The X-Men are gone...oh wait! You mean they're not?!

Season 5 was never meant to be.  The creative staff for X-Men felt the writing was on the wall and the series would not be renewed after season 4’s completion, so the four-part “Beyond Good and Evil” was meant to give the series a truly memorable farewell.  Unexpectedly, Fox decided to order more episodes, and while I’m sure the people who worked on the show were delighted, this did pose some problems.  AKOM, the studio that handled the animation for almost all of the episodes, would not be able to fulfill the order placed by Fox, and thus episode 70 (“Storm Front Part 2”) would be their last episode for the series.  Philippine Animation would handle the final six remaining episodes and do so with a distinctly different style.  The animation is probably an improvement over much of AKOM’s work as it’s more fluid, but the style is more of a toon quality.  In some ways, it resembles the artwork being put out by Marvel during the Onslaught Saga but with far less detail.  I personally am not too fond of the look, but one bonus was getting Jean depicted in her actual comic book attire yellow and blue.

The lack of planning for a fifth season also shows in the writing quality.  Outside of the first two story arches, most of the episodes are stand-alone but do tie into some older plot threads.  The season does have a feel to it of the writers taking chances or just exploring aspects of the series that interested them such as the Sinister origin story and the Wolverine/Captain America team-up.  As such, some of the episodes are interesting and some miss the mark.  There’s probably more of a “love it hate it” opinion for the following episodes more than ones prior, but there are a couple of hidden gems.

The Phalanx Covenant (Parts 1 and 2)

"The Phalanx Covenant" was a major story-line in the comics that spanned all of the 'X' books.

Probably the only tie-in episodes of season 5 that tied in with the current comic book plot-line, though in a much truncated form.  “The Phalanx Covenant” introduces the Phalanx organism to the animated universe.  It begins innocently enough with the X-Men capturing a rampaging Sabretooth (old animation was mined from the very first episode of X-Men for parts of this, perhaps illustrating the time constraints this season was placed under) and bringing him back to the mansion.  In a piece of deja vu, Wolverine can’t help himself and seals himself away in Sabretooth’s cell for some fun, and because he senses something different about his old foe.

Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men soon learn that Sabretooth is possessed by some sort of techno-organic life-form that soon corrupts the entire mansion.  Only Beast is able to escape as he makes buddies with a piece of this alien known as Warlock.  Warlock explains to Beast that he is part of the Phalanx, a life-form that exists as part organic and part computer.  A virus has infiltrated the global conscience that links all of the Phalanx together and has corrupted it.  Warlock has separated himself but he is the only one, and his life-mate was not so lucky.

Warlock and Beast make for an interesting duo.

Warlock, as some of you are probably aware, is an old comic book character from the New Mutants books where he was an ally of the X-Men’s youngest division.  His portrayal here is pretty faithful, as he and Beast find themselves on the run and in search of any aid they can find.  This two-parter ends up playing out as a fun little team-up and cameo-fest.  X-Factor makes a brief appearance as Beast seeks out the aid of Forge while a distress call from Mr. Sinister brings our heroes an unlikely ally.  The final piece of the puzzle is the master of magnetism himself, Magneto (with original voice actor and a cool beard!), who reluctantly leaves his Antarctic fortress where he apparently has been brooding since his most recent failure.  Magneto would love to watch the fall of humanity, but since his son Quicksilver needs saving he gets off his high-horse and helps out.

They find Magneto’s force field very effective, and assault the citadel created by the Phalanx to serve as their nexus.  There they find the leader of this attack, Cameron Hodge (remember him?!), and the captured members of X-Men and X-Factor.  With their combined effort, the Phalanx and is thwarted and Warlock is reunited with his life-mate.  A fairly fun plot is concluded, one that placed the after-thought Beast in a leading role for a change, and included some unlikely allies.  Sadly, this is the last good multi-episode plot for the series.

Storm Front (Parts 1 and 2)

Arkon, and his stupid hat.

This would be last two-part storyline for the show, and it’s a dud.  As I mentioned in the lead in, I suspect the writers wanted to take the opportunity afforded by a fifth season to look at some forgotten or untouched upon aspects of the show.  Storm would represent just that.  Pretty much ever since the conclusion of season 2, Storm has been a minor character.  If I took the time to tally her appearances it wouldn’t shock me if I found her to be the most under-represented member of the X-Men for seasons 3 and 4.  Unfortunately for her, I suspect that might be because her episodes were among the least interesting.  Outside of “One Man’s Worth,” the episodes featuring her as a major player include “Whatever It Takes” and the two-part “Savage Land, Savage/Strange Heart.”

“Storm Front” does nothing to change that.  In this two-parter, Storm encounters a strange visitor from another world who claims he came seeking Storm’s help.  His name is Arkon and his world is plagued by a relentless storm and he needs the help of someone like Storm to put a stop to it.  Storm agrees and leaves a token behind for the X-Men to find.  Soon Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, and Jubilee are in pursuit and find themselves on Arkon’s strange world.  Storm is successful in quieting the skies, and in a moment of revelry Arkon asks her to rule this world at by his side.  Storm agrees, much to the shock of the other X-Men.

Before long they realize that Arkon is a ruthless dictator.  His country still uses slaves and it’s up to the members of the X-Men on his world to clue Storm in.  Of course, she refuses to believe it at first but eventually comes around.  There’s a big confrontation, Arkon gets emasculated, and the X-Men return home after seemingly freeing the slaves on Arkon’s world.  Storm goes into hiding until the final episode of the series (not literally, of course) and thus, AKOM’s work is finished.

The Fifth Horseman 

Our introduction to what the series will look like for the remainder of its days comes to us in the form of “The Fifth Horseman.”  This episode stars Beast and Jubilee on a field trip of sorts to South America.  Already the new visual style is pretty striking as beast is less furry looking and Jubilee finally looks Chinese, how about that?

I neglected to mention in the write-up that Beast gets transformed in this episode and looks pretty crazy.

The episode is a bit bland, but it does tie into some older ones.  Jubilee soon finds herself the target of a group of mutants who want to kidnap her for some purpose.  One of the mutants is a mutated Caliban, a former morlock.  Jubilee acts like she knows him, even though I’m fairly certain Caliban was never shown in any previous episodes but the writers try to trick the audience into thinking we know who this guys is.  It is soon revealed that Caliban and his cronies are working for some crazed cult leader trying to resurrect a god.  That cult leader turns out to be Fabian Cortez, last seen floating through space on a ship piloted by Apocalypse.  That god he wants to resurrect?  You guessed it, Apocalypse!

Apocalypse was last seen being banished by the world’s telepaths to the Astral Plane, where he supposedly would remain for all eternity.  Apparently they lied, as there is a way for Apocalypse to escape, he just needs a host body and hence why Cortez wants Jubilee.  Like most villains, he underestimates his foes (and allies) as Beast is able to crash the party and even lure Caliban back over to the side of good (though in doing so he loses his cool new powers).  At the episode’s conclusion, Apocalypse frees himself from the Astral Plane by taking over the body of Cortez.  Like Jean, Apocalypse finally gets depicted in his comic accurate colors of black and blue (instead of that hideous pink and blue scheme AKOM had went with).  Unfortunately, the writers never get to explore Apocalypse further and this remains as his final appearance.  It at least ties in with that discussion Cable and Apocalypse (and later Beast) had regarding good vs evil, as evil can never truly be destroyed.

Jubilee’s Fairytale Theater

What’s worse than a Storm episode?  A Jubilee one.  Well, perhaps that isn’t entirely true as “Night of the Sentinels” could be considered a Jubilee episode and that two-parter is among the best for the series.  This one though is among the worst.  I’ve thrown out candidates along the way for worst episode of the series, and this one just might be it.  It’s definitely top 3, at the very least.

For those curious about what Wolverine would look like as a troll, you get your wish.

The plot for this episode is borrowed from a comic book story, only replace Jubilee with Kitty Pryde and change out some of the X-Men.  Jubilee is leading a group of students on a tour of the caverns under the mansion when a cave in occurs.  In order to keep the students occupied and their minds unaware of the danger they’re in, Jubilee spins a tale of medieval fantasy that places her in the starring role.  Several X-Men make cameos in her story including Wolverine as a troll and Magneto as the ultimate villain.  I suppose some might find it cute or think it’s unique approach to story-telling is refreshing, but I find it boring and stupid.  The portrayals of the X-Men in fantasy attire is only amusing for so long and just can’t sustain an entire episode.  That and since Jubilee is supposed to be making the story up as she goes, the plot is forced to be rather simple and relies on fantasy clichés.  One note worth mentioning, this episode marks the debut for Gambit’s new voice actor, Tony Daniels.  While he certainly sounds the part of a scoundrel, it’s no comparison with the original VA, Chris Potter, and a clear down-grade.

This installment of my X-Men animated series over view is both part 2 of season 4 and the last entry for season 4.  All of my other season entries have been in groups of 3 but season 4 was much shorter.  Season 5 is even shorter as the X-Men series heads toward the end.  Again, episodes are listed in production order, not broadcast order.

Bloodlines

The events of this episode borrow heavily from X-Men Unlimited Volume 4 from 1993.

Nightcrawler makes his second and final appearance on the show with this episode.  This episode explores Nightcrawler’s mysterious past and how it correlates with other X-Men notables.  The events of the episode take place on Halloween, though to call it a Halloween episode would probably be inaccurate.  The holiday just serves as a fun visual gag to bring Nightcrawler back into the fold.

Not only does this episode mark the return of Nightcrawler, but it also brings back the Friends of Humanity, and more specifically, that mutant-hating bigot Graydon Creed.  The last time we saw Creed he was busy getting humiliated by Wolverine and the X-Men when they exposed his dirty little secret to his FoH buddies.  That secret being that Creed’s father is none other than Victor Creed (listed as Graydon Creed Senior in the tv show), also known as the mutant Sabretooth!  The high council of the FoH question whether or not Creed is fit to resume his duties with the organization in light of his origin so they give him a task: purge the Creed family name of all trace of mutant blood.

If nothing else, they make for an interesting family portrait.

This apparently will prove even trickier than taking out Sabretooth.  Nightcrawler comes seeking the X-Men’s aid when he receives a chilling letter that the Friends of Humanity are holding his birth mother captive.  We get the usual “Why do you care since she abandoned you?” questions so that Nightcrawler can remind us that he always takes the high road and preaches forgiveness.  When Rogue, Wolverine, and Jubilee run off to find the blue devil’s mother they find none other than Mystique.  This of course leads Nightcrawler and Rogue to the revelation that they’re kind of like siblings given that Mystique once adopted Rogue.  Apparently, Mystique and Sabretooth did the horizontal monster mash (thanks Fry!) back in the day which gave the world Graydon Creed.  It’s not revealed who exactly Nightcrawler’s father is though we get a flashback from Mystique explaining how Nightcrawler came to be that shows him.  Apparently he was just some ugly rich guy.

Creed is basically a maniac who, despite Nightcrawler’s best efforts, cannot be reasoned with.  Mystique is depicted as a cold, and ruthless person as well, but she gets a moment of redemption after a touching scene with her blue baby boy.  The episode ends with Nightcrawler in a bit of a melancholy place, while the FoH, following Creed’s failure to eradicate his mutant lineage, dump him off on daddy’s door step.  Nightcrawler ends up going 2 for 2 as far as quality episodes go.  This one also ended up getting pushed to season 5 for the initial broadcast.  I believe it was done just to break up the Nightcrawler episodes further.

Weapon X, Lies, & Videotape

Wolverine in his cool spy gear squares off against Omega Red in a flashback.

