Three decades after the premiere of the animated series X-Men, the creative team behind this classic defined the best moments of a program that marked an era
On October 31, 1992, television received an animated series that gave us epic moments and brought us closer to the vast mutant mythology within the Marvel Universe, such as X-Men.
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Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Jubilee, Gambit, Rogue and Jean Gray was the lineup that, under the orders of Charles Xavier, sought to make coexistence between humans and mutants peaceful, although Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants had other plans.
X-Men is considered among the best animated series in all of history, and now thanks to digital platforms, new generations have approached this proposal that captivated thousands of viewers in the 90s.
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Marvel’s official website recounted the best moments of the X-Men animated series, alongside writers Eric Lewald, Julia Lewald, and series director Larry Houston.
The input sequence
“I drew the intro [de la serie]”, revealed Larry Houston. “In the beginning, I drew many, many more images than we needed. Will Meugniot, who was the supervising producer, created the first two dynamic scenes and I followed his lead and put it all together in the intro that we used”.
As for that iconic theme that colors the entire entry? “The final music for the introduction was probably version number twelve or thirteen.”, Houston said. “All previous versions were not good enough. We hold on until we get it perfect”.
The Saga of Phoenix and Dark Phoenix
One of the series’ featured multiple episodes, “The Phoenix Saga” was an epic that spanned five episodes and became the main event of Season 3. It’s also (arguably) one of the best on-screen adaptations of the classic comic book event.
For showrunner Eric Lewald, bringing this story to life from page to screen presented a unique challenge: “We feel that fans of the [cómics] originals would care about these stories, so we chose to make changes only when necessary. In ‘Dark Phoenix’ we changed the point of view more towards Cyclops because the big crises happened to the woman he loved, and it was the most dramatic and moving story”.
Comic book aficionado Larry Houston also included visual references in his storyboards: “I made sure all the out-of-world locations matched the stories in the comics they were based on. My fan memories of Marvel’s alien races go way back, so I knew them all at the time. There are some scenes in ‘Phoenix’ that I made sure to mimic footage from Uncanny X-Men #137, like when the X-Men first appear on the deck of the Shi’ar cruiser “.
The Night of the Sentinels
The opening of the two-part series made an immediate impression on fans, given that it killed off one of the core members of the X-Men, Morph.
Subsequently, Wolverine punched Cyclops in the stomach, a moment that Eric Lewald recalled needed the authorization of the Fox channel censors: “That [puñetazo en el estómago] It was a two week discussion. That was almost as long as the discussion about death. They both came down to you [el director de Estándares y Prácticas] Avery Coburn understood that it was all about grief and it was not free”.
One Man’s Worth
When talking about his favorite multi-part episode, Eric Lewald has one that immediately comes to mind: “‘One Man’s Worth’ was the one that seemed most appropriate to me. It’s like, here’s a story. This is why the X-Men exist. Because the question was: ‘What would happen if Professor Xavier was killed when he was younger?’ I mean, we were scamming people like It’s a Wonderful Life and [ Star Trek: The Original Series’ ] The City on the Edge of Forever… You draw inspiration where you can. When I came up with that idea, I was like, OK, in four years, this is the best idea I’ve had for the show.”.
Larry Houston also revealed an important part of the story on the future Storm/Wolverine couple: “Eric wrote [uno de] the first interracial kisses, interracial marriages, in animation. But something else Eric did: When he created the ‘One Man’s Worth’ story, Marvel liked it so much that he inspired [el evento de cómics] AGE OF APOCALYPSE”.
Rogue and Gambit’s love story
Mutant romance was also a highlight of X-Men: The Animated Series, and for many viewers, the star-crossed love between teammates Rogue and Gambit left them wanting more. In “Meeting” from two parts of season 2, a mistake in the prehistoric wilderness produced one of Julia Lewald’s favorite scenes.
“I love when [Rogue y Gambit] they have their only moment together, when their powers are repressed and they are able to kiss. Gambit is so true to his style when he says: ‘Gambit I love you’. It wasn’t, ‘I love you.’ He can’t even tell! But he’s close enough for me”.
