"Thundercats" News & Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[Jeff Harris]

Why? Didn't Transformers start in the 80's just like Thundercats? What makes Peter Cullen any less different than Larry Kenny?

Optimus Prime was an experienced leader. Lion-O was an unsure youngster who grew into a leader. As good as Larry Kenney is even today, I don't think he could pull off the young hero in 2011 as he did in 1985.

Also, was this company set to animate the show responsible for the latest Transformer series? I remember seeing about five minutes of that, and thought it was the cheapest looking animation I ever laid eyes on.

Please don't judge Studio 4°C on Transformers: Animated. Judge them on their contributions on The Animatrix (Beyond), Batman: Gotham Knight (Have I Got A Story For You and Working Through Pain), Street Fighter IV: Aratanaru Kizuna, Sweat Punch, Digital Juice, Tweeny Witches, and Genius Party. Very talented group of creators.

One of the producers of the show, Ethan Spaulding, directed and worked on a lot of great episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Michael Jelenic has many years of writing for DC Comics-based productions, including Legion of Super Heroes, The Batman, the Wonder Woman animated movie, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. And Sam Register is working on making Warner Bros. Animation the greatest studio around by hiring talented individuals to work on a myriad of projects.

Top men are making damned sure that Thundercats will be in good hands. The fact that the folks behind this new series understand the mythology of the original series as opposed to transforming the property into something that completely deviated from the original series (you guys have no idea how close that teen-rockers-transforming-into-feline-warriors-by-an-alien-sage was to being made) makes me confident the show is going to be great.

2011's going to be fun.

[Conekiller]

and here I was all "By the people who did TF: Animated!? AWESOME"

Cannot wait for next year. Good to see the "cartoon" being put back into "cartoon network"!

[GohanRice]

Thundercats? Well, I've never seen it in my life but, I'll watch 1 episode or two I don't really think I will like it but, hey I'll check it out .

[King_of_doom]

Many seem to complain on Studio 4°C working on the new Thundercats cartoon because they worked before on TF Animated, first TF had a nice style of animation, the only thing that bother me was the designs of the humans and of course the human villains but the rest was just awesome and like Jeff Harris mention they had worked on different projects so they might do a nice job on the new cartoon.

Also be glad that Studio 4°C is doing the cartoon and not Larry Schwarz, i mention him because of Speed Racer: The Next Generation.......

[Checkerboard]

@King of Doom: Well, yeah, but what I really disliked about TF: Animated were the character designs, which, excuse me, are pretty bad. When I first saw the series I really got angry, because of what they did to Soundwave - one of my favorite Transformers. As a G1 fan it struck me. On the other hand - Batman: DK was overall very good and I enjoyed it. So yeah, I try to remain skeptical and don't expect much, rather than to be dissapointed in the end. We shall see - it's hard to form a definitive opinion based solely on two pictures, which are just artwork. Hopefully we get to see some real footage soon, because whatever the end result may be - I'm excited.

[firefoxprime]

Many seem to complain on Studio 4°C working on the new Thundercats cartoon because they worked before on TF Animated, first TF had a nice style of animation, the only thing that bother me was the designs of the humans and of course the human villains but the rest was just awesome and like Jeff Harris mention they had worked on different projects so they might do a nice job on the new cartoon.

Also be glad that Studio 4°C is doing the cartoon and not Larry Schwarz, i mention him because of Speed Racer: The Next Generation.......

....
that show...*cries*

i believe the original was broadcasted during Toonami's early years?
HOO!!!!

[Checkerboard]

@firefoxprime: Yeah, the original ran on the Network during the years 1995-1997.

[Jeff Harris]

i believe the original was broadcasted during Toonami's early years? HOO!!!!

Although Toonami did air the original Japanese language opening as an interstitial on the block, Speed Racer never aired on Toonami. It left afternoons after March 14, 1997. Three days later, Toonami premiered.

So, there you go.

Back to the subject at hand. Kind of ticked that Mattel's not handling the action figures for ThunderCats. I was looking forward to the Four Horsemen sculpting the characters the way they handled Masters of the Universe, possibly a MOTU vs. ThunderCats line too.

Instead, this company is handling the figures for the series. You know them, and you love them.

[D.Shaffer]

*eyetwitches at TFA comments* Again, people continue to get art style and actual ANIMATION mixed up. The ANIMATION for TFA was pretty well done. What you dont like was the shows art style.

