X-Men '97 brings back original theme and titles: "Never in doubt"
The revival series features a revamped version of the opening titles and theme music.
New to Disney Plus, X-Men '97 is a revival of the classic animated series from the 1990s featuring Marvel's mutants – and fans will be pleased to learn that the new show keeps the original's iconic theme music and opening titles.
A new version of the original theme plays over an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the opening – albeit with a few tweaks, including incorporating new team members Morph and Bishop.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, X-Men '97 director/producer Jake Castorena said that there was never any discussion about diverging from the original opening and theme music.
"If we're going to do something that [means] we're in a sandbox, there's automatically certain things that we should do, verbatim, that should just be in the DNA of our show from day one – and yes, the theme and the main titles was never in doubt."
The aim, Castorena explained, was "to have that feeling of cohesion" between the new series and the original, "making it feel like it's all part of the same show".
"At the end of the day, we are a spiritual successor – we are a revival," he said. "I can tout this until I'm blue in the face – we're not a reboot, we're not a retelling... the goal is to be able to watch the OG show and go right into ours... or start with our show and go right into the OG show."
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Much of the original cast from X-Men: The Animated Series has returned for the revival – including Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Lenore Zann as Rogue and George Buza as Beast.
However, certain roles have been recast, with legacy cast members instead appearing in new roles instead.
Explaining the logic behind this decision, Castorena said: "For those who wanted to come back and for whatever reasons weren't able to do the voice, we brought them back to play other characters, to make sure we still had everybody in the sandbox.
"Honestly, it's a way to get everybody back. It's the best way to get everybody back, as best as we could."
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Picking up after the events of X-Men: The Animated Series, X-Men '97 sees the team – now led by Cyclops – face dangerous new challenges following the loss of their founder and mentor, Professor X.
X-Men '97 is streaming now on Disney Plus – two episodes are live now, with the remainder of the 10-episode first season releasing weekly until 15th May.
Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
