Dan gave us the link in the crew chat tonight.
http://www.awn.com/articles/thundercats-ho-interview-mike-jelenic
Ah, cool. I didn’t see that in the chat. Thanks for posting, as always.
Thank you very much!
Thanks Balgus.
I’m glad we’re seeing some OS characters.
So, Pumyra will have “a lot” of episodes devoted to her later in the season? What about devoting some eps to Panthro, Tygra, Cheetara and the kittens first? 
So Peter Lawerence is gonna be writing an upcoming episode.. Nice.
I think that goes without saying.
Dan also said in the chat tonight that everyone gets their time in the spotlight. I guess we’ll just have to be patient.
I also like that he talked about Robotech!
Love that series! 
Macross Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS08ThPSbRg
I guess… but so far 8 eps and nad (except for Panthro and a little Cheetara)..
As Balgus says, I guess we’ll have to be patients.
I re-call him saying we will be “seeing some old friends”, or someting along those lines. But I believe I missed out on seeing this link.
Thanks for sharing.
I wasn’t feeling Michael Jelenic was the best choice for his role on this how from the initial MTV interview he participated in. And though by the time Comic-Con kicked in I could tell he like what he was working with, I didn’t feel the same vibe I felt from Dan come from him. But this. This interview cements my opinion that this guys are doing something great, something great that they love.
And that is part of the reason I’m adoring this show…classic, epic storytelling, with it’s own added creativity into the mix.
[Quote=Michael Jelenic]
They all have their own challenges. Wilykit and Wilykat are usually my favorites. I always love writing comedy, I think of myself as a comedy guy, even though I’ve only worked on action-adventure shows.
[/Quote]
I feel that’s what this show is missing..a little bit more comedy. While I’ve found myself laughing, I’ve laughed far more, and louder to Airbender. I adore that show for it’s comedy aswell as it’s story.
On the Pumyra thing. That is very interesting, look forward to how they’ll work the character.
I don’t like this Dr. Toon comparing Lion-O and Tygra to Moses and Ramses. It’s like saying Tygra is evil. And I don’t appreciate this Michael Jelenic referring to the Bible as myth. :mad:
And what is it with him saying everyone loved to hate Snarf. I loved Snarf, period, I never hated the character in any way at all.
And this Peter Lawrence hated the original Kittens? They were my absolute favorite characters without a question when I was a kid.
Maybe I should stop watching. They hated Tygra and think everyone else did too in the OS, so they majorly changed him. They hated the Kittens and think everyone else did too in the OS, so they majorly changed them. They hated Snarf and think everyone else did too in the OS, so they majorly changed him.
Seriously, why do they think the OS ThunderCats was such a huge success if they assume everyone hated the lead characters? It’s moronic and I don’t appreciate them assuming I hated characters that I loved that kept me watching the show. :mad:
You have to realize that one person’s opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of everyone. Just because you liked Tygra and the Kittens and Snarf does not, by any means indicate that everyone does, or even that most people did.
Every character has fans. And every character has people who hate them.
They’re not assuming anything. They did research and looked at forums and talked to fans before they made the show.
And btw I’m not necessarily saying I dislike those characters either. I liked Snarf. Tygra was my favorite as a kid (if for no other reason than him being a tiger). Though I admittedly didn’t like the twins much. But you can’t assume that they’ve assumed anything.
facepalms It’s called creative mix matching. Taking influences from here and there. Take a little from the Moses myth, be it in plot route or character role, mix it up with something else, and you get your own thing that does NOT REPLICATE the influence material. Meaning Tygra isn’t necessarily evil. -_-;
You’re in the minority. Don’t take it seriously. Really. When you talk to the everyday thunderfan and Snarf is brought up, you’ll most likely hear negative comments than positive ones on the character.
Again, taking it to seriously. Not everyone on board a project will like 100% of what they’re helping create. Doing things the way you like, or always sticking to your comfort zone, sometimes leads to a great lack in quality. Give the guy credit, that despite not likeing the ThunderKittens he had the balls to keep working with them.
They’re trying to tell a constant growing story and universe, something the formulaic OS didn’t really achieve, so a character like Tygra, who didn’t really grow in the episode span of the OS, fits well in that enviroment. If hey maintained Tygra with that personality and aspect for this new series, you’d most likely be complaining of how boring he was.
They are not assuming people hated the lead characters. Michael speaks highly of the OS in this interview. People loved it because of the concept. A group of cat humanoids stranded in a mysterious new world, and now basically being the last of their kind, had to survive in it, rebuild and fight of evil.
But just about everyone who saw the OS feels like more could’ve been done with it. That was the whole reasoning behind the Wildstorm comics. This new series is doing just that, building and expanding their universe, with the choice of rebooting being taken so that they don’t risk tarnishing the OS.
