(series review) [STREAMING] - X-Men '97: Season 2 - Episode 1, 2 & 3

 

If you read my review of the first season of X-Men '97, you'll know I loved it. It captured everything that made the '90s series special, but with a richer colour palette, stronger voice acting and even more ambitious storytelling. Best of all, it fully respected what came before, continuing storylines from the original five seasons instead of pretending they never happened.

It never spoon-fed the audience or leaned too far into being overly mature or childish. The themes were darker, but it was still every bit as accessible as the original series. Rather than a reboot or retelling, it felt like a genuine continuation—just upgraded.

Now we're two years on, with Beau DeMayo no longer involved. It'll be interesting to see where the storytelling goes, but based on these opening episodes, the series hasn't missed a beat.

Episode 1

Following the events of Season 1, the X-Men have vanished, leaving Bishop and Forge to search for them across time. Forge eventually finds Storm, Wolverine, Morph, Cyclops, Jean and Nathan Summers in the distant future, where Mother Askani leads the fight against Apocalypse. Realising they'll need more allies, Cable joins forces with Psylocke and Archangel to recruit two new members for the battle ahead.

Episode 2

Back in 1997, mutant children flee to the X-Mansion seeking safety, only to be intercepted by X-Factor, the government's mutant task force. Meanwhile, Cable assembles his new X-Force team to hunt one of Apocalypse's Horsemen, War. A meeting with Emma Frost quickly goes sideways, landing them in X-Factor's custody, but Jubilee finds a way to rescue the captured mutants and get them to safety.

Episode 3

In ancient Egypt, Magneto believes En Sabah Nur can still be saved, while Charles insists his future as Apocalypse is inevitable. Magneto attempts to steer him onto a different path, but Rama-Tut's manipulations continue pushing En Sabah Nur towards his destiny. Elsewhere, Beast, Nightcrawler, Rogue and Professor X study future technology in the hope of returning home, only to be accused of working alongside Rama-Tut. As tensions boil over, En Sabah Nur clashes with the X-Men, Bishop joins the fight, and Rama-Tut moves to eliminate them all.

(series review) [STREAMING] - X-Men '97

X-Men '97 continues the popular X-Men show called 'X-Men: The Animated Series', which came out in 1992 with our favourite X-Men characters. Cyclops, the leader of the X-Men, his girlfriend Jean Grey, and Storm, Beast, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, Morph and Jubilee attend a school run by Professor Charles Xavier. Following the events of the fifth season, Charles Xavier flies off into space with the Shi'ar Empire for healing, after an assassination attempt on his life and leaves the school in the hands of his dear friend Erik "Magnus" Lehnsherr aka Magneto, one of the X-Men's greatest foes. Not having much trust in Magneto, for obvious reasons, the season kicks off here and we are on a rollercoaster ride that goes high, goes low and at a pace where if you blink, you might miss a chunk of information.

Calling the show X-Men '97 harkens back to the original animated series and with the "replication" of the art design, this show, whilst very jarring at first, "seamlessly" continues on from the previous stories told whilst building from the 5 years of visual backstory and decades of comic book lore for the writers to sink their teeth into and for us, the viewer, to watch, like and devour, unless of course you do not like the art style, storytelling and modern day artistic flare. What I will say from the get-go is that, you do not necessarily need to watch the previous 5 seasons that came before X-Men '97 to know or understand going forward, but it would also help if you did. Also, the jarring "transition" from season 5 to season 6 (X-Men '97 being season 6) is more of a visual problem to overcome than it was with season 4 to season 5. Season 5's visuals/animation were terrible, but to have the art designs modernised and the animation brought up-to-speed to where we are now in society with animation, is something you will absolutely and quickly adjust to and enjoy.

Episode one introduces us to the characters, who they are and what they can do. If you are a first-time X-Men watcher, this is for you. If you have watched the OG series, you are looking at the well-needed "upgrade" you never knew you wanted. I have never heard some things said or discussed or seen how some characters move in this show before now. For new viewers, I can only guess the movement and the action is a nice to see, where people who grew up on the animated series might see this episode and think "WOW!" because if you were to compare everything in this episode to a single episode OR season in the OG series, this show frankly, blows it out of the water. Like it should, right, it was a different time. The first few episodes are great and the storytelling is amazing. What I will say, the introduction to story elements and in some cases, popular story-arcs are "rushed" through at a speed that does not really allow to sit with you. Some things happen quickly and you are onboard with it or you are not. This is the show.

