What would YOU do different?

Cartoons ThunderCats (2011)
1

This is just a thread to discuss what you would do different for this reboot working from the 2011 series. There are so much discussion in so many threads about what could be better, what they should have done etc etc.

And it’s not what “your reboot would be” but rather how “they should have made the 2011 series” if that makes sense. Don´t get me wrong, i have huge respect for the show as i really loved it for what it was trying to be.

My opinion:

I said this in another thread but i’ll post it here also. I think the show started with a to big of a bang and then it slowed down too quickly. I think it would have been better if the show started like it did, with Jaga talking about the “Prophecy” that someone would come and defeat the evil then seeing the stonetablet the shows Mumm-Ra. After that (skipping the flashback scnes from Season one) having the show start of when they are kids, build Thundera up, build the characters up mostly from the ground (storywise, not structuralwise). I dont mean that every episode should take place in Thundera. But that’s the “main base” for season one. The now first episode of the NS would be the last episodes of season one and season two would be where the search for the stones start. This for me just seems like a better setup for a toy driven show which then gets a “following” and can branch out in it’s other later seasons.

2

I would make a lot of it basically the same as far as characterization and overall theme, but here are a few things I would change:

-Spend more time building a foundation and setting up the story before going on adventures.
-Make the show less episodic (conflict is not resolved at the end of each episode and continues throughout the series).
-More fighting scenes, but not too many. A little more action would be nice.
-It should be less bipolar when it comes to target audience. It seemed as if the NS at some points couldn’t decide if it wanted to be aimed at kids or teens/young adults. Though I think it stayed more towards the latter, I would rather it be more definite. If it were up to me, I would have it be even more mature than it was as far as complex themes and action, but a more accessible approach may be better as far as marketing and ratings.
-Less single character focus episodes and more time spent working as a team.
-Less side villains/antagonists and more focus on Mumm-Ra and the other mutants.

What I wouldn’t change are these:

-Character design/voice acting. I enjoyed both a lot in the NS, though I felt Lion-O should have more blue on his outfit.
-Characterization. I believe they did a good job with it instead of making them the same as the OS. Plus Kaynar was just awesome.
-The actual story. It did have a good story behind it.

3

Agree with all Rizefall and Hammy have said.
All I would change would be.
-Stick to the OS mythos (Thundera as a planet)
-I would also have the character designs resemble the OS.
-More OS characters…especially all of those that were made as toys, Safari Joe, Shiner, Cracker, Hachi-Man, Turmagar etc.
-Have a few episodes on Thundera before the destruction of Thundera/Exodus.
-A couple episodes about the journey to Third Earth.
-Have them explore and make home on third earth.
-Over various episodes have them learn more about third earth, its in habitants and locations etc.
-Have the second season about an epic quest to defeat Mumm-Ra and his army.

4

My version… a contemporary remake instead of a reboot!

Where do I begin? Oh dear, oh dear…

If I was to create brand new ThunderCats, I wouldn’t experiment with renovations and radically new directions. The original recipe worked flawlessly once and there was never a second attempt for us to learn from its mistakes. Given the huge gap without any new ThunderCats show for almost 30 years, I would definitely focus on a remake rather than a reboot.

The main issue with a franchise that has been left in limbo for so many years is the risk of acceptance by both the parents (who are previous, nostalgic viewers) and their children. And that’s what’s keeping an old idea rolling all about: guaranteed audience in favor of nostalgia.

Parents who are nostalgic about a franchise, would be enthusiastic about having their children watch a revamped show and play with its toyline just like they did in their age. It’s a natural thing. Children also enjoy endorsement from their parents, as they tend (or learn) to agree with their views.

No matter how great something is, what matters is the first (not literally) impression. I would rather call it the “surface impression”. What is surface impression? The impression a franchise (children’s show in this case) gives from its aesthetics (mainly), its toyline, its merchandise and a quick view of a trailer or segments of an episode.

I wouldn’t want to analyze what went wrong with the 2011 ThunderCats once again but it relates to the topic, so I will sum it up: parents received a very “foreign object” impression against their stereotype of the original ThunderCats, making them negative about it. In addition to a mediocre toyline, without parental endorsement, the youth wasn’t quite interested in something as bogus as “cat humanoids fighting a muscular mummy”.

The aforementioned idea is nothing without the whole recipe of the classic series. It sounds quite random and generic for someone who does not acknowledge the ThunderCats. Without the original “magic” that was the whole package, the basic idea stands weak outside the hardcore fan circles. Just like myself who, strangely enough, I’m a fan of the 2011 series.

