The original “X-Men The Animated Series,” airing from 1992-1997, was a groundbreaking and critical smash for the Fox Kids Network, greenlit under TV Academy legend Margaret Loesch. This brave trailblazer bet her career on Marvel’s mutants and with an impressive team of creatives, they pushed the limits of storytelling in animation at a fraction of the budget that the Warner Brothers’ spent on their competitor series, “Batman The Animated Series.” Director and producer Larry Houston took the complex relationships between X-Men characters in the comics and adapted the stories with the series’ writers to contain even greater depth that loyal X-Men comic book readers and first-time fans responded to… so much so that fan mail filled the halls of the network’s office building in the mid 90s.
It goes without saying that it’s always difficult to depict iconic characters in a new medium but the X-Men TAS proved that it could be done exceptionally well, raising the benchmark for all adapted animated series that followed… and not to mention that ear worm of a theme song by Ron Wasserman.
With many years passing and no blu-ray treatment like the aforementioned “Batman The Animated Series” received on its 25th anniversary, it seemed like the series was forgotten by its owners, partially due to the Fox ownership of X-Men while Disney owned the remaining hunk of Marvel I.P.
However, the launch of Disney+ and the surge in viewership for the classic X-Men TAS seemed to ignite a new generation of fans as the original voice actors were finally touring as a cast and meeting fans. This combination of events (and many behind the scenes meetings) led to a revival-slash-reboot of the classic show with its voice cast returning after an astounding thirty year hiatus.
‘X-Men ‘97’ has since been a runaway success for Marvel and Disney+, earning an Emmy nomination for Best Animated Program and a quick renewal for two more seasons. “X-Men ‘97” picks up shortly after the season five finale of the original series, but with a new visual palette maintaining elements of the original series while incorporating modern animation techniques. The framing has evolved from the VHS-era 4:3 aspect ratio to a more contemporary 16:9 format that makes the action sequences even grander than before. And the stories told through Season One of “X-Men ’97” match the exciting visuals with fun comic-book action interweaved with the exploration of social matters that have always been a part of X-Men anthology.
Emi/Emmett Yonemura, who directed several episodes of the first season, including the penultimate Episode 5, “Remember It”, spoke to Award Focus about the recent Emmy nomination and their work on the series. Their love of the X-Men was on clear display with X-Men statues and classic issues of the comic book (including X-Men #266 – Gambit’s first appearance) on display. Yonemura has a long list of credits, working for the arts department for multiple animated shows and series, and directing several series, including the HBO Max series “Gen-Lock.” “X-Men ‘97” represented a dream come true as they were largely drawn to comic books because of the original X-Men animated series.
Their love for the X-Men was shared by the entire cast crew. Yonemura added, “Everyone, from the production assistants to the top execs, cared so much about this product, this show, and these characters. On other shows, you get people who say, ‘Yeah, it’s great, it’ll be popular, it’ll be fine,’ but here, it felt like these characters are our family members. We would actually say, ‘No, no, no, Rogue wouldn’t do that. Rogue would be more like this,’ and we’d agree. It ended up being a lot of fun because everyone in the room was a fan and really wanted to see this done the best way possible.”
In our discussion, Emi/Emmett also shares more on the influences of the approach they brought to the new series, the important contribution from the voice and animation talent involved, and just how you bring a three-headed Sentinel to life.
Awards Focus: Congratulations on the Emmy nomination! Prior to getting involved with the “X-Men ‘97,” what were your favorite personal experiences with the X-Men? Did you have favorite characters or story arcs that influenced the approach you brought to the show?
Emi/Emmett Yonemura: Yes, absolutely. I was a huge fan of the original series when I was growing up, so working on the current show is like a full-circle moment for me. As a kid, especially growing up without realizing I was trans, non-binary, you kind of grow up as a lonely kid. I think X-Men found its way into a lot of lonely kids’ hearts because it gave you a family of outsiders that you could, in a weird way, relate to and fall in love with—and easily pretend to be. They became an extended family to me. My favorite character was actually Morph because I love traumatic characters who are good guys gone bad, then good again. They’re fascinating that way, so getting to re-approach Morph in our version was fantastic. I also always loved Gambit and Rogue—I fully support their love story.
