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Description
X-MEN '97
Created by: Beau DeMayo.
Produced by: Danielle Costa and Sean Gantka.

Starring: Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J. P. Karliak, Lenore Zann, George Buza, A. J. LoCascio, Holly Chou, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Matthew Waterson and Adrian Hough.

Based on the long running X-Men franchise published by: Marvel Comics.
Rated: PG (contains fantasy violence and illusions to adult talking points).

Episodes 1 and 2 Reviews: www.deviantart.com/randomdc3/a…

Here's how things are gonna go for these X-Men ‘97 reviews: I’ll be reviewing two episodes at a time. That way, it allows me to rewatch the episodes, collect my thoughts and just enough time to pass so I don’t have to keep putting out spoiler warnings. I've had a few people tell me they are not gonna watch the series for a variety of reasons. I completely understand where they are coming from, and I can sort of sympathise with a few of them. I also know some people are saying “I'm not watching it, because it's WOKE!!”

I like to reword a scene from the Mummy Returns in response: “You're not happy unless something's Woke. This is Woke. That is Woke!"

Don't worry though, the instant the series falls down that rabbit hole, I'll be the first to call it out.

Episode 3: Goblin Queens and Nightmare Fuel.
The closest we come to any of that sort of buzwordy nonsense is when Morph tries to jump in on Wolverine in the shower. I'm gonna forgive this because it seems more like he's trying to prank him and get on his nerves, rather than "Swiggity swooty! I'm coming for that Adamantium booty!"

As for episode 3 itself, there’s a lot of things I like about this episode and a few things I didn't like.

Just to get the complaints out the way first: I wasn’t thrilled with the return of Sunspot, but he thankfully had a vastly reduced role. I'm sure he's a great character in the comics, and there’s the possibility he'll be a fine addition by the end of the series, but right now I just find him to be nothing more than an insufferable little tit. The other minor quibble is that Bishop has finally been excused from the series. I say that because, ever since episode one, he really hasn't had anything of significance to do. He was just with the X-Men now and we're told to just roll with it.

That's the general flaw with time travelling characters: you only expect them to show up in the present because there is something catastrophically wrong with the future. But of course, these characters become incredibly popular with the fanbase, so you have to justify excuses as to why characters such as Trunks, Silver the Hedgehog and Bishop keep coming back to the present. ‘97 doesn't really offer an explanation as to why Bishop was here. I guess he was returning Beast’s library book or something? Unless he returns in episode four, I get the impression Bishop was only here as a means to explain how Cable was sent to the future. He had no real purpose other than “we need to resolve this potential plot hole as quickly as possible.”

Deadpool: Well, that’s just lazy writing.

Much like X-Men TAS, I’m having an issue with the fact ‘97 is taking storylines from the comics and blitzing through them like Sonic the Hedgehog on a 12 shot espresso. I will freely admit I didn't read a lot of X-Men comics growing up in the 90s. I was mainly reading Spider-Man and Sonic the Comic around that time. However, I am aware that a lot of these storylines tended to span multiple issues, or could fill up two hours of television easily. Seeing things like the Trial of Magneto and now Madelyne Pryor, aka ‘The Goblin Queen’ reduced to thirty minutes leaves me asking: “Wait, is that it?”

It’s a shame, because episodes 2 and 3 really began to show what ‘97 is capable of, but the resolution came too soon. I’m guessing Daddy Disney didn’t give them the airtime or budget for that?
Also, whoever animated all of Goblin Queen’s sexy possessions and boob physics, give them a fucking promotion! Just a real shame you can't watch this on Xbox or PC, because Microsoft doesn't allow sexy women on their platforms anymore.

So the cliffhanger conclusion of episode 2 is that they are now too Jean Greys. If you're a fan of the X-men comic, you already know the plot twist they were setting up with this reveal. The incredibly short version of this is we just saw the origin of Cable: a very fan favourite character and fellow time traveller who did appear in the original cartoon from the nineties.

Besides that, I was highly entertained with essentially the Halloween/Horror episode of the series. Madeline uses her powers to project the X-Men’s worst nightmares; so Gambit sees Rogue bumpin’ uglies with Magneto, Morph sees Mr. Sinister, Cyclops is taunted by a zombie Professor X, Sunspot is mocked by his mother and Jubilee gets a dumb reference to the Ring - A movie that wouldn’t be released until 2002, while it’s inspiration was only available in Japan in the year 1998.

Uncle Eddie: Bit of a fuck up really, wasn’t it?

A lot of the demon creatures we see reminded me a lot of the designs from Studio Ghibli. That is what pisses me off about the 30 minute run time for each episode. I love these visuals and the effects were actually really good; so much so I wanted this to be stretched out to 2 episodes or maybe an hour long special.

