![]() It was very well received and highly praised by all. The pilot episode, titled “Exodus,” was broadcast on January 23, 1985. The completed animation would then be sent back to the United States for editing before being broadcast. The character voices and music for each episode were recorded in the United States, and the recordings, along with notes and directions were sent to Japan to be animated. The task of animating the ThunderCats was assigned to the Japanese company Pacific Animation Corporation (PAC), headed by Masaki Iizuka. (The characters whose voices they provided are credited below.)Īs was the case with earlier Rankin/Bass animated shows, the animation was done in Japan. These six were Robert “Bob” McFadden, Earl Hammond, Larry Kenney, Lynne Lipton, Earle Hyman, and Peter Newman. Auditions were held for voice actors and out of the hundreds that applied, six were chosen. American composer Bernard Hoffer was approached to score the music for the show. He also designed the iconic ThunderCats logo. Mike Germakian of LCI was hired to the artwork and designs for the characters, vehicles and locations. Peter Lawrence was appointed as script consultant. With Lee Dannacher as the supervising producer, Leonard Starr was brought in as head writer to develop the concept, create a series bible and script the initial episodes as well. The producers liked the idea enough to decide to develop it into a full-scale animated television series. and Jules Bass and their team at the Rankin/Bass offices to discuss new project ideas. Weston took the pitch with him to a meeting he had with Arthur Rankin Jr. Watch for ThunderCats on Friday nights on Cartoon Network.In early 1984, Tobin “Ted” Wolf pitched his idea about humanoid cat people to his friend Stan Weston, who was also President of Leisure Concepts Inc. As a whole, I think the style works quite well with the high-fantasy characters and locales of Third Earth, and I look forward to many new adventures therein. I’m not deaf to this complaint, especially with the main character of Lion-O - it’s very different from the old style, but I think it will grow on me. Much has been said of the unabashedly anime style of the new ThunderCats series. (It’s unmistakable, but I’ve confirmed it via IMDb.) In a cool twist of Thunder-casting, the voice of Lion-O’s royal father Claudus is portrayed by Larry Kenney, who himself voiced Lion-O in the original series. And the mighty Panthro has a brief, if deceptive, role in the pilot episode as well. Wild youths Wilykit and Wilykat are here too, street urchins who will obviously have a vital role to fulfill when the ThunderCats are driven from their den. The new Lion-O also has a loyal pet named Snarf, just like the old, although this one’s not nearly as annoying because he cannot talk (as of yet). (Tygra is the more natural choice to be king, but the throne is Lion-O’s by virtue of his lion bloodline’s majesty.) Cheetara exists in this age too, but now she is one of an order of clerics sworn to defend the royal bloodline. This generations’ Lion-O, a rambunctious youth fascinated by tales of tech, must step up out of the imposing shadow of his father and his more responsible brother, Tygra. The Cats are the unchallenged lords of Third Earth … until an act of treachery weakens their dynasty and lets Mumm-Ra and his minions enter their citadel to claim the Sword of Omens. Technology is all but gone - a distant memory and, some say, a myth. In the new series, those are times of legend, with Cats having conquered that wild world and defeated (but not destroyed) Mumm-Ra and the mutants. No mere reboot, the new ThunderCats takes place ages after the old series, in which the heroes fled their ravaged world of Thundera to settle on Third Earth, where they contended with vicious animal mutants and the ancient evil Mumm-Ra. And while it’s a world apart from the original in terms of animation with its strikingly anime look, the story owes much to the classic incarnation. Cartoon Network’s version of the 1980s animated series hit on Friday with a special one-hour premiere. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Email
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