Most moviegoers are likely aware of director Bryan Singer’s X-Men films that first hit theater screens in 2000. However, back in October of 1992, Fox Network launched X-Men, also known as X-Men: The Animated Series. The series was part of the network’s Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup. The show was a huge success and ran for five seasons from 1992-1997; Giving X-Men the distinction of being the longest running Marvel Comics-based show, with a total of 76 episodes completed. During its peak years (1995 and 1996), the show was often shown weekday afternoons, in addition to Saturday mornings.
Given the series popularity, it comes as no surprise that many fans have been waiting for it to be released on DVD. Now, two volumes have been released at once, with the first volume containing season one in its entirety, along with three episodes from season two.
I was in college when season one debuted on the Fox Kids Saturday morning lineup, so I didn’t see these until Fox started running reruns after the success of the first X-Men film. I quickly found out that X-Men is a pretty easy show to get hooked in to. There are so many personalities, there’s someone for everyone–both male and female. The show essentially plays off existing Marvel and DC character types. There’s a Spiderman-like character, a Batman-like character and a Superman-like character, among others.
I was also surprised at how good the stories are. Instead of a series of episodes that don’t connect to each other, X-Men builds on the mythology of the comic books. Viewers are introduced to Jubilee, who gives us an immediate sense of the persecution they undergo on a daily basis (a theme making up the backbone of all three X-Men live action films). Jubilee soon meets up with the heroes and we are thrust into their world. As the series progresses we are introduced to familiar villains such as Sabertooth, Mystique, and Magneto. These introductions come in good time and viewers will enjoy seeing these characters pop up in later episodes and seasons.
These cartoons are surprisingly compelling and fairly decent adaptations of the original comic book adventures. “Night of the Sentinels” is a really standout. However, that doesn’t mean the series avoids getting a little cheesy on occasion, removing some depth from the characters and replacing them with dumb anecdotes or bad accents. The show also adds a terrible new character named Morph (who was wisely, and quickly, killed off). At its core, however, this is solid X-Men entertainment, packed with action, intrigue and fun stories taken directly from the comic book.
Volume One includes the following episodes: “Night of the Sentinels (1 and 2),” “Enter Magneto,” “Deadly Reunions,” “Captive Hearts,” “Cold Vengeance,” “Slave Island,” “The Unstoppable Juggernaut,” “The Cure,” “Come The Apocalypse,” “Days of Future Past (1 and 2),” “The Final Decision,” “Til Death Do Us Part (1 and 2)” and “Whatever It Takes.”
This release is presented in the original 1.:33:1 aspect ratio on two dual-layer discs. For a release that didn’t undergo any remastering, it doesn’t look too bad. There aren’t any glaring technical problems, aside from interlacing. The coloring is a bit dull but it doesn’t look washed out due to source material damage.
This release sports an English Dolby Surround track. It’s a front heavy track and the surround doesn’t really come into play; in addition, the subwoofer gets very mild usage. However, dialogue, music, and effects are all equally clear. Optional French and Spanish tracks are available as well as French, Spanish, and English for the hearing impaired; subtitles are included as well.
There are no special features specific to this release.
