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I watched some of the original series a few months ago and I was struck with the fact that the animation was average, the voice acting was daft, the setting was bizarre and never made sense and the storylines were thin even for a kids tv series from the 80s.

You really make more out of those shows in your memories than they ever were.

I don't really agree with the idea that this series being animated in a modern style with the current visual flourishes of anime influence showing thorugh is in any way a betrayal of the original; it's just a modern interpretation of an older story, something that Hollywood does all the time.

If anything the new take on this version seems to have more drama, better character design and a better realised world for the story to take place in...but if you don't like then don't watch.

Personally I don't like what Michael Bay did to the Transformers, but the box office figures and sequels seem to disagree with me!

I haven't seen Panthro in this, he was my favorite seeing as though he was the guy with the know how about the tank they had.

The one thing I liked about it was the lack of a seriously long storyline that makes a cartoon a cartoon. I don't like most animes because of the fact that they are more or less an animated soap opera and cartoons were purely for entertainment.

halonachos wrote:I haven't seen Panthro in this, he was my favorite seeing as though he was the guy with the know how about the tank they had.

Panthro has been confirmed.

DAMN YOU CARTOON NETWORK!

Well this thread just kicked my fond childhood cartoon memories right in the bollocks.

I thought Thunder Cats was terrible, even as a kid. The animation was so bad, that even watching it at that age, not generally noticing such things, I remember thinking to myself, "Man, this animation sucks!" There were so many other cartoons on that completely blew it away. I never really got why some people were so into it. Cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pirates of Dark Water, and X-Men were and are so much better than Thunder Cats, I don't even know why anyone still cares about the original show.

I liked the new He-Man that Cartoon Network did, and in all honesty, this remake of Thunder Cats is reasonably likely to be a lot better than the original. Bring on the new one, I say.

bah, get over it. The big names in TV will do anything to draw attention, even if that means ruining a perfectly good show (spongebob, scooby doo, odddparents, what-have-you, to name a few). It's a fact of life. Look at hawaii 5-0!

If I recall correctly, in the (original series) pilot episode everyone was walking around naked yet had no genitalia to speak of. When they woke up on the crashed planet they put on some clothes. Even for a kid that comes off as odd.

I think you can almost guarantee that the writing will be better in this version just because the network poohbahs now realize that teens and older folks will watch a decently-done cartoon. Whereas the original was completely focused on marketing toys to 9 year olds. Animation skews a little older these days, even with the stuff that's intended for kids. Super Friends vs. Justice League.

People are remembering stuff that wasn't ever there. I remember the first time I saw original Galactica reruns on the Sci-Fi Network. I remembered that show as being cool as heck, but was horrified how bad it was. Seventies cheesiness and special effects aside, it wasn't well-acted and wasn't as well-written as I remembered it. Half the plots were ripped off of other shows/movies/stories.

gorgon wrote:I think you can almost guarantee that the writing will be better in this version just because the network poohbahs now realize that teens and older folks will watch a decently-done cartoon. Whereas the original was completely focused on marketing toys to 9 year olds. Animation skews a little older these days, even with the stuff that's intended for kids. Super Friends vs. Justice League.

People are remembering stuff that wasn't ever there. I remember the first time I saw original Galactica reruns on the Sci-Fi Network. I remembered that show as being cool as heck, but was horrified how bad it was. Seventies cheesiness and special effects aside, it wasn't well-acted and wasn't as well-written as I remembered it. Half the plots were ripped off of other shows/movies/stories.

Basically this

Hordini wrote:I thought Thunder Cats was terrible, even as a kid. The animation was so bad, that even watching it at that age, not generally noticing such things, I remember thinking to myself, "Man, this animation sucks!" There were so many other cartoons on that completely blew it away. I never really got why some people were so into it. Cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pirates of Dark Water, and X-Men were and are so much better than Thunder Cats, I don't even know why anyone still cares about the original show.

I liked the new He-Man that Cartoon Network did, and in all honesty, this remake of Thunder Cats is reasonably likely to be a lot better than the original. Bring on the new one, I say.

To be fair to the original, the more dynamic series that you mention were made late in the 80s and early 90s when there was a shift away from the style of heroic and moralistic series like He Man, Brave Starr and Thundercats to a more (I can't believe I'm saying this about cartoons) "gritty" style that was aimed at a slightly older audience and benefited from better animation and writing.

Never liked Thundercats.

SWAT Kats, now THAT was the show!

Bitchin'

I got your swat cats beat.



Anybody remember this. Hip hop frogs man. HIP HOP FROGS!

If they set that Thundercats free!

FITZZ wrote:

DickBandit wrote:I wonder why that is (anime style animation).
I've been watching the 2003 TMNT series and it seems to stay mostly Western style and does it very well. Making Shredder's upper body badly disproportional to accent his evil and all encompassing power!

I've no idea why the style is so widely used, perhaps it's a percieved popularity of the style, perhaps it's more "cost effective"...I honestly don't know.
But I will say that I for one miss "Western style" animation.

Because Anime is the grunge of animation currently...

It's just that for a long time the best cartoons were anime. You can't compare the old GI joe and Transformers cartoons to Battle of the planets, star blazers or Robotech.

Andrew1975 wrote:You can't compare the old GI joe and Transformers cartoons to Battle of the planets, star blazers or Robotech.