So, back to the topic, what I would have done if I was head of department, director, creator, responsible anyway? I would remake the original series from scratch but it would be completely true to its classic counterpart.

Basically, the ThunderCats cosmos would be the same. Planet Thundera being destroyed, the elite of the thunderian race survives along with the Eye and their young lord, Lion-O. They land on planet Earth (then called Third Earth, maybe 5000 AD) and they face Mumm-Ra, blah blah. As for the characters, their clothing and their design, I would leave as-was. So what would make the show interesting and not quite a reheated meal? EVERYTHING!

First of all, while keeping the exact same looks, the characters would follow a contemporary, cutting edge design. Sleek, hi-def animation should make the series pleasing for all generations of viewers. Some may criticize the aesthetics of the original show as outdated but that’s very wrong. Superman, Spider-Man and pretty much every superhero, although going through changes, the eventually followed design is the unchanged original with contemporary design lines.

As for the story, it would completely expand the original. Instead of making up a brand new universe, I would explain every single aspect. Every character will have a backstory, there would be much less confusion. Mumm-Ra should be shown to have a first-Earth Egyptian background, how he ended up being how he is (probably asleep from 4000 BC till ~2500 AD when he ruined the planet), how he knew about the Eye of Thundera… and what the Eye actually is! Not to mention that the Kittens are adults, just a smaller, mischievous race of Thunderians.

The possibilities of expanding (and cleaning up the inconsistencies, 80s silliness :liono and mistakes) are endless in the case of the ThunderCats. What would also be a big bonus with such a remake is the possibility of a continuation to the ThunderCats saga, after Mumm-Ra was defeated in the final episode of the original series. This could be redone at some point of the remake and fans of the original would one day have a proper sequel to the original series! Additionally they would easily watch any episode with virtually no need for an induction.

Last but not least, actually essentially, I would do my best to acquire the rights to Bernard Hoffer’s original score or even hire him for re-arrangements. A really big proportion of the original series’ success happened to have come from the highly atmospheric and emotional soundtrack.

There was a background theme for numerous characters and situations, with a beautiful mix of classical, rock and ambient music. In a modern series, having those cues performed by a classical orchestra would completely wake-up the ThunderCat in adults and mesmerize their children :slight_smile:

I would like to end my post with a conclusive and wishful image:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/426132_336201903146574_1862788520_n.jpg

5

I~ would say that my goal for the series would be to appeal to both the old and new school.

-I would want it to keep the audience around 7 to 10 and right on up, but I wouldn’t make it cheesy by making these cringing moments or make certain issues tacky.
-I would consider the characters to have a wardrobe change, which I found a lot of the character designs for them to be as wonderful as they are for the NS, particularly Tygra’s. Well, I would DEFINITELY redesign the female characters.
-I would say keep to the original backstory since space age stuff sells hot as far as toys are concerned. Fantasy/space age balance was what makes the series wonderful for both!
-I would do each a backstory with character depth, if a group of people were able to put their heads together for ideas, where one particular character would be like to a certain individual viewer “Hey, he/she is like me and he/she has some hang-ups/strengths like me that I identify with.”
-I would consider to have tension amongst the cats and comparing to how effective the villains work as a team and help work out the glitches and personality conflicts that the Thundercats has with each other for season 1. Cliche, but a necessary and realistic lesson in life. Season 2 I would make it darker and darker until 3.
-Villain interaction. Cruelty and scheming, but in a snarky, sarcastic way.
-I’m a stupid chick, so I am a sucker for parodies. I would sneak in some pop culture references for the old school and the younger generation for laughs. Comedy sells well and people like laughing, or should. Clever puns written by some clever writers

6

First of all, i think that i once made a thread with the same idea

Second, i know that some of you would view my changes as changes that would ruin the show, but still, hear me out:

I would make it so the series wasn’t so hard on Lion-O and so sympathetic on the other characters.

I would make it so that the whole “Lion-O wasn’t taking his royal duties seriously” thing was just what everyone thought but in reality he took it very seriously, it was just that everything he did wasn’t considered good enough (I think that’s much less harsh on the young lion than just saying that he was goofing off)

I would have made it so that Tygra and Cheetara’s romance did not include Lion-O only to have him be the one who gets hurt.