Another Wolverine episode, but the first one in awhile.  This episode was originally aired in prime time as part of season 3.  During the 90’s Wolverine’s origins were ever evolving in the comic books and a frequent topic for plot lines and fan conversations.  This one deals with the concept of false memories.  For awhile we had seen glimpses of Wolverine’s past, in both television and the comics, particularly of when he received his adamantium skeleton and claws.  This episode deals with the possibility of those memories, and more, being implants as part of the Weapon X project.

The episode begins with Wolverine being taunted by memories from his past.  We finally get a reason for his hatred towards Sabretooth as well.  Apparently Wolverine was in love with a Native American named Silver Fox, and apparently just to tick Wolverine off, Sabretooth “killed” her.  I put “killed” in quotations because the episode never actually states that (for obvious reasons) but it seems implied.  Wolverine takes off to go uncover the mysteries of these nightmares and Beast takes off after him.

Maverick makes his second appearance (first speaking one) while Silver Fox her first.

Wolverine’s visions take him to the Weapon X facility located somewhere in Canada where he finds Sabretooth waiting for him amongst the ruins of the lab.  The two immediately start to go at it, before Beast steps in as mediator.  They soon realize they were both lead there by their own visions and a mysterious letter.  They’re soon encountered by Silver Fox and Maverick, with Wolverine looking pretty shocked to see Silver Fox alive and well.  We’re treated to numerous flashbacks such as the four of them working together to take down Omega Red.  The lab contains set pieces which correspond with the false memories the four share and a video recording of Dr. Cornelius confirms the existence of false memories.

We get to see the four, and Beast, work together to take out some robot guards that were supposedly created to retrieve the “samples” from the Weapon X project.  In the end, little is settled as Wolverine remains convinced his love affair with Fox was real, while she remains unsure.  They all go their separate ways and Wolverine is left with some measure of peace.  This episode proves to be a fun collection of mystery and conspiracy theories with some convincing action tossed in as well.  There is one piece of animation I always found confusing where Sabretooth removes his glove to work a palm scanning device, showing the flesh tone of his hand is the same as his arm, making me wonder where Sabretooth’s skin ends and his costume begins.  I regret that I couldn’t find a screen capture of what I’m talking about.

Lotus and the Steel

The Silver Samurai makes his lone appearance of the series in this episode.

It’s probably a good thing that “Weapon X…” was moved up to season 3 because if these two episodes had aired back-to-back it might have been Wolverine overkill.  This episode indirectly deals with the fall out of the Proteus episodes, specifically with how Wolverine was getting along following his shake-up at the hands of the out of control mutant.  The episode begins with Wolverine and Xavier having a sort-of therapy session where Wolverine expresses that he feels empty inside.  This leads to Wolverine leaving the X-Men and heading for Japan to seek his purpose.  Jubilee, unable to accept this decision, takes off after him.  The set-up, in a way, is reminiscient of Wolverine #75 which dealt with the fall out of Wolverine losing his adamantium skeleton and also leaving the X-Men.

As usual, trouble seems to find Wolverine and in Japan he finds anything but peace.  He arrives at his old hang out (some rural village, apparently not Madripoor) and finds out the locals are being bullied by a local Japanese mafia lead by the Silver Samurai.  The Samurai’s gang is extorting the locals for protection money, when they don’t pay his followers ransack the place.  Wolverine initially doesn’t want to get involved but of course he has to.  This leads to a showdown between Wolverine and the Samurai where Wolverine uncharacteristically outsmarts him to take him out.  The villagers thank him, and he and Jubilee head home.

The episode is very similar to the first season episode “Cold Vengeance,” just change the setting and switch out the villain.  For that reason, it lacks any real impact as it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.  Not a bad episode, just not memorable.

Have Yourself A Morlock Little X-Mas

For years the writers resisted the urge to do a holiday tie-in episode, but here in season 4 we get our first and only one.  Perhaps the writers felt emboldened after doing the Nightcrawler episodes with their religious tie-ins that a Christmas episode felt appropriate.

In this episode, Jubilee's quest for the perfect X-Mas!

The basic plot is kind of traditional holiday special crap.  Jubilee wants to have the perfect Christmas as this is her first with the X-Men (nevermind that the show has been on for years at this point, but whatever) so she’s making a big deal out of everything.  Jean is charged with preparing Christmas dinner, but has to deal with a meddling Gambit who’s cajun roots demand the food contain a certain amount of spice leading to a series of slapstick routines.  Wolverine, of course, is in full-on Scrooge mode and somehow gets suckered into shopping with Jubilee and Storm on Christmas Eve.

At the mall, their seemingly perfect day is interrupted by the Morlocks when they spot them hi-jacking an ambulance.  Wolverine gives chase into the Morlock tunnels where they find a very sick Leech.  When someone mentions the possibility that Leech may die, Jubilee utters the ever predictable “Not on Christmas Eve!” line that must appear in every holiday special (it’s mandated by the FCC, I swear).

Beast arrives on the scene to care for Leech, but nothing he has can cure him, so they turn to Wolverine.  They theorize that a blood transfusion from Wolverine could bestow special healing properties on Leech and possibly cure him of whatever it is that ails him.  Wolverine is reluctant, apparently he tried this before and it didn’t work, but relents in the end.  The transfusion works, and everyone is happy and crying.  Jubilee also abandons her hope for a perfect Christmas with her new family by sharing all of her presents that she purchased with the less fortunate Morlocks and in doing so learns the necessary valuable lesson (also mandated by the FCC).

The episode is really the same old holiday trappings found in a hundred other like episodes, just with an X-Men lens to see it through.  It’s kind of crappy, but admittedly is a guilty pleasure for me.  I can’t watch it without getting a little lump in my throat and I suppose that’s all these episodes ever set out to accomplish.

Beyond Good and Evil (Parts 1 through 4)

“Beyond Good and Evil” was meant to be the big arch to send the X-Men out on.  Nearly every significant villain and hero makes an appearance during this four part story and we even get the requisite Magneto redemption angle once more.  And to top it off it’s another time travel story and the writers seem to always nail these kind of stories.

Jean apparently not as happy to see Sinister as he is to see her.

The basic plot revolves around the god-like mutant Apocalypse.  In the year 3999, Cable and his followers attempt to destroy Apocalypse once and for all.  When Cable and Apocalypse find themselves isolated, Cable hurls the “e” word in Apocalypse’s direction, claiming because he’s evil he can never win, to which he responds rather poetically with “I am not evil, I simple am!”  Despite the confidence of that statement, Apocalypse begins to ponder his existence and even shows sadness to view himself as part of some scale where one side can never truly triumph over the other, “What a cruel joke,” he remarks.  I didn’t do the scene justice, but it’s pretty cool to watch Apocalypse and Cable face-off in a philosophical way as opposed to a physical way.  The scene ends with Apocalypse stealing Cable’s time-traveling computer crystal-thing and vanishes.  At the same time, well not really, Bishop and Shard are shown trying to return to their future world but Bishop gets hung up in the portal and soon finds himself in a strange universe populated by light bridges that all lead to some central hub.  An annoying, yet seemingly omniscient, custodian shows up to let him know he’s outside of time and the two get set to watching the events unfolding in the present.

In the present, Cyclops and Jean are giving this whole wedding thing another go.  As you may recall, the first time they wed it was Morph who administered the vows and not an ordained priest which wasn’t good enough.  This one appears to go smoothly but just as the happy couple is leaving for their honeymoon the Nasty Boys show up.  The X-Men give chase and are able to recover Cyclops but when Wolverine can’t smell any trace of their assailants they realize something’s up.  Back at the mansion, Sinister attacks and is preparing to abduct Xavier.  The X-Men are able to arrive just in time to interrupt his taunting about Jean floating through time and prevent the kidnapping.

The X-Men are able to uncover bits of Sinister’s plan when Shard suddenly arrives on the scene, unaware that it’s actually Apocalypse’s, as psychic mutants begin disappearing.  They set their sights on the mutant Psylocke, who’s busy robbing the wealthy Warren Worthington III, and encounter Mystique and Sabretooth.  With Archangel’s help, the X-Men seemingly have things in control until Magneto shows up.  Not all is lost, as they’re able to take Sabretooth back to the mansion where Wolverine locks himself in a cell with Sabretooth and beats the information out of him.  Around that time, Cable shows up after commandeering a government time machine and shares his plan to take out Apocalypse at the source by destroying the chamber that grants him eternal life.

The X-Men and Cable head off to ancient Egypt but find themselves lured into a trap.  They tangle with some machinations of Apocalypse’s four horsemen before finding an ancient Apocalypse asleep in his chamber.  The Apocalypse they find turns out to be Mystique in disguise, and Apocalypse arrives on the scene to capture the king, as he puts it, with the king being Charles Xavier.

Even when captured, Wolverine likes to run his mouth.

As Apocalypse makes off with Xavier, Wolverine slips in behind him to find himself at the Axis of Time.  By now, Apocalypse, in true villain fashion, has let everyone in on his plans to destroy time by assembling the most powerful psychics in the universe.  It’s not explained particularly well but whatever, it’s more fun to buy into the threat.  On the Axis, Magneto realizes his dream to have his wife restored to life will not be realized by Apocalypse and rebels, with Mystique’s help.  Wolverine is freed by Magneto and soon Cable and Bishop arrive.  The psychics find themselves free of Apocalypse’s control, and using their combined might, banish him to the astral plane seemingly ending his threat to existence.

The arc ends with everyone going their separate ways, though Archangel’s ultimate fate is sort of left unresolved.  When he came onto the scene, Shard referred to him as “destined to join the X-Men” and it almost seemed like maybe the writers intended for him to be a full-fledged member by episode’s end.  Considering they intended for this to be the series finale, it meant they really didn’t have to wrap that up.  Sadly, future episodes seemed to disprove this notion despite the cool group shot towards the end that showed Archangel among the X-Men.

Had this been the finale it would have been a pretty cool way for the series to go out.  While the plan hatched by Apocalypse seems to only make sense in the minds of the show’s writing staff, it was still cool to see all of the major villains make cameos.  There’s even a little snippet of a scene with Lilandra and Gladiator having to face the menace of Apocalypse and they at least did a good job of making him look like a universal threat.  Magneto’s original voice actor, sadly, was unable to voice the character here but his replacement proved competent.  While not the best of the multi-part story-lines served up by this show, it’s definitely one of the more fun ones and a high point for season 4.

Season 3 of X-Men was the biggest so far.  Quality does not always equal quantity though and while it was still pretty solid it was not up to par with the first two seasons.  Season 4 is much closer in length to the first two seasons, but probably not as good as even season 3.  A lot of the big stories were exhausted in season 3 and some of the holdovers feel lesser in scope.  There were some nice cameos though, most popular of which was the first appearance of Nightcrawler, and the mostly original tale “Beyond Good and Evil” was probably more fun than the Phoenix saga.

Like season 3, there were production delays for some of the episodes in season 4 that forced them to season 5 for the broadcast.  Also, some of these episodes were actually broadcast as part of season 3, such as the first episode we’re going to look at “The Juggernaut Returns.”  As with season 3, I’ll be looking at the episodes here in production order.

The Juggernaut Returns

Ever since Gladiator sent the Juggernaut hurtling across the Atlantic we haven’t seen or heard from the big guy.  Turns out, the only side affect for crushing Juggernaut’s pride like that was to just make him even angrier with his step brother Xavier so he sets his sights on Xavier’s school once again.

Nerd Juggernaut, never to be seen again.