As the episodes get on, we see supporting characters like Forge who pops up in a Storm story-arc and with Morph turning into anyone and everyone, the cameos are plenty. In the earlier episodes, you see Morph turn into Angel and in the latter episodes, The Juggernaut. But towards the end of the season, seeing characters like The Hulk (slight spoiler) does put a smile on your face considering, the Avengers are NOT the X-Men and they are two completely different teams within the same universe but with this happening, helps flesh out the world they are living in. Not to mention that last episode, wow! There are also some creative decisions made that struck me as a stroke of genius. Not only are you stroking the nostalgia factor with the show in of itself, but hitting that other medium you know people will be familiar with of that time, the nineties. I believe I said "So cleverly done and the kind of easter eggs for comic book readers and "other" [blocked out due to spoilers] alike were superbly done."

The original series (mostly know as the OG series) used to have story-arcs than ran over a few episodes. 'Something something, part 1 of 3' etc. X-Men '97 does this twice in this season (once really) and with only 10 episodes, it is the last three that really roll into one continuous story, although, the entire season IS the continuous story. An example of what I mean is, The Marvel Cinematic Universe most commonly known as the MCU has three phases. Each phase was a combination of smaller stories leading into a finale (so to speak) an Avengers movie, but the over-arching story of Thanos coming to snap the galaxy away with the infinity gauntlet, spanned the three phases. X-Men '97 does something similar here and the over-arching bad guy for this season runs throughout and the final confrontation is a spectacle that ends with the promise of something else bigger to come.

I have said this before, "I honestly feel that the people behind this show sat down with Disney and said "... I have this idea where we want to make an X-Men animation, in the vain of all past animation, style and story, with modern-day animation art and techniques, but continuing the stories from the animated show from the 90's and mine the stories even more..."".  And this is exactly what they did. They raised the stakes, they touched on stories from the comics that were only hinted at in the OG series. They have targeted the children who are now adults and delivered a sensibility for the times we live in now whilst still focusing on being set in the 90's. By dropping this show weekly, you are keeping the focus on the X-Men and keeping it in the zeitgeist. Every week you are talking to your colleagues, friends and family about it for the entire duration of when it is airring. If you were to binge the show, (a little like the Fallout series), the talk about the show will last a few weeks if you are lucky and just a bit longer if it was really good.

This show deserves the buzz although I do believe they should slow the pacing down just a little. All the voice acting is great, the animation and design is great, the music is superb, the stories are simply wow, but to slow it down just a tad. I know we only have 30 minutes but maybe break the story into two episodes? There is not a need to overly explain everything as we are all smart enough to understand, but the break-neck speed in the story telling is, for what I'd imagine, for those who have short attention spans and to keep them entertained. I feel a lot of the information thrown into the show is very heavy and very political but very X-Men. X-Men is about outcats and people who are discriminated against due to their being, being a mutant, being a different colour, having abilities whether they wanted it or not. Soo much is touched on in this season as the writing is incredible. The dialogue is phenomenal. You definitely do not get this in the OG series but this form of storytelling is perfect for what the show is and always has been and it sits comfortably within the narrative. The drama in this show on levels much deeper than surface level storytelling and family dramas. Maybe to slow down the pacing a touch so it can sink in would be great, because the balance of drama and action, is perfect. Waiting patiently for season 2 though. Well done Marvel, Disney. Oh, and bring back Beau in some capacity if you cannot bring him back fully. He knows what he is doing and if you ask around, might be the person who has single-handedly (with a team of course) carried the entire Marvel business on his back with this show alone.

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(episode review) - X-Men '97 - Episode 5

 

I honestly feel that the people behind this show sat down with Disney and said exactly this, "So, Disney...hear me out. I have this idea where we want to make an X-Men animation, in the vain of all past animation, style and story, with modern-day animation, art and techniques, but continuing the stories from the animated show from the 90's" Disney looked confused and asked, "why would you not just want to start from scratch with something new altogether like we have many times before?" And they replied "Why? Why not use what is already there and mine the stories even more. What did the X-Men do when Magneto took over? Is Charles Xavier really dead? What happened to Mr. Sinister? Is Apocalypse still around? Do we see any more stories with Cable? We can raise the stakes. We can make something from my childhood remain for children but age it up in line with today's animation. We will target the children who are now adults and possibly with their children, those who loved it. It would look spectacular and there are thousands of stories we can continue with" Disney apparently said, "Fine, as long as you bring back the old voice cast" And here we are, X-Men '97 which is essentially, season 6. A show from the 90's, continued from the 90's but with modern-day sensibilities; and this show is great. It simply raises the bar each week and it has become so engaging. It does not hold your hand or baby-feed you the story or what is going on, it trusts the audience to understand. It treats the audience as clever and that is an amazing thing.

Maybe it is just me, but I did feel like I knew what was going to happen in the show before it did. Certain moments were telegraphed. Everything was going too well for something bad not to happen and the second half of the show did not disappoint. The action was amazing because the tension was felt throughout the episode from the beginning and was steadily building. A love triangle is one thing, but to have two? Without going into any spoilers, I did think Mystique was in this episode and maybe we will see her later as THAT specific character. The thing at the end causing all that devastation was incredible and visually stunning. There was even a moment where it played like a movie with short bursts of a black empty screen, something you often see in trailers with the sound of a heart beating. Then to see that character pop up like they normally do only to disappear, there is definitely more going on with this storyline, but having not called it a part one (like in the original series), leaves me thinking that maybe the entire season has an over-arching storyline.

