Brand new Thundercats series announced by Warner Bros!

Cartoons ThunderCats (1985)
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MOTU was not a failure because of the cartoon itself; it was a failure in that Mattel and Cartoon Network did not successfully promote the series to the correct audience – which should have been children. Instead they were targeting the older audience, which is what ThunderCats would do if they continued from the original series.

But point is, those shows did not live up to the original, well, maybe the TMNTs, but still, the original wasso much better. And! - I don’t think any cartoon in existence has ever contined from the las show when the last show has not aired in years.

I disagree. The MYP MOTU was far superior in story, continuity, character development, and animation compared to the original. The new TMNT series (not the crap that is Fast Forward) was told in a mature perspective, the way the original comics was told so that was not a reboot. Both series went for a more older audience compared to their 1980s counterpart.

The difference is, ThunderCats catered to both children and older audiences with its character development, intricate plots, and amazing animation. Keep the original separate from any new series. My point is, why continue from the original when we have absolutely no faith in WB at this point? I mean, the WB did not create the original series…who knows what they would do if they continued from the original? They’d probably change everything anyways.

Someone mentioned that the “new” fans would be confused about the show if Warner Bros. were to continue. I have an easy solution to this very minor problem; how about those “new” fans buy the recently released, original series on DVD and they will be brought up-to-date with the series.

So you’re expecting children (tweens and teens) to ask their parents to purchase all the DVDs ($59.99 each) so that they could understand the series? That’s great for WB, but not for fans. I doubt they’d buy the DVDs anyways; they’d probably go to TCL (;)) and just read up on things and download the episodes from torrents, which in this case, doesn’t help WB.

In any case, it’s too much to do in order to find out what happen previously instead wanting to get into the current series.

I kind of agree with Manny in that the show should be retooled/start from scratch. If they rewrite the series a little, but keep things the same as far as characters, their appearance and voices, that would work also.

And that’s exactly what I want them to do. I want them to do what they did with MOTU and TMNT and tie up the loose ends and remove the parts that don’t really make sense. I’d rather there was no New Thundera because that part of the series felt like the writers were running out of ideas.

I just really have a problem trying to take the Thundercats into a new direction in the form of rockstar Lion-o or the Lion-o with no boots and a monkey companion. No, no, that will not work. Lol…A monkey can not and will not replace Snarf! - Sorry!

Also, I have seen some of the comics and I actually own one and I hate they way they age Wilykat and Cheetara looks so different in age. Let us hope that they don’t use thsoe ideas for the cartoon.

I agree, but if they continue from the original series, you know that the animation would be Bruce Timm style and not the anime-eque style that the original had. It’s WB…you guys have to understand that. No matter what spin they do on the series, it will not look like the original, whether I want it to or not. Just hope for the best and pray that they will stay true to the original and not butcher it with bands and humans turning into super-human cats.

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I didn’t mean that a lot of the episodes should recap the old series, Manny. It can be done in a few because to endlessly recap old stories would bore the viewers to death. I believe the WB can cater to a broad audience if it goes about it wisely, and that would mean inserting both old and new T-Cats elements. Rebooting the series might attract a younger and hipper crowd, which is the demographic Hollywood desperately wants because they have the most disposable income. But if you do an extreme re-boot – and I fear the WB might think that would be the best way to go for the above reason – you practically guarantee losing the old T-Cat fans who helped make the series a success in the first place. If losing us doesn’t bother anybody at the WB, well, then good luck with the new T-Cats premise, whatever that will be. Just don’t expect a lot of older fans to be there if and when a new and unrecognizable T-Cat series arrives to stink up Saturday morning.:bengali:

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I don’t want them to do a band about the ThunderCats; I want them to retell the original series with new stories and today’s animation that would target both old and new fans. Continuing from the original series just benefits us and would limit the success of the new series. Plus, I don’t want a New Thundera. :wink:

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And, Manny, I think you have something a little bit wrong. It wouldn’t be good for Warner Brothers if new T-Cat fans purchased the old series to learn more about it? Oh, so not true! The WB now owns the rights to the “ThunderCats” in both its old form and it whatever new form a new series might take. So, they would definitely benefit from people buying the old series on DVD. And so would this website and others like it.:bengali:

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Hey, you’re not the only one who reached for the airsickness bag when that rock band idea was announced! And I too would like see new stories done in today’s animation, with cast and characters basically untouched. And if they want to retell the old tales, keep the Cats on Third Earth and leave out New Thundera, well, that’s their decision. But I personally favor the Thundera angle because that’s where the Cats were from; it was their native world. And it was mentioned so many times by the Cats that the writers had to show it, whether or not they were running out of ideas.:bengali:

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Okay Cat! - You Made Some Really Good Points. :wink:

I also agree that it did seem like the writers were running out of ideas during the second half of season two. I did not even watch those episodes until I ordered these VHS recordings of the Thundercats series from some site called he-manvideos.com (I think thats it). I think, when I was a kid, I got bored with the show, surprisingly.

