Jake Castorena (‘X-Men ’97’) reveals how Pizza Hut helped him get into the original series in the 90s [Exclusive Video Interview]

Before he was ever involved with “X-Men ’97,” Jake Castorena had an interesting entry way into the original animated series. “It wasn’t even the initial broadcast that got me into the show. It was the Pizza Hut combo deal that they had back in the day where they had ‘Night of the Sentinels’ one and two on VHS. So that was my introduction to the show, was watching Morph die over and over on repeat,” he reveals to Gold Derby during our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video interview above). The fact that his personal history with the series goes back as far as it does makes it all the more extraordinary to him that he is actually getting to work on the revival of the show as a director and supervising producer. “I still struggle with believing I’m getting paid to do this. That’s awesome and it means even more now because, to be quite frank, there’s a legacy on it now.”

“X-Men ’97,” which can currently be streamed on Disney+, serves as a revival of “X-Men: The Animated Series,” which aired on Fox from 1992 until 1997. The series picks up where the original left off with the X-Men seeking to rebuild after the death of Professor Charles Xavier. The series features several of the original cast members reprising their roles including Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast) and Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler). A second season of the show is already in production.

Castorena also says that one of the key factors in helping the revival work as well as it does is the “damn important” score that’s provided by the Newton Brothers. “Not only are they damn good at what they do, but they’re gracious as far as what they offer, what they give, what they put into the work and how they take and receive notes.” He also admitted that there was one particular composition of theirs that he very much enjoyed. “My favorite composition that they did of the main theme is in episode 10; an all-choir version of the theme. I implore you, go back and listen to the score. It’s chanting choir with percussion. It’s the theme but it’s not how it’s traditionally played.”

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