Everyone has their own '80s cartoon franchise that meant something to them, and mine was ThunderCats: The Rankin/Bass series followed of a race of humanoid felines from the planet Thundera, forced to evacuate after their home comes under siege by the fearsome Mutants of Plun-Darr (who looked a bit like reptilian Ernest Borgnines.) Yes, I still hold a fond place in my heart for Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, Snarf and the rest, and so Warner Bros.' announcement a while back of a Thundercats movie filled me with the warm, fuzzy feelings one typically associates with watching Saturday morning TV while eating peanut-butter-and-grape-jelly sandwiches. The script, written by Paul Sopocy, was to follow Lion-O's origin myth from young cub to his anointment as Lord of the ThunderCats, and was to be directed by veteran art director Jerry O'Flaherty.
In conjunction with our coverage of Comic-Con 2009, Movieline has obtained O'Flaherty's never-before-seen Thundercats concept art, demonstrating just how gorgeous and ambitious his vision for this production is. After the jump, you'll see Thundercats renderings of Lion-O, The Pyramid, Third Earth, and Mutant Attack.