Sometimes I wonder if Hollywood just has a psychic ray tuned to my head, because every time I think of something cool I’d like to see in a movie or TV show, it seems to end up in one eventually. And while I really love the new show, I’ve also mentioned that in some ways it was very similar to a story that Ocelli and I have been trying to write for a long time. How similar? Here’s some of the examples that really jumped out at us below. And I was really surprised to see some of the things that we had in mind for our Thundercats story more or less turn up in the new show. For example:
The Reptilians
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[li]In our story, the main antagonists are the reptilian mutants, led by Slithor; Slithe’s nephew (and whom I also get my screen name from). In the years during the actual show, the tenuous alliance between the different mutant species on Plun-Darr broke-down and degenerated into full-blown war. When it was over, the Reptilians had won, with the other mutant races having been all but exterminated. However, the war nearly reduced Plun-Darr to ruin with the Reptilians having little to show for their victory and feeling very demoralized. Slithor then reinvigorates his people by saying that now that the other mutant races are defeated, they are now free to conquer the rest of the galaxy as before. So much like the WWII-era dictators like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, Slithor goes about taking his demoralized civilization and turning it into a war machine bent on conquest. To this end he abandons the primitive weapons that the mutants had been using in the old show, like clubs and maces, and outfits them with more modern laser rifles. In one scene, there is a major battle involving a new generation of Mutanks. And the epic Battle for Third Earth would have even had them using their Plun-Darrian war robots on the battlefield.[/li][/ul]
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[li]In the new show, the mutant species that are most prominently featured are the reptilians. It is hinted that they are a somewhat oppressed, and demoralized people. And while it’s not made explicit yet, it can be theorized that Mumm-Ra may have gotten the reptilians to follow him under the promise that he would help rid them of the Thunderians. When they first attack Thundera, they lull the Thunderians into a false sense of security by using primitive weapons like clubs and fireball-launching catapults (a possible call-out to the ep “Fireballs of Castle Plun-Darr”) When they return and mount their real attack, they come back with laser rifles, mechs and tanks.[/li][/ul]
Cheetara and the Clerics
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[li]In our story, we introduced a character named Felina; one of an order of powerful magic-using Thunderians called the Mystics. We realized that there was never any such character among the Thundercats in the original show, and felt it would be a good idea to introduce one. In our backstory, it was the Mystics who, in Thundera’s distant past, created the Eye of Thundera and put it into the Sword of Omens; thus giving the first Lord of the Thundercats the power to unite the warring clans. Up until Felina’s introduction, the Mystics had been the stuff of legend as they had not been seen for generations. But it turns out that they had only been in seclusion all this time (and that the character of Jagara was one of them as well).[/li][/ul]
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[li]In the new show, both Jaga and Cheetara are part of an order of Clerics who are shown to be guardians of the Sword of Omens, and it’s strongly hinted that they may have even more to do with Thundera’s past history. Claudus also says that it was the Thundercats who brought peace to Third Earth in the distant past. And while we don’t see it here, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Cheetara working some powerful magic spells later on like we imagined Felina would do.[/li][/ul]
The Climax
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[li]The climax of the first “book” of our story (We had planned the story out in the form of five “books.” We were that ambitious.) has the Reptilians, led by Slithor, invading New Thundera and infiltrating the palace just after Lion-O’s marriage to another new character we created named Ocelli - whom my fiancee gets her screen name from. They incapacitate everyone with Thundranium gas. And Slithor plants a bomb at the Great Gyroscope that he hopes will make the planet fly apart again.[/li][/ul]
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[li]In the show, the Reptilians, led by Slythe, infiltrate the Thunderian palace/Cats’ Lair during a celebration by means of a Trojan Horse gambit. They end up destroying the palace with guided missiles and mines, and Slythe also remotely detonates a charge that destroys a bridge, much like we had Slithor wanting to detonate his bomb. The only difference is that Slythe was successful and Slithor isn’t.[/li][/ul]
So maybe it’s just my imagination, but it just seems really weird that some of our ideas for our own Thundercats story sort of made their way into this show. Granted, much of the direction of our story was very different as it leaned more heavily on the Space Opera aspects (the biggest influences being of course Star Wars as well as Star Blazers, Babylon 5, the 1980 Flash Gordon movie and the old Battlestar Galactica). But it was still eerie to see some of the other things we had planned turn up in the new show. In any case, it’s one hell of a coincidence.
