Maybe “darker” is the wrong term. I don’t necessarily want more graphic violence (though maybe a little better choreographed). I’d like it to be a little more serious sometimes. Keep up the tension throughout the episodes with only the occasional lighter moments to calm things down. Whimsical without being silly. Sometimes I wonder what the show would be like if it was written by the folks who write the Avatar cartoons. I absolutely love the designs and the art direction though. I wouldn’t want a thing changed in that area.
The only thing i could think of is just to make it for a “mature audience” and that’s it. Keep the same voices, music and looks but just make the story, characters and what happens LESS CHILDISH.
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]You don’t need extra violins for the show to be darker change the show from a half hour to an hour and the darker parts of the story will grow from there.
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Correct. Violence need not be excessive to make the show darker. Just look at Batman TAS and Beast Machines, two very good examples of mature writing. Those shows did well even though they were aimed at kids. Bloated face of Pumyra was really pushing it, even though I did chuckle after seeing it. As you said, they can keep the whimsical moments to moderate amounts, like how they would have occasional lighter moments with Batman in TAS. Beast Machines, even though disliked by some BW fans, is another good one. It was for kids but still it dared to tackle spiritual and theological elements, which made for some excellent writing and character development (even if it was a little inconsistent from BW). Kids are much smarter and clever these days, they can appreciate the maturity of story telling. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bruce Timm’s Thundercats.
I am torn a bit on the topic. Myself I would love a darker (or has been said, more serious) Thundercats. On the other hand I have a young daughter who is just getting old enough to start watching. I would love both a serious and child driven series, but if I had to choose I would rather have one that my daughter and I can enjoy together!
[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]You would get both of what you won’t a show for the kid and a more serious show buy extending the run time for an ep. It give the wrighter more space for character development, side story’s would have more meaning as the show progress, and not a super consented ep we get in the show today. Now the only down side I can see is maybe the number of episode get cut a little. [/FONT][/SIZE]