World X-Men The Animated Series Appreciation Thread (1992-1997)

does anyone out there know where i can find some art from this series? hi-res photos, wallpapers, anything...please. thanks.
 
SlickSyck said:
does anyone out there know where i can find some art from this series? hi-res photos, wallpapers, anything...please. thanks.
Click to expand...

that would be great, i've yet to find any
 
ComicChick said:
the animated series drew me into the world of X, and I'm still here after all these years.

Night of the Sentinels will always be dear to me, because they were the first. (who else got those tapes from pizza hut back in the day)

Rogue's always been my fave character and I really liked how she was played with brass and sass on that show, spouting out country bumpkin lines like

'more nervous than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs'

And Gambit's voice was great. That's how I always imagined him to sound. Smooth and suave
Click to expand...

The 2nd Gambit voice in the final season sounded like a petaphile
 
The show doesn't hold up incredibly well, but I liked watching them while I was exercising.. :p

Still, a very influential and entertaining cartoon that will also be well regarded and watched.

-TNC
 
Hey TNC...Havent seen you in a while..

I always wondered why Kitty wasnt ever on X-Men: TAS
 
because kitty sucks. She's bland and has a power that once you've seen it you've seen it all. There was really no room for development with her when colossus isn't around
 
Anyone knows a good site with a gallery of the series?

I mean, caps from episodes...
 
Enough can't be said about the trail-blazing X-MEN of the 90's. Last year I wrote an article about the show for another website in which I listed it as one of my Top 10 Superhero Cartoons (at #7, edging out EVOLUTION, SPIDER-MAN, and GEN-13).

I'll just repost it. It is rather long so I will spoiler tag it.

Back with another installment.
TOP TEN BEST COMIC BOOK CARTOONS:

X-MEN (1992-1997)

XMen90s.jpg


I debated long and hard, as I sometimes do, trying to determine which X-Men cartoon was better, the more recent Evolution or this classic X-MEN. Both have notable strengths and flaws, and even a few over each other. But this one gets a notch higher on the list because, firstly, it was the fore-father, but because of it's legacy.

The path to TV animation was not easy for the X-Men. They first were animated in the Xerox MARVEL SUPERHERO SHOW in 1966, in an episode of NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER no less, but looked like crud. They made several appearances as guest stars in SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS from 1982-1985, as both Iceman & Firestar (Spidey's "Amazing Friends") hailed from the X-Men. In fact, one episode in the 3rd season was a back door pilot for the X-Men, although Wolverine was exchanged for a shape-shifting Thunderbird. They had a well animated 1989 pilot that saw a long life on VHS, but they wouldn't be able to break through the network barrier until 1992. This was around the same year that BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES debuted on weekday afternoons, and the X-MEN debuted on Saturday morning. They would not only go on to a run of 5 seasons and 76 episodes, the longest of any Marvel show (and without simply "recycling" episodes like the '67 Spider-Man), but become the lynch pin of the FoxKids Saturday line-up.

The cartoon was in many ways a product of it's time. It was animated by AKOM, a very cheap animation company, which made the animation quality seem bland and stiff when compared to the bigger pockets of WB animation for BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. It used the cast of X-Men that were currently in the Claremont/Jim Lee X-Men comic launch: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, Gambit, the Professor and Jubilee as the kid hanger-on. At this time, Gambit and Jubilee were very new characters and the popularity of this cartoon help lead to the Cajun's A-List status years later. This show spawned endless waves of action figures and merchandise and produced a generation of X-Men comic fans. I should know; I was one of 'em.

