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By John Peters (Originally published at Killer Movies)
Finally, for the first time on DVD, X-Men: The Animated Series comes roaring to the format in all of its glory in season sets (dubbed volumes). You can almost hear Shuki Levy’s score now, the pulsating theme tune that is so memorable a decade after the last episode aired. To mark this special event, I'm taking a look back at the ground-breaking series, through the words of it’s creators, writers, and voice talent in Remembering the X-Men: The Animated Series. This is the final part as told by Jubilee herself, Alyson Court. Why are they doing this to me? I didn’t ask to be a mutant. The character of Jubilee was created by the great X-Men writer Chris Claremont and artist Marc Silvestri for Uncanny X-Men issue # 244 (May, 1989). Wolverine and Jubilee developed a father-daughter like relationship, that becomes a mainstay in the X-Men universe, this is seen throughout X-Men: The Animated Series, as well as in the Bryan Singer X-Men films, except Jubilee is replaced by Rogue for those films. Her character in the beginning was a minor one, and it wasn’t until the 1992 pilot episode that Jubilee a popular character. While her character is seen very briefly in the X-Men films, notably in X2 during the Storm and Nightcrawler’s rescue of some teen mutants in Stryker’s holding cell, and a one off shot of her in X-Men: The Last Stand. In further X-Men animated ‘toons, her character is homage because of the popular status she received in the 1992-1997 animated series. In Wolverine and the X-Men, whenever her character is seen outside of her X-Men uniform, she is always seen wearing the yellow trench coat as she is memorably known for, thanks to this series we’re talking about now. A spunky mall rat, and a mutant with the ability to shoot fireworks from her fingers, her character was the audiences introduction into the X-universe in the first two episodes Night of the Sentinels. Through her we see the hatred from ignorance as she is targeted throughout the show by Sentinels and mutant-hating humans. Her naivety is well expressed through the great voice work by actress Alyson Court. The Mall Rat Talks Alyson Court remembers how she was cast as Jubilee: “I was a replacement, actually. I had just finished voicing Lydia Deetz for the Beetlejuice series (also carried on Fox), during which I worked with a man named Sidney Iwanter. He was an executive at Fox Kids and had grown so sick of hearing my voice as Lydia that when it came time to cast Jubilee, his instructions were: “I don’t care who plays Jubilee, as long as it isn’t Alyson Court!” “Dan Hennessey on the other hand, was very much in favor of casting me in the role,” she says. “Another actress was initially cast, but I guess they felt it wasn’t working so I was brought in on day three or thereabouts. It was crazy! So many people were there for the recording session. Sidney from Fox, Joe Calamari from Marvel, Winston from Saban, a few other execs, it was like we were doing a feature film! There was so much pressure to get this show exactly right, everyone wanted to have a say. Everyone had their own vision of each character, how they should sound, what the level of intensity and seriousness should be- it was unlike any other animated series that had come before.” Alyson Court was no stranger to doing voice work for animated shows, but this one was tough at first. “The recording sessions were brutal. We re-recorded those first few episodes three or four times. And during all of this, every time I opened my mouth Sidney would shout “No! Sounds like Lydia (her character from Beetlejuice), do it again!” He drove me nuts, but I have to say he was right. It was like voice acting boot camp, and Sidney forced me to really explore my voice and character to find the right performance for Jubilee. Funnily enough, Sid is now my best friend from that show!” The show brought Jubilee to the forefront, and Alyson speaks of how she developed the character outside of Eric Lewald’s team of excellent writers. “Figuring out Jubilee and making her more than how she had appeared thus far in the comics, was hugely important since the entire series premiere (Night of the Sentinels) focused on her. We really worked hard to bring a sense of drama and depth to the character. She had to have sass, but she was also still just a kid, so her fear, confusion, and naivety had to come through. Yes, she was still very much a brat, but often that was just to hide her vulnerability. Part of why I ended up in the role was because they needed someone who sounded young but could push the seriousness of the performance, and put her on a level that could keep up with Logan (Cal Dodd). Remember: This wasn’t your typical Saturday morning cartoon where someone pitches a fairly simple straight forward idea for