Thundercats took place on a post apocalyptic Earth? Was that ever stated in an episode? I don't remember that.

 

Basically why it was cancelled as well. Lego had a whole deal set up for a Thundercats line, backed out at the last minute, then that made the series useless for Cartoon Network, and cancelled it, while they ordered the production of a Chima cartoon.

It was supposed to be a major plot reveal later in the series.

Both of these points are from Dan Norton's massive podcast interview on what they had planned for the rest of the series. If you're gonna listen to this, take you time, because it is LONG and very detailed.

Here's a summary, in spoiler tags due to length. I'd still recommend giving the podcast a listen.

Spoiler

It would have started with a time skip with the power balance in Mumm-Ra's favor. Lion-O would've come up with the Code of Thundera from the 1985 series and along with the symbols on the red crests of the armor. The rebuilt Thundera would've included all who opposed Mumm-Ra. The second episode would have been about Berbils would make the New Thundera technologically more advanced than the old one. Panthro plans to steal Mumm-Ra's technology to give them an advantage and the Berbils would follow him. This episode would've revealed Snarf's species' origins and show Flashbacks of when Panthro was trapped in the pyramid after Grune's betrayal. Ro-Bear Bill would have sacrificed himself to save Panthro and ensure the heroes would have the advantage Panthro planned. The third episode would have been about other details that was revealed at a convention, Slithe's motives for siding with Mumm-Ra, Lynx-O's spotlight appearance, Slithe's grudge against Lynx-O and Slithe killing Lynx-O. There would be hints of Pumyra wanting more power too. The fourth episode would have given the spotlight to Cheetara and her status as the last Cleric along with introducing an old rival of Cheetara's from her Cleric training days (a fat snow leopard) and would have learned that Cheetara blames herself for her grandma's death because of her speed to deliver medicine. Like her 1985 Series Counterpart, Cheetara would gain the ability to see into the future in this episode. An episode would have focused on Jaga and confirmed that the Astral Plane is where Jaga's spirit resides. This episode also confirmed that Grune is still trapped in the Astral Plane and he has been transformed into a more monstrous version of himself (with Panthro's arms attached to him). Grune would also steal the Blue Power Stone (known as the "Soul Stone")

An episode would have shown some flashbacks to explain how the Kittens acquired their items (the Flink and the Flupe), they were in the maze of Baron Karnor. An episode would have involved islands and a nautical vibe. The TigerSharks would have made an appearance and the Bolkins from the 1985 Series would have appeared and been made into a community of fishermen. They would also have to deal with the Berserkers lead by Hammerhand. The following episodes would have shown Mumm-Ra uses the Power Stones to power-up his pyramid and one of these episodes revealed one of these power-ups to be turning sand into a black mist and releasing it within a chamber that turns whom ever breaths it into a more powerful but more monstrous form. Pumyra would transform into a mutant-bug monstrosity. Pumyra would be in this form for a few episodes and Tygra would kill Pumyra when it became clear she is beyond the point of redemption. The first batch of 13 episodes from this set of 26 episodes would end with Lion-O entering the Book of Omens to train some more.

Another major point from these episodes would be the Kittens splitting up on somewhat bitter terms during the time skip. Wilykit went to live with the Elephants at one point and became their queen while Wilykat still focused on finding Eldara and becomes a King of Thieves. Hachiman was planned to appear, learned how to fight from a group of roach people and have a sword created by the Drifter. The Conquedor would have been revealed to be Safari Joe from the 1985 Series. The Lunataks were planned to appear too. Lion-O would emerge from the Book of Omens 10 years later (looking like the ThunderCat equivalent of Conan The Barbarian) and Wilykit would eventually become romantically attached to Lion-O and later becoming the Queen of Thundera after marrying him. Bengali would appear as Tygra & Cheetara's son in this series. After Lion-O returns from the Book of Omens, Mumm-Ra's pyramid would have enough power to float again and he plans to use it to attack the ThunderCats but it takes over the course of this next batch of 13 episodes to reach the Cat's Lair. The ThunderCats would face off against Grune again to reclaim the Soul Stone and Panthro would reclaim his arms from Grune, which now have an ability known as an "Astral Punch".

After this last confrontation with Grune, Mumm-Ra would steal the Soul Stone but Slithe would betray him and give the stone to Lion-O and be killed by Mumm-Ra in retaliation. Tygra would also die before the final battle when he takes a hit from the Sword of Plun-Darr intended for Lion-O. The final battle would show all of the ThunderCats' allies answering Lion-O's battle cry/battle call, the Drifter would return with all the Swordsmen who regained their swords taken by the Duelist and Ponzi would return with Lucy. When Lion-O defeats Mumm-Ra a bandage would fly off into the wind. The epilogue would show peace has returned to Third Earth but the final scene would show the bandage from the final batle landing on the face of an innocent animal herder in the desert, forcibly mummify him and bury him under ground in the desert. There were two different ideas for whether Tygra could be brought back to life or if he stayed dead; the gauntlet combined with all the Power Stones would have the power to restore things (the debate was whether it could restore life or not). If they went with the Tygra stays dead route, there would have been a scene where Lion-O shows Bengali statues of previous kings and there would be a statue dedicated to Tygra. Like in the original , Third Earth would be revealed as Earth from the distant future. The "Third" part of the name comes from the times Mumm-Ra visited Earth; "First Earth" was when Mumm-Ra visited Earth during the time of the dinosaurs and "Second Earth" was when Mumm-Ra spend a significant amount of time on Earth in Egypt. The SilverHawks were from the time of "Second Earth" and would have met the ThunderCats through a hole in time. The SilverHawks and the TigerSharks were also allies that would join in during the final battle. There were "back-up plans" in case they were unable to have said teams appearing.

 

GamerSlyRatchet, that sounds frikking awesome! Man we all sure missed out! CN sure blew it on a rich story imo!