Mutant X Interviews: Rick Ungar (2001 X-Piderman)
Rick Ungar: X-Piderman
Mutant X TV show
According to Comics Continuum, the Mutant X live series is scheduled to hire actors/actress on February, scripts on March, production on May or June, and most likely air on the week of October 23, 2001. This is a description gathered from the Marvel Comics web site: MUTANT X is coming to television next October -- fittingly, in mutated form.
The live-action series, to be distributed by Tribune Entertainment, won't be an adaptation of the comic book -- although it will feature mutant heroes.
Marvel Studios' Rick Ungar -- the show's executive producer, with Avi Arad -- doesn't even want to call it an X-Men spin-off. Here's how he describes it: "Basically, it starts about 20 years ago, where the government and private industry get involved in the genetic research which led to what is now known as the Genome Project -- where they map out the actual evolution of genetics. What we find out is that they've kind of figured out some time ago the secrets to the rest of us. They work with the government and basically create young new mutants, which can be made to specifications. If somebody is an all-star athlete and would like to have their son or daughter be an incredible athlete, they can kind of make this happen -- if they have the right connections.
"This does happen, and there are a number of Genome Project children that are created," Ungar continues. "For most of their lives, they function as ordinary people, except they do have this extraordinary talent. Somebody who has been bred for athletics is probably somebody who is on the Olympic swim team."
However, these mutations prove to be "a ticking time bomb," according to Ungar.
"When they hit the age of 18 to 20, something goes wrong," he says. "It turns out they didn't understand the genetic mapping as well as they thought they did, and the talent that they created is mutated into super-powers. And this creates an entire generation of mutants different from all the mutants we've all known and loved -- being that instead of being born as them, they were basically created.
"You now have a somewhat embarrassed government that is aware of this," Ungar continues. "They have a way of tracking these people, and they're not real happy about their fairly serious mistake: these people all over the place. It becomes important to the government to get these people back. That becomes the thrust of the show: the attempt of the government to either capture, destroy or put to government purposes these individuals. And our team of Mutant X are pretty much dedicated to locating or saving these mutants."
The team's leader is a mutant who becomes super-intelligent. He's slightly older than the group's other four members, who are in the 18 to 25 age range.
Ungar says the series' main villain is reminiscent of the Cigarette-Smoking Man on X-Files.
"He has unusual characteristics, this villain," Ungar says. "But he does work for the government. There are some interesting aspects to what motivates him."
MUTANT X is being produced with Tribune Entertainment and Fireworks Television. Like other Tribune shows -- Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict -- MUTANT X will have two show-runners, one in Los Angeles to oversee writing and another in Toronto to oversee production.
"I really like their system," Ungar says. "I've produced a lot of television, so I have a sense of how that works. It's a good system, because we like the writing done here where we can keep close tabs on it."
Following the selection of show-runners, casting will take place -- probably in March.
"We anticipate getting in front of the cameras in April," Ungar says. "If you've done it really well, you hope to have eight to 10 scripts in your pocket before you go to shooting."
Daniel Tibbets, in charge of programming and development for Fireworks Television, says Tribune has a commitment for two years of 22 episodes each. Originally set for the week of Oct. 23, 2001, MUTANT X likely will begin in syndication around the first week of October.
© X-piderman