X-Men: The Animated Series

X-men: The Animated Series debuted on October 31, 1992, in the U.S. on the then new Fox Kids Network. This show holds a special place for me as it was my first exposure to any Marvel property ever. I was already familiar with Batman and DC through the 1989 Batman film and Superfriends reruns but had yet to encounter the wonderful world of Marvel superheroes. Not long after seeing this show I visited a toy store and stood in awe of the action figures for this cartoon displayed with the older Marvel action figure toy lines. Being about six years old, I had no clue what this cartoon would ultimately be responsible for. Very soon, I would start reading Marvel comics and, like millions of other kids, fall in love with their line of heroes.

It was this show, and later Spider-man, that cemented my worldview of Marvel Comics characters and what they should be. These cartoons are the biggest reason that the X-men are some of my favorite comic characters.

 It was much later that I discovered that this version of X-men was Marvel’s 2^nd attempt to get their mutants off the ground. Pryde of the X-men debuted as a pilot episode in 1989 for what was supposed to be a new wave of Marvel animation. It was a massive failure but what I love about that single episode is that Kitty Pryde was the main character. She’s one of my favorite X-men. I also enjoy the appearance of Allison Blair, The Dazzler. Colossus and Nightcrawler were also part of the team, which was nice for any 80’s X-fan. This cartoon presents the classic 80’s X-men team (my favorite X-men era) and it gets their look completely right. The story was also good, hitting several notes from the Chris Claremont/John Byrne run. Unfortunately, the animation was poor and Wolverine was apparently Australian, something that the comic books flirted with for a time before Logan officially became everybody’s favorite Canadian.

The 90’s show took inspiration from Jim Lee’s redesigned X-men from the early 90’s with its character designs. Those designs were current and popular at the time. The team is comprised of the X-men’s Blue Team as featured in the early issues of X-Men Vol. 2. Cyclops was the leader, just as he had usually been in the comics. The cast was rounded out by Wolverine, Beast, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and Professor X, as well as a new character created for the show, Morph (an outgrowth of the Silver Age X-Men character, The Changeling).

The show’s main musical theme, a distinctive and heavy guitar instrumental written by Ron Wasserman, was featured in the original opening sequence where each of the X-Men demonstrate their mutant abilities for the audience. I remember early on being unable to decide who my favorite X-man was, because they all had such cool powers. It was usually a 4-way-tie between Wolverine, Gambit, Cyclops and Beast.

The influence that this show had on the X-men franchise can’t be understated. This show defined Wolverine for the 1990’s and remains the largest reason why Wolverine became so popular outside of the comics. I have no doubt that certain members of my generation will forever hear actor Cal J. Dodd’s voice as Wolverine. Even the movie people at 20^th Century Fox used this show as their main creative influence on the direction of the movies. There’s even some conjecture that still persists about Hugh Jackman basing his portrayal in the movies largely on the Wolverine of this series.

Certain Marvel and X-men fans remember this show as fondly as most remember Batman: The Animated Series. Other fans don’t think it holds up as well, pointing out cheesy dialogue from characters, pretentious plots and poor animation. I fall somewhere in the middle of those two camps. I love this series and am still quite entertained when I watch it. That said, the subpar animation and outright animation mistakes, particularly in the 5^th season (an almost entirely different show), can make certain episodes hard to watch. What should we expect with Marvel opting (as they did in all their 90’s animated shows) to use the hyper-detailed G.I. Joe model for animating their characters? Other things make this feel like it’s aimed at little kids too. The number of times Storm has to “summon the weather” is both annoying and hilarious. Wolverine’s constant rage against Sabertooth, and his constant jealousy over Jean Grey are also far too much to handle at times. Gambit also has a tendency to “charge” random objects with his mutant power, even when he’s not in battle.

Many of the classic comic book stories received adaptations that were either decent or taken completely out of context. The most notable adaptations were The Dark Phoenix Saga (the greatest X-men story ever written and a decent adaptation), Days of Future Past (Wait? Where’s Kitty Pryde?), Proteus (probably most accurate to the comic), and the Weapon X storyline (pretty intense for a kid's cartoon).

X-Men even crossed over with Spider-Man: TAS, when Spider-Man seeks out the X-Men's help to stave off his progressing mutation. Storm was even featured in later parts of that show when they half-heartedly adapted the Secret Wars storyline. These guest cameos made Spider-man: TAS feel like a sister show to X-men. This was amazing to a kid who loved both shows.

This series wasn’t afraid to deal with social issues. Topics include divorce, religion, feminism, and even the AIDS crisis. This was a double-edged sword however. While employing such socially conscious themes was admirable, this approach made the show feel a little uneven because, in other places, it also tried to display the typical Saturday morning humor. Being too self-serious and melodramatic while also trying to appeal to little kids often didn’t work very well.

X-men was followed by X-men: Evolution, a show that had more in common with the live-action movies than the comics. Later, Wolverine and the X-men, a show that seemed closer to the X-men comics of the 21^st century than anything else, debuted to much fanfare. Both of these were very good shows, but not as all-encompassing, not as iconic and certainly not as fondly remembered by X-men fans as X-men: The Animated Series.

I still love this series, though how much of that love comes from my love of X-men comics and characters and how much of that love is based on nostalgia for this show, I’m not quite sure. Either way, I'm obligated to honor my childhood and view the series with some kind of love, but I have to admit, after a recent rewatch of the entire series, it’s simply not as great as when I was a kid.