The cartoon debuted in a world that already feared mutants with Jubilee being the team's newest recruit, and the gigantic, lavender Sentinals their newest enemy. They would then go on to battle all of the key rogues of the X-Men; Magneto, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Sauron, the Brood, the Savage Land Mutates, Mojo, Omega Red, and so on. They invented a new member, Morph, who would seemingly die at the end of their initial 2-parter, and the first season kept a fairly tight continuity as Wolverine mourned, Beast went through a trial to prove mutants could have the same rights as humans, Magneto plotted his own scheme and the Sentinals arose again. The subsequent seasons wouldn't have as tight a continuity, having multi-part arcs, subplots, and some stand-alones, especially past Season 2; with Season 3 and beyond, they usually focused on multi-part episodes with some stand-alones in-between, albeit sometimes having the reactions to some past episode happen. The show was not only the first really "good" team cartoon, it also was one of the first to homage many actual comic book stories into their episodes, besides the origin. Some past shows did it, but in the 60's, slavish devotion brought on cheese; the 90's crew realized that censors aside, some of the homaged stories were sometimes 20 years old and needed some dust flicked off, or needed to be tweaked because of their cast (Rogue had to stand in for Colossus, for instance). These stories included; The Phoenix Saga, the Dark Phoenix Saga, Age of Apocalypse, Days of Future Past, and allusions to Weapon X and some of the then-recent WOLVERINE revelations about memory implants. Even the trend setting BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES mostly followed the common trend of just adopting the origins and making up the rest; X-MEN sparked the notion of adopting the stories on a consistant basis. Of course, it helps that Marvel franchises tend to have more well-known and favorable "arcs" than many DC heroes did, especially in the early 90's.

Despite the bright yellow & blue colors, the energy beams, and some bits made for kids, the tone of the show was usually kept rather serious. Unlike X-MEN EVOLUTION, the characters started right out having to deal with their mutations and a world that hated & feared them, not only struggling for their own survival against evil mutants with their own agendas, but also against human-byproducts like the Sentinals or even, later on, the Friends of Humanity (who were an obvious allegory about groups like the KKK,
right down to having hooded "elders"). Unlike past incarnations, even the better-animated 80's pilot, it captured the heart of the X-Men and that they were more than simply a collection of superheroes.

Unfortunately, in homaging and staying true to the comics, the series ultimately shared some of the flaws of the comics. Before the film in 2000, the X-Mansion was usually just the home of the X-Men with no real students aside for the token "rookie" like Jubilee (or Kitty way back), and this show was no exception. Too often, the X-Men were distracted from their purpose by aliens, time travelers, or alternate realities. Sure, X-MEN EVOLUTION had some quibbles, but it was a much more grounded universe. Still, Evo had the benefit of hindsight, while this show had to blaze new ground. If X-MEN had failed, one wonders if we ever could have gotten SPIDER-MAN a few years later, or any of the other Marvel shows that dominated the 90's.

During the first 3 seasons or show, while Wolverine, as the surly, anti-authority rebel, usually garnered the most interest, the writers tried to create a balance; every character had at least one solo episode if not two or several, and the X-Men would sometimes perform missions in eclectic groupings when all 7 or so couldn't be used. By Season 3 and definitely into the last 2 seasons, though, it became obvious that Wolverine was the star and he garnered the most airtime and appearances, although Rogue, Beast, Storm, and the Professor himself popped up often behind him; Cyclops had the most solo episodes after Logan, even if a few of them were a bit wacky (in one, where he emotes for Jean's loss, he fights Daredevil's Purple Man, who isn't supposed to be a mutant or care about them). And the censors came down hard, although not nearly as hard as they came on SPIDER-MAN; characters could talk of death and some could even die, punches could be thrown, and several X-Men were energy-users and naturally could blast away.

The voice cast was quite good overall, despite sometimes having to deliver some stilted exposition, with the exception of Storm, who got the most melodramatic, cheese-tastic dialogue known to creation, with performances to match. "Flakes of snow, moisten our foes!" and so on; she would have to summon all of her elements as if she was some mage, and not a mutant. Plus, all of the episodes that focused on hear stunk. All of them. But everyone else was usually golden.