We’re treated to a humorous visual of Juggernaut swiping a taxi cab to serve as his mode of transportation.  As the X-Men prepare to mount a defense, a curious thing happens and the Juggernaut suddenly finds himself de-powered and scared.  That’s because a side story is occurring at the same time that shows a dorky looking guy uncovering the ancient Ruby of Cytorrak, the source of Juggernaut’s powers.  This nerdy looking individual becomes the new Juggernaut and sets off to do what every nerd turned jock would do – pick up chicks.

Xavier makes the call that to save the life of his step brother, the X-Men must restore his powers.  While Wolverine and Cyclops run off to track down this new Juggernaut, Xavier relives the parts of his life he and Cain shared.  We learn that Cain is a pretty cruddy person, but his father was even worse who married Xavier’s mother just for her money.  Since Cain couldn’t help himself and had to bully young Charles, his father sent him away to a boarding school which only served to further fuel Cain’s dislike of Charles.

Wolverine and Cyclops end up tracking down the new Juggernaut, and the resulting confrontation is more comedy than anything.  They retrieve the ruby and return it to Cain who once again transforms into the Juggernaut.  Perhaps as a showing of thanks, he chooses to leave the mansion without further incident.

Nightcrawler

It's not easy being green, but blue isn't much better.

Apparently needing a break, Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine head off on a ski trip to Germany.  Why they chose to go to Germany when they have Colorado to choose from I do not know.  As usual, nothing goes right and a mishap on the slopes lands them at a monastery located in a small town time forgot that fears some demon.  The monks there seem friendly enough, but something clearly is amiss.  Wolverine hears about this demon and decides to go “hunting” while Rogue mistrusts one of the brothers.

Someone tries to harm a sleeping Gambit, who was injured on the slopes, and Rogue goes after him.  A fire breaks out and Nightcrawler reveals himself.  The “demon” proves to be a rather gentle soul despite his outward appearance, and the trio of X-Men set off the uncover who was trying to make him look bad.

Nightcrawler brings an element to Saturday morning television few would dare include, which is God.  As someone who isn’t even remotely religious, I find his portrayal not at all offensive and I don’t think anyone was trying to convince kids to go to church or anything.  He does have a discussion with a terse Wolverine who apparently shuns God for various reasons.  After all, the guy has had a pretty rough life.

The person behind the attack on Gambit and the burning of the monastery is uncovered, and Nightcrawler is revealed to the town’s people in the process.  They soon accept him, and the X-Men depart for Paris to continue their vacation.  The token invite to join the team is also offered, but Nightcrawler declines, as so many have before him.  In Paris, Gambit shares his own religious philosophies with Rogue (predictably, Gambit only seems to worship one man – Gambit) which causes her to storm off.  As she finds herself questioning her own beliefs she stumbles into a church to find a humbled Wolverine, kneeling before the altar.  Wisely, she says nothing and departs before he can see her.  Another example of Wolverine striving to find that inner peace he seems to always be longing for.

One Man’s Worth (Parts 1 and 2)

One of the big stories around this time in the comic book was titled “The Age of Apocalypse.”  The AoA was an alternate timeline story created when Xavier’s future son Legion traveled back in time to assassinate Magneto, thinking this would save his future.  By accident, he ends up killing his father which alters time in a frightening way, leading to a future where Magneto leads the X-Men against a tyrannical Apocalypse.  It’s a pretty cool story, and while I would have loved a true AoA for the animated series this is a very satisfying two parter.  I do so love when the writers start working with time travel!

This two-parter borrows heavily from that arc in both premise and style.  Where it differs though is that it does not include Apocalypse or Legion, and it’s never stated that Magneto leads the X-Men in the alternate timeline shown, just that he leads the mutants against the humans (keeping in theme with the future we see in “Days of Future Past”).  Substituting for Legion is the time traveling mutant Fitzroy and his comedic lackey Bantam as they’re sent back in time by Master Mold to assassinate a young Xavier.

The happy couple, and an AoA Sabretooth!

Fitzroy’s plan is discovered by Forge who once again turns to Bishop to thwart him.  Bishop is sent back in time, but this time he’s not alone as his sister Shard joins him.  Their timing is poor, as by the time they travel back to the present to enlist the help of the X-Men, Fitzroy has already succeeded.  There Bishop and Shard encounter Wolverine and Storm (sporting her 80’s look complete with a tall white mohawk), who are married in this universe.  We get to see the mutants battle the human forces and several AoA themed cameos are present including Holocaust and Nightcrawler.  It takes some convincing, but Wolverine and Storm agree to help Bishop and Shard stop Fitzroy, knowing that doing so will cause them to cease to exist.

In a rare turn of events for the show, the heroes fail.  They travel back to the 60’s and get derailed by a bit of period specific racism towards the interracial couple of Wolverine and Storm, which sets Wolverine off.  This delays them enough to allow Fitzroy to kill Xavier, and ends part one.

Part two has the heroes regrouping by traveling back to the future in order to try again.  I don’t quite understand why they had to do so, but it lets us see the new future.  Apparently, the sentinels won and Forge still exists but her serves them.  He’s also nearly entirely robotic at this point and extremely fearful of crossing the sentinels.  The heroes are able to get out of there, but Shard gets left behind with the understanding being that if they succeed in their mission, she’ll be fine.

Round 2 goes better, and the heroes win out this time by letting Fitzroy know just what the future he creates will look like.  Storm and Wolverine share a tearful farewell and the story returns us to the present where the Wolverine and Storm we know and love are enjoying a picnic with Xavier, who smiles to let us know he remembers the first time he met the two.

Proteus (Parts 1 and 2)

Another old story brought to the animated universe.  Proteus was one of the first missions for the new X-Men following the introductions of Colossus, Wolverine, and the like.  Proteus is a pretty crazy mutant with seemingly limitless psychic powers allowing him to distort and warp reality.  In the comics, his powers were so great they’d cause his body to erode and burn up, forcing Proteus to jump from host to host, killing the person he inhabited in the process.  Obviously, this would not suit for the animated series, nor would the same conclusion be used which ended in Proteus’ death at the hands of Colossus.

Proteus in his energy form.

Proteus also necessitated a new origin.  In the comics, and show, he is the son of Moira and Joe MacTaggert.  Even though they were husband and wife, Proteus was conceived as the result of rape at the hands of Joe which resulted in Moira leaving him, but not telling him she was with child.  Proteus’ powers were so great Moira had to force him into imprisonment.  She never told anyone he was her son, instead choosing to call him Mutant X.  In the show, his origins are the same, minus the rape.  Joe is a prominent politician unaware of Proteus’ existance, though in the show he apparently knows about him but has never met him.  In order to protect his campaign, he does not want the public to know he fathered a mutant.

Proteus (Kevin) breaks out, causing Moira to enlist the help of the X-Men ( it should be noted, that the writers missed a great opportunity to bring back Morph again) to recapture Proteus and return him to his cell.  Proteus meanwhile heads for Scotland and begins inhabiting people and experiencing their emotions.  He soon yearns to find his father after experiencing a father-son bond prompting Moira to warn Joe, but still keeping the secret that Kevin is her son from Xavier.

The X-Men confront Proteus, and when Wolverine starts talking about taking the kid out, Moira snaps and reveals her long kept secret.  Xavier is disappointed she chose to hide her mutant son from him, and the X-Men are forced into battle with Proteus.  Proteus wipes the floor with them, and even “rips” Wolverine into pieces (this is of course, an illusion) that completely unsettles the feral mutant and reduces him to a sobbing, retching, mess.

Knowing they can’t hope to defeat Proteus in open combat, the X-Men determine they’ll need the help of the boy’s father to calm him down.  They attend one of Joe’s campaign rallies knowing Proteus is likely to show up.  When he does, the X-Men pounce, all except Wolverine who runs off scared.  He doesn’t respond well when Rogue accuses him of cowardice, and responds even more poorly when Beast excuses it.  When all hope seems lost, Xavier is able to calm Kevin down and reunite him with his father, who surprisingly does the right thing by his son.  A much happier ending than the comic book which featured the death of both Joe MacTaggert and son.  It’s a different sort of episode, but an enjoyable one.  While the original is better, the writers did the best they could to adapt it for a children’s audience.  The image of a broken down Wolverine would prove long lasting, and would even be referenced in a later episode.

Family Ties

Would you be surprised if I told you that a random episode of the sitcom “Family Ties” is probably more entertaining than this episode?  Perhaps that is coming across a little strong, but this is a bad episode.  The only interesting aspect about it is that the show acknowledges that Magneto has two kids for the first time, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.  The trio find themselves lured into a trap by the High Evolutionary, and Wolverine and Beast tag along.  Wolverine gets turned into a Werewolf, and somehow every wrong is righted.  We get to see some sort of an origin tale for Magneto, which serves as the only redeeming quality of the show.  Apparently, the guy isn’t all bad and probably didn’t kill his wife.  Regardless, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver aren’t exactly thrilled to learn who their father is but come around by episode’s end.  The execution is just kind of lame, and the mutates that occupy the town where this takes place make for an even lamer visual.  I don’t include this in the running for worst episode of the series, but it’s also not far removed.

Time to take a look at the last part of season 3 of X-Men.  Season 3 goes out on an uneven note, though at the time  no one really knew the season was over.  Really, no one knew when it began as new episodes were aired some-what randomly.

Sanctuary (Parts 1 and 2)

“Sanctuary” marks the return of one of comics’ greatest villains; Magneto.  In true Magneto fashion, his motives aren’t particularly villainous as he seeks to create a haven for mutants where they will be free from human persecution.  Feeling no place on earth would suit his needs, he creates his haven on an orbiting asteroid he dubs Asteroid M.  This attracts the attention of all the world’s nations as Magneto had to abduct a Soviet shuttle crew to aid in the construction.  There’s also the small matter of the nuclear weapons he possesses as well.  Magneto crashes a UN meeting and interrupts a discussion surround him.  There’s a piece of dialogue where the Genoshan rep rejects the term slavery as it applies to Genosha and refers to mutant powers as natural resources.  An interesting take.

You will hate this man by episode's end.

The plot is a condensed version of the one from the comics that began in X-Men 1 and concluded in the Fatal Attractions mini-series.  Though what took place over years takes place over two episodes here.  Magneto finds himself placing much trust in his new acolytes and a young mutant named Fabian Cortez in particular.  Cortez betrays him and attempts to kill Magneto by ejecting his quarters from the asteroid and in doing so frames the X-Men.  In their escape, Gambit gets left behind and Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, and Xavier (in Shi’Ar battle-suit, though he doesn’t use it to walk for some reason) go after him.  From there it’s a fairly predictable plot as Magneto returns and rights what is wrong, only to see Asteroid M get destroyed in the end, but the ride is a fun one.

A side plot between Xavier and Acolyte Amelia Voght sheds some light on Xavier’s past and how he became paralyzed.  The two were lovers whose differing views on how mutants fit into society eventually drove them apart, and Voght to Magneto.  She’s not a love interest or anything for Magneto (he’s not interested in Chuck’s sloppy seconds) but serves him loyally as one of his Acolytes.  She plays a role in uncovering Cortez’s treason and ends up helping the X-Men.

The end of the episode contains a teaser (apparently for the “Beyond Good and Evil” mini series to come) where Apocalypse finds Cortez drifting through space.  Deathbird is also pictured with him.

Xavier Remembers

“Sanctuary” contained some interesting back story on Charles Xavier and an episode implying an origin story for him was a welcome development.  Unfortunately, that’s not what this episode contains.  Instead we’re “treated” to the return of the Shadow King, the worst villain the show would know.

