Rob Hoegee: From Titans Tower to 31st Century Teens of Tomorrow
ROB HOEGEE has written for "Martin Mystery" and Stuart Little" before being recruited for "Teen Titans". ROB was promoted to Story Editor with the third season of "Teen Titans". With "Teen Titans" wrapping up after its fifth season, ROB was tapped to develop DC's newest super-series: THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. One thousand years from now, a group of teenage super heroes travel back in time to recruit the greatest hero of all, Superman, and enlist him their fight against evil in the 31st Century. While their intentions were good, their time travel skills were not, and Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Timber Wolf end up going too far back into the past, accidentally retrieving the young Superman instead. ROB took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about the Teens of Tomorrow.
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Rob Hoegee at San Diego Comicon 2004 |
Bill Walko: You developed LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES with James Tucker from JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED. How did you approach the development of the series, with its vast history and enormous cast?
Rob Hoegee: Cautiously, with a great deal of respect for the material. For all sorts of reasons we couldn't have everyone in the show, but the advantage of starting with a small cast is we can keep our stories focused on the characters and allow the richness of the universe play out over time.
BW: Is there a lot of former TEEN TITANS staff working on LEGION?
RH: We've got a good mix of ex-Titans and Justice League talent. James Tucker has assembled a really impressive crew. We're also lucky to have AJ Vargas, who was the Associate Producer on Teen Titans with us as well.
BW: LEGION enabled you to reunite with your fellow writers from TEEN TITANS, Amy Wolfram and David Slack. Can you tell us anything about the episodes they wrote?
RH: Yeah, I was lucky enough to have both Amy and David come in and do an episode or two. I'm nearing the last legs of the first season of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES. All I can say is they turned out great. Even the slightest hint about the storylines of their episodes would be too much of a spoiler!
BW: Thematically, how will LEGION differ from JUSTICE LEAGUE and TEEN TITANS?
RH: If you look at Teen Titans and Justice League as opposite ends of the spectrum, Legion falls somewhere in-between. Our approach is pretty straightforward. We've really looked to the Silver Age Legion for inspiration. There was a real sense of fun and adventure in those original Comics and we're trying to capture that. Stylistically it's completely unique. I think people are going to be blown away by the look of this show.
BW: The press release mentions a core group of characters. Since this is Legion, will we see more as well?
RH: It starts off with a core group of characters that we will see from week to week. Then there is a second tier of somewhat regulars. We'd like to see everyone appear at some point. The challenge with LEGION is the enormity of its universe. And especially when you are introducing a new show and new characters; You can't get too big too fast. By the end of the first season, there's a good amount of fun cameos. But for the first season, the focus is on a smaller group of members
BW: The comic book LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES had various long-standing romantic relationships between the members. Will there be any romantic coupling on the show?
RH: Not romantic coupling per se, but I think there's a good chance we'll see some glimmers of attraction. This is an aspect of the comic book that I really enjoy, and I'm hoping to keep as much of that in the show as we can.
BW: Can we expect to see some of the classic LEGION villains from the comic book series?
RH: Absolutely. Not only does Legion have some of the coolest heroes, they also have some of the coolest villains. The Fatal Five play a big part in our first season, and we get to meet a few more from the vault as well.
BW: Do you have a favorite Legionaire?
RH: Yes - but it wouldn't be fair to the rest of them if I made that public.
BW: Fair enough! I guess we'll have to watch LEGION this fall and see if we could figure out which one that is!
