What would the Spaceman Jax character be like done by a studio today?
If Spaceman Jax and the Galactic Adventures were back on TV today, I’d love to see a really faithful adaptation. Sure, they’d need to update the animation, and I could see Jax rendered in CG with flashy animation, but I’d hope that they’d keep the mood of the original and especially the personality of Jax. Because Spaceman Jax isn’t really cool, and it would be awful to see a studio turn him into a backwards baseball cap-wearing, texting and social media type.
What makes Jax so great is that he has aligned himself with classic heroes of the past and set himself apart from his peers. He is out of touch, in more ways than one, and this would be critical in any new version of the show.
In fact, what would Spaceman Jax do with social media? I could see him enjoying Twitter, but being lost on Facebook. Twitter is so one-directional and that would suit his single-mindedness really well, He would send out his messages of courage and idealism, never really knowing whether they were read or not, but assuming that many would want to follow his exploits – and of course, we do. I think that the back and forth and the sharing of Facebook wouldn’t interest him as much, and he would get caught up in more of the narcissistic sides of Facebook. Plus, how would he “like” justice or bravery?