Now that I think about it, how many times has Lion-o and the rest of the Thundercats had shows where one, some or all of the Thundercats were reduced to infants.

You know what, I did not really like New Thundera at all, actually. I think, when the show had the Thundercats search high and low for these Thundercat treasures, the show became very boring and repetitive. You knew, already that the next show would be all about that stupid gyroscope and or locating lost treasure. I think many people tuned out. Maybe that is why the show ended. They should have created a five-part series and meshed all of the treasure finding, gyroscope maddness into a five-partter. It took like 25 shows just to deal with all that. Lol…

I also think the show lost a lot of focus during the trip to New Thundera. Characters were split between New Thundera and Third Earth and I believe you can not squeeze all that storyline, character developement, numerous locations, etc. into a half hour show.

If you noticed, the show shifted a little since Leonard Starr, then Headwriter left. I really wonder what the show could have been had he stayed during the duration of the show. Various writers wrote for the show during most of the second half of the series and I wonder if it had an affect on it.

Someone said He-Man was actually good. I just brought both DVD sets of the New Adventures of He-Man and found it to be boring. Decent, but boring. Maybe your talking about the third He-man with Battlecat. The Battlecat without the headgear, if I remember correctly.

I can accept a retelling of the Thundercats, but they should at least keep at the MAIN characters the same, exactly the same. I could care less about Tuska Warrior or Snowman, or Madora. Give me my Thundercats as I remember them, but with a brand spank’n new storyline. Keeping the weapons intact, accurate, and true to it’s original form is also key. Panthro without Nun-Chucks? No way! Lion-o without his sword AND claw, NO!

Another thing, the Thundercats was not about comedy, although Snarf and his friends provided that every so often. I hope they don’t make wisecracking Thundercats that are goofy. I really don’t think that would work either.

Characters that I wish would return, but are not mandatory are the Berbils and the Berserkers. Would be nice to see them updated and in action. Keep the mutants, of course, but give us a harden and more destructive, less goofy, LUNATICS. I really want to see Amok again and Mumm-ra’s Mu-Mutt. Let’s not forget the vehicles. A new and improved Thundercat, Thundercaw, Hovercraft, Feliner, Whiskers, etc.

As far as toys, I honest want them to make the figures, maybe about half size so that most of them will fit into the vehicles, instead of having just two like the current Thundertank. This way, it will reflect the cartoon. Keeping them at the size of the original toys and there will be compromises. Imagine a nice sized Thundertank and a Feliner that is larger enough to allow six Thundercats to fit in, while still being small and compact in size.

Snarf and Mu-matt should be posseable from start and the Thunderkittens shoul have boards that resemble the ones their cartoon counterparts have. The ones for the toys thats out now looks generic.

Like I said, having the Thundercat figures small, not GI Joe small, but small, it will allow the toy company to finally create the Cats Lair and Mumm-ra’s pyramid to be able to allow figures to be inside as well was have a front, back and sides to it.

I guess I am wishing a miracle. Lol…

Does anyone know the history of how Warner got the rights to the Thundercats? Was it on sell? I know the creator died right? Also, does anyone know why Leonard quit as headwriter for the show after only ten episodes in season two? He was such a good writer.

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Thanks, Thunderhood! It’s nice to know I’m not wasting my time flapping my gums on this end. I get it that the New Thundera idea failed big-time with viewers because the Cats off treasure hunting and recreating a new society paled in comparison with the Mutants and the Lunataks causing them trouble (frankly, I didn’t like seeing the Mutants and Lunataks removed from the show either. It was a bad decision). And I did suspect that Leonard Starr quit during season 2 because I no longer saw his name on any of the episodes following “Mumm-Ra Lives”. Why he left I have no idea. Maybe he too didn’t like the way the series was going. Someone will have to look him up and ask him, since that’s the only way we’ll ever learn why he left.

A lot of people here say the series should be retold. Very well, how would you like to see it done? Aside from the obvious updating of technology and outfits and leaving Old Thundera extinct (would Third Earth be called “New Thundera”?), how can the old series be retold? Should the show be done like “X-Men: Evolution” was? Edgier, more dramatic? I personally won’t mind at all if a new T-Cats series is made like that, and by all possible means bring back Mumm-Ra, Ma-Mutt, the Mutants, and the Lunataks.

