Thundercats, Ho!

Rereading my apoplectic post from a few weeks ago about Warner Bros. remaking the supremely lame He-Man and the Masters of the Universe made me realize that I have some bizarre, unexplored emotional connection to 1980s cartoons (ah, to be a latch-key kid). Well, WB is preying on my nostalgic ties to decades past once again, this time with a live-action remake of Thundercats.

Now, this is an idea I can embrace. Thundercats was a far superior cartoon that appealed to almost every sugar-addled teen with its catchy, guitar-riffing intro and its suprisingly cinematic jump-cut style (it's on YouTube if you want to check it out.) The story revolves around a group of human-like cats who escape their troubled planet and crash on Third Earth, where they do battle with an evil sorcerer named Mumm-Ra and his assorted minions. The Cats have super-human strength and are mixed-martial arts masters employing all kinds of cool weapons, including Lion-O's magic sword, Panthro's nunchucks and even a big-ass tank with a cat-face grill. This material would lend itself to the unique visual style honed in 300 much better than He-Man would.

This is a smart move by WB. Over the past 20 plus years,Thundercats has somehow managed to stay relevant in our cultural consciousness and cool in an unironic way. You still see kids sporting t-shirts with the red-and-black Thundercats logo, and the Cats even showed up on the Fox cartoon Family Guy. The studio has optioned a script from writer Paul Sopocy, who also works ad writer for Fox Broadcasting, Variety reports. Sopocy has written the script as an origin story expanding on the major heroes and villains from the animated series, with the plot focusing on Lion-O coming of age as the leader of the Thundercats. Warner-based Paula Weinstein will produce through her Spring Creek Prods. banner, along with Dick Robertson and Lew Korman. The property seems to have the multi-platform pedigree that studios are looking for these days. From Variety:

The Thundercats franchise began in 1983 and spawned several animated series, with the most recent airing on Cartoon Network, a toy line produced by LJN and comicbooks published by Marvel and DC imprints. Warner Bros. has owned the rights to the animated series since acquiring Telepictures Corp. in 1989.

[Photograph by Everett Collection]