Thundercats Episode 3 Ramlak Rising Discussion

[Nekomen]

Interesting take on the entire Moby Dick story with Ahab, the twins are perfect comedy relief, the serious tone is working overall. The action could use a little work(lots of lower cost angle tricks), but the fluidity of everything makes it still very much enjoyable.

Definitely liking the new direction of his maturation into king, as opposed to the original's boy in an adults body take.

[Blade Raider]

I'm going to try a complete summary this time. Please note that I've never actually tried this before, so it may get long from me going into to much detail and from where I'm going off on my thoughts and rambles about each scene. I'll mix some screencaps in there while I'm at it so it's not just a wall of text. Also, because I watch way to much of TGWTG, except silly to stupid jokes. Basically I'm asking you to please not to take these jokes seriously. They're only jokes. Anyways, there's a lot to be liked here. Spoilers from here on out.




First off, it has an intro now. It features an orchestra version of the original theme song...shorten to 10 seconds. That's right, it's only the begining and ending of the theme song. Visually, it's the symbol appearing in a classic way (which is awesome) followed by a still of "Sight Beyond Sight" with the full logo appearing over it. Then the episode title appears before the music ends. Before I forgot, the title of this episode is "Ramlak Rising." I'm mixed on this intro. On one hand, I was expecting something a little longer, maybe a 30-40 second intro showcasting the show like the old one did. On the other hand, I think it's very effective use of time on the crew's part. Given how many commeriacals we have today, a 10 second intro means we get more show. Regardless, I do hope that the DVDs have a longer version of the orchestra theme song on the end credits since those are rushed through for even more commeriacals on TV. Before I start to ramble this to death, let's more on. There's much more the ramble about later.



So the episode begins with Wilykit playing her flute on a roof while seeing the ruins of Thundera. I do love a quit moments with some nice music to start the show. In fact, I don't think they really needed the intro at all. Just slap the logo over one of the shots and the title over another. We then see Claudus' funeral. While it's a "Darth Vader Burning" funeral, it's a funeral in a cartoon nevertheless. Again, better than what Cliffjumper got, but I digress. Lion-O then heats the Sword of Omens and stabs the wall...okay. I honestly thought he was trying to break the sword, but he was actually etching the Thundercats emblem on the wall. He's good at it too. So nice and round.



After a few words from Claudus' sons, we cut to some Mutants...I mean Lizards. Still getting use to them not being called Mutants anymore. They're raiding a house for valuables. The kittens watch and while the Lizards aren't looking, the kittens get into the loot. The first suitcase they open up has cloths that just so happen to be in their sizes, so they steal it and run off.

We now go back to Lion-O, Cheetara, and Tygra. Lion-O is pissed and why shouldn't he be? He's decided to go and kill Mumm-Ra instead of hunting for the Book of Omens like Jaga told them to. The other two try to reason with him, but Lion-O won't listen. I gotta say, I really like this scene. It has lines in it I don't except a cartoon to come out and directly say these days. The PG TV rating is probably helpping a great deal. In fact, that's the rating Clone Wars has and it gets away with death on a daily basis.



There's 3 other things to mention in this scene 1) The Japanese guy voicing Snarf can't say "snarf" correctly. I find this hilarious. 2) This is the first time I really noticed Cheetara's rack. And here I was liking her for her character! What's wrong with me?! :P 3) The Sand Sea. References, huzzah! I'll speak more about that later.

Then we see the 3 leaving the village in cloaks much like what Lion-O wore in the first episode. Also, Lion-O and Tygra are in their promo gear now with no explanation at all. We can pretty much assume they got it from the armory, but I was excepting a scene when Tygra got his radically different costume. In fact, I thought Panthro would've given it to him.

Eitherway, there it is complete with the gun he got last episode. Lion-O's changes are mostly just the shoulder pad, but there's more difference if you look close enough. Eitherway, you don't get a good look at them until later. I'm starting to get ahead of myself.

So, they leave Thundera and met the Kittens (in the magically fitting cloths) digging through a Mecha Lizard (That's what I'm calling it at least). The kittens try to join them in whatever quest they are going on in hopes it will lead to El Dorado Cigarettes. Lion-O then becomes a complete douche and ignores them completely. Then he gets pissed at Tygra (again) when he says something. Then the kittens use Adorablity...it's ineffective...So, of course the kittens decide to follow them anyways.


