X-Men (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the newer X-Men animated series, see X-Men: Evolution.
| X-Men | |
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| Genre | Animated series |
| Creator(s) | Larry Houston Frank Squillace |
| Starring | Cedric Smith Cathal J. Dodd Norm Spencer Iona Morris |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 76 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30min |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | FOX |
| Original run | October 31, 1992 – September 20, 1997 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
X-Men is an American animated series which debuted on October 31, 1992 (the 1992–93 season) on the Fox Network as part of Fox’s “Fox Kids” Saturday morning lineup, which featured cartoons such as X-Men, Bobby’s World, and Life with Louie, and live-action programming such as the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, directed at young children.
X-Men is Marvel Comics' second attempt at an animated X-Men program, after the ill-received half-hour pilot “Pryde of the X-Men” was broadcast multiple times between 1991 and 1992.
The popularity and success of X-Men, along with Batman: The Animated Series (which also debuted in the 1992–93 season), helped launch a number of 1990s–2000s animated series based on comic book series.
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[edit] Background
X-Men was one of the longest-lasting series on Fox Kids, and next to Batman: The Animated Series, its most acclaimed and successful to date. Despite its final new episode airing in late 1997 after 5 complete seasons, Fox did not remove the show from the line-up until 1998. The show is also one of the highest-rated and most-viewed Saturday morning programs in American history. During its peak years (1995 and 1996), the show was often shown weekday afternoons, in addition to Saturday mornings.
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", contains a sequence that takes place at a missile base that is largely based on X-Men #1 and their first battle with Magneto at a missile base. The season 4 episodes, "Sanctuary" Part I and II, which involve Magneto creating an orbital haven for mutants, are influenced by several storylines, including Fatal Attractions and the first three issues of X-Men vol. 2. A number of storylines, such as Beyond Good And Evil, and One Man's Worth, are loosely influenced by the Age of Apocalypse.
Beyond faithfully recreating many of the popular characters & stories from the comic books, the series also dealt fairly openly with social issues. The ills of predjuice, intolerance were all frequent themes in the animated series as they were in the comics. The series also deal with other social issues, albeit sometimes in subtext, that are not frequently dealt with in an animinated television series; divorce ("Proteus"), Christanity ("Nightcrawler" & "Bloodlines"), the Holocaust ("Enter Magneto"), AIDS hysteria ("Time Fugitives), and even satire of television itself ("Mojovision" and "Longshot"). A mild touch of transgenderism was introduced as shapeshifting mutants such as Mystique and Morph would often shift into both male and female characters.
X-Men stands as the longest running Marvel Comics based show, running for five seasons and 76 episodes. The next longest-running, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, lasted for five seasons and 65 episodes (technically, both series were set in the same animated universe and there were even crossover episodes).
After the box office success of the X-Men movie in the summer of 2000, Fox began airing reruns of the cartoon on weekday afternoons. This ended in early 2001. Soon after, ABC Family and Toon Disney, due to Disney's buyout of all Saban Entertainment programs, began airing reruns.
The show features a team line-up similar to that of the early 1990s X-Men comic books, including Professor X, Cyclops, Beast, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Storm, and Jubilee. In fact, the line up largely resembles that of Cyclops' Blue Team, established in the early issues of X-Men vol.2.
Though they were not part of the X-Men team in the animated series, the following early ’90s X-Men characters all guest starred in at least one episode of the cartoon: Colossus, Nightcrawler, Forge, Banshee, Iceman, Archangel, Psylocke, and Bishop.