Do without Mandora? Huh, I wouldn’t miss her; her female John Wayne impersonation grates. The Warrior Maidens? Ah, now I like them! I also like SnowMan and SnowMeow as well as Hachiman and the Berbils. The Wollos and Bolkins really weren’t anything to get excited about; they were just helpless folks who needed the Cats’ protection every now and then. The unicorns and their Keepers? Well, I don’t know right now whether I’d still want them there. The giant wasps would be okay, except correct the mistake that wasps make honey. They don’t. Honeybees do.

Hmm, can’t think of anything else to say right now. I probably will later on when I’ve given this more thought. But let me hear your ideas on how the show can be retold. I’m interested.:bengali:

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No, I said it was great for WB, but not for fans who have to spend $59.99 x4=249.96 just so that they could understand what’s going on in a new series? No offense, but if I was a fan trying to understand a new series and I had to spend $250 without knowing if the old series was good or not, I wouldn’t bother with the new series altogether.

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Yeah, you’re right. Sorry I got that backwards. Oh, those senior moments!:duh:

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I’m afraid I have to disagree with you there Manny. I like the 200x series myself, but I do think it was a failure in itself because it just wasn’t 100% right for it’s target audience. I always felt that it was too mature for younger children. Most of the characters were far too serious and came across quite sarcastic and condescending in my opinion. It just wasn’t something that kids could take to.

Whilst a new Thundercats cartoon would be cool if it were similar in aspects to the recent incarnation of He-Man, I doubt it would work with kids.

However I do agree that a reboot is definately necessary to attract younger viewers. A continuation would only work for die hard fans and that’s it. If a cartoon doesn’t have a good introduction then it won’t attract new viewers.

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You might have a point about MOTU 200X being a little too mature for younger children. But I have to say, if the newer TMNT series and The Batman animated series can be targeted towards both a younger and older audience, I don’t see why the MOTU 200X and a new ThunderCats series couldn’t be successful either.

The Batman is a very dark series reminiscent of Batman: The Animated Series and is in it’s third or fourth season (it’s 12 or 13 episodes a season for Saturday morning cartoons). The same goes with the recent TMNT series (not including Fast Forward). It was very successful in the Saturday morning blocks. I still believe if done correctly, a mature ThunderCats can be successful. :slight_smile:

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If you’re mean the TMNT version that had them in outer space, I saw that and, yes, it was quite good. I saw the animated Batman series you mention and that was good too. I would enjoy seeing a mature ThunderCats series done along the lines of the two shows you mention. I just think that they can recap the old series in one or two episodes before going to a newer version. But if the WB wants to reboot the show, fine. I’ve given it some thought and came up with a few ways to tell the story again:

1.) Have the Cats never leave Old Thundera because it never explodes to begin with. The series can be set there and we can finally have a really good look at ThunderCat/Thunderian life on that world. We can actually see the various feline tribes, Lion-O’s family (yes, Snarf would be included) along with Jaga, and have the Mutants and the Lunataks find a way to bring Mumm-Ra to Thundera to help them plot and attempt the conquest of Thundera and its peoples, with Lion-O, the ThunderCats, and even the Royal Thunderian Guard fending them off.

2.) Retell the whole series. Have Thundera go ka-boom (and not reform) and the Cats go to Third Earth to take up residence. Only this time, have Lion-O be the adult T-Cat lord leading his people to Third Earth and have them all arrive safely (though not without being harried by the Mutants and the Lunataks). The series can reflect the pioneer/immigrant experience. The Thunderian settlers, with Lion-O and his nobles protecting them, can then run into Third Earth’s native residents as well as Mumm-Ra, Ma-Mutt, the Berserkers, Slithe and company, or whoever the designated baddies will be. And this time get the science right. No more characters being able to breathe under water or in outer space without space-suits, or plummeting through space as though there was no gravity!

3.) Set the series on New Thundera, and take up where the old series left off.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. If anyone out there can think of a scenario for reintroducing the Cats to a new generation, post it here.

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Wow, I can tell a lot has happened since my absense! I saw both concept designs for Lion-O and the first one (with Leon) was Gawd Awful! While Lion-O looked more beast like, it reeked of failure.

The second one, (wielding the Sword of Omens) looks too Nouveau (…and I am being very nice here) and reminds me of a rejected Yu-Gi-Oh character. I’ve also read the several pages posted after my last post here and I agree that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Why modify something that has great potential? I’d like this new series to take place in New Thundera, which will sort of follow after Book of Omens. …Here’s the deal, though: If there’s going to be SOME kind of remote re-capping, make it brief and to the point, otherwise people, like myself will lose interest. If the Cats are going to age, make it moderate, like maybe five years later and nothing too drastic. …One last thing: I’m hoping if anything that Warner Bros doesn’t change the character designs too much.

