InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Be seeing you"

proteus_lives (proteus_lives) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-13 14:53:00

Current location:	Outer Dark
Current mood:	impressed
Entry tags:	genre: parody, medium: movies, title: thundercats

Ok, this just made me laugh!
Greetings True Believers! Do you know what the cinema industry's version of "LLLLLANNNDDD!!!" is? well it's "BBBBBBAAAAAYYYYY!!!"

Michael Bay Signs $50M Deal to Fuck Up 'Thundercats'

Enjoy this article!

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/michael_bay_signs_50m_deal_to_fuck?utm_source=a-section

Mumm-Ra hears the news.

Can't hear him screaming, "BBBBBBAAAAAAYYYYY!"

(Post a new comment)

	foxhack 2009-04-13 02:08 pm UTC (link)
	WHAT NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Sorry, had to make sure my cry of anguish wouldn't stretch the screen.) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	jeyl 2009-04-13 02:13 pm UTC (link)
	Be careful how many 'no's you say. Michael Bay might think you're the perfect Shia Lebouf for the story. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mullon 2009-04-13 02:28 pm UTC (link)
	It's times like these where I'm glad that pop culture is obessesed with the eighties instead of the nineties. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	seriousfic 2009-04-13 02:39 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, the nineties crappified themselves just fine on their own. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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mullon, 2009-04-13 05:32 pm UTC

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-14 11:49 am UTC

	brandiweed.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 03:36 pm UTC (link)
	Give 'em a few years. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	colonel_green 2009-04-13 03:44 pm UTC (link)
	The nostaglia train is currently chugging through the 80s. I'm expecting news on obnoxious CGI versions of Ducktales and Chip 'n Dale, Rescue Rangers within the next year or so. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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freezer818, 2009-04-13 04:48 pm UTC

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colonel_green, 2009-04-13 04:53 pm UTC

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freezer818, 2009-04-13 04:58 pm UTC

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mullon, 2009-04-13 05:25 pm UTC

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janegray, 2009-04-14 04:37 am UTC

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janegray, 2009-04-14 04:35 am UTC

	demonprawn 2009-04-13 03:58 pm UTC (link)
	Did someone say Power Rangers revival? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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foxhack, 2009-04-13 04:32 pm UTC

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tanetris, 2009-04-13 10:36 pm UTC

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wheresmything, 2009-04-14 06:30 am UTC

kitty_tc_69
2009-04-13 02:39 pm UTC (link)

The world isn't fair. Micheal Bay fucks up everything he touches yet his movies make a kabillion dollars, while the Wachowski's brilliant but criminally underrated Speed Racer and the amazing Watchmen film struggled to make back their budgets. And the mindless Fast and Furious crapfest is the biggest hit of the year. And the television landscape is overwhelmingly worse still.

Can we just waste about a hundred million or so of the stupidest Americans? Or is that target number too low?

As to the announcement itself, I'm not sure what to think. Yeah, the movie will probably be almost unwatchable, but the merchandising should be good (lots of cool collectibles, yay!) and something good could be spun out of it's success, like maybe a new comic or better still a serious anime. I've long thought the property was ripe for a Batman style grown-up rebirth as something truly badass, maybe if this film makes enough scratch then it might attract enough interest to the property to make it happen.

We can hope, right?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-04-13 02:42 pm UTC (link)
	Umm, you ARE aware this is a spoof, right? From "The Onion" website? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-13 02:45 pm UTC

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-13 03:02 pm UTC

	brandiweed.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 03:38 pm UTC (link)
	brilliant but criminally underrated Speed Racer Perhaps the blame lies with whoever cut together that film's trailer-- I saw it in a theater and decided the movie looked like someone throwing up Skittles and Slurpees in an overclocked Tilt-a-Whirl. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	interrobamf 2009-04-13 10:01 pm UTC (link)
	the amazing Watchmen film That's funny. Oh, wait. You were serious? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-13 11:57 pm UTC

janegray
2009-04-14 04:50 am UTC (link)

Have you considered that, quality aside (that's highly subjective), the Watchmen film make not have had to struggle if they had toned down the squicky parts a bit?

