Mutant Enemy Productions is a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, a ...

that was created in 1996 by Joss Whedon to produce '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer.'' The company also produced the ''Buffy'' spin-off, ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...

'', and his two short-lived science fiction series, the space Western ''

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

'' and his

high-concept High concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise. It can be contrasted with ''low concept'', which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summa ...

Dollhouse A dollhouse or doll's house is a toy home made in miniature. Since the early 20th century dollhouses have primarily been the domain of children, but their collection and crafting is also a hobby for many adults. English-speakers in North Americ ...

'', produced by

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Com ...

. Mutant Enemy also produced the internet series '' Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'' and the film '' The Cabin in the Woods''. Mutant Enemy produced the superhero series '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' along with

ABC Studios ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...

and

Marvel Television Marvel Television was an American television production company responsible for live-action and animated (through Marvel Animation) television shows and direct-to-DVD series based on characters from Marvel Comics. The division was based at affi ...

. Most recently, Mutant Enemy produced the supernatural fiction series ''

The Nevers ''The Nevers'' is an American science fiction Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Joss Whedon for HBO. The series is produced by HBO and Mutant Enemy Productions with executive producers including Whedon, Philippa Go ...

'' for HBO. Its offices (made out of glass bricks) were on the lot of

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, previously the home of Chris Carter's Ten Thirteen Productions. According to March 2006's issue of UK magazine ''The Word'', the offices were closed not long after ''Angel'' was cancelled.

Productions

The following table lists the production credits of ''Mutant Enemy''.

Name and logo

Name

The name "Mutant Enemy" is taken from the song " And You and I" by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band Yes, of whom Whedon is a professed fan: "There'll be no mutant enemy/we shall certify/political ends/as sad remains will die." (On the special features of the ''Buffy'' DVDs, Whedon also says in an interview that he called his typewriter "mutant enemy".)

Original end-of-credits logo

The company's end-of-credits logo and

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...

is an intentionally poorly animated

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

monster cartoon figure crossing the screen from right to left and saying, "Grr. Argh." It was drawn and voiced by Whedon himself. In certain episodes of ''Buffy'' the animation was changed: * " Becoming, Part Two": He says "Oooh, I need a hug" instead. * " Amends": He wears a Santa hat. * " Graduation Day, Part Two": He wears a

graduation cap The square academic cap, graduate cap, cap, mortarboard (because of its similarity in appearance to the mortarboard used by brickmasons to hold mortar) or Oxford cap is an item of academic dress consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upo ...

—the image used is a reversed logo from the U.S. national college honor society

Mortar Board Mortar Board is an American national honor society for college seniors. Mortar Board has 233 chartered collegiate chapters nationwide and 15 alumni chapters. History Mortar Board was the first national honor society for college senior women ...

. * " Once More, with Feeling": He sings the line in

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentou ...

. * " Storyteller": The monster (overdubbed by cast member Adam Busch) sings a line from the episode, "We are as Gods". * " Chosen": He turns and pulls a face at the viewer. The episode " Bargaining, Part One" references the end-of-credits logo. Tara gives Giles a small rubber monster and says "And a monster. Sort of a Sunnydale souvenir, we thought. Grr. Argh." In season seven of ''Buffy'', there is a species of ancient Vampires called " Turok-Han" or Ubervamps. They look like more detailed versions of the Mutant Enemy. In the canonical ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8'' comic books, issue 22 "Swell", on page 10, the slogan for an in-comic fictional product is "Vampy Cat! Grr! Argh! He'll love you to the Santorio Corporation!"

Parodies

At the end of the credits of the animated sketch comedy parody show ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writer ...

'', a parody of the Mutant Enemy, Inc. logo appeared with Joss Whedon (guest starring as himself) providing the "Grr... Argh..." As the enemy mutant rips apart the city, the scene cuts to an office where Joss Whedon is playing with dolls and an executive says to him, "Come on Joss, that's why you got kicked off ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being ...

''."

New end-of-credits logo

With ''

'', the Mutant Enemy vampire end-credits logo was replaced. The new end-of-credits card features a typewriter, upon which the company's name is affixed as an embossed label maker label.

Members

Staff members of Mutant Enemy, all of whom have writing and/or production credits on at least one of the above shows, have included, in alphabetical order: *

Jeffrey Bell Jeffrey Jackson Bell is an American writer and producer best known for his work on television. He began his career writing for '' The X-Files'', where he stayed for three seasons, then became a writer/director/producer on '' Angel'', becoming it ...

* Elizabeth Craft *

Steven S. DeKnight Steven S. DeKnight (born October 28, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for being the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the Starz series '' Spartacus'', including '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'', '' Spartacus: Gods of th ...

Ben Edlund Ben Edlund (born September 20, 1968) is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, television producer, and television director. He is best known as the creator of the satirical superhero character The Tick. Background Edlund was born and raised in ...

Jane Espenson Jane Espenson (born July 14, 1964) is an American television writer and producer. Espenson has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and shared ...

* Sarah Fain * Tracey Forbes *

David Fury David Fury is an American television writer, producer, actor and director. Career He is well known for his work on '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', ''Angel'', '' Lost'', '' 24'', '' Fringe,'' ''Tyrant'' and '' The Tick''. Fury was a co-execut ...

Drew Goddard Andrew Brion Hogan Goddard (born February 26, 1975) is an American filmmaker. He began his career writing episodes for the television shows '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', ''Angel'', '' Alias'', and '' Lost''. After moving into screenwriting in ...

* Drew Z. Greenberg *

David Greenwalt David Greenwalt (born October 16, 1949) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He was the co-executive producer of the TV series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and co-creator of its spinoff, ''Angel''. He is also co-creator of the sh ...

Rebecca Rand Kirshner Rebecca Kirshner is a writer and producer for American television. Her writing credits include ''Freaks and Geeks'', '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', and ''Gilmore Girls''. She was the executive producer and showrunner of '' 90210'' for the second ...

* Tim Minear *

Marti Noxon Martha Mills Noxon (born August 25, 1964) is an American television and film writer, director, and producer. She is best known for her work as a screenwriter and executive producer on the supernatural drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1 ...

Doug Petrie Douglas Petrie is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. Best known as a writer, director, and co-executive producer on '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. He co-wrote the screenplays for the ''Fantastic Four'' film and '' Harriet the Spy ...

Mere Smith Meredyth (Mere) Smith is an American television script-writer who wrote a number of episodes of the series '' Angel''. She was also the executive story editor and script coordinator for 66 episodes from 1999 to 2003. More recently, she wrote th ...

* Maurissa Tancharoen *

Jed Whedon Jed Tucker Whedon (born July 18, 1975) is an American screenwriter and musician, and the son of screenwriter Tom Whedon, grandson of screenwriter John Whedon, and the brother of screenwriter Zack Whedon and of filmmaker Joss Whedon. Career ...

* Joss Whedon *

Zack Whedon Zachary Adam Whedon (born August 14, 1979) is an American screenwriter, film director, and comic book writer. Early life Whedon is from a family of writers: he is the son of screenwriter Tom Whedon, grandson of screenwriter John Whedon, and ...

References

External links

A Brief History of Mutant Enemy
{{Authority control Buffyverse Fictional vampires Film production companies of the United States Television production companies of the United States Privately held companies based in California Companies based in Los Angeles Mass media companies established in 1996 1996 establishments in California Works by Joss Whedon