Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Nerd Gen Report. I'm your host, Pablo. And joining me, as always, is Mister Brian Schultz. Today we have our special guest, Tracy, joining us to discuss the issues X Men 97 season two is having.
And unfortunately, Brian, you sent me the text that I was, you know, disheartened when I, when you. When I read that it was going to be postponed till 2026, which is a, which is just, like, saddening.
But there are issues, it seems like the MCU or Marvel Studios or Marvel animation, whatever, Marvel Television. Yes. Are trying to make disappear Bo DeMeo's contributions to season two. Brian, your thoughts on the latest developments and where you think it's going? Because, you know, I just don't want things to change because it seems like it's changing so far. Brian, your thoughts?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah, this is getting ugly.
So we got obviously. So Bo Dimeo was the showrunner and the lead writer for X Men 97. He obviously had done a number of other Marvel projects or had done. He had took a pass at Blade. He's worked on some other writing.
He gets fired, and it comes out. There's sort of allegations, I'll stress allegations of abuse of the staff.
However, at the time of his dismissal, his dismissal came, as you recall, I believe, a week before season one dropped and he had completed all script work for season two. Season one comes out unilaterally acclaimed, probably the most acclaimed thing Marvel's put out since no way home. And, you know, people, people missed out cutting room four, missed out on a great pre Emmy show that we did. We were correct. Blue eyes samurai got the nod. But X Men 97 was a worthy candidate for that award.
Now we get word. Season two delayed until 2026. Why? Because the new showrunner, Matthew Chauncey, is rewriting all the scripts.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: So scary.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Let me get this straight. So the guy that wrote the show that was nominated and could have won an Emmy that everyone liked wrote season two, but since you fired him, you don't want him anywhere near the output, because if the output is great, he's going to get the credit for that even after he was fired. So you're going to rewrite all of his work, and we're going to just pray that you don't mess it up. Well, Bottomo had thoughts about that because he's not been quiet.
Not sure about the legals approach to this, but he's on socials, and he came out and spoiled that onslaught. Was going to be in the season two finale, but the season two has now been cut from ten episodes to nine to remove that supervillain. And he threw in a. Quote.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Quote.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: Marvel loves shooting themselves in the foot, especially with directors and execs pushing their backwards. We know better than the comics agenda. End quote.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Tracy, this is something that we've been talking about for years, almost. Almost decades, about executives believing that they know best. I don't know by Tracy, do you? Wow. It almost feels like they were waiting for him to finish what he needed to finish on season two, and then they just got rid of him. But the show was that popular.
[00:04:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: That they didn't want his name associated to season two. Cause it doesn't make sense. Like, what. What do you think is going on between Bo Demayo and Marvel that there's such animosity towards him to, like, just erase his name from all credits to the show?
[00:04:29] Speaker C: I'm gonna have to agree with Brian here, and I put it in my own way up.
What are the lawyers telling the studio heads? Because that's what it's coming down to. What are the agents saying? And what are the lawyers saying? Hey, cut them off. No connection. Wipe them away. Like CK. Like ck Lewis with HBO. Cut them off. Wipe away. Make them go away. Yeah, but he kind of finished season two. Well, you want to put that out and then have some type of backlash? I don't think there would have been any type of backlash, but it's up to you. You know, the lawyers. It's up to you. You could do this and run a risk, a risk of protests at people's homes to watch the series. I mean, and then the agents, it's. It becomes. I mean, it is called show business, the business part of it. Who is. Who is panicking? If we keep this guy stuff, it's almost like a. The next Billy Joel album. Yeah, well, Billy fell down. Yeah, but I'm still gonna put that album out of the next nirvana, the next. I'm not gonna put it out because this one tripped and fell with it. What does that have to do with the album? But it's a decision they made to say disconnect completely, and that's what it's coming down to.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: Would it be fair to say that because the first season of X Men was so successful, is nominated for Emmy, if season two goes down the same route, is he gaining too much power and soon.
Correct.