If you have been keeping with up this feature, you will know that the season 2 episode “Whatever It Takes” is one of my least favorite episodes.  In fact, it’s in the running for first episode of X-Men.  “Xavier Remember” might be even worse, though it’s so close it matters little.  This one serves as the origin for the Shadow King and how he came to be imprisoned in the Astral Plain.  Xavier defeated him there when encountering him in Cairo, and he’s used a piece of his own mental capacity to keep him there for decades.  A concussion causes Xavier to lose his hold and it’s up to Jean to enter the Astral Plain, find Xavier, and secure the Shadow King.

The Astral Plain is incredibly boring, both visually and thematically.  It’s also just too “out there” for me to take seriously.  The only plus I can give this episode is that it’s the last we see of the Shadow King.  Stay away Shadow King, forever.

Courage

Morph sporting his new dye job.

What’s a good way to rebound from one the series’ worst episodes?  Bring back a fan-favorite who’s been missing from television for over a year and half!  I don’t know why Morph became such a popular character.  Maybe it’s because we all collectively just felt bad for him because he died so quickly into the series.  I do know that I love him, and his episodes were among the best.

“Courage” is the much teased and long-awaited comeback for Morph (now sporting brown hair for some reason) as he finally rejoins the X-Men.  Morph can’t catch a break though, for his return to the X-Men just happens to coincide with the return of the Sentinels, the mutant hunting robots responsible for his “death.”  Morph reacts predictably when confronted by his killers, which is to cower in fear and cry.  That’s okay though, he’s Morph so we forgive him and the X-Men don’t seem that upset his cowardice caused them to lose Xavier.

Turns out, Master Mold survived Xavier’s kamikaze attack in “The Final Decision.”  Sure he’s just a head now, but he’s also crazy and wants revenge.  After his Sentinels capture Xavier, the X-Men track him down but leave Morph behind.  Morph though won’t stay put and arrives in time to save the day doing awesome Morph things.

The only negative about this episode is that, in the end, it turns out to be one big tease as Morph decides he’s just not quite ready to return full-time.  Wolverine is understandably upset, as we all are, and Morph goes back into hiding until the final episode of the series.

Secrets, Not Long Buried

“Whatever It Takes” and “Xavier Remembers” are both bad episodes, but “Secrets, Not Long Buried” gets my vote as worst of the worst.  This episode is just boring.  Cyclops goes off to some mutant town in the middle of no where to give a present to his former headmaster and finds him missing.  Cyclops is the dullest member of the X-Men, and his solo adventures just don’t work very well.  I actually hate this episode, I hate everything about it.  I can’t even think of one good thing to say about it.  It sucks, don’t watch it.  Just pretend season 3 ends with “Courage.”

Season 3 continues on.  Again, this is in episode order and not broadcast order (FYI – the DVD’s released by Buena Vista are in broadcast order).  We’ve got the Dark Phoenix to contend with, another Cyclops episode, and the return of Omega Red, but first…

Savage Land, Strange Heart (Parts 1 and 2)

Sauron, in human form, having a "snack."

We’ve got another Storm episode, a two-parter at that.  Storm has not been a big player up this point in season 3.  She was basically the lone member of the X-Men who didn’t have much involvement with the Phoenix saga, and following that arc’s completion, she remained on the sidelines.  Storm is an all right secondary character with some cool powers, but as a lead actress she’s pretty boring.

“Savage Land, Strange Heart” does little to dispel that sentiment.  Just like with Storm’s other episode, “Whatever It Takes,” she’s going to find herself possessed by a powerful being that wants her for her body (because of her powers, perverts).  This time it’s some god named Garokk who has a nice cult following going on in the Savage Land.

The other big player in this two-parter is the dinosaur-like mutant Sauron.  Now in his human form, he flees the Savage Land in hopes of never becoming Sauron again.  He’s sort of a vampire in that he feeds on the energy of other humans to sustain him.  If he feeds off of a human, no problem, but once he gets a taste of mutant energy he becomes Sauron.  He falls in with this Garokk cult, and ends up encountering the X-Men on the mainland and drags Storm back to the Savage Land where all Hell breaks loose.

I’m going off of memory, but I believe it’s Wolverine, Beast, Jubilee, and Rogue that give chase.  Once in the Savage Land, Storm’s powers awaken Garokk so that he can free himself from his idol form and take on more of a humanoid one.  Sauron ends up coming around and helps the X-Men put a stop to him once he realizes that the entire Savage Land is in danger.  Doing so helps Storm regain control of herself, and everyone is happy.  We also get a reminder about what’s going on with Jean at Muir Island, in case we forgot, which actually would have been pretty easy since the whole plot has basically been ignored, which is what I like to do with these two episodes.  For some reason, this episode has two titles, the other being “Savage Land, Savage Heart.”

The Dark Phoenix Saga (Parts 1-4)

Dark Phoenix looking pretty pissed.

The precursor, “The Phoenix Saga,” was basically the necessary evil we had to get through in order to get to the seminal “Dark Phoenix Saga.”  “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is one the most well known comic book stories and certainly the most well-known involving the X-Men.  The television adaptation ended up being pretty faithful to the comic book version, but with one rather significant alteration that I’ll get to when the time comes.  The timing of it would harm the initial broadcast though as few episodes separated it from the original Phoenix plot-line and since both have a weighted, dramatic feel to them it does lessen the impact a bit.

The general plot of the saga is that Jean is back on earth and apparently healthy, but the Phoenix force still dwells inside of her.  It refuses to leave, claiming it hungers to experience more human emotions.  The Phoenix force now speaks independently of Jean (with its own voice actor as well) and battles for control of Jean’s body.

A new group of foes has entered the mix as well, The Hellfire Club (referred to as the Inner Circle club for TV).  Lead by Sebastian Shaw, these wealthy figures clad in old english attire seek the power of the Phoenix for their own use.  Their own telepath, the White Queen Emma Frost, felt the presence of the Phoenix on earth and retells her story to the rest of the Inner Circle members.  They hatch a plan to utilize her powers along with Jason Wyngarde (known as Mastermind in the comics) and his power of illusion to seduce Jean Grey and bring her under their control.

Meanwhile, Jean Grey fights to control her own mind as she is assaulted by Wyngarde and Frost telepathically.  The mutant Dazzler is introduced as a night club singer, and when Gambit drags Cyclops out for a little fun an overzealous Dazzler (after being rescued by Cyclops from a back alley beat down) plants a kiss on his lips.  Of course, Jean happens to witness this which is the trigger that pushes her to Wyngarde and the Inner Circle, where they make her their Black Queen.

The X-Men assemble and go after Jean by locating the Inner Circle’s mansion.  All of the X-Men soon find themselves incapacitated, all except Wolverine.  What was a bit more violent in the comics turns into kind of a slapstick routine as Wolverine single-handedly makes his way through the mansion to locate and rescue his comrades.  It’s still pretty amusing though.  By now, the Phoenix has experienced too much and has beaten down Jean’s psychic defenses and sees through the illusions of Wyngarde.  She takes off but Wyngarde gives chase and Phoenix exposes him for the fraud he is by bringing down the illusions he cast upon himself to reveal a plain looking old man.  Cyclops tries to reason with her, but she proclaims herself the Dark Phoenix, dons a red costume, and takes off.

Thus ends the Inner Circle’s role in this tale after two episodes.  They were interesting, but we all wanted to see Phoenix in action.  Jean is able to regain some control of her own mind, but she’s been reduced to a child-like state and has returned to her childhood home.  Beast and Xavier devise a helmet of sorts that they believe will be able to subdue Jean.  They set up a trap for her when Xavier is able to pick up on where she’s going, and the X-Men go toe to toe with Phoenix.  Beast is able to get the device on Phoenix, allowing Jean some momentary control where she begs Wolverine to kill her.  He can’t, and Phoenix breaks free.  Xavier does some silly psychic stuff, and Jean once again has control of her body and mind, but all is not well.

During the time when the X-Men were trying to sort out how to approach Phoenix, the entity left earth to feed on a star which destroyed an entire solar system.  This got the attention of the Shi’Ar and at the end of episode 3 Lilandra and her royal guard show up to proclaim Phoenix must die.  Xavier invokes the right of mortal combat sacred to the Shi’Ar, and the X-Men leave with them to battle for Jean’s freedom.

Leading up to the climactic battle, we get some good dialogue between characters regarding the morality of destroying an innocent to vanquish and evil entity.  Lilandra and Xavier struggle being on opposite sides of the debate and even Jean shows some reluctance in continuing to live not knowing how she could hope to contain Phoenix.  She puts on her old X-Men costume, a nice touch, and the X-Men are sent to the moon to do battle with the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard.

The X-Men hold their own for a time, but eventually they’re over-matched against the Shi’Ar.  Jean and Cyclops find themselves alone and resign to the fact that their situation looks bleak.  They, more or less, say their goodbyes and make one final run.  When Cyclops goes down, Phoenix awakens.

The Phoenix seems to always rise from the ashes.

Seeing the immediate danger Phoenix poses, and knowing his X-Men will surely perish if they continue this folly, Xavier realizes the Shi’ar way is their only option and urges his X-Men to rise and take out Phoenix.  Wolverine finds himself in position to deliver the killing blow, and once again, says he can’t.  Cyclops coordinates an attack where he delivers the killing blow, but it isn’t enough.  Jean regains control after the attempt and begs Cyclops to end it while she has control.  He can’t (sense a theme?) and she blasts him away in frustration and takes off to where the Shi’Ar cannon is targeting.  Lilandra senses what Jean is doing, and fires the cannon vanquishing her once and for all.

This is where the story ended in the comics, but for Saturday morning television the writers apparently decided they couldn’t kill off Jean.  The Phoenix force cannot die, but is now removed from Jean.  It apologizes for the damage it has done and tells the X-Men one may give up their “flame” in order to restore Jean.  After Cyclops and Wolverine argue over who gets to die for Jean, the Phoenix informs them it can take a smaller portion from many to restore her to life.  The X-Men join hands and Jean is restored, everyone is happy, the end.

As I said in the lead in, the adaptation for TV is actually quite faithful to the comics.  The big difference being Jean’s survival in the end.  The saga does start a bit slow but the final two episodes are good entertainment.  It’s just too bad the writers repeat themselves so much.  We already find it hard to believe that any member of the X-Men, especially Wolverine, would kill Jean but they try to tease it over and over and it just doesn’t work.  The dramatic plot comes across as a bit too much at times especially considering we just dealt with Jean’s “death” at the conclusion of the first Phoenix Saga.  Still, as a whole, it’s pretty enjoyable.  While I would have preferred to see a little more boldness out of the writing staff I can understand what kind of restraints they must have been under.

Orphan’s End

Son and father.

After the big ensemble it required to do The Dark Phoenix Saga, we get a much smaller one here with “Orphan’s End.”  As the title implies, it’s about Cyclops once again and the only other X-Men member featured is Storm (sporting a pony tail, just to change things up I guess).  Corsair of the Starjammers arrives on earth at the mansion of the X-Men fleeing from someone.  Cyclops and Storm agree to help him in his escape though they’re a bit unsure of what’s going on.

They soon find out Corsair is fleeing the Shi’Ar, and when Cyclops sees a picture of himself and his brother in Corsair’s locket, they soon realize how they relate to one another.  Cyclops tells the Shi’Ar pursuers to “back off” basically and continues to help Corsair wanting an explanation for what happened.  We’re filled in on Cyclops’ back story, as well as Corsair’s, and all seems well for a moment between father and son until Cyclops learns Corsair is wanted for kidnapping.  Thus begins the first swerve.

