Thundercats Thunder-recaps Episode 5: Old Friends! SAMOFLANGE!

I've finally caught up on the 2011 Thundercats episodes and can begin recapping/reviewing them in a timely and responsible fashion! After being severely underwhelmed by the last two shows, I tentatively enter Episode Five: Old Friends with a number of pressing questions:

1) Will the underused and objectiveless Tigra be forced to solve Suduko puzzles in the background?
2) Will the newly returned Panthro whip Lion-EmO with his nunchuks for being a large, gelatinous sissy?
3) And why isn't anybody trying to mack on Cheetara?

Join me after the jump and we'll soon know!

Okay, so Panthro is awesome. He knows the show is slowly devolving into formulaic kiddy fare, and he wants absolutely nothing to do with it. As the episode opens Lion-O and Co. are still standing there staring at him with their "O" faces and Panthro is completely ignoring them, preferring instead to hammer the crap out of his tank. (Fixing it? Sure doesn't look like it!).

And this is officially the best thing ever... when Lion-O is finally brave enough to make contact, Panthro essentially tells him to piss off and accuses him of "Standing on his samoflange!" WTF is a samoflange? Have a look at this...

Here's a clip of profane and hilarious voice-actor outtakes from the original 1980's series. Listen very carefully at 0:38:

"And keep your foot of that blasted samoflange!" "What the fuck is a samoflange!?"

Even more amusing is that in the new, current episode we don't even see what Lion-O is standing on! WTF is a samoflange indeed? It remains a mystery! (Which Tigra reiterates).

We get zero explanation as to why Panthro has his hate on for Lion-O, apart from the obvious conclusion that Lion-O is a dick. But Panthro's Thundertank needs more Thunderilium (or something) and he begrudgingly let's Lion-O, Cheetara and the useless Tigra tag along with him to grab some from a mine (leaving Snarf and the kittens behind).

We then find out that the mine is being operated by the traitorous General Whathisface from the first two episodes (he's got a fang! I don't know his name! He works for Mum-Ra! Mum-Ra is a filthy mummy!) and he's employed a crazy drilling Transformer (a refugee from a Michael Bay movie) to help him drill the precious Energon/Thunderilium/Unobtanium!

The crux of the conflict here is that Panthro and General Whatshisface actually have a long history as battlefield brothers. Or could possibly be lovers? There's certainly a lot of macho-posturing and flirting with each other, which we see in a series of flashbacks, which account for about half of the show. Regardless! The betrayal hit Panthro right in the heart! He leads the cats on an assault of the mine to confront his old friend and get his punch on!

Really this is the story I've been looking for. Sure, there are no massive twists and turns but it compliments the first two episodes nicely, filling in some gaps and answering some questions. Why did General Whatshisface betray the King? How did Mum-Ra make his return? Was Lion-O even a dick as a child? All is revealed and we finally feel back on track. This is the stuff that I've been wanting to know more about. The character dynamics are interesting too, with Lion-O taking on the role of an idiot Robin to Panthro's gruff Batman! Shame about the persistently shiftless and overshadowed Cheetara and Tigra though.

But best of all, the writers are having fun! Samoflange! SAMOFLANGE! SAMOFLANGE!