Generally speaking, I’m a sceptic of the “recreated in CGI” genre of fan work. But this one really is something special.
As shared by the Hollywood Reporter, creator Mike Booth on YouTube has recreated the intro animation for the original ThunderCats, and the results are distinctly impressive. Despite being, according to the video description, a relative amateur with 3D modelling software, Booth has produced something that feels vibrant and faithful to the original in a way that sets this apart from most fan works that recreate 2D animation.
What really works here is how faithful it feels to the original art style. There’s a clever stylization at work here. It’s in the lighting, I think, which feels rough and lends a more heavily textured feel to the models. It’s a project that really does seek to rebuild what makes the original style work in a new medium, instead of just modelling something that feels fundamentally different or generic.
[referenced id=”1233830″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/07/thundercats-roar-got-thundercat-to-play-and-sing-about-a-classic-villain/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24/ttp8exqrqm7he5g6sxva-300×169.png” title=”ThunderCats Roar Got Thundercat to Play (and Sing About) a Classic Villain” excerpt=”I mean… what else are you gonna do when there’s a musician out there who loves your franchise so much his stage name is literally Thundercat?”]
And that song, right? You forget how catchy it is, then you hear it, and, like, gosh. ThunderCats, as they say in the business, are go.