Details on New THUNDERCATS Animated Series

Back in June we found out that a brand new animated series would bring Thundercats back to television. At the time details were practically non-existent, but at last month’s New York Comic-Con producer Michael Jelenic  and revealed some juicy details about the eagerly awaited return of Lion-O, Mumma-Ra, Panthro, Cheetara, and the rest of the gang. In case you’re not one of those people excited about the prospect of a new Thundercats, the producer puts things in perspective,

“It’s funny because I’ve been working on a lot of Batman cartoons the last couple years, and I tell people I have a new Batman cartoon coming out and they’re like, ‘Cool.’ But when I say Thundercats, they’re like, ‘Thundercats?!?! Oh my God!’”

To find out what he had to say about the eagerly anticipated new series on Cartoon Network, hit the jump

With the standard walking-on-eggshells regard for the old series, Jelenic told MTV:

“I’m a little surprised by the visceral reaction to the property. It might be because it’s the last great ’80s property that hasn’t been reinvented for this new generation. We’re trying to be respectful to the old material, but bring it into a new era. I think it will be really cool.”

So who exactly is working on the series?

“We’re using a very famous Japanese animation studio, Studio4C, which did The Animatrix. They’re going to have their signature stuff on it.”

While many have referred to the new Thundercats as a reimagining, Jelenic wanted to be clear on their approach. He says,

“One thing is that I tried to simplify the mythology a little bit. It’s a pretty complicated backstory that borrows from a lot of other sci-fi stuff, like Superman and Star Wars. In developing this, I wanted it to be a little more simple. In the other version, there’s something like three different planets involved, and they all converge onto one planet, and nobody’s really connected. I just wanted to bring that all together. It’s reimagined in that way, but at the same time, we’re going to see the characters that we love.”

Does that mean we’re going to see Snarf tagging along?

“Everyone always wants to know about Snarf. He will be in it, and he will not talk. Don’t worry. He won’t be going, ‘Lion-O, why don’t you do this?’ We just having him say, ‘Snarf! Snarf!’ That’s a way to get him in the show without annoying every single person who hates him. It’s funny, because people are always like, ‘I hate Snarf! Wait. you’re not going to put him in? That’s terrible!’”

Lastly, Jelenic spoke about character design. Back when the project was first announced an initial sketch of Lion-O was included and it was clear the series was getting a little more gritty and a lot less bright. Jelenic comments,

“I think when people see the final character designs, people will think it’s a different take, but it will feel very familiar to the old series. The colors aren’t quite as bright as they were. I’s a little darker take, but you’ll recognize everybody.”

Personally, I’m already set to shout “Thundercats, Ho!” while sitting in front of my TV next year with this new series. How about you?