a kids show.” “X-Men was totally different,” she continued. “Everyone involved with the show (all of the guys I mentioned earlier) were extremely passionate about this property. EVERYONE CARED. At times it seemed like people cared too much, because they spent so much time arguing, nothing was getting recorded. At any rate, I had plenty of source material in those guys to help me develop the character, plus all of my artist friends were huge fans, so they never stopped giving me advice either!” “They were walking a fine line-making a Saturday morning cartoon that would appeal to that younger viewer ship but keep the property’s integrity and adult dramatic essence,” she explains of the effort everyone was doing for the show. “We worked very hard to make sure those initial episodes which featured Jubilee demonstrated to everyone what this show was going to be. I really appreciate the effort the show creators put forth to make Jubilee a legitimate, interesting and appealing part of the X-Men: The Animated Series cast.” Jubilee and Wolverine had a unique relationship in the series, and Alyson remembers fondly working with Cal Dodd, who voiced Wolverine, and working with him in the recording booth throughout the years. “Cal is great! And in a way, he and I had a very similar relationship away from the mic. We had been neighbors for years, he’d known me since I was a little kid. On the show, Cal was one of, if not the most experienced performers, and I was the youngest cast member. He always had a big brother protective vibe towards me. At cast parties, we would inevitably end up moving away from all the craziness happening at the party, and just talk for a while. In the studio, he would really get into character, and it was a hoot! He didn’t say much, but every now and then he would growl out some dry sinister but sarcastic remark that would send the room reeling in laughter. He is a very smart and funny man.” While Alyson Court is remembered for Jubilee, she is also the only actress to have voiced Claire Redfield from the Resident Evil video game franchise, as well as the character’s recent role in Resident Evil: Degeneration. There is a well of voice acting talent out there that gets easily brushed aside for celebrities, when a casting director casts for a feature film. Alyson offers her opinion on the industry: “Using celebrity voices is a tricky thing. It really depends on the role and the actor involved. I think Pixar usually does a very good job with their casting. Ellen DeGeneres was perfect for Dory (from Finding Nemo). Can you imagine anyone else in that role? She brought so much to Dory, they probably let her ad lib much of her own dialogue. Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), John Ratzenberger (Cheers, Toy Story), Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series), these are incredibly talented actors who deserve to be cast as voice actors, not because they are famous, but because they are really, really good! Then there are other celebrities- big Hollywood blockbuster types- that don’t really bring a lot to the table when it comes to voicing a character. Their on screen presence is incredible, but all of that charisma gets lost when the image is taken away. In this kind of situation usually the movie studio is depending on the “big names” to sell their movie. Probably because the movie itself isn’t very good.” “It doesn’t bother me, though,” says Court about the casting of celebrities over voice actors like her, “actors should be allowed to take any role they like. It’s up to the producer to make a good decision in casting. At the end of the day, if your property is for kids, then using a celebrity for namesake alone really isn’t necessary, since kids don’t care!” Finally, Alyson says she’s still having a blast working in the industry, as she wants to thank fans of the Resident Evil franchise for their loyalty and support. “Fans whose dedication and loyalty are what made the property so successful in the first place, is something I think should be respected.” “I hope everyone enjoys the X-Men series on DVD,” says Alyson excitedly. “I know I can’t wait to show it to my son as he’s never seen it before. Lastly, I want to thank Sidney Iwanter who, although he didn’t initially want me in the show, is responsible for making the series the ground breaking success that it was!” And so that completes my mammoth look back at the X-Men: Animated Series. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did, and if you missed any part of this four part series, go back and give them a read. None of this could have been done without the X-Men themselves, Lenore Zann (Rogue) and Alyson Court (Jubilee), and the amazing team of Eric Lewald (Lead Writer), Scott Thomas (Supervising Producer), and Sidney Iwanter (Fox network executive).
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