If you make a movie with over-the-top violence, you de facto renounce the majority of movie-goers (kids and people who don't like watching people get graphically disemboweled). So don't act surprised when you can't make as much as more "acceptable" movies like Iron Man and Dark Knight.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-14 10:02 am UTC

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gwalla.livejournal.com, 2009-04-14 11:45 am UTC

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sir_mikael, 2009-04-14 05:31 pm UTC

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janegray, 2009-04-14 02:08 pm UTC

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-15 01:27 am UTC

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janegray, 2009-04-15 06:41 am UTC

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-16 01:36 am UTC

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janegray, 2009-04-16 04:04 am UTC

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-16 11:10 am UTC

seriousfic
2009-04-13 02:44 pm UTC (link)

BTW, it's a joke article. And even if it weren't, It's Thundercats. I find no myth more staggeringly immature in geek circles than the thought that anything from Superman to Mortal Kombat can be a blockbuster trilogy with entries three hours each, directed by John Woo (or, more recently, Guillermo del Toro/Peter Jackson), that would make a billion dollars. Yes, an Alien movie set on Earth or the Alien homeworld would be cool. That does not mean we need Brad Pitt playing Lion-o in a big-budget Thundercats movie.

Honestly, people should be surprised Transformers was as good as it was, yet the amount of outrage that someone took a cartoon designed to sell toys and used it to make a movie designed to sell toys and cars... you'd think it was Star Wars.

This has been your requisite internet cynicism for the hour, please, tip your waitresses and drive safe.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	zegim 2009-04-13 02:54 pm UTC (link)
	This. Seriously. I love my Transformers, but c'mon, they are toys often (if not always) designed to sell as much as possible to kids. Did the movie had cars and planes turning into robots and fighting each other? Yes. That's all the "deep" that Transformers need. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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seriousfic, 2009-04-13 02:59 pm UTC

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icon_uk, 2009-04-13 03:15 pm UTC

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parsimonia, 2009-04-13 03:48 pm UTC

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queenanthai, 2009-04-13 03:59 pm UTC

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parsimonia, 2009-04-13 04:14 pm UTC

Stan Bush is the fucking man. -

proteus_lives, 2009-04-13 04:29 pm UTC

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foxhack, 2009-04-13 04:36 pm UTC

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gwalla.livejournal.com, 2009-04-13 04:53 pm UTC

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icon_uk, 2009-04-13 03:09 pm UTC

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zegim, 2009-04-13 03:57 pm UTC

	comicoz 2009-04-13 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	Soon it will be time for M.A.S.K - The Movie! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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gwalla.livejournal.com, 2009-04-13 05:23 pm UTC

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comicoz, 2009-04-13 06:59 pm UTC

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gwalla.livejournal.com, 2009-04-14 11:49 am UTC

	fungo_squiggly 2009-04-13 02:45 pm UTC (link)
	Oh noes! If it's in the Onion it must be true! D: (Reply to this)

	zegim 2009-04-13 02:46 pm UTC (link)
	I for one, wouldn't mind. It's not like I watched Thundercats for the deep intellectual discussion sparked by the show and the razor sharp dialogue. I just want cat people beating mutants senseless and a metric fuckton of exposions. Thank you very much. (Reply to this)

	ian_karkull 2009-04-13 02:59 pm UTC (link)
	The real WTF here is that anybody would pay 50 Million Fucking Dollars to anybody for a goddamn Thundercats movie. Are we really that creatively bankrupt..? ~~Also, The Onion is news now?~~ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	brandiweed.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 03:42 pm UTC (link)
	Are we really that creatively bankrupt..? We have a remake of Red Dawn planned for 2010 and supposedly a movie based on CANDY LAND (!!) due in 2011. You tell me. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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proteus_lives, 2009-04-13 03:50 pm UTC

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kitty_tc_69, 2009-04-14 12:23 pm UTC

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peur_evol, 2009-04-13 03:54 pm UTC

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ashez2ashes, 2009-04-13 05:06 pm UTC

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sir_mikael, 2009-04-14 05:37 pm UTC

	scottyquick 2009-04-13 03:57 pm UTC (link)
	What, is that like an LOLcats fangame? (Reply to this)

	mcity 2009-04-13 04:08 pm UTC (link)
	The difference between Land and Bay is that Bay is actually good at what he does, which is make Summer Action Movies. Land can't even draw right. (Reply to this)

	gwalla.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 04:50 pm UTC (link)
	Am I the only one here who thought the live action Transformers movie was pretty fun, and didn't destroy my childhood or anything? I think nostalgia may be causing you to forget that Thundercats was hardly a work of creative genius. (Reply to this) (Thread)

