Thanks to IGN, we have tons of new information regarding the new ThunderCats cartoon, debuting later this summer on Cartoon Network. IGN sat down with show writer and producer Michael Jelenic (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and picked his brain about what to expect. Jelenic shared the following on some of the characters:
Lion-O:"We might have taken some big departures story-wise, but we still latched onto what the themes of the show were," Jelenic told IGN. "A boy becoming king and growing into that role."
One of the things that was most memorable about the old Lion-O were his inner monologues of struggle ("Under…water…can't…breathe…"). "I think we won't do that," Jelenic laughed. "You know one of the things the old show did a lot was they sent Lion-O off alone. Him and Snarf would go off and then reunite with the others at the end. So there was probably no one to talk to when he was in trouble and in those situations."
Snarf:No, it's a pretty different take on Snarf. He looks mostly the same as the old design, but now he's more like a house pet. So he doesn't really speak and he communicates with Lion-O in the same way your dog or your cat would communicate with you. So the annoyance factor has now decreased tenfold."
Panthro:"Panthro's pretty similar in this one," Jelenic revealed. "He's the oldest character and he's the only one who's seen the larger world of Third Earth. He has a lot of skills and talents and experience that the other characters don't have. He's actually experienced technology before, while the other ThunderCats haven't. He knows things like the ThunderTank and when we see the ThunderTank he's going to be the guy driving it just like on the old show."
"Panthro used to be a general in the king's army in Thundera. So he's the one always shaking his head when Lion-O wants to do something stupid on the military front. And on top of all that he's still the best fighter of the group. He's actually turned out to be a pretty cool character, just like on the old show."
Tygra:"I guess 'The Scientist' is what a lot of fans call him," Jelenic noted. "He was someone we had a lot of concern about because he, unlike everyone else, was someone people might say didn't 'pop' as much. So the way we addressed that was to get away from him being the architect, or the scientist, of the series and tried to expand on his character. And the way we did that was we made him the adopted brother of Lion-O."
"Tygra's the older adopted brother and from everyone's point of view in the kingdom, he's the one who should be king. He's the better fighter. He's the smarter of the two. So he overcompensates for the fact that he can't be king. He wants to show everybody that they're making a mistake by making Lion-O king just because Lion-O is part of the bloodline and only lions can be king in Thundera. So he has a chip on his shoulder. He resents his brother but still loves him. And through the first part of the series we see that dynamic play out; with Lion-O getting handed a position that Tygra doesn't think he deserves and Lion-O making missteps along the way that create tension between the two of them. And then of course there's a love triangle between those two and Cheetara. And Tygra wondering if he's going to lose out to his brother again when it comes to love."
Cheetara:Girl characters on action shows always get short-changed for a lot of reasons," Jelenic remarked. "A lot of people's instinct is to make the female character the voice of reason on a team show. And then the effect of that is that they become a boring character. So we try to stay away from that with Cheetara."
"She's actually one of the elite fighters of Thundera. [Part of] a group called the Clerics, under Jaga's command. And they're basically the secret service for the king. So she's a better fighter than Tygra and Lion-O. And she has some magical qualities too, that she's learned working under Jaga. She's a counselor to Lion-O too. Where Lion-O doesn't believe in himself, Cheetara is the one person on the team who knows what he's capable of and pushing him towards his ultimate place on king. And because of it, Lion-O interprets a lot of her interest as affection. So we start seeing some possible romance between the two."
Mumm-Ra:"When we start off there will be tons of questions that we don't answer right away," Jelenic said, "but every episode focuses on a new bit of mythology and we chip away at it and slowly reveal things about the characters. There will be a lot of questions about Mumm-Ra and where he's from and what his goal is. But we're not going to answer them all immediately. We'll get to where he's from and where he's from and how he relates to the Cats and Third Earth, but you may have to watch a couple episodes before you get any of that."
Ro-Bear Berbils:"Ro-Bear Berbils are ridiculous characters" Jelenic admitted. "We're trying to age up the ThunderCats here and the question is how they might fit into this new version, because they were basically Ewok rip-offs back in the day. Half teddy bears, half robots. They grow candy fruit but they don't eat it. So there was a question of, 'Do we even use them in this version?' But again, I think that some of the charm of the old show was how bizarre and out there the ideas could get. So I think the challenge for us is to take the characters that are iconic from the old version and try to make them work for what we're doing. So I think we did make the Berbils work. They come off pretty charming. And the candy fruit is still in there!"
Slithe:"You're going to see all those guys [Mutants]," Jelenic assured. "Again, we're not going to give you everyone right off the bat, so some mutants you may have to wait a few episodes for. Slithe is pretty much right up there in the beginning and he's the first mutant you meet and then the team starts to build from there. But we'll see all of them."