Anyways, I'm withholding judgement on Thundercats until I see what Cheetara looks like. A Pumyra is fine too. I'm generally for the idea, but I hope they dont go all grimdark like the comic did. I REALLY dont think we need 'Slavegirl Tween Wilykit' this time around.

[King_of_doom]

Instead, this company is handling the figures for the series. You know them, and you love them.

Hope you're being sarcastic Jeff lol. Honestly Bandai hasn't surprise me much since they started with Ben 10 AF/UA figures, even tho i hate that they do the same characters in each wave Mattel would've done a nice job with the figures like He-Man.

Lets see how Bandai will handle the toys but i doubt they will have some cool details and all that.

[Jeff Harris]

Anyways, I'm withholding judgment on Thundercats until I see what Cheetara looks like. A Pumyra is fine too. I'm generally for the idea, but I hope they don't go all grimdark like the comic did. I REALLY don't think we need 'Slavegirl Tween Wilykit' this time around.

This isn't a continuation of any earlier production/publication. This is a reboot. A relaunch. A return to basics. No slave girls. No New Thunderians either (at least, not initially). It's a return to basics.

[Beat]

As someone who had a Thunndercats bedsheet when he was 5, I'm...interested. I'm genuinely interested since this appears to be separate from that other rumored reboot.

As a property, the original skirted the line between sublime and utterly ridiculous on a weekly basis. Too cheesy and it won't work. Too serious and you get Top Cow's wangstfest material like Dogs of War. There has to be a balance.

I'd be very surprised if they went for an overly cartoonish look considering AIC's more realistic proportions (not anatomy though!). I always saw that as a distinguishing mark of that company's work (See Megazone 23 Part II)

[D.Shaffer]

This isn't a continuation of any earlier production/publication. This is a reboot. A relaunch. A return to basics. No slave girls. No New Thunderians either (at least, not initially). It's a return to basics.

Wasnt really trying to suggest it was a continuation. More voicing a fear that, in a quest to make it a bit more serious, that they cross the line into 'grimdark' territory. Just like that one comic continuation did.

[TheVileOne]

It's a true shame that we are finally getting new Thundercats toys and Bandai USA is doing them. We are not in for a treat if their toys for Kamen Rider Dragon Knight and recent revamped Power Rangers series toys are any indication. They are all absolutely awful.

I was really hoping Mattel would do these in the style of DCU.

[Space Cadet]

Lion-O will most likely remain a relatively young hero so having Larry Kenney voice him would not seem all that appropriate. While Peter Cullen is still more than capable of voicing a robot leader generally depicted as one of the older characters in the group. When they needed a young prime they didn't use Cullen. It's the same general idea. Larry Kenney ought to be in the cast somewhere but I don't expect he'll be Lion-O again.

Maybe they can go with Seth MacFarlane since he voiced Lion-O in the Robot Chicken skits.

Anyway, I'm intrigued by the new series. I watched the original when I was much younger and I would definitely like to see an updated version for this current generation. 2011 is looking to be a good year.

[Rusakov]

Well I'm relieved that this isn't the teenage band concept that was brandied about a while back.

That spiffy piece of artwork on the news page is also grabbing my interest.

I've just started watching the original Thundercats, I'm only a few episodes in but I love it already.

[Jeff Harris]

We don't do You Tube links much around these parts, but I have to chime in a search on a random day: SF 4 OVA - Ryu vs Seth.

Imagine Lion-O in Ryu's role and Mumm-Ra in Seth's. This is from Studio 4°C, the animation house behind the new ThunderCats series.

That is all.

[Shredder565]

I took a look at what I hope was the right thing on YT, and no offense, but I just didn't care for it.... Compared to the thing of beauty that is the original series, it just looks bland and ugly....although true that may just be the over all tone of THAT series and not what Tcats would look like...

[firefoxprime]

You mean the original voice actors? I think they will have new voice actors just like they did with He-man. If the original voice actors appear they might get cameos or voice a character that they didn't voiced like Larry Kenney might do the voice of Jaga or Lion-O's father.

I wonder who will do the voice of Mumm-Ra? In my opinion the one i can think of is Corey Burton or Steve Blum.

yeah....kinda like what they did with the original voice actor for "Scooby Doo's " Shaggy. Allowed the man to voice his dad in Mystery Inc.

[Tom 3 forever]

words can not describe the joy i feel if they do this right its another few years of Cn for me since i loved the orginal Thundercats please be good.