The animation, while still weak in places, is a vast improvement over the first two episodes in every regard. It has better shading, sharper colours, stronger dynamics and better posing for all the characters. It also allows the characters to fully utilise their powers in ways that make logical sense. Morph, for example, is allowed to use his shapeshifting abilities to their full effect, rather than just shooting people with a laser gun from the original cartoon - Because Fox didn't have the budget for that kinda thing. There's also a brief cameo during one of his transformations from the character, Magik. I have absolutely no idea who she is so I cannot tell you if she's a fan favourite or not.

Ultimately, the biggest issue with this episode is the pacing goes from 0 to OH SHIT in less than five minutes, and I would like them to just slow things down a bit with this series. The X-Men are dropped into ‘Dante’s Inferno’ which lasts a total of three minutes, before Jean uses her Mary Sue powers to resolve things.

I also hope this isn't the beginning of a trend where a character leaves the team at the end with each episode. Storm left in episode two and now Bishop’s gone in episode three. Maybe it's early days but I got this sneaking suspicion that they're gonna replace the established characters with unlikeable newbies by the end of episode nine. I hope I'm wrong in that regard.

Episode 4: Jubilee Generations.
Nope. Bishop's gone. Oh well, moving on.

This is how you can tell ‘97 was not given the budget it deserved: they're splitting two storylines into a thirty minute episode. If only Disney didn't waste all their money on pointless CGI crap for "Thor: Who Cares Anymore" and "Will somebody please like Captain Marvel?" they could have had the budget for decent animation and more than ten episodes. Besides that, what is Disney wasting all their money on? Bob Iger having his t-zone waxed every week? but, I digress.

If that introduction felt like pointless padding and filler, then that's because there really is much to say about this episode. It's not awful by any means, but they're given 15 minutes a piece and that’s really not enough time to tell these kinds of stories.

The first half of this episode is essentially the plot of Sonic Generations, where an established character is celebrating their birthday, falls victim to a major plot contrivance, goes for their glory days, meets a particular version of themselves from a period of time and they team up to fight the bigger threat at hand. The key difference of course is that Jubilee's dialogue isn't nearly as irritating as the shit Modern Sonic comes out with.

The main villain of this episode is Mojo, who is once again aided by Spiral. I always had a soft spot for her design (not sure why). His involvement in this episode feels like a general commentary on how movies and television are slowly becoming irrelevant, so the entertainment industry is now muscling into video games, as that seems to be where all the eyeballs (and money) are going these days.

The really cool thing about this episode was that it was a giant love letter to those who grew up playing Capcom and Konami games from the nineties; With particular emphasis placed on the X-Men Arcade game and the Marvel Vs. Capcom series. We even get 32 bit versions of Jubilee and Sunspot as they go through Konami inspired backgrounds that reminded me of the Simpsons, Bucky O’Hare and TMNT Arcade games. The levels of the game are taken directly from Season 1 of X-Men TAS, but with a strong emphasis on referencing X-Men Arcade; particularly how the showdown with Magneto is ripped directly from said game. All that was missing was him declaring himself to be: “I AM. MAGNETO. MAS-TER OF. MAGNET. UHUHUHUHUH!!!”

It also sees the return of Alison Court: Jubilee's original voice actress, but now playing a much older version of the character from the comics. It's nice to see that Claire Redfield still has it and voices the character perfectly.

If I had to nitpick, it did feel weird to see Jubilee had what’s clearly a Sega Mega Drive. Yes, Americans, it's Mega Drive. Fuck you and 'Genesis.' I say that because most people would have moved onto the likes of the Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64 and, godforbid, the Sega Saturn by the year 1997. Yes, there’s that argument about retro gaming and collectors, I’d happily concede that, but it felt more like a reference to “the glory days” rather than something that would make sense.

Though when you think about it, the fact they choose the Mega Drive ties into the episode’s general theme: The ideas of growing up, moving on from the past and becoming an adult. Strangely, this message wasn’t as ham-fisted as some of Disney’s other attempts. Slightly related, but I finally saw Zootopia… Oh sorry, I mean Zootropolis, and some of the messaging in that wasn’t as subtle and more in your face. Oh Disney, such a card.

Overall, I liked this episode. It was nice to see Jubilee being able to get the spotlight again and given a better demonstration for her powers. The only thing I didn’t like was her relationship with Sunspot. She can do better. It's all I'm saying.

As for Storm and Forge's segment, I'm gonna reserve my thoughts on this until part 2 comes out. That way, it’ll be a complete analysis.