I was emotional, I am not going to lie. I am not sure how Omega mutants work and how they become Omega mutants but maybe there is a lot more to come that will flesh out the story a bit more than what we got at the end. Heartbreaking and emotional, the dialogue was great. The dialogue between characters was dramatic with a few zinger lines. Also, a top decision to have moments with no music to accompany the action. Next week can not come quick enough. Disney Plus is killing it!

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(episode review) - X-Men '97 - Episode 4

By dropping this show weekly, you are sparking up the conversation for the show and keeping this show alive. Not to say that it is boring or not entertaining, but to binge-watch a show, the show is simply "thrown away" once you are done with it and I believe this show deserves the buzz. This week on X-Men '97, we have two separate stories in one episode. Considering the episode is around 30 minutes long, it is really good how they have been able to tell a lot in a short space of time.

The first story centres around Jubilee and her Birthday. Wondering what to do and how to spend it, Jubilee and Sunspot get pulled into a 16-bit video game. The second story centres around Storm dealing with the loss of her powers and Forge has two things to declare.

Being a child of the 90's watching these cartoons and playing computer games, X-Men was up there with some of the best computer and arcade games, so to see Jubilee and Sunspot acting out/"playing" as 16-bit characters in games I would have played growing up was that nostalgia hit I did not know I wanted. So cleverly done and the kind of easter eggs for comic book readers and gamers alike were superbly done. From the sound of dial-up to flashbacks to the '92 series to the beat and scroll gameplay and bringing back one of Marvel's craziest villains, the first half of this episode hit me in the feels. I was elated because they covered all the angles for us older people who watched the '92 series, for those who played the computer games of that era and for newcomers who are on board this new X-Men TV series.

The second part of the episode was a calmer and more tame episode dealing with Storm and Forge during a dark time when Storm was in her life. Having lost her powers, she is being helped by Forge who wants to help but has also taken away. A stark contrast from the bright and boisterous first half to a moody second half with a reveal that will continue the stories further down the line. At this point, this X-Men '97 animated TV show is carrying Disney and the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on its back. Such good writing, stories, animation, music, voice-acting. The team are firing and it looks like with what they are currently going for, this show will continue for a while as there are thousands of great stories to tell and in this modern age for an older and younger audience.

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(trailer review) - X-Men: The Animated Series (1990's)

This is a slightly strange review because this is NOT a new show, however, it IS a new trailer!  Disney are labelling it the Unofficial Official Trailer.  Having grown up on various animated cartoons such as The Animaniacs, Reboot, He-Man, Galaxy High and even Gummy Bears, shows like Spider-Man and X-Men were at the very top of my to-watch list because it was comics and it was very cool.  I loved Reboot because that was computers and gaming, but Spider-Man and X-Men were a different beast altogether. Loved them!  I watched a lot of both series but slowly fell off the Spider-Man one when the X-Men and Ironman started to get invoved for reasons unknown.  With that said, I never watched any other Marvel related cartoons.

The trailer for the X-Men though is sooo damn Iconic, it is definitely a little strange to learn of and hear a totally different trailer that doesn't sing out like it's predecessor.  they've used different visuals and I can't put my finger on it, but at the beginning seems/feels more story driven centred around a singular character then the meat and potatoes of the trailer drops, rather than back in the 90's, a type of "flash card" of whom the characters are first and some fight scenes.

When I got Disney Plus "LATE!" because the entirety of Europe had to wait until March 2020 unlike our US cousin's whom received Disney Plus in November 2019 (poor marketing strategy if you ask me), I watched back-to-back 90's Spider-Man and back-to-back, 90's X-Men and I loved it.  Most episodes previously seen.  Still love me an Apocalypse monologue.  What wouldn't at all hurt, would be a redesign of these cartoons to todays graphical standards (possibly a voice recast where necessary) and a remake/retelling of the same stories beat for beat. Maybe perhaps continuing with a few more episodes thrown in for good measure.  I'm pretty sure fans will lap that up! I sure would.

(trailer review) - New Mutants

So they have finally released another trailer for New Mutants.  I was slightly interested when they mentioned it God knows how many years back, but when I saw the trailer, I wasn't moved.  This new trailer though, has my interest peaked.  Let's just hope that however this is put out to us movie viewers, streaming or cinema, I do hope it is a great deal better than X-Men: Dark Phoenix because that was pretty trash and this horror look is a good look indeed.
I wonder if they will keep this and the actors going forward for the MCU.

Directed by Josh Boone and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, Blu Hunt and Alice Braga