"Oh god, it's like every internet cat person made a cartoon! Too cute!"

Are you really guys? Put ya Samurai Jacktion on! It's montage time and boy does it remind me of the begining of every episode of Samurai Jack. In my book, that's awesome. The odd part is every shot seems to have Lion-O and the kittens on screen but Tygra and Cheetara are off screen half the time. Fanfic writers, get working on this! I want to know what they were doing, and how many times! As the montage ends, there's a nicely done focusing shot that focuses on a bug and then the background where our heroes are. I figured it's worth noting since the original was infamous for this kind of shot and it's the first one I've noticed in this show. There's also a nice heat effect in this scene.







They stop and rest. Tygra mentioning how tired everyone is and Cheetara comments on the low food. Lion-O, being all Captain Ahab (oops, getting ahead again), tells them to keep going and not listening to reason again. Lion-O goes on ahead down the path, but then Snarf by chance finds the entrance to the Sand Sea. Now I believe the Sand Sea was called the Sea of Sand in the original. It was just the desert around Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Here, it's still around the pyramid, but it acts like an actual SEA OF SAND. Thank you, new series, you have taken something completely boring from the original and made it 100% more awesome. Now if only I could find the action figures so I could hug something.

They then approach the shore of the sea (of SAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAnd!). While trying to figure out how to get across, the Kitten (boy, they're getting a lot of screen time this episode) see food on top of the sand. I'm sorry, but WHAT? It's just sitting there like bait and no one realizes it bait until it's to late. HA! I made a rhythm. Eitherway, that's not the worst of it. Snarf has hands. I'll let the picture talk for itself on that one, but it scared me.



Also, I really like this picture of Cheetara holding an orange.


So, big surprise, they get captured by the Berserkers...okay no it's not the Berserkers, but I think we were all hoping when we saw the ship. Instead, they're captured by fish people. That's a new one. So the captain who's name I've forgot and I'm gonna call Captain Ahab anyways meets the captured cats and decides they are best for eating. The cook is scary. That's all I really have to say about him.



Before the commercial break, Lion-O curses with the word "whiskers." He's said that once in the pilot and I didn't like it then and I care for it now. It just doesn't have that feel of other fictional curses like TMNT's "shell" or Transformers' "slag" (though that one is actually a real curse). I think the word is just to long to use in place of mostly 4 letter words.

After the break, Lion-O introduces himself and so does the captain and I've already forgotten his name again, so Captain Ahab it is. After introduction, Ahab restates that the fish will eat them. The cook, who still scares me, then says they need to start with the little ones. Their apparently more tender. I kind of like these fish people.



Suddenly, a boss from from Wind Waker appears and attacks the ship. This is Ramlak, the title monster. I'm, of course, going to call him Moby Dick. As Moby Dick attacks, Captain Ahab starts talking about how it's time for revenge. If you have not guessed yet, this story takes a lot from the book Moby Dick. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm sure Magikarps hunt Bellsprouts all the time. Yes, that was a Pokemon joke and I do hate myself for knowing those names off the top of my head.

Anyways, during the attack the Thundercat get loose (not doing that joke, it's to easy) and release their badass on Moby Dick. He bleeds blue, by the way. Ahab gets a good line in during this. He turns to his crew and says "The food is fighting better than you." Ahab then decides to help Lion-O fight. Of note in this fight is Tygra uses his gun in this episode but no whip. He also misses the giant tentacles. I hope he has a balance of both weapons in later episodes. Also of note is Cheetara's bo staff cuts just as good as a sword. For my sanity, I will say she's a Cleric and Clerics can do that.



After the battle, Lion-O starts talking to Ahab. Abah gets another one liner about if he had known how badass the cats were, he woul've feed them his first officer. I love the dull surprise of the first officer. He's like "Hey, that's not nice." So, the cats have joined Ahab's crew and Ahab tells the cook to get the little ones food. Cheetara and Tygra are given mops by the first officer but then Tygra suddenly disappears. He's sea sick and hairballs over the rail of the ship. Well, that explains why hey totally missed Moby Dick's giant tentacles at least.



