Even with the best of intentions, you can get in trouble. Some of you may remember that at the end of each episode during the first season, there was a primitive, spinning, 3-D, CGI (computer-generated-image) model of each of our lead characters that ran alongside the credits. Each of our eight leads was featured, turning 360 degrees, along with a brief description of his or her powers printed beneath the model. This was Will Meugniot’s idea. He understood that 80% of our audience had never heard of the X-Men before. Having a reminder of who was who in the team and what their powers were was a service to the audience. It was also time-consuming and EXPENSIVE at a time when CGI was in its infancy. Well, no good deed goes unpunished. When the shows came out in January, 1993, a cry went up that these 3-D figures of our X-MEN:TAS team looked like built-in toy advertisements. Much to Will’s disappointment, we had to discontinue showing them. Every successful show has merchandising — either before or after the fact. The “product placement” rules are silly. A show is good or bad. What it may end up helping to sell is immaterial. We got away with breaking a lot of rules on X-MEN:TAS. Here’s one we couldn’t get past.
