The lineup for McFarlane’s first wave of dedicated Batman: The Animated Series action figures.
Years ago, perhaps as many as 10 or more, DC Direct was filling comic book stores around the country with action figures based on the classic cartoon series Batman: The Animated Series. The figures were stylized to resemble their onscreen counterparts and it was a line that included many of the characters from the show as well as multiple vehicles. Eventually, DC (or parent company Warner Bros.) decided it no longer wanted in on the action figure market. The branch of the company devoted to toys was dissolved and the license was sold to McFarlane Toys. Since then, Todd’s company has devoted many resources to its DC Multiverse line which is sold at big box retail as well as specialty. The 1:10 line features more variations of characters than I can count and it has its own distinct style. Early in the line, a Batman based on BTAS was even released, though it wasn’t something that I found particularly enticing.
Here is your comparison to what DC Direct was doing in its final days and what we’re getting from McFarlane.
When the DC Direct line was alive and well, I wasn’t really in the collecting game. By the time I got back into it, I was left a little underwhelmed by the offerings available to me. They weren’t cheap, were quite limited in terms of articulation, and it wasn’t an evergreen line where characters were easily attainable. Instead, it was more of a blink and you miss it kind of deal. Towards the end of the line, there were some reissues and I would end up getting the last standard Batman from the line which featured the new tagline of The Adventures Continue. That Batman is fine. The likeness is good enough even if the articulation is pretty poor. It was retooled to have better hips and the paint job was more ambitious and a marked improvement over the Batmen to come before it. I would also add a Gray Ghost, purely out of nostalgia, but any ideas I had on getting more of the figures was pretty much dashed by the absurd aftermarket prices that had emerged. Figures were selling for hundreds of dollars and I just wasn’t interested.
The big selling point for the McFarlane line is the build-a-figure inclusion.
Last year, McFarlane made the wise move to begin reissuing these long out of production figures. McFarlane apparently has access to the molds so this was a pretty low cost way to get some characters out into the wild that fans have been clamoring for. The first wave arrived about a year ago now, but I’m just getting to it for reasons that will become clear as we move along. That first wave consisted of Batman, Robin, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, with a build-a-figure of The Condiment King. All four of the retail figures are straight reissues of past DCD offerings with the only new sculpt being The Condiment King. To differentiate these from the other figures, and perhaps to not crater their aftermarket value and risk angering their fanbase, a new deco was applied to each figure and the packaging is all new. These come in oversized window boxes that are honestly way bigger than they need to be, but whatever. It’s just the trash that surrounds the figure. Is this return to stores what fans and collectors have been waiting for? Read on and find out, though you may not like the answer.
What do we think of McFarlane’s attempt at cel-shading?
Let’s start with Batman. This is a reissue of the Batman that came with the Batcycle. He has a soft goods cape and an ab crunch to help make getting him on the bike a little easier. It’s a less attractive figure as a result, but what are you going to do? The main thing that’s going to stick out is the paint job, and that’s going to be true for basically all of these figures. McFarlane decided to attempt cel-shading with these figures. The final Batman from DCD did the same thing to fantastic results. There was blue in the cape, a little gray under the pectorals, and hits of blue on the gloves and boots. It was subtle, but very evocative of the show. This Batman does none of that. He has this ugly brown smear along the side of his face, a dark gray that’s slapped on the side of his body without much regard for anything, and very little blue one the boots and gloves. It’s hideous. DCD gave you the blueprint, McFarlane, why couldn’t you just follow that?
Robin and Freeze get these goofy-ass hips.
Unfortunately, the same is mostly true for the rest. Robin looks almost as bad as Batman with the same brown on his face, but the red and green of his costume at least works better with the shading. They completely missed the yellow on the inside of the cape which is also plastic so he won’t work as well with vehicles as Batman. Mr. Freeze has some pretty atrocious cel-shading as well, though it doesn’t appear to be as heavy as it is with Batman. Scarecrow is the only one who doesn’t look awful, but that’s because his costume of brown and red works better with the shading. It’s barely visible on the red portions while the dark brown doesn’t clash all that poorly. This is also second appearance Scarecrow and, overall, he looks the best of the bunch in terms of being on-model. Mr. Freeze would place second if this were a competition, but he’s too small and his oxygen tank is the wrong color. I don’t think scale is a strength of the line. Robin looks more like a reinterpretation of his old Kenner figure with the big head and dopey grin while Batman just plain looks bad.
It’s a lot of stuff, but how much of it is useful?
Each character does come with accessories. For Batman, it’s a bunch of hands including one with a grapnel gun molded in. He also has a Batarang that’s all black. He has fists, gripping hands, and Batarang hands plus a stand-alone grapnel gun that’s all black. Robin has fists, relaxed hands, gripping hands, and a hand with a molded grapnel gun in it. He also has a bollo that’s just a long piece of plastic. It would have looked better with a whirling effect. Scarecrow has open hands, a gripping right hand, and a left fist, plus an unmasked portrait. The gripping hand is for his scythe which looks pretty good, though I wish he came with two gripping hands or that the one gripping hand actually worked better. Freeze has his freeze gun and then a whole bunch of hands: fists, trigger hands, gripping hands, clenching hands, and open hands. The clenching and gripping hands look specific, like maybe he was supposed to have more accessories (a snow globe, perhaps) that were cut. It’s a comical amount of hands though for a guy who is just going to stand there holding his gun.
That’s not impressive…
Which brings us to articulation, which was never this line’s strong suit and part of that is due to the character designs. We’re talking ball peg heads, ball-hinge shoulders, single elbows, and wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally. Nobody has good range anywhere, save for maybe the head, but it’s at the hips where things get weird. Batman has updated ball socket hips so he can kick forward a reasonable amount and almost do splits. Scarecrow does too, only his range is terrible, but he has a thigh swivel built-in (Batman does not). Freeze and Robin have these awful hinge and peg hips. The hinge leaves this T shape in the cut on the side of the thigh. It allows for full splits, but looks ridiculous and is one of the ugliest joints ever conceived. Neither character can kick forward worth a damn too. All of the figures have double-jointed knees except for Freeze and Robin. Even without the extra hinge, Freeze can still bend his knee 90 degrees. Robin cannot. All of the figures have a swivel and hinge at the ankle with only Batman and Robin having an ankle rocker. Everyone except Scarecrow has a boot cut. The combination of poor articulation and tiny feet make all but Freeze tough to stand. He has large, boxy, feet so it’s not an issue, but his arms are the most limited because of his design. I wasn’t sure if he even had elbow cuts. They’re there, but functionally useless. He’s also the only one without a waist twist.
I like Condiment King’s sculpt and the paint is acceptable, but why is he so big? And I have him lurched forward a bit here just to get him to stand. In other words, this picture makes him look smaller than he is.
Given that these are all old molds and exclusive to Target you would think they’d come at a friendly price. They do not as all of them retail for around $30. Of course, if you get all four then you get a bonus fifth figure in The Condiment King. He is all new and comes with his backpack and twin guns: ketchup and mustard. The guns connect via a thread to the backpack so it limits his posing, but at least they’re here. As for the sculpt, it looks fine. Great even. This is one of the show’s silliest characters and it’s a fun inclusion as a BAF. It might not be the type of character everyone needs, but the hardcore will enjoy building him. His light blue costume with white accents is done well enough. Yes, there’s cel-shading, but it’s not as bad as it is with some of the others. The only spot I hate is the brown smear on the side of his face. Articulation is satisfactory for the line as he has single elbows but double joints at the knee and ball-socket hips, it’s just that the hips are way too loose. Combine that with the backpack and this is one tough figure to stand. The build quality of the guns is also questionable as the handle of the ketchup gun came off when I tried inserting it into his hand. It looks like the guns were molded in two pieces to get the string inside so it’s nothing a little glue can’t remedy, but still annoying. By far though, the biggest issue I have with Condiment King is his size. He’s way too big. He stands around 6.75″ to Batman’s 6.25″. He’s just overall big when in the show he’s just some guy who went nuts. He looks like he’d be more than a match for Batman at this size. It’s almost like he’s from an entirely different toyline.
I mostly just wanted these two. Freeze still sucks for 30 bucks, but Scarecrow? He’s at least okay, though he can barely stand or hold onto his scythe.
Is $120 for 5 figures of worth it? It could be, but not these figures. The paint is not only a bad fit, it’s sloppy too. Batman’s cape feels cheap and the articulation cuts for his torso and the hips on Freeze and Robin are truly hideous. Scarecrow is the only figure of the five that comes close to earning his value, but he still doesn’t feel like a 30 dollar toy. All of them feel very fragile and very cheap. Moving these thin limbs, swapping the hands, all feel terrible. I don’t like handling these figures so I guess it’s good that they don’t pose well since the temptation to change things up isn’t really there.
The Batcycle is pretty cool, though even with the added ab crunch this Batman can struggle to sit on it in a convincing manner.
What drove me to make this post though was where I did find some deals: the vehicles. McFarlane has not only reissued the figures, it’s also reissued the Batcycle and Batmobile with the Batwing also on the way (there’s also a Jokermobile, which was supposed to be a part of the old DCD line, but was cancelled). Initially, these vehicles were pricy, but still enticing, but I got both on sale. For the Batcycle, I think MSRP was 40 or 50 bucks, but I got it down to $10. At full price, it’s not bad, but at ten bucks it’s a real steal. It’s a straight re-release of the old bike including the base. It has battery operated lights, though you have to hold in the button on the bottom of the bike for them to be on as opposed to a switch. The base is reversible and can either resemble the Batcave or just a street and it allows for the bike to be tilted and there’s a little swoosh effect too. Instead of being all black, it’s now cel-shaded, but it turned out great! There’s a nice use of blue on it that really makes it resemble the bike from the show. And if you want Batman to play it safe, it also comes with a new head for Batman that features a helmet. They should have tossed in the same for Robin, but I probably wouldn’t use it anyway. The head looks fine, though it features a pale complexion. The tires are rubber and the thing feels solid. For what it is, it’s terrific.
The Batmobile is big. The last image on the right is with a standard Hot Wheels Turtle Van and the oversized Batmobile, not the standard Hot Wheels edition.
The Batmobile is quite similar in that regard. It’s not fully painted out like the bike, but the sides are black and the top is a dark blue which helps it to resemble the look of the car in the show better than the original all black edition. The canopy slides forward and there’s room for two figures inside. The steering wheel telescopes which makes it easier to get figures in and out. The dashboard is all transparent plastic because this has a light-up feature as well for headlights, interior, rear lights, and the thruster in the back. Oh, and did I mention it’s big? This thing is a shelf hog measuring about 25.5″ long and a little over 8.5″ at its widest. It is a mostly hollow, plastic, box so it doesn’t have as nice a feel as the Batcycle. It does have nice wheels though that are rubber and the front ones can turn, though they are not connected to the steering wheel. The MSRP for this thing is $80, but I got it on sale for $40. Some people have found it for as low as $23! At $80, it’s a luxury item for the Batman enthusiast that has the room for it. At $40, it’s a great deal for the Batman fan that maybe doesn’t know what to do with it, but will figure it out in time. At anything less than that it’s a simple no-brainer. I’m not one who buys toys as an investment, but if you get a Batmobile for under forty bucks and sit on it for a year you’ll probably make some money.
The lights are pretty nifty, and two figures can fit inside though Robin’s lack of a soft goods cape means he’ll sit rather wonky.
What do we make of McFarlane’s foray into this old BTAS toy line? On one hand, I think it’s great that these molds are back out in the wild. I got Freeze and Scarecrow last year because I love Mr. Freeze and I thought Scarecrow looked good. I only recently got Batman and Robin because I wanted them for the Batmobile. Target lured me in with a sweet deal on that Batmobile and in turn got me to spend another sixty bucks (clever girl) I wouldn’t have otherwise. I think Scarecrow is fine, he’s limited, but he looks the part and I think aesthetics are what collectors are after most with a BTAS line. The Condiment King, if he was packed as a stand-alone figure, would be okay as well though I wouldn’t feel good about spending 30 bucks on it. Freeze is imperfect and too expensive while Batman and Robin are pretty bad. Why did I convince myself I needed them just to stuff in a toy car? I don’t know. It was more of a need for Batman, and then with only one figure shy of a Condiment King I figured why not get Robin? My older DCD Batman could not fit in the Batmobile with his sturdy, plastic, cape, plus he actually looks good and I don’t want him hidden. I’m fine hiding these two.
The figures are overpriced and kind of blow, but the Batmobile is pretty cool.
All that is to say, try and track down an actual DC Direct Batman if you want a Batman from this line. This one and Robin just aren’t worth it and unlike the vehicles, they seem to never go on sale. Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow aren’t worth your 30 dollars either, but if you do get Scarecrow you at least may not regret it in time since he looks fine. The vehicles are great though. If you have a DCD collection and passed on them then I think you should reconsider. Especially the Batcycle which looks pretty cool and isn’t too hard to fit into a display. The Batmobile presents obvious space concerns and I still don’t know where it’s going to end up in my house, but it’s an okay problem to have and now I’m wondering if I should consider the gargantuan Batwing. I shouldn’t, but if it ends up at Target for 40 bucks then I can’t be held responsible for my actions. As for the line itself, I wish McFarlane would spend a little to improve these figures. Better hips, better ankles, and figure out how to do proper cel-shading or just give up. No one will be angry if it goes away. This line is fueled only by a love of the show because if there was a better option out there then surely most would get that. Unfortunately, there isn’t and there likely won’t be in this scale anytime soon.
There aren’t a ton of Batman toy reviews here, but we do have some:
If you’re a repeat visitor here at The Nostalgia Spot, then you’ve probably noticed that around here there is a high opinion of the television show Batman – The Animated Series. I did a re-watch of the series that spanned more than two years and also checked out the various films based on the property.…
I’m not much of a car collector, but when I was a kid I went through a Hot Wheels and Matchbox phase. My favorite car was a small, black, one that I only barely remember. I have no idea what make or model the car was, but what I liked about it was that it…
I have long maintained that the best episode of the now classic Batman: The Animated Series is the Mr. Freeze story, “Heart of Ice.” It is not, however, my favorite episode of the show as that honor belongs to “Beware the Gray Ghost.” That episode introduced the character Gray Ghost, a superhero from television who…
Rogue is here to add a little drama to your shelf.
The conclusion of X-Men ’97‘s first season has left behind a void. For 9 consecutive Wednesdays, we had something awesome to get up for. Now the long wait for a second season has begun, but here to help fill the void while we wait is Mondo. Mondo has been dishing out some very impressive sixth scale action figures based on X-Men, the ’92 version. I’ve been waiting since that show debuted for action figures dedicated to that show that match the quality and accuracy that I want from a figure line. I probably wouldn’t have selected this scale for such a line, but basically everything else has been great. And now here to bolster the ranks of the X-Men is the best female member of the team: Rogue.
The only surprise with the packaging is that they didn’t use the storyboard from the Apocalypse episode. You know the image I’m thinking of.
X-Men was my formal introduction to the character Rogue. I had seen her on the cover of comics, but always in her 80s look. When the cartoon debuted I only knew the two characters were the same because of her unique hair color. Rogue, despite looking like a super model, is the muscle of the team. She can knock a Sentinel’s head clear off with a punch and look good while doing it, but like all good characters her powers come with a price. And for her, it’s that she can’t touch another living person without sucking the life from them. This allows her to steal other powers from her fellow mutants which is pretty cool, but not being able to physically touch or kiss another human is a trade-off she often wrestles with. Her inability to touch makes her one of the most empathetic members of the team and someone that’s easy to sympathize with. Despite that personal torment, she is often able to maintain an upbeat personality, can dish out puns with the best of them, and doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty when the situation calls for such.
There’s a lot to like about this figure, but I don’t think they quite nailed it with this default portrait.
Rogue from Mondo is a lot like the other figures released so far. She’s designed and sculpted by Alex Brewer and comes in a box featuring original artwork by storyboard artist for the show Dan Veesenmeyer. Tom Rozejowski handled the paint master and the rest of the packaging is adorned with recreations of original storyboards from the show from the episode “Till Death Do Us Part.” Original series showrunner and writers Eric Lewald and Julia Lewald provide the character bio which is situated on the inner flap of the box. Behind that is a window box showcasing Rogue and her array of accessories. This version of the figure is the limited variant which sold out much faster than any other limited edition to come before it in this line. Is that the popularity of Rogue or did she get an X-Men ’97 aided boost since anticipation was building to a fever pitch when she went up for sale?
That’s more like it!
Per Mondo, Rogue stands at approximately 11.75″ and I’m willing to take them at their word. She’s taller than Wolverine and Jubilee, but shorter than Gambit, Magneto, and the rest. That seems suitable and she seems much closer to true sixth scale than some of the other characters. She is wearing her show accurate yellow and green bodysuit with olive drab coat. She sports a variation on thigh-high boots in the show and Mondo’s approach for that was to make the green straps at the top of the boot as well as the yellow cuff separate, floating, pieces. Perhaps going this route made the figure easier to paint? Or maybe it was to allow these legs to be repurposed for a Storm down the road? Either way, the moving parts on a figure with so much paint are a little worrisome, but they can be seated in such a way that they’ll seldom move. Just do be careful when positioning them to not create a paint rub situation.
And if you want to get cheeky.