Hilarious, considering that both shows were done by Sunbow, whose animation was produced by Toei Animation. Some of you may have heard of some of Toei's other works: Cyborg 009, Devilman, Mazinger, Cutie Honey, Getter Robo, Captain Harlock, Beast King GoLion(more famous as Voltron), Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya(Knights of the Zodiac), Sailor Moon, the list goes on.

That's right folks, Transformers is technically Anime!

Well what cartoons aren't made in Asia? Even the Simpsons it technically anime if country of production is all that matters.

This thread reminds me why I don't like interacting with this community on the subject of cartoons, animation, or anything art related. Neckbeards rarely do anything but whine about animu and remember when they were a child and things were cool.

For every show like the transformers there is a dozen shows like the gobots. For every show like the animaniacs/pinky and the brain there are a dozen shows like the mighty morphing power rangers.

Thats right kids. Someone just said transformers was well written.

Andrew1975 wrote:Well what cartoons aren't made in Asia? Even the Simpsons it technically anime if country of production is all that matters.

No, Simpsons is finalized in Asia. Korean studios clean up and assemble already drawn cartoons.

My point was Transformers is a Japanese series as much as it is American, hence why the series continued in Japan(twice as long as in America, actually) through the Headmasters, Masterforce, and Zone seasons and not America when Sunbow ran out of money. The anime influence seeps through once Marvel and Sunbow are out of the picture.

Platuan4th wrote:

Andrew1975 wrote:Well what cartoons aren't made in Asia? Even the Simpsons it technically anime if country of production is all that matters.

No, Simpsons is finalized in Asia. Korean studios clean up and assemble already drawn cartoons.

My point was Transformers is a Japanese series as much as it is American, hence why the series continued in Japan(twice as long as in America, actually) through the Headmasters, Masterforce, and Zone seasons and not America when Sunbow ran out of money. The anime influence seeps through once Marvel and Sunbow are out of the picture.

That show was pretty damn anime from its inception.

I don't even know if I'd call that anime style animation. More like the anime-western Hybrid that's been popping up more and more (Avatar is an example).

Don't know why anyone would whine about anime animations anymore than other animation styles.

ShumaGorath wrote:

Platuan4th wrote:

Andrew1975 wrote:Well what cartoons aren't made in Asia? Even the Simpsons it technically anime if country of production is all that matters.

No, Simpsons is finalized in Asia. Korean studios clean up and assemble already drawn cartoons.

My point was Transformers is a Japanese series as much as it is American, hence why the series continued in Japan(twice as long as in America, actually) through the Headmasters, Masterforce, and Zone seasons and not America when Sunbow ran out of money. The anime influence seeps through once Marvel and Sunbow are out of the picture.

That show was pretty damn anime from its inception.

No doubt.

It gets even more so later until the point that Zone is barely recognizable as coming from the first 3 "American" seasons.

I can't wait until July 12 when Shout releases the Japanese seasons with new more accurate subtitles.

I didn't think Zone got an anime. I thought it was Headmasters, Masterforce and then Victory.

Tried watching one episode of Headmasters "Four Warriors Come Out of the Sky!" unfortunately it was the Omni dub, and I just couldn't sit through it. That dub is a large reason why I tend to go for subs/fansubs whenever possible now. That, and Ikari Shinji's voice actor screams being so much better in the Japanese than the dub.

chaplaingrabthar wrote:I didn't think Zone got an anime. I thought it was Headmasters, Masterforce and then Victory.

You're right. For some reason, I always mess up Zone and Victory in my head.

Why don't they just re-run Kimba and be done with it?

schadenfreude wrote:Quality writing is rarely seen in any television, and it's even more uncommon in children's television. For every show like the transformers there is a dozen shows like the gobots. For every show like the animaniacs/pinky and the brain there are a dozen shows like the mighty morphing power rangers.

That being said thundercats like many childhood memories are awesome because they are a childhood memory, not because the show was any damn good. Can anybody explain to me what kind of quality writing was in thundercats? I think the odds of the writing in the new show being worse than the old are about the same as it being better. No matter how much things change things often remain the same.

Wait you think Transformers had good writing?

Frazzled wrote:

schadenfreude wrote:Quality writing is rarely seen in any television, and it's even more uncommon in children's television. For every show like the transformers there is a dozen shows like the gobots. For every show like the animaniacs/pinky and the brain there are a dozen shows like the mighty morphing power rangers.

That being said thundercats like many childhood memories are awesome because they are a childhood memory, not because the show was any damn good. Can anybody explain to me what kind of quality writing was in thundercats? I think the odds of the writing in the new show being worse than the old are about the same as it being better. No matter how much things change things often remain the same.

Wait you think Transformers had good writing?

For a 1980's network cartoon? yes I do but the bar is set really low and I would only go as far as saying good, not great. My complement to the writers of transformers is like a bronze medal at the special olympics.

Platuan4th wrote:

halonachos wrote:I haven't seen Panthro in this, he was my favorite seeing as though he was the guy with the know how about the tank they had.

Panthro has been confirmed.

Ok, I'll wait till the dude who said "Snarf" all the time is shown before I make my judgement.

He (or a creature that looks like him) is at about 55 seconds in the OP's video. He was also on a TV spot I saw the other day.