When Lion-O is “sucked” into the Book of Omens he gets a chance to live out his ancestor Leo’s most fateful day as he leads a rebellion against Mumm-Ra millennia ago. The all new episode Legacy finally reveals the origin of the Eye of Thundara, the Sword of Omens and the Cat’s relationship to Mumm-Ra. If that wasn’t enough the other animals are finally revealed and we get some 1980’s cartoon shout outs.
We start this new adventure in the Tower of Omens and Lion-O and Snarf are messing with the Book of Omens. The Book in this new ThunderCats world is a mixture of technology and magic, so when Lion-O’s consciousness ends up in the book he is reunited with Jaga.
Once in the book Lion-O hopes to find the secrets to defeating Mumm-Ra, however he is in for more of an adventure than he ever expected when the Book places him into the recorded life of his ancestor Leo on the final day of Mumm-Ra’s reign. If Lion-O fails to learn the proper lesson the Book of Omens will be closed to him forever.
We learn a lot about the ThunderCats in this episode: Third-Earth (or Thundara) is not their original home, the Cats have been subjugating the other animals for a long time and the Book of Omens was the central computer for Mumm-Ra’s ship. There a couple of cool easter eggs in this episode in the form of some other Rankin/Bass characters from the past. First we learn of the existence of the Tigersharks. Second, we’re given a very clear view of Mon-Star who you might remember as the villain in the ‘Silverhawks’. I hope this means we will be getting an all new reimagined ‘Silverhawks’ series.
Mumm-Ra is overseeing the battle with no clue of the coming rebellion. He actually comments to Leo/Lion-O on how he would be the first to die in such an event. The coolest thing about this scene is the army of Thundertanks, so I’m guessing that when Panthro fell into Mumm-Ra’s garage after Grune betrayed him, he scored a new ride. A big key difference between this series and the original: we get to see the Sword of Omens created; it is built from enchanted metal (the same metal as Mumm-Ra’s own sword) and powered by the Eye of Thundara.
New ThunderCat knowledge continues dropping as we find out Mumm-Ra and the Cats have collected three additional stones that power Mumm-Ra’s gauntlet (just like Lion-O’s gauntlet that we all know and love). Then when mixed with the power stones, the gauntlets transform into a power suit and Leo is able to temporarily subdue Mumm-Ra to free the animals and begin the rebellion… Unite or Fall!
Lion-O needs to learn how to better watch his back. It is a little too easy to sneak up on him and blast him. The super jacked up power suited Mumm-Ra takes advantage of this and is having his way with Leo/Lion-O when Leo/Lion-O learns that the other stone that he broke off of Mumm-Ra does more than just bedazzle the sword holder. There is an epic battle between Super Mumm-Ra and super-suited Leo/Lion-O that ends with Mumm-Ra stripped of his remaining stones and transformed into the feeble form we are used to seeing.
Knowing the battle is lost, Mumm-Ra flees to his chamber as the Temple Ship (that reminds me a lot of Ra’s ship from the Stargate movie) is crashing to Third-Earth. Unable to pry the old wizard out, the Cats destroy a locking mechanism to ensure Mumm-Ra remains trapped within the ship. Leo/Lion-O now armed with four power stones and the Sword of Omens combines the animals briefly and, with a flash, we learn the Book of Omen’s memory was corrupted by the crash.
Before he returns to his body from the Book, Jaga tells Lion-O he must travel across Third-Earth to find the stones that are now scattered across the globe. Lion-O is then thrust back into the real world where he wakes to see the rest of the ThunderCats standing over him with concerned look. The Lord of the ThunderCats then informs them he knows what they have to do as the episode ends.
The past three episodes of ThunderCats have done an amazing job reimagining the mythology of the ThunderCats. Now that we finally have learned where they came from and why Mumm-Ra has such a mad hate-on for the Cats (and the Lions in particular) I feel like we can get the show on the road and start moving forward again. I’m also happy to learn the origin of the Thundertank and to get the glimpse of Mon-Star and the Tigersharks. All in all this was a great episode for moving the story along and is a must see for ThunderCats fans.
