“Who is this fucking Englishman?’ Len Starr asked when Jules Bass took away his Head Writer/script management responsibilities on the show – though not his credit.
Up until I took over the story-editing, Len had run the entire script operation, his title Head Writer. It was the minimum title he deserved because as I understand it he took a very simple concept – Feline/Human mutations – and built the entire ThunderCat world; just as Mike Germakian took some unremarkable character designs and transformed them into the ThunderCats we know and love. Len should have had at the very least an executive producer’s credit. He should have been paid his percentage of ‘profit,’ a statement that applies to several people, including Masaki, Lee and me. I believe Masaki saw a single $10,000 payment. Lee and I zero. I don’t believe Len received a cent. I wonder how many millions the show earned its studios.
I write ‘as I understand it’ because I wasn’t there in the earliest days and Lee is no longer alive to confirm or modify my views; and when I say Len built the entire ThunderCats world, it would be more accurate to say he laid the base. Jules, Lee, PAC and successive writers built on that base and expanded it but it’s a great tribute to Len’s original foundation that it was sturdy enough to support the enormous universe that developed over 130 episodes.
(In my view, the second series abandoned large parts of the original structure and that may account for its relative lack of success. The crew also consulted none of the original ThunderCats survivors. Arrogance? Insecurity The one exception was me and they threw me the bone of one episode based on a premise they gave me. Frankly, the script I wrote was crap. Not deliberately, I hasten to add. Looking back, the show had lost its heart.)
I understood Len’s reaction to my appearing on the screen. The English villain! He might secretly have been relieved to give up the responsibility to prompt, edit and finalize at least four scripts a month but the ‘demotion’ must have felt humiliating. The reality was that he could always come up with interesting ideas but didn’t have whatever it takes to ramrod 65, and then another 65, episodes. By the way, I don’t know exactly what that takes. Desire? Energy? Control? An odd combination of carrot and stick? I’m not sure. All I can say is that I love the process which includes building a relationship with the writers, sometimes acting as guide and teacher, sometimes as a collaborator, sometimes as cop and sometimes as buffoon. That’s a subject for another time and to return to Len I think he was better off, and finally knew he was better off, being asked to write the 5-parters.
More next week…