Well, I suppose because the fans are going to chime in, obviously, and already have. Season three is different in any way in terms of quality and storytelling. The gripes are going to be loud and vicious.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: Well, let's be clear about one. Let's be clear about that. It'll be gripes in both directions, because if the allegations are substantiated, there'll be plenty of fans who are also going to say, bottom WTF? Why couldn't you be a good professional? That's also going to be a gripe, and that would be a correct gripe, right. Because if these are true, that's not good either. Right? We don't. We're not here to tell you that. That's, we're going to look the other way just because the show is good.
The thing that I would suspect, I, I have no knowledge, but I would suspect is at play here is the writers Guild requirement for credit.
I would suspect Disney and Marvel does not want his name on the show, and as a result, there are probably rules and regulations for what his contribution is or is not that determines that. So if they were to use his scripts, clearly he would have to be credited. If he, they didn't credit him in that scenario, he would just march right down on the courthouse and name his price. So it comes down to, if they take his work and they completely rewrite it, how much of it do they have to rewrite before they can remove him entirely as a screenwriter, as a contributor, as whatever.
I'm guessing that's the bar and that's what's happening. They are, but the problem is they can't totally start over because season one was a cliffhanger. There's an arc that they already knew they were going to do. So if they were to totally wipe it, that would make no sense. So they have to kind of use the foundation that he laid, and then they have to overlay whatever they're doing now to make it different enough that legally he can't sue them for the credit later. That would be my guess, which if you ask me, I'm sure this has happened before, but if you ask me, like, the odds that we wind up in a better place because of this seem remote.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: And that's the scary, that's the concern. Because the excitement level of this show, of this season, the x men 97, that first season was just unbelievable.
And for it to possibly be threatened because of some gripes, obviously they are very serious.
There's very serious allegations, actions that were taken on behalf of bold Demario that warrant a them from to get rid of him. And now they're going the extra mile. But we just obviously don't want the show to suffer. So we're hoping that they can maintain because Tracy, if you saw season one, which I'm sure you did, I'm sure you were already thinking about the possibility of onslaught, right?
[00:09:25] Speaker C: Of course they laid it out.
I'm with Brian. At the end of the day, this. This is not going to be good for the viewer. Whatever interpretation is. Maybe the interpretation that may proceed out of this might be decent, but that won't be good enough. The backlash will be unbelievable. This show came out of the sky. Let's keep it real. Let's keep it. Let's keep it real. What if didn't click like this? What if did not click like this? This show came out of nowhere. Yeah, it had the nostalgia going forward in the beginning, but who knew it was gonna forget it?
[00:10:08] Speaker B: But that made it harder, I think.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: It had to live up to that. And not only did it live up to it, it exceeded it.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Oh, by miles.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: You know, the other thing that's interesting with this 2026 delay, so we know that blue eyes samurai season two is slated for 2026. Bruce Timm has not said when Caped Crusader season two is coming, but there's a very realistic possibility all three of these shows are head to head again in 2026. Based upon this news, if I was laying odds, I would certainly have blue eyes samurai as the favorite to win the Emmy in that year, deservedly so. You can make a case. Caped Crusader should get better odds than X Men season two just because of the continuity, because I think that show took a little while to get going but was accelerating into its finale. And I could see it being a lot better in season two because the same people are involved. And if X Men season two slips or is disjointed, I think we might be having a discussion that maybe Caped Crusader passed it by in a couple of years. We'll see.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Tracy, did you see Cape Crusader?
[00:11:06] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: And what did you think?
Because we never discussed this.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: Yeah, nostalgic. But to me, it's missing a pop. There's something miss, and then, no, it's not. Joker, you don't have to put the joke in everything. The nostalgia is there, the animation is fine. I like the correspondence. I like the outfit. Bruce dynamic. It's a set in a world without all the, quote, fancy gadgets. But there's something it's not.
There's something it just. Maybe it's the beginning of a series, like. Like anything else at the beginning, so you give it a little. I'm just looking for more of a pop. The first episode with the female penguin that was excellent. Yes, that was excellent. But I think they rid her off. She was gone. Done. Boom.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: Okay, well, that's everybody pretty much.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: But I think. See, that's the thing. I think the first half of the season was all like landscape, which is why it was kind of slow and a little bit uneven. To me, the reason why I think the second half of the season works is two face. Once they started making a two face arc, carry over, the show got picked, to me, picked up a lot of momentum. Now, obviously, we won't be able to carry that momentum into season two, sadly, but I think it showed the template for. They may start with their version of a sadistic joker, which I think is pretty interesting. And if that carries for all ten episodes the next time. That's what I'm saying. I think that that season could have a quantum leap in terms of how people perceive it.