As the plot moves along, Cyclops and Storm will change sides multiple times.  First they’re helping Corsair, then the Shi’Ar, then Corsair, and so on.  Corsair ends up being in the right, and the pursuers are phonies.  He’s trying to protect a girl, a political thing, and the pursuers want her dead because she witnessed some crime they’re trying to cover-up.  The X-Men and Starjammers prevail in the end, and the crooked cops get their due.  Unfortunately, by this point the episode is nearly over so we just get a quick scene of Cyclops inviting Corsair into the mansion to talk for a while before he takes off, to which Corsair accepts.  The story-line of Cyclops and Corsair finding out their relation to one another is far more interesting than the rest of the plot.  It’s too bad it gets kind of pushed to the background.  Still, not a bad episode.  It’s too bad Havok never gets an episode to find out Cyclops is his brother.

Love in Vain

This is another one of those episodes where the less said, the better.  This is one of the worst episodes of the show, maybe even worse than “Whatever It Takes” and definitely worse than the two Mojo episodes.  Rogue’s old boyfriend, Cody, returns seeking to rekindle their romance from when Rogue put him in a coma with a kiss.  Now he’s immune to her powers and Rogue is positively delighted.  It turns out, there’s a good reason for this.

Cody has been infected by some parasitic alien colony that washed up on earth.  I think they’re supposed to be a take on the Brood, from the comics, but do not resemble them at all.  They’re just green and kind of resemble the aliens from Alien.  They try to infect all the X-Men and succeed in infecting Wolverine but his healing factor saves him.  Why am I even going into this much detail?  The X-Men win, Cody turns into a bug, and Rogue is sad but still has Gambit.  It’s a bad episode, don’t bother.

A Deal With the Devil

This is another episode that would get dropped from season 3 and moved to season 5.  It’s the return story for Omega Red.  The current Soviet government needs Red’s help in recovering a nuclear armed submarine.  Red knows the access codes and can also survive in the radioactive environment.  Red agrees to help them, but only if he can be accompanied by two X-Men he seeks vengeance against; Wolverine and Storm.

Trapped on a submarine with Omega Red, good luck with that!

Xavier reluctantly allows Wolverine and Storm to participate in this ridiculous premise (once Red is within the sub, he’ll have access to nuclear weapons, great idea!) though neither Wolverine and Storm seem particularly thrilled by this.  Red is supposed to be armed with a fail-safe device, but once aboard the sub he effortlessly removes it and takes control of the operation.  We get a game of cat and mouse from here, where Red holds all the power but is also trapped under water.  While Storm and Wolverine contend with Omega Red on the sub, Xavier and Rogue coordinate how to stop it from below.  Rogue is able to ruin the sub, causing it to sink even further into a chasm, while Storm and Wolverine make their escape.  They disarm the nuclear warheads, and Omega Red is left stranded miles below sea level never to be seen again.

Aside from the absurd premise, the episode is all right and I always thought Omega Red made for a good visual on television.  It’s not a great episode by any stretch, which makes it easy to understand why there was no rush to get it to television.

Season 3 of X-Men is where things started to get murky in regards to what constitutes a season.  Many episodes were aired out of order, and some didn’t appear on television until season 4 started airing.  There was also more of a focus on mini series and two-parters with one-shot episodes mixed in.  There was less obvious continuity for these one-shots and most functioned as stand alone tales, with some referencing older episodes (such as the return of Morph in “Courage,” for example).  I personally felt a drop-off in terms of quality as there seemed to be less focus among the writing team.  Some episodes were character driven, some action, and some just served to show us an animated take on a comic book plot.  That said, on to the episodes!

Out of the Past (Part 1 and 2)

Season 3 began with a bang on prime time television with this episode.  I’m unsure of how much the episode draws from the comic books as the main villain here is an alien entity called the Spirit Drinker.  Whether he first appeared in the comics or was made up for the show, I cannot say.  I’m not even certain it has a gender, or a body.  It looks like it’s made up of light and is mostly transparent.  Kind of a bizarre villain.

The main attraction for viewers was the television debut of Lady Deathstrike.  Her origin was altered slightly to give her and Wolverine a romantic past (as if the guy didn’t have enough heart ache) but for the most part she’s the same as her comic counterpart, just with less cleavage (this is a kid’s show, after all).

Lady Deathstrike. The censors forced the animators to give her a white shirt to cover up that plunging v-neck.

The animation is different, though it did not pose a preview of things to come as this animation house was used sparingly by the series.  The colors are richer and there’s more motion from the characters, some needless, but overall it’s an improvement over the usual stiff animation present in the rest of the series.  Some coloring errors are made, such as Gambit’s cowl in the first part.  Wolverine looks especially bad ass and is practically a Jim Lee picture come to life.  It’s too bad the majority of the series couldn’t have a similar look.

Plot wise, the episodes are just okay.  As I mentioned, the Spirit Drinker is the main foe so while Deathstrike wants Wolverine’s head they have to do the classic unlikely allies routine to save the Morlocks.  The Spirit Drinker is freed from an alien spaceship by Wolverine and proceeds to eat the souls of the Morlocks and Deathstrike’s Reavers, before getting Jubilee as well.  Xavier has some sort of psychic meltdown that leads to him being able to read the alien writing on the ship to discover it’s actually a prison ship.  There’s a rather humorous scene where Xavier screams and just sounds rather odd doing so.

In the end, the X-Men work together and find a way to both hurt and kill the Spirit Drinker, while Xavier warns of the visions he received from the space craft and we’re left with an image of a burning earth with the phrase “Coming Soon – The Phoenix Saga!”

The Phoenix Saga (Parts 1 through 5)

A month after part 2 of “Out of the Past” aired, the promised Phoenix Saga debuted on week day afternoon television.  This was much appreciated as the saga is 5 episodes long, and waiting a week between episodes would have proved torturous.  That is, they would have if the saga was any good.

I never really liked the stories where the X-Men go cosmic.  Writer Cris Claremont on the other hand, loved that stuff and he was responsible for the arc in the comics.  “The Phoenix Saga” has always been less celebrated than it’s follow-up, “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” and with good reason.  This one is just less interesting.  We see the power of The Phoenix inhabit Jean early on after the X-Men return from a space mission (the sequence of the X-Men breaking into NASA is very reminiscent from their adventure in “Night of the Sentinels”) that Xavier sent them on for an unknown reason (even to him).  Phoenix seems pretty cool, but Jean soon passes out and we have to wait until the end of episode 3 to see her do anything again.

The TV audience gets introduced to some new faces from the comics in this series, mainly the Shi’ar.  Xavier meets his soul mate of sorts, Lilandra, and we also get to meet Banshee who’s now dating Moira.  Other cameos include Black Tom and the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, of which only Gladiator stands out.  He’s his usual mohawked, Superman knock-off self and is basically there to show us how powerful he is (by throwing the Juggernaut across the Atlantic) and then to show us how powerful Phoenix is (when she tosses him into orbit).

Probably the most interesting part of the arc occurs when the X-Men meet the Starjammers.  The space pirates are lead by Corsair, whom Jean discovers is actually Christopher Summers, the father of Cyclops.  Corsair is an interesting character because he’s easy to relate to.  The Shi’ar emperor murdered his wife, and he’ll risk the whole fate of the universe for revenge.

Cyclops is rounding first and heading for second!

Shi’ar Emperor D’Ken is the main antogonist.  He wants the sacred M’Kraan Crystal to unlock its powers and grant him immortality.  The Crystal, once unlocked, will destroy the universe but like most villains, D’Ken doesn’t seem to care about that minor technicality.  In atypical fashion though, D’Ken succeeds and gets all that he wanted and more.  In order to stop the Crystal from sucking the whole universe into its being, the Phoenix must seal it and bury it within the heart of the sun so that no mortal may ever reach it.  Doing so will apparently destroy Jean (even though Phoenix appears to be the embodiment of flame, but whatever), so we get a very teary farewell that also feels rather rushed.  It’s kind of odd that the conclusion of a plot that took up 5 episodes would be rushed, but just watch it.  Cyclops proves inconsolable back on earth once everything is wrapped up, and Lilandra is set to be crowned empress now that her brother D’Ken is gone, trapped within the M’Kraan Crystal for all eternity.  Xavier gives us a piece of foreshadowing when he reminds Cyclops that the Phoenix is known for rising from the ashes anew.  Wolverine says “Jean!” and cries, by now we’re all sick of hearing him say that.

Basically, I don’t care much for this saga.  The plot is just too “out there” for me and what could have been a great moment for the show (the death of Jean) was botched.  It didn’t help that hardly any of the future episodes dealt with Jean’s absence.  One would think losing someone like her would cast a black cloud over the team for at least a few episodes, but no.  And the one that dealt with this the most, “No Mutant is an Island,” was delayed until season 4!

No Mutant is an Island

This is that episode that was meant to deal with the fall out from The Phoenix Saga, but as I also mentioned, it wasn’t shown until season 4.  I don’t really know why, production delays are the given excuse, but it’s too bad as by the time it hit television it was both confusing and without impact.

Remember how I mentioned Cyclops, who didn’t get his own origin tale in season 2 like a lot of the X-Men did, would get his due in later seasons?  This is one of them.  In this episode Cyclops returns to the orphanage he was adopted from after leaving the X-Men.  His grief over Jean’s death has left him unfit to command (in his eyes) and this is where his heart takes him.  He reconnects with an old friend, Sarah, who is now in charge of the orphanage.  Sarah is teased as a potential love interest for Cyke, and if this show were made for adults it’s likely the two would have had at least a one-night stand where Cyclops seeks the comfort of an old friend in his time of need.

Sarah informs him that a wealthy local man has adopted all of the mutant children, and Cyclops meets the last of them, Rusty.  Cyclops doesn’t trust the motives of this gentleman, and of course, he’s proven right when it’s discovered the kids are being programmed to hate all humans by some crazed purple-skinned guy.

The plot kind of loses me once the kids take over.  It seems the episode would have been stronger had it focused solely on Cyclops but I understand the writers needed to put him in danger to prove the character could still function as a leader.  It works to some degree, though the main foe was pretty lame and seemed like a pretty weak threat.  At the end of the episode Cyclops, predictably, returns to the X-Men where he finds out that Xavier has found Jean, alive and on earth.

Obsession

Archangel will even risk destruction of the Statue of Liberty to get at Apocalypse.

Archangel returns for this one-shot.  We hadn’t heard from Warren Worthington since season 1 when Rogue freed him from Apocalypse’s control by sucking the evil out of him with her powers.  Here, as the title implies, we see an obsessive Archangel franticly searching for a way to destroy Apocalypse.  His researchers discover a lone scroll that indicates Apocalypse has a point of weakness on his back that Archangel eagerly sets out to exploit.  His tangles with Apocalypse gets the attention of the X-Men, who step in and prevent Apocalypse from destroying the blue-skinned mutant and take him back to the mansion.

Archangel is something less than grascious and he soon takes off to resume his fight, with Rogue in tow.  Rogue understands his pain because of the experiences she felt when touching him, and decides she has to help.  The four boys of the X-Men take off in pursuit as well, and the plot takes them to the ship of Apocalypse.  Beast establishes some weird bond with the ship’s AI, who assists him in setting a trap for Apocalypse.

