More on the Thundercats Reboot

Image via Wikipedia

Why am I making so much about this show, you may wonder? Is there a shrine to Snarf in the back of my closet? (No, all the room is taken by Godzilla and Bumblebee.) I think I’m holding this up as an example of either how a reboot should or shouldn’t be done.

Frankly, I’m conflicted. On the one hand, there are elements and characters that I loved in the original Thundercats that I’m not seeing here. On the other hand, the character we get do resemble the characters in a new timeline, plus the animation is fantastic, even better than the original Rankin/Bass series. But you don’t have to take my word for it ( (c) Levar Burton?). Check out the latest trailer and news from Wondercon.

Still no Berbils or Warrior Maidens. So let see what the Wondercon panel report from CBR tells us.

Oh, no. Worst news yet.

(Art director Dan) Norton explained he’d been involved with the “ThunderCats” comic relaunches done at WildStorm…

Folks, if you’ve read my review of the Wildstorm half of the Thundercats/Battle of the Planets crossover you know that Wildstorm did a TERRIBLE job on the title. The second story arc has Mumm-Ra conquering the planet, Pathro as a slave, Tigra being forced to work for the mutants, Wilykat as Mumm-Ra’s personal servant, Wilykit as his CONCUBINE, and the newer Thundercats were killed off. Oh and some minor detail about CHEETARA BEING STRAPPED TO THE WALL SO THE MUTANTS COULD RAPE HER WHENEVER THEY FELT LIKE! I don’t know what capacity Norton, had with the series without looking through the old comics (buried in my collection) but the art was pretty good (Dogs of War not included–the character designs had some weird choices) so I hope that’s all he’s bringing to the new show.

“‘ThunderCats’ is a huge part of our childhood…everything else has been rebooted — Transformers and G.I. Joe — so there’s a huge desire to see this property brought back. It’s exciting,” (producer and writer Michael) Jelenic explained. “This show has been in development for like ten years. I’m sure you’ve seen the movie version or the Rock Band version…so it’s a long time coming.”

There’s a Rock Band version of Thundercats? Someone in the comments, please to enlighten. Anyway, as someone who prefers creating new properties to rehashing the old ones (and by the way the Transformers have been around somewhere in the world non-stop and G.I. Joe had such short breaks it wouldn’t be noticed) I don’t see this as a reason to reboot. I love the show as much as anyone else, and I don’t mind seeing it brought back, but don’t bring it back just to bring it back. They did that with Care Bears and I still can’t figure out how someone decided to “kiddify” a kids property but wow did they neuter those characters.

(Former Lion-O and current Claudius Tom) Kenney added, “I’m sure that many of you, like those of us who were involved, [when you] heard it was going to get remade thought, ‘Cool!’ and then your second thought was, ‘They better not screw it up.'” Once again, he expressed confidence in the final product.

Exactly in that order for me, but I remember when Sid & Marty Kroff (of all people) gave positive words about Will Ferrel’s Land of the Lost and one of the co-creators for the live-action Thunderbirds did the same for her show. Both are regarded as bad ideas, especially Thunderbirds. This looks like it DOESN’T suck, but will it be a proper translation. That’s where my worry is.

Take for example Sci-Fi/SyFy’s take on Flash Gordon. Looked like a great show, but as Flash Gordon, the space fantasy created by Alex Raymond, it was a failure. (Compare that to the 90’s Flash Gordon cartoon, which was both a terrible show AND a bad Flash Gordon translation. It will give you new respect for Defenders of the Earth, I promise you that.)

I don’t mean to come off as completely negative here, but years of horrid reboots by people who knew nothing about the licensed property, from old cartoon to video games, have just made me jaded against reboots in general. For every He-Man & The Masters of the Universe there’s a Battlestar Galactica, which is so far from the original property as to be a completely different concept, or the aforementioned Flash Gordon cartoon, which is horrible on every level. (See also Robocop: Alpha Commando. On second thought, don’t.)

“We came in with a huge respect for the original, but we were free to change some things…I think that the things fans hold dear will be present in this new incarnation,” Spaulding said, adding that for the music of the show “We’ll be going with a more epic movie score, but [musical] cues are in there from the original.”

Obligatory Snarf rant aside, I know the trailer music has been darn good (but I really want to hear if they kept the old theme–imagine that in “epic movie” style) and some of the changes (for example, Grune appears to have a bigger role–and Clancy Brown’s voice box–and S-s-s-slythe appears to have gotten a proper upgrade as have the other not-Snarf characters) I’m actually happy for or curious about.

The issue of the planet Third Earth now featuring the ThunderCats home as a city rather than there being a planet Thundera came up. “We have a pretty specific mythology,” Jelenic said, reiterating that Thundera will be a city on Third Earth as the story opens. “We’re going to stay true to the original concept where Thundera will be destroyed, and the Cats will be pushed out into that world.”

Losing your kingdom is different than losing your whole planet. The new show also looks to be heading more towards full fantasy unlike the sci-fi/fantasy mix of the original, not counting the new Thundertank. I guess it depends on how secluded the Thunderian kingdom is from the rest of Third Earth. Again, Berbils and Warrior Maidens, plus the forest unicorns, Hachiman, Snowman and Snowmeow…

Speaking of the original, the producers strived to make logic out of the mix of sci-fi and fantasy from the ’80s program. “The old show was sort of fantasy-meets-sci-fi,” said Jelenic, noting that part of their goal was to explain what it’s like for a society that uses nunchuks and bolo whips has to confront a high-tech world of walking robots and laser cannons.

What’s to explain? The Thundercats using old-style weapons could be cultural or the result being refugees and not being able to cobble together a decent handgun. A lot of the gear they did have were cobbled together from their spaceship and they could have mined the metals they needed to create more tech just like they did Thundrillium. Not that I don’t see the story potential, mind you. Again, how cut off were they from the outside world?

Snarf’s new status came up with Spaulding explaining they were “treating him more like a Chewbacca or an R2-D2” in how he communicated with Lion-O. The character will say “Snarf,” however more of his comedy will be Charlie Chaplin-like physical comedy and characteristics.

. . .

The classic villains of the show will also make their presences known, including Slythe, Monkian and Vultureman. “These guys aren’t the Larry, Curly and Moe of the old show. They’re a threat, and they’re dangerous,” said Norton. “As far as the other villains, you’ll have to turn in and see.”

“Charlie Chapin-like”? The tearing down of Snarf continues. On the other hand, it looks like the Mutants will be getting a mental upgrade. How is that fair?

When a fan asked after fellow Rankin-Bass series “SilverHawks,” Spaulding said, “You should keep an eye out.”

Oh, I’m keeping an eye out on the entire series. I haven’t been this conflicted in a long time. There’s too much that looks good for me to ever call it crap (unless the series reeeeeeeaaaally disappoints) but there are changes (*coughSnarfcough*) that still bug me.