Well, a couple of mid-season report cards (Thundercats and Iron Man: AA are both on mid-season hiatus now):
Thundercats - This show started out really strong with one of the best animated series pilots I've ever seen. Unfortunately, while I think the show overall has been very solid, it's definitely had some peaks and valleys, and it never has approached the high quality of the pilot since. It's also prone to getting sidetracked with standalone episodes featuring a new Third Earth creature, which won't make any sense to people who never saw the original Thundercats. Sure, I had fun seeing a new incarnation of the Berbils; the village of the swordsmen; or the Miyazaki-esque Petalars, but people who signed onto this show because of the pilot may wonder what the point of it all is and when we were going to get back to Mum-Ra; the Book of Omens; and the Magic Stones.
I still think this is the best animated show on television right now (how the Annie's overlooked this show in favor of the pilot for the mediocre Green Lantern show, I can't fathom). But it needs to be much more consistent in telling its overarching story. I have a feeling that the creators are holding back on using Mum-Ra because he was so overused in the original series, but I think they've held back too much. This Mum-Ra doesn't seem particularly involved with the affairs of this show, and I think it hurts the story's believability.
There was also way too much of a focus on Lion-O in these first 13 episodes, often "teaching" him the same "lessons" every episode. It got tedious. We still don't know much about the Thunderkittens, Panthro is cool but pretty much one-note so far, it's hard to get a read on Tigra since he rarely has much to do, and Cheetara is a walking Cock-tease. There's been way too much focus on the Love Triangle between Lion-O; Tigra; and Cheetara, though hopefully the end of episode 13 changes that.
Overall, a good show that hasn't quite lived up to the "great show" promised in the pilot, but it's still very enjoyable and far better than the original 80s Thundercats. A-
Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Season 2) - Yes, this show still exists. This season has been pretty solid, in that I can't say there's a "bad" episode this season, but it has been pretty weird at times (the episode where the Goth girl sets up improbable SAW-style death traps everywhere comes to mind). The overarching story involving the theft of the Iron Man designs to Justin Hammer and Obediah Stane (thus creating Titanium Man and Iron Monger) has just gotten dull since every episode is basically the same as the one before it. The new Iron Man 2.0 is pretty cool-looking, though. They really need to update that intro with new footage.
The creators have promised more appearances by more-beloved Marvel appearances like the X-Men and Fantastic Four, so there is hope yet for a more interesting series of stories this season. My big complaint with this show is that it isn't as fun to watch as it needs to be, considering it's probably right on the verge of cancelation. Still, Nickelodeon could do worse than this show. B
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 4) - I really don't care anymore. I lost interest in this show early on this season with a series of really lackluster episodes, so I have something like 6-7 episodes to catch up on and I just can't muster up the willingness to care. I'll probably catch up on it when the season's over. C-
Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen (Read 1199154 times)