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As you no doubt saw, opinions vary on how the show should be brought back. Mostly it seems to be divided evenly between “retell the whole series” and “take it up where it left off”. I myself like your idea of making the recap of the old series brief and to the point. I should have said that earlier myself, but I didn’t think of it at the time. Start it up again on New Thundera five years later? Not a bad idea! It would mean the planet’s main city has been rebuilt, more refugees have returned, and townships have sprung up all over the place. It would also mean WilyKat and WilyKit are now young adult ThunderCats who have retired their space-boards, pellets, and lariats in favor of more grown-up transportation and weaponry. And my other ideas of New T-Cats, old enemies, and some new enemies in the form of renegade Thunderians? What do you think of those, Ruu-Ben-Gaaru?:bengali:

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Yes, yes, I like that idea very much, but remember, Mumm-Ra Lives! Mumm-Ra Lives! Mumm-Ra Liiiiiiiives! :stuck_out_tongue: …Seriously, Mumm-Ra finding his way to New Thundera would be somewhat expected, BUT since the Mutants are long gone, I would say Renegade Thunderians would be an awesome choice …Hmmm… the idea of calling them the PlunderCats sounds appropriate. Oooh!! And they could be the ThunderCat’s Malevolent counterparts while we’re at it, with a renegade leader who not only thinks, but wishes to be Lord of the ThunderCats and de-throne Lion-O for power and greed. I would also like to add that maybe it’s not just Thunderians living in New Thundera (or Neo-Thundera!) but also the Snarfs, and possibly the Ro-Bear Berbils. It’ll sort of have a familiar flavour of the 80’s classic, tied in with the new.

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I just have to chime in with how awesome the idea of a team called the PlunderCats sounds. :smiley:

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Hey, sorry I’ve been gone. I love the idea of the Plundercats. I don’t think I’d be interested in a total recap of the series. A brief recap is much better. I do believe that a recap is needed, but the question remains in what form it should be. It’s no secret that new fans will very likely crop up, and it is as such that a recap is no doubt needed. If they want to see the whole series from beginning to end, they can always rent the DVDs (My boss told me that she rented them off of Netflix). The old episodes can always be re-shown on TV, which is a much preferred option in my opinion. What they could do, theoretically, is have a whole marathon of all the Thundercats episodes made, all leading up to the new series. A multi-day marathon of all the Tcats produced would probably be better. They would obviously advertise the new series before and during such a marathon. I myself might not watch the marathon, but I would DEFINETELY watch a new series debut. And furthermore, I think hour long episodes would be better plot wise. I always wished that the original eps could have lasted longer for more development.

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Very interesting suggestions, TVgeek. I think I like the ideas you had for the marathon/new series debut… And I also kind of like the idea of Plundercats… gives a whole new twist to the enemies. However, the marathon might be a little too much for people to take in, even though some might still watch them. Maybe if they recap the old series with the main plot points in about an hour or 2 hour long episode? That might be more easier for people who don’t know it that well to catch up. :slight_smile:

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Who says the Mutants have to be gone? If memory serves me right, Slithe, Jackalman, Monkian, Vultureman, and Ratar-O were not the only Mutants in the Universe. They all came from a planet called Plun-Darr, which probably still exists (the writers never said otherwise) and has those moons that the Lunataks all hail from. They can mount a rescue to 'Way Out Back, spring the Lunataks, and then bust Slithe and friends out of jail, wherever “jail” is. Mumm-Ra can come along for the ride, or Ma-Mutt if Mummsie’s too busy at the moment. I said a while back that you really can’t have a “ThunderCats” series without Mumm-Ra, and I still hold to that opinion.:bengali:

As for the Renegade Thunderians, that’s a good name for them, and your idea of them having a power-hungry leader is great because he (or she) would be Lion-O’s Thunderian nemesis. But you can also have disgruntled Renegades defect from that group and join other baddies – enter Mumm-Ra, the Mutants, and the Lunataks. And you can have the opposite happen as well: A Thunderian starts out as a renegade but changes his or her mind and sides with Lion-O and his nobles.:cheetaraveryhappy:

I like the idea of having Berbils reside on New Thundera; they would be welcomed by the ThunderCats. After all, it was said in “ThunderCats, Ho” that RoBear, the planet where these little guys are from, is very tiny and that the Berbils have to migrate to other worlds to survive.:cheetaraveryhappy:

“Plundercats” in my opinion would make the renegade Thunderians sound like they’re from Plun-Darr. And the very sound of the word “Plundercats” is just too silly to be taken seriously.:thumbsdown:

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WB is keeping pretty quiet about the new toon. Did they axe the project?