[edit] Episode Releases
So far very few episodes have been released on DVD. There is also a petition to get all the episodes released.[1]. So far there are no plans for official release of season box sets. At the height of the series' popularity Pizza Hut sold VHS tapes that featured two episodes in order, such as "Enter Magneto" and "Deadly Reunions". Also contained within these VHS tapes were round table interviews that featured prominent names such as Stan Lee and Scott Lobdell. The episodes that have been released are:
- Night of the Sentinels (Part 1)--1st episode of the animated series
- Night of the Sentinels (Part 2)
- Enter Magneto
- Deadly Reunions
- Captive Hearts
- Cold Vengeance
- The Phoenix Saga
- Sanctuary/Weapon X, Lies and Videotape/Proteus
- Reunion/Out of the Past/No Mutant Is an Island
- Out of The Past (Part 1)
- Out of The Past (Part 2)
- Nightcrawler
- The Lotus and the Steel
- The Final Decision
Fox cancelled the series in large part because the network did not like that Marvel Studios controlled their most popular animated series. Thus, they pulled the plug on both X-Men and Spider-Man animated series despite the fact that both received good ratings. Many fans predicted the series' cancellation because of the noticeable drop in the quality of the animation and story during the second half of the final season. Fox soon realized just how popular the X-Men animation series was when ratings dropped 31% after the network stopped showing it in heavy rotation.[citation needed]
[edit] Characters depicted
[edit] In other media
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.[2]. 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.
[edit] Opening animation
[edit] US
The original opening animation introduces the main mutants using their mutant abilities to an instrumental theme. This intro is used throughout the first four seasons. A modified intro is finally introduced in season 5, episode 5 (Longshot). In this new intro, the beginning part of the music is slightly changed. Also, new fighting scenes are added that weren't there before.
[edit] Japan
In Japan, the opening intro was replaced with made over Japanese animation of the characters as well as a new vocal Japanese theme called "Rising" (ライジング, from the Japanese band Ambience (アンビエンス). An alternate anime intro was used for future episodes. (Note: the opening sequences were used for the 1990s version Japanese dub; there was no original anime adaptation of the series)
- "Rising[ライジング]"(1st Japanese theme)(epd. 1-45)
- "Dakishimetai Dare Yori Mo[抱きしめたい誰よりも…]" (2nd Japanese theme) (eps. 46-76)
The staff credits list shown at the end of the program was also changed. It featured shots of X-Men comic books. The song for this section of the program was "Back to You" (バック･トウ･ユー), from the same band.
Several very well-known Seiyū (Japanese voice actors) played roles in the X-Men Japanese dub, like Koichi Yamadera (Cyclops), Rihoko Yoshida (Storm), Akiko Hiramatsu (Jubilee), Masashi Ebara (Wolverine), Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Magneto), Rokuro Naya (Professor X), etc.
[edit] Brazil
Rede Globo cut off all of the intro except the logo in the 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.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Cast
[edit] X-Men Adventures Comic
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X-Men Adventures was a comic book series published by Marvel Comics and did adaptations of the cartoon series, the X-Men: The Animated Series. It was later joined by the title Adventures of the X-Men, which printed original stories based on cartoon continuity.[3] Four of the five seasons of the cartoon series were adapted into X-Men Adventures. X-Men Adventures went from November 1992 until March 1997. The Adventures of the X-Men went from April 1996 until March 1997. Both comic books were canceled in 1997, after Fox Network canceled the animated series. In its final issue it is revealed that the stories took place in a universe that existed prior to the current Marvel Universe and was destroyed by the fracturing of the M'Kraan Crystal.
[edit] Bibliography
- X-Men Adventures (volume 1) (17 issues) (1992-1994)[4]
- X-Men Adventures (volume 2) (15 issues) (1994-1995)[5]
- X-Men Adventures (volume 3) (13 issues) (1995-1996)[6]
- X-Men Adventures (volume 4) (12 issues) (1996-1997)[7]
- Adventure of the X-Men (12 issues) (1996-1997)[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Petition for X-Men The Animated Series on DVD (htm). petitionspot.com. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
- ^ X-Men: Children Of The Atom (html). member.cox.net. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
- ^ The 1990s: Claremont's exit, mega-crossovers. Retrieved on January 26, 2007.
- ^ X-Men Adventures Comics checklist Volume 1. comics-db.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ X-Men Adventures Comics checklist Volume 2. comics-db.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ X-Men Adventures Comics checklist Volume 3. comics-db.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ X-Men Adventures Comics checklist Volume 4. comics-db.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ Adventures of the X-Men Comics checklist. comics-db.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