Meanwhile, Lion-O and Ahab go to the lookout of the ship to try and spot Moby Dick again. Lion-O asks how Ahab lost his leg. Do I really have to tell you how he lost it? Moby Dick ate it. What a shock!...on opposite day maybe. And of cousre he has to use the cliche phrase "It wasn't lost, it was taken." I rolled my eyes so hard that I missed the next plot point the first time around. The plot point is that the fish people use to have an oasis home on the Sand Sea until Moby Dick sucked up all the water. Ahab and Lion-O then bond because they've both lost it all.

We then see the kittens eating in the mess hall. Again, the cook is scary by mentioning putting fat on their bones like he's still thinking about eating them. At that point, I was hoping it would go that way and it did. He asks if they want spice on their food and then starts to spice them instead while they eat. He also touchs Kit's hair. Don't worry, it's not a Stranger Danger touch. He's just checking flavor.



Back to Lion-O and Ahab where Ahab tells Lion-O how unless his crew is. Basically, he teaches Lion-O that he should leave anyone that questions him behind. Lion-O then spots Moby Dick in a storm. The crew objects to going into the storm, but Lion-O takes the wheel and takes them in anyways. Tygra sets Lion-O up for the 300 "This is madness!" joke but Lion-O doesn't care. Also, Cheetara looks pissed in this shot. I think she's showing a tooth like Grune does. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if she cut him in half with that bo staff of her's.



After another commercial break, Cheetara and Tygra try to reason with Ahab...no luck, duh, but you can't blame them for trying. Anyways, there's flying rocks in this storm so Ahah arms the harpoons and Lion-O get on the mast and starts cutting down the rocks as they come. There's some nice animation of Lion-O cutting rocks. It's strangely epic and my screencaps don't do it justice like a lot of action shots.

Back to the kittens and scary cook. The cook finally reveils he's going to eat them, but the kittens are one step ahead. Kit, out of no where, pulls out an ice cream cone with pink ice cream in it. Where did that come from? They've been eatting meat and fruits the whole time. Kit shoves it in the cook's mouth and he falls to the ground. They apparently made it really spicy and it K.O.s him. The kittens then leave while Kit thanks him for the food.



Back to whale killing. We have everyone fighting again with Cheetara's magic bo staff cutting better than before and Tygra not missing this time. Then Moby Dick grabs the boat and snaps it in two. The Kraken would be proud. Everyone but Lion-O and Ahab are thrown into the sea. Ahab tells Lion-O to continue fighting, but Lion-O is confused because he thought Ahab was doing this for his crew, not for himself. Once Ahab tells Lion-O that he can always get a new crew, Lion-O turns his back on Ahab and helps the crew instead. After Lion-O leaves, Ahab harpoons Moby Dick and Moby Dick pulls Ahab into the sea with it.



Lion-O saves the crew by harpooning the biggest part of the ship and pulling it toward the smallest part of the ship. I'm sorry, but shouldn't that be the other way around? Shouldn't he be pulling the small part their on closer to the bigger part? Damn my logic, I just can't seem to hear the magic, feel the roar sometimes in this episode.

Moby Dick then shows up again and eats Lion-O. Btw, Snarf has hands again. It still freaks me out. After a few moments, a huge light comes from Moby Dick's gut. It's Lion-O cutting it in half. Moby Dick then bleeds blue to death. Oh god, think of the children watching this! It's sick!...Wait, what? Did the fish people can the blue blood "water?!" So it dies and turns into the oasis home mentioned earlier. I guess it is kid friendly afterall.



Later the fish people built a dingy for the cats to get back to land. Lion-O has finally decided to look for the Book of Omens after seeing what happened to Ahab. He's also decided to let the kittens join them because they can take care of themselves (when fighting hungry fish, at least).



The final scene is in Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Where he's torturing Jaga. Called it! Jaga's not dead!...yet. Grune is there to and doesn't think Jaga knows where the Book of Omens is. Mumm-Ra believes Jaga does know because he's resisting so very much. Jaga tells Mumm-Ra to suck it and then Mumm-Ra gets out an object that looks like the Cave of Wonders if it was a lantern. Mumm-Ra sucks Jaga into it while making my new favorite evil face. Mumm-Ra's enjoying himself and it shows. Afterwards, one of the Super Friends' old scene change sound effects plays. It played once before, but there was a lot going on at the time. This is clearly the same sound. Jaga's now trapped in the lantern. I'm willing to bet this IS his ghost form. For now, it just forces Jaga to tell Mumm-Ra where the Book is. It shoots a beam of light to the book and we get to see the outside of the pyramid for the first time.