[00:12:44] Speaker C: So great series of that knows that. I love the quote, ghost of Christmas Pass episode. I think it was great to actually delve Batman into that arena, which it worked out and the script was great and it worked out. And he didn't have to go the extra limit. He didn't have to become Doctor fate or Stephen Strange, and it stayed within a parameter and it actually worked. And then, of course, the black shaman comes along and he puts him in a coin. And they were. I mean, that was great. It really was great. It wrapped itself up very neatly to me.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: To me. And I think Brian and I sort of agreed that was probably one of the. One of the weaker ones for me.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: I would. Cause I was expecting, you know, almost a Scooby Doo ending. You know, they found, you know what I'm saying? That's what I was waiting for. And. But it was like he had a really fight.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: Scooby Doo. You're right. It was like a Scooby Doo episode.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: That fits with that idea of landscaping because it's like, to me, they're kind of, like, using these individual characters. They're messing around a little bit. They're like, hey, we'll do a supernatural one. Hey, we'll do a supernatural penguin showcase. We did one that was like a Catwoman showcase. We know these. Some of these characters will be bad.
[00:13:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: So that's, like groundwork stuff that I think slowed down the first season.
And even X Men 90. Even X Men 97, as great as it was, there's, like one or two kind of filler. Like, the video game episode is very nostalgic, but kind of. Why is it a fill episode? Because episode five was coming right behind it. Right. So they. That was. They were just setting everyone up.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: All comfortable and smiles about your video game, and then we're going to rip your heart out, you know? So that's.
[00:14:24] Speaker A: And that's how you do it.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Yeah. But so that was 2026. I think there's a good chance you're going to be talking about these three shows again, going head to head. And Cape Crusader was not at an Emmy level this first season, but I think it can get there the second.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Season, definitely, especially with the Joker dynamic. And the hope is with that is that he doesn't go the way of two face.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying?
[00:14:52] Speaker C: But also, would Bruce Tim be wrong if he says, let's bring in other heroes? Would that throw you guys off a little bit? He went, supernatural. But could we see a Green Lantern? Could we? I mean, I don't want to turn it.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: I don't think so.
[00:15:08] Speaker C: Batman show. That other Batman show where I don't.
[00:15:11] Speaker B: Think he's doing okay.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Because he's kind of saying that the motto template is Bob Kane Batman, the original in Batman, which wouldn't have had that in it. So.
[00:15:21] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: So you let us know in the conversation below what you guys think of the season, two issues X Men 97 is having and what concerns you have for the second season, given how great the first season was. We don't want to mess with the formula, but already the formula is being messed with and hopefully it doesn't translate into what the hell is this?
This wasn't what I came last week. I don't want what you gave me. What you gave me last week. I don't want this new. Who's the new chef? You know what I'm saying? It's just like, I don't. You hate it when you go to someplace and the food is delicious and then two weeks later, the chef change and everything is, like, equitable, you know, to that.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Even though it wasn't. That wasn't a different chef. But a couple weeks ago was a 25th anniversary of the Matrix. I went back to see it in the theater. It was in the theater. Oh, wow. One night.
[00:16:21] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: And I was like, I was watching it. Still great. Still looks great.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: I walk out, I'm like, man, I just wish revolutions had never happened.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: It just, you know, it's like, takes away my enjoyment. Just a little bit of this classic that that exists.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: That's it. Matrix is one of those movies you.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: Just leave alone, drop the mic and.
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Walk there's no need.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Sit.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: But they want to wrap it up. Wrap it up. Wrap it up.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Just sopranos it. That's it. Just sopranos it. That's it.
Leave everybody talking about it for the rest of their lives. And that's, yeah. But obviously, you know.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: When greed sets in.
[00:17:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: On the, and the possibilities, you got to do what you got to do. But let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of all this and we'll see you next time on another J report.
