Agent Palmer

If seeing the ads for the upcoming ThunderCats Roar has you feeling down… The 2011 reboot that you probably paid no attention to, might be for you. Ok, maybe it’s unfair to dismiss Roar without seeing an episode but many fans of the original are down on the new direction and style for the franchise. Some of them wondering “Where’s the badass version? I’m just not into this cute stuff.

“Well, sit back and let me tell ya about a version that’s more like “Game Of Thrones.”

Is it finally safe to come out of the basement? It seems that way. Let me roll a D20 here… A 14… Yeah, that’s affirmative, thieves, clerics, barbarians and their Masters are out of the dungeons and now they’re on TV. Well, not cable, but streaming services and podcasts, which are still on your TV!

Role-playing games have come a long way from the stereotypical cellars filled with carbonated beverages, salted snacks, and enough candy to give anyone instant diabetes.

It seems odd that NBC’s made-for-TV movie of The Hobbit, which first aired on November 27, 1977, should be so divisive among fans. It is, after all, not only a faithful adaptation of the book upon which it is based but it is also the first adaption to the screen, both large and small.

That’s right, 1977; 35 years before Peter Jackson’s trilogy of the same name debuted, 24 years before Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy first debuted, and one year ahead of Ralph Bakshi’s animated critically acclaimed Lord of the Ring, there was Rankin/Bass’s The Hobbit.

Consider this a love letter to lazy Saturday mornings, sugary breakfast cereals, and a production company whose hits knew no bounds.

Those of us fortunate to have been raised in the 1980s and 1990s fondly recall great Saturday morning cartoons by the handful. This, of course, was long before the ill-fated fall of that blessed Saturday morning programming block forever changed in September 2014. While it’s easy to look back now with fond memories, you might be surprised to learn that many of Saturday morning’s greatest hits were maintained by a single production house.