X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997)
Often considered one of the greatest 90s cartoon shows ever. Also one of the finest adaptations to Marvel Animated Universe. Which acts as a precursor to the more successful, Marvel Cinematic Universe. Believe it or not, the actual story started with a failed show attempt. This also was originally named simply as X-Men but later added the solo episode title to it.
I have seen this solo episode, I'm glad they went straight back to the drawing board. They came back surprisingly strong with this mind blown awesomeness. This isn't just my entry into the X-Men themselves but also one of two shows that made me an Marvel fan for life. The other show being Spider-Man: The Animated Series, another classic cartoon show I plan to revisit in the near future.
Before I actually talk about the show, keep in mind Fox also made a lot of X-Men movies. A good amount of what happened in those also happened on the show but simply done better. Especially true with a particular X-Men villain, Apocalypse. They really pulled X-Men stories from the comics for this show. A risky strategy that ultimately worked out.
Of course, we really gotta talk about that theme song!!! WOW what a great theme song that you constantly wanna keep listening to. I even say it's the greatest theme song within the Marvel Animated Universe. Yes even better than Spider-Man: The Animated Series' theme song. Which is another great theme song too, seriously it's that damn good.
I was surprised by several things as I watched the entire show from the beginning. The crazy amount of racism, keep in mind this was years before Family Guy or South Park. In this case, regular humans are either afraid or hating mutants simply because they are different. Different in terms they have powers while the rest of humanity does not.
The animation is mostly solid but sometimes you can see animation mistakes. A handful of them are strangely funny. Very late into the show most of Season 5, the animation dramatically changed. This actually happened for what might be a surprising reason by today standards. There was a time Marvel came very close of going bankrupt.
It actually got to the point, they no longer could fund this show. One of the other companies involved, decided to put extra money into it. Funny enough, in these particular episodes. Jubilee's race actually corrected no joke. For most of the show, she's portrayed being Caucasian instead of being Asian heritage.
Another interesting fact, she's voiced by the original voice actor for Resident Evil's Claire Redfield. She is coming back in X-Men '97 show but as another character to avoid casting controversiality. A lot of your favorite X-Men characters heroes as well as villains shows up a lot. A handful like Silver Samurai only appears once.
This show doesn't hide the ugliness of humanity. In fact, if it were to happen today. A good amount of it would've got further tone down from this. The only way they could do it even worst and more offensive is within parodies of certain shows like Robot Chicken. I can't even say there was any bad episodes either.
Which for me is quite rare to say. This show not only screams X-Men but very proud of what it is too. Honestly, I would recommend don't watch the X-Men movies stick with this. You would be a lot happier in the long run. The stories are told very well even with their attempts to tone some stuff down. You don't even feel cheated by it.
This show really does prove every reason I love the team so much. Humanity is mostly against them, other mutants threaten their very main goal and trust in people has to be very selective at times. You actually feel sorry for every member of the team for everything they put up with. They even attempted some ambitious concepts like this one ruler used an crystal to recreate the universe in his image.
We even had two of the most powerful psychics taking on the Shadow King in the abyssal plain. Sometimes, sworn enemies are forced to work together. This literately felt like you were reading the actual comics, easily the greatest thing I can say about such an show. It doesn't even feel like they rated the show correctly because this felt like a more mature show than what kids were used to.
Somehow, a lot of kids ended up loving this show with an passion. They even attempted stuff years before it became stable of animated shows on the same channel years later. This felt like an show more directly to teenagers than kids. Some truly amazing visuals at times. X-Men ends up being so good, I really couldn't find a big enough thing to criticize.
The closest thing I could is this show sure loves multiple episode story arcs. The longest arc is five episodes with the Phoenix. But it's also one of the most epic stories they ever told too. Going back to Apocalypse, X-Men: Apocalypse movie doesn't do the character justice. Especially after you watch episodes with the character here.
All of a sudden an already disappointing X-Men movie even more disappointing. This show even gotten the Phoenix right!!! Two movie attempts failed and those also from Fox makes both those movies a bigger disappointment too. Here's an show that may take itself too seriously at times. But there's plenty of good, peaceful moments even if they are short lived.
X-Men really delivers in every possible way. It was so good, it actually renew interest in the X-Men franchise. Also a notable factor in the surprisingly survival of Marvel from going bankrupt. Maybe not the very thing to save it being the original Blade movie. But it was a major factor that leads to them being as decent as it was.
You also get to learn a great deal about the X-Men themselves. You also get to learn a lot about Magneto as well. Then again of course considering he always been their greatest enemy. There's a few episodes he leads the Brotherhood of Mutants, their sworn enemy team. You also get to see around the world as well as a few planets.
In one late Season 5 episode, Captain America appears in a mostly flashback episode with Wolverine. Other heroes like Spider-Man and Doctor Strange cameos briefly in a few episodes. We get to see all kind of crazy situations the X-Men deals with. It's not often when something epic happens. Like Apocalypse attempted to destroy all timelines in order to recreate it with him winning.
A crazy concept later done to a degree in DC's Legends of Tomorrow. X-Men also shows of a lot of mutant characters. A handful of powers are shown the most that's shared like shape shifting, firing blasts and fire manipulation. Honestly, I can't really say anything more about this show that haven't already been said a thousand times before.
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