Description
X-MEN '97
Created by: Beau DeMayo.
Produced by: Danielle Costa and Sean Gantka.

Starring: Ray Chase, Jennifer Hale, Alison Sealy-Smith, Cal Dodd, J. P. Karliak, Lenore Zann, George Buza, A. J. LoCascio, Holly Chou, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Matthew Waterson and Adrian Hough.

Based on the long running X-Men franchise published by: Marvel Comics.
Rated: PG (contains fantasy violence and illusions to adult talking points).

Episodes 1 and 2 Reviews: www.deviantart.com/randomdc3/a…

Here's how things are gonna go for these X-Men ‘97 reviews: I’ll be reviewing two episodes at a time. That way, it allows me to rewatch the episodes, collect my thoughts and just enough time to pass so I don’t have to keep putting out spoiler warnings. I've had a few people tell me they are not gonna watch the series for a variety of reasons. I completely understand where they are coming from, and I can sort of sympathise with a few of them. I also know some people are saying “I'm not watching it, because it's WOKE!!”

I like to reword a scene from the Mummy Returns in response: “You're not happy unless something's Woke. This is Woke. That is Woke!"

Don't worry though, the instant the series falls down that rabbit hole, I'll be the first to call it out.

Episode 3: Goblin Queens and Nightmare Fuel.
The closest we come to any of that sort of buzwordy nonsense is when Morph tries to jump in on Wolverine in the shower. I'm gonna forgive this because it seems more like he's trying to prank him and get on his nerves, rather than "Swiggity swooty! I'm coming for that Adamantium booty!"

As for episode 3 itself, there’s a lot of things I like about this episode and a few things I didn't like.

Just to get the complaints out the way first: I wasn’t thrilled with the return of Sunspot, but he thankfully had a vastly reduced role. I'm sure he's a great character in the comics, and there’s the possibility he'll be a fine addition by the end of the series, but right now I just find him to be nothing more than an insufferable little tit. The other minor quibble is that Bishop has finally been excused from the series. I say that because, ever since episode one, he really hasn't had anything of significance to do. He was just with the X-Men now and we're told to just roll with it.

That's the general flaw with time travelling characters: you only expect them to show up in the present because there is something catastrophically wrong with the future. But of course, these characters become incredibly popular with the fanbase, so you have to justify excuses as to why characters such as Trunks, Silver the Hedgehog and Bishop keep coming back to the present. ‘97 doesn't really offer an explanation as to why Bishop was here. I guess he was returning Beast’s library book or something? Unless he returns in episode four, I get the impression Bishop was only here as a means to explain how Cable was sent to the future. He had no real purpose other than “we need to resolve this potential plot hole as quickly as possible.”

Deadpool: Well, that’s just lazy writing.

Much like X-Men TAS, I’m having an issue with the fact ‘97 is taking storylines from the comics and blitzing through them like Sonic the Hedgehog on a 12 shot espresso. I will freely admit I didn't read a lot of X-Men comics growing up in the 90s. I was mainly reading Spider-Man and Sonic the Comic around that time. However, I am aware that a lot of these storylines tended to span multiple issues, or could fill up two hours of television easily. Seeing things like the Trial of Magneto and now Madelyne Pryor, aka ‘The Goblin Queen’ reduced to thirty minutes leaves me asking: “Wait, is that it?”

It’s a shame, because episodes 2 and 3 really began to show what ‘97 is capable of, but the resolution came too soon. I’m guessing Daddy Disney didn’t give them the airtime or budget for that?
Also, whoever animated all of Goblin Queen’s sexy possessions and boob physics, give them a fucking promotion! Just a real shame you can't watch this on Xbox or PC, because Microsoft doesn't allow sexy women on their platforms anymore.

So the cliffhanger conclusion of episode 2 is that they are now too Jean Greys. If you're a fan of the X-men comic, you already know the plot twist they were setting up with this reveal. The incredibly short version of this is we just saw the origin of Cable: a very fan favourite character and fellow time traveller who did appear in the original cartoon from the nineties.

Besides that, I was highly entertained with essentially the Halloween/Horror episode of the series. Madeline uses her powers to project the X-Men’s worst nightmares; so Gambit sees Rogue bumpin’ uglies with Magneto, Morph sees Mr. Sinister, Cyclops is taunted by a zombie Professor X, Sunspot is mocked by his mother and Jubilee gets a dumb reference to the Ring - A movie that wouldn’t be released until 2002, while it’s inspiration was only available in Japan in the year 1998.

Uncle Eddie: Bit of a fuck up really, wasn’t it?

