[LASER SHOTS]
Come on, Wolverine.
Let's go.
Eat dirt, Cyclops.
X-Men don't cut and run.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What's up, everyone.
This is "Disney+ Deets," where we break down everything
you need to know about your favorite
Disney+ movies and series.
I'm Kenneth.
MARCELLUS: And I'm Marcellus.
And not to toot our own horns, but we're pretty
much the biggest Disney+ fans out there.
No, let's do it.
Toot toot, beep beep, that's right.
Let's get into it.
KENNETH: 12-year-old Kenneth is (SINGSONG) excited.
Today's video is about one of our favorite
super hero shows of all time, "X-Men: The Animated Series."
Let's take it all the way back to 1963 when Marvel
all-stars Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created the first "X-Men"
comic book.
Originally, the characters were teenagers
in identical blue uniforms and their dialogue
was all quips and wisecracks.
In 1975, Marvel decided to reimagine the X-Men
as a more international team.
MARCELLUS: Yes.
And you know what, Ken?
Diversity is key.
Writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum
came up with, among others--
Wolverine, who's Canadian, and our favorite mistress
of the elements from Northern Africa, Storm.
KENNETH: But this wasn't just a new team roster.
It set a whole new tone for the series.
The heroes were adults with real relatable problems.
MARCELLUS: And I just love how they
interacted with each other.
I wanted to like, sit and chill with them
and just talk about stuff-- KENNETH: Right.
MARCELLUS: --that was going on. KENNETH: Right.
MARCELLUS: What was the next mission?
KENNETH: Exactly.
President of Fox Kids Margaret Loesch
was an early fan of the comics and thought the X-Men would be
perfect for an animated series.
So perfect in fact that Loesch told her boss if "X-Men:
The Animated Series" doesn't succeed, you can fire me.
MARCELLUS: That's commitment.
Putting it all on the line.
KENNETH: Once the series got the green light in 1992,
Marvel and Fox agreed to a core team.
Along with Wolverine, Jubilee, and Storm,
they added Cyclops, Rogue, and Gambit.
Professor Xavier, Jean Grey, and Beast rounded out the squad.
Here we go.
Who is this?
It is (SINGSONG) Magneto!
MARCELLUS: Oh, I love Magneto.
KENNETH: One of the best villains of all time!
MARCELLUS: On the count of three,
say your favorite X-Men character.
1, 2, 3--
BOTH: Storm!
MARCELLUS: Jinx.
According to creative executive Sydney Iwanter,
it was important to focus on these characters'
real emotional weaknesses.
KENNETH: Well, here's the thing, they
just wanted typical super hero vulnerabilities.
We're talking about Rogue not being able to touch
anyone without consequences--
MARCELLUS: Oh, absolutely.
KENNETH: --Storm dealing with being orphaned,
and even Wolverine dealing with unrequited love.
MARCELLUS: Oh, let's talk about the love triangle--
KENNETH: Oh, my.
MARCELLUS: --that is Cyclops, Wolverine, and Jean Grey.
And poor Wolverine, he was supposed to be at the wedding.
But he is mad because he is in love with his frenemy's
wife, Jean Grey.
We all love Jean Grey.
KENNETH: I feel like Jean Grey was the glue.
MARCELLUS: She was.
KENNETH: She would always come in and kind of just
make sure she was the referee for everybody.
I can sense his feelings.
They seem genuine.
KENNETH: Just like Wolverine that we see right here,
I used to put forks between my fingers.
MARCELLUS: Yes! Yes!
I thought I was the only one.
I had my mamma's butter knife.
KENNETH: Yes.
MARCELLUS: And I was walking around the house
thinking I was Wolverine.
"Boy, if you don't put my butter knife back
in that drawer!"
KENNETH: I just need pictures of you
in all your makeshift X-Men costumes.
And we can't forget about my boy Morph.
He was only supposed to be in one episode.
But Fox had a focus group with a couple hundred kids.
And they voted for Morph as their favorite mutant,
resurrected by popular demand.
MARCELLUS: The first season had one continuous storyline.
But due to animation delays, season
two's episodes were created to stand on their own.
So if one episode wasn't finished on time,
another could be shown in its place.
KENNETH: Networks at the time didn't think kids could
follow complicated storylines.
The series' writing team disagreed, which
was definitely the right call.
And on behalf of kids everywhere, we thank you.
MARCELLUS: Director Larry Houston,
who was also the very first Black Saturday
morning storyboard artist to be hired in Hollywood,
was a big fan of legendary comic book artist Jim Lee.
Lee's X-Men costume designs
varied between characters, but shared similar colors
and overall style, and therefore inspired the look for the show.
KENNETH: We love to see it.
And speaking of making some changes in Hollywood, Houston
and showrunner Eric Lewald had a whole new approach
to casting the series.
The first batch of audition tapes they received
were all too cartoonish.
MARCELLUS: Voice actors at the time
weren't used to playing it straight, especially
for a Saturday morning cartoon.
So they ended up bringing in serious theater actors from
Toronto to voice their X-Men.
KENNETH: And these actors brought
a gravitas and a grounding and a realness to each character.
MARCELLUS: It was just so amazing to hear it.
KENNETH: According to George Buza, who voiced Beast,
the cast had to record all of their dialogue lines first
because their voices would be so worn out after doing battle
noises-- like this, Marcellus--
BOTH: [GRUNTING]
[LAUGHTER]
MARCELLUS: Still, all that vocal strain paid off.
KENNETH: Before this cartoon came out,
we didn't know how these characters sounded.
MARCELLUS: We did not, we definitely did not.
KENNETH: They were only on paper.
So this is the first time for us as fans
of the comic books to actually hear the voice
of our favorite characters.
MARCELLUS: And we loved it.
The series packed so much story into 22 minutes,
way more than other animated shows at the time.
KENNETH: With 40-page scripts consisting of 400 to 500 shots,
it took more than 30,000 animated frames
to make a single episode--
totally unheard of for a kids cartoon.
MARCELLUS: This was way before computer animation.
So every single one of those frames was painted by hand.
KENNETH: Ooh, my hands are cramping up just thinking
about all that painting.
MARCELLUS: And what about the cameos
from the other Marvel heroes?
We got Captain America right here,
who was already a big deal.
Hello, headline news, we got X-Men.
And then you turn around, and we got new people?
Ken, I was just starstruck.
KENNETH: We have to shout out Eric Lewald and Julia Lewald.
We found their book, "X-Men: The Art and Making
of the Animated Series," super helpful
when making this episode.
If you're a fan of the series, you'll love that book.
Make sure you check it out.
And that's our show for today.
MARCELLUS: Be sure to like, subscribe,
and check out "X-Men: The Animated Series,"
now streaming on Disney+.
KENNETH: Take care of yourselves and the planet and.
We'll see you next time.
Marcellus and Ken, signing off.
MARCELLUS: Storm would be both of our favorite characters.
KENNETH: That's because we spend too much time together.
MARCELLUS: You love it.
KENNETH: I do, I do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]