The villains differed; after the first season, Magneto argueably was an anti-hero at best who rarely was an outright villain, while Mr. Sinister & Apocalypse were outfight villains, the latter coming off as almost an evil god because his schemes were so out-there and because he was usually physically unbeatable, even moreso than Juggernaut. The downside of this was, after he attempted to literally take over all of time in Season 4, no threat or arc could top that, so the rest, while some quality episodes here or there, seemed middling. They also didn't overuse some enemies; after Season 2, Magneto's appearances were sparing. After falling down a gorge in Season 1, Sabretooth was on the shelf until Season 3 or 4. Juggernaut only showed up a handful of times, so every time was usually a surprise. Mr. Sinister and his design-challenged Nasty Boys likely showed up the most. Sure, some of the designs of the show don't hold up now, but for the era they were fine and very close to what was current in the comics. Even if Colossus was probably the only mutant who didn't wear spandex who wasn't a Morlock.

Fans quite often compare this show to it's more recent counterpart, X-MEN EVOLUTION, and I am no exception. EVOLUTION definitely had the benefit of superior animation, some better paced action sequences (when they happened), and much more realistic and human character development, interaction, and dialogue. EVOLUTION also had a more grounded universe and some cool revisions of characters; their version of Rogue was THE best the character ever had, anywhere. EVOLUTION was also more divided in focus; while Rogue probably got the lion's share and Logan started to hog towards the end, it was fairly well divided amungst the teenage characters. Longtime X-Men like Kitty and Nightcrawler, even Iceman got extended screen-time, even if both shows shafted Colossus. But X-MEN was Marvel's trailblazer cartoon, as well as the first show to present a team franchise well before JUSTICE LEAGUE/JLU.

Not perfect, and in some ways hasn't aged well either, but it's aged better than SPIDER-MAN, and for it's longtime legacy and for it's trend-setting status, X-MEN ranks a notch higher than their 21st century counterpart (who had hindsight and a successful film to launch from) overall. But both are examples of quality Marvel animation.

The series finale was also fantastic and still can get one a little choked up a decade later. ;)
 
Why the hell has this yet to be released on DVD? I want to see some of my old favorite episodes:cmad:
 
Mr. Socko said:
Why the hell has this yet to be released on DVD? I want to see some of my old favorite episodes:cmad:
Click to expand...

It was owned by Disney for the longest time and they never wanted to share profits so they barely released anything. Marvel sued a bunch of times to get Disney to move on this property and the rest of the Marvel animation slate that Disney in a way owned. I think the rights have since lapsed and who knows who owns what anymore.

It is the lack of movement on many properties that keeps bootleggers in business at cons. It is unfortunate, but it's life. Oddly, the U.K. and Canada have no such hurdles as they have released DVD's under "Jetix" for Marvel's 90's shows for ages now. Of course, you'd need a special DVD player to play a disc from the U.K.
 
Dread said:
Enough can't be said about the trail-blazing X-MEN of the 90's. Last year I wrote an article about the show for another website in which I listed it as one of my Top 10 Superhero Cartoons (at #7, edging out EVOLUTION, SPIDER-MAN, and GEN-13).

I'll just repost it. It is rather long so I will spoiler tag it.

Back with another installment.
TOP TEN BEST COMIC BOOK CARTOONS:

X-MEN (1992-1997)

XMen90s.jpg


I debated long and hard, as I sometimes do, trying to determine which X-Men cartoon was better, the more recent Evolution or this classic X-MEN. Both have notable strengths and flaws, and even a few over each other. But this one gets a notch higher on the list because, firstly, it was the fore-father, but because of it's legacy.

The path to TV animation was not easy for the X-Men. They first were animated in the Xerox MARVEL SUPERHERO SHOW in 1966, in an episode of NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER no less, but looked like crud. They made several appearances as guest stars in SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS from 1982-1985, as both Iceman & Firestar (Spidey's "Amazing Friends") hailed from the X-Men. In fact, one episode in the 3rd season was a back door pilot for the X-Men, although Wolverine was exchanged for a shape-shifting Thunderbird. They had a well animated 1989 pilot that saw a long life on VHS, but they wouldn't be able to break through the network barrier until 1992. This was around the same year that BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES debuted on weekday afternoons, and the X-MEN debuted on Saturday morning. They would not only go on to a run of 5 seasons and 76 episodes, the longest of any Marvel show (and without simply "recycling" episodes like the '67 Spider-Man), but become the lynch pin of the FoxKids Saturday line-up.