A lot of the demon creatures we see reminded me a lot of the designs from Studio Ghibli. That is what pisses me off about the 30 minute run time for each episode. I love these visuals and the effects were actually really good; so much so I wanted this to be stretched out to 2 episodes or maybe an hour long special.

The animation, while still weak in places, is a vast improvement over the first two episodes in every regard. It has better shading, sharper colours, stronger dynamics and better posing for all the characters. It also allows the characters to fully utilise their powers in ways that make logical sense. Morph, for example, is allowed to use his shapeshifting abilities to their full effect, rather than just shooting people with a laser gun from the original cartoon - Because Fox didn't have the budget for that kinda thing. There's also a brief cameo during one of his transformations from the character, Magik. I have absolutely no idea who she is so I cannot tell you if she's a fan favourite or not.

Ultimately, the biggest issue with this episode is the pacing goes from 0 to OH SHIT in less than five minutes, and I would like them to just slow things down a bit with this series. The X-Men are dropped into ‘Dante’s Inferno’ which lasts a total of three minutes, before Jean uses her Mary Sue powers to resolve things.

I also hope this isn't the beginning of a trend where a character leaves the team at the end with each episode. Storm left in episode two and now Bishop’s gone in episode three. Maybe it's early days but I got this sneaking suspicion that they're gonna replace the established characters with unlikeable newbies by the end of episode nine. I hope I'm wrong in that regard.

Episode 4: Jubilee Generations.
Nope. Bishop's gone. Oh well, moving on.

This is how you can tell ‘97 was not given the budget it deserved: they're splitting two storylines into a thirty minute episode. If only Disney didn't waste all their money on pointless CGI crap for "Thor: Who Cares Anymore" and "Will somebody please like Captain Marvel?" they could have had the budget for decent animation and more than ten episodes. Besides that, what is Disney wasting all their money on? Bob Iger having his t-zone waxed every week? but, I digress.

If that introduction felt like pointless padding and filler, then that's because there really is much to say about this episode. It's not awful by any means, but they're given 15 minutes a piece and that’s really not enough time to tell these kinds of stories.

The first half of this episode is essentially the plot of Sonic Generations, where an established character is celebrating their birthday, falls victim to a major plot contrivance, goes for their glory days, meets a particular version of themselves from a period of time and they team up to fight the bigger threat at hand. The key difference of course is that Jubilee's dialogue isn't nearly as irritating as the shit Modern Sonic comes out with.

The main villain of this episode is Mojo, who is once again aided by Spiral. I always had a soft spot for her design (not sure why). His involvement in this episode feels like a general commentary on how movies and television are slowly becoming irrelevant, so the entertainment industry is now muscling into video games, as that seems to be where all the eyeballs (and money) are going these days.

The really cool thing about this episode was that it was a giant love letter to those who grew up playing Capcom and Konami games from the nineties; With particular emphasis placed on the X-Men Arcade game and the Marvel Vs. Capcom series. We even get 32 bit versions of Jubilee and Sunspot as they go through Konami inspired backgrounds that reminded me of the Simpsons, Bucky O’Hare and TMNT Arcade games. The levels of the game are taken directly from Season 1 of X-Men TAS, but with a strong emphasis on referencing X-Men Arcade; particularly how the showdown with Magneto is ripped directly from said game. All that was missing was him declaring himself to be: “I AM. MAGNETO. MAS-TER OF. MAGNET. UHUHUHUHUH!!!”

It also sees the return of Alison Court: Jubilee's original voice actress, but now playing a much older version of the character from the comics. It's nice to see that Claire Redfield still has it and voices the character perfectly.

If I had to nitpick, it did feel weird to see Jubilee had what’s clearly a Sega Mega Drive. Yes, Americans, it's Mega Drive. Fuck you and 'Genesis.' I say that because most people would have moved onto the likes of the Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64 and, godforbid, the Sega Saturn by the year 1997. Yes, there’s that argument about retro gaming and collectors, I’d happily concede that, but it felt more like a reference to “the glory days” rather than something that would make sense.

Though when you think about it, the fact they choose the Mega Drive ties into the episode’s general theme: The ideas of growing up, moving on from the past and becoming an adult. Strangely, this message wasn’t as ham-fisted as some of Disney’s other attempts. Slightly related, but I finally saw Zootopia… Oh sorry, I mean Zootropolis, and some of the messaging in that wasn’t as subtle and more in your face. Oh Disney, such a card.

Overall, I liked this episode. It was nice to see Jubilee being able to get the spotlight again and given a better demonstration for her powers. The only thing I didn’t like was her relationship with Sunspot. She can do better. It's all I'm saying.

As for Storm and Forge's segment, I'm gonna reserve my thoughts on this until part 2 comes out. That way, it’ll be a complete analysis.