By Kofi Outlaw
Thundercats, Ho!
With all of the 80’s cartoons my generation knows and loves (and still collects, ebay geeks,) it is no surprise that another iconic animated series from the era of cassette tapes and humongous hair is making its way to the big screen. Comicbookmovie.com recently reported that the THUNDERCATS movie is moving forward and has even found a director in the form of Jerry O’Flaherty.
If you don’t recognize that name, stop tearing through IMDB in hopes of making yourself look informed. THUNDERCATS will be O’Flaherty first turn at the director’s helm, having previously served as an art director in another type of big-budget medium: videogames. His résumé includes such blockbuster game titles as the COMMAND AND CONQUER series, UNREAL TOURNAMENT 3 and last year’s runaway hit GEARS OF WAR, which is
set to become a film itself.
“It feels like a natural thing for me to step into,” [O’Flaherty] said. “Games have come so far now. The last four years of my life have been about bringing the energy of filmmaking into the videogame experience.”
O’Flaherty plans to adhere to the established Thundercats mythology, namely a group of humanoid-felines fleeing their doomed home Thundera, who land on the planet of Third Earth and must do battle with an ancient evil being named Mum-Ra and his horde of human-animal crossbreeds. Familiar icons from the original series such as the sword of omens, the thunder tank and Snarf are all likely to make it to the film. No word yet on whether THUNDERCATS will be live-action, or possibly be done in an animated or CGI format.
Relying on a first-time director is always a crapshoot, but I can attest to O’Flaherty’s statement that the line between film and videogames is becoming increasingly blurry, both in terms of budget and look. If you’ve spent the last few weeks engrossed in
HALO 3 like I have, then you know what I’m talking about. With the right approach, (more TRANSFORMERS than TMNT) THUNDERCATS could be hit and induct O’Flaherty into the ranks of Hollywood mainstream. Hey, a guy can always wish right?