The cartoon was in many ways a product of it's time. It was animated by AKOM, a very cheap animation company, which made the animation quality seem bland and stiff when compared to the bigger pockets of WB animation for BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. It used the cast of X-Men that were currently in the Claremont/Jim Lee X-Men comic launch: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, Gambit, the Professor and Jubilee as the kid hanger-on. At this time, Gambit and Jubilee were very new characters and the popularity of this cartoon help lead to the Cajun's A-List status years later. This show spawned endless waves of action figures and merchandise and produced a generation of X-Men comic fans. I should know; I was one of 'em.

The cartoon debuted in a world that already feared mutants with Jubilee being the team's newest recruit, and the gigantic, lavender Sentinals their newest enemy. They would then go on to battle all of the key rogues of the X-Men; Magneto, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Sauron, the Brood, the Savage Land Mutates, Mojo, Omega Red, and so on. They invented a new member, Morph, who would seemingly die at the end of their initial 2-parter, and the first season kept a fairly tight continuity as Wolverine mourned, Beast went through a trial to prove mutants could have the same rights as humans, Magneto plotted his own scheme and the Sentinals arose again. The subsequent seasons wouldn't have as tight a continuity, having multi-part arcs, subplots, and some stand-alones, especially past Season 2; with Season 3 and beyond, they usually focused on multi-part episodes with some stand-alones in-between, albeit sometimes having the reactions to some past episode happen. The show was not only the first really "good" team cartoon, it also was one of the first to homage many actual comic book stories into their episodes, besides the origin. Some past shows did it, but in the 60's, slavish devotion brought on cheese; the 90's crew realized that censors aside, some of the homaged stories were sometimes 20 years old and needed some dust flicked off, or needed to be tweaked because of their cast (Rogue had to stand in for Colossus, for instance). These stories included; The Phoenix Saga, the Dark Phoenix Saga, Age of Apocalypse, Days of Future Past, and allusions to Weapon X and some of the then-recent WOLVERINE revelations about memory implants. Even the trend setting BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES mostly followed the common trend of just adopting the origins and making up the rest; X-MEN sparked the notion of adopting the stories on a consistant basis. Of course, it helps that Marvel franchises tend to have more well-known and favorable "arcs" than many DC heroes did, especially in the early 90's.

Despite the bright yellow & blue colors, the energy beams, and some bits made for kids, the tone of the show was usually kept rather serious. Unlike X-MEN EVOLUTION, the characters started right out having to deal with their mutations and a world that hated & feared them, not only struggling for their own survival against evil mutants with their own agendas, but also against human-byproducts like the Sentinals or even, later on, the Friends of Humanity (who were an obvious allegory about groups like the KKK,
right down to having hooded "elders"). Unlike past incarnations, even the better-animated 80's pilot, it captured the heart of the X-Men and that they were more than simply a collection of superheroes.

Unfortunately, in homaging and staying true to the comics, the series ultimately shared some of the flaws of the comics. Before the film in 2000, the X-Mansion was usually just the home of the X-Men with no real students aside for the token "rookie" like Jubilee (or Kitty way back), and this show was no exception. Too often, the X-Men were distracted from their purpose by aliens, time travelers, or alternate realities. Sure, X-MEN EVOLUTION had some quibbles, but it was a much more grounded universe. Still, Evo had the benefit of hindsight, while this show had to blaze new ground. If X-MEN had failed, one wonders if we ever could have gotten SPIDER-MAN a few years later, or any of the other Marvel shows that dominated the 90's.

During the first 3 seasons or show, while Wolverine, as the surly, anti-authority rebel, usually garnered the most interest, the writers tried to create a balance; every character had at least one solo episode if not two or several, and the X-Men would sometimes perform missions in eclectic groupings when all 7 or so couldn't be used. By Season 3 and definitely into the last 2 seasons, though, it became obvious that Wolverine was the star and he garnered the most airtime and appearances, although Rogue, Beast, Storm, and the Professor himself popped up often behind him; Cyclops had the most solo episodes after Logan, even if a few of them were a bit wacky (in one, where he emotes for Jean's loss, he fights Daredevil's Purple Man, who isn't supposed to be a mutant or care about them). And the censors came down hard, although not nearly as hard as they came on SPIDER-MAN; characters could talk of death and some could even die, punches could be thrown, and several X-Men were energy-users and naturally could blast away.