The head on the figure has received some criticism and it’s not unwarranted. The default portrait is basically a neutral expression. Rogue’s face has always been tough to duplicate in plastic for some reason. I think it’s because the female characters tend to not have hard facial features so there’s not a lot to key-in on. For the figure, Rogue features a very glammed-up look. Her eyes are narrow with long lashes and her lips are full and pouty. The paint is applied well as are the eyes (Mondo sent out a warning before the figure shipped that some heads featured poor eye placement. If your figure looks off just email their customer service and they’ll replace it), but it doesn’t really resemble Rogue. More like an artist’s interpretation of what a more sultry Rogue might look like. Or Rogue if she were in a Barbie line.
It might not be show accurate, but this power absorption hand is pretty neat.
Sorry Logan, not this time.
Thankfully, we have other, better, heads to choose from and the limited edition has far more than the standard. The alternate head for the standard edition is an angry expression and this works just fine. The right eye on mine features a dot of skin tone, but otherwise looks great. I think a lot of people will go with this for their display, whether they bought the limited edition or standard. If you did grab the limited version then you have some harder decisions to make. First up is the winking smile. The smile is very wide so this head doesn’t quite resemble the character from the show, but damn if it isn’t cute. I really like this one, though it does make me wish we had a non-winking smile portrait as well. Or perhaps a more subtle smile.
This is just fantastic.
Our next portrait is pulled directly from the show. In the episode “Deadly Reunions,” Cyclops gets knocked unconscious and stops breathing momentarily. Rogue, in an effort to save him, gives him mouth-to-mouth (C.P.R. back then called for this) and it works, but it also causes Rogue to absorb his powers. Rogue’s eyes start blasting red energy until Cyclops is able to instruct her to just shut her eyes. The included portrait is a screaming Rogue with those lasers streaking from her eyes. They’re done with translucent, red, plastic and it looks awesome. In some ways, I think this head most looks like Rogue from the show, probably because we can’t see her eyes and she looks kind of angry. The last head in the box is a bit of a gimmick one as it’s Rogue from X-Men: Evolution. Like the fairy Jubilee or unmasked Sabretooth, this head doesn’t work with the body since that Rogue had a very different look. It’s more of a fun inclusion. It looks fine, but I do think they should have added a touch of shading to the brim of her nose since that was something always present in the show.
I guess this one is for the younger fans.
That’s a whole bunch of looks for Rogue and one, if not more, are sure to please those who pick this one up. Also included are a whole bunch of hands. Rogue comes packaged with open hands, but she also has a set of fists, a right trigger hand, a left gripping hand, a more casual gripping right hand, and a bare left hand. When the left hand is removed, the yellow cuff is a separate piece which slides off to sell the look of her going ungloved. There’s also a removed glove accessory which slips into the casual gripping hand quite well. I do wish we got two bare hands since she did grab enemies with both hands at times, but one is better than none. If you want her to look like she is actually draining someone’s energy, she has yet another open left hand, but this one is encircled in translucent blue plastic. I don’t think her power absorption abilities were ever depicted like this in the show, her hand usually just glowed white and the light sometimes traveled up her arm, but I can’t deny that this hand looks pretty cool. Another included effect part of sorts is a gripping right hand that’s crushing a small gun. I don’t recall this gun or scene, I remember her crushing Bishop’s armband, but it’s an effective accessory at showing her strength.
This thing is all kinds of rad.
And the base works pretty damn well as a stand too.
The last major accessory included in the limited edition version is a base. Rogue is the first figure to get a base and Mondo stated they felt it was important to include something that hinted at her power. To do that, Mondo decided a decimated Sentinel head made the most sense. It’s well sculpted and really well painted and resembles a Sentinel from the show. There are two foot indentations, one towards the front and one towards the back, that the figure slides into rather effortlessly. It does a pretty good job of holding Rogue up too, though she has tumbled to the side on me once already. It’s not super heavy, so the figure took the base with it in falling over. I’ve resituated the figure on the base amongst my other figures in the line and hopefully she holds true. She also comes with a standard Mondo stand and I could potentially use that in conjunction with the base for added stability. One of the stands from a past release (Magneto?) that I have also has worked well to hold her off the ground just a little bit. That particular one has a very strong, telescoping, arm to it and can support the figure’s weight while some of the others feel too loose. I’m sure there will be folks in search of a proper flight stand for this figure and if I come across any that work I’ll be sure to update this.
Magneto has something to show you, Rogue.
A little X-Men ’97 preview, I suppose.
The visual aesthetics are what this line goes for, but this is an action figure so it does articulate. Rogue moves about as well as the rest of the line, and in some respects, perhaps a bit better. The head, shoulders, elbows, and wrists are all standard for the line. We’re talking a double ball peg at the head, single-hinges and swivels at the elbow, ball-jointed wrists, and ball-hinged shoulders. The head is limited by her big hair, but they did a decent job of sculpting out some room so the head can turn a bit and tilt. The shoulders and elbows are the most limiting. She can’t bring her arms across her chest or her hands to her face and it’s just something you’ll have to work around. Rogue does not have a waist twist, but does have a ball-jointed diaphragm. Mondo used a curved cut for it and I’m a tad surprised they didn’t try to conceal the cut under her bust or perhaps along the rib cage. It at least works well enough as a rotation point and it allows for a little forward and back. The hips are big ‘ole ball sockets and have probably the best range of any joint on the figure. They’re almost loose and I’m curious if they’ll get to the point where I do consider them loose, but for now they hold their pose fine. The knees are double-jointed and work okay while the ankles feature a hinge and an ankle rocker.
“Hey Remy, you got any plans tonight?!”
“I didn’t know you could read minds, ‘cherie.”
Since Rogue does wear high heels, she is a bit of a challenge to stand. It’s not as bad as I was expecting though. If you’re just looking to place her in a vanilla pose, she’ll stand okay. It might take a bit of adjusting, but it’s do-able. If you want her to do anything more dynamic then you’re better off with a stand. Even lunging positions are a challenge because she’s so top heavy, and I’m not talking about her chest. That hair adds a lot of weight, but since she doesn’t feature a trench coat or a cape, the Mondo stands actually can help out with this figure when normally I consider it useless. And if you have the limited version then you also have the base to rely on.
Cyclops and Jean kind of dominate the conversation, but this was the couple I was always rooting for.
Rogue is perhaps not a perfect, 1:1, encapsulation of the character model from the show, but she’s still a damn fine addition to the Mondo roster. The paint on this release is incredible. Not in the sense that it’s perfect and free from blemishes, but in that it just pops and really nails the cel-shading from the show. Yeah, you will likely find a dab of paint here and there where it shouldn’t be or even a slight smudge, but that’s the nature of hand-painted items. On the whole, the figure looks terrific and I’m very happy with the limited edition. With the Sabretooth figure, I wasn’t sure if the limited version was really worth it, but I feel completely different about this one. I love the base and the extra heads are probably the best heads in the box. The articulation may not be on par with figures in the 1:12 scale, but I haven’t had any real challenges in finding a display pose and I doubt many will.
We’re about halfway through the main roster and Cyclops is soon to be on deck.
Unfortunately, if you do want this version of the figure with extra stuff then you’ll have to score it secondhand. As I mentioned earlier, it sold out surprisingly fast leaving just the standard version as an option. Mondo sold out of the standard version as well, but has another preorder open right now on their website for $210. Other retailers may have open preorders as well that could be fulfilled sooner than Mondo’s estimate of September 2024. Even if I could only get the standard version, I’d consider it well worth it. She has the angry portrait and comes with all of the same hands as the limited edition version so you’re just missing out on the three extra heads and base. Rogue is an essential character for any X-Men display and she will certainly look good in your collection.
Now, nobody fall!
Interested in seeing more from Mondo’s X-Men line of sixth scale action figures:
It is my belief that when it comes to X-Men, the animated series which debuted in 1992, the breakout star of the show was Gambit. Wolverine was the closest thing we had to a household name going into the show and was the de-facto pick for favorite character of many. And while the whole roster…
Mondo has been absolutely killing it with its sixth scale line of action figures based on the now classic animated series X-Men. The company also really ramped up production in 2023 on the line by soliciting five new figures during the year. At over 200 bucks a pop, it was quite the hit to the…
If you showed a random individual this blog and asked them what my favorite cartoon was as a kid I’m guessing they would go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And they wouldn’t be wrong as that was my favorite for a time, but come 1992 I was starting to drift away from that show. Batman:…
It used to be that when a show got cancelled that was it. It simply ceased to exist as a new product. If there were enough episodes it could last in syndication on both broadcast and cable for a good while, but rarely was it accessible to the point where a fan could have the entire series at their disposal. Some shows received VHS releases, but often they were sparse. Then home media became more affordable. DVDs were both cheaper to manufacture than VHS and could store more information. We started to see full season releases for shows, both active and cancelled. In some cases, the home media market was so great that previously dead programs were able to come back. Now we’ve entered the streaming age where massive entertainment companies are seeking to profit off of their libraries. Those profits have been a bit hard to come by though so these archives need to be supplemented with original programming. Some of that original programming is entirely original or at least only touched by an existing intellectual property (think The Mandalorian) and then some is either a reboot or continuation of an older show.
X-Men ’97 is a continuation of the now classic X-Men animated series that aired as part of the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The original X-Men cartoon was a massive success and turned Wolverine and Gambit into household names. It attracted eyeballs in the millions, sold a bunch of toys, and made lifelong comic book fans out of a generation. For me personally it quickly became my favorite show on television and I was hooked for the show’s entire run. It put Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the rearview mirror as this was something mature, something that more respected my intelligence, and gave me more to chew on. I still adored playing with my X-Men toys and sporting X-Men t-shirts so it’s not like it turned me into an adult overnight or anything, but it was something I genuinely loved in the moment and I still have a ton of admiration for. Having that show continue from where it left off in 1997 was something that didn’t even seem worth dreaming about as that’s how unlikely I felt it would be. Perhaps Disney, who has yet to fully introduce Marvel’s mutants into its vast Marvel Cinematic Universe, wanted to give folks a little primer on what the X-Men were all about? Whatever the reasoning, I am positively giddy like a kid once again that my favorite superheroes are back in an all new television series.
The intro is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the original.
X-Men ’97 was announced in November of 2021. At the time, my assumption was the series was being ticketed to launch in the fall of 2022 to mark the original show’s 30th anniversary. That obviously didn’t happen and the show was slated for 2023, but then slipped to March 2024. For the revival, Marvel selected Beau DeMayo (Moon Knight, The Witcher) to be the head writer with Jake Castorena as the supervising director. From the old show, Eric and Julia Lewald were brought in as consultants along with Larry Houston. Much of the original cast was returned including Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Alison-Sealy Smith as Storm, George Buza as Beast, and Lenore Zann as Rogue. Father Time unfortunately necessitated recasts for both Cyclops (now Ray Chase) and Magneto (now Matthew Waterson). Other voice actors, like Chris Potter (original voice of Gambit) and Catherine Disher (original voice of Jean Grey) were brought back for other roles rather than their existing ones. Such a choice is puzzling, unless we’re talking about a unique case such as Alyson Court who no longer wished to voice Jubilee since she felt the role should go to an actual Asian-American.
The action sequences are where this show will really be able to separate itself from its predecessor.
The show did premiere under a bit of a dark cloud. It was announced that credited series creator Beau DeMayo was fired the week of the show’s sneak preview and a little more than a week out from the Disney+ premiere. As the days went by, the head of animation at Marvel Studios, Brad Winderbaum, revealed some snippets of what was going on. It doesn’t sound like anyone was upset with the quality of the work DeMayo was turning in, and we’ve only heard rumors that he was “difficult” to work with. The term difficult in such a situation can be a loaded one. How many women and people of color have heard that excuse because certain individuals don’t respond well to confrontation from minorities? DeMayo, a gay, black, adopted man was someone who really identified with what the X-Men stood for and removing that voice from the show is certainly a risky move if the show is deemed a success. Winderbaum doesn’t get into specifics on the situation, but does try to frame it as a parting of ways between the showrunner and Marvel.
The group is probably more reflective of the foes to come than the group from the original.
Based on my viewing of the show’s first episode, “To Me, My X-Men,” it would appear that DeMayo’s exit indeed has little to do with the quality of the show. This first episode is the show getting its feet wet. It’s a way to reintroduce these familiar faces in a fun way that does harken back to the original series. It opens with a new version of the classic intro. The song is remixed slightly and all of the character introductions have been recreated and new characters have been added. It still ends with Professor Xavier and Magneto clashing together, though the villains side has been updated with what are probably better, more reflective choices (so long, Gremlin) given who the X-Men typically clash with.
The mutant who will come to be known as Sunspot is basically the Jubilee of this series, only his official joining of the X-Men will have to wait for a later day.
Similar to the premiere episode of the original series, X-Men ’97 includes a plot in its episode about bringing a new mutant into the fold and makes the Sentinels the big threat. Even though the show is longer now (it’s listed at 34 minutes, the actual episode is closer to 28), the episode still moves at a snappy pace. We find the team dealing with the aftermath of the professor’s passing. Cyclops is now the leader and is perhaps a little too forceful with his approach which rubs some members of the team the wrong way (namely, Wolverine). The Friends of Humanity are up to no good and have even repurposed some Sentinel tech into weapons of their own that basically resemble Mega Man’s Mega Buster. Roberto Da Costa (Gui Augustini), a wealthy teen who has been abducted by the FOH, is the one in the Jubilee role this time around, though his trek through the mansion is quite brief. The show appears confident that its audience is going to be pretty familiar with these characters and a more robust introduction was not needed.
The Friends of Humanity are back and they’re packing heat.
Other elements of the premiere include the addition of Valerie Cooper (Catherine Disher, the original voice of Jean Grey) as a government liaison for Cyclops and his team. DeMayo, when he was doing press for the show, described Cooper as the thesis for the show so it will be interesting to see how she’s utilized going forward. There’s also the plotline of Jean being pregnant and what that means for her and Cyclops’ future. The first episode ends with a pretty seismic change to the status quo, though if you saw the trailer it won’t come as a surprise and it’s likely the end you expected. Even so, I’ll save talk of that for episode two.
Wolverine still isn’t allowed to smoke, but looks like he’s now allowed to drink.
The first episode is a great reintroduction for the X-Men and really seems to setup what we’re looking at. It also establishes the look of the series. I’ve been a little wary about that going in, but after one episode I will say my fears were unfounded. This show looks as good as it can in 2024. It’s digitally hand-drawn by Studio MIR which is the right approach given that celluloid animation just isn’t done anymore. Stylistically, there will be folks who prefer the look of the old show, but objectively speaking this one animates much better. That is on full display during the action sequences which are far more fun and inventive. This feels like a show directed by people who as kids wondered just how far the super powers on display here could be pushed. Storm, considered an Omega level mutant in the comics and now show, really gets to show off what she can do to such a scale that I worry if the writers can keep her consistent.
I should have expected this, but I didn’t.
The episode includes closing credits done in the same style as the original show’s first season with a character model spinning in place and a brief descriptor of their powers below. Before it can cycle through all of the characters though, it cuts to a static image of the mansion for the rest of the credits. Was this a nod to how the first season’s ending credits would never get to Jubilee? That always drove me nuts as a kid. If it is in reference to that it’s a bit of clever humor, though I’d rather just see all of the characters get spotlighted. And that’s the one failing, if you will, of this episode is that most of the characters don’t get to do a whole lot. That’s going to happen with such a large cast, one that has even been increased since we last saw this group in action. I would imagine we’ll get spotlight episodes to come while also maintaining a serialized approach. Yes, what network executives hated for their broadcast channels in 1992 is the preferred method of story-telling in 2024. The only other disappointment for me was no in memoriam for the people we’ve lost since the original show went dark. It would have been nice to at least see a tribute to original Cyclops voice actor Norm Spencer and the original voice of Magneto, David Hemblen.
Storm is allowed to cut loose in this one, but will she be allowed to do so in every episode?
X-Men ’97 in its debut episode manages to strike the right balance between new and nostalgic. The fan service hits right and its reserved for parts of the show where fan service is appropriate. It also establishes a tone for the show which is in-line with the serious, dramatic, original series though it’s also apparent that this one will be allowed to be a little more grown-up (Wolverine and Morph are shown enjoying a couple of cold ones). That makes sense since the target audience is the kids of 1992, but it also likely won’t want to alienate the kids of the kids of ’92. It also left me wanting more which was good since this was a two episode premiere. I’ll get to that episode in another post, but the main takeaway for me is our beloved X-Men have been placed in good hands and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
A few years ago, I talked about my love of X-Men, the animated series, via a book review of Previously…on X-Men by Eric Lewald. That book chronicled the development of the 92 animated series that helped propel the Fox Kids Network to the top of the Saturday morning leaderboards through notes from the author and…
Mondo has been absolutely killing it with its sixth scale line of action figures based on the now classic animated series X-Men. The company also really ramped up production in 2023 on the line by soliciting five new figures during the year. At over 200 bucks a pop, it was quite the hit to the…
A lot of cartoons made an impact on me as a child. My first love was The Real Ghostbusters. Its goofy cast of characters and excitement were plenty of fun and there were interesting toys to supplement the series with, which was pretty much the goal of all cartoons in the 80s. The Teenage Mutant…
When two billion dollar organizations butt heads, it can be hard to know who to root for. Take Disney, somewhat of an “evil” overlord when it comes to content, which seemingly owns everything these days and likes to throw its weight around when it comes to copyright claims. And then there’s Fox, owned by the legitimately evil Rupert Murdoch, which bares responsibility for a lot of the political discourse and genuine cesspool that is right-wing media. Back in the late 80s though, perceptions were a little different. Disney had been scorned by years of bad box office returns on its animation only recently dusting itself off with the likes of The Little Mermaid. And Fox, that was the plucky, underdog, network trying to compete in an arena that was seemingly built only for three, but they were determined to make it one built for four! Few gave them a chance, but the Fox network carved out a niche for itself by targeting a younger demographic than the likes of CBS and NBC and they weren’t afraid to try new things or get a little blue.
We know today that Fox was pretty successful in creating a fourth major network for broadcast television. A lot of that success is attributed to The Simpsons and the teen dramas that followed like Beverly Hills 90210 and Fox Sports, which is still a titan in the sports world thanks to its contracts with the NFL and Major League Baseball. I would argue another important part of the rise of Fox was cornering the younger demographic via the Fox Kids Network. In some respects, it’s said the Fox Kids brand was born out of Disney pulling back DuckTales, a popular show for Fox affiliates to carry, in order to sell its new syndicated Disney Afternoon programming block. Rather than shell out a bunch of money to Disney for the right to air its shows, Fox went out and sought other programs. Some it would simply license, others it would fund, and the Fox Kids Network would eventually become the must see block of programming in the kid world every Saturday morning and week day afternoon. Why would I, an adolescent boy, want to spend my afternoons with the cutesy Disney characters when I could be watching Batman?! Fox definitely got my eyeballs and I basically only tuned to what Disney had to offer if Fox had nothing on which made it hard to keep up with shows like Darkwing Duck and Gargoyles, shows I admittedly liked, but not always enough to ignore what Fox was showing.
I guess you won’t forget what network you’re on.
One of Fox’s earliest cartoons was Fox’s Peter Pan & the Pirates. The show was originally going to be a CBS program, but once Disney got wind that another network was preparing a show based on Peter Pan they got litigious. Or at least, they threatened litigation since they had previously made the film Peter Pan and seemed to view the character as Disney property, despite never actually buying the work of author J.M. Barrie who purposely made sure to never sell the rights to a major corporation like Disney. Still, the mere threat of the House of Mouse lawyering up gave CBS pause ultimately deciding it wasn’t worth the effort to pursue. Enter Fox, who was still stinging by the removal of DuckTales from its networks and seemed to welcome Disney’s wrath. Oh they still tried to convince Fox it was a bad idea to pursue, but Fox essentially told them to pound sand. They would file suit, but eventually they withdrew it. Part of the suit was the accusation that Fox wasn’t allowing its affiliates to purchase the Disney Afternoon for air and was having the Fox Kids Network forced upon them. To try and save face, Disney would claim when withdrawing the suit that the Disney Afternoon had worked out fine for them and Fox had found similar success with its programming so both parties needn’t feel animosity towards the other. In reality, Peter Pan had fallen into the public domain and Disney didn’t have a leg to stand on. Just because many people associated the character with Disney and it’s 1953 film didn’t mean they owned it. And since the Fox cartoon contained characters that bore no resemblance to their counterparts in the Disney film, they were pretty safe.
Fox added it’s name to the title of the show either to exert its own dominance or to further make sure no one would think this show was a work of Disney’s. The Pan of this program (voiced by Jason Marsden) was decked out in earthy browns and sported a cape. Tinker Bell (Debi Derryberry) had butterfly wings and wasn’t a blond jerk like the Disney version and the Darling characters were different enough. Also sporting a much different look was the villainous Captain James Hook, voiced by the incomparable Tim Curry. Hook’s design was quite different from the slender, mustached, villain from the Disney film as he was now a barrel-chested, clean-shaven, powdered wig wearing behemoth of an antagonist for Pan. And just to keep things even more different, his hook was moved from his left hand to his right. As far as tellings of the same story go, the show couldn’t have been more different from Disney’s film and it received a 65 episode order and was a foundational piece for the Fox Kids Network.
It’s like a Charlie Brown tree, but for pirates.
I had little interaction with the show in my youth. Something about Peter Pan struck me as a bit lame and not something I had much interest in seeking out. It’s entirely possible the show ran up against a show I was already invested in, and while I was firmly in camp Fox Kids come the fall of 1992, I wasn’t quite there in 1990. I was definitely watching the Disney Afternoon and Peter Pan wasn’t going to pull me away at that point. I also have memories of the show airing weekday mornings when I didn’t watch television as I had to get ready for school, and since I wasn’t much of a morning person, I couldn’t even flirt with the idea of watching cartoons while eating breakfast. Most of my memories of this show are just ads for it. I likely also saw it as an imposter version of Peter Pan since Disney had convinced me and millions of other kids that their Pan was the real Pan. It was also around the same time that my parents had me watch a stage play re-telling of the story that aired on television and was just dreadful and something I hated every moment of. I had given Pan a shot outside of Disney once and felt burned, I wasn’t going to do it again. Well, not until the likes of Robin Williams and Steven Spielberg, anyway.
In the quest for more Christmas though, I was reminded that this show existed. During that lone run of 65 episodes was the episode “Hook’s Christmas.” Generally speaking, direct-to-syndication shows like this try to avoid holiday episodes since networks like to be able to just throw them on at anytime without consideration for something as annoying as a season. Fox apparently didn’t care though as many of their shows would delight in doing Halloween and Christmas episodes. I feel like I’ve looked at almost all of them at this point. A show that’s all about kids wanting to remain kids seems like a show that could do Christmas. Then again, I don’t know that Peter and his fellow lost boys are necessarily “Nice List” candidates, and there are no parents to play Santa in Neverland. I guess the staff on the show agreed since this episode centers on Captain Hook and is an adaptation of A Christmas Carol. I tend to avoid such fare like the plague, but my curiosity for this show outweighed my hatred for the trope. Did I miss out on a hidden gem? The possibility was there given the voice cast and the fact that TMS contributed animation to this show. It was not a cheap cartoon and I suppose that makes sense since Fox likely wanted to impress out of the gate. Plus, Disney was spending a lot of money on its animated programs and no one at Fox wanted to look inferior next to Disney, so let’s see what Fox’s Peter Pan & the Pirates has to offer.
Just a bunch of pirates having a festive sing-a-long.
The opening title for this one is a lyric-less piece set to clips from the show, the most boring of intros a cartoon can have, but the score isn’t bad. It sounds like a poor man’s John Williams. When the episode begins, we’re on the ship of one Captain Hook and the pirates are making merry. It’s Christmas Eve so there’s cause to be jolly. Unfortunately, they’re singing a rendition of the worst Christmas song ever written: “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Now, since I didn’t watch this show growing up, I have to try to figure out who’s who among the gang of pirates. It would seem Gentlemen Ignatious P. Starkey (David Shaughnessy) is the one leading the crew in song. He has repurposed the song to make the captain the generous one handing out gifts on Christmas. It would seem he wants a new ship that’s bilge free? All of the versions of this episode that exist online have some audio degradation and deciphering song lyrics is not easy. Eucrates Cookson (Jack Angel) is playing an accordian while Smee (Ed Gilbert) is decorating a rather pathetic looking tree. They’re all chiming in with gifts for the other days, but they only manage to get to day 4 before Starkey has trouble remembering the lines.
No one is allowed to be merry when this guy is around.
It’s at that point Captain Hook makes his entrance. He towers over the lot as he heads down into the brig to reprimand his men for their joyful demeanors. Tim Curry practically snarls his lines, but maintains his rather dignified accent, making for a rather compelling character. His vocabulary is also impeccable and I rather like this depiction of the famed captain quite a bit. Starkey is literally shaking in his boots as Hook enters demanding to know why an irredeemable twit like him would have reason to be merry. When it’s suggested to him by the men that Christmas is the reason, Hook rejects the notion that the holiday is an excuse to behave like fools. I would say he’s angered by the suggestion, but he just seems plain angry all of the time so it’s hard to say just what ticks him off the most. He’s definitely channeling his inner Scrooge as he refers to Christmas as a “humbug,” which causes Smee to reply with, “But I thought it was a holiday?” He further illustrates his feelings on the matter by suggesting those who celebrate should be boiled in their own pudding and have a stake of holly shoved through their heart! This dude is vicious.
That’s not going to work, man.
Smee can’t take a hint as he asks if this means they won’t be exchanging gifts. Scrooge, I mean Hook, looks almost pained by this question, but rather than respond verbally he kicks over their makeshift tree and stomps on the reindeer ornament one of the pirates made. Hook storms off into his own quarters still seething at the fact that his men are just trying to use Christmas as a way to get out of a dishonest day’s work! He takes a seat at his harpsichord and goes to play something, apparently this is how he settles down when the world angers him, only the instrument begins to play by itself! And it’s playing “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” which has Hook looking all kinds of angry (it’s basically his only facial expression). A voice then calls out to him using his first name. It’s a woman’s voice, and Hook looks startled as he whirls around and even asks “Mother?” How sweet? An apparition comes floating in baring the resemblance of Wendy Darling (Christina Lange) which actually excites Hook. He declares he’ll capture her which is surely to rile up that Peter Pan fellow. Unfortunately for Hook, this is basically not-Wendy, but the Ghost of Christmas Past. You know how this is going to go from here. Hook tries to dismiss her as some sort of product of indigestion and even declares he doesn’t believe in her, like that will make her go away.
Never ask a man to choose between love and being a pirate.
It won’t. The Wendy ghost takes Hook back in time to another version of the Jolly Roger. Or maybe just a ship that looks like it. A gang of pirates has recently overtaken this UK vessel and hoisted their own flag. Their leader? A pirate named Jasper – Jasper Hook! A voice calls out to him from offscreen and we see it belongs to a young James Hook. The two brothers clasp hands to draw attention to the lack of a hook as Jasper pulls him aboard and they’re positively giddy about this score. At least that is, until James sees who this ship belonged to. It’s a woman named Cecilia (sounds like Lange) whom James is betrothed to. Present Hook seems a bit wary of watching how this plays out. Through their conversation we find out she was under the impression that James was a merchant, but it’s the life of a buccaneer that he’s chosen instead. He thinks this changes nothing between the two, but Cecilia begs to differ with tears in her eyes. James can’t be bothered and has the men haul her away like a prisoner. Captain James Hook, who has been watching alongside the Ghost of Christmas Past, questions why she means to torment him so? He demands she take him back to his ship, but she informs him they have one more “shadow” to visit first.
You dare pay the future Captain Hook as much as the rest of the crew?!
Past snaps her fingers and we’re whisked away to the interior of a pirate ship. If it’s the same one, I don’t know, but it is following a score as Jasper is handing out gold from a chest to each crew member. When he goes to give James his cut, the younger Hook balks for his brother is giving him the same as everyone else. Jasper reminds him who the captain is, but James declares that maybe it’s time for a new captain. Drawing his sword, with his right hand mind you, he challenges his brother who seems angered by this disloyalty. The two start clanging swords and end up back on the deck. The elder Hook, fighting with sword and dagger, disarms his brother and his sword winds up stuck near the top of the mast. He tells James to surrender and he’ll spare his life, but James refuses and instead climbs up the mast to retrieve his sword.
Sword fights seem to always end up way up here when it comes to pirates.
Now the two brothers are battling atop the sail, which seems like the most dangerous place to have a sword fight on a pirate ship. It looks cool though, and now it’s James’ turn to disarm his brother. He informs the captain that, unfortunately, he does not believe in taking prisoners and declines to extend the same offer to his brother that he just made him. Jasper isn’t about to let himself be cut down and instead makes a jump for it by grabbing on one of the ropes affixed to the sail. He is able to get down to the deck and retrieve his sword, but James is in hot pursuit. He takes a mighty cut at his brother which shatters his sword. Jasper, backpedaling, gets his feet tangled in some rope left on the deck and falls onto his rear. As James approaches, he has a wicked grin upon his face and his sword held high as his brother looks up at him with a terrified expression.
Time for ghost #2.
Before we can see the gruesome aftermath of this confrontation, Hook demands the spirit cease this vision. He then wakes up in his chair in a sweat with a look of distress upon his face that is soon replaced with his usual, grumpy, demeanor. He apparently believes that he did indeed see the past via the magic of some sort of spectre for he calls out to her in defiance. He taunts her by asking aloud if she thought she could really stir feelings of guilt and remorse within him over, as he terms it, relieving his brother of his eye. Apparently, he did not kill his brother that day, only maimed him. He takes a seat at his desk and begins to question if he really did see what he saw. As he settles down to read from a book, the voice of Smee calls out to him. This only further irritates Hook, who turns his head and sees a ghost version of his first mate. He correctly deduces that this is not really Smee, but another apparition, and the ghost confirms that he is indeed the Ghost of Christmas Present causing Hook to question if he is forever to be bedeviled by Christmas. Smee, which we’ll just refer to the ghost as such to make it easier, tells Hook that Christmas normally doesn’t concern itself with a villain such as he which enrages Hook for some reason as he shouts “blast your incorporeal hide!” The writing for Hook is just phenomenol. I normally am far too charmed by old VHS recordings to care much for quality, but in this case, I wish the audio quality were better on my source so I could properly make out every word this show has Tim Curry spit out. He is fantastic.
Hey! Did you know this is a show about Peter Pan?!
Smee informs the captain that he’ll be coming with him and blows a whistle of some kind to whisk the pair away. They’re in a lovely glen and in the center of which is an enormous Christmas tree. Children are singing “Deck the Halls” and it’s quickly revealed that this tree belongs to Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. The children finish their song and we see Tinker Bell come flying in to apparently take on the role of a star atop the tree which will surely get old fast for the fairy. Smee and Hook then come into view and Hook seems more than a little irritated to have been brought here by this “woebegone wraith.” Smee tells him that he just wanted to show Hook how the Neverland-lubbers celebrate Christmas. Hook is positively annoyed and basically calls Smee an idiot declaring he has no appetite for seeing how the unwashed celebrate the holiday. His utter disdain for everything is truly impressive.
I wasn’t expecting snow in this one.
Hook expresses his irritations with ghost Smee, and while the two converse I noticed a curiosity. I watched multiple versions of this episode, and in some the background changes to what’s coming in the next scene while in others it remains consistent. It would seem they had an issue and must have actually paid to have it fixed for rebroadcast. Anyway, we pivot to Wendy and Peter having a conversation about the decor. She thinks something is missing and Peter soon realizes it’s snow, but he also seems to have forgotten what snow is (this forgetfulness is foreshadowing something to come). Tinker Bell (Debi Derryberry) remarks how humans have such short memories before tossing some pixie dust all over the place which makes it snow. The top of the tree also still features a glowing orb so maybe Tink just cast some sort of spell to create a makeshift star? Snow soon collects on the tree and the kids are happy. Pan even nails John with a snowball who is happy to fight back. Hook has seen enough and demands that Smee evacuate him from the area, but not before he gets his bearings so that he may return to the lair of Pan and raze it to the ground! Smee informs him he will be doing no such thing and instead toots his whistle again.
A toast to Captain Hook!
Now we’re in the lair of Pan and The Lost Boys and they’re all preparing for a Christmas feast. A platter appears via Tinker Bell’s magic upon the table and the kids are all excited. It looks like they eat real food and not junk food as seen in the film Hook. When Wendy lifts the lid on the dish the kids are dismayed to find a single acorn. If you think this is a Tiny Tim situation you would be mistaken as Tinker Bell informs them it was just a little holiday jest and quickly magics up a turkey. Before the kids can dig in though, Wendy says they should offer up a toast. Peter is in agreement and toasts to…himself. He quickly adds “And everyone else,” rather awkwardly, but the others seem to pay it no mind. I’m guessing they’re used to this sort of thing out of Pan. Michael (Whit Hertford) then questions if he really means everyone and specifically mentions Captain Hook. Wendy comes over to confirm that even Hook is deserving of such a toast. Pan snorts and remarks that if Hook were there he’d cut off his other hand and give it to him as a Christmas present. How violent! Wendy scolds him for his boast and Pan reluctantly concedes that she’s right. He stands up and gives a somewhat half-hearted toast to Captain Hook which the other kids share in.
No matter who is Captain Hook, it would seem Smee always gets the worst of it.
Hook then questions what’s the point of all this? Smee informs him that he just wants to show him that even bitter enemies lay down their arms on Christmas. Hook indicates he has no stomach for this “sentimental tripe,” which Smee says is unfortunate because he has more to show him. We’re then taken to the bowels of the Jolly Roger where the rest of the crew resides. The pirates are still sore from how Hook treated them and they seem to be ready to mutiny over it. As they draw their weapons, it’s Smee who pops in to declare they’ll be doing it over his dead body. He starts clashing swords with Mullins (Jack Angel) and tries to defend his captain’s honor. Hook remarks to the ghost Smee that he intends to put these jackanapes in their place, but the ghost tells him that’s not why he chose to show him this. Suddenly, the material version of Hook comes swaddling in demanding to know what’s going on. Smee informs him it’s a mutiny and Hook misunderstands him and seemingly thinks that Smee is declaring a mutiny, not trying to stop one. He picks Smee up by his shirt utilizing his hook while the little guy tries to tell him he had his best interests at heart. Hook puts him down seemingly understanding, only to double-down on his accusations by demanding Mullins chain Smee and toss him in the brig. As the first mate is hauled away he tells him this will be his last Christmas! This is really clumsy considering this is supposed to be the present, but it features Hook! Why didn’t we see this earlier?
“So brother, you’re looking well these days.”
Hook, the viewing Hook, is politely reprimanded by ghost Smee for his misjudgement. Hook seems unphased and remarks that Smee should basically be killed on principal anyway. The ghost, seemingly admitting defeat, informs Hook he’ll be returning him to his ship now. Hook then materializes outside his cabin door and is immediately sent into a rage for he can hear someone playing his harpsichord inside his chambers! He smashes down the door, which was a really lovely piece that will now have to be replaced, and barges in demanding to know who possesses the temerity to play the harpsichord of Captain James Hook! Why, it’s his brother Jasper now acting as the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. Hook has apparently still not grasped the situation for he mistakes the ghost for his actual brother and attempts to cut him down with his blade only for it to pass harmlessly right through him. The ghost, sporting an eye patch as the real Jasper must, smiles wickedly at Hook and informs him who he really is, and isn’t. Hook sarcastically asks him of what concern is all of this to him only for the spirit to float above him and angrily call out his misdeeds. He’s lied to his loved ones, betrayed his own flesh and blood, and condemned the one man who showed him loyalty. Flipping up the patch over his eye, the spirit promises to show Hook the bitter harvest yet to come.
Upon seeing his ship in ruins, Hook reacts like a dad who just found out his kid snuck out in his sports car and nailed a fire hydrant.
We’re taken to the wreckage of a ship I assume to be Hook’s Jolly Roger. It is indeed his as he immediately starts ranting and raving about the condition of his ship. We then see Mullins stealing food from Cookson as the two emerge from a cave with the captain nowhere to be found. Hook is displeased by this showing, but the spirit has more to share. He flips up his patch and we’re transported to a swampy lagoon. A disheveled and seemingly delirious Smee is walking through the ankle deep water carrying something under his arm and shouting out to his captain not to worry for he’s coming. He approaches a large, hollowed out tree and declares “There ya be captain, a fresh covering of moss for yee,” revealing that the garbage under his arm is apparently a bunch of moss. The ghostly Hook is confused by this and declares he’d retire to Bedlam before he’d let someone like Smee take care of him. Still refusing to realize what story he’s in, we watch as Smee goes to enter the tree only for the shadow of Peter Pan to pass over him. He runs calling out a warning to his captain as he disappears into the tree, but the somewhat sullen Pan doesn’t seem like he’s here for a fight.
Aww, Peter misses Captain Hook.
It’s at this point that Hook utters a version of the famous line asking the spirit “Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they the shadows of the things that maybe?” The spirit ignores the question and instead points out to Hook to gaze upon his final resting place. The captain looks a tad frightened as he beholds his unmarked grave which Peter Pan has knelt beside. The spirit refers to it as unmarked, but the grave is indeed marked by the presence of his famous hook on a stick of some sort, he just doesn’t get a tombstone. Peter then pulls out his dagger and remarks he has no need of it now. He seems a bit sad as he’s clearly lost his purpose in life without his adversary and ponders if he should finally grow up and leave Neverland. Now this puts a smile on Hook’s face as he declares this perfect! He laughs heartily and declares that in death he has finally defeated Peter Pan! The spirit then cautions him not to act so hastily and flips up his eyepatch once again.
Here comes the meltdown.
Now we’re transported to a more colorful and bright setting. The Lost Boys are seated by the edge of some trees until Peter Pan comes soaring in. He excitedly calls out to them to “Look what I found!” It’s the hook of one Captain Hook, and Peter acts like he has no idea where it came from, but now they can play pirates! The boys fly off with Peter Pan declaring that he’ll be the pirate leader: Captain Claw! Hook is bewildered at the sight and the spirit is happily able to inform him that the kids quickly forgot all about him once he was dead. This basically destroys Hook who falls to his knees and starts raking the earth with his hook hand. Crying out, “Hear me brother: I am not the man I was! I will change! I swear it! I swear it!”
It’s celebration time, men! Debauchery, murder, looting, you name it!
As he cries out, we transition back to Hook’s quarters and find him raking his hook hand over his mattress essentially destroying it in the process. He soon realizes that he’s back in his room, and even his door is intact! He calls out for Mullins who enters immediately for the captain to ask him to confirm what day is it? “Why, it’s Christmas, sir!” he replies on cue. Hook declares this excellent and orders him to assemble the men on the deck immediately. This also comes with an order to release Smee from the brig. Once everyone is gathered on the deck, Hook informs the men that he’s changed his mind that they will observe the Christmas holiday after all. The men are dumbstruck with Starkey remarking the captain has lost his senses. Hook corrects him to say he has not lost his senses, but rather found them. He then orders the men to arm themselves as he dumps a pile of weapons on the deck and informs them that they will be going ashore to celebrate Christmas with a raid on Peter Pan!
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Hook, with his arms outstretched, then clarifies what has taken place. He says he swore he’d change, and he will, for the worse! “I’ll redouble my attacks on Pan. I’ll triple them!” It’s hard to make out precisely what he says following that, but he basically declares that Peter Pan will never forget the name of Captain James Hook! He then cries out “Merry Christmas, Peter Pan,” as his cape bellows menacingly in the wind, “and prepare to meet thy doom!” He then walks off laughing his evil laugh which is the lasting image for this holiday affair.
“Hook’s Christmas” is not a very interesting episode as it relates to Christmas. It adapts what some may call a tried-and-true Christmas staple, but what many would also just call a tired plot. A Christmas Carol is beyond overdone and it was in the early 90s just as it was today. This one does have a bit of a wrinkle in that it’s Scrooge character, one Captain James Hook, is truly irredeemable. There’s no changing who he is. Sure, many a villainous character have had their Christmases interrupted by a gang of spirits and it was enough for them to at least do one nice thing, but not Hook! It has the opposite effect, which is really the only outcome that could have come of this since he’s quite clearly an evil man and there are many more episodes to follow. They could have had him just be a little nice to his crew and let that be it, but I do like that the writers on this one wanted none of that and fully held onto this characterization of Hook.
For regular viewers, it was probably fun to see a young Hook and his brother in this one.
That’s not enough to rescue the plot from this droll retelling, but the depiction of Captain Hook just might be. I was totally smitten with this take on the character by Tim Curry. He is wonderfully written with just a delicious vocabulary. This is not some rough and tough pirate covered in grime and ill-spoken. This Hook is dignified and above everyone else in his mind. He carries himself like royalty and he’s clearly well-educated. He’s just vile and despicable and he loves that about himself. Curry is just absolutely wonderful in the role and I hung on every word he said. Adapting A Christmas Carol may not have been the soundest decision this show made, but putting an entire episode on Hook’s shoulders absolutely was. Combining the performance with the twist ending basically does the impossible: I was entertained by A Christmas Carol. I mean, the classic story is fine and entertaining on its own, but I can’t think of many episodes of television that went in this direction and actually succeeded. Years ago, I somewhat praisedThe Real Ghostbusters for putting their own spin on the tale, but I still wouldn’t call that episode good and it’s not something I ever return to. And I’m not saying I’m ever going to return to “Hook’s Christmas” either, but I may consider it. If I had any nostalgic attachment to the show it’s from then I probably would, but lacking that, it’s more just a fun little diamond in the rough one discovers when doing such an exercise as this and I’m feeling satisfied. Usually, most of the uncovered Christmas episodes I come across leave me feeling the opposite.
It’s a shame this performance isn’t more celebrated than it is. Tim Curry is my Captain Hook.
If you wish to view Fox’s Peter Pan & the Pirates you sadly have few options. Remember that whole story to begin this about Disney not wanting this show to exist? Yeah, well, now they own it. Disney acquired this alongside a whole bunch of other Fox properties years ago with the acquisition of Fox Kids Worldwide. Disney has released some of those shows on DVD and licensed others for streaming, but not this one (aside from a select few episodes in the UK) and they likely never will. They would fear that consumers would think this ties into their own take on Peter Pan even with the title being what it is. And it’s a shame, because if nothing else the show appears to have some solid animation. This particular episode wasn’t impressive in that regard, but other clips I’ve seen look quite nice. And people are missing out on this fantastic version of Captain Hook. I don’t know if the show itself is really worth watching, but it would be nice if it were available for those who did grow up watching it or who are just curious. The only good thing is that Disney doesn’t seem at all interested in enforcing its trademark here so the show can be found scattered across the internet in varying states of quality. You don’t have to look hard, though you will if you want to find the best quality version possible. As you can tell by the images in this post, I had trouble doing just that (the best I found was on the channel Cartoon Archive), but what I did find was certainly watchable. It’s just a shame most cut out the commercials.
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
In 1964, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass unleashed a Christmas Classic upon the world in the form of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The special basically put the company on the map and put it on the path to holiday domination for decades to come. Despite that, few of the specials that followed Rudolph truly hit…
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When it comes to British imports and the subject of bears is brought up, most probably immediately think of Paddington or Winnie the Pooh. Few probably recall SuperTed, the Welsh teddy bear brought to life by a spotted alien and given super powers by Mother Nature. SuperTed is similar to Mighty Mouse in that he…
I can’t seem to get enough X-Men merch based on the 90s cartoon series.
Halloween 1992 was when things really changed for the X-Men. A high-selling comic book was about to blow open and enter the mainstream with a hit new Saturday morning cartoon series. Spearheaded by Eric Lewald for Saban Entertainment, X-Men would become the highest rated children’s program on the Fox Network and the overall highest rated children’s program in 1993. At least, until a little show called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came along. Even following that, the show remained a hit for the network and it’s likely that without the success of the cartoon we never would have had the film series that followed.
When Fox agreed to bring the spandex-clad mutants to network television it did so with Saban and Graz Entertainment who had their own ideas for the show. Lewald was the showrunner who oversaw a team of writers that crafted the inaugural season, most of whom were unfamiliar with the comic from which their characters were taken from. As a result, the first season was largely unique. It was not pulled from the comics with the exception of the “Days of Future Past” arc. Sure, the characters largely acted and behaved like their comic book counterparts, but the plots and character history were pretty much all new. I don’t think this necessarily played a huge role in what followed, but if the new show wasn’t just copying and pasting what the comic books had done then it made sense for a comic companion to tag along. Enter X-Men Adventures, a comic book adaptation of the animated series. Writer Ralph Macchio (no, not that Ralph Macchio) was handed the teleplays for the first season and was paired with varying teams of artists to bring the show to the pages. The first issue arrived in November 1993 and would run until March 1996 concluding with the “Dark Phoenix” arc. After that, the book split away from the cartoon series rather than adapt what was dubbed Season 4 and beyond, but up to that point, it had largely remained in lockstep with the show.
The two covers available for this collection.
As a kid, I didn’t bother with X-Men Adventures despite my love for the cartoon. In my mind, it felt redundant. Why buy a comic version of something I already saw on TV when I could get a comic book that told a whole, new, story? Now that I’m older and fond of reminiscing on things I enjoyed as a child, I’m more curious about something like X-Men Adventures. Surely, the comic would present opportunities to frame things differently. How would it handle something like the death of Morph? Would the characterizations be the same? Would some characters assume more of a spotlight or less of one? I probably could have answered such questions with relative ease and not much of an expense. Being a 90s comic, X-Men Adventures isn’t terribly hard to come by secondhand, especially if you’re one who is unconcerned with condition.
Rather than scour the back issues at a local comic shop, I turned to a new publication: X-Men: The Animated Series – The Adaptations. That mouthful of a title was released earlier this year. It’s a hardcover collection of X-Men Adventures totaling the first 41 issues, or said another way, all of the issues that mirrored the show. It’s a heavy, meaty, tome that’s nearly 1,000 pages with most of them devoted to the old issues. The paper is a nice white, though it has some transparency and isn’t as thick as it could be. The main cover illustration is the same as the very first issue of X-Men Adventures by Steve Lightle. The version I have is the variant cover which depicts Wolverine battling Sabretooth in the War Room and it’s done by Kerry Gammill and Greg Adams. The collection is expensive with an MSRP of $125. That was too rich for me so I played the waiting game eventually scoring one for less than $60 off of eBay. This one had bent corners that likely had been damaged during the shipping process. The eBay listing also had a typo in the title which may have helped to keep it on the site long enough for me to notice. Either way, I was willing to accept some cosmetic damage in exchange for a price that was more than half off. Now several weeks later, I’ve read this thing cover to cover and am ready to share my thoughts.
This one isn’t going to shy away from Morph’s death.
X-Men Adventures volume 1, which is thought of as the first season, spanned 15 issues which is longer than the show’s 13 episode first season. As such, the first season of books is more expansive than that season and also more expansive when compared with the seasons that followed. My guess would be that with the show being new, and being tinkered with practically right up until air date, there was a lot less that was nailed down and thus there was more room for Macchio’s own interpretation. It’s also interesting that the characterizations of the book’s characters are far more reliant on their comic history. This is seen most with Magneto who is very much a villain in these books as opposed to a friendly rival. He’s not going to team-up with these X-Men to take down the Sentinels and he’s far more willing to inflict pain upon them as well. The costumes for the characters also all mirror the comics. Jean is more yellow and blue with long hair, Apocalypse isn’t purple, and Sabretooth doesn’t have the massive physique of his animated counterpart. Fights, like Wolverine vs Sabretooth, can be more violent with actual blood spilled and our boy Wolverine is also free to smoke cigars and drink beer.
By far, the thing I was most interested in seeing was how the books handled the death of Morph. In the show, his death is essentially offscreen, though the characters deal with it in a pretty realistic manner. It wasn’t some Saturday morning “zapped to another dimension” sort of end for old Morph. In the books, it’s foreshadowed with a rather grizzly depiction of Morph with half of his face burned off. I’m not sure the character needed to have these visions, but it was an interesting way to go about it. When the time comes for him to actually die, it’s handled in a far more personal manner with Beast cradling Morph in his arms as he draws his dying breath. Of course, the character would be brought back in Season Two which was never the plan at the time. It does muddy things a bit since his death was so final in the books. Did the Mutant Control people haul Beast away and just leave Morph’s corpse behind for Sinister to come along and swipe? Apparently so, because no other explanation is offered.
Wolverine is allowed to fight like, well, Wolverine!
Morph’s death was one area where the books could go into more detail and be a bit more showy than the cartoon. It’s also pretty unique as the rest of the issues largely unfold in a more expedited fashion after the first season. The first 15 issues are far more dense and interesting as a result, while the rest are still enjoyable, but missing that extra component. Some stories, like the Omega Red confrontation or Wolverine’s parlay with Alpha Flight, end far too abruptly to feel satisfying. If you didn’t like how the X-Men defeated Omega Red in the show, then you really won’t like it here. And since comics always seem to operate with the idea that any issue could be someone’s first, there’s a lot of needless exposition from characters explaining their thoughts, motivations, powers, etc. too plainly. It feels demeaning to the reader and like a dumbing down of the material at times, something the show seems careful to avoid.
The other aspect of these stories that threw me the most was just the changing art styles. These books never seemed to have a single vision for very long when it came to the art. Andrew Wildman was the penciler for the first six issues. He had a slightly more realistic style than some, but it’s not bad. Chris Batista then takes over for two issues and he has a more streamlined approach which actually might suit the animated look a bit better, though I think I still prefer Wildman. Wildman would return for the 9th issue and hang around through issue 13 and then back again for the final issue of the first season. In between is an issue by Nick Napalitano. All three pencilers for that first season complement each other well, but later seasons have more divergent takes, some of which I like and some of which I don’t. By the end, Ben Herrera was handling a lot of the load and I’m just not into his style. It’s very reflective of what the 90s comics were producing at the time, and even then, it wasn’t a style I enjoyed. My least favorite issues were the ones done by Hector Collazo. He seemed to take to heart that this comic was an adaptation of a cartoon because his style could best be described as toony. I’d enjoy it on a Looney Tunes or Animaniacs book, but not an X-Men one.
The art style isn’t consistent for all 40+ issues so readers are likely to enjoy some more than others.
Reading through this book basically gave me what I was looking for: familiar stories told through a different lens. The only downside for me was how the second and third seasons were more streamlined with less room for freelancing, if you will. The first season was by far the most enjoyable part of the book, though I am curious about the issues not included. Following the third season, Macchio basically was allowed to continue writing stories for this version of the X-Men, but ones that didn’t follow the show. Those works are collected in another trade paperback that I should probably give some thought to acquiring. If you’re someone like me curious about what another interpretation of the beloved show could look like, this isn’t a bad experience. I don’t think it’s worth the asking price so I’d recommend getting it used or on sale. The actual quality of the book is pretty nice, though there are the occasional page that came out slightly blurry from the printer. It seems to be an issue that becomes more frequent further into the book. It may also be something that’s not consistent from copy to copy. Either way, it’s a tough ask at full price. A lot of places have it marked down to around 80 dollars, which is still a lot, but better than $125. I’m not sure I’d even recommend it at that price, but definitely consider a look if you ever find it closer to 50 bucks.
Interested in living in the world of X-Men as established by the animated series?
A lot of cartoons made an impact on me as a child. My first love was The Real Ghostbusters. Its goofy cast of characters and excitement were plenty of fun and there were interesting toys to supplement the series with, which was pretty much the goal of all cartoons in the 80s. The Teenage Mutant…
A few years ago, I talked about my love of X-Men, the animated series, via a book review of Previously…on X-Men by Eric Lewald. That book chronicled the development of the 92 animated series that helped propel the Fox Kids Network to the top of the Saturday morning leaderboards through notes from the author and…
Today, The Christmas Spot temporarily alters it’s name to The X-Mas Spot. As a sort-of celebration for the animated series X-Men turning 30 this past Halloween we’re going to look at the show’s lone holiday special – “Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas.” The show X-Men was a pretty serious affair as far as kid…
Today, The Christmas Spot temporarily alters it’s name to The X-Mas Spot. As a sort-of celebration for the animated series X-Men turning 30 this past Halloween we’re going to look at the show’s lone holiday special – “Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas.” The show X-Men was a pretty serious affair as far as kid shows go. It wasn’t very jokey or gimmicky and it technically didn’t even have a tie-in toy line. Sure, ToyBiz had an X-Men line of figures, but it was technically a tie-in with the comic book. The show undoubtedly influenced the line, there was a Morph figure after all, but the point is this wasn’t a show that went for the cheap hits so when a Christmas special was announced during the holiday season of 1995 I was pretty damn surprised.
Why does a show like X-Men then feature a holiday special? As is the answer to most things that seem unexplainable from afar when it comes to television – it was the network. Fox wanted a Christmas special from the show so it delivered one. It’s not a fan favorite and writer/showrunner Eric Lewald basically admits they made it intentionally campy to reflect other cheesy Christmas episodes of popular shows. They even got in a “Not on Christmas!” line into it. The episode is what it is, a shoe-horned concept into a show that probably shouldn’t feature such an episode, but perhaps there is still some value here. Besides, who doesn’t want to spend Christmas with Wolverine?
This is the story of Jubilee’s first X-Mas with the X-Men, which means it probably shouldn’t be assumed that we’ve been watching their lives unfold in a linear fashion or else they’ve had one hell of a year.
The episode begins at the home of the X-Men. Cyclops (Norm Spencer), Rogue (Lenore Zann), and Jubilee (Alyson Court) are decorating a massive tree in the mansion’s foyer. As they do, they’re joyously singing “Deck the Halls” and Cyclops sounds particularly awful, but seemingly intentionally so as he calls attention to his bad singing and suggests the other two carry on without him. Brooding off by the fireplace is old Wolverine (Cal Dodd) who predictably wants nothing to do with the holiday festivities despite the insistence of Jubilee for him to do so. It’s her first Christmas with the X-Men, which would seem all of the events up until now that have occurred in the show have taken place within a year, and she seems a little hurt that Wolverine won’t participate, but Rogue is here to reassure her and even lifts her up to the top of the tree to put the star in place.
Gambit is apparently impervious to boiling water.
Off in the kitchen, Jean (Catherine Disher) is preparing a Christmas dinner, but she has to contend with Gambit (Chris Potter). Despite her being the appointed chef, Gambit is sporting an apron and togue and appears to view himself on equal footing here. He rudely inquires what she’s preparing and Jean angrily retorts “It’s called food, Gambit. Normal, Christmas food.” Gambit, being from Louisiana and a connoisseur of cajun cuisine, seems to disagree strongly with whatever is boiling in a pot. When he goes for some seasoning, Jean uses her telekinetic powers to keep the spice on the counter despite how hard Gambit pulls on it. She also adds “The day that I need your help in the kitchen is the day that I stop cooking!” It’s a fine line, but Wolverine just used a similar one on Jubilee (“The day that I sing “Jingle Bells” is the day pigs fly”) so it’s a little redundant. She releases her psychic hold on the seasoning sending Gambit tumbling into the stove. He falls on his rear and the pot of water that was boiling lands on him, but seemingly does no harm. Jean gets a little laugh out of this while Gambit still insists she knows nothing about cooking a proper Christmas dinner.
In the lab, Beast (George Buza) is suspended from the ceiling mixing something in a beaker. It turns from red to green while Beast recites a poem by a “Sir Walter” that sounds festive enough. I only know the poem’s author because when Beasts tastes his “goo” he declares it worthy of the poem though he’s sure to point out this concoction is non-alcoholic (wouldn’t want the kids to think otherwise). We then cut to Professor X (Cedric Smith) and Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith) watching the goings on via the security monitors. It’s a bit creepy, but I guess someone is always watching these things for security reasons. Xavier notes that Storm seems a little blue and she remarks that seeing Jubilee makes her reflect on her own childhood. She grew up poor on the streets of Cairo, in case you were wondering as they don’t have time to discuss it further since alarms start blaring. Xavier thinks they’re under attack and Storm gets the first very, sweaty, Christmas special line “Could we be under attack – on Christmas Eve?!”
Beast is always so festive.
Cyclops receives a transmission about the alarm via his usual belt insignia. The “X” on everyone’s belts in this show were like two-way radios. The funny thing here is that Cyclops is not wearing his field uniform so rather than pressing a button on his chest he’s just touching his shirt. The X-Men race to the alarm’s origin which turns out to be Beast’s lab. They bust in only to find Beast in the process of shutting down the alarm. He’s covered in a red sauce and when Cyclops asks if he’s okay he indicates that he is, but his cranberry glaze is not. Wolverine is the last to arrive and he’s disappointed they weren’t under attack. He decides he’s had enough of this Christmas stuff and indicates he intends to go somewhere else for a bit. Jubilee then asks him if he’ll go shopping with her and Storm and Wolverine is right to point out how terrible shopping on Christmas Eve sounds. He makes a lame joke about having better luck fighting Sabretooth, but Jubilee does the whole “Please? For me?” and Wolverine responds with “Turn it off, kid.”
I’m going to have to agree with Wolverine here, the mall on Christmas Eve is something to be avoided.
Despite all of that, Wolverine does indeed accompany Jubilee and Storm to the mall against his better judgement. We see them walking around a department store and Jubilee’s face is hidden by the amount of boxes in her arms. She’s trying to talk to both Storm and Wolverine, but can’t see, and Wolverine kindly removes the top box so she can do so. She thanks him for coming and he gives her a “Don’t mention it,” but also reiterates his desire to leave. Jubilee is pretty amped up for Christmas, but also worried she’s not doing it right as she reminds us again that she’s never had a Christmas with a family before. Storm is reassuring, and as the trio makes their way out Wolverine is accosted by a sales woman pitching cologne. She sprays it in Wolverine’s face and informs him it’s sure to make women act like animals (rather risqué for a kid’s show), but Wolverine informs her he’s about to turn into an animal before Storm intercedes.
I feel like we’re missing a conversation here: How did Jubilee convince Wolverine to go ice skating?
Storm gestures towards freedom and encourages Wolverine to make a break for it. He does looking almost feral in the process. We then shift to an outdoor scene and the crew is doing some ice skating presumably at Rockefeller Center. Storm is watching from a bench as Jubilee and Wolverine skate. Jubilee tries to get Wolverine to cheer up and encourages him to have fun, but he just tells her she wouldn’t want to know what he finds fun. He then hears some sirens and goes on alert, but since Jubilee doesn’t have a super sense of hearing she dismisses him at first until Storm hears them as well.
Ape (left) can basically turn himself or his limbs into whatever he can come up with, but often his imagination seems to be lacking.
An ambulance comes crashing onto the ice and we soon see it’s being driven by Morlocks. Ape (Ross Petty) and Annalee (Kay Tremblay) emerge from the ambulance and start taking supplies from it. Wolverine comes skating up ready for a fight and calls their actions low by their standards. He grabs Ape, who had transformed his hands into paddles that look like duck feet to carry supplies. I feel like he could have morphed them into something far more useful. Anyway, Wolverine is ready for a fight, but Storm arrives and brings a blizzard with her to conceal their actions. Annalee informs her that they’re taking supplies to help Leech, a juvenile Morlock who is apparently very sick. They didn’t know what to do as they already tried a hospital, but they couldn’t care for the mutant boy. She takes this opportunity to also remind Storm that she is the leader of the Morlocks, something established way back in season one of the show, and that she’s never around when they need her. Storm agrees to help them and she uses her powers to thwart the approaching police and to provide cover for their escape. Wolverine indicates he’s not helping sewer rats, while Jubilee is worried about her presents. Storm tells the child to leave them, but she scoops them up anyway before following.
Callisto (left) and Storm have to set aside their differences for poor Leech who is afflicted with a severe case of plot sickness.
We then see the group walking through ankle deep water in the sewer. It would seem Wolverine decided to join them after all while Jubilee is worried that they’re supposed to be home in an hour for Christmas dinner. When they arrive at Leech, Callisto (Susan Roman) is there to “welcome” them. She gives Storm a bunch of sass for not being around when they need her which gets Wolverine riled up, but Storm tells him to back off as she seemingly accepts the criticism. She does inform Callisto that they can settle their differences later, for right now Leech needs their full attention. As for the child, he’s laying on a table under a blanket apparently unconscious. Storm, citing Wolverine’s experience with field medicine, instructs him to prep the child as she wants to take him to Beast. Wolverine walks over and checks the kid’s pulse and just says, “Uh oh…”
I think this is Marianna’s only appearance in the show.
Seated against the wall, Jubilee watches with concern on her face. She soon hears something behind her and it turns out to be a small, Morlock, girl who bares a strong resemblance to Leech. Jubilee greets the little, green, girl who then emerges from the shadows to come sit with Jubilee. Meanwhile, Callisto is frustrated that Wolverine isn’t preparing Leech for transport and grabs Storm insisting she order him to do something. Storm fights back until Wolverine shouts “Shut up!” at both of them. He then delivers the bad news that Leech isn’t going anywhere. His pulse is dropping too fast and there’s no way he would survive the trip back to the mansion. This leaves Jubilee to get another sweaty Christmas special line in of, “No, he can’t! Not today! It’s Christmas Eve!” as she hugs the small girl and we pan to a tiny, Morlock, Christmas tree that basically looks like Charlie Brown’s tree, only the lone ornament is broken.
Wolverine apparently has some PTSD in his past related to trying to heal people with his own blood.
As the adults discuss what to do, it’s Jubilee who says “Please Wolverine! You’re so good at healing yourself, can’t you help Leech?” Storm seems to like this train of thought and inquires with Wolverine about a blood transfusion. He refuses, while the others persist. Storm thinks it’s because Wolverine hates the Morlocks, but he shouts back at her “Don’t you think I want to help the kid?!” He then explains he’s tried it before and it didn’t work. It was a group of 20 individuals and the last one to die was a kid younger than Leech. Still, when Storm initially asked he said “Maybe” to it working and Wolverine explains it did work once and the large group was the second time he attempted the feat. He doesn’t know why it worked once, but not again, and seems reluctant to try it here.
It turns out, Wolverine isn’t racist, he just doesn’t want to see another kid die!
Storm doesn’t really care and asks Ape if he acquired a transfusion kit from the ambulance. He just looks at her in confusion and she tells him to never mind. She finds what she’s looking for amongst the supplies and informs the others that she’ll contact the mansion to have Rogue fly Beast to them. As she does she hands the transfusion kit to Wolverine and tells him he knows what he must do. He angrily responds “You don’t know what you’re asking,” and she snaps back, “I am asking you to show the courage needed to save a child’s life!” “He wouldn’t be dyin’ if you looked after these people!” Woo! There’s some dramatic stuff right here! Wolverine’s words appear to cut Storm deep which calms her down.
The moment Ape has waited his whole life for!
Storm concedes Wolverine’s point, but then calmly tells him that even if the odds are one in a thousand, he needs to try. She tops it off with a “Ask yourself, if he were your child, would you refuse?” Wolverine just looks at the kit in his hands and the scene cuts back to Storm’s face, but it’s clearly just a single cel that they’re holding on and it looks pretty goofy. I wonder if the episode came in short and they had to find cheap ways to extend it? It cuts back to Wolverine who just silently shakes his head indicating that he wouldn’t refuse if the situation was different. Storm just says, “Good,” then tells Ape that Wolverine needs a flat surface beside Leech to lie on. You would think this is a command to get a table or something, but no. Ape walks over and turns himself into a table for Wolverine to lie one! Were they planning to eat Christmas dinner off of the guy too?
All right, I need to know more about larva guy over here. Does he do anything or does he just look like that worm that creates Slurm?
Over by the wall, the little Morlock girl asks Jubilee if Leech will be okay? Jubilee responds with a question of her own and in the process we find out the little girl’s name is Marianna (her voice is uncredited, but it’s presumably from the main cast). She asks her if she believes in miracles, but Marianna has no idea what a miracle is. Jubilee tries to sniff back some tears and holds the girl close telling her “Maybe in a little while, we’ll see.”
Good thing Cyclops is here to use his powers to make sure the stalk of celery Jean threw at Gambit didn’t connect. This is the most danger anyone on the X-Men is put into during this episode. Well, Storm and Jubilee are probably in danger of catching something walking around in a sewer.
At the snowy mansion, Jean and Gambit continue their kitchen feud. Gambit apparently did something to the ham and Jean is not happy. She demands Gambit’s removal from her kitchen and in the process refers to him as a swamp rat. Cyclops thinks they’re both acting like children, but before things can get any worse, Professor X enters to inform them of the emergency in the Morlock tunnels. Lucky for him, Rogue already ditched the holiday attire and is in her normal X-Men uniform and ready for action.
This is basically Charlie Brown’s tree, only it’s one that doesn’t magically become full and beautiful once decorated.
Back in the sewers, the transfusion has begun and the rest can only look on while Wolverine urges Leech to pull through. Marianna is still rather cheerful and asks Jubilee if Leech is better yet. She wants to show Jubilee their Christmas tree and takes her over to the pathetic, little, tree which is using a tin can as a tree stand. She’s proud of it though since Leech found it and Jubilee calls it the most beautiful tree she’s ever seen. Marianna then takes Jubilee to their Christmas feast and wants Jubilee to partake. It’s some kind of stew and probably smells awful. Marianna assures Jubilee she can have some of hers as she really wants Jubilee to share the experience. Storm them enters and Jubilee asks about Leech, but it’s too soon to tell. She then asks Storm how the Morlocks can go on having so little and she gets a little dose of Christmas wisdom. Storm tells her they have each other and that’s all they need to feel loved. She tops it off with another one, “As long as you are part of a caring family, every day is Christmas!”
Beast, I don’t think you’re using that properly.
Over by Leech, Callisto is growing impatient and Wolverine has had enough. He angrily rises from his “table” and rips the IV out of his arm defiantly shouting “I told you it wouldn’t work!” Storm tries to calm him down, but before she can Rogue and Beast arrive. Wolverine tells Beast he’s got to work fast and the blue one heads for the patient. For some reason, Leech is now fully clothed and not under a blanket and apparently the animation budget wasn’t high enough to have Beast check the kid’s vitals in a logical manner so he just starts running a stethoscope over the kid’s jacket. As he does so, he explains that Wolverine’s powers are not something that modern, medical, science understands and he doesn’t know what the end result will be.
This kid probably just thinks Jubilee cries all the time at this point.
As Callisto uselessly demands that Beast “Do something,” he continues to examine the child while Wolverine can’t bare to watch. Leech’s eyes soon flutter though, and we get a shot from his point of view as he focuses on Beast. He lets out a cry of surprise which causes Beast to laugh as he notes he doesn’t have the most reassuring of faces. This whole time, Leech has been depicted with yellow eyes and I have to assume it was an error since we see he has eyelids for his waking up shot. Or, it’s not an error and they just decided to give him eyelids for that one shot to make it more obvious that he was waking up. Jubilee is sobbing with Marianna in her arms and tells the girl that Leech is okay and she just matter-of-factly responds with “Of course he is!”
Leech is all better and seemingly over his fear of Beast. Hooray!
Storm then demands Callisto hand over the ceremonial scepter of power. She’s reluctant to, but Storm asserts her authority as leader of the Morlocks and offers no explanation. She then forces the woman to kneel before her, which she probably enjoys humiliating her one last time before announcing she’s transferring her title as leader back to Callisto. Callisto says nothing but rises and takes the scepter. Wolverine then strolls over to break the ice and asks what a guy’s gotta do to get some orange juice and a cookie around here? Leech (John Stocker), who is seated in the large arm of Beast, then announces he’s hungry too which produces a laugh out of Beast who then prescribes food for the patient. Wolverine then thanks Leech “for making it,” while Storm offers her apologies to Wolverine for not treating him with the same compassion he showed Leech, adding that she should have known better than to question his heart.
She’s just handing over a few gifts, Storm, let’s not turn this into something bigger than it really is.
Callisto announces that all X-Men are welcomed to join them for Christmas dinner, though adding they don’t have much to offer. Jubilee then announces that most of the presents she’s been dragging along contain food and offers those. Storm double-checks that she’s all right with doing so since it meant a lot to her to give these gifts out back at the mansion, but she’s totally cool with it because she learned her important, Christmas, lesson. She then encourages the kids, Leech and Marianna, to help her open them.
All right, I have some questions. Number one, which member of the X-Men was in-line to get a toy plane for Christmas?!
Jubilee then gets the customary “You have done something noble,” from Storm acknowledging her Christmas lesson, even though her act of nobility is just giving stuff away. She lives in a freakin’ mansion, for crying out loud. She gives Wolverine a hug as she says “I learned from the best,” and he gives her a reassuring pat on the back and a “You’re a good kid.” Beast then summarizes the events of today by reminding us this wasn’t the Christmas Jubilee had envisioned, but it will be a memorable one. Rogue gets to have a little chuckle here adding “So will a couple of cooks I know.”
Jean is enjoying this. I’m surprised they can’t still eat some of the dinner since there’s still 4 of them there, but Jean probably refuses and I’m guessing Cyclops is in the doghouse if he partakes in Gambit’s meal. Xavier is wise to stay out of it as well.
We cut back to the mansion where Jean has seemingly ceded control of the kitchen to Gambit who has prepared what he feels is a flawless Christmas dinner. Word comes down that the others are having Christmas dinner with the Morlocks, and Gambit does not take the news well that the whole crew won’t be getting together for Christmas dinner. Jean gets to suggest that they can heat it up tomorrow which just irritates the cook further. Gambit retorts in the third person with “Gambit does not make TV dinners!”
Oh no! He’s melting!
By the fire, we see Xavier taking a phone call from Jubilee who is concerned that he’d feel hurt that they’re not spending Christmas together. Xavier assures her that’s not the case, and while their presence will be missed, he’s proud of their actions today. He even refers to her action as a “generous sacrifice,” which seems to be quite the exaggeration here! He tacks on a whole thing about how she’s giving him the best gift of all by acting like a true X-Man in recognizing that she is where she’s needed most. We pan outside the mansion to the giant tree out front where the camera holds and the message “Merry Christmas from all the X-Men” appears to announce that this one is over.
Wolverine wished me a merry Christmas, you guys!
In the intro, I mentioned how out of place it felt for a show like X-Men to do a Christmas special. Now that it’s over, I don’t feel any different, but I do have to commend the show for just going for it. It’s a very dramatic show with a lot of heavy-handed line readings and this episode is no different. Except that this one gets to play with the overly dramatic Christmas special motif we’ve seen in other shows. It almost feels like an episode of Full House as a result, only with mutants, and it takes place mostly in a sewer. It has all of the usual holiday staples though in that we have a character excited for Christmas and the pageantry that accompanies it. Jubilee isn’t portrayed as a selfish child, but she is consumed by the act of Christmas and not its message, but it comes from a healthy place as she reminds us more than once she’s never really had a traditional, Christmas, experience. And she’s forced to adjust on the fly to her first Christmas with a family changing its setting, and even some of its participants.
Wolverine’s heart grew three sizes that day…
We also get the tried and true “some kid is sick at Christmas and needs a Christmas miracle to survive” via the Leech plot. Wolverine, who naturally functions as a Christmas antagonist of sorts, is brought into the story that way and it makes sense that the show would want to involve its most popular character in the plot. It finds a role for him, and we get the added drama of Wolverine being sort of racist against the Morlocks, but forced to save one. That angle isn’t really played up though. Wolverine just assumes the worst of the group, and he’s not entirely unjustified in doing so based on their prior interactions, and also gets in some cheap insults before they come upon Leech. It’s enough for Storm to assume the worst though and adds to the drama. Her and Wolverine’s argument is definitely the height of the special as far as the drama is concerned and the line readings from Sealy-Smith and Dodd are very much over-the-top, but in an earnest way.
Fans of the show probably weren’t asking to spend Christmas with the Morlocks, but the fact that they’re a poor family does lend itself well to a Christmas story.
And then, of course, we get the comedic B plot at the mansion involving Jean and Gambit. I feel like we actually could have used one more scene between the two as clearly Jean just gave up on preparing her idea of Christmas dinner at some point to let Gambit go full steam ahead with his oyster loaf and other foods. It’s fine and we actually get to see a different side of Jean in these scenes, who is normally rather buttoned-up and, frankly, boring. It also allows the whole team to get some presence in this one which is probably an important thing since Christmas is traditionally about family and it’s not like the show was planning on ever doing another Christmas episode.
At least we get to see how the X-Men decorate for Christmas. And they certainly go big.
As an episode of X-Men, this one is a bit of a failure. It’s plot feels out of place and the corny Christmas lines stand out far too much. It also doesn’t get to redeem itself with any special production values. The Christmas décor looks fine, and some of the characters are in outfits we’re not accustomed to seeing, but that’s about it. As a Christmas special though, it’s not that bad. Admittedly, there’s a ton of terrible Christmas specials out there so the bar isn’t exactly high. The messaging in this one is fairly simple and it really doesn’t beat you over the head with it since it’s largely contained to the show’s final minute. Xavier lays it on a bit thick right before the credits roll, but that’s hardly unusual for a Christmas special. It gets bonus points for having actual stakes, and while Leech is basically afflicted with “plot sickness,” the miraculous capabilities of Wolverine’s healing powers mean he could have legitimately been sick with something awful and Wolverine’s powers are just that good. There’s no Santa or anything like that, but it does have a human mutant story at its heart so that helps give it a solid foundation. Plus, it features the X-Men and you don’t get that too often in a Christmas story.
“Have Yourself a Morlock Little Christmas” gets a tepid recommendation from me. I suppose you have to be a fan of X-Men to get the most out of it, but at the same time, hardcore fans are possibly more likely to have a strong negative reaction to this one since it feels a bit silly to see the characters in this setting. This one is basically searching for the overlap on the Venn diagram of X-Men fans and fans of corny Christmas fair. At the end of the day, it’s only 23 minutes so you’re not sacrificing much to give it a look. And it’s fairly easy to find since the whole show is streaming on Disney+. It’s also available on DVD if physical media is still your thing. At worst, maybe you’ll be inspired to try some new dishes at your own Christmas dinner?
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
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Bobby’s World aired from 1990 – 1998, but like a lot of Fox Kids originals, it seems to have just disappeared since.
Bobby’s World is largely credited to comedian Howie Mandel, who at the time was best known for his stand-up routines and a role on the series St. Elsewhere. The real credit though belongs to a pair of Jims: Jim Fisher and Jim Staahl. Both knew Mandel and once worked at the famed Second City. The pair were contracted by Fox to create a kid’s show and the two thought of their friend Howie and his character Bobby. Bobby was part of Mandel’s stand-up routine and was basically just a vessel for Mandel’s funny voice which at that point had also appeared in Gremlins and Muppet Babies. Mandel was onboard and did contribute story ideas and such, but it’s a stretch to say he created the show. He was definitely the face of it though, as he would voice Bobby and Bobby’s father, Howard, who was basically just a cartoon version of himself. He also appeared in live-action segments to open and close each episode. Was his “star power” really needed? Probably not, as the target audience of children probably could not have cared less who Howie Mandel was, but it probably helped the show get some added coverage.
It’s a cartoon about that kid from The Shining!
Bobby’s World was one of the first hits for what would become Fox Kids. It premiered in 1990 and would run for 8 seasons totaling 81 episodes. Each episode basically revolved around Bobby, who was a young boy of about 4 with huge feet and an ill-fitting shirt who possessed an overactive imagination. The show is rather interesting for its use of change. Bobby actually ages throughout the life of the show. He begins the series as the youngest of the family, but by Season 3 he has twin infant brothers. By the time the show ended he was considered to be around age 7 or 8 though he was just as imaginative as always. It’s not a particularly original concept, a kid escaping reality via his own imagination, but the Bobby character wasn’t without charm so it’s not hard to see why the show worked in the long run.
In Season 6 the show decided to do a Christmas episode. This might seem a bit puzzling to some reading this since Bobby is a Howie Mandel character and Bobby’s dad in the show is basically Howie who is very Jewish. As was covered already, Mandel wasn’t the one writing the show and apparently he didn’t care that Bobby was going to canonically be Christian. Or he did, but didn’t make a big fuss about it. Considering that Fox was willing to be different, it’s a bit surprising that they didn’t do a Hanukkah episode instead, but network folks might have been pushing for Christmas. The episode could have stuck that in its back pocket for another holiday episode since the Generics (yes, the family name is literally Generic) celebrate Christmas with their mother’s parents, but Howard’s cousin also joins them so that muddies things a bit.
Every episode begins with Howie, usually with Bobby, in an animated setting. It ain’t no Roger Rabbit.
The episode begins with Mandel alongside Bobby to introduce the story. Mandel talks about his love of Christmas (maybe his family celebrated both?) and his fondness for the scents of the season. This opens up a joke for Bobby recalling the smell Uncle Ted makes when he pulls his finger causing Mandel to stop him there and get on with the episode.
Many car rides on Christmas Eve ended this way for me too.
The episode begins with the Generics arriving home following a Christmas gathering. It’s dark and everyone’s asleep in the car as Howard scoops Bobby up out of the back seat. I see palm trees in the background and they’re returning from a place where it snows so this has been one hell of a car ride. He and wife Martha (Gail Matthius) seem proud of their young son as Howard remarks this will be a Christmas Bobby tells his own grand kids about some day. Bobby, half awake, mumbles the same back to himself which sets up another introduction for this plot. Bobby imagines himself an old man recalling the events of the evening to his young grand kids, a boy and a girl who more or less look exactly like him. And despite being old, Bobby also appears to possess the same body only he’s wrinkly and has white hair. This is the imagination of a kid, after all.
The episode is going to go back and forth between the events of the plot and Old Man Bobby. It’s entirely unnecessary.
Elder Bobby then starts to tell the grand kids what happened that day and the story is finally allowed to begin. It starts at the Generic home with Bobby recalling the smell of his mother’s Christmas cookies. We will soon find out these cookies shouldn’t smell great as she refers to them as frosted whole wheat fiber holiday nuggets. They look about as appetizing as the dough is gray and reminds me of the gruel from Kamp Krusty. This is also the time for Bobby to setup his transformation as he’s obsessed with getting a Captain Squash Game Master for Christmas. His mom asks him if he knows what Christmas is all about and he gives the predictable kid answer: presents. She doesn’t correct him though and instead reprimands him for eating raw dough.
The family’s idea for a Christmas carol is just to take everything about Christmas and cram it into one song.
The family then piles into the station wagon to head to the home of their grandparents. It’s a long ride, long enough that everyone in the car is sick of hearing Christmas songs on the radio before they get there. This prompts Martha to encourage her bored kids Kelly (Charity James), Derek (Kevin Michaels), and Bobby to come up with their own Christmas carol. They basically just start throwing shit against the wall as they want to incorporate basically everything they love about Christmas into one song: jingle bells, Frosty, Santa, a “knight” before Christmas, snow, etc. It’s sort of cute as it’s done by presenting an idyllic Christmas setting and then images of all of the suggestions just start cluttering the screen. It does end on a fruit cake joke though, and I hate fruit cake jokes. Plus Bobby breaks the fourth wall to reference Barry Manilow which certainly dates this one.
He’s very fond of maps.
Eventually the family finally arrives at the home of Martha’s parents. Martha’s father is apparently Swedish? Or else the mid-western accent is just being taken to strange, new, places. Either way, Bobby once more breaks the fourth wall to request we not make fun of his family and we should respect the young boy’s wishes. We cut back to elder Bobby telling his story in which he sets up how he wants to tell his grandpa and grandma about the game he wants for Christmas only to find that his grandpa only wants to talk about one thing: directions. He even pulls down a shade in the living room which has a map on it as he interrogates Howard about the route he took to get there. Martha basically narcs on her own husband to confess they got lost while Bobby is allowed to display his aptitude for observational humor by questioning why kids always ask “are we there yet?” while adults ask “how did you get here?”
Uncle Ted is quite affectionate towards his brother-in-law.
Kelly then walks into the living room to question where a foul odor is coming from. Derek blames Bobby, but elder Bobby is returned just to tell us his grandmother’s house apparently always smelled like shit. The smell theme will continue. The doorbell rings and it’s Uncle Ted (Tino Insana) with his sister, Aunt Ruth (Susan Tolsky), the baker of really awful fruit cake. Ted dispenses with Christmas noogies and even has some mistletoe to sneak a smooch with…Howard? Meanwhile, Ruth practically tares Bobby’s face off while pinching his cheeks. Bobby though is delighted to see his uncle which is actually really sweet. He’s also happy because they brought the tree which they soon drag into the house. They put it up and then all have a good smell.
The Philadelphia wing of the Generic family is nothing to brag about.
We then pivot back to elder Bobby as his grand kids want him to get to the part where they open presents. Bobby tells them they’re not there yet, for first he has to tell them about his dad’s cousins from Philadelphia. They’re different and we see they dress quite formally. The father’s name is Sydney and he is clearly voiced by Rob Paulsen. He has a wife named Maive? Mame? Either way, she looks a lot older than him. They also have two teen aged kids in Jeffrey (Paulsen) and Brianna. None of the credits detail who voices who, so let’s just pile a bunch of names right here: Jim Fisher, Pat Fraley, Andrea Martin, Jim Staahl, and we might as well mention Frank Welker, who voices the family dog, Roger.
The Philly Generics are pretty condescending and their kids are just big jerks. It’s really quite puzzling that they would drive all the way out there from Philadelphia to be some place they clearly do not wish to be. Bobby is not at all bothered by the hostility as he just assumes with this many people in the house he’s sure to get what he wants for Christmas! He then declares that’s what Christmas is all about so they can really drive home the true meaning of Christmas later.
Nothing like a good family argument and a lit Christmas tree to set the mood.
The families then decorate the tree, and no one can agree on anything. Sydney thinks they need more lights while Ted insists on more tinsel. Ruth and the other lady argue about ornament placement, and everyone eventually just starts shouting. Bobby remarks it’s nice that Christmas gives families a chance to talk. His dad then asks him for the star, and Bobby daydreams about himself as a star. He has an odd idea for what a star should be as he imagines himself as a Phantom of the Opera-like character in front of a gigantic, synth, organ. He eventually snaps out of it and hands his dad the star who places it atop a well-decorated tree. Ted plugs the lights into a clearly overloaded socket A Christmas Story style, and the whole family gathers around to bask in the festive glow of the tree. Okay, now I want it to be Christmas in my house.
Bobby is apparently not one for carolers.
Next on the agenda is dinner. What’s on the menu? A traditional Christmas turkey. Howard first brings the bird to the kid’s table and Bobby remarks that it stinks. Howard gets mad at his son’s rudeness, while his sister informs him he’s just smelling their brother’s socks which were left to dry on a nearby radiator. Bobby is then tasked with saying “Grace,” so he literally just says “Grace.” The family shares a short, awkward, pause then Ted decides that’s good enough and digs in. The family then resumes its bickering as they can’t even agree on which direction to pass the sides. Sydney also feels the need to correct Ted on his use of the term “cranberry sauce” as the gelatin stuff doesn’t meet his definition. Seriously, who invited this guy?! Jeffrey then starts an argument about stuffing, and only the ringing of the doorbell can save this meal. Bobby is the only one to get up and answer it. He finds a group of carolers, and promptly shuts the door on them and returns to his seat. When his dad asks who was there, he says “I don’t know,” which just prompts his mother to ask “Well, what did they say?” “Fa-la-la-la-la-la…”
This show isn’t much to look at, but that’s a hell of an image for a Christmas special.
The interrogation is interrupted when Bobby notices another odd smell, and this time it isn’t socks. There’s smoke filling the room and Bobby is the only one to get up and run over to the source to find the Christmas tree in flames. I mean, really people, you let the five-year-old investigate the source of a fire?!
Yes, Bobby, we can see that the house is presently on fire.
The family is forced to exit the house and Bobby then wonders aloud how Santa will get him his toys with the house on fire? We then see some of Bobby’s imagination at work as Santa (Welker) lands on the roof of the house (with the proper amount of reindeer) and tries to go down the chimney with Bobby’s coveted Captain Squash Game Master. When he tries to descend the chimney he’s set on fire and rocketed into the night sky. Surprisingly, he doesn’t pass in front of the moon.
With all of the houses he visits in a given year, you gotta believe this happens to Santa on the regular.
As Bobby laments the loss of a toy he never had, two firemen decide to reprimand the five-year-old about proper fire safety. Maybe lecture the adults? They also push their artificial tree agenda on Bobby which is so distasteful! The family then just sort of stands there and surveys the damage to the house. They soon start arguing as Ted blames Sydney’s lights for causing the whole thing. As Martha tries to speak, she can’t be heard over the arguing and Bobby is forced to yell to get everyone to be quiet so his mom can talk, which is rather sweet of him. Martha just scolds everyone finishing on the tried and true line of “Can’t we all just get along?” Grandpa then suggests to Bobby they head inside to see what’s worth saving. For a guy who basically just lost his house, he’s in a rather cheery mood.
One present made it through the fire, and wouldn’t ya know, it’s for Bobby.
The inside of the house is pretty much wrecked. The fire tore through the living room and left a rather large hole in the roof. Bobby’s mom calls everyone over to the carcass of the once fine-looking Christmas tree to announce one present survived the fire: Bobby’s present. He unwraps it eagerly to find his Squash game. He’s overjoyed, until he sees his cousin Jeffrey crying because he wanted one of those for Christmas, but it was under the tree and burned up. He then mournfully remarks he’ll have to wait until his birthday in July to get one. Bobby falls for this obvious con and hands over his present to Jeffrey. He perks up and accepts the gift, while Bobby’s mom tells him she’s so proud of him. Bobby says he feels good to do it, while I sit here in disbelief that the adults in the room allowed a teenager to take a kindergartners only Christmas gift! Jeffrey sucks!
This kid sucks.
The rest of the family take a moment to praise Bobby, who now understands the true meaning of Christmas. Ted also forces them to confront how shitty they’ve been acting, and he even breaks out the mistletoe to smooch Philadelphia Lady. Ruth comes in with her fruit cake, which apparently survived the fire as well. At first, no one wants any, but an elbow to the belly from his wife causes Howard to volunteer, followed by Ted. It starts snowing again, which in a house with no roof means it’s also snowing inside. Grandpa suggests they move the gathering to the barn, along with anything still worth saving.
This is about as close to a Jesus scene as you’re going to get.
In the barn, the family huddles around the twins in an obvious manger scene setup. Bobby, seated by the piano, remarks “What’s that smell?” as we’re apparently still doing this. Of course, they’re in a barn so it stinks. Bobby then decides to share his new Christmas carol with the family, which his siblings wrote down for him. Aunt Ruth plays the piano as Bobby sings. It’s basically “Deck the Halls,” but with Bobby’s favorite Christmas things. The melody also keeps changing as Bobby introduces new things, most of which were mentioned back when this bit first surfaced. His inability to remember the names of Santa’s reindeer is cute. It ends on the notion of “The spirit of giving is what we should do the whole year round,” and the entire family sings the line.
And this sequence from Bobby’s song is as close to a “Santa in front of a full moon,” as we’re going to get.
The festivities then come to an end and everyone heads home. Old man Bobby comes in to tell his grand kids that was the year he learned what Christmas is really about. We then see Howard carrying Bobby to bed as he remarks he hopes Bobby will remember the lesson from this Christmas. He asks, “Remember what?” and his dad just laughs softly and rubs his head. Bobby then laughs himself and remarks that it’s always fun to tease your parents. Live-action Howie then pops in, crying, telling us how he enjoyed the story. Bobby thinks it’s odd he’s crying, and asks for some meat. He always gets hungry around the holidays apparently. This one is over!
Pleasant dreams, Bob-oh!
The Bobby’s World Christmas special with the stupidly long episode title is okay. It’s so concerned with setting up the moral of the episode that it practically beats the audience over the head with it. It’s too telegraphed, and Bobby giving his lone gift to a spoiled, rich, teen, just doesn’t land in the feels. Maybe if he had given it to an orphan or something, or was just forced to go without, the scene could have had more impact. Instead it just feels too wooden to even be confused with corn. I also dislike how the episode writes Santa off. If I were watching this as a kid, and surely I did at some point, I’d just wonder why Bobby thinks Santa can’t go to his house with his present? Santa doesn’t go to your grandmother’s house, unless you’re sleeping there on Christmas Eve!
We need to check-in one more time with a crying Howie before we say goodbye.
The one thing this episode does have going for it is the likability of Bobby himself. He’s cute, and some of his observations about the world around him are genuinely amusing, though a bunch aren’t as witty as the writing would like you to believe. Most of the other characters are a bit under-served, but this is also one episode out of 81 in which most of these characters have a chance to develop. The family from Philadelphia definitely sucks though, I hope they didn’t return in a future episode.
I hope you ended up getting that Captain Squash thing, Bobby.
If you wish to spend Christmas with Bobby and his family the entire series is available on DVD. It was released as a manufacture on demand title so it’s not the easiest thing to acquire now. It is available via Prime and if you have a subscription it’s included. You can also purchase digital versions of the episode. Bobby’s World also isn’t a well-protected piece of intellectual property so you can also stream it for free. As I write this, it’s available on YouTube so go for it if you wish. This is definitely more of a nostalgia view, if you liked the show as a kid then you’ll probably have fun revisiting it. Otherwise, I give it just a tepid recommend. Watch it if you just feel like experiencing something different from your regular Christmas viewing habits, assuming it isn’t already a part of it.
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
It’s rare when you encounter a cartoon series that has back-to-back episodes dedicated to Christmas, but that happened with the first season of Animaniacs. If you’re not familiar with the show, Animaniacs is essentially the spiritual successor to Tiny Toon Adventures as another Steven Spielberg presented cartoon series. It, even more so than Tiny Toons,…
As someone who loves the cartoon shorts produced by Warner and Disney, I sometimes am guilty of overlooking the contributions of MGM from that same era. MGM was a big player back then, and their flagship creation was Tom and Jerry. The cat and mouse pair first debuted in 1940 and were the creation of…
Once upon a time, Bugs Bunny was a big enough star to land numerous television specials. He’s still a recognizable character across the world, but I sometimes feel as if Bugs isn’t as loved as he should be. I can’t recall the last time I saw him standing next to a Warner Bros. logo in…
Come the late 90s I was definitely losing track of what was airing on Fox Kids. X-Men came to an end, as did Spider-Man and The Tick. They were replaced with Silver Surfer and a new Spider-Man cartoon that was pretty awful. There was also that live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show called The Next Mutation which was a bit horrifying to look at. Even a lot of the comedy shows were coming to an end like Animaniacs, Eek! the Cat, and Life with Louie.
One of the shows that was meant to replace one of the above-mentioned was Space Goofs. Space Goofs is a French cartoon about some aliens who crash land on Earth and wind up hiding out in a seemingly abandoned home for rent. They’re pretty wise to the fact that if humans find them they’ll be rounded up and experimented upon so they do their best to scare people away and keep their presence a secret. All the while, they learn about human culture largely via watching television.
Space Goofs is pretty much a forgotten piece of 90s pop.
It’s a show I recall seeing ads for, but I don’t think I ever watched it. It originally aired at 9:30 on Saturday mornings and I just wasn’t awake at 9:30 when I was in my teens. After some reshuffling took place on Saturdays, it moved to 10:30 where I would have been far more likely to be awake, but I never checked it out. By 1998, Fox had a ton of competition on Saturday as ABC had revamped its One Saturday Morning and Kids WB was now a real contender with Batman, Superman, and Pokemon. As such, it would seem Space Goofs got lost in the shuffle. After the first season, Fox booted it from Saturday to Monday afternoon where it went to die. It doesn’t look like the show ever popped up on any other network like a lot of Fox Kids shows.
The snowy home where the aliens reside. This show was originally titled Home to Rent before it was changed to Space Goofs.
As part of that inaugural season, Space Goofs tackled Christmas. This was a segmented cartoon show so each short is only about 10 minutes in length. It was animated by Gaumont Multimedia and actually has a bit of a modern look to it as it was probably done digitally. The backgrounds are pretty minimalist and the character designs are simple. Perhaps the most interesting aspects of the show include the theme song by Iggy Pop and the character Candy (Charlie Adler), who is clearly a homosexual. It’s still considered progressive and even taboo in some circles to have a homosexual character in a children’s cartoon in 2020, so to have one in 1997 is pretty surprising. It sounds like the French dub was more obvious about it, while the subject isn’t really tackled head-on from what I’ve seen in the English dub. In the Spanish dub, the character’s gender was changed to female to avoid any controversy. Since we’re talking about a little green alien, I suppose that works.
The aliens (left to right): Candy, Gorgious, Bud, Stereo, Etno.
The episode begins with the aliens sitting around the television in their pajamas watching a horror movie. Our aliens are Candy, Gorgious (Danny Mann), Bud (Jeff Bennett), Stereo Monovici (Jeff Bennett), and Etno (Maurice LaMarche). Candy has that Charlie Adler gay voice you’ve probably heard before while Etno is LaMarche doing his Vincent Price impression. It’s a colorful collection of voices that are quite suitable for these illustrations.
Bud practically has a nervous breakdown when everyone goes to bed leaving him to watch horror films all alone.
The aliens are all watching a film about a red blob. Bud, who is the most involved in the program, is getting rather anxious and is further upset when his comrades all retire for the evening. Left to himself, he starts to freak out, especially when he hears noises coming from the chimney.
Our Santa for the next 11 minutes with his frozen helper Brad.
Unbeknownst to Bud, Santa (LaMarche) and his elf helper Brad (Adler) are about to pay them a visit. Santa and Brad discover there’s a house with five individuals in it who have never appeared on the list before. Santa is determined to make his presence felt at this home in the only way Santa can – by bringing presents. He goes into a rather extravagant speech before the two set down on the roof. It should be noted, Santa is only accompanied by two reindeer, a severe Christmas fail.
Despite watching lots of television, these aliens apparently know nothing of Santa Claus.
When Bud hears noises coming from the roof he wakes up the rest of his alien buds who all gather at the fireplace. Bud is convinced the red blob from the movie he was watching is coming after them, but the rest aren’t so sure. Etno takes a look up the chimney and he does indeed see a big red blob coming his way. Of course, this isn’t a monster, just Santa’s big red ass which crawls down the chimney with animation that reminds me of Stimpy’s butt dance during the “Happy Happy Joy Joy” song from The Ren & Stimpy Show.
A rather solid depiction of pain on old Santa’s face.
Etno informs the others that Bud is right, and he’s pretty freaked out. He mentions the blob resembles an apple, and sure enough, as Santa’s rear descends into view it does indeed look like a big red apple (or a big, red, ball-sack) which gets the attention of Gorgious. Gorgious is essentially a giant mouth with eyes and a nose, so he does the thing he’s best equipped to do: he bites Santa’s ass. Santa climbs out of the chimney in a surprisingly calm manner despite the chunk missing from his bottom. Bradley is surprised to see Santa finished already, but Santa informs him (his face is contorted with pain) that there appears to be a clog in the chimney. It would seem Santa is rather embarrassed by the whole ordeal and would prefer Brad didn’t know he just went ass to mouth with an alien.
This Santa has a bit of a dark side, it would seem.
Inside the house, the aliens are congratulating Gorgious on a job well done, their pajamas suddenly vanishing. Bud isn’t congratulating anyone though as he knows the blob will be back. He then screams and points at the fireplace as some goo starts to leak in. Etno nominates Candy to do something about it, and he turns to the camera and says “Ships” to express mock enthusiasm in a cheeky manner.
That’s gonna require some skin grafts.
Santa is pouring some kind of corrosive substance down the chimney and is a bit gleeful about it. Candy checks it out and does not look eager to stick his head up the chimney. He looks back at his comrades and sees their assuring expressions, sighs, and sticks his head up the chimney. He screams and re-emerges shouting “It’s chemical warfare!” as his scalp melts away. He then realizes he’s standing in a puddle of the substance and his skin (Etno says shoes) melts revealing human-like feet underneath. We then see the burned part of Candy’s head basically turn to ash making him look like a giant, green, lit, cigarette. An interesting visual for a children’s show.
This Santa can really take a beating.
Stereo then suggests they try a new method of trapping the intruder and produces a giant mousetrap. They first test it on a teddy bear, which decapitates it reducing Gorgious to tears while the others react in a gleeful manner. On the roof, Santa decides it would be best to descend headfirst on this next try as he squeezes himself down the chimney. The aliens wait with the trap below, and once Santa’s face comes into view, they shove it up the chimney! They hear a satisfying snap as Santa goes soaring through the sky with the mousetrap attached to his head while Johann Strauss plays.
Never tell Santa to use the door.
One of the reindeer makes a quip (“Right out of the ballpark.”) as Santa climbs onto the roof. He orders Brad to get the trap off of him and I can’t tell if he’s talking through his mouth or a nostril. Brad sticks a foot on his face for leverage and pries the trap off. As Santa heads back to the chimney, the reindeer suggests, rudely, he try the door. Santa gives him an angry look, marches towards him, and insists this is tradition. He’s going down the chimney!
More ass-play with Santa!
Below, Candy is giving directions to someone as they drive a truck into the room. He pops the hood and produces some jumper cables. This is not going to end well for poor Santa. As the aliens ready the cables, they all make sure to inform the audience that this isn’t a safe thing to do. I’m glad we got that out of the way.
The only Christmas tree in the episode and really the only Christmas decor of any kind.
Santa, going rear first once again, approaches the fireplace near enough so that the aliens can attach the jumper cables. Once affixed, Etno gives the order to start the truck and Santa is once again sent rocketing into the night sky, again accompanied by Strauss. Bradley can only watch as Santa comes to rest in a Christmas tree.
It’s been one long, stressful, night for these guys.
Bud and Etno, with heavy bags under their eyes, keep their eyes glued on the ceiling. Bud is freaking out as they hear footsteps above them and the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw. The others are losing their will to keep this up, but Etno says they have one final weapon. On the roof, Santa is basically going mad as he and Brad are constructing something massive. When the camera pans out, we see what looks like a makeshift bobsled track on the roof of the house.
Beardless Santa is a bit unsettling.
Inside the home, the aliens have filled the fireplace with dynamite, and Etno has his hands on the activator. On the roof, Santa has climbed into a bobsled (with a helmet on) that’s numbered “13” which seems awfully unfortunate. As he descends the track, the sled picks up tremendous speed causing all of the hair on his face to be torn from him and his nostrils to flair like giant parachutes. The camera cuts quickly from Santa, to Etno, to Santa, to Etno throughout and when the jolly fat man hits the chimney Etno activates the dynamite.
Despite all of that violence and mayhem, Santa came through for the aliens.
Santa is sent blasting off into the night sky leaving the aliens feeling victorious. As they celebrate, presents start littering the room. The aliens are confused, but they begin to open them and find them to be full of things they wanted, including a new teddy bear for Gorgious. They realize that whoever was trying to get into their home meant them no harm. Stereo remarks how they mistook him for the color of his skin, and it seems the aliens are about to learn an important lesson, until Etno wonders aloud what else he brought them and they dive back into the presents.
These guys still have a long night ahead of them.
We then return to the sky, where a heavily bandaged Santa is flying through the air, his reindeer seemingly frozen. Bradley seems fine though as Santa remarks that the alien house was a piece of cake, even though he can scarcely move. He then asks Bradley what house is next, and he starts listing off some horrifying names: Frank Stein, Lizzie Borden, Young Jack Ripper. Santa then looks at the camera and his bandages fall off revealing his face as he laughs ready to take on all-comers. The sleigh passes in front of the moon to end things.
The writers of Space Goofs certainly know how to properly end a Christmas special.
I never really heard any good things about Space Goofs, so this wasn’t a show I was eager to check out. This episode has been on my list for years, to give you an idea of just how excited I was to watch it. Turns out though, it’s pretty solid. I didn’t find anything hilarious, or really felt myself getting attached to any of the characters, but I did enjoy the premise. It’s not often you encounter a Christmas special in which the would-be gift receivers do their best to keep Santa out. Futurama would go on to do so, but the circumstances were entirely different. Here we have some aliens with no knowledge of Santa just afraid someone is breaking into their home. Meanwhile, this version of Santa is basically a fanatic. He’s going to deliver those presents if it kills him. I definitely enjoyed watching his descent into madness as the episode went on and it felt appropriate that he didn’t feel defeated in the end, but somehow invigorated despite his broken body.
I rather enjoyed this somewhat deranged, hopelessly devoted to his job, Santa.
The personalities of the aliens don’t really have a chance to shine through. The cartoon is fairly brief, so I imagine it would take several episodes to give me a real handle on things. It’s obvious Etno is the de-facto leader or voice of reason, while Bud is probably supposed to be the one the audience likes the most. Candy is definitely unique and I enjoyed the Charlie Adler screams when the acid dripped all over him. Their designs feel very “90s” to me, for lack of a better description. I’m reminded of the stop-motion cartoon Bump in the Night when I look at some of them. The voice acting was great though, which I expected of this cast, and I liked the addition of classical music which had my mind going back to Loony Tunes shorts.
If you want to check out this holiday edition of Space Goofs then you’re in luck. Apparently no one sees much value in the property, so the official Space Goofs YouTube channel has uploaded every episode of the show, from what I can tell. No subscription required, you’ll just have to sit through an ad break midway through. There are certainly worse ways to kill twelve minutes this Christmas.
Can’t wait until tomorrow for more Christmas? Check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
The 1980s sometimes feel like they belonged to the Ghostbusters. That’s because, for me, the Ghostbusters were always around. The film came out when I was but a wee baby, but by the time I had a real interest in television The Real Ghostbusters (not to be confused with the Filmation series) was airing…
It’s not my favorite, but if you wanted to argue that Spectacular Spider-Man is the best animated series based on a Marvel property then I wouldn’t fight you on it. The show ran from March 2008 to November 2009 and produced a tidy 26 episodes. It was a re-telling of Spider-Man with an obvious emphasis…
I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Hanna-Barbera. Well, mostly hate. Their animation is lazy, a lot of their characters (including many in this so-called comedy Christmas special) just aren’t funny, and they were also impossible to ignore because they made so many damn, formulaic, cartoons. At the same time though, I grew up…
A few years ago, I talked about my love of X-Men, the animated series, via a book review of Previously…on X-Men by Eric Lewald. That book chronicled the development of the 92 animated series that helped propel the Fox Kids Network to the top of the Saturday morning leaderboards through notes from the author and extensive interviews with the folks that helped bring that series to life. Now, Lewald is back with his wife Julia with a complementary piece all about the artists and artwork that went into creating that series, X-Men: The Art and Making of the Animated Series.