Such a thing is impossible though, as Apocalypse proves he’s one step ahead by issuing an override command that forces the ship to abandon the trap.  He also reveals he planted that scroll for Archangel’s researchers to find, apparently just to screw with him.  Archangel goes ballistic, and the only casualty ends up being the ship leaving Beast in an odd state of mourning.  Archangel is still consumed with rage, and once Rogue insists it’s not the way for him to live, he feels abandoned and takes off.  The episode offers a welcome glimpse into the mind of the Archangel character.  At the end it made me wish we saw more from him, but alas, he goes into hiding until season 5.

Longshot

Another episode that got pushed to season 4, this was also another done by the Philippines animation studio that handled “Out of the Past.”  As a result, it looks great (though Wolverine’s hair is a bit outlandish), but the episode is a true dud.  Mojo’s episode in season 2 was one of my least favorites, and this one is no better.  Longshot, trying to escape from Mojo, ends up on earth.  He encounters Wolverine and Jubilee, who develops a crush on him (apparently she digs mullets) and gets herself involved in the conflict between he and Mojo.

The rest of the episode plays out like some bad reality TV game show, where the X-Men once again have to tangle with Mojo’s men in order to win the game and save the girl.  The predictable happens, and the less said the better.  Thankfully, this is the last we see of both Longshot and Mojo.

Cold Comfort

More awesome animation from the Philippines, and this time they get to animate for a story worth seeing.  I’ll admit, I’m biased towards this episode because Iceman was my favorite member of the X-Men growing up, so when the title of this episode displayed on the screen I geeked out like crazy.  It just had to refer to Iceman, and sure enough, within moments he makes his presence felt.

Here's Bobby!

Iceman is faithfully portrayed as a cocksure prick, and that’s why us Iceman fans love him.  He attacks some government base, which attracts the attention of the X-Men due to his mutant signature.  Xavier, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Beast go off to confront him, which leads to Iceman’s capture.  We get a nice piece of backstory, and the show acknowledges for the first time that the original X-Men consisted of Cyclops, Jean, Angel, Beast, and Iceman.  They also throw in Lorna Dane, aka Polaris, for the sake of the plot as we learn she and Iceman left the team to be together.  They also left because Iceman couldn’t get along with Cyclops and Xavier as their respective personalities clashed in a big way.  Iceman was the youngest and most chid-like of the group, and Xavier was unable to reach him.

Jubilee learns all of this, and then overhears Iceman telling Beast he’s just trying to find Lorna, who disappeared not long ago leaving behind a trashed house.  Iceman fears the worst, but Beast and the X-Men won’t let him go until they know more.  Jubilee is sympathetic and springs him loose, she also has a crush on him (probably a good thing that this episode and “Longshot” aired out of order given the overlap in plot) and tags along as they go after another government building.

Here they meet X-Factor; Havok, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, and Multiple Man.  The boys show up and we get a little X-Men vs X-Factor action where the X-Men demonstrate their superior tactical abilities.  Forge soon shows himself and explains to Xavier that he set this whole thing up as a means of testing his new team.  X-Factor is a mutant super group formed by the government to deal with mutant issues.  Lorna also shows up and we find out she left Iceman of her own will, and has also fallen in love with Havok.  The writers also teased the audience by showing how Havok and Cyclops are immune to each other’s powers.  That’s a trait common to mutant siblings, but apparently the two of them are unable to put two and two together.

In the end, like most cameo characters, Iceman is offered a place on the team but declines.  At least his reasons are mostly logical when he remarks he’d just piss everyone off within an hour (not his actual words).  Jubilee is bummed, and so am I, as Iceman rides off into the sunset.  Unfortunately, “Cold Comfort” would be the only episode to feature the arctic mutant but it’s one more than Thunderbird got!

In the previous entry I said I was in no rush to finish these, but I’m feeling inspired today so I’m posting this just one day after the last.  This also is the final entry for season 2.  After this season, the show becomes a little less focused and some production delays screw up the continuity, but that’s all stuff reserved for future posts.

Beauty and The Beast

Beast with his beloved Carly.

This is the last episode for season 2 that deals specifically with one character.  While the other episodes in this format mostly gave us origin tales, this one chooses to focus on how difficult it is to be a mutant with a physical abnormality.  This one, as the titles alludes, is about Beast.  At this time in the series, Beast was still kind of an unknown character for a lot of viewers due to his incarceration for the majority of season 1.  He had some lines in previous season 2 episodes but was always more of a background character.  This episode shows that Beast is more than just the smart, fuzzy one.  His mutant powers made him one of the more boring X-Men, but this episode proves there’s a lot of depth hidden under that blue exterior.

Beast is also the only member of the team who has a job beyond being a member of the X-Men.  He’s a doctor, and a surgeon apparently, and he’s been working on a cure for a type of blindness at a local hospital.  The patient about to undergo his experimental procedure is a woman by the name of Carly.  The show is not so subtle in showing us that there’s a mutual affection shared between the two characters and we worry for Beast and how Carly may receive him once her vision is restored.

The Friends of Humanity, finding out a mutant works at the hospital, stage a violent protest outside forcing Beast to intervene and save Carly.  This gets the attention of the X-Men and Wolverine, in particular.  He lets Cyclops know that he’ll handle the FoH “delicately” and takes off.  Meanwhile, back at the hospital, we find out Carly’s father is a bigot and demands Beast be kept away from his daughter.  Beast reluctantly agrees though Carly is heart-broken.  If the episode has one fault, it’s that Carly’s father is portrayed a little too over the top.  We could empathize with him since Beast’s mere presence does put Carly in danger, but his complaints to the hospital staff are more of the “he’s a filthy mutant” variety.

Following Beast’s removal from the surgery, we get a look at him in a vulnerable state.  Jean tries to console him, but he can’t be reached.  Throughout the series Beast is portrayed as a good-natured and easy-going individual.  The insults his appearance attracts are always brushed aside and even in combat he appears rather gentle.  Here he’s down and laments the unfairness his appearance brings and is even moved to tears.  He confirms his love for Carly to Jean and the viewing audience, and vows to protect her by staying away, to which Jean responds “Maybe you should let her decide.”

After his self-confidence returns, Beast shows up at the hospital to see the results of Carly’s surgery.  It was a success, and she is delighted to finally see her beloved Hank but her father soon ruins everything.  As Beast takes his leave, the FoH strike and abduct Carly sending Beast into a rage.  He leaves, not before scolding Carly’s father, and tells him he’s going after her and he better come with him if he wants to see her alive again.

Creed's a jerk.

Meanwhile, Wolverine has gone undercover as John Logan to infiltrate the FoH base we saw back in the first episode of season 2.  Sporting an A’s cap (I’m not sure if this means Wolverine is a fan of the A’s or that A’s fans hate mutants), Wolverine makes it look like a mutant beat him up and left him for dead outside the building.  The FoH, naturally, take him in where he plays up his hatred of mutants for their leader, Graydon Creed.  Wolverine apparently feels like he knows Creed, and says he may have worked with his old man mining in Kentucky, to which Creed responds by informing him his family all lived in Canada.  “So was I, bub,” is Wolverine’s remark to himself as the scene changes.

The X-Men have been summoned by Beast to help him deal with the FoH, Wolverine also requests they bring the portable Cerebro projector.  Wolverine reveals himself to Creed and frees Carly, while Beast arrives and goes on a rampage that leaves him in a sad state, forcing Wolverine to haul him out in a visually amusing way.  Just as things look bleak, Cyclops, Jean, and Jubilee arrive with the projector that projects a holographic image of Sabretooth with a narrated biography.  Creed loses it, as everyone is informed of Sabretooth’s birth name; Graydon Creed Senior (I can forgive the writers for changing Sabretooth’s name from Victor to Graydon for the ease of simplicity).  Upon hearing this stunning news, the FoH back off and leave Creed to his own madness.

Beast and Carly then have a teary farewell.  Despite Jean’s suggestion to let Carly decide what to do, Beast takes it upon himself to inform her it’s too dangerous for them to be together, and reluctantly, she goes along with it.  Her father shows up again but this time to shake Beast’s hand and thank him for all that he’s done for his daughter.  This, in a way, closes the book on the mutants rights angle of the show as the FoH would only reappear one more time in a much later season.  It’s too bad, because I always felt that was a strength of the program but maybe the writers felt they could never top this episode, and there’s a good chance they were right.  “Beauty and The Beast” may be a bit melodramatic, but it’s very good at what it does.  One of the show’s best.

Mojovision

Perhaps the writers felt the last two episodes were a bit too weighty and needed to lighten the mood.  Enter Mojo, the X-Men’s outer-dimensional slapstick villain.  Mojo is a television producer from another world with a grotesque appearance and a thirst for ratings.  Feeling his current show starring Longshot (with an odd cameo from Psylocke) is slipping, Mojo seeks new stars which leads him to earth and the X-Men.

The bulbous one himself, Mojo.

While shopping for a new TV, the X-Men are soon graced by Mojo’s appearance who offers them a show on his network.  The X-Men are appropriately confused and uninterested, which just pisses Mojo off and he sends the six-armed Spiral to retrieve the mutants.  Six X-Men are brought to Mojo’s universe:  Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, and Storm.  Jubilee is shown in at least one shot but that appears to be just a continuity error.  The X-Men are then inserted into Mojo’s television products where they battle with some androids in a danger room like arena.  Cyclops and Storm are up first as they find themselves in a Miami Vice type setting, only without the pastels.  They get overwhelmed and then Beast and Rogue are tossed into a spaceship that ends up getting sent into the sun.  Jean and Wolverine are thrown into a city battling with more droids where Jean uses her telekinetic powers to overtake the controls and free the X-Men.  Mojo throws a tantrum, and the X-Men escape.  We get a couple of lessons about how violence should not be a form of entertainment, but it sounds rather hollow coming from a super hero action cartoon that certainly makes use of some violence to stay popular.

I’ve never liked Mojo, so I’m biased going into this episode.  I prefer the real world setting for the X-Men, and this is anything but that.  I’m just glad it was only a one-shot, but it does derail some of season 2’s momentum, even though another Xavier/Magneto snippet is included at the end as the two witness the power of Sauron.  At least it’s more entertaining than “Whatever It Takes.”

Reunion (Parts 1 and 2)

After giving us bits and pieces of Xavier and Magneto in the Savage Land and teasing more encounters with Sinister, everything comes to a head in this two-part season finale.  Magneto and Xavier did well to avoid the mutates for this long, but eventually find themselves captured when they team up with a local named Ka-Zar to free his people.  Ka-Zar does not have any love for Magneto, and blames him for the Savage Land’s state as we learn he created the mutates long ago.  They raid his former citadel, but Xavier and Magneto get captured and Ka-Zar is forced to flee.

Meet Ka-Zar, he's anything but bashful.

Meanwhile, the Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine are off looking for Morph following a distressful sounding voice message from the shape-shifter.  Wolverine vows to bring him home and hurt whomever is after Morph.  They find him working in a one-man play of Jekyll and Hyde where his mutant powers create a stirring performance.  The X-Men confront him after the show, and after playing dumb a moment, he warns them to stay away because “He” is always watching.  Morph’s warnings end up being not without merit, as Sinister and the Nasty Boys strike leading to the capture of Jean Grey.  Morph slips into his evil Morph persona and departs with Sinister.

Back at the Savage Land, it’s revealed that Sinister is whom the mutates have been referring to as Master.  This comes as something less than a shock but it’s appropriate.  He reveals his machine that enhances mutant powers by taking from others.  He uses the machine to amplify Vertigo’s powers via Magneto.  Sauron then shows up and uses his hypnotic powers to coerce Xavier into sending a false distress call to the X-Men to lure them into a trap.  The X-Men aren’t dumb though, and can tell something is wrong, but they head off anyway, all except Jubilee.