Nightcrawler
One of its most important attributes, “the animated series” was not afraid to tackle heavier topics, such as loss, heartbreak and even the nature of faith. Nothing exemplifies this better than season 3’s Nightcrawler, a powerful episode that introduced viewers to Kurt Wagner, the demon-faced teleporting mutant with an all-forgiving soul.
“You know, a lot of people come up and when we get a chance to talk, the specific episodes mean a lot to them.Julia Lewald said. “I’m so impressed with ‘Nightcrawler’ because it doesn’t proselytize. It doesn’t say you have to be a Christian, you need to convert. It’s a respectful exploration of religion and what it means to one person and what it may or may not mean to another. I don’t know if you could get away with telling that story today”.
Fugitives in time
Why have one plot centered on time travel when you can have two? And in the same episode! Season 2’s multi-part Time Fugitives jumped between the years 2055 and the distant 3999, the respective timelines of renegade cop Bishop and Soldier of Fortune Cable.
For Larry Houston, animating such doomsday bets was more fun than work: “I added the scene from Apocalypse that grows out of the building. And he fires his beams, and he kills the X-Men. So he upped the ante, like, ‘Oh shit. How are they going to get out of this? I was having fun with it. Trying to be a fan and be a pro at the same time”.
Beyond Good and Evil
For Season 4’s big multi-part storyline, the show’s creators took what they had previously worked on with time travel, Apocalypse and Bishop, to build a new epic revolving around Cable, who appeared early in the season. First season. He adds Mister Sinister, his Nasty Boys, Mystique, Sabretooth, Archangel and the debut of the psychic Psylocke, and you have a wildly original time travel spectacular.
“It was meant to have been the series finaleJulia Lewald shared. She added Eric Lewald: “Yeah. So we got the phone call saying, ‘Oops. You need more episodes’”.
Days of Future Past
This two-part version puts its own spin on one of the most adapted stories in X-Men: Days of Future Past history, found in Uncanny X-Men #141-142.
In the comics, she is an adult Kitty Pryde who is psychically projected from the future, although the premise of needing to prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly at the hands of the Brotherhood of Mutants is exactly the same.
“I wrote ‘Days of future past, part one‘” Julia Lewald said. “And being challenged to write what we were going to write for a Saturday morning children’s show. But all, and it started with [la ejecutiva de Fox] Margaret Loesch from top to bottom, they were like, ‘Don’t write to the kids…pretend this is a half hour live action drama at night and do it.’”.
Wolverines
Specifically, the Season 2 episode “Repo Man,” written by Wolverine co-creator Len Wein. The script has deep ties to the comics, and it was the moment where viewers finally learned how Wolverine became Wolverine.
Finding a voice actor for such an iconic character was no easy task, but it was essential. “One of the two [audiciones] I can immediately remember was Cal Dodd”, recalled Larry Houston about the casting process. “Cal was not a voice actor. He was a singer. And he came in to do the voice on a whim. And as soon as we hear it, you know: Don’t let it go anywhere! We have Wolverine!”
Julia Lewald added: “I love Hugh Jackman, but I listen to Cal Dodd when I think of Wolverine“.
You can also read: X-Men: the 10 best comics adapted to the animated series of the 90s
Source: Marvel
The Dark Phoenix Saga in SMASH
Like Marvel Girl and Phoenix, Jean Gray always led her life with heroism and sacrifice. But now she begins to discover a dark force inside her that drives her to explore her most perverse and twisted passions and needs. Who could contain a cosmic force capable of snatching life with a sigh? Will the X-Men be able to rescue Jean from her fate?
SMASH Y Marvel Comics Mexico they bring for you X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Sagain an edition Deluxewhere in addition to including the nine issues that this arc comprises, four additional stories will be presented, in addition to a gallery of variant covers, commemorative cards and never-before-published art.
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By Gabriel Torres