Thundercat by today's standards

[aaronw80]

Does anyone else think that some of the story lines in Thundercats could have had just a little more depth?

Don't get me wrong, I love TC, but sometimes, even as I child I would think that there was just something missing. Like Liono, he grew up overnight (from his prospective) but they hardly even touched on that. He was like "Oh, I'm a grown up now, cool" which is how he should have reacted, at first. But don't you think after he had time to think about it, it would be a little traumatic for a little boy to suddenly wake up and be 30?

He never went through puberty, never grew into the body he suddenly finds himself in. Wouldn't you think he'd be more like a scared child? Wouldn't he have the education, and then mentality of a child?

And speaking of education. It seems that they didn't have much of that on their homeworld. No one tried to teach Liono, or the twins, anything beyond training them to fight! No wonder their wold blew up, if the only thing they learn is how to fight!

Then there's the mutants, who are apparently just born evil? There's no explanation for why they hate the Thundercats. The same goes with Mummra, who again seems to be evil just because.

And of course love never even seemed to enter the picture. There was hardly even a hint that anyone was interested in the ONLY female left of their species(as far as they knew)! It seems odd that this never created tension between the the group! Of course that might have something to do with the fact that they apparently didn't have gentiles (as we can see in the first ep) and therefore just don't think about stuff like that.

Wow, now that I think about it while they were on that ship the man in charge of them all had them all running around naked. They'd all apparently been castrated. They worshiped him like as their savor. And they all go to sleep waiting for their "new world" to come....umm yeah, I don't think I'll be drinking any cool aid made by the creators of that show!!!

But anyway, in the end Thundercats was great for it's time, but I don't think it would hold up to today's standards. Kids today don't just except the concept of evil just for the sake of being evil. They like story to go with their action, and sometimes, they don't even need the fighting.

Take Avatar. Sometimes there were entire episodes where there were no fights at all, and the children still sat with their eyes glued to the screen. They like shows that don't treat them like they just wouldn't understand if they make things more complicated than good vs bad.

But what do you think? Looking back on Thrundracs from today's prospective, if you'd never seen it, and it came on TV now, would you be a fan?

[Deninator94]

Thundercats is probably the greatest show of it's decade next to Transformers,Vultron, & some others. But I can kind of agree with you. The show is supposably to be revolved around Lyon-O and Cheetara and the older Thundercats which is good the show is revolved around them during there adult age, BUT!!! as you were saying they could of went back and described there early past. But the show does balance it out a little bit having two younger characters, Wily Kit and WilyKat!!!

[MacGyver]

I loved the ThunderCats as a kid in the '80s and I still love it now. I daresay most kids that have a chance to watch it today enjoy it as well. That seems to have been my experience with people I know.

_________________
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." - Jesus (John 14:6)

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver

"Thunder...Thunder....Thunder...ThunderCats...HOOOO!!!!!!"- Lion-O

[TSHARKfan1]

that was in insult to me, where those 2 weren't allowed to mature, the same as Lion-O. SCREW THAT.

[DenAirZel]

Thundercats is probably the greatest show of it's decade next to Transformers,Vultron, & some others. But I can kind of agree with you. The show is supposably to be revolved around Lyon-O and Cheetara and the older Thundercats which is good the show is revolved around them during there adult age, BUT!!! as you were saying they could of went back and described there early past. But the show does balance it out a little bit having two younger characters, Wily Kit and WilyKat!!!

[LepricahnsGold]

But, if they age in those cryo pods, wouldn't WillyKit and WillyKat be older? Wouldn't the other cats age and be middle aged?

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"Oh, those kids are after me Lucky Charms!" - Lucky

[dan_sedulous]

from what i remember the space capsules slowed down aging, but did not halt it completely. now why lion-o's capsule was the only one to malfunction......tough luck i guess.

http://thundercats.wikia.com/wiki/Lion-O

[MacGyver]

A ThunderCats Wiki! Awesome! Thanks for the link.

