You all know the theme tune if, like me, you grew up in the 90s, watching such great shows and cartoons like this. To many, the X-Men animated series theme tune (well the OG version of it anyway) is considered the national anthem of the 90s kids and yeah I do agree. When compared to the live action film series, the animated series is to many 10x better in that the adaptations of the comic book stories, feel more faithful and there is plenty of build up to them. The films attempted the build up too, but the fact that Fox screwed up on the Dark Phoenix story twice, is a testament to how well this show did it. With it now finally having a revival show on Disney+, I felt it was time for me to take a look at it and see if it lives up well today when many of us are now showing it to our own children which if I had children, I would definitely be doing that. Let's go:
Season 1
So, as much of the OG show has mostly self-contained stories, I'm just going to pick out a few highlights like I've done before and share my thoughts. So in this first season, Jubilee (voiced by Alyson Court) finds herself being the target of the Sentinels and joins the X-Men as they fight this major threat. Leading into events that include Beast (voiced by George Buza) being imprisoned, some timey wimey stuff and a presidential election that could determine the future of mutant and humankind alike. It's important to note that the OG show had a lot of silly moments, which you probably wouldn't see all that much of in today's cartoons or animated shows. Nevertheless, this serves as a good start to what would ultimately be a great superhero series that some say could rival the DC Animated Universe. Its take on the "Days of Future Past" storyline, in particular, is good, but did feel quite random to me. But still a good take, even if the film version, in my opinion, is the more superior take on it. 8/10
Season 2
In season 2, Magneto (voiced by David Hemblen) and Xavier (voiced by Cedric Smith) find themselves lost in the Savage land and traverse it to find a way out and find a way to communicate to the X-Men that they need an out. Beast returns to work after spending much of the first season imprisoned, Cyclops (voiced by Norm Spencer) and Jean Grey (voiced by Catherine Disher) attempt to get married, much to the annoyance of Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd) who has feelings for Jean. And other things occur as the team try to fight their enemies without Xavier helping them. I think this time, it's a more character driven season in that most episodes are spent developing characters rather than tackling major stories from the comics, and that's fine with me. These things are important, after all. 8/10
Season 3
This season tackles that one story that the film series failed to adapt twice, the Phoenix Saga and its sequel, the Dark Phoenix. Both being about Jean coming into possession of a being of immense power from the stars. Also in this series, Wolverine meets a woman from his past, Cyclops returns to the orphanage that he was once part of and the team work out a way to defeat Apocalypse (voiced by James Blendick) once and for all, among many other adventures. Having read at least one of the comics concerning the Phoenix saga, I like this take on the story. It's not perfect by any means, but it beats the films any day thanks to how faithful it is and that it had lots of build up to it. The rest of the episodes, feel very random. But in between both Phoenix stories, the team do feel the weight of what transpired, which is interesting. 9/10
Season 4
A mixed bag of episodes this time in which we see Magneto's once safe haven, Asteroid M, make an appearance. Time travel makes a return as well, which sees an assassination attempt on Xavier in the past. Popular mutant Nightcrawler (voiced by Kurt Wagner) makes his debut, while the reoccurring Morph (voiced by Ron Rubin) makes his return to the team. All leading into a massive finale where Apocalypse unites the X-Men's enemies in an attempt to become the master of time, using the mutants and people whose powers can bend the minds of others. I feel it's good that this show doesn't have a series finale that is basically a big battle royale, by which I mean not have this story as the finale of the OG show. It's an OK season, but I feel the newer version of the theme song is just not as iconic as the original. But I like the finale and a few other episodes in this one, so yeah. To me, my childhood! 9/10
Season 5
So as I am typing this post up, I found out that the finale of season 4 was, in fact, meant to be the show's grand finale. Kind of glad it wasn't because big battle royales are just too generic for a show finale. Good and all that, for sure, but always the case for most shows. Anyway, in the OG show's actual final season, the team take on more aliens, a ruthless tyrant and a strange variant of Apocalypse. Wolverine also reminisces his days fighting alongside Captain America (voiced by Lawrence Bayne), we also learn the origins of Mister Sinister (voiced by Christopher Britton) and the show ends with one of the team's greatest allies, being forced to leave Earth due to life-threatening circumstances. This season feels very tame when compared to the rest of the series. There are still some silly moments, but less so in this season and more origins are explored, which are always great to see. So yeah, overall, a good ending. But of course, as we learned very recently, Fox may be done with them, but their new parent companies Disney and Marvel Studios aren't done with this variant of the X-Men just yet. 7/10
'97: Season 1
So the revival, continues where the OG series left off and is now widescreen, has a more up-to-date animation style that could rival anime, but is otherwise trying hard to feel like the OG show. In fact, I would go as far as to say the animation here is far better than in the
What If series, which looks a bit weird and off in places. Plus, as it was made for the fans of the original, it delves into more mature territory and includes things like death, bloody violence, LGBTQ content and the thoughts of losing one's powers. A bit of everything happens in this first season of this revival. Magneto (this time voiced by Matthew Waterson) is now the leader of the X-Men after Xavier (this time voiced by Ross Marquand) leaves the planet. The team take in a new member called Sunspot (voiced by Gui Agustini) who goes through the same phase that Jubilee (this time voiced by Holly Chou). All this and more as they take on old and new enemies, with dire consequences for themselves, their future kind and everything around them. Being the second Marvel Animation thing to be made after
What If, it's clear that the team there, really learned their lesson after doing that show. The animation is not perfect and doesn't always match the voices, but it's pretty darn good. The new version of the theme song, perfectly mimics the original one with a more epic feel to it. The higher stakes in some episodes, make it a very heartbreaking, but nevertheless, action packed ride. Plus, I appreciate how they included other Marvel characters, but on the sidelines. That, and Morph (this time voiced by J. P. Karliak) playing different characters, is good to see. Plus, it feels like the old voice cast are still doing it, even though it's an entirely new cast with the original actors either not being around anymore or voicing new characters with some exceptions. 9.5/10
I think both the OG and revival series both have their good and bad and mediocre things about them. The OG series, you could say, is just your typical 90s Saturday morning superhero cartoon with silliness, action and good storylines. Whereas the revival is your typical revival of a show that was once tailored to older kids and is for those older kids that are now grown-ups and longing for their own children to see the cartoons they grew up with. It's a great show overall that is far from perfect, but does a much better job of representing the superhero team of mutants that the film series tried to do, but couldn't do every story justice. 9/10
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