The voice cast was quite good overall, despite sometimes having to deliver some stilted exposition, with the exception of Storm, who got the most melodramatic, cheese-tastic dialogue known to creation, with performances to match. "Flakes of snow, moisten our foes!" and so on; she would have to summon all of her elements as if she was some mage, and not a mutant. Plus, all of the episodes that focused on hear stunk. All of them. But everyone else was usually golden.

The villains differed; after the first season, Magneto argueably was an anti-hero at best who rarely was an outright villain, while Mr. Sinister & Apocalypse were outfight villains, the latter coming off as almost an evil god because his schemes were so out-there and because he was usually physically unbeatable, even moreso than Juggernaut. The downside of this was, after he attempted to literally take over all of time in Season 4, no threat or arc could top that, so the rest, while some quality episodes here or there, seemed middling. They also didn't overuse some enemies; after Season 2, Magneto's appearances were sparing. After falling down a gorge in Season 1, Sabretooth was on the shelf until Season 3 or 4. Juggernaut only showed up a handful of times, so every time was usually a surprise. Mr. Sinister and his design-challenged Nasty Boys likely showed up the most. Sure, some of the designs of the show don't hold up now, but for the era they were fine and very close to what was current in the comics. Even if Colossus was probably the only mutant who didn't wear spandex who wasn't a Morlock.

Fans quite often compare this show to it's more recent counterpart, X-MEN EVOLUTION, and I am no exception. EVOLUTION definitely had the benefit of superior animation, some better paced action sequences (when they happened), and much more realistic and human character development, interaction, and dialogue. EVOLUTION also had a more grounded universe and some cool revisions of characters; their version of Rogue was THE best the character ever had, anywhere. EVOLUTION was also more divided in focus; while Rogue probably got the lion's share and Logan started to hog towards the end, it was fairly well divided amungst the teenage characters. Longtime X-Men like Kitty and Nightcrawler, even Iceman got extended screen-time, even if both shows shafted Colossus. But X-MEN was Marvel's trailblazer cartoon, as well as the first show to present a team franchise well before JUSTICE LEAGUE/JLU.

Not perfect, and in some ways hasn't aged well either, but it's aged better than SPIDER-MAN, and for it's longtime legacy and for it's trend-setting status, X-MEN ranks a notch higher than their 21st century counterpart (who had hindsight and a successful film to launch from) overall. But both are examples of quality Marvel animation.

The series finale was also fantastic and still can get one a little choked up a decade later. ;)
Click to expand...


Very good read...so many Sat. morning memories came back while reading it...
 
ComicChick said:
the animated series drew me into the world of X, and I'm still here after all these years.

Night of the Sentinels will always be dear to me, because they were the first. (who else got those tapes from pizza hut back in the day)

Rogue's always been my fave character and I really liked how she was played with brass and sass on that show, spouting out country bumpkin lines like

'more nervous than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs'

And Gambit's voice was great. That's how I always imagined him to sound. Smooth and suave
Click to expand...

I remember Pizza Hut had them but we never got them...I remember my Aunt who loves X-Men as much as I do bought the vids...they came with a comic too didn't they...

She also bought quite a few of the VHS's (and Pryde of the X-Men) in stores as they came out...

The only real videos I had were ones that my mom taped...if we were going to miss X-Men she would tape it for us...thats what I always remember...we always found someway to tape it...
 
oh god...I just saw Pizza Hut in the post above...I miss those days with all the X-Men merch....I got the DVD's of the series recently off of Ebay...About $35 too.
 
I am looking for wallpapers of this series or high quality large images. Does anyone have any or know of where I could find some?
 
I hope they release as collections the same way BTAS was, and not random episodes.
 
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