X-Men Articles and Interviews

How to Mutate a Story, but Not Too Much

by Steve Johnson

It's not easy to adapt a printed work to the visual media, as both the X-Men movie and animated series are currently attempting to do. Just ask Eric Lewald. He was the executive story editor for the Saban X-Men animated series of the 1990s, which Fox is rebroadcasting this summer and is still fondly remembered as one of superhero TV's finest moments.

"We felt very strongly that we had to be true to the printed material," Lewald said. "I barely knew the X-Men books when we started -- I read Spider-Man, Hulk, the Fantastic Four, only occasionally the X-Men, but I had a couple of months to read stacks and stacks of comics that they sent me. I was able to absolutely imbue myself with this stuff, but Will Meugniot and Larry Houston are intense comic-book guys, and once I fell in love with the X-Men, the question was, Why Change It?"

"But the comics are very densely layered these days. We cut through all that and tried to use the books as reference, not as something to adapt. If you look at the first season, the question was how do we tell a clean, simple story using the cool stuff, the emotional core from some of these characters, without all the minutiae that goes along with them?"

Originally, the series took the characters and some, but not all, of the situations from the then-current continuity. Jubilee's introduction in the first episode was a lot simpler -- she was attacked by Sentinels and rescued by the X-Men, period. But she still joined the X-Men on the fly, outside the normal, formal admissions process (she could hardly have qualified with such a lame superpower if there had been time to consider her calmly!) during a time of tension among the adult members, as in the comics. The facts were all different, but the emotional tone was just what the comics had been trying for and often, but not always, delivering.

Later, when the series was well established, they started adapting some of the classic stories such as the Dark Phoenix arc, although "adapting" is probably too strong a word -- they took the core idea of the story and worked with it, trying to find the best way to tell it in an animated format.

Behind the Scenes

"We were extremely fortunate that our network liaison was Sidney Iwander, a 40-year-old man with the soul of a nine-year-old boy, who wanted us to go for the deeper, the tougher, the more anguished storylines that made the comic book what it was," Lewald said. "They really didn't know it was going to be successful. Fox Kids had built its viewership on much less adult kinds of shows. There was all sorts of pressure. After production delays, it opened in Janaury, and from that week, Fox was the #1 kids' channel for the next three years. And from then on, there was no pressure."

Whereas more recent shows have been driven by their toys, and that's always a part of modern kids' TV production, the X-Men series fell into a relatively dead period for Marvel merchandising, so there wasn't much pressure to use toys in the show.

"We were literally halfway through the first season when we got a call from a new company called Toy Biz [which later ended up owning Marvel Comics] that was thinking of doing some X-Men toys. They said we've got three or four toys lying around - can you work them in? And it was stuff like a Wolverine cycle, a Wolverine phone ... We told them that either they're gonna love the show for what it is, and then they'll buy your toys, but if we put this kinda stuff in there … we had no idea who these people were!"

Marvel's Input

Although Bob Harras, Marvel's editor in chief, was the contact person with Marvel, the Saban producers also sought the input of X-Men writers Jim Lee, Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza, as well as Stan Lee, who created the team with Jack Kirby in 1962.

"It was an interesting relationship with Stan because he wanted to be involved, but he hadn't been involved in the comics for about 10 years. His input was valuable, but it wasn't coming from the same place as what everyone else was saying. He'd want to do stuff that would play out really nicely over five or six pages, with all the introspection you could put on the page, the motivations and dialogue, and we'd say 'Stan, that scene will take three minutes, during which nothing is happening on the screen, and we need to keep the jeopardy at a high pitch.' I think that given $20 million and a free hand, Stan would have made a different show, but I think ultimately he accepted what we did with a sort of mutual respect, as not what he would have done, but a worthwhile show based on his creations."

Can Lightning Strike Twice?

So what's Lewald heard about the new X-Men: Evolution animated series?

"I'm not involved in the new WB X-Men series, but I have spoken to those who are, and I know that it is a troubled project. There are good people involved, but the 'shared vision' of the '92-'96 series is absent. They have a solid story editor in Bob Forward, excellent animation producers, and bigger budgets than we could have dreamed of.

