Reunited X-Men cartoon voice cast excited to meet fans new and old at Calgary Expo
If you've spent any amount of time scrolling TikTok at 3 a.m. (it's OK -- we all have), you probably know the meme.
A guy looks at the camera and says, 'You can't summon an entire generation with just one song.' Then, the shot cuts to somebody hitting play on their device of choice and the song that is their rebuttal kicking in.
Sometimes, it's 'Baba O'Riley'. Sometimes, it's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. Opinions differ and so, there are others.
But if you did any amount of growing up in the '90s, your own answer might just as easily be the theme song to the Saturday morning 'X-Men' cartoon, often celebrated as a high point in animated superheroics.
The impact of that show on that generation is massive.
And now, it's back again, picking up where it left off, complete with many of the same actors voicing the same characters, for a second generation in addition.
'Somebody got in touch with me and said they were doing 'X-Men' again, and I sort of went, 'Yeah, right. That was 30 years ago, darling -- I don't think so,'' said Alison Sealy-Smith, who was and is again the voice actor behind the character Storm.
'And then it all just sort of came together and it's been a wonderful ride.'
x-men '97
Alison Sealy-Smith was and is again the voice actor behind the character Storm on the 'X-Men' cartoon series.
'It was the most euphoric experience I've ever had -- to go back into the very same studio (in Toronto) where we did the original record,' said George Buza, the voice actor behind the character Beast, then and now.
Several members of the voice cast are at the Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo this year, meeting with fans from both back in the day and today -- undoubtedly some from the same families, sharing the same excitement for each new episode.
'I think what's made it exceptionally wonderful this time around is we're much more aware this time of the impact of the show,' Sealy-Smith told CTV News on Thursday.
At Calgary Expo with Sealy-Smith and Buza are Chris Potter, the voice actor behind the character Gambit in the original series and now bringing the character Cable to life in the new one, and Matthew Waterson, joining the legacy as the new voice actor behind the character Magneto.
x-men '97
George Buza was and is again the voice actor behind the character Beast on the 'X-Men' cartoon series.
Both Sealy-Smith and Buza say tapping their old iconic characters again was a quick and natural thing.
But both spent decades between stints as X-people doing many other things -- many other wonderful things.
And so of course, there was some question -- maybe some doubt.
Turns out, they needn't have been concerned.
'As soon as you saw the script and as soon as you started saying it, it just came back,' Sealy-Smith said.
'It really was as if Storm had just been in here the whole time, just waiting for the chance to fly again.'
'It was like getting back on a bike. Instant -- absolutely instant,' Buza said.
'(Beast) was always there.
'The character was built on what was always me -- I identified very deeply with Beast.'
Sealy-Smith, Buza, Potter and Waterson have been at Calgary Expo Thursday and Friday so far, and will be there Saturday and Sunday as well.
If that theme song did indeed start playing in your head before, you might consider swinging by the BMO Centre for a visit...
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