As part 2 begins, the X-Men arrive in the Savage Land and find that they’re without powers.  The mutates attack almost immediately along with the Nasty Boys and are able to overwhelm the powerless X-Men rather easily.  Only Wolverine is able to escape, as he is quick to point out there’s nothing mutant about his adamantium claws, though how he survives a tumble down a waterfall is anyone’s guess.

Much to no one's surprise, it turns out that the Master is actually Mr. Sinister.

As a result of the confrontation, it falls on Wolverine to same his comrades and he soon comes in contact with Ka-Zar.  The two decide to team up, after fighting a little, and head for the citadel.  The predictable happens and in a way it mirrors the conclusion of “Till Death Do Us Part 2” in that the X-Men tangle with the bad guys, and Morph overcomes Sinister’s control when someone tells him he’s still a member of the X-Men.  Sinister gets blown into a million pieces and tossed into the sea.  This isn’t enough to kill him, but it should keep him out of commission for a while.

Magneto and Charles bid farewell, and we find out that Xavier intends to remove the device Sinister implanted within Morph though he warns that the psychological damage could take years to undo.  This is code for “don’t expect to see Morph a member of the team going forward” much to everyone’s chagrin.

In the end, it’s a satisfying way to wrap up a season-long plot, though some of it did feel a little too similar to the previous season finale and the events of the season’s opening plot.  It’s a good action packed finale though, and following it we would see very little of both Magneto and Mr. Sinister going forward.  This makes sense with Magneto considering the human/mutant conflict would be de-emphasized making his character unnecessary as a villain.  The writers must have just felt burnt out with Sinister, as his future appearances are mostly of the henchman variety.

I’ve said it a few times now, but I’ll say it once more:  season 2 is either the best season for the show or the runner-up to season 1.  It’s quite good as a character study.  It’s less action oriented than other seasons but there’s a lot of depth here that’s uncommon for a kid’s show.  Even today when I watch these episodes I’m left with a sense of satisfaction at their conclusion.  Since the show was so limited in what it could in regards to fight scenes, it made a lot of sense for the writers to focus on character development over intense battles.  There’s a lot of good stuff in later seasons, but this was undeniably the show’s peak and one of the best comic to TV adaptations ever.

Hopefully there aren’t people out there eagerly anticipating my reviews for the X-Men animated series because I’m sure taking my time in making these entries.  It’s been almost a month since my last entry on the subject, but I’m in no rush.  This entry continues on with the next few episodes of season 2, one of the shows strongest seasons it would have.  The further into the season the show travels, the more character specific the episodes get.  This next one deals with everyone’s favorite Canadian:

Repo Man

Vindicator (also known as Guardian in the comics) and Alpha Flight make their first and only appearance of the series in "Repo Man."

Wolverine’s past catches up with him a lot, as it did in the previous episode “Red Dawn,” but here the show gives the viewers its first glimpse into Wolverine’s origin.  Early in the episode, Wolverine is set up in the Canadian wilderness into thinking he’s to meet a friend named Heather only to be ambushed by Alpha Flight.  Alpha Flight was never a popular comic for Marvel, so to put it simply, Alpha Flight is the Canadian version of the Avengers.  We find out Wolverine was once a member and that the team seeks to bring him back.  Lead by Vindicator, the team attacks Wolverine only to find him a more than formidable match.  Once the word “lab” is mentioned, a flashback is triggered showing us how Wolverine came to possess his adamantium skeleton.

The flashback gives us as much detail as can be permitted on a Saturday morning cartoon.  Anyone who read the “Weapon X” one-shot knows that it was originally filled with a brutal and bloody rampage by Wolverine that obviously can’t be depicted here.  Wolverine was also naked and feral and here he’s shown a little more aware of what’s going on, though still pretty pissed off.  It accomplishes the same goal.

Wolverine is eventually subdued by Alpha Flight (not even Wolverine can take on a whole squad of super heroes) and we find out Department H (the organization behind Alpha Flight) is after Wolverine’s skeleton.  We then get introduced to the Heather character, wife of Vindicator (James), and treated to another flashback from when Wolverine came upon the couple after escaping the lab.  While the two tag a deer, Wolverine attacks but gets a couple of rounds of tranquilizers (Fox wasn’t going to permit shotguns for obvious reasons) imbedded in his shoulder and as he goes down we get a montage of Wolverine gaining his sanity.  We then see him putting on the yellow and blue for the first time and taking the name Wolverine.

Apparently everyone at Department H is still sore about Wolverine’s defection.  The rest of the team is well-meaning and was lead to believe Wolverine was going to re-join the team.  The man in charge though, Jason,  intends to extract his skeleton by any means necessary in order to find out how the procedure could be duplicated.  Obviously, this would mean the end for old Wolverine and most everyone comes to their senses and helps Wolverine off the carving station.  Vindicator never comes around, but when Wolverine has him pinned and readies a killing blow he relents as a favor to Heather.  He closes by letting everyone else know they’re not friends and that he’s never coming back.  Hard to blame the guy for being rubbed the wrong way.

Overall, this is an effective way to tell Wolverine’s tale.  It also keeps the other X-Men out of the story so that they continue to remain in the dark about what he’s been through in his past.  As a result, we don’t see much of the others save for one brief scene and a little snippet of Magneto and Xavier as they escape from the mutate Vertigo.  This is also a good Wolverine episode as he’s portrayed in a manner I think most people prefer.  That is as a gruff and tough fighter with a couple of good one-liners.  This would also be Alpha Flight’s only appearance on the show, which is probably a good thing.

X-Ternally Yours

It’s kind of surprising that the creators of the show would give the two biggest fan favorites back to back episodes.  I’m of course referring to Wolverine and Gambit, and after getting Wolverine’s back story in the previous episode we’re treated to Gambit’s here.  Though I’m not sure treated is the right word.

The inspiration for this episode undoubtedly came from the plot contained in this book but was altered severely to fit the Saturday morning guidelines.

The episode begins well enough with Gambit getting a cryptic phone call that spooks him so much he accidentally lets Cyclops get wasted in the Danger Room.  He informs the team he has to leave because someone is going to kill his brother.  Rogue, Jean, and Wolverine end up giving chase and Gambit’s trail leads them down into the Louisiana bayou.  Here a battle has been waging for years between the Thieves and Assassins guilds.  Apparently, Gambit is a former member of the Thieves Guild and at one time was engaged to the assassin, Bella Donna.  Bella Donna trades Gambit’s brother Bobby for Gambit’s hand in marriage, which of course is not what it seems.  When Gambit places the wedding band on his finger, he finds that Bella Donna holds some power over it that’s able to subdue him.  The members of the X-Men that went after him arrive and tangle with some thieves and we get a cool shot of Wolverine wedging a thief’s head between two claws in a threatening manner.

Unfortunately, from here things get kind of silly.  The assassins and thieves pay tribute to some god-like entity by presenting it with a tithe every ten years.  This being bestows powers on the guild that honors it in the most appropriate way.  Break the covenant, and lose your life.  Bella Donna sets up the thieves with a fake tithe and intends to get the thieves exterminated.  The X-Men are able to foil the plot when Jean reveals the double cross to the External using her telepathic powers and Bella Donna is stripped of her powers, her life spared at the request of Gambit.

I rarely like it when the X-Men goes too sci-fi with its plots, and this is a case of that.  This plot with the being the External, to my knowledge, has no basis in the comic canon and I’m not certain where the idea sprung from.  The writers clearly felt the guild wars as they appeared in the comic were too violent for Saturday morning and needed a new plot device, but I think they could have done better.  It’s not season two’s worst episode, but it’s in the conversation.

Time Fugitives (Parts 1 and 2)

“Time Fugitives” brings back everyone’s favorite time traveling mutant from season one, Bishop, and also gives us a more comic accurate depiction of the mutant Cable.  It’s a two-parter (come to think of it, I don’t think Bishop has any one-shots) where the first part is Cable watching the events of the first episode, and in the second he tries to rectify it.

The basic plot is that Bishop returned to the future following “Days of Future Past” to find it unchanged.  The Sentinels were no longer in power, but a mutant plague is affecting the population and killing millions.  Forge sends Bishop back to find out its origins and put a stop to it.

The plague is depicted in a similar visual fashion to Apocalypse's techno-organic virus from the comics, though its properties are different.

In the present, the plague is just starting to show itself and the Friends of Humanity are claiming mutants carry the plague and must be quarantined.  The X-Men’s resident chemist Beast, is asked to speak on the subject at a hearing where Graydon Creed intends to infect Beast with the plague, only to get stopped by Bishop.  In order to put on a spectacle for the television cameras, Creed infects himself and flees the scene.  The X-Men are able to pick up on this while watching a taping of the event, and follow Creed to a hideout where the true cause of the plague is revealed:  Apocalypse.

His motives are not entirely clear, but Apocalypse has long sought the destruction of all humankind so a fatal disease is within the realm of plausibility for the character.  Creed is disheartened to learn he was duped by a mutant, to which Apocalypse gives us this great quote, “I am as far beyond mutants, as they are beyond you!”

The X-Men destroy his plague, but an angry Apocalypse ends up destroying the X-Men.  This causes a temporal storm, which is displayed as a bunch of tornadoes in Cable’s time that will re-write history.  Cable possesses some kind of omniscient computer that looks like a piece of quartz that tells him all of this, and episode one ends with him struggling with the notion that in order to save his world, he has to help Apocalypse destroy a past one.

"The name's Cable - remember it!"

Episode two takes Cable and inserts him into the events of episode one.  Initially, it is suggested by his computer that killing Bishop will accomplish his goal, but Cable is reluctant to kill someone he considers a good man.  He tries reasoning, but Bishop isn’t buying it, and soon shows up at the hearing where Beast is attacked.  Before this, he’s shown going through some files on the X-Men (he notes that he’s familiar with Cyclops and Jean Grey), and has the computer stop on Wolverine for an unannounced reason.  At the hearing, he makes a B-line for Wolverine and teleports the two out of there.  The same events unfold as the previous episode with the X-Men stumbling upon Apocalypse’s lab.  This time Cable and Wolverine show up and Cable allows Wolverine to get infected with the plague virus.  Bishop is shown enraged, thinking Cable just killed him, but Wolverine’s healing powers soon cure him.  Cable informs Apocalypse that they now have the anti-bodies to cure his plague, frustrated, Apocalypse leaves as the X-Men destroy the lab.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I like that this episode gives us a more comic accurate portrait of Cable.  He’s first shown fighting Apocalypse in the distant future, and while in the past it’s revealed the Cable is the son of Cyclops and Jean.  The show never explains how Cable came to exist, in this episode or any future ones, but at least it is no longer ignoring the character’s back story like it did in season one.  Bishop proves once again to be a fun character, he’s a well-meaning hot head whose a little bit of a screw up.  I’m in favor of any episode that works in the Friends of Humanity, and the writers prove once again that they have a good grasp on the Apocalypse character.  If I have one complaint, it’s that Apocalypse just kind of gives up and leaves at the end of part 2 with no explanation put forth as to why he wouldn’t simply take out the X-Men as he had in part 1.  Regardless, this is another good time travel tale that rivals the first.

A Rogue’s Tale

After taking a few episodes off, Sinister once again makes his presence felt by setting up the events in "A Rogue's Tale."