I see more respect in this interview than the apparent bashing you seem to see.
Agreed, good writing.
Just read the interview. Very interesting! So this show really is going to be like Babylon 5 in that they’ll introduce things that will pay off down the line several episodes later, rewarding the viewers that stick with it. 
As for them liking/hating chracters, I could see that with Snarf. Now I never had any major issues with the character in the OS. Yes, he was annoying, but that could easily have been said of other shows with similar characters (Orko, Uni, T-Bob, etc.) It was pretty standard at the time. Nowadays of course people have made it clear they really don’t like that sort of annoying/stupid comic relief character. To wit, look at how Jar Jar Binks was recieved. So reworking Snarf into a character people would like makes sense.
Now the twins, I’m not sure why anyone wouldn’t like them. I liked them. I just don’t think they were used very well. They had great potential that went unrealized and thus were never developed very well as characters in the OS. I like what they’re doing with them in the new series, though, and it sounds like Jelenic and the others have some great plans for them. So I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen.
Thank you! The last question gave me a great chuckle! I never heard that rumor… but secretly I want it to be true =) 
I must say I’m kind of with CoT here.
Sometimes I get the impression, from the interviews and articles, that the crew is all “we didn’t like that character (or that aspect of a certain character) in the OS, so lets change him/her”, without really taking in consideration what fans liked and wanted, or just a few fans.
I might be wrong and they could have made tons of surveys and focus groups, but they still give me that impression.
For example, you guys know I’m a Tygra fan, and one visit to a TC fansite would have been enough to see how many fans the OS Tygra had. Same as with the kittens (can’t say the same for Snarf, sorry). Yes, every character had people against them as well, but I think Tygra was very polarizing when it comes to fans, and many of them liked him just the way he was.
Now take Panthro. I don’t think he had as many fans as Tygra, only that he didn’t have as many haters either, but was a “just meh” character (of course he ahd his fans).
You completely missed my point. I was not claiming that my opinions reflect that of everyone, not even the majority. If you reread my post, you’ll see I said nothing close to that.
What my point is, is everything I’ve read from these people creating the new show regarding Tygra, the Kittens, and Snarf was that “nobody” liked them or that “everybody” hated them, they’re the ones making the grand claims in everything I’ve read about “everyone” having this opinion. And that is what makes me angry is for them to “assume” that “everyone” agrees with them. I have seen plenty of opinions to contradict their beliefs.
I don’t claim that my opinions are majority let alone that everyone thinks as I do because I get annoyed when people do that, and that is what I’m annoyed about right now. I’m annoyed with this attitude I’m seeing from them that “everyone” must agree with them.
I hate when people make absolute statements about the opinions of everyone. It’s never true. It’s something you say when you don’t want to hear any opinion that contradicts your own. They are inflamatory statements that will rile up anyone who doesn’t agree with them, as it has me.
So please don’t confuse what I’m saying. I’m not pretending that my opinions of these characters is popular, I don’t know, I’m annoyed that they’re making absolute comments that everyone must share their opinions.
This is how I’ve read their statements in this interview and in others. Maybe that’s not how you read it, but that is how it’s come across to me.
Kamineu - the fact that you started your post with “facepalms” shows me no respect for me to want to read what you wrote after that. Maybe you should have posted that at the end. I earned my BA in Journalism. I see words and am very familiar with how easily written conversations quickly spiral downward and out of control by choice words that were a poor choice. It is possible to disagree with someone without insulting them.
“Everyone” is a general term. He’s using it figuratively not literally.
You just compared Snarf to JarJar? No, no, no, no, no, so different. JarJar was mentally slow, Snarf demonstrated higher intelligence. If anything, compare Snarf to C3P-O, but not to JarJar. 
I’ll admit it, my favorite characters in tv shows and movies tend to be the comic reliefs. So long as the comic relief doesn’t have the intelligence level of a pre-schooler (ie. JarJar - if he even had that). 
Merged Post:
An assumption and in my life, I’ve learned to never assume people mean something other than what they say, especially people I don’t know personally. I take people at what they say. My friends joke about how literally I take people. I’d rather take people literally and find out they weren’t being literal than to assume they weren’t being literal and then they be offended by my assumption. Take it what you will, but I get annoyed when people use absolutes because as I mentioned, they are inflamatory comments.
It’s the same thing if 2 people are arguing and one says to the other “You ALWAYS do this” or “You NEVER do that.” “Always” and “Never” are two very dangerous words in the English vocabulary that when used in that context are almost never true.
Always, Never, Everyone, Noone, all tend to be inflmatory words and I always try to avoid them when expressing an opinion.