This year, the X-Men are making a resurgence in mainstream culture. Deadpool & Wolverine is expected to be a big blowout, while X-Men ’97 premiered to widespread praise. Next week, Marvel Comics will release a new X-Men #1, courtesy of Jed Mackay and Ryan Stegman. But things weren’t always like this. The most notorious of these failed attempts to launch an X-Men movie and/or television series was Generation X. Technically, Generation X is the first live-action X-Men production; it is based on the X-Men spinoff squad founded by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo. However, why aren’t many people aware of it? How did the attempt to start a franchise fail? Below are the answers.
What Is “Generation X” All About?
Jubilation Lee (Heather McComb), often known as “Jubilee,” realizes she has a mutant talent to produce energy bursts that mimic fireworks at the beginning of Generation X. Eventually, she ends up at the Xavier School For Gifted Children, where the White Queen (Finola Hughes) and the Banshee (Jeremy Ratchford), Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy, are in charge. After Jubilee joins a new mutant class led by Augustin Rodriguez’s elastic-powered Skin, they all learn how to handle their talents. However, a threat emerges in the shape of Matt Frewer’s character, Frost’s former coworker Russell Tresh, who has become fixated on finding the dimension from which dreams originate and intends to use mutants as test subjects.
Two industry veterans were involved in the production: director Jack Sholder, who surprisingly directed another dream-themed film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, and writer Eric Blakeney, who worked on 21 Jump Street. Despite his disinterest in comic books, Sholder was excited about helming Generation X. “The script was terrific, and it seemed like a younger X-Men movie. It looked like it would be both tough and a lot of fun. It had a ridiculous sense of humor that became even more ridiculous after we cast it “Sholder told Syfy Wire, which might be drastically underselling the finished product.
The Limited Budget of Generation X Caused Significant Character Shifts
As you might imagine, Generation X’s $4 million budget was significantly smaller than that of your average television series or superhero blockbuster, which presented a serious challenge from the outset. As a result, two significant characters from the comics team were swapped out for less expensive options. Those members were Chamber, whose body contains a mental fire that blasted off half of his face, and Paige Guthrie/Husk, who can shed her skin to turn into different elements. Refrax (Randall Slavin), a mutant with X-ray and heat vision abilities, and Buff (Suzanne Davis), who lived up to her namesake’s extraordinary strength, took their place. In a Los Angeles Times interview, Blakeney voiced his displeasure with the budget:
“We were all really frustrated by it…Chamber was one mutant we really wanted to include. It was simply too costly to materialize Chamber’s physical traits, which include a steady energy pulse that extends from his chest to his lower face.”
Among Generation X, new characters weren’t the only significant shift. Jubilee’s ethnicity was altered since, although she was portrayed by a white actress in the movie, she was shown as Chinese American in the comics. It was an odd shift, made even more odd by the fact that Jubilee was a prominent character in X-Men: The Animated Series, which was airing at the time. “The script does not mention her Asian ethnicity, nor is it mentioned in the casting breakdown that went out to agents,” Sholder said, attributing the inconsistency to the script. He did bring up the fact that Sandra Oh tried out for the part of Emma Frost; Oh would go on to become involved in comic book adaptations after landing a part in Invincible.
“Generation X” Was Supposed to Be the Premiere TV Show
After X-Men: The Animated Series became an enormous hit, Fox realized the potential of the X-Men property and originally intended for Generation X to act as a springboard for a possible film or television series. Gen X’s success was even supported by the late, great Stan Lee, who said, “If this thing doesn’t create demand, I’ll eat my hat!” Sholder thought otherwise:
I was never informed that [Generation X was a series pilot]. That was always an option while producing a TV film. However, it was not intended to be a pilot. anything known as a “backdoor pilot” is anything that isn’t actually a pilot but could be one based on how things work out. Most likely, it would be a pilot if it were completed today. For a pilot, this is an ideal scenario. You have a cast of recurring characters in addition to the fantasy element. That was before the Syfy Channel had really taken off and those shows had not begun to turn a profit. This was thus only considered an isolated incident.
Despite some encouraging reviews, Generation X ultimately failed to have the impact that its network and creative team had hoped for. But the issue still stands: Is it worthwhile to give Generation X another look?
Comparison of ‘Generation X’ with Other ‘X-Men’ Projects
It’s evident from watching Generation X in 2024 that the movie doesn’t live up to expectations for an X-Men production. Even though Frewer consumes as much scenery as possible, Tresh is nothing compared to previous X-Men opponents like as Apocalypse or Sinister. Working on the team relationships is also necessary, as Jubilee and Skin receive most of the attention while the other members of Generation X are relegated to supporting roles. Moreover, it is best to keep discussing the impacts in silence. Positively, though, Hughes does manage to depict a part of Emma Frost that would eventually be seen in subsequent comics where the White Queen fully embraced her heroic side. The rare sequences where Generation X unites feel extremely accurate to the comics.
Unexpectedly, Generation X also initiated a trend that would impact future superhero movies as well as the X-Men film franchise. Hatley Castle in British Columbia was used for filming scenes at the Xavier Institute. The castle would go on to be used for filming future X-Men movies, the Deadpool television series, Lex Luthor’s estate in Smallville, and Oliver Queen’s residence in Arrow. If Generation X is now nothing more than a fading memory, at least it made it possible for the X-Men to really take off in TV and movies.
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