/r/Thundercats
Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats - HO!
ThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions (the same that created the SilverHawks, TigerSharks and The Comic Strip) debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens. The animation was provided by Pacific Animation Corporation. Season 1 of the show aired in 1985 (65 episodes), followed by a TV movie entitled ThunderCats - HO! in 1986. Seasons 2, 3 and 4 followed a new format of twenty episodes each, starting with a five-part story.
Spoilers can be posted using the following formatting:
[Snarf is Lion-O's nanny.](/spoiler)
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Posts containing spoilers without using the above method (except in clearly labelled threads) should be reported.
/r/Thundercats
It hit me in episode 2, where Lion-O first fights Muum-Raa. There's no music in the background, it's quite weird.
I already know of the 1985 series because it's the one I grew up with on tape. But I've only just found out about 2 other thundercats series, and I'd just like to know when they came out so I can add it to the research I'm doing on thundercats. The Internet is giving me so many dates.
This question is related to another post of mine right here at this subreddit.
Recently events just kind of got me moping about the cancellation of the 2011 Thundercats reboot.
My understanding is that the reboot was well-received, and even had high viewership numbers (wikipedia). And its cancellation was because the show failed to inspire sufficient tie-in toy sales.
This made me wonder about "successful" American animated shows versus the fate that befell Thundercats 2011.
The easiest comparison that comes to my mind is Avatar: The Last Airbender; the late, great Nickelodeon show. In my eyes, that show was tonally, thematically similar to Thundercats 2011: both shows were self-serious (i.e. they took their characters and plotlines seriously, not winking at the audience through the fourth wall), visually beautiful, and told a serialized story with a smattering of standalone episodes.
What were the economics that allowed Avatar: The Last Airbender to "survive" to tell its entire intended story that Thundercats 2011 failed to achieve? Obviously, not every show/animation is or can be supported by tie-in toy sales, and I never really saw much in the way of tie-in toys related to Avatar...so what did it do to survive? Why did Thundercats 2011 need (or decide) to go the route of "needing" the support of tie-in toy sales to be "successful" if there are presumably other ways?
What a damn shame that show didn't get a chance to run through to its conclusion. I love it when reboots crash and burn if they're disrespectful to their source material...but I thought Thundercats 2011 was reverent and respectful of the great 80s era original. I've dreamt dozens of times of some miraculous confluence of events that coerces WB's executives to continue the show...but I'm sure any possibility of that has long, long since passed. 😢
I recently posted over at r/dune, cautious optimism about HBO Max's (I refuse to call it it's clownish new name, "Max") new Dune: The Prophecy show.
I am cautious because Warner Bros has been on a tear of fuckuppery the past several years: Velma (🤮), the cancellation of Batgirl, and their general ineptitude over handling the DC film universe.
Although this was before David Zaslav's reign of evil, I'll still never forgive WB for cancelling the 2011 Thundercats reboot.
In my assessment of our modern, reboot-obsessed movie/tv era, most reboots at best fail to justify themselves, but are mostly just plain awful. But I thought the 2011 Thundercats paid respectful tribute to the great original, which in turn earned it my respect. If there's one thing I hate, it's a reboot that disrespects its inspiration. Anyhow, I thought the 2011 show was well-written, stunningly beautiful, visually, and self-serious.
I haven't explored this subreddit much yet, but I will, because I'm curious to learn what the general community's feeling is.
I can't help but notice, in this streaming era we live in, where streaming channels are a dime-a-dozen, dozens and dozens of low-rated, barely-seen, or outright universally-hated garbage seem to get multiple-season orders.
...which brings me to my question: could the 2011 reboot have survived (to tell its full intended story, which I believe was planned to span 3 seasons) had it come out deeper into the streaming era?
I mean, I get the impression that the streaming houses just want to generate content, regardless of quality...they just want to churn out content en masse, spurting out multiple seasons of low-rated/barely watched shows. By my own impression and the general consensus,as reported on Wikipedia, Thundercats 2011 was actually well-reviewed and well-received. Surely that would have warranted multiple seasons and/or a chance to tell its complete, intended story by one of these streaming houses, presumably HBO Max, no?
Got this at a carboot in England but not sure if it’s real
Hello all! I posted yesterday that high res image of Exodus I edited. About a decade ago I was at the mall and snagged this awesome poster and could not find this artwork high resolution. Maybe someone else is interested so I wanted to share it here! Enjoy! :)
I am a Graphic Designer and my favorite key art from Thundercats will always be from Exodus. Online it is hard to find a high resolution image. Look no further, this is perfect for a phone background. I cleaned the image up a bit. Zoom in if you are skeptical, enjoy! :)