AF: We’ll certainly talk more about Gambit and Rogue? What is one element of the rich visual landscape of X-Men, whether it’s the original 90s animated series, the movies or the comics that factored heavily in your approach to the new series?
Emi/Emmett: They have such mature storylines, even for a comic book series. They touch on real, grounded issues—whether it’s civil rights or relationships. For the art style, I wanted to bring in a lot of the mature animation from the 80s and 90s to create a love letter not only to 90s X-Men but also to the animation of that time period. Even though we’ve modernized it by giving it more budget, we tried to keep a lot of our camera techniques, shots, and the way we handle panning backgrounds grounded in that 90s, 80s style—especially what they were doing in Japan at the time. It was really exciting to take what they were doing in the 90s and update it just a little bit.
AF: Today’s audiences are so much used to a CGI style of animation. Was there ever any concern that modern audiences wouldn’t accept the 90s style?
Emi/Emmett: Not at all. I think for us, there’s so much love for 2D as well. Knowing that we could work with a great studio like Studio Mir in Korea to make this look gorgeous just makes it a tasty treat for people. It boosts animation as a whole, with beautiful CG coming out of Disney, DreamWorks, and Pixar, and beautiful 2D coming from Marvel. I just think it’s fun—it’s fun to get to play.
AF: Given the strong fan base for the original series and the various incarnations of the Sentinels, were there any specific moments where you felt pressure to meet fan expectations?
Emi/Emmett: You know, it’s hard. It’s hard because you go off comic book resources, and so you worry about nailing the moments. Even with the Sentinels, especially with the monster Sentinel that appears, we obviously couldn’t fully follow the comic design because the scale and scope were going to be different than what we were trying to do visually. You worry about the impact—it’s always that concern that it won’t have the same impact if we slightly tweak a design. However, we knew that what’s beautiful about comic books is they give you the splash page, and it’s a moment. So, we started thinking, “Okay, what’s that splash page moment? How do we make it feel as big and grand as the comics did while staying loyal to this 90s style?” Especially when we’re talking about how the 90s might design a mech suit, like a Sentinel. We didn’t want to go too modern and make it look sleek, sharp, and pointy. It has to be chunky; it has to have big, round shapes. So, even for that monster Sentinel that appears in episode 105, we were still trying to stay true to what they would hopefully do in the 90s, while also pulling inspiration from artists like Jim Lee and Moebius.
AF: And how did you tackle the movement and the capabilities of the monster three-headed Sentinel?
Emi/Emmett: It’s terrifying. Basically, we wanted it to feel like it could see you from every angle. It was huge. We intentionally tried to shoot it so that it never fully filled the screen, so you would always feel like it was this immense thing you couldn’t fully comprehend. There are a couple of shots where we break that to get those moments that are more like comic book splash pages, like seeing it hovering over the whole island of Genosha. But yeah, we wanted all those designs so that it felt like you were never safe. Our art director, Anthony Wu, did a really good job of capturing that.
AF: You mentioned Genosha. Since we see so many cameos from other mutants, were there any characters you were most excited to bring back?
Emi/Emmett: Because they’re all so beloved, it’s actually kind of fun to pick and play and see who we end up doing. A lot of it is collaboration with the whole team. Sometimes there’ll be some mentioned in the script, like we definitely know we want to get Banshee in here, we definitely want Moira, but then some others are just fun easter eggs that the crew wants to include. One of our character people suggested putting in Glob as one of the kids, and I was so excited for Glob. Then we instantly fell in love with the idea that Glob is just wandering around Genosha with his friends including Leech. So there were ones that were really good story points, and then there were ones where, because the crew are fans, we just got excited and thought, what about this one? What about that one? We all became nerds and had fun.
