X-Men

The X-Men Animated Series was great, hands down. Sure, it wasn't the comic -- and yes, the X-Men lineup stayed the same through all six seasons... but it handelled very well. In some ways I wish the comic could have been more concise like the Animated Series was. Some guest characters (Dazzler, my favourite X-Man, for one) weren't portrayed very well, especially in the explenation of their mutant powers, but it was very cool to see it all piece together.

The X-Men had it's share of continuity problems, however. In season 1, for example, everything was loosely played off of the comics. For instance, the X-Men did NOT know Warren Worthington III (Angel/Archangel). Later on through the series, however, Angel is shown as an original X-Man. Iceman was also later guest-starred as an original X-Man, and Polaris was shown as a former X-Man as well. Other than that, though, the team is set as Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Beast and Professor X. Some great storylines were the Phoenix Saga, Dark Phoenix Saga and the Phalenx Covenant.

Just about any X-Man you can think of was cameoed as well. Except for Shadowcat that is. Nightcrawler, Dazzler, Colossus, Havok, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Longshot, and Rictor all stand fresh in my mind. It was truly a great series -- and it was very sad to see it cancelled, as it brought something more substantial to television -- a dream, a goal. Not talking sponges like you see on Nickelodeon. This was and will continue to be one of the greatest cartoons that graced Saturday-morning television.

I love everything about X Men. The animation is very detailed and atmospheric, and the character designs especially with Wolverine are quite sophisticated for the time. The action sequences, which never suspended disbelief and had some wondrous elements for kids and adults alike to savour, have a lot of fluidity in that regard. The music is wonderful as well, the intro is one of the coolest of any animated series of the 90s(and there were a lot) and the background scoring manages to be beautiful and haunting. The writing is intelligent, sometimes affecting and sometimes humorous, though any sense of conflicting emotions are equally convincing, while the story lines are daring and always interesting and the characters right from charismatic Wolverine, sexy Rogue to the appropriately antagonistic villains are very well-written and likable. The voice acting is always expressive and never felt stereotypical, bland or overdone. In conclusion, a superb series. 10/10 Bethany Cox

In my very own opinion, the X-Men cartoon series was arguably the closest remake of the X-men that fans could get and much more faithful to the comic books themselves than what the live action movies will ever be. The costumes were identical as the comics, the superheroes were as realistic as they were and the story lines were much more varied, exciting and believable. Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Professor Xavier and Jubilee were as they were. The artwork was also excellent, but just what you'd expected from Marvel.

Whilst the films were in all a shambles in terms of the design and look of the characters, the cartoon series and Marvel have thankfully retained the originality, appeal and quality of the comics, and the appearances of which made the X-men one of the most successful comic book hero franchises in history. Another difference between the cartoon series and the films was the fact the creators of the show put a lot of emphasis on character development and the emotional plight of the mutants's own expectations of wanting to belong to the world and to feel accepted, which this has been addressed much better in the series than the film trilogy ever did. Therefore, the human interest aspect- no make that mutant interest aspect and the triumph over adversity tales of each and everyone of the X-Men members had more of a feel and resonance to it, of which we could empathise the characters with, and of which the films themselves fail to do because it just didn't translate well on the big screen.

Unlike the movies, the animated show had a raw ness and bite to each and every one of those characters that was totally devoid in the live action versions and it never managed to pussyfoot around the issues, as well as the story lines, of which again were far more realistic and believable.

This is what the movies themselves ought to have been like, but rather than leave things as they were, the directors Brett Ratner and Brian Singer decided to change a couple things round, without realising how much this would put die-hard and ardent X-men fans off. Why tamper with a classic formula? Besides, the film's disappointment shouldn't take away from the fact that the cartoon series is the best on- screen version of the X-Men.

Forget the films, either stick with the comics or go for this, the animated version instead.

It was this animated series that got me into the world of the-Men and other Marvel comics, which are far superior, but that is not to say this cartoon wasn't good, for it was. What we have here is the four core X-Men - Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey and Storm - along with popular characters from the comics - Rogue, Beast and Gambit - and Jubilee for the teens and Professor X as the basis for the series. Many mutants and other X-related characters make appearances through the series, some more often than others, and to varying degrees of likeness to their comic counterparts, (and Morph who was created specifically for the series). The X-Men are portrayed well to their comic-counterparts, with the exception of Jean Grey. Although it was this series that got me into X-Men, and made Jean my favourite character, in this series she was somewhat wasted, not used to her full potential. She was shown less-powerful than the others, when in the comics, she is one of the most powerful mutants in existence (even without the Phoenix Force). However Jean did get a few good stories, notably the ongoing Sinister stories, her and Wolverine's love subplot and the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas.

But I digress. The villains were cool and in keeping with their comic counterparts, it would have been nice to see ones like Apocalypse and the Brotherhood more often. In terms of supporting characters, Bishop, Cable, Moira MacTaggert, Banshee, Arachangel, Forge and Colossus showed up a few times, but we could have seen more of Iceman, Darkstar, Polaris, Alpha Flight, Sunfire and Nightcrawler.

A lot of the stories were taken directly from the comics and adapted for this series (like the Dark Phoenix Saga, Phalanx Covenant and Days of Future Past) others were taken from ongoing comic stories and changed into single or multiple episodes for this series, like the Savage Land and the Sentinels.

There was some ongoing narrative, but it is also possible to watch episodes out of order, they were generally self contained (with the exception of multiple part episodes). It's cool to actually hear the X-Men speak and the costumes look cool on TV too. A great watch, most of the time.

8 out of 10 for the whole animated series.

X-Men is another one of my favorite cartoons that used to come on some of the old Saturday Morning Fox Kids lineups. I really liked the way Wolverine was in the series, one of those tuff and rough characters who does things there way. That sort of reminds me the way Knuckles the Echidna was in the beginning episodes of Sonic X. The other X-Men were really cool also! I had this huge crush on Rogue because I thought she was sexy with her looks and sexy southern accent. I also remember that on the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon that the X-Men made some guest appearances on some episodes of Spider-Man. The series is most same way as the comic book about a group of mutant superheroes who live at a school for mutants hosted by Professor Charles Xavier who formed a group of superhero mutants to fight against Magneto and the other evil brotherhood of mutants. This was another one of my favorite Marvel comic book superheroes! I have always liked Marvel comics a little better than DC comics because Marvel has more superheroes than DC. I also remember that this show came back on Fox Kids in Summer 2000 when 20th Century Fox released the live-action X-Men movie in theaters. Then I caught some more reruns for when they showed it for a while on ABC Family!

User Rating: 8/10

BOTTOM LINE: X-TREMELY X-CELLENT!