Peter Lawrence - Interview (Questions)

Site Discussion Team Discussion
1

Good news!

I’ve just had an email from Peter Lawrence accepting a request for an interview with ThundercatsLair. Again, this will be an audio interview which will be uploaded to the website for people to download. :slight_smile:

I know you all might have alot of questions, information and such - if so, post it here and I’ll definately read it.

I’m looking to get the interview done on Thursday 7th August so send your questions in by then. Use this thread for any questions or such for me as well - just, anything on your mind.

2

Great job at securing the interview Nick. I’m looking forward to the interview. As for the questions, I don’t have any particular questions, but if I do, I’ll be sure to mention it here.

3

Chris here…

Hey Nick, today is my first day in 9 days with neither a rehearsal nor a gig, so I hope to put proverbial (or should that be electronic?) pen to paper this afternoon/evening and see what I can come up with! :slight_smile:

I’m really excited about what you’re bringing to this site, and again, even though I sound like a broken record, thanks for letting me be a part of it. :slight_smile:

Take care… :slight_smile:

4

Excellent! Send them either via PM or email. Also, send any research or information you think I’ll need.

5

Chris here…

Hey Nick, I’ll PM this info to you as well to make sure you get it, but, here’s everything I could think of - once I started rolling with this I had to make myself stop, so there’s quite a lot of questions! :wink:

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]When did you start writing and how did you get into doing it professionally? When did you begin writing for television? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How did you become involved with writing for animation, and how did your involvement with Rankin-Bass come about? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How did you become involved with ThunderCats? Was it a project you knew was upcoming and wanted to be involved with, or were you approached to work on it? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]How did you become Script Consultant for ThunderCats? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Can you tell us what was involved in being a Script Consultant for the show? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Which did you prefer, writing scripts or editing them? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]For ThunderCats, Rankin-Bass hired the services of a psychological consultant, Dr. Robert Kuisis. Can you tell us what his role was, and also whether his involvement influenced or affected any of your work, both as a writer and Script Consultant? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]During your time on ThunderCats you contributed a staggering 21 episodes to the series, the second largest total of any writer. Do you feel that your role as Script Consultant gave you any special insight into what made a good story for the series? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]On a similar note, did you ever come up with any scripts for the series that were discarded, and if so do you remember anything about them? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]In the second season of ThunderCats, there’s a notable shift towards more comedic elements, with some outlandish situations, guest characters, etc. Was there a conscious decision to move ThunderCats away from the somewhat more serious tone of the first season into this slightly more comedic tone, and do you feel that it made the series stronger or weaker as a whole? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Also in the second season we see the ThunderCats’ home planet of Thundera being reformed to create New Thundera. I know that you penned two different 5-part episodes, the first showing Thundera’s reformation and the second showing the ThunderCats returning to repopulate their home planet, but was it you who came up with the concept? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Between yourself and Leonard Starr, the two of you penned over a third of the entire ThunderCats series - did the two of you work closely together? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Was there a writer whose scripts you particularly enjoyed receiving or editing? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Were there any characters that you particularly enjoyed writing for, and likewise any that you didn’t like writing for? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]What projects have you worked on since working on ThunderCats? Did you work on any other shows for Rankin-Bass, and have you continued to work in the field of animation since then? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Are you still in touch with any of the other creative team who worked on ThunderCats, and have you worked with any of them on subsequent projects? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Why do you think ThunderCats was such a hit, and why do you think it continues to be so popular today? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana]Have you heard about the new CGI-animated ThunderCats movie that Warner Bros are planning, and if so would you like to be involved in it? [/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=2]Having worked so extensively on the original series, in your opinion what do you think are the most important elements from the original that Warner Bros would need to carry over into the proposed movie, both in order to make it a hit and also to stay true to the original concept?[/SIZE][/FONT] [/SIZE][/FONT]

Of all the questions, the one I’d most desperately like to hear his thoughts on is that last one!!! :slight_smile:

In terms of reference stuff - he used to have a website, http://www.gpeterlawrence.com , but at a glance it looks to have been taken down. :frowning: Although you need to take their credits listings with a pinch of salt, he has a good listing over at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0492969/ There’s also a very entertaining and, at times, spookily prophetic live chat he did for Angie’s (Purrsia’s) site waaaay back in 2002: http://www.thundercatsfans.org/tcshow/chatarch/peterchat.php . Hope that helps! :slight_smile:

Keep up the great work, Nick, and if I can be of any further help, just LMK! :slight_smile:

Take care… :slight_smile:

6

Excellent work, Chris! I’ve sent you a PM with the questions edited and such - not much to modify out, though, those questions were terrific! :slight_smile:

I’m going to try and get him to talk about Johnny Quest simply because, upon looking at the Wikipedia page, it’s a big, well debated topic that Peter could give us insight. It opens up from Thundercats and, like the other interviews, goes into their career and such. :slight_smile: