X-Men (TV series)

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For the newer X-Men animated series see X-Men: Evolution or Wolverine and the X-Men. For other uses see the X-Men (disambiguation) page.

X-Men
X-Men title card
Format	Animated series, Action, Adventure
Created by	Larry Houston Frank Squillace
Voices of	Cedric Smith Cathal J. Dodd Norm Spencer Iona Morris
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	76 (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Marvel Entertainment Saban Entertainment
Running time	22 min
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX (Fox Kids)
Original run	October 31, 1992 – September 20, 1997

X-Men, also known as X-Men: The Animated Series, is an American animated television series which debuted on October 31, 1992 in the United States on the Fox Network as part of its Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup (see 1992 in television).

X-Men is Marvel Comics' second attempt at an animated X-Men program, after the poorly-received^{[citation needed]} half-hour pilot "X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men" was broadcast multiple times between 1989 and 1992. The popularity and success of X-Men (along with Batman: The Animated Series, which also debuted in the Fox Kids 1992–93 season) helped launch a number of popular comic-based animated series in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Background

X-Men was originally to premiere over the Labor Day weekend in September; however, due to production delays, it was pushed to the end of October. The "Night of the Sentinels" two-part episode originally aired as a "sneak preview" even though it truly wasn't ready for broadcast. There were many animation errors in these two episodes, but the errors were later corrected when Fox re-aired the pilot in early 1993.^[1]

X-Men was one of the longest-lasting series on Fox Kids, second only to Batman: The Animated Series, its most acclaimed and successful to date.^{[citation needed]} Despite its final new episode airing in late 1997 after five complete seasons, Fox did not remove the show from their line-up until 1998. The show is also one of the highest rated and most viewed Saturday morning programs in American history.^{[citation needed]} During its peak years (1995 and 1996), the show was often shown weekday afternoons, in addition to Saturday mornings.

X-Men also stands as the longest-running Marvel Comics-based show, running for five seasons and 76 episodes. The second longest, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, lasted for five seasons and 65 episodes. Although produced by different animation studios, both series were set in the same animated universe, and the X-Men even made guest appearances on Spider-Man's show. (The second X-Men animated series, X-Men Evolution, does not share this continuity, nor does the second Spider-Man animated series of that time period, Spider-Man Unlimited.)

After the box office success of the live-action X-Men movie in the summer of 2000, Fox began airing reruns of the cartoon on weekday afternoons, but this ended in early 2001. Soon after, ABC Family and Toon Disney began airing reruns, due to Disney's buyout of all Saban Entertainment programs.

[edit] Synopsis

The show features an X-Men similar in look and line-up to the early 1990s X-Men drawn by Jim Lee, composed of Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Jubilee, Jean Grey, Professor X, as well as an original character, Morph, an adaptation of previous X-Men member Kevin Sydney.^[2] Though they were not part of the team as featured in the animated series, the following X-Men have all guest-starred in at least one episode: Colossus, Nightcrawler, Emma Frost, Forge, Havok, Polaris, Cannonball, Banshee, Iceman, Archangel, Longshot, Dazzler, Sunfire, Psylocke, Cable, and Bishop. Keen-eyed fans may also spot cameos by other familiar mutants, such as Feral, Rictor, and Blink.

A number of famous storylines and events from the comics are loosely adapted in the series, such as The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, the Phalanx Covenant, and the Legacy Virus. The third episode, "Enter Magneto," features a confrontation at a missile base: this is largely based on the X-Men's first battle with Magneto, as told in their 1963 debut X-Men #1. The season four episodes "Sanctuary, Parts I & II," which involve Magneto creating an orbiting haven for mutants, were influenced by several storylines from the comics, chiefly the first three issues of X-Men (Volume 2) and the "Fatal Attractions" crossover.

Beyond faithfully recreating many of the popular characters and stories from the comic books, the series also dealt fairly openly with mature social issues. The ills of prejudice, intolerance, isolation, and racism were all frequent themes in the animated series, as they were in the comics. The series also deals with other social issues, albeit sometimes in subtext, that are not often handled by children's programming:^{[citation needed]} divorce ("Proteus"), Christianity ("Nightcrawler" & "Bloodlines"), the Holocaust ("Enter Magneto," "Deadly Reunions," "Days of Future Past," and "The Phalanx Covenant"), AIDS hysteria ("Time Fugitives"), and even satires of television itself ("Mojovision" and "Longshot"). The Friends of Humanity, a prominent anti-mutant group that appears in the second season, bears great resemblance to the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacy groups.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Reception

The show is widely considered one of the best television adaptations of a comic series ever as well as one of the best animated TV series, often being compared to Batman: The Animated Series in terms of quality.^{[citation needed]} In its prime, X-Men garnered very high ratings for a Saturday morning cartoon, and received wide critical praise for its portrayal of many different storylines from the comics.^{[citation needed]}

The show currently has a score of 8.9/10 on IMDB.com^[3], and 8.9/10 on TV.com^[4].