After taking a bit of a diversion with the “Time Fugitives” two-parter, season 2 returns to the character study format and gives us this episode which details Rogue’s back story.  Mystique is seen early on meeting with a shadowed Mr. Sinister who reveals to her Xavier’s absence allowing her an opening to take back her daughter.  This leads to a confrontation between the X-Men and Mystique’s New Brotherhood, where a chance encounter with a blond girl sends Rogue into a frenzy.

Tormented by visions of this girl, Rogue goes berserk back at the mansion.  The specter claims she took her life and informs Rogue where she can find her and silence her.  Rogue soon ends up at a hospital and finds the girl in a coma.  No one knows her identity.  Mystique is there to torment Rogue further, and at her encouragement, Rogue absorbs her powers and memories triggering a flashback.

Poor Ms. Marvel...

In the flashback, we find out how Rogue came to know Mystique.  After taking in the runaway, Mystique exploited Rogue’s powers in a confrontation with the heroine Ms. Marvel.  The flying and seemingly indestructible Ms. Marvel found herself locked in Rogue’s energy draining grasp.  At Mystique’s command, Rogue was ordered not to let go despite her pleas to do otherwise, and the end result left Ms. Marvel in a coma and Rogue with her powers permanently.  Ms. Marvel’s persona was also trapped in Rogue’s mind, and seeing that Mystique could not help her, she fled and soon found Charles Xavier who would help seal away Ms. Marvel and put an end to Rogue’s torment.

Now, as a result of Mystique’s mind games, Ms. Marvel’s persona was free and with Mystique’s shape-changing powers now absorbed by Rogue, her persona is able to take full control of body and mind.  Jean intervenes, and together the two battle in Rogue’s mind.  The viewer is left with a series of conflicted emotions.  The heroine Ms. Marvel was only doing her duty when she first encountered a young Rogue, and the fate that befell her was unfortunate and unjust.  However, we’ve come to know Rogue to be a hero herself and it’s tough to root against her.  Ms. Marvel (revealed to be Carol Danvers), is shown as both angry and sad as she screams at Rogue “You stole my life!” with tears streaming down her face.  She wants revenge, and justifiably so, and when Jean’s attempts to calm her spirit prove ineffective, she and Rogue find a way to seal her away once again.

Rogue is understandably torn up, and tells Mystique she’ll never be her daughter again.  Despite her villainous ways, it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for Mystique as Rogue flies off and leaves her behind once more.  In the end, Rogue is shown visiting the still comatose Ms. Marvel at the hospital and informs a nurse that her name is Carol Danvers.  As Rogue departs, a tiny smile creases the face of Ms. Danvers just before the credits roll on an extremely satisfying episode of X-Men.

Season one of the animated series X-Men was a great success for both Marvel and Fox Kids.  It was the highest rated program on Saturday Morning in its target demographic and thus was renewed for a second season.  Its reign as a rating’s top dog would be short-lived, thanks to a new kid’s show called Power Rangers, but its new-found status of second place had nothing to do with a dip in quality.  Far from it, actually, as season 2 would prove to be every bit as good as season 1, if not better.

Season 1 had a narrative structure that involved linking all of the episodes together, rather than having them all be stand-alone in nature.  This may have made it a little challenging for viewers to jump right in mid-season, but was rewarding for those who latched on from episode one.  Season 2 kept this format, but augmented it slightly.  Season 1 chose to introduce villains every few episodes, where as season 2 opts to focus more on the X-Men individually.  Most of the characters get their own episode that details their back story.  In Rogue’s episode we learn how she joined the X-Men, with Gambit we learn about his involvement with the thieves’ guild, and so on.  Cyclops and Jean are the only two who do not get this treatment.  Jean ends up being a big player in subsequent seasons while Cyclops will have a few episodes dedicated to him down the road.

The one narrative piece linking all of the episodes together involves Xavier and Magneto’s trials in the Savage Land, a place time forgot located in Antarctica.  They would receive a few minutes either at the end or beginning of an episode as they tangle with dinosaurs and try to avoid the Savage Land’s mutates, all while trying to uncover who the mysterious Leader is.  The villain Mr. Sinister would also play a large role in season 2 as he shows up in several episodes.  Sinister was still a some-what new villain for the comics and his inclusion would really benefit the character.  The other major villain would be the Friends of Humanity.  With Senator Kelly now president, the mutants needed a new human villain.  This organization would prove to be the KKK of mutant hating.  Lead by the merciless Graydon Creed, the FoH made life miserable for the X-Men in season 2 and were a big part of several episodes.  Their inclusion helped keep the civil rights aspect of the show in the forefront.

Till Death Do Us Part (Parts 1 and 2)

Evil Morph

For weeks before season 2 began airing, Fox teased fans with commercials featuring the big return of Morph, and this two-part story did not disappoint.  Morph was back and revealed right away to the viewing audience, but not to the X-Men.  The once cheerful mutant was now bitter.  It was soon revealed that Morph had developed two personalities; the happy-go-lucky persona we saw in “Night of the Sentinels” and a new, evil one.  This new one was depicted as having yellowish skin and black circles around his eyes.  He looked a little more gaunt as well, making him a sort-of zombie Morph.  He’s angry with the X-Men for leaving him to die at the Mutant Registration Compound, and he’s going to use his shape-shifting powers to get back at each member of the X-Men.  He first tricks Cyclops and Jean into thinking they’ve been married by a legitimate priest before sending them off on a honeymoon.  He sends Xavier to Antarctica by posing as a dying Magneto.  Jubilee is sent off to the Friends of Humanity headquarters (“That’s for thinking you could replace me!”), Gambit is duped into kissing Rogue (and being knocked unconscious by her energy draining powers), Storm ends up getting shot by police, and Rogue is pissed at Beast (they got off easy) for thinking he was going to back Storm up.

All the while the Friends of Humanity try to make life bad for mutants.  Creed hires someone to pose as a mutant and wreck up the place where President Kelly is giving a speech.  They’re able to provoke Wolverine, Gambit, and Beast into a fight and capture some unflattering images of the recently pardoned Beast for inclusion on the evening news.  This results in Wolverine storming off to take care of them on his own, which leads him to the FoH headquarters where Jubilee is being held and the two bust out.

The main baddie of season 2, Mr. Sinister.

Morph, of course, is eventually outed as the perpetrator of all of this mischief when Wolverine’s nose picks up his scent while he’s masquerading as Xavier.  He escapes the mansion and the X-Men follow him to a secluded island, a base for Mr. Sinister, and we see just what happened the night Morph died.  Cyclops and Jean are being held prisoner, and the X-Men show up to tangle with Sinister’s Nasty Boys.  We get some good action here, as the Nasty Boys possess some unique powers (and some not unique) that give the X-Men some trouble.  Of course, Morph comes to his senses and ends up saving the day by (inadvertently) freeing Cyclops from his restraints, who takes care of the rest.

The episode ends with the bad guys getting away and Morph taking off as well, much to Wolverine’s disappointment.  The episode does a good job of introducing Sinister as a puppet master who is both formidable in combat and behind the scenes.  The inclusion of Morph is pulled off in a respectable way as well.  Most of the time I despise it when writers bring characters back from the dead, but this one works, especially when one considers it was always kind of odd that a Sentinel blast could kill an X-Man.  The episode also concludes with Xavier and Magneto’s reunion and the two, thinking each had been invited by the other, are soon caught in an avalanche.  Xavier’s premonition of “I sense something sinister,” kind of ruins the whole mystery of who’s behind the Savage Land mutates that the writers try to perpetuate throughout the season, but it’s easily forgiven.  As a kid, I was disappointed Morph did not rejoin the X-Men at the episode’s conclusion.  As an adult,  I’m disappointed he was, more or less, freed from Sinister’s control as evil Morph was a very entertaining villain throughout the two episodes.

Whatever It Takes

The Shadow King, quite possibly the worse X-Men villain to appear in the animated series.

The first character to get their own special episode is Storm.  We learn that Storm has a foster son in Africa, and a disturbance in the astral plane discovered by Cerebro sends Storm and Rogue off to investigate.  The episode also introduces the Savage Land, a tropical oasis in Antarctica where many prehistoric creatures still roam.  Magneto and Xavier find themselves trapped here and strangely their mutant powers have vanished.  Along with that, Xavier is also able to walk again.  Magneto informs Xavier he is familiar with this land, but it never had such properties before.  They tangle with some dinosaurs and basically set the stage for what will end up being a season’s long adventure.

Wolverine has a side-story where he’s chasing after Morph through the jungles of South America.  He finds Morph, who has used his shape-shifting powers to assimilate himself with the locals, and the two tangle in a mine shaft.  Morph delights the audience with a couple of cameo transformations including Maverick and Deadpool as he attempts to harm Wolverine psychologically.  Eventually, Morph backs off and slips into his “good Morph” persona pleading with Wolverine to let him get through this by himself.  Wolverine, begrudgingly, acquiesces  to his friend’s wishes.

Sadly, the minor side story is the most compelling, as Storm and Rogue’s exploits in Africa are not.  The Shadow King is the one behind the rip in the astral plane, and he has targeted Storm’s surrogate son Mjnari in order to lure her back to Africa.  It is revealed that Storm once served the Shadow King in her youth as a pick pocket.  Xavier sealed the Shadow King away in the astral plane, a realm the most powerful psychics are able to access, destroying his physical body.  He possesses Mjnari, and then eventually Storm as she offers herself to him in order to spare her son.  Rogue is kind of just along for the ride as her brawn is not able to touch the Shadow King’s corporeal form.  Mjanri ends up finding a way to lure the Shadow King back into the astral plane, and the portal between the two worlds closes, sealing him away once more.  The whole thing is kind of silly and predictable, the end result being season 2’s worst episode.  At least they got it out of the way early.

Red Dawn

A new villain for the '90's: Omega Red

Season 2’s fourth episode is one of the few not to feature significant back-story or character details about one of the X-Men, and that’s because it chooses to introduce a new villain:  Omega Red.  Omega Red was a very new villain to the comics and one that caught on with audiences pretty quickly, mostly because of his look and because he was a new villain for Wolverine.  Red was born from the Soviet equivalent of the Weapon X project.  His back-story isn’t explained in great detail, just that he was the Soviet’s ultimate weapon and Wolverine lead a team that helped, in his words, put Omega Red back on ice.  Armed with retractable carbonadium coils (an indestructible metal similar to adamantium) that drain the life from his victims, Red is unfrozen by a corrupt Soviet regime looking to take back the country.

Naturally, this presents an opportunity to bring Colossus back into the fold.  Colossus helps Jubilee deal with some Friends of Humanity goons who are harassing a convenience store owner.  He tells Jubilee he has come seeking the X-Men’s help in dealing with Omega Red.  The X-Men aren’t home, so Jubilee leaves a note and the two head off to Russia to combat Omega Red.  Wolverine arrives home soon after from his exploits in South America, and promptly crushes the note while growling “Omega Red” and bad ass music plays as he stalks off to the hangar.

Back in Russia, Colossus and Omega Red face-off, with Wolverine soon joining the party.  We learn about their back-story, while Omega Red handles the threat effortlessly.  The battle is broken up, and the rest of the X-Men soon arrive.  Together, they battle Red and Storm’s mastery of the cold freezes Omega Red once more.  The character Dark Star, once an ally of the old regime, assists in taking down Red and she also apprehends those responsible for bringing him back.  Colossus once again is offered a place with the team, but he declines saying his place is with his family.  Unfortunately, this episode is the last to feature the brawny metal mutant.  A good almost one-shot for Omega Red (I say almost because he does get a return episode) and a way to keep the series topical with the comic books.