And that's the episode. What did I think? I enjoyed it very much. Heck, I did a complete summary of it. I've never done that before. There's a couple of minor problems with it such as Tygra's and Cheetara's back seat in all of this and the the Moby Dick parody coming on to strongly. That said, it's a good episode with the right balance of fun, serious, action, plot, and moral. Speaking of, like the original, the episode has a moral to it. Unlike the original, they don't force feed it down your throat at the end. If I'm completely honest, this is a fairly average episode, but what makes it excel where others have failed is presentation. Animation, music, voices, it's all done so well that I just want to look at it and see more. It's so well done that cutting rocks looks epic. If a show can make that epic, then it's already on it's way to some sort of greatness.

[Lord Lion O]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilyjo

Yeah, it's only Tygra that bothers me though. Lion-O just got a shoulderpad, that's it. Tygra got a whole new outfit though with no explanation, which bothers me, because we haven't seen it before, but I'm not gonna spend more time on it. I guess it's either show Tygra getting it or cut something else out. Eh, I'm fine with assuming he got it the same way the kids got their new duds.

Tygra had a single shoulder pad in the original. I kinda thought it was a nice throw back touch

[GK Punk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony_Bacala

Also, I think Cornelius Tunar wins best name ever award.

Yeah I loved that too haha.

[dj7000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony_Bacala

Looking forward to it. This has taken over my Smallville "excited its Friday" slot. (Yes, I said Smallville). .

Haven't watched the promos, trying to stay spoiler free.

Lol, this is a nice substitute for my "excited it's Friday slot" previously occupied by The clone wars and sometimes GIJOE renegades"
---------------------------

I enjoyed this episode for what it was. It expanded the story from last week. Not sure if this story goes along with the 80's Thundercats as I remember few episodes. I liked how Lion o was enraged then realized what he should be doing. They are really developing his character. It's cool to see the group meet new species throughout the lands. Does anyone know if all the Thundereans were killed off or were they enslaved perhaps? Im really enjoying this show.

[NIBMRatchet]

I wonder if this is mentioned... totally calling it... The Book Of Omens is right in the middle of Wilykit and Kat's lost city of Eldora.

[LadyRaggedyCat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilyjo

It was average to me, I did enjoy the kids though. Action was great as well. Nothing really "wow"ing me this time but that doesn't make me want to stop watching.

The one thing that stuck out in my mind though was Tygra's complete costume change with no explanation. The kids stole their new 'duds, which is fine. But Tygra just kind of appears with his new armor after a transition. While we can assume he got it out of the rubble, it's still kinda jarring. Nothing's perfect I guess though.

Wondered about the costume change too. Jokingly I thought that in the DVD release, we'll get to see the "deleted scenes," LOL. :P But if you wander over to Thundercats Crew Blog, the "sudden costume change" topic was brought up too and the TC crew replied that those moments will be revisited in future eps. Hmmm...

@Blade Raider: I like long reviews w/ summaries... gives plenty room to gush and snark over the episodes. :P And a Japanese VA did make Snarf's voice, now that I'm checking the VA credits again... Snarf says "Snaw" or "Snow" instead. Ahaha...

And I did like the 3rd episode. It reads like a child's fantasy-adventure book, Moby Dick and POTC aside. xD I liked how WilyKit's flute song was made into a more complex orchestral piece in the montage where the TC gang made their way through the terrain in search of the Sand Sea. The new TC soundtrack/score isn't getting a lot of love, hehe. But I'm really liking how the series has been scored so far. Kudos to Kevin Kliesch.

[Monkian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony_Bacala

Dug the ep. However, wasn't as wowed as last week. I know it's hard to match those first 2, as that was basically a movie.

Characters seemed a bit campy, forced. As was lion-o's narrow minded tone that magically got resolved by the end of ep.

This is all just fanboy bitching and moaning tho. It's still better than 90% of toon tv out there. .

Bring on ep 4!