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colonel_green, 2009-04-13 04:54 pm UTC

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uadlika, 2009-04-13 09:44 pm UTC

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sir_mikael, 2009-04-14 05:42 pm UTC

	suzene 2009-04-13 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	If it has Vin Diesel playing Panthro, I'll go see it. I am not lying. (Reply to this)

	silverzeo 2009-04-13 11:01 pm UTC (link)
	You know, in that picture, you can see that Mum-Ra has no balls. And here is the video request to Linkara to rip this "Thundercat" series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtRvCEcOFhU (Reply to this) (Thread)

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proteus_lives, 2009-04-14 12:04 am UTC

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silverzeo, 2009-04-14 01:13 am UTC

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proteus_lives, 2009-04-14 11:59 am UTC

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sir_mikael, 2009-04-14 05:44 pm UTC

Thundercats didn't suck

kitty_tc_69
2009-04-14 01:39 pm UTC (link)

Several posters have said things to the effect of "it was just a kid's cartoon, it wasn't like the material was that great to begin with". I beg to differ. To wit, think of this:

"A small group of refugees, including members of a royal family, flee by spacecraft from a homeworld in the throes of destruction. Separated from the other escapees in the chaos of the frenzied evacuation, they set course on the only habitable world they can find within the range of their ship's engines. Even that destination is a costly one, as they must spend the long journey in suspended animation, which comes with consequences for the oldest and youngest among them. The elder, Jaga, passes away during the journey and the young heir to the throne ages to adulthood within the sleep chamber with none of the experience or training to prepare him for maturity, let alone leadership. And yet, in their desperate situation he'll be forced to learn fast, for if he fails then so fail the remaining survivors.

And his task will not come in easy times, for the planet on which they land is far from a safe one. A bizarre, post-apocalyptic and chaotic world where many savage cultures vie for supremacy and prey on those weaker than themselves. Nor are they alone, as their enemies have followed them seeking the mystic artifact that grants the ruling family their hereditary might. And perhaps worst of all, their very arrival has awakened an ancient evil from this world's distant past, drawn to the power of the legendary artifact and seeking to either destroy it or claim it for his own.

In the face of all this, the surviving members of their once-proud warrior culture must seek not only to survive and preserve what remains of their ways, but their own values demand they seek to impose some measure of honor and order on their new environment. To this end, they must carve a territory for themselves and protect the weak and helpless within it from the many enemies that would destroy them all. The Code of Thundera demands no less. And while lesser beings would surely sacrifice honor for expediency in the face of dire challenges to their very survival, these feline warriors would sooner face death than dishonor. They are royalty. They are warriors. They are Thundercats."

I'll note for you that what I wrote is a pretty much dead-on summary of the actual premise of the pilot episode, without modification. A lot of details were omitted, many of which would need to be changed or discarded to give the story a mature treatment, but the core premise is 100% intact. This is intended to prove to doubters that there is indeed a solid core of quality material in the property with potential appeal to a wide audience as a serious science fantasy franchise. In fact, I think many of the elements that made Star Wars appealing, including the mix of mysticism and high technology, and themes of honor and warriors ways in a world where more pragmatic and ruthless values hold sway, are strongly present in the Thundercats concept.

The flaw in the original was never in it's core concepts, it was in it's execution as a kids program with all the baggage that came with that. That baggage included censorship of violence and adult themes, inclusion of deliberately silly elements and characters to appeal to an under-10 demographic, and simplified plots confined to an episodic format. None of these things are inherent to the concept of Thundercats as a property, nor required for inclusion in a mass-audience film.

Just as the campy, silly elements of the 60's series and Shumacher films are not inherent to the Batman concept and do not preclude darker, more mature interpretations, the childish elements that bogged down the Thundercats cartoon are not inherent to the concept either. The Thundercats merely await a Frank Miller or Tim Burton or Timm and Dini or Christopher Nolan to show the world how it's done.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Thundercats didn't suck -

proteus_lives, 2009-04-14 03:41 pm UTC