In 2009, IGN ranked X-Men as the 13th greatest animated show of all time in their Top 100 list.^[5]

[edit] VHS & DVD releases

In Region 1, Buena Vista Home Entertainment has begun releasing X-Men: The Animated Series on DVD in volume sets. The releases named X-Men - Marvel Comic Book Collection are two-disc sets and to date two volumes have been released. Volume 1 & 2 were released on April 28, 2009. Volume 3 and 4 will be released on September 15, 2009. [1] Unfortunatley, the episodes on Volume 3 & 4 will be in airdate order instead of the original production order. Thus, these sets will have continuity errors.

In the United Kingdom, the first two seasons have been released in two-volume sets by Clear Vision. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Season three will be released in four volumes starting with volume one released on June 22nd 2009^[10] Volume two will follow on July 20th 2009 ^[11] and Volume three will be released on August 17th 2009^[12]. Volume Four may possibly be released sometime in September 2009. No release dates have been set for Season four and Five.

[edit] Alternate versions

The original opening sequence featured the X-Men demonstrating their mutant abilities to a now very distinctive instrumental theme (written by Ron Wasserman). This intro is used throughout the first four seasons. A modified version is eventually introduced in season five, episode one ("Phalanx Covenant, Part One"). In this new intro, the beginning of the theme is slightly changed. New fighting scenes are also added.

In the first season only, the end credit sequence consisted of computer-animated rotating 3D models of the different team-members created by graphic design artist, Dave McCarty, set to a different, electric-guitar-based heavy-metal theme.^{[citation needed]} In subsequent seasons, the computer-animated sequence and guitar-based closing theme were dropped and replaced with clips from the regular animation over the regular instrumental theme.^{[citation needed]} When UPN began airing repeats on Sunday mornings an alternate credits sequence was used: a high-quality Japanese-animated version of the original opening.^{[citation needed]}

• Brazil

Rede Globo cut all of the intro sequence except for the logo at its end—which they do to almost all animated series they air. The American intro was retained when it was aired later on Fox Kids and Jetix.^{[citation needed]}

• Japan

The opening intro was replaced with a new, Japanese-animated segment of the characters as well as a new Japanese theme with vocals called "Rising" (ライジング), by the Japanese band Ambience (アンビエンス), which features odd moments such as Magneto summoning Brood to fight the X-Men and Cable fighting giant robots in power armor. Starting with episode 46 an alternate anime intro was used, featuring the new theme "Dakishimetai Dare Yori Mo" (抱きしめたい誰よりも…). The end credits sequence was also changed: it featured shots of X-Men comic books set to the song "Back to You" (バック･トウ･ユー), also by Ambience.^{[citation needed]}

Several very well-known seiyū (Japanese voice actors) played roles in the TV Tokyo edition of the Japanese dub, such as Kōichi Yamadera (Cyclops), Shinobu Adachi (Jean Grey), Rihoko Yoshida (Storm), Akiko Hiramatsu (Jubilee), Masashi Ebara (Wolverine), Norio Wakamoto (Mr. Sinister), Yūko Kobayashi (Rogue), Yoshito Yasuhara (Gambit), Ayako Shirashi (Dazzler), Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Magneto) and Rokurō Naya (Professor X).

[edit] Cast and characters

X-Men Adventures
X-Men Adventures vol. 1 #1 (Nov 1992). Art by Steve Lightle.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Publication date	November 1992–March 1997
Number of issues	57
Main character(s)	X-Men

[edit] X-Men Adventures

X-Men Adventures was a comic book spin-off of the animated series. Beginning in November 1992, it adapted the first three seasons of the show; in April 1996, it became Adventures of the X-Men, which contained original stories set within the same continuity.^[13] The comic book lasted until March 1997, shortly after the show's cancellation by the Fox Network.

In the final issue of Adventures of the X-Men, it is revealed that the Marvel animated universe existed prior to the main Marvel Universe, and was destroyed by the fracturing of the M'Kraan Crystal.^[14]

[edit] Bibliography

• X-Men Adventures vol. 1 (1992–1994) (17 issues) ^[15]
• X-Men Adventures vol. 2 (1994–1995) (15 issues)^[16]
• X-Men Adventures vol. 3 (1995–1996) (13 issues)^[17]
• Adventures of the X-Men (1996–1997) (12 issues)^[18]

[edit] Video games

• X-Men Cartoon Maker: The X-Men Cartoon Maker was a recreational software package that allowed the user to create animations with a minimal level of sophistication by utilising a library of backdrops, animations and sound effects from the show. Wolverine and Storm(voice-only) help you out.

• X-Men: Children of the Atom: Released by Capcom in 1994 for Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC. The characters in the series were licensed by Capcom and were the inspiration for the video game X-Men: Children of the Atom, which in turn would be the basis for the Marvel vs. Capcom series of video games.^[19]. Most of the voice actors who did the voices in the series reprised their roles for the video game. Capcom would continue to use these characters long after the show was cancelled before eventually losing the rights to create Marvel-based games to Electronic Arts in 2001. The other games in this series are:
  • Marvel Super-Heroes: Released by Capcom in 1995 for Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn.
  • X-Men vs. Street Fighter: Released by Capcom in 1996 for Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn.
  • Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes
  • Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
  • X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse
  • X-Men
  • X-Men 2: Clone Wars
  • X-Men

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• X-Men at the Internet Movie Database
• X-Men at TV.com
• DRG4's X-Men the Animated Series Page
• Marvel Animation Page Presents: X-Men
• X-Men TV series cast