There are probably a few individuals out there who first wrinkled their nose at the thought of an art book based on the animated series starring the X-Men. That’s because the show was somewhat famously underserved by Saban Entertainment who had little interest in sinking much money into the art and animation that went into the show. It’s not that the show was abysmal to look at, it’s more that it was always going to be compared with Batman: The Animated Series. Both shows launched in 92 on Fox, though X-Men only in a sneak preview with the proper launch coming in January of 1993. Batman was on weekday afternoons, while X-Men was allowed to reign over Saturday morning. The other big difference though was Batman had the might of Warner Bros behind it which produced the series and just licensed it out to Fox. X-Men had the backing of Marvel, which wasn’t what it is today. Marvel was a bit touch and go for many years even when it was starting to take over the news stand with a lot of help from the mutants who starred in this series. Rather than self-finance though, Marvel licensed it out to Saban who partnered with Graz Entertainment. The budget was never going to be the same, nor was the confidence. X-Men was unproven outside of the comic book world, and thus received just a one season order initially, followed by a second, before eventually the big order came in.
X-Men on the front, bad guys on the rear. What does it say about me that I think I prefer this to the cover?
Despite all of that, and a legend who had no idea how the property should be presented (::cough:: Stan ::cough::), the show was a smashing success. It’s interesting to look back on because I think many consider Batman to be the superior show. And yet, X-Men was the ratings champ and my favorite of the two. And when it came to my friends, most liked Batman, all loved X-Men. I don’t know why that is, though I have some theories. Batman was a known property and the show reflected the Tim Burton films. Whenever something goes from the big screen to the small one (especially in the 90s), there’s a feeling that the TV version is inferior. The X-Men may have lacked the recognition of Batman, but it also lacked any sort of baggage. Batman was also quite great at being a moody, superhero, show with a lot of style. It was also mostly rooted in that, where as X-Men was an ensemble with more characters to lean on. Batman was almost devoid of personality as a character by choice, while basically every member of the X-Men (well, maybe not Cyclops) was rather colorful able to display a wide range of emotion and even drop a one-liner or two. Or maybe it was just the prestige of being on Saturday morning? Either way, it was a good time to be alive.
It’s an art book, so expect a lot of artwork!
Both shows were part of a gradual maturation taking place in children’s cartoons. We basically had left the wacky and cheap 80s in favor of something that actually had respect for its audience. Shows like The Pirates of Dark Water and my beloved Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars were quite different in tone from the likes of Thundercats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Most of those shows still featured a character that could be turned to for comedic relief, and even Batman has the Joker. X-Men didn’t really feature that though. Morph could have been that character, but he was killed off rather quickly. It’s a drama starring people in bright spandex that captivated me as a kid. The serialized nature and some of the nuance of the show asked something of me, and I was willing to rise to the program as a mere 7 year-old. It’s no surprise to me that when I look back on my youth, X-Men is there and always will be as it was far and away my favorite program.
Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the book is getting to read the descriptions that go along with each storyboard panel.
And despite what you may think, a lot of really talented and devoted artists contributed to this show. Knock the animation all you want, but I’ve always been rather insistent that the show looks pretty great in stills. Sure, pick through it and you’ll find some weird stuff or miss-colored limbs and costumes, that’s true of a lot of shows from that era. Where this book is able to shine is with the stuff not broadcast. All of the developmental art that went into the show; costume ideas, height charts, storyboards, are quite rewarding to look at. When Lewald and his team were handed this property, there were decades of material to cherry-pick for the show and a lot of ideas were cast aside. There’s also plenty of production art, like cels and such, that are quite interesting to look at. Especially some of the backgrounds, like the lair of Mr. Sinister, which featured several layers of artwork to make it right.
And it’s not just art! The books is broken out into six chapters, plus an intro and an afterword, with each containing a detailed breakdown of what went into each section. Some of this stuff is lifted from the prior book, so it will be a bit familiar for those who read it, and some of the details are new. Since this book is focused on the art of the series, you’ll hear additional nuggets about what went into a character’s look or a particular background. There’s a lot of ink spent on the various cameos that occurred throughout the series and some of the other details may surprise and amaze. One such nugget came from Director and Storyboard Artist/Supervisor Larry Houston who pointed out how difficult it was to animate a character like Mr. Sinister. His irregular cape basically forced Houston to storyboard the character with as little motion as possible. Basically, the camera was either directly in front or behind him and he was basically never allowed to rotate. It’s fun to go back and watch the series with such information in hand and it gives some newfound appreciation for all of the work Larry and his team had to do before sending an episode off to Korea for animation.
When the X-Men ruled the world!
There’s a lot to unpack in this book and I don’t want to reveal too much since a lot of the enjoyment I had was uncovering things I either didn’t know or really paid little attention to. There’s also some nice additions to this one like a collection of all of the episode logs and a picture to go along with it. Some time is spent on looking back at the X-Men craze, like the Pizza Hut promotion and the action figure line from ToyBiz, which might make you wish for a third book that covers all of that tie-in merch. The book itself is also quite lovely. It’s hardbound with new cover art from Houston, I think. There’s no explicit “Cover” credit, just a case credit to Houston with ink by Rick Hoberg and colors by Laura Martin. It’s a bit confusing as the inside of the front and back cover are storyboards which were definitely done by Houston, so the credit may be referring to that. Regardless, the cover, featuring the main team including Morph and Bishop, and the rear cover featuring the villains of the series look great. Pages are nice and thick and the whole thing totals 288 pages. Since it’s mostly artwork, it’s not a tremendously long read, but it’s hardly brief. I mostly read it while sipping a morning or afternoon coffee (first starting my read, appropriately enough, on a Saturday morning) over the course of a week. It was a wonderful, leisurely, trip back to the 90s and my youth that not only left me wanting more, but also with a desire to go back and revisit the show once again.
One of my favorite inclusions in the book is the visual episode guide with accompanying logs, a tremendous resource to have on-hand.
X-Men: The Art and Making of the Animated Series is a great companion to Previously…on X-Men. It’s a book intended to satiate fans of the show, but would also probably entertain casual fans as well. I had a great time engaging with the art from the property, and while I already had a pretty terrific appreciation of the art that went into the show, I think those who might not have that same level of appreciation will likely leave with a bit more. Eric and Julia Lewald do a great job of recounting their time with the show and the various artists and executives they speak with bring a lot to the table. It’s my assumption that anyone with a love for this old show will be delighted by this book and it’s something I plan to flip through again.
It was now a couple of weeks ago I posted about some toys I always wanted as a kid, but never got. Shortly after, I rectified some of those decades old injustices by purchasing the Dragonzord with Green Ranger from Bandai’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line of action figures from 1993. The Dragonzord was my number 2 miss, but number 1 had always been the Deluxe Megazord from that same line. Well, predictably, I have now made peace with the two biggest toy omissions from my youth by securing my own set of Dinozords!
The Megazord was always appealing to me because it was essentially five separate toys that could combine into two additional toys. That’s basically seven toys in one box, and the fact that it was pretty screen accurate made it appeal to me even more. I was just a casual fan of the television show, but those toys were just too awesome to ignore. The demand for the toys was something I couldn’t overcome though, so I learned to go without. As an adult though, I don’t have to.
“We need Dinozord power now!”
I purchased a Megazord secondhand. Unlike the Dragonzord set I acquired, this one did not come with a box, but it did come with all of the parts. In my search for an authentic early 90s Megazord I found it was common to find some missing the sword, shield, and especially the canons that double as feet for the pterodactyl zord. Some also would feature a broken gun on the triceratops zord or missing horns. I assume most of these that were acquired in 1993 were played with and not kept on a shelf so it’s not a surprise that it’s hard to find a fully intact Megazord. It’s also why these things end up being quite expensive. I don’t feel as good about the price I paid for this set as I did the Dragonzord, but it is what it is. I’m actually relieved the seller no longer had the box or else I probably would have had to spend more!
Like the Dragonzord, I had some options when it came to buying a Megazord in 2020. Bandai released two different versions of the Megazord in 2010 as part of the Legacy line of figures. That one, from what I can tell based on video reviews, is very similar to this one. The functionality is virtually identical as both basically transform as it did on television. The standard 2010 version has a pretty ugly sword, but there was an updated version with some diecast parts and a much nicer looking sword. Overall, the 2010 Megazord appears to be a touch smaller, but the thing that bugged me about it is the triceratops zord lost the gun articulation on its tail. It’s a really minor thing, but it irritated me because it’s a clear downgrade. The 2010 version should have been superior in every way to a toy released in 1993! Also like the Dragonzord, there’s a Soul of Chogokin version from Tamashii Nations. It’s fantastic looking and easily the superior Megazord, but it’s also upwards of $300 at this point. There was also a model kit, Mini-Pla, version that’s almost adorably small and still retains the five zords into one (unlike the Build-A-Figure version from the Legacy Collection line that’s just an action figure) that I would have loved to consider, but it’s long since sold out and now fetches around 200 bucks on the secondary market. Ultimately, it was the 93 Megazord that vexed me as a kid so it was the 93 Megazord that I should acquire.
On their own, they’re merely okay, but put them together…
In case you’re not familiar with the Megazord concept, please allow me to present this refresher. The Megazord is the combination of the five Dinozords. Each of the five original Power Rangers was aligned with a prehistoric beast and each Ranger controlled what is essentially a giant robotic representation for each beast. They are: Tyranosaurus, Pterodactyl, Triceratops, Sabre-toothed Tiger (sic), and Mastodon. In nearly every episode, the monster of the day the Power Rangers are fighting grows to roughly the size of a skyscraper, so the Rangers attack via their zords. They can attack separately, though rarely do. Instead, they combine their beasts into one massive robot: the Megazord.
Tank Mode is a bit goofy, but I have an affection for it for some reason.
The Megazord actually has two forms: tank mode and battle mode. Tank mode is the less elegant version as it’s basically just the Megazord, but sitting down without a head. The T-Rex serves as the body, and the sabre-toothed tiger and triceratops form the right and left legs respecitively. The mastodon zord loses its head and wraps around the T-Rex to form the arms of the Megazord while the pterodactyl zord just sort of rides on the thing. The feet of the pterodactyl become the canons which attach to the mastodon arms, while the mastodon head sits on the T-Rex chest and the whole thing rolls similar to a tank.
There’s the face you know and love!
When the Power Rangers want to switch to the more memorable battle mode, the tank basically just stands up. The mastodon head is removed and the pterodactyl becomes a chest plate. The T-Rex head folds down and into its chest revealing the Megazord’s head and hands pop out of the arms. The canons from before are affixed to the Megazord’s back and look like boosters or something. The Megazord can attack with its fists, or rely on the power sword. The mastodon head can also be utilized as a shield, though it rarely was used in the show in this fashion.
Both transformations are essentially identical in how they occur with the toy as they do on television. This is probably due to the designer of the Megazord having to account for future toys down the road. At least, that’s what I assume. The show really only takes liberties in that once the models combine on the show, they’re swapped out with a costumed actor and the proportions change slightly. The most notable being the head of the costumed performer is much larger than what ends up on the toy. The only other aspect of the toy that isn’t entirely screen accurate is the T-Rex tail, which kind of just disappears on TV but is folded up the back of the toy. And the actor is able to move in a far more graceful manner than the toy. The Megazord is basically only articulated at the shoulders and hips and they’re just hinge joints. The lack of ball-jointed shoulders and basic elbow articulation really limit the available poses for the toy as it basically can only assume one position on your shelf.
This version of the Megazord is composed almost exclusively of colored plastic. This means there’s less opportunity for paint-slop and chipping over the years. The graphics and highlights are all done with stickers so when buying secondhand you’re at the mercy of whomever originally put these stickers on. Like the Dragonzord, the stickers aren’t 100% screen accurate, but it’s really only noticeable when doing a direct comparison. It doesn’t look like the original toy asked too much of parents and kids when it came to applying them and my unit looks as good as one could expect of a toy from 1993. It was clearly loved and enjoyed by a kid long ago and it shows. The sword is quite attractive as it has a shiny paint-app and is probably the portion of the figure that would be most likely to show ware. Same for the similar chrome portions of the other zords, namely the mastodon tusks and triceratops horns.
Whether you have instructions or not, transforming the Megazord is rather easy since you can basically just watch the show. The individual zords offer limited play. The mastodon and triceratops basically just sit there, though the triceratops has wheels. The pterodactyl also doesn’t do much, but since it’s a flier it doesn’t have to. The little canons can clip to it like feet, but they look stupid and I don’t recall seeing them in the show. The saber-toothed tiger has solid articulation though and it can emulate a running motion while also featuring moveable fangs. It’s a shame Bandai didn’t go the extra step of putting a hinged jaw on this one. The tyranosaurus has about as much function as you would expect, though it’s a little disappointing that it’s mouth has a big, red, wad, of plastic for the throat that makes it look odd. The connections are easy to utilize and pull apart just as easily, but they also won’t just fall off. The only complicated part is the mastodon which basically splits down the middle and clips around the T-Rex. Both of the leg zords are super simple, especially the triceratops which just has to fold its tail in and bend its neck, and even kids should be able to handle it.
In hand, the Megazord has some nice weight to it. It stands about ten and a half inches tall and is noticably larger than the Dragonzord, which is about nine and a quarter inches to the top of the head. Since it’s all plastic, it does get a bit creaky. The joints on mine are still fairly tight and I have no issues getting the Megazord to hold its arms out forward, basically it’s lone pose. On the individual zords, the tails of the triceratops and saber-tooth tiger are loose and getting them to stand in a blasting pose is a balancing act. The T-Rex tail is also a bit loose and doesn’t stay locked in place for very long. That’s also partly due to the toy needing to be bent forward at a pretty extreme angle so the legs don’t interfere with the tail. The little flaps that are the pterodactyl’s wings are also fairly loose, but they also don’t have to do much. All of the connections though are really satisfying and it’s a lot of fun to plug and play. It makes a nice clicking sound when things are put together and it’s really impressive what Bandai achieved since it seems like there’s little chance of forcing something into place at the risk of breaking it.
Dragonzord Battle Mode is a big boy.
Of course, the fun doesn’t end here. If you have the Dragonzord, you can take advantage of that as well. The Dragonzord has a battle mode in which it basically assumed the role of the T-Rex zord in the Megazord construction. The mastodon becomes the arms as the chest piece is removed and the Dragonzord arms fold in to make a new chest piece. A face can then fall down from the Dragonzord head while the legs of the Megazord serve the same purpose here. The T-Rex and pterodactyl are free to do whatever they wish, and in the show the T-Rex would often fight alongside the Dragonzord in this battle mode, though in toy form the scale is way off. The Dragonzord’s tail also combines with the former chest piece and the included shaft to make the Power Lance, or Power Lazer Drill (as the box refers to it as). It’s pretty neat to behold, and like the Megazord the transformation process is really satisfying. The only thing I don’t like about it is the drop-down face on the Dragonzord has nothing behind it so it kind of just swings there. And while the lance is pretty cool looking, it’s functionally useless since it’s so huge. It has a handle that basically just rests in the hand of the zord, but the zord itself can’t actually wield the thing. Modern iterations make this aspect work better by fudging with the scale just like the show does by including an extra lance for play purposes.
The Mega-Dragonzord is a bit cumbersome and messy looking, and yet somehow still kind of cool. I don’t think the drill and chest piece were ever displaying like that in the show, but for the toy it at least gives you something to do with them.
If you wish to leave your Megazord intact though, you can still combine it with the Dragonzord to from the Mega-Dragonzord. This one is a bit less interesting as it’s basically the Dragonzord with the chest and tail removed and draped over the top of the Megazord. The tail can clip onto one of the sides, as can the discarded chest piece of the Dragonzord, though it basically just looks cool. This version of the character was deployed more like a tank in the show as it would just shoot a giant laser at the enemy as opposed to battling with fists and sword or whatever. It’s also this version that can combine with the unfortunately named carrier zord, Titanus, to form the Ultrazord. It’s another tank-like mode and the only change is the chest of Titanus is clipped onto the chest of the Mega-Dragonzord as it’s placed inside the carrier zord. I never really cared for the Ultrazord as a kid, so I have little compulsion to go after a Titanus so you probably shouldn’t expect a review of that one to come.
I don’t see myself getting a Titanus to form the Ultrazord.
There’s no doubt in my mind that had I been able to collect this line as a kid I would have loved the hell out of it. These are some of the best toys of the early 90s and it’s no surprise they ended up being incredibly popular. I could see myself transforming and de-transforming these things constantly and swapping in all manner of other action figures I had laying around as bad guys, maybe even big stuffed animals. I was also the type of kid that could busy himself for long stretches of time just playing with my action figures so imagination was never an issue. Not that these toys even require much since they’re so similar to what was presented in the show.
Acquiring both the Megazord and the Dragonzord has certainly scratched an itch for me. I don’t think it’s going to lead to much more from me where Power Rangers are concerned, but who knows? My kids have really taken to it, and I read Hasbro is looking to release a Megazord later this year so I may need to keep an eye out for that if my kids remain interested. In looking at the other iterations that have come, I’m certainly tempted to by the Soul of Chogokin version, but I likely won’t be able to justify the expense and take on another line of collecting. That’s fine though, because I have what I always wanted. It may have taken nearly three decades, but I finally have a Megazord!
The Nostalgia Spot 