lion-O's pet. In this show, Snarf is depicted as a robot animal and possibly the smartest of the Thundercats.
- Jaga - A jaguar-themed Thunderian who is the ThunderCats' deceased mentor and the narrator for the series pilot episode. He later got free from the Astral Plane so he could tell the ThunderCats about how Thundera was destroyed after his battle with Ratar-O and the Sword of Plun-Darr. In this incarnation, Jaga is indirectly responsible for the deaths of both Thundera and himself because he threw the Sword of Plun-Darr into Thundera's core in an attempt to dispose of it.
Villains
- Mumm-Ra - A mummy sorcerer who is the main antagonist of the series. He enslaved Third Earth for centuries before the ThunderCats de-powered him at the end of "Exodus: Part 2" by breaking his staff. He now tries every chance he gets to regain his full might, using various artifacts, the Ancient Spirits of Evil, and a shady alliance with the Mutants to do it.
- Mutants - A group of creatures from the planet Plundarr who become allied with Mumm-Ra.
- * Slithe - The leader of the Mutants who resembles an overweight lizard man with sharp fangs.
- * Jackalman - The hyperactive and most dimwitted member of the Mutants who resembles a humanoid jackal.
- * Monkian - The physically-strongest member of the Mutants who likes smashing and bashing and resembles a humanoid white ape.
- * Vultureman - The Mutants' resident tech-geek and pilot who resembles a humanoid vulture. He once tried to plagiarize one of Panthro's inventions and nearly got killed for it.
- * Ratar-O - The rat-like ruler of the Mutants who faced Jaga some years before Thundera exploded. When in space, Ratar-O reclaimed the Sword of Plundarr as he plans to come after the ThunderCats.
- Ancient Spirits of Evil - A group of evil spirits who transform Mumm-Ra into Mumm-Ra the Ever Living. They are far less intelligent than in the previous adaptions and are activated by a plug.
- Driller - A drill-themed robotic villain, who must constantly drill for diamonds in order to power his drill to keep drilling for diamonds. Unlike the original series, he becomes an ally of the Thundercats.
- Molly Lava - An evil space criminal that turns from a cute little gem rock into a lava monster when she jumps into a volcano. Mandora is in pursuit of her when Lion-O inadvertently releases her from prison.
- Berserkers - A group of cybernetic viking-like pirates that will do any service for gold.
- * Hammerhead - The captain of the Berserkers who has a cybernetic arm that can punch and pound with great force.
- * Topspinner - A member of the Berserkers who can spin at high speeds.
- * Ram Bam - A member of the Berserkers who rolls by the wheel embedded in his chest at high speeds to smash through objects like a battering ram.
- * Cruncher - A hulking member of the Berserkers whose sheer strength can crush buildings and boulders with ease.
- Safari Joe - An intergalactic big-game hunter.
- Lion-S - A lion-themed Thunderian who is a wanted criminal. Lion-O saw her as a kindred spirit due to their different sword tricks until he learned about her criminal past.
Other
- Berbils - A race of robotic bears that the ThunderCats befriend after crash-landing on Third Earth. They live for construction and are small, but strong in packs. The Berbils are responsible for building both the Cats' Lair and Castle Plun-Darr in this incarnation of the show.
- Gwen the Unicorn - The leader of the magical unicorns of Third Earth. When all of the unicorns are kidnapped, she turns to the ThunderCats for help. Her character is based on the titular character from "The Last Unicorn".
- Willa - The large leader of the Warrior Maidens of Third Earth who speaks through roars or short bursts of sentences.
- * Nayda - The second-in-command of the Warrior Maidens and Willa's translator.
- Mandora the Evil-Chaser - An intergalactic police officer of the universe. She is similar to Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel.
- Dr. Dometome - A Third Earth scientist with a robotic "son" named Hercules. He takes it upon himself to fix the mess Lion-O creates when he drains Third Earth of the ocean, and floods the city beneath it.
- Mayor Fungustus - The mayor of the Moldian world under the ocean, who decides to shoot Lion-O, Dr. Dometome, and Hercules into the "sun" when he learns they flooded their world by pulling the plug.
- Moldians - A race of small fungal creatures whose world is flooded when Lion-O pulls the plug in the ocean, reversing the flow of gravity.
- Micrits - A race of tiny humans.
- * Emperor Toadius - The ruler of the Micrits.
- * Prince Starling - The fallen hero of the Micrits who became delusional after searching for the World Tree so he could drink of its waters so he could defeat Lion-O
- Mumm-Rana - A mummy sorceress and the good opposite of Mumm-Ra who resides in the White Pyramid.
- Mumm-Randall - A slow-moving donkey who is owned by a Wolo and is actually the neutral opposite of Mumm-Ra and Mumm-Rana. He is a minor exclusive character for the show.
- The Netherwitch - An inter-dimensional sorceress who was previously an alias Mumm-Ra took on in the original 1985 version of the series, and is now a separate character here.
Episodes