I agree 100%. I'm guessing that the fishmen are going to come back into play later in the series and this episode basically set that up. If not, then there is no point to the episode. It was predictable and not very original or plausible. For me, with fantasy anything is possible. But the more plausible it is, the better. Fishman oasis in the middle of a sand sea that was drank up by a sand monster... eh. Pushing the boundaries there if you ask me. All it all, I'm still stoked for the series, I just hope that it doesn't devolve from what they gave us in the first two episodes.

[RoftheHood]

I felt that this episode had a real feeling of the original series. It really reminded me of some the old Berserker episodes. Not so much because it was also on a Pirate Ship, but the whole feeling/presentation of the episode in general I think was very reminiscent of the original series.

@Blade Raider: "Jaga tells Mumm-Ra to suck it..." LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wilyjo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Lion O

Tygra had a single shoulder pad in the original. I kinda thought it was a nice throw back touch

Huh. Didn't notice that before. Nice catch.

[Lord Lion O]

Thanks. . iTunes and amazon have the episodes for purchase

[Uncanny Madman]

I kinda hated this episode...the drop off in quality from the pilot is astonishing.

It felt like the first 10 minutes of the episode fast forwarded through about a third of the series...the twins joining the group immediately as Lion-O and company go to leave Thundera was completely anti-climatic and forced, then the group travel virtually the whole way across Third Earth to the border of Mumm-Ra's lair in a few short sequences...

There's no wonder at all the things they are seeing for THE VERY FIRST TIME, no shock at a sea of sand, no intrigue at a HIGH TECH PIRATE SHIP piloted by strange creatures they've never seen before...it's all just taken in their stride, as they go through the motions of a highly generic revenge story, featuring a highly generic threat to a pirate ship by a mindless tentacled creature...

Words cannot express my disappointment.

[Lord Lion O]

We all know this is a cartoon for children right? Still 100 times better than then original of which I am a super fan. Also 100 times better than 95 percent of the new cartoons that have ever been introduced on cartoon network. I feel like some folks want a visual and literary phenomenon, voice acted by academy award winning actors. I'm sure their budget is pretty tight until the merchandise starts selling. So let's all take a deep breath and remember 2 things. 1-we are happy to just have it back and 2- this is about selling that aforementioned merchandise. I have a new sword of omens, all is right with third earth.

[Balgus82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncanny Madman

I kinda hated this episode...the drop off in quality from the pilot is astonishing.

It felt like the first 10 minutes of the episode fast forwarded through about a third of the series...the twins joining the group immediately as Lion-O and company go to leave Thundera was completely anti-climatic and forced, then the group travel virtually the whole way across Third Earth to the border of Mumm-Ra's lair in a few short sequences...

There's no wonder at all the things they are seeing for THE VERY FIRST TIME, no shock at a sea of sand, no intrigue at a HIGH TECH PIRATE SHIP piloted by strange creatures they've never seen before...it's all just taken in their stride, as they go through the motions of a highly generic revenge story, featuring a highly generic threat to a pirate ship by a mindless tentacled creature...

Words cannot express my disappointment.

For the record they wouldn't be supprised about the sea of sand because they obviously already know about it and since Lion-O did know about it, I doubt very seriously it was "half way across Third Earth." They already saw energy cannons too in the battle at Thundera and you don't know that they're anywhere near Mumm-Ra's pyramid yet. Lion-O was making guesses on where it was in the first place.

[dolza_khyron]

i suspected they thought the ship was flying by magic.

[Ravenxl7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dolza_khyron

i suspected they thought the ship was flying by magic.

I doubt that. Now that they all know technology is real, I think it's safe to assume that they figured out it was just some other kind of technology.

[Steevy Maximus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony_Bacala

As was lion-o's narrow minded tone that magically got resolved by the end of ep.

I'm actually glad the issue was addressed in this fashion. The narrow minded anger was understandable, but I'm glad the writers addressed it in the nifty "Moby Dick" homage. It's better than having Lion-O act like a dick through the next dozen episodes, like all too many anime series.

Again, I'm left surprised at the artistic quality I'm seeing in this series. That travel montage alone had more visual flair than most multi-season cartoons HOPE to have. Animation continues to impress, and it is clear Warner has high hopes for this project.

The story wasn't that gripping for me, but I feel it was executed well, in that we got a nice stand alone adventure, but long term story elements (Lion-o's growth, Mumm-Ra) were still addressed. Again, there is just enough left dangling to keep my coming back.