AF: Episode 5 (105) is obviously centered on the relationship between Rogue and Gambit. In working on scenes where there is so much emotional gravitas, how did you work with the voice actors A.J. LoCascio (Gambit) and Lenore Zann (Rogue)? Do you ever speak with the showrunner and ask for the for the actors’ delivery to be rerecorded or try new lines once you see the see the scenes in animation?
Emi/Emmett: A lot of times the directors will sit in with our wonderful voice director, Meredith Layne. In case we’re seeing a scene or setting up a scene differently than scripted, or there might be slight tweaks or more distance than what’s on the page, we will request an alternate read just to give us options to work with so that when we get into the actual art and edit bay, we can pick and choose what’s working. We have a general vision, and it’s really fun. The actors are amazing to work with; they just have a blast. It’s fun when you start telling them how you’re crafting a scene, and then you see them light up and say, ‘Oh, I’m seeing it now.’ They get ideas, and it becomes such a fun collaboration.
AF: There are several visually and auditorily stunning scenes in the episode such as the time travel scenes and of course the last few minutes (battle in Genosha). Can you walk us through the process collaborating with the animation and sound design teams in putting the scenes together?
Emi/Emmett: One of the fun parts is the collaboration with those departments. For example, there were a lot of lines written into the script that, when we watched the animatic—everything put together with storyboards and basic audio at the start—it was easy to see where things were too much. We could decide to let the acting in the actual drawings carry a scene. For example, there were more lines between Rogue and Magneto when he’s trying to put them to the side before he gets blasted. There was a whole exchange between them, but we realized it was more powerful to let it play out with just their looks. It’s different in animation because you usually rely on actors’ faces and micro-expressions, but knowing what we’re building in the art, we let the visuals tell the story. Working with sound effects and Skywalker Sound, especially to get the power sets down and make everything feel impactful, was a treat. They knew what they were doing, but we could still tweak things, like making the boom sound like it was coming from one place and washing over the audience. It made the animation feel so much more immersive.
AF: Looking back at Season One, are there any particular techniques or decisions you used/made that you’re especially proud of because of how they push the boundaries of animated storytelling?
Emi/Emmett: That’s a hard one. I think it was working so closely with Studio Mir because they were doing a lot of new techniques. We also have an internal animation team that helped add additional minutiae on top of things. What was really nice is how much Marvel cared about making this feel like an actual art form, not just another superhero series. We wanted it to feel not just nostalgic but updated. Working closely with Studio Mir was such a pleasure. Even though they speak Korean and we speak English, it felt like there wasn’t much of a language barrier. They cared just as much as we did. When we gave notes like, ‘I’d love it if Magneto’s cape could swoosh more this way to help with this,’ they would hit it and be so happy to. That’s one thing that made this season so special.
AF: With Season Two already in production, what does the editing process generally look like when? As an example, if you have the luxury of 3-4 months until an episode is due, are you often going back and tinkering with it?
Emi/Emmett: For me, there’s usually a moment of pencils down. I try to stay involved through the post process as much as I can because I love being hands-on and learning from that side of it. But once we get take twos in—after I give my notes on animation and timing—it goes on to our supervising producer, Jake Castorena, who helps oversee it to the finish line. We’re always getting notes, and that’s what I love. Even though we have an animatic, ship it, and get the animation back, we’re still trying to push it to be the best it can be, whether it’s tweaking the story or the animation. I love being involved in that part because it feels like you’re getting to play with the toys you molded, and now you get to make them shine. It’s the fun part of making an episode, but there are so many people involved. If they didn’t have me do pencils down, I could keep drawing and nitpicking. ‘Oh, I can make that face stronger now.’ But it’s like, okay, pencils down, move on to the next episode. The team will take it from here, and it stops me from being too much of an artist and getting in my own head.
AF: Anything you can tease about season two?
Emi/Emmett: Nothing that I can tease, only that I’m very excited for people to see where we go. The end of episode 10 (110) certainly set up a lot of things. I’m really excited for people to see how we take those storylines and have fun with them.