"Sadly, the new WB exec calling the creative shots has made decisions which I believe will make it impossible for it to be true to the books. She is from Nickelodeon, admits that she neither gets or likes action adventure animated television, and has decreed that the characters in effect be 'gifted children,' as in age 14 to 16."

"Serious villains are to be avoided or played down. Character conflicts among the 'team' -- the core of our show -- are to be avoided. It is more 'A mutant Doug and his pals have problems coping with the pressures of the 10th grade.'

"I was called when the first story editor quit in frustration, but I told Marvel that I saw no way to make an X-Men series under those conditions. With luck, Bob and the others may, by force of will, be able to bend the series a bit more toward something that X-Men fans will recognize. I sure hope so, but no one I know is counting on it. (Look for a similar softening of Batman, though there is limit to what [the new executive] can change in such an established WB success.) Sadly, though the talent involved may come up with something well made in Evolution, it won't be the X-Men."

SILVER SURFER SOARS VIA VETERAN VOICES

By Rob Allstetter

If the voices on SILVER SURFER, FOX KIDS' breakthrough Saturday morning hit, sound familiar, it shouldn't be surprising.
Many of the Canadian actors and actresses who did voices on X-MEN are performing in the same Toronto studio -- only now for SILVER SURFER.
Does Galactus sound like Apocalypse? That's because James Blendick does both voices. Does the Kree soldier sound like Sabretooth? That's because Don Francks does both voices.
And then there's Alyson Court, who did the voice of Amber, Frankie Raye's roller-blading pal in "Origin of the Silver Surfer Pt. III." It was small role, but just a few words were needed from Amber to identify her also as the voice of Jubilee, the youngest and one of the most popular characters in X-MEN.
Court is one of numerous performers voice director Tony Pastor, who was based in Los Angeles for Marvel shows SPIDER-MAN, FANTASTIC FOUR and IRON MAN, encountered with the recording of SILVER SURFER in Toronto.
"The talent pool in Toronto is terrific," Pastor said. "Even Disney is tapping into it. There's such a theatrical background among the performers."
Pastor actually had worked with Court before when the X-Men appeared on two episodes of SPIDER-MAN. "She's terrific," he said. "Great energy."
Court recently bid a fond farewell to Jubilee. After 81 episodes and five seasons, X-MEN concluded its run on FOX KIDS in January, giving way to SILVER SURFER in the 11:30 a.m. (ET) time slot. However, the early seasons of the series currently are airing in syndication, and X-MEN will move to UPN next fall, airing Sundays at 10 a.m. No episodes beyond the 81 produced are currently planned.
"It's been great," Court said of her experience on X-MEN. "I don't know of one person who hasn't watched X-MEN -- no matter what age. I know some adults that are very reserved and when they found about (Court playing Jubilee), they went crazy talking about the show."
Court said she enjoyed the energy Jubilee brought to the X-Men.
"She's a brat," Court said, laughing. "She has an edge to her, a nice change of pace from those characters who are more stereotypical for super heroes.
"She doesn't get all that altruistic. She says, 'Let's get real. Let's go get a Big Mac and a shake.' "
Court, 23, has been working in show business since she was 6. She's been involved in more than 30 animated shows, including such regular gigs as Pixx in UltraForce, Lydia in Beetlejuice and Veronica in The New Archies. She also has many live-action credits, including playing Priscilla Presley in Elvis Meets Nixon, the recent Showtime movie.
Voice director Dan Hennessey worked with Court on both X-MEN and Beetlejuice and has known her since she was 10.
"She's eternally youthful," Hennessey said. "She's 5-foot-1 and has this real baby face. She doesn't have a wrinkle on her face. She's bubbly and perky and doesn't have to put it on because that's the way she really is."
And while we might not see Amber again in SILVER SURFER, don't be surprised to hear Court's voice again in another Marvel series down the road.
"It's amazing to me how popular these characters are," she said. "I love them."