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Disney+'s X-MEN '97 animated series (2023)
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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER HEAT VISION: X-Men Animated Series potential revival

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X-REUNION Here's a small scoop: the cast of the '90s X-Men: The Animated Series will be reuniting at Los Angeles Comic Con on Oct. 12.

 

It will be the first time actors Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann(Rogue), George Buza (Beast) Chris Potter (Gambit) and Chris Britton (Mr. Sinister) will have appeared together on stage since the end of the fondly-remembered Saturday morning cartoon.

 

But that's not all: the creative team behind X-Men tells us they are planning on approaching Disney with a pitch for an onscreen continuation of the series, perhaps a season of TV that'd keep the aesthetic of the show. 

 

"The one thing we'd like to do more than anything else is to continue where we left off," longtime X-Men artist Larry Houston says.

 

The animated series ran from 1992-97 and pushed the boundaries of serialized storytelling for a Saturday morning cartoon. Among the classic comic book stories it adapted was .... Dark Phoenix.

 

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Great article about the origins and history of the X-Men Animated Series, and how this helped lay the groundwork for the Marvel films over the years.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: The Unlikely Story of the Animated Hit No Network Wanted

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The influential Fox Kids cartoon only hit the air after a studio exec bet her career on it, with the show going on to prove the Marvel Universe "had commercial value far beyond what anybody estimated."

 

In 1992, Marvel wasn't exactly a powerhouse in Hollywood.

 

Thirty years after writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby had revolutionized comics by creating a universe of characters with human foibles and colorful costumes, Marvel had failed to find steady success on the big screen or on television. Its crowning achievement was the charmingly campy The Incredible Hulk, which ran from 1978-82 on CBS, but other success eluded the company.

 

TV executive Margaret Loesch had long championed the idea that there was TV gold to be made with Marvel, and she'd spent years pitching shows to the networks. Loesch was particularly taken with the X-Men, the ragtag team of mutants led by Prof. Charles Xavier, who taught them to deal with their mutant powers, all the while protecting a public who feared and even hated them. She oversaw a failed pilot, 1989's Pryde of the X-Men, (featuring, of all things, a Wolverine with an Australian accent) and vowed not to make the same mistakes again. When Loesch started her role as Fox Kids CEO in 1990, she convinced Fox head Jamie Kellner to let her greenlight an X-Men show, staking her career on its success. She brought in Haim Saban of Saban Entertainment and production company Graz for the show.

 

X-Men's pilot episode "Night of the Sentinels" aired 25 years ago this week on Oct. 31, 1992 on Fox Kids in a primetime, 7 p.m. spot (it later regularly aired Saturday mornings). But costly production delays would keep the rest of the season from airing until January 1993, a setback that would be just the first of many challenges the series faced. The show, which lives on in DVDs and on Hulu, is largely considered Marvel's greatest animated series ever, and many fans even insist it is the definitive onscreen depiction of the X-Men (sorry, Hugh Jackman). 

 

X-Men weathered competing corporate interests, a cost-cutting obsessed producer, and even the threat from the creative staff to quit over a merchandising initiative gone wrong. Through it all, the show persevered, becoming a critical and ratings hit that paved the way for Fox's big-screen X-Men a few short years later and a slew of other successes, such as Saban's Power Rangers.

 

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For a while back in 2000 the local Fox affiliate was showing TAS weekdays at 4 PM.  Since this was near the frenetic peak of my return to comic collecting, I'd make sure to be home by the time it started (screw high school, X-Men is on!).  One particular Friday they preempted it for some other nonsense, and I was so pissed I drove to the local theater and saw the first X-Men movie for the 4th or 5th time.  Needed my fix!  Good memories. 

Now they show Wendy Williams or some other nonsense in that once great timeslot.  :/

 

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The X-Men are returning to HeroClix, but this time its in animated form. Marvel HeroClix: X-Men the Animated Series, the Dark Phoenix Saga brings the classic cartoon to life in HeroClix. We already unboxed an entire brick of the main set. Now let’s look at the set’s companion Fast Forces set.

 

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This Fast Forces set features Wolverine, Rogue, Beast, Storm, Gambit, and Jubilee in a ready to play configuration. They can form a themed team on their own, but they have dials different from their counterparts in the main set, making them easy to mix and match with the figures you pull from randomized boosters.

 

The set goes on sale on September 11th, the same date that the main set hits shelves. We’re going to take a look at this six figure, non-randomized set. Let us know what you think of this HeroClix Fast Forces set in the comments section, and be sure to get more info from your local games store.

 

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There is no doubt that two of the greatest animated comic book shows of all time are Batman: The Animated Series and Marvel’s X-Men The Animated Series. From the opening theme song, which I still feel was a mistake not to use in the movies, you were hooked each time the show came on the air.  X-Men: TAS ran from October 31, 1992 until September 20, 1997.  There have been campaigns and hope from fans that the series would be revived through Disney now that they own the rights.  There have been rumors that the series would be revived or has been talked about being revived at Disney but nothing has been confirmed.  Recently the podcast, Much Talk About Nothing, sat down with television producer, Larry Houston. Larry was asked if the rumors were true about a revival to which he replied

 

“We have let it be known that we are still here, we are not under the ground. We really want to pick up where we left off but it has been crickets and I really have no idea what they are doing.”

 

When I saw the WandaVision thing, I was like ‘Oh my God!’, they are taking the first baby step but we have not heard anything.”

 

So there you have it for now. We still hold out hope that when the time is right maybe Disney will bring the X-Men: TAS back or retool the series with some of the original cast.

 

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Returning cast members include:

  • Cal Dodd (Wolverine/Logan)
  • Lenore Zann (Rogue)
  • George Buza (Beast)
  • Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner)
  • Christopher Britton (Mister Sinister)
  • Catherine Disher (Jean Grey/Phoenix)
  • Chris Potter (Gambit/Remy LeBeau)
  • Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm/Ororo Munroe)
  • Alyson Court (Jubilee/Jubilation Lee)

 

“X-Men ‘97” is also welcoming a number of new voices to the cast, including Jennifer Hale, Anniwaa Buachie, Ray Chase, Matthew Waterson, JP Karliak, Holly Chou, Jeff Bennett, AJ LoCascio.

 

Head writer and executive producer on the series is Beau DeMayo. Supervising director is Jake Castorena and supervising producer is Charley Feldman.

 

Consulting on the new series are “X-Men: The Animated Series” writers Eric and Julia Lewald, and director Larry Houston.

They were able to bring back many of the original cast members.

:whee:

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