I would not have made Tygra into a jealous jerk only to make him seem like such a admirable guy with a tragic backstory, from where i stand, he doesn’t deserve any sympathy after the way he treats Lion-O. Or, at the very least, make it so that Tygra gets his comeuppance after he mistreats somebody.

I would have made it so that Lion-O rarely had to fix a mistake that he caused

I would have made it so that Lion-O wasn’t blamed for every little thing and was actually given the proper gratitude when he’s trying to help someone (instead of getting chastised when he’s trying to free certain ungrateful Cats who he would have probably been better off just leaving, since they never showed him any gratitude)

I would have either allowed Lion-O to have a love interest or otherwise just not have him be actively seeking one at all. Not have him feel like he’s found love, only for him to get hurt for no reason.

7

I’m again also a fan of the 2011 series overall, but as said i think the show would have been more successful (not BETTER, it could have been but what ever) if it really was a remake sort of. I really love the “NS design” of the old Lion-O that you posted Slump, damn it looks good.

I can’t remember how the NS He-Man performed. I think it failed later on, but that show was a remake. Most characters looked the same but it was just a “new version”. Thundercats NS is a whole other show, a whole other Thundercats.

What i dont like though are their costumes. I don´t mean this word by word but to me it just looks gay. I also did not really like the “generic” armor they had in the NS. Something more unique would suffice.

8

Also 2002 He-Man was a reboot. The story was very unique, not as altered as of the 2011 ThunderCats’ but still quite different than the original. It tried to explain things but it ruined them for many, resulting in Mattel creating new stories for the MOTUC line packages (Keldor didn’t turn into Skeletor from acidic burns, he was fused with a demon instead). Also the designs were completely rebooted and the majority of the fans of the original were disappointed.

9

I would also like to see the Cats change through the series, be it outfits to growing longer hair or beards etc.
I remember in an interview Dan Norton or someone said the Thundercats would evolve and change during the series and this never came about…except Lion-O ended up with a bigger claw shield.

10

…and Panthro turned into Robocop. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

Yes that was a drastically bad idea.

12

Was it really THAT bad? It seems like a good show, and people just whining cause of nostalgia. But then again they are the fans and if you they dont like it. Something is wrong.

13

The Mike Young Productions Masters of the Universe series was and continues to be highly-regarded by fans. It functions as both a reboot and a prequel, further developing concepts introduced in the source material while following the continuity of the original series very closely. The Masters of the Universe Classics biographies on the other hand, were written to justify as many characters as possible, diverging wildly from the source material and the original continuity, and are very poorly-regarded by the vast majority of fans. Not to mention that the Masters of the Universe Classics characters designs share elements with the Mike Young Productions Masters of the Universe character designs, and that both versions of Masters of the Universe have the same designers. I am not certain how you arrived at this characterization but it is entirely inaccurate.

14

I liked the Mike Young He-Man series…I thought it was great how they explored each character and explained Eternia’s history etc. I even liked The New Adventures series.

15

i thought the 2002 He-Man and the masters of the universe series was highly entertaining and i think it appealed to the OS fans too. i heard the problem came from the toy production and how there were so many variations of same characters and not enough of other characters from the series.

16

The problem was that Mattel over-produced the He-Man and Skeletor variants in the third assortment, making the case ratios 2:1 He-Man and Skeletor variants to secondary characters. Even though consumers purchased each of the figures in the assortment, the over-production of He-Man and Skeletor variants left retailers with figures they could not sell, so they did not order new product. Mattel decided there was no sense in continuing to produce an animated series to promote a product line that it could not move, so it cancelled the show at the end of season two.

17

I liked the MOTU 2002 vesion even more than the 80s series, and I was a big fan of it then.

18

Yep a good toy line ruined by Mattel’s stupidity…although in all honesty the 200X toys were a bit odd designed (proportion wise) and were not very playable compared to other toy lines at the time, but the terrible distribution did the most damage to the line.

19

The 2002 He-Man show looks quite good. Dunno how fans can’t like it as it seems to pay much homage to the original compared to TC. Like Keldor being Skeletor and such which was hinted to in the original.

I even tried to go to he-man.org forum to ask them or rather just read what they think about the show. But i can’t register cause the site does not want user to register with a @hotmail.com, @live.se or @yahoo.com mails.

20

Lion-O should have had bigger hair. They should not have been teenagers, the little mark under thier eyes was missing and to me it is very essential. The power stones thing was just plain stupid. Panthro should be bald and not a bumbling fool with robotic arms.