The brand would be around, but as in the history of Star Trek fandom, women through their activities in the boards and with writing helped keep the motivation around. A woman started the Thundercat fandom awards which covered fan fiction and other activities. Read [SIZE=2]Enterprising Women
Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth[/SIZE]
The biggest disappointment is this: Women did their part in keeping Thundera alive over the years, but in the NS the door to the clubhouse is still shut.
That’s quite different than claiming that fanfic writers kept the brand alive.
The biggest disappointment is this: Women did their part in keeping Thundera alive over the years, but in the NS the door to the clubhouse is still shut.
I honestly think this is mostly in your head. Clearly this is a subject that is very important to you so perhaps you are too quick to point out that there is a problem. As we’ve pointed out in the thread, the NS is still very young. You could always ask if there are any female writers on staff on the Crew of Omens blog and see what they have to say.
What exactly are you saying? That women did more than their share to “keep thundecats alive” and now aren’t getting the due credit? Or they aren’t being allowed to work on the new show? I don’t really understand. And are all fan fiction writers women? And how is the door to the clubhouse shut in the NS specifically, how exactly is that door “being shut”? I’m honestly asking for clarification because I’m not sure how you mean.
I’m curious, Nine Tiger, do you have any documentation of proof for this statement or is this only your opinion? I have never heard that Fan Fiction kept the show on anyone’s radar responsible for the new show.
I think my thing is, regardless of the sex of the fanfic writers(I have no idea if they are male or female, probably both), imho those fanfic writers shouldn’t have the door “opened to them” in the actual TV industry simply because they dedicated a lot of time to writing their stories. IF a producer or writer at WB read the fanfic and liked it that’s one thing and they can call or contact people if they really feel it’s stuff worth looking at and want to bring them in for a meeting. But even that aside, writing fanfic is different from writing a TV script. Completely different. It’s hard to compare the two mediums, and knowing how to write a script format wise for television is much different than simply writing short stories.
I see what you are saying, but I do not think it is right to villainize the crew for something like this when you don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. For all we know they have scripts by female writers coming up or perhaps no female writers have shown interest in the series yet.
Balgus already pointed out that Andrea Romano is working on the show…?
Back in 1990, me and Elf Strenberg (a guy) were just about the only people with Thundercat fan fiction on the net. Then came the boards, created by women. Then came the Thundercat fandom awards, also created by a woman. Before Thundercats Lair came on the scene as a significant force for Thunderan promotion, it was more of a woman’s game. The web history of Thundercat fandom is my proof. This does not even include APAs.
It certainly sounds like you are accusing them of being sexist. Are you suggesting that excellence will automatically come with a female writer or is that a separate point?
Look at the OS DVDs. Fan presence was acknowledged. So it is logical to assume (channeling inner spock) that the WB PTB looked at the fan bases on the web, many with links to FF, and took some cues. Why do you think the whole Tygra/Lion-o/Cheetara thing came about?
That’s a pretty strong assumption. If anything WB made their decision to reboot the series based on the sales of the DVD sets. They aren’t looking at fan fiction, sorry.
The fan fiction writers didn’t invent the love triangle. This is a pretty general idea and it is ridiculous to suggest that they borrowed it from fan fiction.
So. Let’s assume women as a whole are the majority of reason for all of the fan fic and message boards for Thundercats. How would you like the NS show to take that into account, and do you feel they even should take that into account to begin with? Personally, and again this is just my opinion, I don’t think fan’s short stories or creation of message boards should have any bearing on how a new professional TV show is created, regardless of whether those fan fic writers/internet board creators were men or women.
Now if you feel the staff at WB or the staff behind Thundercats are being sexist and depriving women of job opportunities, that’s an ENTIRELY different matter, but I think you’d have to have some form of proof first that the staff behind WB and Thundercats were unfairly blocking women from working on the show. And like some people already mentioned, the casting director of the show is a woman, and she influenced the entire VOICE of the new cartoon. That’s a pretty large influence imho, and I think she did a fantastic job. All the voice acting is great on this show.
OK. There are aspects of the new series that strike me as being based on ThunderCats fandom such as the love triangle and how they chose to recreate Cheetara to fit guys fantasies better.
They are guilty of the pervading sexism in our society that says only boys have adventures; only boys are important to have stories told about them.
Maybe I can make my clearer if I state what I would like to see:
Stories that have more than 2 minutes of character development and dialogue. Most shows have been mostly fighting.
Stories that show or include female characters (we are 50% of the population after all). I.E. Where were the female elephants? Most groups we have seen have no females present or taking a big slice of the plot. What if the Petalar episode. i.e., had a female lead and not a male one?
Excellence will come from have a two sex POV, even in a kid show. For example, the whole triangle thing was done in such an awkward and offending manner. Cheetra came off as a tease. It was the whole Madonna/Whore thing going on. It would have been nice to see Cheetara’s view of the rivalry done by a woman, and not a man. We only know Cheetara through men’s eyes. We know how she became a cleric, but that is all we really know about her. No depth of feeling.
Specifically explain HOW women don’t seem to have a key role in the show because that’s a blanket statement. Do you mean on the writing staff? Do you mean voice actors? Do you mean female character development on the actual show? Specifics would help me understand what you’re trying to say.
Seeing as, (I’m guessing here), you haven’t worked on the NS. How do you have any idea whether or not women are having a key role in the show from the production stand point? Outside of the fact that apparently so far the writing staff(only one of the many roles of making a show) has been men so far.
Stories that have more than 2 minutes of character development and dialogue. Most shows have been mostly fighting.
Their key demographic is young boys. That is what they want to see. The show wouldn’t succeed if they didn’t play to their audience.
Stories that show or include female characters (we are 50% of the population after all). I.E. Where were the female elephants? Most groups we have seen have no females present or taking a big slice of the plot.
There were female Berbils and Petalars. So two races (fish and elephants) haven’t had any females and you are ready to play the sexism card?
We only know Cheetara through men’s eyes. We know how she became a cleric, but that is all we really know about her. No depth of feeling.
We know just as much about Cheetara as we do any character that isn’t Lion-O. That isn’t sexism, it’s the pitfall of having the show focus on one character.
Yea, I concur. I don’t understand why we’re making it all sexist. Cheetara is freakin’ awesome, so far she seems THE MOST powerful of the group with all her jedi cleric abilities. Can we not make a big fuss about sexism please?
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Wily-kit has already have an episode focus on her with her meditation and experience with the elephants. Wily-kat has not received such attention thus far. I’m not about to cry sexism over lack of development for Wily-kat. It’s only been 13 episodes.
There are aspects of the new series that strike me as being based on ThunderCats fandom such as the love triangle and how they chose to recreate Cheetara to fit guys fantasies better. 