With the release of "X-men '97" I figured it was a good time to revisit the '90s X-men cartoons that I watched as a youngster. It has been a very long time since I've seen any of the episodes, but I have watched the first four seasons (we don't talk about season five) multiple times, so I remember it better than the more recent series like "Wolverine and the X-men," which I only watched through once.
Here we go. The episodes below are unranked and ordered by airdate:
"Night of the Sentinels" - The original two parter that kicked off "X-men: The Animated Series" sees Jubilee join the X-men and the first clashes between the X-men and the Sentinels. It was the Sentinels that first caught my attention, these looming bad robots who were allowed to roam the streets, snatching up unsuspecting mutants like fairy tale giants. "X-men" also made a show of killing off a good guy straight away, to set expectations that they were different from other kids' action cartoons. Of course, nobody stays dead in the "X-men" universe.
"Slave Island" - The Genosha episode. I'm kind of impressed that they set an entire episode of a kids' cartoon in a surprise forced labor camp. Well, so did "Batman: The Animated Series" in the same year, come to think of it. Anyway, I think this episode established Gambit as my favorite character, the guy who couldn't be trusted but always came through in the end. For a little while, he was allowed to be much more morally gray than most characters we saw in similar cartoons, but more on that later.
"The Cure" - Rogue was also one of my favorite characters in the show, because she got the short end of the stick when it came to mutant powers, and thus was the protagonist of several angsty stories about self-acceptance. When a cure for being a mutant is announced, of course she's the one that takes an interest, and of course it turns out to be a villainous scheme. However, I like that she offers a different point of view. This is also the episode that introduces Angel, soon to become the villain Archangel.
"Days of Future Past" - The big two-parter where we learn about a post-apocalyptic future from a time traveler named Bishop. This is "Terminator" lite, of course, but I'm still impressed that the show's creators managed to adapt something this dystopian for the Saturday morning crowd. This is also where a lot of the season's unusual (for its time) degree of serialization pays off - we finally lay the concerns about Gambit to rest, and Mystique and Apocalypse's evil plot reaches its final stages.
"Till Death Do Us Part" - Season two starts off with a bang, putting a resurrected, brainwashed Morph back into the mix to stir up trouble. Also, Scott and Jean tie the knot (the first time), and we get the first showdowns with this season's big bads - Mister Sinister and the Friends of Humanity anti-mutant hate group. Wolverine has to take the lead to save the day, but this is a great ensemble story that gives every major character some time in the spotlight. It's really not a good idea to tick off Cyclops.
"A Rogue's Tale" - I think this is my favorite episode of "X-men: The Animated Series." Rogue's visions of a furious Ms. Marvel are an interesting mystery, and the answer, revealing that Rogue's got some seriously gnarly skeletons in her amnesia closet, is awesome. In the end, the situation is completely screwed up and there's nothing that Rogue can really do to fix things. Part of me is still a little nervous about the live action Ms. Marvel everytime I see her, because I know what's coming.
"Mojovision" - One of the weirdest corners of the Marvel universe that ended up in the show was the Mojoverse, ruled over by a disgusting alien mastermind who is essentially a parody of a seedy television network executive and presenter. The X-men are kidnapped, transported to another dimension, and forced to star in Mojo's programming slate. There's also a subplot about Professor X's continuing adventures in the Savage lands, but it was nowhere near as much fun as the interdimensional TV.
"The Phoenix Saga, Part V: Child Of Light" and "The Dark Phoenix, Part IV: The Fate of the Phoenix" - I never much liked the Phoenix stories, which took up the majority of the third season. Frankly, there was too much emphasis on all of these weird off-planet characters, and Jean always felt like too much of a McGuffin without enough real agency. However, each of these arcs at least ended in a suitably epic way, (though Jean's big sacrifice in "The Phoenix Saga, Part V" is negated pretty much immediately).
"Nightcrawler" - Finally, the Nightcrawler character was the show's opportunity to talk about religion, very carefully and very gently. His appearances were easily my favorite part of the fourth season, and I wish that we'd gotten to see more of him. HIs debut episode, however, does feature one of the most shamelessly contrived cliffhangers I have ever seen in any medium. The '90s "X-men" really was a soap opera for kids, and that's why we all loved it.
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