_________________
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." - Jesus (John 14:6)

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver

"Thunder...Thunder....Thunder...ThunderCats...HOOOO!!!!!!"- Lion-O

[He-Man Prime-O]

ThunderCats like many 80's cartoons were aimed at young kids. Romance etc. wsn't part of their world and so it wasn't in the cartoons.

The little character development and simple storylines half the time were basically there to sell toys. Look at Voltron or He-Man, the most popular parts of the episode were when the heroes transformed. I recently watched an episode where Voltron went through the whole "forming" process 4 times. Without this the episode probably would have gone for under 10 minutes...

So maybe to answer the question is yes kids would still love the shows, but adults wouldn't have. Which is why Masters of the Universe were rebooted with better stories in 2002 and the new ThunderCats will be just as good and have strong storylines for the older fans and try and grab newer ones...

[MacGyver]

[He-Man Prime-O]

[quote="MacGyver"][quote]So maybe to answer the question is yes kids would still love the shows, but adults wouldn't have. Which is why Masters of the Universe were rebooted with better stories in 2002 and the new ThunderCats will be just as good and have strong storylines for the older fans and try and grab newer ones...[/quote]
This makes me wonder though- who are these new cartoons really aimed at? Is it strictly at children of today or is at the children of the '80s who grew up and still enjoy watching nostalgic takes on the cartoons of their youth- or more than likely, both? Does that kind of approach work to fully reach and connect with both generations? Maybe more kids' cartoons today generally tend to be a little deeper? (At least as far as the action-oriented cartoons go.)[/quote]

Good question MacG.. I think the shows are probably more aimed at those who are already fans of the previous incarnation, and want a more mature version.

However in saying that I think today's kids with more access to information via the internet, interactive cable television and with new technolgies like iPads etc. I think they'll probably understand it a little better than what we did when we were kids. So I think some of the concepts may go over their heads, they'll still enjoy the show and bring a new audience to the franchise much like the live action Transformers and Animated did for the Transformer's franchise.

[MacGyver]

True, true- good points, He-Man Prime-O.

_________________
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." - Jesus (John 14:6)

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver

"Thunder...Thunder....Thunder...ThunderCats...HOOOO!!!!!!"- Lion-O

[Vaporman87]

I was a fan of TC back in the day, though it was probably on my B list of must watch cartoons. If MOTU, GI Joe, or Transformers wasn't on, I'd be sure to catch TC.

But now I'm a bigger fan I think. Partly due to the graciousness of the people behind the show, and their appreciation of the fans.

Larry Kenney (Lion-O) in particular is just awesome. Recently he lent his Lion-O voice to a cameo/bonus scene I am working on adding to our Halloween Special this year, and he didn't charge me a dime for it (though I offered to pay him). Just an awesome guy.

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RetroDaze

[MacGyver]

Very cool story about Larry Kenney! Thanks for sharing. ThunderCats was always a top cartoon for me, along with G.I. Joe particularly along with Transformers. (Never got into Masters of the Universe though.)
It is always good to see shows that really appreciate their fans.

_________________
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." - Jesus (John 14:6)

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver

"Thunder...Thunder....Thunder...ThunderCats...HOOOO!!!!!!"- Lion-O

[IceDragon]

[Vaporman87]

[MacGyver]

Nice! Does this mean either Michael Knight or Mitch Buchannon are possibly appearing in it?
(I seem to recall hearing talks of both a Knight Rider and Baywatch movie in the past. I'd still love to see David Hasselhoff do both. I'm particularly interested the most in Knight Rider though- LOVE that series! Watched it as a kid and still love watching it now when I can.)

_________________
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." - Jesus (John 14:6)

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver

"Thunder...Thunder....Thunder...ThunderCats...HOOOO!!!!!!"- Lion-O

[Vaporman87]

[MacGyver]

Nice.

_________________
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me." - Jesus (John 14:6)

"You can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it."- MacGyver

"Thunder...Thunder....Thunder...ThunderCats...HOOOO!!!!!!"- Lion-O

[thinice]

I did not watch it much when first aired. Bought the DVD sets and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the episodes.

When the new series started a few years back I thought cool but quickly found out the old 1980's series was more fun for me to watch.