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I remember tuning into Fox Kids in 1992 when X-Men: The Animated Series originally started airing on television. So I couldn’t miss the X-Men ’97 panel at FAN EXPO Chicago, where Larry F. Houston, Catherine Disher and Cal Dodd shared stories about the first TV series and what it was like to come back to this mutant storyline.
Director/producer Houston returned for X-Men ’97 as a consulting producer and Dodd is back to voice Wolverine. Meanwhile, Disher came back but she’s not voicing Jean Grey anymore; this time she’s a new character, Val Cooper.
Behind the Scenes with Auditions and Scripts
Thinking back to the early 1990s and auditioning for X-Men: The Animated Series, Disher felt that the sides reminded her of a radio play. She said, “It was so refreshing. It required actually being in the moment and acting, which up until that point, cartoons had never required [of] me. I was really excited by that.”
Houston recalled his earliest meetings with show runners Eric and Julia Lewald, who actually had no idea what X-Men was initially. It contrasted with Houston’s interest in the comic book characters since his childhood. He said, “They were not bound by all the minutiae that I knew about it. They were able to write stories that made it accessible to everybody, not just to fanboys.”
When writers were done with drafts of the scripts, Houston carefully reviewed them. He double-checked “that the scripts stayed within the mythology of the X-Men lore, so that they didn’t go off course. I wanted to make sure that the show felt like a living comic book.”
In the Recording Booth
During the 1990s, Disher and Dodd were in a room together with other X-Men cast members. They could interact with each other as episodes were recorded. There were moments of levity throughout that process. Disher said, “I put my hands on my headphones during [Jean Grey’s] telepathic thing. I didn’t realize I was doing it. Everyone used to tease me about it!”
With X-Men ’97, Disher thought Cooper was going to be a boring bureaucrat, but the role was a journey worth exploring more. Disher enjoyed working on her scenes, filming them in Toronto separately from her castmates, who are mostly based in Los Angeles. Cooper’s views are difficult to figure out initially, shifting during the series. “It mirrors what humans are experiencing and thinking about the mutants and the different ways that they see them. Frankly, she has the best line in ’97, ‘Magneto was right.'”
“Magneto’s got the best hair,” Dodd joked at that point.
On Longevity in Their Careers
I asked all three panelists which early lessons they found helpful in their careers. Houston highly rates the lesson of patience because of how it aids a creative in communication and problem-solving. “When you’re dealing with executives on a production, you try to stay on an even keel because things can go sideways. For me, it was patience. I’ve had to deal with it in my career as a director.”
Disher agreed about patience coming in handy, but she also emphasized the value of cultivating your career network. That’s because it’s a very small world in the entertainment business. “There’s no reason to burn bridges. Patience comes in handy. You never know, 30 years later, they might reboot a cartoon you were in!”
Dodd spoke of his childhood experiences. He grew up in the small town of Port Dover, Ontario, which was home to lake fishing at Lake Erie. There was also hockey in the wintertime, where games would inevitably have a fight or two. “This buddy of mine was the toughest guy within a hundred miles, and he had a temper like Wolverine’s…He just did not like people getting picked on or anything.”
Dodd channeled that into his Wolverine portrayal, but there’s practical advice to take away from it, too. “Don’t take any crap from anybody, and I put that into Wolverine’s facade.”
Visit the FAN EXPO Chicago website and our coverage for more fan culture news. X-Men and X-Men ’97 are both available for streaming on Disney+.
